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What Does Your Business Card REALLY say?

So this past week I had the task of coming up with some business card designs for the company. Some for the Sales Associates that will be working with us and some for the executives in the company. I got to thinking about just how much of a marketing and branding tool a business card really is. What does your business card say about you? Does it say that you are still sitting in the 90's when it comes to how you want to promote your business? Are you unique or are you still using the same plain business cards as everyone else? Take a look at the examples below and you decide for yourself which concept catches your eye.




I personally chose to step outside of the box. I mean, I deal with an online career site so I thought I should go with that theme and this is my final product.
This might not be your ideal business card, but for me it is unique, innovative and eye catching.
Remember to use your business card as a way to better brand yourself through your business.



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Marketing Through Social Media


How often do you try to plug your job/company/service/product on networking sites? What techniques do you use to plug your company? Spam? Annoyance? Subtleness?

How often do you see other people plugging sales and products on sites like MySpace, Facebook and even Twitter? How often do you get frustrated by these tactics that other people are using?

I see it all the time and yes I myself even Tweet for the company I work with, but in all honesty where or what does all of this get us? How long does it take to build up a perfect balance of meaningful friendships and business relationships online? For me it has taken about 6 months to get nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter, a radio interview, a radio shout out and blogged about in a local Tampa Bay blog. Not too bad, huh? I admit that it could and should be better. I mean we have a solid service/product to offer everyone. Everyday we are moving forward so what's the holdup online?
Then I ask myself, "Why haven't I gotten my interview with Ellen or Oprah yet"? I'll tell you why. Because NO ONE knows who Kim Randall is. I am not a famous model, I have never been in a band, I am not a famous singer.

Who am I then? Well I am a 28 year old Marketing and Sales Exec that is trying to move a company forward in a dog eat dog digital world. I have sent emails to many well know sources with no response. I have tried to call agents to pitch what this company is doing. Not many answer. It isn't because I don't have a compelling story. It is more likely to be that in the signature there isn't McHammer's name and phone number.

So why are all of these famous people Twittering, blogging and Vlogging that marketing through social media is so easy? I'll tell you why. It's because THEY ARE ALREADY FAMOUS!. They already have a name for themselves. They could claim to reinvent gum and people would interview them all day and night. What about all of the quality people out there that have amazing products? Do they get their 5 minutes of fame on CNN.com? Not normally, but sometimes it does happen.

Why am I posting this? Am I really that bitter towards celebrities trying to talk and preach about social media marketing? Not at all, in fact I applaud them for their success. Most of them came into their fame well before MySpace was invented or Twitter was even thought of. Most of them were not born into the status that they have now. They did work hard to get where they are. The reason I am posting this is to talk about how challenging it really can be to market and pitch your company in todays digital world without the celeb status. I would love to say that if you Tweet, everyone will follow. It isn't all true. You should however stay true to yourself and your company.

Remember to:

☞Provide everyone with rich content.

☞Let us see and know YOU and your product. It is ok to plug your company, but be yourself too.

☞People want to connect with real people and not just a sales advertisement.

☞Also stop the spamming about where you are going to be this Saturday like many of the friends I have on MySpace too. Eventually people stop paying attention. In this case LESS IS MORE! If you post something once a week or hell even once a day people are more apt to pay attention. Quit the 20 times in 5 minutes of posting the same thing. I WILL NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION!

☞Make sure you acknowledge your online peeps. What do I mean by this?? Well FOLLOW PEOPLE BACK on Twitter, reply to emails and messages on other platforms. Maybe someone wants to tell you that they enjoyed a blog post you wrote. It takes less than a minute to say a simple THANK YOU.

☞If you want people to pay attention to you, pay attention to them. The only way to truly build a meaningful business relationship is to pay attention to what and who is interested in you and your company.

☞Be sneaky, creative and smart. Don't do everything that your competitors are doing. Do something different. Offer a better service. Market in a different way. Be unique!!!

☞Are you targeting the right people? Let's say you are marketing a website that allows children in the age range of 3 to 10 to connect, play games and learn about computers. Would you market this to college students? Probably not. Your key demographic would be parents. Stick to and with the people that need your product the most.

✩BRAND YOURSELF and YOUR COMPANY! Your name is your own personal brand. People are not looking for commercials and magazine advertisements anymore. It's your time to shine as a person which will in return bring awareness to your company✩

*In no way do I claim to be an expert in Social Media Marketing, Networking and Marketing. I am just like the rest of you trying to make a name for myself and my employers company.*

Never doubt your company or yourself. Stick with it and be consistent in everything you do. If you have passion for what you are trying to achieve, it will be noticed.



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Have You Signed???

Living An Online Life

Life Online can be very rewarding and very stressful. If you are like me you might have anywhere from 50 to even 100 sites that you are a part of, whether it be micro-blogging, social networking, video sharing, gaming or whatever. Having an online presence is as rewarding as it can be stressful and time-consuming. Do you really realize just how many sites are out there? I am constantly wondering which are the best and would it matter if I ditched a site or two (I never do though). I got started about 3 or 4 years ago and really began hitting the networking scene hard the past two years. I have a presence on many platforms including virtual worlds such as Second Life. With me it all started with MySpace and from there I was hopeless. I was and am destined to live a digital life.

Below are some popular sites. Are you familiar with these? I am and have profiles on all of these sites. Kinda sad, huh??
To maintain only 10 or 11 sites may take some time, but it would be fairly easy, right? That is if you were and are committed to putting in the time and effort.

What if we multiplied these sites by 10 or 20? Then what happens? How do we find time to update everything? What I do is try to find sites that allow me to bookmark my other sites. It turns into me having more blogs, profile and URLs than I started the day with and then I end up with social networks coming out of my *ss.



Now in all honesty I am not a member of all of these sites and there are many online communities that I am a part of that are not shown here. So the question is how do I control, handle and maintain all of these? I try the best that I can to keep a Google document of all of the sites that way once a day/week (depending on the site) I refer to the document and copy/paste
the URL into my browser. Here is an example of how I try to keep organized online.













Now this works for keeping the URLs all in one place, but what about updating them?? I have found that many sites that I am a part of, like Digg.com and Twitter, are starting to link in with Facebook. The problem with that is I Tweet a lot during the day and to have each Tweet posted to Facebook seems to get out of control. The way I see it is that if my friends on Facebook wanted to see my Tweets they would sign up for Twitter, right?



TweetDeck (a third party application) can be used for Twitter and Facebook at the same time, which is good and I can choose to post to one or the other or even both. You do have to install the application onto your computer, but I can assure you that I have never had a problem with mine.


I also found HelloTxt.com which links to all of my microblogs and a few social networking sites. I do find that the site be useful for marketing reasons because not all of my online time is just for personal use. I am lucky enough however to be able to be on the web all day long for my job and much of my professional digital life is also shared with my personal online persona.
So when the day is done I have found that keeping all of my URLs organized is the first step to organizing your online presence after that it is up to you to find the applications and/or sites that will suit your needs and save you time. Perhaps one day someone will create something that will link to all popular sites and with the click of the mouse all 100 can be updated. Until then I will keep on updating my way.

Oh and if I happen to find new ways to make this process easier I will let y'all know.


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Dear Me,

Looking back at my life (all 28 years of it), it would have been nice to have had a life map when things got tough or I felt like there was no way out. If I had to write a letter to myself this is what I would have said...

Dear Me,

You are stronger than you think you are right now. Your road is going to be bumpy, but life was never meant to be easy.
Cherish every memory, take pictures, laugh often.
Call Dad more often and let him know each and every time you talk to him that you love him.
Move to Florida before its too late to spend more quality time with your family.
Take that scholarship because that relationship you are in will end anyways, no sense sticking around for him and yes you will get over him.
Stay strong for yourself, your friends and family.
Let your creativeness shine, it will take you many places. Don't be afraid to speak up.
Travel, explore and experience things.
Be happy!
Keep your health insurance, you are going to need it!
Red Bull and Jaeger (Jaeger Bombs) is not the drink for you. LOL
You will have obstacles to overcome throughout life, but always remember that tomorrow the sun will rise and a new day will begin.
Don't move out at 19 because you think it's the right thing to do.
Remember that you are smart and you can do anything that you want as long as you are determined and committed.
Follow your dreams.
Love yourself!
You are about to become a successful woman.

-Me

What would your letter say?



As always "Swim With The Sharks!"


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