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Companies don't find customers. Customers find companies. The rules of marketing have changed (or maybe they've just become clearer). The way you go to market must also evolve. It has never been more important to Be Visible in order to Get Found ... and to get people buzzing about your company -- or your community -- and its offering. Create high-powered visibility that leads to lasting success. We'll show you how. Read on ... |
| Attraction Marketing Has the Power To Make Your Brand Shine ... |
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 Attraction Marketing combines elements of personal branding, target marketing and strategies for projecting your brand's energy into the marketplace in a way that attracts the types of people and opportunities that you need to be successful. It is a dynamic process that works for every type of brand.
Strong brands are clear, confident and consistent and they communicate in a clear and confident manner consistently, online and off. That consistency builds trust and it is trust that builds long-term customer relationships. Attraction Marketing projects a brand's best strengths into the marketplace, taking direct aim at ... and speaking directly to ... the best prospects for your offering. It is very powerful and highly effective. Why? Because Attraction Marketing is strength-based marketing in its purest form. Nothing is more powerful than putting your best foot forward, always.
Social media marketing is a great way to help your brand shine. Social networking tools are attainable, accessible and affordable for companies, communities and organizations of any location, age or size. This makes them a great equalizer that can really level the playing field in a highly competitive marketplace.
Branding expert Lori Martinek travels the country to speak to business, community and entrepreneurial audiences on how to put the power of branding and social media marketing to work to achieve Attention ... Interest ... Desire and Action. Call her at (623) 537-0888 or email her at ljm@pplusonline.com to learn how to put her insightful, high energy workshop in front of your audience. |
| Taking It On The Road ... |
 On the Local Scene ..... Lori Martinek is back from the Governor's Regional and Rural Development Conference in Arizona, where she presented Be the Bulb! Achieve the Visibility and Success You Want For Your Brand to government, community and agency representatives. It was a great conference with very good representation from across the state. Check out the conference site to see the slides from Lori's presentation here ...
Coming Up on the Calendar ...
 In October, Lori travels to Reno, NV to present Doing More with Less: Using Web 2.0 for High-Impact, Low-Cost Marketing at the International Economic Development Council's 2009 Annual Conference. Creating a strength-based, highly visible marketing campaign is no longer a luxury, it's a survival strategy. Social media is quickly changing the landscape of how business decision-makers and workforce access information and interact with and within a community. Lori will discuss how economic development organizations can embrace social media as an important tool to support local programs and attract companies and talented workers to their communities. Read about the IEDC's largest event here ....
Lori will present Achieve Visibility and Success Online to the Ahwatukee Chamber of Commerce in January 2010. ... Also in the works: A repeat of Lori's presentation at the 2009 Governor's Conference at an event sponsored by the Lake Havasu Partnership for Economic Development ... Visit the Appearances page on our website for other upcoming events. |
| Introducing Fully Branded, Socially Ready Online Marketing Solutions ... |
 Introducing Online Marketing Solutions (OMS) from Herlife Publishing: Affordable fully-branded, socially-ready online products that are designed especially for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, Authors and Small Publishers, including:
- Branded Website Solutions
- Blog Templates w/RSS
- Online Branding Tools
- Social Marketing Tools
- Branded Social Profiles
- Print Marketing Tools
Herlife OMS deliver a valuable, discernible difference: Expert Branding Strategy, built right in and offering the competitive benefit of 30 years of high-level branding insights and experience. The result? A professionally branded, social media-oriented website that outshines your competition ... at off-the-shelf pricing! Here's another great benefit: VALUE. OMS package prices range from $1,295 to $2,695, with streamlined production and scheduling. Contact us at ljm@herlifepublishing.com to learn more about these affordable, high impact web solutions that can help position your brand for success. |
| MindingHerBiz Helps Women-Owned Businesses Grow ... |
 MindingHerBiz, the Phoenix-based women's mastermind group founded by Lori Martinek, works with female entrepreneurs to help them think through the challenges and opportunities of business ownership. Experts and specialists in marketing, branding, law, accounting, human resources, retail, operations and technology brainstorm with female business owners to develop strategies that can help them move their businesses forward.
 Coming this Month: The MindingHerBiz website and remote conferencing capabilities that will allow us to brainstorm with women entrepreneurs across the country.
Meet the other team members and learn more at the MindingHerBiz LinkedIN group here .... 
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| Straight from the Pressroom .... |
Stop by the Herlife Online Media Center to see what's new in our world. Stop by to:
- Listen to Lori's StartUp Nation interview;
- Read the media coverage on some of Lori's conference appearances;
- Read the Northwest Herald article on Lori Martinek and what it's like to be able to work anywhere that you want to ...
Coming Soon! Lori Martinek provided branding insights for a CNN Money article that advised Nashville-based Provence Breads & Cafe on how to address the challenges of growth using strength-based marketing.
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| What We're Excited About .... |
 Our rebranding project for the Arizona Small Business Development Center Network, which includes a new branding strategy and identity for the statewide network and its 15 locations. The Visual Identity Standards that we created to promote and protect a cohesive statewide brand for the AZSBDC is sure to become a model for other efforts. Up next? A Network services brochure ... electronic Network newsletter ... interactive e-news template for the Centers ... workshop marketing materials ... other collaterals ... and ongoing marketing and PR support. Learn about the AZSBDC network here
 We redesigned the Harvard Economic Development Corporation's quarterly newsletter to a four-color format that accommodates mass media distribution ... and produced a Retail District Map which highlights Harvard's six emerging retail districts. The map will be a key tool in the HEDC's proactive retail attraction strategy. We also led the expansion of the Land & Sites Database on the HEDC's website ... and are busy planning the organization's first Chairman's Breakfast, an invitation-only event in September which will feature a keynote by Illinois Congressman Don Manzullo, the former Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business.
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| Be the Bulb! Online, All the Time! |
Lori's first book,  Be the Bulb! is available for sale online at Herlife Publishing and on Amazon.com.
Interested in creating a Facebook Page for your company, your products, your book or your brand? We can help. Just give us a call to discuss your specific needs. Presentation Plus offers full digital consulting and social media marketing support. We create profiles and blogs and help clients connect with their audiences. Most importantly? We develop social media strategies that are built on branding and marketing expertise and know-how ... and not just trendy media buzz. |
| Read Lori's Branding Blogs ... |
 Lori's Branded By Design blog offers insights on branding, marketing, creating greater visibility, using social media marketing effectively and more.
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| What We're Reading ... |
 Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. This is one of a flurry of books that has recently been published on social media, marketing and trends. Brogan is a popular, well-followed social media blogger who builds his book around a tried and true marketing reality: People like to do business with people they trust.
Enter the Trust Agent: A business, community or spiritual leader who inspires trust through thought, words and action. Trust Agents, according to Brogan and Smith, are people who:
1. Make their own game. They set new rules and provide a novel perspective on things;
2. Are 'one of us'. They care about others and we relate to them;
3. Understand the principle of the lever and know how to empower others;
4. Are great connectors. They are relationship facilitators, not just networkers;
5. Are human 'artists'. They understand the subtleties and etiquette of communication;
6. Know how to 'build an army'. They understand that there are agreements, often implicit, between people and that social contracts need to be clear and understood at all times.
One of the book's best quotes: 'Most of the meat of the business isn't in using these [social media] tools, but rather in how they are applied uniquely to your organization.' In other words, not just the HOW but the WHY (which is where the best-conceived marketing strategies always begin ...).
Here's another one: 'Business, it feels, is becoming an art.' Memo to Brogan, Smith and everyone else who is writing about social media as if it has redefined solid marketing principles: Building a successful company, community or organization has always been an art that requires the highest form of creativity, discipline and leadership (trust). Social media is a powerful tool in an entrepreneur's palette, but it is no substitute for understanding HOW and WHY people buy ... or make any decision. That's where the real art of truly successful marketing lies. | |
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Why Target Marketing Is Important ...
It's an essential part of any marketing effort, online or off.
Target marketing is all about putting your brand and its promise in front of your best prospects, efficiently and cost-effectively.
Whenever you focus your attention, your efforts and your energy on a target you are going to get a better return. In marketing-speak, we call this a Rifle versus Shotgun approach. A rifle focuses its single shot directly on a target. A shotgun puts forth a broader pattern that is likely to hit something in its path, including (you hope!) the target. A rifle approach is highly efficient. A shotgun approach usually requires more resources (and media) in order to have the same impact on the actual target.
Target marketing aids greatly in message development. It enables you to finetune your message so that it is highly relevant to your prospects. It makes it easier to select appropriate media (fish where the fish are), engage users and create a true sense of community with customers and prospects.
Be a Specialist instead of just a Generalist and be known for something! Create a strong brand with a competitive promise and reason why and a well-defined target marketing strategy. Remember: It really is all about them, not you.
Attraction Marketing utilizes target marketing principles to place your brand in the path of real prospects who could become real customers for your business. Put your brand where its best prospects already are. Don't try to convince people to go looking for your offering in unfamiliar places.
They won't make the effort.
We are branding experts, media strategists and visibility builders who work with our clients to identify -- and act on -- key opportunities to target, communicate and sell. Call us at (623) 537-0888 today.
--- Lori Martinek, Branding Expert, Author and Marketing Consultant |
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Blogging Basics: Get Off To A Fast, Strong Start |
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Blogging is a great tool for creating, building and sustaining Visibility. Strong brands have insightful, interesting blogs behind them that reach out to prospects and keep their competitive benefits promise front and center.
Use a blog to spread the word, lead the conversation, build momentum and keep your brand top of mind with key audiences. You can position yourself as an expert, a specialist or a source ... and it couldn't be easier to do.
Use intuitive (and free!) blogging platforms like Blogger and Tumblr to choose a template, customize your blog and be ready to write your first post in less than 10 minutes (really!). WordPress is your best choice for a blog that resides on your website (good for SEO). It's easy to use and provides a lot of good editing options.
Blogs have become America's news source, replacing printed newspapers and the evening news as the primary way that more and more people obtain information on a daily basis.
Jump on the bandwagon and get started, but ONLY if you are committed to the effort. Creating a blog is not enough. You have to post frequently enough to capture -- and keep -- reader interest. To do that, provide useful information, post at least twice a week and list your blog with popular directories to make it easier for it to be found by prospective readers.
No time to blog? Ask us how we can take the reins of your social media strategy and reach out to customers and prospects on your behalf. | |
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