By Karen Post, on February 14, 2012

In the spirit of love and affection as many celebrate Valentine’s Day, the day of awesome relationships, frisky friendships, risky affairs and just plain gushy lust, I thought it would be appropriate to mention the everyday occurrence of unavailable brands. You know the kind, the not so healthy, lots of issues, not worth the time and certainly not worth the loyalty—when company brands get so chilly, so unconnected and just straight up are not available to their paying customers who truly want to love them.

The sad fact is there are many brands who behave like this and then wonder why their customers cheat and defect to a younger or more loving competitor.

Here are the red flags to know when it may be time to start dating- I mean shopping around:

• You’ve got a problem and there is no phone number on their website.
• Or it takes way too long and way too much work to find it.
• Or a “contact us” form with no reply or at best a form reply that says: “we are very busy, we’ll try to get to you some day”.
• Or you call them and after 20 minutes in the phone tree jungle, you speak with a customer service rep by the name of Carol, who you can’t understand, and you know darn well no Carols’ live in that country.

It’s unfortunate there are not horse-mounted brand police that would issue costly citations when companies play like this. But then again, unhappy customers now have a voice with social media, word of mouth and on high traffic blogs, just ask Dell, Bank of America and Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Tonight at tennis I asked my buds who they thought were some of the worst offenders, the not available brands, here’s what I heard. Tazo Tea, the Starbuck’s company, Sam’s club, the Walmart Company, Skype and the Microsoft Company. I’m sure you’ve got your list too. It is a shame that these big brands would be so clueless to the basic concept that open communication is essential to keep a relationship red hot.

Smart brands who value relationships with their customers make it easy for them to talk and they listen.

A big kiss and hug to Apple, American Express and Southwest airlines.

How easy is it for your brand to be loved?

To learn about more brand bumps and how the got back on the saddle, view: Brand Turnaround.

By Karen Post, on December 12, 2011

I can’t believe it’s here. My new book will be on bookshelves and ship from online bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble this Friday, December 16th. Thank you all for the hundreds of congrats notes and words of support.

I know many of you downloaded the sample chapter per my LinkedIn and Facebook author page notice. If you had trouble getting your chapter, it is because you were already in my opt-in list. So I’ve set up a direct download here without any further sign up needed, just click the book below. Sorry for that inconvenience.

Following this note from me is the official news release the McGraw-Hill PR team sent out for the launch. Their efforts along with my marketing team‘s and Staples Copy and Print Centers have already generated some exciting promotion around the book. Big thank you to the team! Here are just some media highlights.

Media
Daytime- nationally syndicated lifestyle and entertainment show, airs in over 35 markets
Part 1-Daytime November 10th
Part 2- Daytime December 15th

FoxNews live
Segment 1 – CEO’s missteps aired October 25th
Segment 2 – In conjunction with Staples print and copy centers aired Wednesday December 7th

The Small Business Advocate Show
The world’s only weekday radio program dedicated to small business, The Small Business Advocate^® Show, on the air since 1997 and the Internet since 1998. The interview with Karen will run Friday at 8:25 ET. To listen go to Small Business Advocate Show. If you miss it, they archive all shows.

The Godfather of sales, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Caffeine and in Salesblog
My good friend Jeffrey will feature my book to his over 400,000 friends and fans on December 20th, I’ll update the links next week.

News Release from McGraw-Hill

It can strike without warning. It can slay your stock and drive away your customers.  It’s bad news when your brand undergoes a complete meltdown. The good news is there are proven strategies to get your business back up and running after a cataclysm.

Today’s competitive and transparent environment offers any number of threats from within and without, from customer complaints, negative press, product recalls, natural disasters, to financial failures.  A single individual with a strong social media following, or the poor performance of a highly visible employee, can turn the company tide.  These events can blindside even the strongest of brands.

Karen Post knows that a loss can be a gain, and she has the turnaround examples to prove it.  BRAND TURNAROUND (McGraw-Hill Professional; December, 2011; Hardcover, $28.00) examines the seven principles and strategies that will protect your brand against any corporate storms that may arise without warning – and get you back in the game.

Ford. Barbie. Exxon. Martha Stewart. Tylenol.  Eliot Spitzer. BP.  JetBlue. Michael Vick.  Harley-Davidson.  Pee-Wee Herman.  Here is a diverse mix of more than 75 brands and celebrities, and Post’s fascinating post-mortems of how their public profiles tanked and how the losses in each case were specific and unique.  All the examples Post features in the book were once at the top of their game, fell from grace, and rallied back in the face of loss using a series of Post’s key survival principles.

Researching the keys to brand recovery, Post has put together a strategic game plan that needs to go operational within the first moments of crisis:

• Take Responsibility – Shift the brand tide from crisis to composure. This chapter examples a wide variety of instant handicaps and how they should be handled immediately.
• Never Give Up.  After suffering losses, here are profiles of companies and brands that bounced back stronger  – and why.
• Lead Strong – The special qualities of the people behind the turnarounds, responsible for making key decisions in the turnaround process.
• Stay Relevant – How to indentify, prioritize, and craft a strategic communications and relationship-building program.
• Keep Improving – In addition to returning to that original state of glory, brands must also show that they are committed to doing even better than before.
• Build Equity – In the face of scandal, successful brands create bonds with an increasingly cynical consumer market that will stick by them through good times and bad.
• Own Your Distinction – Call it your unique attribute, your “Brain Tattoo.” What’s your compelling differentiator?  What are the unique qualities of your brand that will fuel your comeback?

Writes Post, “If and when your brand gets hit by outside forces and uncontrollable situations, or if the bad or weak in you and/or your brand explodes, remember, there is life after a disaster and brand meltdown. Take a deep breath and apply the seven game-changing strategies.”   BRAND TURNAROUND offers the keys to rallying in the face of disaster.

PRAISE FOR BRAND TURNAROUND:
“Karen Post is more than merely a game changer, she creates the rules for winning every time with a 1.000 batting average, no mean feat. Brand Turnaround will completely reverse your field and create the home team advantage every time.”
—Alan Weiss, Ph.D., author of Million Dollar Consulting and The Consulting Bible

“I hate to tell you—it can happen for any company: a brand disaster. Karen Post explores what a brand catastrophe means and, most important, how to survive when it strikes. Brand Turnaround is a great life jacket for every company preparing for the unavoidable disaster before it strikes.”
—Martin Lindstrom, bestselling author of Brandwashed

“Karen Post provides great lessons, not only for entrepreneurs, but for all of us as we build our own personal brands. Brand Turnaround is a must-read for all ‘students’ of entrepreneurship.”
—Rebecca J. White, Ph.D., James Walter Distinguished Chair of Entrepreneurship; professor and director, University of Tampa Entrepreneurship Center

“What separates GREAT brands from the sea of others is that they embrace failure and learn from their mistakes. Brand Turnaround embraces this philosophy and offers insightful, practical, and relevant advice on how to leverage the lessons of failure and turn them into moments of learning and ultimate competitive advantage.”
—Julie Cottineau, VP, Brand, Virgin USA, and founder, Brandtwist.com

“An amazing book, chock full of quickly read, easily understood, and immediately actionable ideas to turn around brands.”
—James Belasco, Ph.D., author, professor, and entrepreneur

By Karen Post, on December 6, 2011

In the past few years, personal branding has become a hot business topic. News anchors and journalists refer to individual brands when they cover business leadership superstars and business losers too. Executive recruiters consider a candidate’s brand when they are on a search for the best professional for a position and most entrepreneurs’ success depends on their strong, personal brand to attract employees, get funding and be an ambassador of their company.

Last month Daytime, a nationally broadcasted TV show that airs in over 35 markets, invited me to help out with a special segment called “Getting back to work”. The goal was to take two professionals who had lost their jobs and with an improved personal branding program, help them find the ideal career or opportunity.

Even though the segment focused on getting people back to work as employees, these lessons can apply to entrepreneurs as well.

Here’s the first segment that aired before Thanksgiving and a special shout out to Kendra York who owns Kendra & Company in Tampa for providing the hair, make up and style updates for our two makeover participants.

From here the plan was for me to give one-on-one coaching along with some branding tools provided by Staples that includes printing of business cards from their print and copy centers, Schtickers that provided a branded laptop skin and my design team that updated their brand identity.

These are some highlights from the coaching sessions.
Personal branding is no different than product or business branding which we all experience everyday. When a company has a strong brand, we as buyers have positive opinions about them, which in turn prompts us to select that brand over another choice. Product brands are competing to be the brand of choice.

The same concept applies for people and their personal brand.

A personal brand is what people think, feel and expect from you as an individual.

A personal brand is derived from the sum of what a person does, how they act, how they look and how they keep their promises.

In branding we call these brand opportunities, touch points.

Consistent brand touch points help a person manage their brand and peoples opinions of them.

A personal brand is one’s image, reputation and the impression they leave when they show up for a job interview, a business networking event or even after a phone call.

We all have brands even without thinking about them or consciously working on them, because people, our friends, colleagues, clients and employers are judging us and these opinions are stored in their heads, which become our brands.

The key to successful personal branding is making sure everything you do is lined up with your goals and that you consistently send out the accurate message that reflects the true you.

So when people find themselves in a down state, like being without a job or career they love, it’s time for action.

They need to follow these three brand-building steps to make sure they are projecting the right image that gets them closer to their goals.

1) Assessment and goal setting
2) Create an action plan
3) Work on it, with consistency and passion

I call the process, personal brain tattooing.  Like a regular tattoo, a brand sticks to the minds of the market and it’s put there by choice.

Getting hired is often about risk and if your brand ensures the employer or client you are not a risk, but a good investment that can add value to their organization, that’s the ticket.

Step 1 – Assessment of what is.
What skills, persuasive assets and traits does the person have to build on and leverage?

When I’m working with an individual on their personal brand, I ask these questions.

• Can you tell me about yourself in a 60 second window? Please do.
• Why are you jobless?
• What do you enjoy doing?
• Describe your ideal job or next career?
• What are your 2-3 most important life goals?
• Have you experienced rejection and “No’s” in your job hunting?
• Did they give you reasons? What were they?
• Why do you think you were passed up?
• What tangible branding tools do you have? And what do you need to work on?

I also ask people to do a Google search on their name and see what comes up.

If it’s bad stuff that can tarnish your reputation, see what you can do to change it. Many times you can.

If it’s bad stuff that’s out of your control, like a criminal record, it’s good to know about it and sometimes you need to share this with a potential employer or client.

Next, I ask “What tangible branding tools do you have that reflect your desired personal brand?”

They can include:

• Your resume
• A strong cover letter of introduction
• A personal business card, laptop skin, brochures
• The appropriate wardrobe for interviews and meetings
• An appropriate web presence and social media footprint

I always recommend people buy their name URL, if it’s just a landing page with your contact information of social media links. If your name is not available, get something close, like with your middle initial in it.

As an example: I own www.Karenpost.com

Step 2- Next, one must develop a personal brand action plan to help get them from where they are “unemployed” to where they want to be, “in a great job or opportunity they love”.
A personal brand plan addresses:

• Goals
• Brand essence
• Target audience
• Strategies (behavioral changes)
• Tactics (specific things to do)

I always start with the end in mind. What are your goals?

Strong personal brands are visible, memorable, distinct and relevant.

To “brand up” you, one needs to have:

Your personal essence defined.
A personal brand essence is the foundation around whom you are authentically.

Purpose - Why are you here? What do you do? How can you contribute to a company’s success?

Points of distinction- What is unique about you?
Your name
Your background
How you look
Your skill set
Who you have worked with

Personality – What are 3-4 adjectives that best describe you?
When building a personal brand, one’s personality attributes should be aligned with your desired job, career. Like in my case, being creative, having a sense of humor and being confident. Work well with my career choice being a consultant and speaker.

Promise – one’s promise is what they commit to delivering on.
For example – if you are in sales, you’ve got to be able to successfully sell. If you are in Healthcare administration, your attention to detail and problem solving must be mastered etc.  One must be able to deliver on commitments and promises. Walk the talk.

After your brand essence is complete, then you must weave this platform into all of your touch points.

Who are your target audiences?
Who are the key company decision makers? Who are the other influential people in your network, who can make  recommendations and introductions? Friends, former employers, people you do business with etc.

Touch points fall into three categories and need to be aligned with one’s goals.

These are:
1) One’s visual package
Research shows that visual elements are the #1 influencer in impressions people draw from others. This means your wardrobe, hairstyle and grooming all matter. Depending on the job and position you are seeking will determine the best look for a person.

Additionally, your tools like resume, business cards and thank you cards also impact the judgment you may earn.

2) One’s communication skills and style.
Next to the visual items, people are judged by their communication skills and style.

Communication style has three equally important areas.

Verbal
How do you sound? Is your choice of words the best they can be and aligned to your goals? And the confidence and attitude you exude, is it consistent with your goals and does it lower the risk of the potential employer?

Written
How do you write? From your resume, to a thank you note and your social media footprint, do these items communicate an impression that aligns with your goals?

Body language
What is your body language communicating? This includes your posture, handshake and eye contact. Are you poised and confident or unsure and down and out?

3) One’s substance and behavior.
The objective in personal branding is to be authentic, but based on your job goals; one must consciously increase the volume and clarity of their brand, offering potential contributions to a company’s success.

And finally, one must have substance and behave in a way that validates their position and image and supports all other touch points.

You must demonstrate evidence that you walk the talk, and are what your packaging communicates?

This means be really good at your craft and your job. The most skilled and competent people get the jobs first. And that’s where you want to be.

This may mean taking classes, accepting an unpaid internship or doing volunteer work with another job just to pay the bills.

And you must work the plan with passion and consistency everyday.
Think before you move. Stay in tune to the ideal brand you want people to have in their heads about you.

As a wrap up, here are five small things that have big instant impact on your personal brand.

1) Have a strategic online footprint that depicts you as you want your buyers to view you
This means have a LinkedIn account, a Twitter account and if you have business appropriate videos then a YouTube account too.

A landing page about you is a good idea, one that is hosted with your name.com. And if you’ve got something to say, a blog is extra icing on your brand cake.

2) Keep your promises
This means do what you say, say what you mean and walk your brand talk everyday.

3) Associate with people that are consistent with your brand
This means birds of a feather flock together. Don’t be hanging with bunch of crows if you are an elegant, sophisticated swan.

4) Look your brand
This means put the costume on when you are in public. Whatever your image is, support it with the right wardrobe, car and office.

5) Be consistent
This means frequency of a message, makes the message stick. Look at all your touch points, web, business communications, email, phone message, thank you notes, resume etc.

Need a little help with your personal brand? Check out some of my ebooks that can help you brand up your image and reputation.

Below is the second half of the Daytime segment that aired on 12/15/11

By Karen Post, on September 30, 2011

I highly recommend this book, Get Rich Click, The Ultimate Guide to Making Money on the Internet by Marc Ostrofsky to every businessperson and entrepreneur.

There are gobs of great books available on Internet marketing and I’ve read many. But this one is worth adding to your library of valuable references and tools. Not only is the author, Marc Ostrofsky a real-life success story (he had made millions with the Internet) which for me gives the book extra credibility, it’s also organized in a way that makes it easy to understand, access the learning gems and apply to your business.

The book covers just about every aspect of the Internet and how anyone can profit from it. Some of the more interesting sections for me were on URLs, keywords, and new vendors to help get things done. In addition to the book content, Marc does a nice job of making updates available on his website via his blog.

This book took me a bit to get through, not because it’s long, but I found myself stopping to try things and look up examples that he cites that made the content not only hit my brain, but really stick to it and become my new walking knowledge that I’m now using with my businesses.

Just a couple of my top take-a-ways:

1) Having a key word in your URL is golden.
My brand name and URL are proof of this. Many of you know I earned the #1 spot on Google last year for the term “Branding Speaker”. I’m now convinced that in addition to my voluminous writing, the noun in my name www.brandingdiva.com has paid off too.

2) Buying smart URLs can add to your wealth just like buying a prime piece of real estate.
They can be low cost, high return investments. Since reading Get Rich Click I’ve purchased over 50 new URLs that I’m going to start monetizing with parking pages and landing pages.

If you need one comprehensive book that helps you understand and profit from the Internet this one should be considered. It gets a thumbs-up from me.

I’m looking forward to his next book too that will be called Word of Mouse.

By Karen Post, on September 21, 2011

I’m very fortunate to have an awesome social media team supporting my message and assisting our client’s in reaching their goals. Allow me to introduce the “A” social team to you as they contribute to branding content, SEO solutions and marketing outreach on the front line and behind the scenes.

Pictured above from left to right is Lauren Angrick, Chief Problem Solver for all my companies and to the right of me is Jess English our newest social media team member who is Community Manager for Restaurant Branding Roadmap, our soon to launch DIY self small business branding program for restaurants. Both are super bright, dedicated and are hard core social media-savvy professionals. Raining from the University of Tampa, their studies and expertise range from marketing, public relations and entrepreneurial matters.

This photo was shot last week at the first annual Splash Bash to End “High Tech Homelessness” in Tampa Bay sponsored by Tampa Bay Wave. Which was a blast! Tampa Bay Wave is an organization that I support. Their goal is to build a strong community of web tech entrepreneurs across Tampa Bay. If you are in Tampa you should check them out and other supporting web-based businesses, if you are outside Tampa finding a local organization like this is a worthy move.

To learn more about my companies, click here.

By Karen Post, on September 14, 2011

Social media continues to get lots of media coverage and buzz. Some, very well deserved and some is just a whole bunch of empty shoeboxes. Not good, because I love shoes!

Many of my blog readers and friends know that in 2009, after reading one tweet on a Saturday night at 11PM – and following up on it – this social connection turned into a million dollar consulting contract for me. I will forever love little blue birds!

I’ve also connected with and discovered some amazing professional resources through LinkedIn too. I love to find competent people that I can count on to help me do my work!

That’s all good, but as entrepreneurs and small or big businesses, can one count on meaningful results from social media? Like a concentrated 25-point social media blitz without investing any money, just time.

I’m curious too. So I’m going to conduct a test. We’ll call it the “25- point social media project”. This week my staff and I will leverage a two-part blog post article in 25 different ways through social media. In 2 week days we will report back the results. We will also track our time so you we can weigh out the investment to the return.

Here’s the test.
Join me, if you want to try this too and then we can compare results and lessons learned.

My blitz was geared around my new book, Brand Turnaround. I started by writing an article, which included excerpts from the book. The article was about brands gone bad and how they return to glory. The two-part series was called Branding and the Beast. So beyond the text, I had the book art and an image I bought from istock.com.

My 25-point social media blitz/how to promote your blog:

1. I tweeted about it, included a link to the blog post and a unique headline.
2. Posted a discussion about it on LinkedIn in my Brandturnaround group.
3. Found a popular LinkedIn discussion, made a comment and included the article link.
4. Posted a discussion in blogengage.
5. Posted on .docstoc with links to blog.
6. Turned it into a PowerPoint and posted it on Slideshare.
7. I utilized pinging services.  By pinging the blog post I let search engines know I just updated my blog.
8. I posted it on Facebook with a different headline (because the blog autofeeds to my Facebook author page).
9. I bookmarked the post on Reddit.
10. I bookmarked the post on StumbleUpon and grew my stumble followers.
11. Bookmarked the post on Delicious.
12. Created a saved search for Twitter based on the blog’s keywords, replied to those tweeting the keywords with a comment and a link to my blog.
13. I bookmarked the post to Digg.
14. I found a high traffic site, TalentZoo, where they invite guest bloggers to submit stories.
15. I submitted it to technorati.
16. I wrote another discussion about it and posted a question on another LinkedIn group.
17. I bookmarked the post to Blinklist.
18. I posted it on Bizsugar, so readers could vote on it.
19. I added my blog to Ping-o-Matic – it updates different search engines that your blog has updated.
20. I produced a 3 minute video on the book Brand Turnaround, posted it on YouTube, Vimeo and then promoted it in Twitter, Linkedin and on my Author Facebook page.
21. I posted my blog on blokube – a social voting site dedicated to professionals in blogging.
22. I added 5 linkbacks within my blog to other blogs in my niche.
23. I commented on 5 other blogs in my niche, with links back to my blog.
24. Started a discussion on Google Groups.
25. I posted an article on EzineArticles.com with a byline link to my blog.

and be sure to use a URL tracking system for every single URL you create, which tracks the effectiveness of your links.

We are off to the research laboratory and we’ll let you know our results.

For more on social media tips, view:
If you are going to tweet, why not make it really sweet.

By Karen Post, on August 25, 2011

This week Lauren, my marketing coordinator, and I were in New York City – to say our trip was amazing would be an understatement. We enjoyed a perfect balance of business learning and connecting with new interesting people, hospitality highs and a little drama from Mother Nature.

The mission of our trip was to film a promotional video for my new book, Brand Turnaround, meet with McGraw-Hill’s marketing team to finalize book promotional plans and to experience the wonders of New York City. Mission accomplished, we did it all and more.

The Earthquake
The most dramatic moment of the trip must go to the Earthquake. I’m sure you heard about it, well we experienced it. We were at McGraw-Hill on the 42nd floor filming a video trailer for the book and suddenly the floor moved, the building swayed and we all felt a bit drunk without any wine. Even though it was a small rumble compared to what the West Coast feels on a regular basis, because it was so out of the norm for NYC, it was freaky and scary. Then an intercom voice announced what we all thought, it was an earthquake and to stay calm and stay tuned for additional information.

So since we were women on a mission, we went back to work, trying to get a good voice and visual take in before the announcer blared more warnings or updates.

Lesson #1:
Dwelling on an earthquake accomplishes nothing, soothing your nerves after a little high rise building rumble with shopping and retail research does wonders.

So after filming for a three-minute book promo, we had an excellent meeting with the McGraw-Hill marketing team. The book launch is going to be grand and memorable. We brain stormed on publicity and joint venture and Lauren and I showed off some of the book’s brand new promo tools, like our laptop skins, new website and blog, Brand Turnaround Tee shirts and even our custom Brand Turnaround bling that the marketing team will be sporting. Then we hit the streets to do our part for Manhattan’s local economy (buy stuff) and find idea inspiration.

Shopping is one of the best forms of market research any brander or business owner can do. Even if your business is not retail, when you shop ask questions, take pictures, look at the brand touch points like signage, packaging and décor and when you see something cool, ask yourself: How can I apply this concept to my brand or one of my clients?

The Eggs.
We ended up on Fifth Avenue and were smitten by Louis Vuitton‘s ultra fabulous windows display. The theme was Ostrich, eggs and LV’s best merchandise. The compelling idea was the big bird, he or she was huge, seemed at least 10 feet tall and extended from one window to the next. The head was in one window, the bird feet were in another and in others there were equally as mammoth bird eggs and all were dazzled with serious accessories. The split window look was not only creative, but engaged the viewer to follow the story in every window, instead of just stopping at one window and seeing one collection of their offering.

To see more shots go to Fashion Magazine

Lesson #2:
Merchandising is a critical tactic that builds brands. Whether you are a retailer with public window displays or a law firm with window boxes in an office lobby, these touch points are excellent opportunities to tell stories and should not be forgotten. And dividing something up, like they did with the bird, was an interesting way to present something, especially if it’s an unusual approach.

Is there a merchandising opportunity in your brand experience that can further express who you are?

The elevator attendants
We stayed at the Pierre Hotel, booked through American Express Travel. AMEX offers some very well-priced luxury travel deals with generous perks, like: stay three days, pay for two plus get breakfast everyday for two and $100 to spend anywhere in the hotel.

The property is almost one hundred years austere and elegant. The five-star everything from service, to ambiance, to food and beverage to gigantic fresh flowers was opulent. Part of their luxury brand was the attention to detail and the preservation of classic hotelier traditions. Every time you entered an elevator bank, a pleasant, professional staffer greeted you, smiled and made you feel like the most important guest in the hotel., pushed the floor button you needed and wished you a lovely day.

Lesson #3:
There was no heavy door to swing shut or any tricky floor buttons to push on these elevators, the attendants were there to deliver on the Pierre’s brand promise: the best of the best with impeccable white glove service.

What small touch can you add to your brand that reaffirms your brand essence? A brand essence is a brand’s DNA, it’s why you are here, how you are different, what your personality is and what you promise to deliver.

Got to run. Look for these topics in the next few days.

• How to brand-extend and not brand-dilute from Top Restaurateur Daniel Boulud
• Sampling trends and merchandising from hip, new Indian fare restaurant Junoon
• Video branding ideas from a super cool, online entrepreneurial TV by an insurance company
• What you can learn from a one scene Off-Broadway-production and apply to marketing
• Networking in NYC, it’s really such a small world
• A Book Review on Army of Entrepreneurs by Jennifer Prosek

Till next time, Brand on!

By Karen Post, on August 23, 2011

Of all of the place I travel to, Manhattan, New York juices my brain like no other city. Got here on Sunday. Traveling with my Superstar Marketing Coordinator, Lauren, who’s been with me for over a year. So needless to say we are celebrating many things, learning a ton, meeting lots of interesting folks, doing business and contributing to the local economy.

The next few days while in NYC, we will cover everything from customer service ideas, new trends and hot spots to branding hits and misses and we will introduce you to some new friends and business experts. This trip includes a lot of hospitality content because I’m finishing up our new restaurant branding course set to launch in the next 60 days.

Specifics insight will include:

• How to brand to the Elite, even if you are not a 5 star luxury property like the Pierre Hotel
• How to brand-extend and not brand-dilute from Top Restaurateur Daniel Boulud
• Sampling trends and merchandising from hip, new Indian fare restaurant Junoon
• Video branding ideas from a super cool, online entrepreneurial TV by an insurance company
• What you can learn from a one scene Off-Broadway-production and apply to marketing
• Networking in NYC, it’s really such a small world
• Book Review on Army of Entrepreneurs by Jennifer Prosek
• Marketing and launching my new book Brand Turnaround with the McGraw-Hill team

Our journey started at the Tampa Airport. Which is one of the easiest and stress-free  places in the US. We flew Delta, which offers an early and direct flight that lands at 9:30. We were greeted by  “Felix” who owns K&G limo. He has been my driver for over 15 years. While there are many national limo services, I’m loyal to Felix and his company because for many reasons, he’s consistent; there are no surprises. I trust him and admire his hard work and family values. Felix has 7 children. 6 by his wife and one who they adopted after witnessing a less than healthy living situation over 30 years ago. Felix and I often talk marketing and branding when I’m in his car.

Since we came in on Sunday, I didn’t have a tight schedule of meetings, I invited Felix to have coffee with Lauren and me so we could take a look at what he was doing with his website and share some wisdom. Even though I only see Felix when I come to NYC, I consider him more than a transportation vendor, but a trusted friend. Felix makes everyone feel special,  like a celebrity. And he has no shortage of celebrity customers from Academy Award Winning actors and Grammy winning musicians.

Felix wanted to know what else he could do to attract even more business. His son who recently graduated from law school had set up his site. He did a nice job and K&G Limo was getting calls from their site and other online avenues.  We suggested a few added methods to increase his results, which can work with many business models.

7 Tips to drive more traffic to any website
1) Felix had a blog, but it was not connected to the site. We suggested connecting it for search engine optimization reasons and as a helpful content tool for his customers. We also suggested:

2) Adding more and often keyword research and optimization in his website and blog content. And tagging all images with these same high ranking key words.

3) Adding social bugs like tweet this, like this and pass this on, to his blog, so it’s easy for visitors to share and earn links back to his site.

4) Add a site map, search spiders love site maps.

5) Offer a helpful safety travel tip sheet that visitors can download when coming to NYC. This will not only earn points from the site visitors, customers and prospects,  it can help Felix grow his opt-in list. Plus, he can tweet and share on Facebook too.

6) Set up a Youtube account that hosts a welcome video or again, helpful travel tips videos. This will not only earn points from the site visitors, customers and prospects,  it will help his search ranking, because Youtube is owned by Google.

7) With their permission, add testimonials from customers to the site, and if they are interesting,  then blog about them and use them for content on social media platforms too.

Till next time, Brand on!

By Karen Post, on April 23, 2011

Did you know, that as of this month, there are over 156 million public blogs in existence? And with that type of competition growing everyday, is the effort worth the prize? What makes a blog a rewarding a home run? and are you still wondering how to attract more visitors to your blog?

We are too.

I did some research regarding this matter and there’s a lot of opinion on the subject. Some say sell advertising, some say to blog every day, some say to not write more than 200 words so the audience doesn’t get bored, others suggest tightly niche your content and others say wake up the dead with extreme controversy.

I do agree with them all, most importantly I believe that businesses need to write stuff that people actually want to read!

Before you start writing, ask yourself who the target audience is and what the do they really care about. Also ask your self these questions:

1. Why do you write your blog? To make money, to serve as marketing tool?
2. Have you clearly identified 3 other highly read blogs in your topic?
3. Can you see their magic formula? Is meaningful content – are they a rock star, have a book and/or a national expert?
4. How is traffic being driven to their site? This takes some digging, but it’s important.
5. Does your niche topic have a big enough audience to tap?
6. Have you looked at Google analytics to see what you have written in the past that really drew readers?
7. Does your content provide pragmatic advice? Is the writing original and thought provoking, Is it entertaining, or is it just sucking up your time and you should be doing something else?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, stop writing, talk a walk, read a book and start again.

Be useful. Be unique. Be engaging.

How do these blogs do it?
HuffingtonPost – 35,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.
TMZ – 17,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.
engadget – 11,500,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.

For more blogging tips, view: 10-steps to making writing your blog easier.

By Karen Post, on April 8, 2011

HeyWire, the new Facebook app for texting in one place, may be the perfect option for you.

HeyWire, a service that has been offering free SMS (short message service) and recently partnered with Twitter to develop HeyTweet, is now debuting it’s Facebook application that allows users to send both texts and tweets from a cell phone (while using Facebook, of course).

HeyTweet is free, available in multiple languages and offers free local and international text messaging from a phone number. The reason why this service is so compelling is because when users normally send a tweet though SMS text, charges would incur. But with HeyTweet, a tweet through this service has lower carrier fees internationally. As of this month, 2 million tweets have been sent around the world via HeyTweets. If you are a business owner who is Twitter obsessed, this might be exactly what you’ve been looking for – no more high priced texts and messages to people internationally. Want a convenient way to send one message out to friends via text, Facebook Chat, Google Talk and Twitter all at the same time? They can do that too.

Here’s how it works with Facebook.
Similar to other free texting apps, HeyWire users are given a phone number to send and receive unlimited texts with friends and family worldwide. Users can send messages via HeyWire Facebook App or the HeyWire applications for iOS (iOS is the Operating System on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. It’s the “thing” that makes your device run) and Android devices. Texting conversations will follow you, as a user, from the HeyWire Facebook App to your smartphone application or tablet and vice versa. This app is the only Social Messaging Hub designed specifically for Facebook users. Do a lot of business via Facebook? Now you can run your business directly from your phone.

But, unlike HeyTweet, this new Facebook/HeyWire partnership comes with a small price. It’s about $2.00, or 20 credits in Facebook dollars, a month for unlimited texts on any device, anywhere.

Want to see if texting right for your business? Check out this powerpoint by Mobile Marketer.

Will you be using these applications, or will you be continue to message your family and friends with old fashion way?

Do you use texting to market your business?

Let us know!