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Light up the room and the world around you! Own the company that customers love to work with and the brands they want to buy. It has NEVER been more important to get people buzzing about your company ... your community ... and your offering. Create the visibility that leads to lasting success -- in any economy. We'll show you how. Read on ...
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| Looking For A Branded, Socially-Ready Online Marketing Solution? |
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 It has never been easier to put technology to work to present your brand in new and interesting ways and to keep it looking fresh and current, both online and off.
Having a website is no longer good enough. Having a multi-tiered social networking and online marketing strategy is a beginning. Creating an integrated marketing strategy that reflects the ongoing evolution in information gathering, shopping and buying habits -- and working it, continually -- is essential to succeed in today's highly competitive marketplace.
Your strategy has to begin with a website that goes beyond good to great. Great doesn't come from overloading your site with Flash or flashy graphics (which can actually hurt SEO) or from in-your-face messaging that ignores why your visitors stopped by. Truly effective websites are true to your brand and its message and (because of that) they are also relevant to the prospects and customers whom you want to visit ... linger ... and return. Websites like these are fully-branded and socially ready for blogging, permission marketing, social networking and more.
They REACH out to prospects and PULL them in, and then they encourage them to stay connected and involved with your company.
Now here's the very best part: Having a fully-branded, socially-ready online presence has also never been more affordable. In the coming weeks, we will debut three tiers of Online Marketing Solutions from Herlife Publishing which all begin with the development of a fully-branded, semi-custom website that is blog, social marketing and e-commerce ready and capable.
Already have a website that needs to go social? Just give us a call. Lori Martinek travels the country to speak to business and entrepreneurial audiences on how to put the power of online marketing and social networking to work for their companies. Call her at (623) 537-0888 or email her at ljm@pplusonline.com to discuss your interests and needs. |
| Taking It On The Road ... |
 On the Local Scene .....
Lori Martinek will be the featured presenter at the Greater Phoenix Chamber's Back to Business Series event on May 7. Lori will present Creating A Winning Online Brand to eager-to-grow Phoenix area businesses. Learn more at ... http://tinyurl.com/PhxBusiness
Then its Good Morning East Valley! on June 12 as Lori presents social networking and marketing tips to members of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce at its monthly breakfast gathering at the Mesa Country Club. The Valley's top networkers will learn how to Be Visible and Get Found by the customers they truly want to work with. Learn more at MesaGMEV. You can also watch a video of of the dynamic March meeting here ...
Lori travels to Illinois in May: Lori will be the featured speaker at Lake Land College's Social Media Conference on May 20 in Mattoon, IL. Social Marketing for Small Business and Entrepreneurs is expected to attract 300 business owners, entrepreneurs and students for the one-day event. Lori stops in Effingham IL on May 21 to work with business owners at a privately sponsored event. Learn more about the Lake Land conference at www.lakelandsocialmarketing.org. You can also join the Lake Land Social Media group on LinkedIN.
On the Radio Circuit: Lori will promote her new book, Be the Bulb! and the Lake Land Social Media Conference in a series of radio interviews reaching IL listeners beginning in late April ... On April 21, she'll chat with host David Drennon on the Arizona Dept. of Commerce business show on KFNN radio in Phoenix.
Later This Year ... Lori makes a return engagement at the Governor's Regional Development Conference in August. Her presentation will focus on business incubator branding ... with a featured presentation on how communities and economic development agencies can Be the Bulb! and increase the visibility and success of their community brands.
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| Herlife Publishing Debuts! |
 In the spirit of 'practicing what we preach', we our proud to announce the debut of the Herlife Publishing website at www.herlifepublishing.com.
And then we took it a step or two further ... and created eight landing pages that each lead to our primary domain. Each has its own unique domain address and targeted, original content that is ripe for SEO. Check them out at:
Herlife publishes business books with a human element that provide inspiration and direction to their readers. Herlife books are for people, about people and the success that they can create.
Lori Martinek's first book, Be the Bulb!, was published by Herlife Publishing in March. It is available on Amazon.com and on the Herlife Publishing website ... buy it here.
Herlife Publishing will also offer a variety of fully-branded, socially-ready Online Marketing Solutions for entrepreneurs, startups and other small businesses. What was conceived as a toolset for authors and small publishers is evolving to become a one-stop set of socially savvy products that will get any business off to a fast start online. Learn more about the OMS debut here ....
The Herlife website is also the home of Lori's new blog, Be the Bulb!, the Blog ... which debuted in late March. Read it here and sign up to have it automatically delivered to you via RSS. |
| MindingHerBiz Helps Entrepreneurs Pay It Forward ... |
Also new this spring: MindingHerBiz, a Phoenix-based women's mastermind group that works with female entrepreneurs to help them think through the challenges and opportunities of business ownership. Experts in marketing, branding, law, accounting, human resources, retail and operations listen to an entrepreneur's presentation and then brainstorm with her to come up with ideas and strategies that can move her business forward.
 These successful business owners are 'paying it forward' to help the entrepreneurs who will follow them. You can learn more at the MindingHerBiz LinkedIN group here .... 
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| What We're Excited About .... |
| Our branding project for the Arizona Small Business Development Center Network. Developing a progressive umbrella brand that is relevant to each of the 12 SBDC offices in this statewide network is only the first step. The approved brand will become the foundation for marketing collaterals ... an electronic newsletter ... workshop templates ... and more as the AZSBDC works to underline its status as Arizona's premiere resource for business expertise and counseling. Learn about the network here
 The debut of the website that we designed for W Production Group, a top drawer provider of state-of-the-art staging, tents and structures for corporate and sporting events, concerts, festivals, hotel openings and private parties. The centerpiece of the website is an in-depth portfolio of WPG's work, which includes some of the very hottest events in the Valley ... Las Vegas ... and beyond. Take a look for yourself at .... The direct mail program we designed for The Arbors on Preston Road retail center in Dallas, TX. Next up? A customer-focused website that will drive retail traffic to the center. It's a value-adding tenant program provided by our client, Fritz Duda Company, which manages retail centers across the U.S.
 The debut of the Illinois weTRaIN network e-newsletter, The Advisor, which we designed, wrote and produced. The first issue of the quarterly electronic newsletter debuted in March .... we'll begin work on the next issue shortly. Also up: A template for a third page that the individual colleges can use to produce local news and success stories! Learn more at www.wetrainillinois.org
 The Harvard Economic Development Corporation's 2008 Annual Report, which we wrote and produced. You can read it online here. We are now working on a full update of the Harvard Community Profile, a site selection tool that we originally created in 2005. It will be added to the HEDC's website later this month. |
| Be the Bulb! Makes Its Debut ... |
Lori's first book,  Be the Bulb! is now available for sale online at both Herlife Publishing and on Amazon.com. We are excited about the early buzz and hope to build on that momentum using a variety of social networking and viral marketing tools.
Preview the Topic: Listen to Lori's interview on StartUp Nation and you'll get a pretty good idea of what the book is all about. The topic is Attraction Marketing, a concept that combines elements of target marketing, personal branding and a powerful way of putting energy into the marketplace to attract the people and opportunities that you, your company and your products need to be successful. Best of all? It works. | |
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Make Yourself The Center of Attention
Advice for being a standout in a crowded marketplace:
It will always be easier to capture the attention of people who are already inclined to be interested in you and your offering. Stay up to date with how and where prospects are searching for, finding and sharing product information and look for ways to insert your brand into those environments.
Attraction Marketing puts your brand in the path of people who can help you succeed. It is no different with product brands. A brand has to be seen and noticed in order to be part of the conversation, and it has to Be Visible in order to Get Found. Put your brand where its prospective customers are. Do not force them to go looking for it in unfamiliar places. They won't.
Look for new ways to present your brand, such as innovative advertising strategies, leveraging new technologies or communicating with prospects in unique (and meaningful) ways. Keep in mind that once 'everyone is doing it or using it', it is probably time to look for a new way to stand out. Sameness -- in products or brands and their promotion -- does not create top-of-mind awareness or standout competitors.
If you choose to go with the crowd, you will get lost in the crowd. It's as simple as that.
Successful, evolving brands create and attract buzz, which is positive word of mouth. When people are talking about your brand in a positive and excited way, it's a good sign that your brand strategy is relevant and on track, or at least in the right place at the right time and top of mind. When no one is noticing or talking about your brand, it's time to get busy. Buzz creates awareness. Awareness creates Interest. Interest creates Desire and Desire leads to Action, or sales. You have to get people talking if you want to get them to buy, and you want them to have a positive buying and product experience so that they will talk about it - and share it - with their friends and contacts.
We are business builders who provide strategic expertise that identifies key opportunities to target, communicate and sell. Call us at (623) 537-0888 today to find out how we can help you and your business shine brightly during the coming year.
--- Lori Martinek, Branding Expert, Author and Social Networking Consultant |
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