The Art of Learning Something New Everyday

Being an Entrepreneur and Marketer in today’s day and age can definitely be challenging but also extremely rewarding. I create my own opportunities and LOVE what I do but I can’t dismiss that there are so many things to manage including new technologies that pop up by the minute (meaning I must learn and be well versed on them before everyone else so I can educate others about them), challenges of running a business itself: finances, marketing, business development, etc and then of course balancing everything with my personal life that I cherish!

Something that really inspires and motivates me daily is the knowing that I literally LEARN SOMETHING NEW EACH AND EVERY DAY! This to me is priceless and it usually happens when I’m teaching others, giving advice or recommendations. I come to the realization that “HEY! I needed to learn that too!” Or “Wow I really need to take my own advice!” I truly believe the world is a mirror and what I encounter is a reflection of myself and where I’m at in life. I’ve recently learned so much while teaching and interacting with others for my job so here are a few things I’ve learned in the past couple weeks I feel are worth sharing .

1. Networking Tip:  No selling at mixers and have a 2 sentence opener that sparks interest! I often avoid going to business mixers because I’m just not a fan of the whole “What do you do?” question being asked to me a hundred times. I realize it’s important for me to get out there and meet people face to face so I got myself to go out and I attended a 6 Degrees San Diego networking event last week.  I met a guy who works in insurance. He immediately started to try and sell me policies. This also immediately made me lose interest. But it made me re-evaluate the way I connect with people at business mixers. It’s important to be authentic while being able to describe what you do in 1-2 sentences to peak people’s interest so you don’t get flustered (because it’s easy to get nervous when you’re on the spot!). If you start by bombarding someone by selling, you’ll lose the connection and thus I came up with my opener to spark interest when I get asked the Question “What do you do?”  “I’m a Marketing professional; I specialize in Digital Marketing and Social Media. I teach businesses how to utilize digital tools to grow their business.”  Then I stop. THAT’S IT! I couldn’t believe that before this week I really didn’t have an efficient way to describe to people what I do without selling! Thank you to the guy who sold to me at an event and encouraged me to rethink my approach when I introduce myself at business mixers.

2. Social Media Tip: Update your LinkedIn profile! I have gotten more business from people finding me on Linkedin than any other social network. If you’re not already on LinkedIn, sign up! I recently hosted a Digital Media Now seminar teaching people how to optimize their Social Media profiles, including LinkedIn. I discussed using keywords in your profile so you have a higher probability of coming up in searches. Of course you would think since I’m teaching this, my profile would be completely optimized with all the proper terms. Well I realized I have never, ever added anything to the “Skills” section! I had zero skills listed, which means zero key words. Moral of the story is that I need to be mindful of keeping my own marketing tools up to date especially if I’m teaching everyone else to do the same. After I updated this on my profile, I IMMEDIATELY had someone hire me for a project based on being impressed with my profile and she mentioned my “Skills” listed! Anyway, even if you only spend 10 minutes doing this, go update your LinkedIn profile as soon as possible!

3. Peace of Mind Tip: It’s ok to do nothing because doing nothing is actually accomplishing something! 
This last tip comes from my Yogi side! I practice yoga several times a week and try to meditate daily (daily is more like once a week). I recently found myself recommending yoga classes to someone who really felt stressed out and had no time to do anything. While I was saying this the thought popped into my head. “How is it possible that I’m a yoga instructor but have the hardest time practicing yoga, meditating and staying present myself?!” Do as they say, not as they do right? Working in an industry that’s constantly changing while at the same time being an entrepreneur means my mind is always racing! It’s difficult for me to take a break and often when I do take a break, I feel like I’m not getting anything done or I’m wasting time. My tip to all of you and to myself is that when you take a break to meditate, read, wind down, whatever it is you do to relax, try your very best to know that it’s OK to be taking that break and be doing nothing. This “doing nothing” is actually doing wonders for your body in terms or helping you recharge, rejuvenate, relax, all sorts of positive things your body needs especially if you’re a busy body!

I leave you with a quote I find very inspirational that’s aligned with my belief that I really do learn something new every day!

“No day in which you learn something is a complete loss” ~David Eddings

3K Interactive brings Internet Marketing to Las Vegas!

Earlier this week, the 3K Interactive team packed our bags for Vegas to show the DMA08 what Internet Marketing is all about.

I spoke to over 100 companies. Only about 5 were online/interactive companies. I know it was the “Direct Marketing” conference but I’m still perplexed by the number of traditional marketing companies present: specialty envelops, address list brokers, postcards, telemarketing companies etc. (especially since the event itself was marketed as a global event for “Integrated” marketing)

To all of the traditional marketing companies, I’d like to educate you on why you too should have an SEO campaign with 3K Interactive. If you are 1 of 50 companies who sells specialty envelops for direct mail advertisers, how are you going to stand out from all the others?

I actually asked this question to many people. Most responded with something along the lines “We’re the only company who uses soy based ink”, “We are the only eco-friendly company”, “We sell clear envelops that don’t look like junk mail.” It’s great to have a unique selling point but this does not mean potential customers will find you.

If I told you I have a way to get people who are ready to buy your service go to your website and place an order with you right away, wouldn’t you listen? Better yet I can even track it for you so you know where your customer are coming from! Sound too good to be true? Not even! This is reality with the career that I have become so passionate about, Internet Marketing!

A Clear New Vision

For those who don’t already know I resigned from my position as a Marketing Consultant at Clear Channel Communications. I begin my new venture at with 3K Interactive on Monday Sept. 22nd. I am excited to move into Online Marketing. The Internet is growing exponentially and the opportunity is unlimited! I’ll be a true consultant, resource and connector for my clients.

The main question I get is “Why did you leave?” First I’d like to say that I absolutely loved working at Clear Channel. For almost 2 and 1/2 years I have felt nothing less than proud to represent the company. It was a difficult journey and succeeding there is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Long nights, stressful days, driving all over town, cancellations, internal battles etc, but my hard work at Clear Channel was well worth it! The things I learned about building client relationships, developing targeted campaigns, interpersonal relationships, having a strong work ethic and marketing in general are priceless! The perks of working in radio aren’t bad either!

After working there I am confident that I can take on any challenge and succeed. It was a stepping stone that opened up so many doors. I didn’t leave because I wasn’t doing well or I didn’t like the company. The more I grew in my position there, the more I wanted to offer more to my clients. By creating campaigns for people only within Clear Channel Properties I became extremely limited. I wasn’t creating targeted campaigns. I was reaching out to thousands of people with a commercial that probably only 1% of listeners actually cared about. Out of those 1% only another 1% actually remember to go home and look up info about the ad. Radio is the largest form of word of mouth and works great if you’re a huge corporation with a large marketing budget but for companies who can’t afford to spend as much as Coke or McDonalds the online presence is essential before considering any other medias. Thus my transition to online marketing.

I’m an Entrepreneur at heart. I’m always formulating new ventures, business ideas and plans to grow my career so the transition to online marketing is perfect because . I never sold a campaign that I didn’t believe would work but the more I learned about marketing, I realized that there is more that I can do to help businesses grow. I will now create campaigns where my clients will be found by consumers specifically searching for their product/service instead of trying to find consumers who probably don’t care. My campaigns will be permissive and the advertising will be sought after rather than interruptive like most TV and Radio Ads. I will help my clients build a community to really engage their customers. I will optimize websites to increase conversion rates and I’ll be able to track everything which will allow me to fine tune and customize the campaign as it progresses. I could go on and on about what I’m now able to offer with the online world! If you’d like to learn more about my new marketing resources please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

So there you have it! The real story about my transition and new business venture!

Blogger’s Block, No More!

Recently I’ve been getting writer’s block (or blogger’s block in this case) when writing blogs. I realized I’ve been putting a lot thought into my blogs because I want them to be fine-tuned without any errors to sound professional. Someone brought to my attention that I just need to sound like myself when I blog. Well, “myself” does not have any problem with thinking of things to say or talk about. I’m good at impromptu and adapting my answers and comments to any given situation. I speak what’s on my mind and my passion for reflects in my delivery. From now on I’m adopting the same policy with blogging as speaking. I want my blog to reflect my unique personality, not sound like a corporate website. Blogs are unique to each individual and for the most part have no set standards, formulas or structure.

Now that I understand the power of blogging, I’m going to write what’s on my mind and if someone doesn’t agree, then they should start their own blog.

Another step forward to Marketing Melodie 2.0. Thanks to everyone who’s been supportive of my web transformation. Even when I have technical questions my new web community has been quick to answer them in order to guide me in the right direction. Happy blogging everyone!