Take It Face To Face

Money is always on the top of every company’s mind, both making it and spending it. Having direct contact with clients I hear their concerns and I am constantly working with them to stretch their market dollars.

Sure every client is different but the basics of making your money work for you are always the same. We are not trying to re-invent the wheel here, we are trying to gain exposure in the most effective way. The basics of good marketing and pr can be summed up in five tips:

Have a Target:
Demographics are key for creating messaging. Sure, there might be an upfront cost to doing a little market research but your returns will be massive compared to a non-targeted campaign.

Target your Targets:
Once you have identified your targets find the best channels to reach them. Keep your ancillary communications to a minimum and really target the market you want.

Talk to a Pro:
I can hear everyone now, “here comes your sales pitch…” No really reach out to a pro and talk with them. Marketing and PR folks love to talk about what they do. I am constantly giving away market advice and just talk with people looking for help. I would prefer to help you grow your business so we can work together in the future.

Stick to the Plan:
I have seen it happen before, I have worked with a client and created a great marketing/PR plan only to have them deviate from the plan the second the ink has dried.

Track and Review:
Ever dollar you spend on marketing and PR will be wasted if you fail to track things like cost, exposures, sales and value. Having good strong analytics will let you know if your marketing plan was a good value.

These are the basics for creating a less expensive communications plan. Do you think I am on point with these suggestions or did I miss the mark? Let me know.

Frugal Fridays is going to be a regular contribution to our blog. The idea is that we are looking to provide information to our readers who are looking for inexpensive ways to improve their marketing and pr. If you have a topic or question you would like answered feel free to give me call or email me.

I attend a ton of events, between my life in PR and Marketing at Facetime Strategy and my actual social life I attend 4 to 5 events a week. Needless to say it can be a bit much. Using services like Upcoming and Meetup coupled with twitter and Facebook can help, but to be honest it is all a bit much for me.

When trying to make your event more social the first thing to do is remember that people plan their weeks out, sorry for this, weeks in advance. As always I suggest using Chris Brogan’s amazing 50 ways marketers can use social media list.

Chris’ list is amazing, but when thinking about events there are a few simple things you can do to make sure your event is more social.

1. Profile your event

Do not post your event on one service; profile it everywhere. Older social networks still have a huge user base, combined with a outreach on new social networks will give you a good base.

2. Use Networks to remind people about the event

People are busy, using simple social tools like Twitter and Facebook to remind your attendees about the event will keep it top of mind.

3. During the event keep people talking

Something as simple as a computer and a projector can turn your twitter feed into a simple tool that lets your attendees create shout outs or say hello from across the room.

4. Photograph everything

I take thousands of pictures a year. Create a flickr profile for your event and let people post to your account during or after the event.

5. Post network networking

Make sure you post highlights of your event and pictures on all your networks. Send out quasi social media press release with links, audio, and pictures to all the attendees who might have requested one.

I know my list is short, but I think it’s a good start for anyone looking to add social elements to an event. If you really want to dig into this topic I would suggest checking out the two links below:

10e20.com

Lip-Sticking

Have I really missed anything? If you could add one or two points to this list what would they be? Let me know.