How To Properly Use Reputation Management

The online world cares about image. It is the sole focus of a lot of what the Internet is all about after all. Those who manage their image and reputation well are most likely to receive repeat business. Those who allow reputation management to get away from them may see a steady decline into irrelevance. 

Using Outsourced Reputation Management 

Many people want to do their own reputation management online when they first hear of the concept. They think there is no reason they should not be able to handle it. After all, it is just their own image they are trying to preserve. However, an article on the subject on Forbes.com, Michael Fertik, owner of Reputation.com stated:

“The best analogy that I can think of is anti-virus software for your computer. There are probably only 25 guys on the planet who can do good anti-virus protection on their own because it requires deep technical expertise. We have dozens of engineers who work on each of our products, which are designed expressly to fix or enhance your digital reputation and profile. That said, there are certain things that you should do on your own, like have a thoughtful, well-curated LinkedIn profile. And you should have a Twitter handle that is your name, not something like “ILovePizza,” unless your job is in pizza.” 

Well said.

Caution But Not Too Much 

Obviously, avoiding mistakes is a major part of reputation management. That being said, it is not a good idea to completely box yourself off from the entire Internet and never really try anything. You need to be marketing and at the same time avoiding major mistakes. It is a careful balance that has to be struck, but it is possible. 

Sell Yourself, Sell Your Product 

If you are able to sell yourself and your reputation to people online then you are probably in good shape to sell whatever product you need to as well. You just want to make sure that the image you are providing is a good one. No one wants to buy from someone they do not trust or have confidence in. 

Contact us today to get information on how you can get started with reputation management. 

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Consistent Brand Messaging When Building Your Personal Brand

Building a powerful personal brand starts with you. How you present yourself publicly and online strongly affects how your brand is interpreted by the masses. Because your personal brand is a reflection of who you are personally, you must be aware, the totality of your actions will determine your brand.

Nurturing Your Brand Through Authenticity

Your brand is your legacy. Once you establish what you want your brand message to be, you must own it. How you present yourself to the world will define your brand culture – make it memorable. Your actions, expertise, and emotional connection to your brand will define how it is viewed. Offer something valuable only you can provide to the public; live it, and you will garner true authenticity.

Build Character – Online and Off

In the digital age, your online presence with social media has become your touchstone. This is where you engage those interested in your brand. Make sure the design of your online outlets closely aligns with your character and brand message. Whether you have a design team or one person working on creative, make sure there is an understanding of your brand’s uniqueness, your character is clearly interpreted, and don’t forget, a picture is worth a thousand words and this is your moment to shine. It will aid in your social media marketing campaign.

Consistent Brand Messaging

Current and potential clients want consistency. They want to know you will deliver each time with the same or better results. Your clients want to trust you, they want to count on you to be the answer. Consistency in your communications gives clients something to rely on. If you deliver strong and consistent communications, your clients will become evangelists of your brand. 

For more information on how you can build a powerful personal brand, contact the professionals at TwoGirlsConsulting LLC. We understand your physical and digital image must exude your brand. Enticing and consistent communication of your personal brand relies on a carefully crafted strategy. At 2GC, your image is everything.

 

4 Important Email Marketing Strategies

Email newsletters are an important part of any marketing campaign, particularly as people spend increasing amounts of time online. E-newsletters go directly to customers’ inbox, giving them an advantage over other forms of social media. Like other digital media, e-newsletters are inexpensive to produce and send to customers. And fortunately, there are some simple tips for writing an email-newsletter that customers will be likely to read!

1) Start with a captivating subject line. Many readers use an email subject line to determine whether they will open the email, and it is crucial that your e-newsletter stand out among the many other emails a customer receives. Including the word ‘you’ gives the email a personal touch. Make your subject line timely and short, to catch the reader’s eye. 

2) Use visual means to convey your message. Video sites, like YouTube, and applications, like Vine, are rapidly rising in popularity. Often, readers are more likely to watch a short video than they are to read lines of text. Capitalize on this tendency by creating video (or even photo) content for your readers, whether your intent is to engage the customer, sell products, or tell a story.

3) Entice customers with a special offer. Including a special offer in your e-newsletter is one of the best ways to retain customers and keep them interested in future promotions. You will strengthen brand loyalty when you help customers feel as if they are important to your business. (They are!)

4) Utilize other forms of social media. Include social media links (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in your e-newsletter, as these digital marketing tools go hand in hand. A great way to involve customers and increase your market exposure is by rewarding customers when they share your e-newsletter (or other content) on social media. 

With these tips, you can improve your email newsletters to make the most of the opportunity you have to communicate with your customers. For the best ways to include email in your marketing strategy, contact us today!

Does Your Marketing Strategy Begin in the Right Place?

It never ceases to amaze me how many business owners spend all kinds of time and other resources creating and implementing a marketing strategy that begins at step two. They either ignore the important first step altogether, or pay so little attention to it that it contributes little or nothing of value to the final plan.

What I’m talking about here is developing a profile of your ideal customer. A good definition for the term “ideal customer” is; someone who is most likely to buy from you.

Many business owners don’t understand this essential first step in creating an overall marketing strategy. The reason it’s so important is; by having a handle on what your ideal customer looks like, you’ll be in a better position to determine which marketing techniques are likely to be effective and which are not.

For example, if you were a heating and air conditioning contractor, you would probably be wasting valuable marketing resources if you sent marketing materials to residents of an apartment complex. The apartment owner or manager would typically make decisions on such services, not the residents themselves.

Having a profile of your ideal customer and carefully considering that information when creating a marketing strategy is important regardless of what business you’re in.

So, how do you go about developing a profile of your ideal customer? By asking and answering several questions. For example:

• Is your ideal customer male or female?
• What age range do they fall into?
• What is their education level?
• Are they married, divorced, widowed, or single?
• What is their income range?
• What do they enjoy doing in their spare time?
• What challenges do they typically face?
• What are their dreams and goals?
• Do they spend time on the internet? If so, where and for how long?
• Do they engage in social media? If so, which platforms?
• What types of businesses already market to them?
• How do those businesses market to them?

Having answers to these, and other questions, will put you in a place to make educated decisions on which marketing tools and techniques will be most effective in your market.

Of course, identifying your ideal customer doesn’t preclude you from doing business with those who don’t fit your profile. You just won’t be focusing your marketing efforts on them.

If you’d like help creating a marketing strategy for your business, contact us online or call 702-738-1197.

 

Would Your Business Benefit From New Corporate Communication Strategies?

All executives have in common a need, if not a duty, to achieve a degree of administrative skill. This includes public and internal communication, and while it is unlikely a typical executive is “un-skilled” at public speaking and other forms of information processing, the skill level varies widely between individuals. Throw in the many challenges of social and other electronic media, and a fresh strategy could give your organization a decisive edge in the current electronic climate.

The decision to implement new media tactics should not be approached as a sure-fire recipe for success, but hiring the right firm for a communication update could be a meaningful step in development. For an organization that routinely addresses the public or a large employee base, the correct consultant could tailor a development process to uniquely address the needs of your niche.

On the web site, Public Speaking Tips, the article lists several objectives to use to choose the correct regimen to develop confidence in using modern media. Even though our processes go beyond just speaking, using this list may help you visualize your development program. 

A few goals listed on Public Speaking Tips are:

• Master how to tell your personal stories
• Improve your voice and vocal production
• Learn to work with technology
• Be interviewed on TV
• Present before an international audience
• Persuade the audience to specific critical action.

There are many other useful objectives listed. A scenario to stay away from is a robotic approach that concentrates only on the visual, verbal, or audio aspects of communication. What else is there, you ask?

While visuals such as posture and hand gestures are just as important in electronic media as they are in person, they are only indicators of confidence and knowledge, and self-conscious application of symptomatic gestures will not replace your real expertise and experience in business and social culture. Electronic media has its own distance, and it is important to know how to relax within this new world and convey your validity when you are one more step removed from your audience.

Precise use of the “King’s English” coupled with perfect grammar will trigger a predictable response in a presentation, nevertheless, depending on the subject and the audience, it may not be a relevant response. And if this mode of speech and manner seems to contradict the personality or the goals of the speaker, than the response may be directly opposite to the desired one. You need to be confident you can convey yourself through new channels before any strategy will be effective.

A communication strategist, like a good athletic coach, will address the issues of preparation, projecting character and content as well as posture, gestures, animation, or wardrobe.

Business and government executives are motivated differently than dramatic actors, even though those motivations may (or may not) be similar in moral quality and purpose. Public speaking is different than acting.  The public might enjoy a confident actor on TV, but they want the real thing when they face their very real challenges. 

Not all communications are fired with emotion and critical strategy. But if it is appropriate for you to gather a group of people to present an idea to them, then developing technical skills that are right for forums such as TV, MP3, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, texting, Outlook and YouTube are essential, even for minor announcements.

After all, you want everyone in your organization to “get the memo.” Assimilation of minor details over a time can be critical to the success of a project.

A new communication strategy can put all the tools of modern media at your service, and give you important insight on how to use them to deliver your concepts, big and small, to your audience.

Have an important event coming up? Or do you want to design a new communication system for your business?

Let us know.  We can increase your effectiveness with modern tools.

Contact us

Small Business Marketing Strategies: Leverage Your Network

Many small businesses spend a large part of their budget on marketing to generate new business prospects.  For many small businesses, new clients come from referrals which is a different kind of marketing altogether.  In addition to print and online marketing strategies, small businesses should keep their networks in mind with regard to finding potential clients.  Leveraging a network is one of the most effective, low-cost marketing strategies to add projects to the pipeline.  Here are a few ways to leverage your network:

Start With Your Primary Circle

Identify connections within your primary circle — people with whom you would like to communicate regularly.  Who shares your business vision?  Who is likely to have a healthy network of like-minded people?  It’s nearly impossible to maintain strong connections with a large number of people, so focus on a group of 20 or less for your primary connections.  Once you have identified these people, make sure to connect regularly.

Communicate What You Need

In order to find business opportunities within your network, you need to communicate about your business.  Otherwise, nobody will know how to help you.  Prepare an elevator speech describing what your business does, and don’t hesitate to tell people about your professional life.  When you are looking for more business, make sure to ask for referrals and introductions when appropriate.

Reach Out and Keep Connections Alive

Do not hesitate to initiate contact with network connections, even if you haven’t been in touch for a long time.  This can be done by phone or email, or through social media sites such as LinkedIn.  Although it may be initially uncomfortable to reach out, many people are responsive and will be glad to reconnect over lunch or coffee.

Give and Take

One of the best ways to leverage your network and improve your chances of finding business possibilities is by helping others first.  By helping others, you are creating an environment in which others will be happy to return the favor, and are avoiding the trap of only interacting with others when you need something.

For more advice on marketing and communication strategies, please visit our website.  If you have any questions or would like to speak with us, feel free to contact us!