The Next Digital Media Now for Yogis is Sunday November 4th, 2012

In my previous post about the Workout in Pink event, I mentioned that I’m working hard to launch a new yoga brand. My new brand is still in the works and I can’t wait to launch so the meantime, I’m still using this blog to share any yoga related news and appropriately enough this post is relates to both yoga and marketing. During the summer I successfully hosted my very first Digital Media Now for Yogis. See I wanted to combine my two passions and teach other yoga/fitness professionals how to market themselves effectively and I’m happy to say that is exactly what I’m doing.

I’m also happy to announce that the next Digital Media Now for Yogis is on Sunday November 4th, 2012 from 4-6pm at Chula Vista Yoga Center. Here’s the info and how to register.

This workshop’s topic is: Personal Branding on Social Media- The success of your yoga business depends on your ability to effectively brand yourself as a resource in the industry. Learn how to ensure your personal online brand is cohesive with your professional online brand as a yogi on social media.

• Date: Sunday November 4th, 2012
• Time: 4pm-6pm
• Cost: $39
• Location: Chula Vista Yoga Center- 255 E St. Chula Vista, CA 91910
• Register: Click HERE to sign up and reserve your spot (Special thanks to Prana Yoga Center for their help with setting up the event and handling the registration)

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: As a yoga and wellness professional you’re an integral part of so many people’s lives as you enhance their health and well-being. In such a competitive industry, it’s important to strategically market yourself to keep your clients and students up to date, encourage them to attend your classes and be a trusted resource. With an abundance of digital technologies available to us, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when creating your own marketing strategy. At the Digital Media Now for Yogis Seminars, you’ll learn how to navigate digital marketing and social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to attract more clients, grow your business and be a valuable resource in your industry.

*Attendees who came to the first Digital Media Now for Yogis are encouraged to return as the presentation has been updated to reflect the continuously changing landscape of social media. You will definitely learn something new!

Takeaways:

• Actionable content and tips you can implement immediately to start marketing yourself as a Yoga professional
• Knowledge on how to serve as a trusted subject matter expert and resource in yoga
• Understanding on how to use Social Media tools to create a compelling brand

About Melodie: Melodie Tao is a Marketing Consultant, Educator and an International Professional Speaker specializing in Digital Marketing and Social Media. She is also a Certified Yoga Instructor who has completed a 200 hour training in addition to many continuing education sessions. Combing her two passions for Marketing and Yoga, her mission is to empower others with knowledge on how to live your passion as a Yoga and Wellness professional. Her expertise will help you make money from your business through optimizing your brand and online presence while maintaining your true integrity as a Wellness professional.

*Just like I did last time, if you own a yoga studio that hosts a teacher training or if you teach in a teacher training program for a studio, please contact me. I am offering one complimentary entry per studio to this event. 

I can’t wait to see everyone this Sunday 4pm at Chula Vista Yoga Center. Please reach out to me if you have any questions and remember to register in advance here.

~NAMASTE~

Marketing Melodie Presents: Digital Media Now for Yogis

I just shared with you guys how I’m combining my two passions for  yoga and marketing into my career. I also announced that I’ll be hosting Digital Media Now for Yogis.  Digital Media Now, along with Digital Media Dinners is a seminar series that I have been hosting for the last couple years. I have customized the presentations so they are tailored to those who work in the Yoga and Wellness industries. I’m hosting the first seminar at La Jolla Yoga Center. I plan to host more seminars at various studios in San Diego and across the nation. My goal is to ultimately have the seminar as a part of the Yoga Teacher Training curriculum offered at studios across the nation.

Here are the details for the first seminar series:

• Date: July 28th, 2012
• Time- First Session- Personal Branding on Social Media 1:00pm – 2:30pm;  Second Session- Integrating Social Media into your Marketing Plan 3:00pm – 4:30pm
• Cost: $39 One Session / $59 Both Sessions
• *Attendees have the option of attending one or both of the sessions. Attending both sessions is encouraged but not necessary since each seminar will cover topics that are independent of each other.

First Session- Personal Branding on Social Media- The success of your yoga business depends on your ability to effectively brand yourself as a resource in the industry. Learn how to ensure your personal online brand is cohesive with your professional online brand as a yogi on social media.

Second Session- Integrating Social Media into your Marketing Plan - The growth of your yoga business will accelerate if you can strategically incorporate social media. Learn how to integrate social media into your existing marketing strategy and ensure you’re cohesively branding your business throughout all of your marketing channels.

ABOUT THE SEMINARS
As a Yoga and Wellness professional you’re an integral part of so many people’s lives as you enhance their health and well-being. In such a competitive industry, it’s important to strategically market yourself to keep your clients and students up to date, encourage them to attend your classes and be a trusted resource. With an abundance of digital technologies available, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when creating your own marketing strategy. At the Digital Media Now for Yogis Seminars, you’ll learn how to navigate digital marketing and social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to attract more clients, grow your business and be a valuable resource in your industry.

TAKEAWAYS 
- Actionable content and tips you can implement immediately to start marketing yourself as a Yoga professional
- Knowledge on how to serve as a trusted subject matter expert and resource in yoga
- Understanding on how to use Social Media tools to create a compelling brand

ABOUT MELODIE (Yep a new bio I just created as I shift my focus to working with more businesses in the Yoga and Wellness industries)
Melodie Tao is a Marketing Consultant, a Marketing Professor at National University and an International Professional Speaker specializing in Digital Marketing and Social Media. She is also a Certified Yoga Instructor. Combing her two passions for Marketing and Yoga, her mission is to empower you with knowledge on how to live your passion as a Yoga and Wellness professional. Her expertise will help you make money from your business through optimizing your brand and online presence while maintaining your true integrity as a Yogi.

*If you own a yoga studio that hosts a teacher training or if you run a teacher training for a studio, please contact me. I am offering one complimentary entry per studio to this event. 

REGISTER FOR DIGITAL MEDIA NOW FOR YOGIS HERE

Combining my two passions for Marketing and Yoga into a career

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post but I assure you that it’s because I’ve been working hard on many positive, new changes in my business. One of the things I’ve been working on is my new seminar series, Digital Media Now for Yogis. I’ll be giving you guys all the details about it soon but I’d like to first spend some time sharing how yoga appeared in my life and how I’m incorporating it into my marketing business.

FIRST, A LITTLE BACKGROUND- All my life I have been attracted to doing things that inspire me. Things that inspire me also bring out my passion which creates my desire to really make a difference. Throughout my entire career I have always had a desire to help others become even more successful in their own career. When I was still attending college, I worked various promotional jobs where I helped brands gain more positive exposure and increase sales. When I graduated from college I worked in Marketing and Sales for a large media company where I had the opportunity to work with other business owners and national brands to create interactive marketing campaigns dedicated to growing their business. I transitioned into the Online Marketing world because I saw more opportunities to help businesses grow through digital technology and social media. After working for several Digital Agencies, I soon realized that to truly embrace my calling as Marketing professional, I would need to build my own marketing business that focused specifically on digital marketing and social media. Marketing Melodie, which began as a blog site in 2008 shifted into my business brand which is the company I’ve been running for almost 3 years.

AND THEN THERE WAS YOGA-  With my hectic life as a business professional, I really needed something that could ground me and bring me back down to earth when stresses of deadlines, business development and even personal challenges arises. I discovered yoga as a practice that not only helped me physically stay in shape but also allowed me to regroup and recenter myself a midst all the stresses of life. While yoga is an ancient practice that’s been around for longer than I can remember, it didn’t exist for me until mid 2007 (which I can’t believe is 5 years ago)! Yoga appeared in my life in several ways.  The company I was working at offered lunch time yoga classes and the complex I was living in offered free yoga classes to residents. I previously took one yoga class at a studio and strongly disliked it. It was a style of yoga I wasn’t fond of and I actually walked out on the class. I decided to give it another chance and after a few classes at my complex with an instructor who I still credit for inspiring me to grow my practice, I was hooked. Yoga has helped me so much through stressful times that I now want to share this amazing practice with others. After completing my 200 Hour Comprehensive Teacher Training in April 2011, I decided to start incorporating yoga into my marketing career.

INCORPORATING YOGA INTO MY CAREER- Since I declared the desire to incorporate yoga into my career, I’ve been attracting more opportunities to turn my desire into reality. Some of the first classes I taught were yoga workshops titled: Yoga for the Busy Body at Hera Hub. As a busy person I wanted to learn how to make time for yoga and since I’ve learned that it’s possible, my first instinct was to teach others how they can make it possible too. Yoga for the Busy Body classes are taught with an emphasis on poses that can easily be done in between work breaks and lunch hours. I also incorporate poses to work muscles that get tight from sitting in front of a computer all day . I began getting other requests to teach yoga classes. I taught my first outdoor class for Forward Motion and more recently I taught another outdoor class for Big Bay Boot Camp with an inspiring view of the San Diego Bay. Social Media gave me an opportunity to attend Tadasana Festival in April and I’ve been subbing at La Jolla Yoga Center several times a month teaching Hatha, Vinyasa and even High School Yoga. Teaching in general is great. I learn so much from teaching others whether it’s in an academic setting or a yoga studio, however I want to do more than just teach yoga and marketing individually.

INTRODUCING DIGITAL MEDIA NOW FOR YOGIS- This is why I am thrilled to announce my newest seminar series, Digital Media Now for Yogis! I’m combining my two passions for Marketing and Yoga to empower you with knowledge on how to live your passion as Yoga and Wellness Professional. I will use my expertise to teach you how to make money from your business through optimizing your brand and online presence while maintaining your true integrity as a Yogi. The first seminar will be held on Saturday July 28th 1-4pm at La Jolla Yoga Center. My goal is to grow this workshop so I can host it at other studios and ultimately have it be a part of Yoga Teacher Training curriculums since learning the business of yoga is imperative for being a successful professional in the industry. The seminar is customized for professionals in the Yoga and Wellness industries but open to everyone. Online registration is now open and you can register here.  I’ll be writing a more detailed blog post about the seminar very soon so please stay tuned!

And if you have read this entire post or even part of this post, I want to thank you and also encourage you to find your true passion, then figure out a way to incorporate it into your career! I am still in the process of doing this but can tell you that passion makes working much more exciting! 

~NAMASTE~

WEBINAR: How to Increase Sales with Social Media @DigitalMediaNow #DMNWeb

How’s everyone doing with their Social Media Marketing goals  in 2012? It seems like only yesterday we were ringing in the new year and I was making lists of 12s for 2012! I can’t believe we’re nearing the end of February!

With that said I’m very excited to host the first Digital Media Now Webinar of 2012! This month’s topic: Increase Sales with Social Media. By now you’ve probably heard over and over again that Social Media is not about the ROI. Social media is about community, branding, building trust and credibility. However, while it’s nice to be succeeding in the aforementioned areas, there ultimately needs to be a growth in your business. Otherwise you’re unsuccessfully using social media and therefore wasting your time unless you truly don’t have any business goals related to your marketing activity.

March 2012′s Webinar Topic:

How to Increase Sales with Social Media

Intention: In this webinar you’ll learn to leverage your social networks to attract new clients and strategic partnerships to increase sales with Social Media. We’ll discuss many ways to grow your business including:

• How to create a social media strategy that drives direct sales
• How to be a thought leader on social media in your industry
• How to get your business in front of people who are actively seeking your product/service

Follow Updates about Digital Media Now on Twitter @DigitalMediaNow. Webinar hashtag is #DMNWeb

Educating My Way to Success (On the Bay! @OMSummit #OMS12)

Having a drive to continue learning  is so important for staying at the forefront of technology! By now you guys all probably know how important continued education is to me. I’m constantly educating myself and even make a point to learn something new every day! I learn by teaching others in classrooms, online classes, hosting seminars and webinars.

To ensure the knowledge I teach to businesses and students on marketing, technology and social media is up to date, I take the initiative to keep myself educated. This is crucial with the ever changing landscape of marketing in a digital world so I’m excited to once again be a part of the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) coming up in just a few days Feb 6-9, 2012 at the Hilton San Diego Bay front! I have received dozens on inquiries on “Are you going to be speaking?”. While I’m normally a speaker at conferences I attend, I’ll be at OMS as an attendee, eager to learn from others.  It doesn’t getting any better than learning more about the topics I’m most passionate about on the gorgeous bay! 

*EVENT HIGHLIGHTS*

• Online Marketing Summit is the premier educational event for digital marketing, focused primarily on educating marketers across all digital marketing disciplines and emerging best practices including social media, mobile, search engine media, eCommerce and website optimization.
• OMS hosts a keynote line-up of thought leaders. I’m personally looking forward to hearing Mari Smith speak for the first time! Mari and I are social media buddies, but I haven’t had an opportunity to learn from her insights yet so I was excited to learn that she is giving a keynote!

• A first time Expo, featuring over 50 companies, showcasing the leading online marketing tools and solutions
• 1:1 Labs: Unique to the event program are expert labs, which offer a one-on-one consultation with experts in social media tools, web analytics, search, usability, email and more.
• New conference tracks: With 40% more content this year, OMS is featuring six tracks.  Two new tracks include: Mobile Marketing and Content Marketing for Social Engagement

Remember promo code: MM25 for 25% off any conference pass!

Marketing Melodie in 2011: A Year in Review

Happy 2012 everyone! I can’t believe another year has gone by. The start of a new year is always a great time for me to reflect on the previous year and set goals for the upcoming year but also appreciate the present moment and everything that’s led me to where I am today.

At the end of 2010 I decided to write Marketing Melodie in 2010: A Year in Review. I have a habit of discrediting many of my accomplishments because I feel like I can always do more. Writing this really allows me to appreciate and be grateful for everything that I have done rather than focus on what I haven’t. Just like I did for 2010 here’s a year in review of 2011 highlighting noteworthy events, clients, blog posts, friends, accomplishments, adventures and amazing opportunities.

*JANUARY*

While marketing is my expertise and passion, I have another passion; YOGA! I’m very grateful for one of my clients this year, La Jolla Yoga Center. Creating marketing campaigns and strategies for a yoga studio I love definitely makes me happy.  I trained their team on using social media to grow their business and helped them get set up on Facebook and Twitter. They’re definitely doing a great job connecting with yogis on social media!

I’ve been practicing yoga for a few years and really wanted to strengthen my practice and take it to the next level. I contemplated getting my yoga teaching certification for a while. It’s a huge time commitment and I was really on the fence. Well I made the decision to go ahead with yoga teacher training and can now say, if you are ever on the fence, DO IT! I am so happy I completed my Yoga Teacher Training and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I began my training in January and completed my 200 RYT Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training at the inspirational La Jolla Yoga Center, located right on the beach! I met so many amazing new friends, learned so much about myself and really took my yoga practice to the next level.

*FEBRUARY*

I hosted the 2^nd event in my Digital Media Dinners series. The topic: Social Media Branding. This was a great milestone because it officially turned Digital Media Dinners into a series rather than a one off event.  I taught strategies on how to strengthen people’s brand across various social networks including review sites such as Yelp, group buying sites such as Groupon and location based sites such as Foursquare. I incorporated a variety of sites because marketing and social media is growing beyond just Facebook and Twitter.

*MARCH*

Since I learn and receive so much from my online and social media community, I really want to give back. I did this by hosting Twestival San Diego. This event is hosted all over the nation using social media for social good by connecting communities offline on a single day to highlight a great cause and have a fun event. It’s entirely promoted via social media. Twestival San Diego was hosted at the Keating Hotel and all proceeds benefited the San Diego After School All Stars.

Me and a few other lovely Yogis were featured on KUSI demonstrating Bootcamp for Yogis run by my fellow yoga teacher trainee, Body By Mags. Check out the video below where I get my 5 minutes of fame while I’m smiling through holding a yoga tough pose and demonstrating yoga boot camp moves (Warrior has got nothing on me!).

VIDEO: Yoga Boot Camp Video

*APRIL*

I successfully pulled my second April Fool’s Joke on Social Media! Everyone decided to wish me a Happy Birthday on April Fool’s this year!

The first annual Foursquare Day celebration took place in 2010 and I hosted Foursquare Day Hong Kong. This year I was in my home town, San Diego and had the opportunity to host Foursquare Day San Diego for my community at R Gang Eatery. Check in specials, complimentary wine, cocktails, delicious comfort food with an upscale twist, friends, badges and a good time was had! Foursquare Day on 4/16 (Yep that’s 4 squared which equals 16) is officially, my favorite geek Holiday!

Oh not to mention, I met my first Celebrity Chef, Rich Sweeney @ChefRicSweeney from Season 5 of Top Chef who is also the head of R Gang Eatery. You can read all about my addiction to food porn and cooking shows here.

*MAY*

I was interviewed by the San Diego Reader on using LinkedIn for Job Seekers. I shared my insight, advice and was gratefulto have my article published both in their paper and online! You can read the full article here.

Another Geek Holiday takes place in May! Star Wars day on May 4^th! May the Fourth be with you! I celebrated with some fun posts on Social Media!

 

*JUNE*

I really want to help others with yoga passion so I hosted my first yoga event: Yoga For the Busy Body at Hera Hub! I really want to provide an opportunity for other busy professionals and entrepreneurs to have a chance to experience the benefits of yoga while teaching them poses they can do on their own despite their busy lives. That’s exactly what I accomplished at this event.

*JULY*

I was cast in a Microsoft Commercial!  It was such an amazing experience to work a full day on set as talent! You can read all about how I was casted in the Microsoft Commercial and then watch my commercial when it finally aired below!

VIDEO: Marketing Melodie’s Microsoft Commercial

 I hosted my third Digital Media Dinners in my series. This time I educated attendees on How to Build Your Social Media Community. I had generous sponsors, expert speakers, delicious food and of course a captive audience who made the event a success. Check out the event recap in the video below.

VIDEO: Digital Media Dinners- How To Build your Social Media Community 

*AUGUST*

I attended BlogHer for the first time as it was hosted right here in America’s Finest City. I connected with inspirational bloggers from all across the nation. It was great talking to so many people about their passions and seeing  them creatively share it with others through their writing. I had a good time at the conference itself, attending workshops, checking out the booths, the networking events, parties and left with more swag than I knew what to do with!

Oh and I met another Celebrity Chef, Brian Markaley in the Season Final of Top Chef Season 3. He was hosting a BlogHer party!

 *SEPTEMBER* 

Marketing Melodie is growing quickly! I sent out a call for interns and bring Allison Schummer @AllisonSchummer on board to help me!

Allison recently graduated from SDSU and I give her my highest recommendation to anyone who’s hiring as she’s currently on the market for a new job!

San Diegans experience a MAJOR BLACKOUT! But we united and got through it while making new friends! We proved that even during a black out social media still shines!

*OCTOBER*

Fall is in the air (even though it’s always sunny in San Diego) which means time for a new fall wardrobe! I attended one of my favorite tweetups ever, an Epic event at the Nordstrom Rack Plaza Bonita Grand Opening. I’m a very lucky person, I always win things and that night I won a pair of Designer Hudson Jeans.

In 2009 I said to the universe that I want  to meet my favorite author, Keith Ferrazzi. I finally met him 2 years later in San Diego at the Entrepreneur Challenge Fall Kickoff Event at UCSD. He autographed both my books and I learned some awesome networking tips from meeting Keith Ferrazzi.

The Nerds United! I tweeted and connected with amazing new friends  from the Talk Nerdy To Me Lover community by hosting @JenFriel and the #nerdsunite crew in San Diego. We had a fun night at the Tilted Kilt San Diego and a nerdy sleepover!

You can read all about the things that make me a nerd here.

*NOVEMBER*

After completing a successful Digital Media Dinners series, I hosted my first Digital Media Now Seminar- Personal Branding on Social Media at Pangea Bakery Cafe. Attendees learned how to make their personal brand cohesive with their business brand.

I was honored with an opportunity to speak to NATAS- National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at their Social Media Workshop. Teaching television professionals how to use Social Media in their industry.

Thanks to the luxury car company, Infiniti and Social Media I enjoyed an amazing afternoon at the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival. I also met my 3rd celebrity chef this year, Sam The Cooking Guy!

*DECEMBER* 

I hosted my first Digital Media Now Webinar on How To Integrat Social Media Into Your Marketing. It gave me a chance to share my knowledge with people who can’t always be available and in San Diego to attend an in person seminar. While there were challenges to work out with my first webinar, I received great feedback and plan to host additional Digital Media Now Webinars in 2012!

I celebrated my Birthday on my lucky day, December 13^th (It’s clearly not on April 1^st). In the photo below I’m dressed as a Monster, holding a class with an M and Minty Wonderland and Mozart cupcakes. Yep M THEME PARTY!

I began my new venture at National University. I was hired as a Course Developer and Adjunt Professor at National University. My first class starts in January where I’m teaching a marketing class on Interactive Strategies.

Wow a lot has happened in 2012! If you read this entire post or even part of it, THANK YOU!  As I reflect on 2011 I just can’t help but smile and be grateful for everyone and everything in my life right now. I am truly blessed and so excited to ring in 2012!

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