Media Contact: Kristen Tischhauser, SGC

Kristen@SmartGirlsConsulting.com

Phone: 773-655-7706

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MALAIKA FOR LIFE founder Kristen Kenney granted Miami Hero award

Presented by Ocean Drive and The Limited Dadeland, Kristen Kenney will co-host shopping event and fashion show along with NYC designer Jodi Arnold in celebration of the award

Miami, FL (July 29, 2010, 2010) – Kristen Kenney, founder of MALAIKA FOR LIFE (www.MALAIKAFORLIFE.org) has been awarded Ocean Drive’s “Miami Hero” award for her philanthropic efforts to fight malaria and dedication to saving lives and empowering communities one bracelet at a time.

The award, which seeks to honor Miami natives who are making a difference in their communities and beyond, includes a $2500 donation to MALAIKA FOR LIFE and the opportunity for the organization’s signature “save a LIFE” bracelets, to be featured and sold at The Limited in Dadeland Mall.

“I am honored and grateful to both Ocean Drive and The Limited for this opportunity to share my knowledge about malaria and to introduce MALAIKA FOR LIFE to hundreds of new, fresh faces,” remarked Kenney.

The event will take place on Tuesday, August 10^th from 6 – 9pm at The Limited in Dadeland Mall.  During the festivities, Kenney will join NYC fashion designer Jodi Arnold as she reveals her exclusive line.  To attend, RSVP at TheLimited.com.

For more information on Kristen Kenney, MALAIKA FOR LIFE, or to set up an interview, please contact: Kristen Tischhauser, Kristen[at]SmartGirlsConsulting.com.

About MALAIKA FOR LIFE

Founded in 2009 by malaria survivor Kristen Kenney and financial advisor Anna Wascher, MALAIKA FOR LIFE (www.MALAIKAFORLIFE.org) is dedicated to saving lives and empowering communities, ONE bracelet at a time. Proceeds from every bracelet purchased provide life-saving medication to a child with malaria.  For the widows and HIV-positive women who craft the products, the organization provides a sustainable income that in turn facilitates economic development for their local Tanzanian community.

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You may have very important content to spread across the Web – what you you do with it is another story! When creating online content for your product or business, you must ask yourself the following questions: can my content be easily shared, does my website design really represent my brand, is the content focusing more on the brand or myself, is my content worth reading (exciting, informational, etc.)…

According to Inbound Internet Marketing blog, HubSpot, below are the 7 fluff-free reasons your online content isn’t spreading:

1. Bad Web Design

If you website looks stuck in 1997 with a construction guy digging and music playing or like a run of the mill template, there is a lack of credibility and trust. Do you share content from sites that you don’t trust? I wish it wasn’t true, but looks matter. Think about first impressions. It is worth investing in a site that is functional and reflects your personality and brand.

2. Lacking Ease of Sharing

The best content is like peanut butter, easily spreadable. Easily spreadable doesn’t mean that it takes a scholar to find how to share easily via social networks, email, etc. Enabling your community, no matter how big or small to share with ease can make a huge difference. Do you have one click sharing?

3. Product Focused Content

The best content isn’t about your product. The harsh reality is nobody cares about any of our products. People do care about interests, passions, hobbies, solving their problems, getting answer to key questions, learning etc.For example, let’s pretend you sell dog food. A mistake is to make the content about the food. Meaning features and benefits.

The fix here is to focus on an interest or passion. People aren’t passionate about dog food. Instead, I bet there are plenty of people passionate about dogs. Training dogs, dog health, etc. A better play is for the content to focus on the bigger picture and not just the product.

4. Not-You Focused Content

Injecting personality, passion and quirks into your content? Always a good thing. Making it about you and how amazing you are. Yikes. Make it about them, not you. It will do better. Trust me.

5. Lack Of Passion

If you aren’t passionate about your content, it will show and will hinder progress. Nobody spreads half-baked material. If you can’t get excited and pumped up about your content, how can you expect anyone else to be?

6. Unclear, Boring Or Ridiculously Long Titles

I get it. Don’t judge a book by its cover or a piece of content by its title. Fair enough. However, the reality of the matter is titles matter, a lot. They matter for search engines and humans. When you have 50 titles in front of you, which ones jump out? Why? Spending time on titles is worth the time.

7. Oops, I Forgot My Marketing

We have all fell into this trap. You spend all the time creating the content and posting it and then no time is left to promote it. You can have the greatest content in the world, but if you don’t spend time marketing and promoting it, then it will be the loneliest, saddest, greatest most useful content in the world.

HubSpot’s recommendation, especially when getting rolling is to spend 80% of total “content time” marketing and promoting. This means creating one-on-one connections on social media sites, expanding your network, digital schmoozing, perhaps hosting an event or meet up. Often the best online marketing happens offline.   Content plus connections equals success. You have to give to get.

By Kristen Tischhauser

Smart Girls Consulting (SGC) offers business strategy and marketing communications services for the digital age, and we understand the importance of strategy and positioning, as well as building credibility for our clients’ brand online. As part of our services, we implement social media and search engine marketing planning and management on behalf of our clients – so naturally Facebook is a social media tool we use on a regular basis. When creating a Facebook profile for our clients, we continuously run into the same questions: “should we use a Facebook group or page” and “what are the benefits?”

These are questions that most companies often face, so we have dissected and highlighted the core differences between the two, so you can make the right decision to promote your business.

CLICK HERE to read SGC’s white paper – Facebook for business: groups versus pages.

By: Rebekah Iliff, founder and principal, SGC

Charity, mobile, virtual, connection, crowdsourcing, indie, art, local, organic, curated, 24/7, apps…..

As I browsed through Trendwatching’s latest INNOVATION INSANITYreport  (which I highly recommend you subscribe to BTW), these words seemed to come up quite a bit, creating a pattern that I believe will continue to blur the lines between reality and virtual reality….possibly making us all capable of being good citizens, and most definitely giving us the opportunity to truly feel “part of” even if we are thousands of miles (or brain cells) from actually being there.

Every other movie is now opening in 3D, businesses around the world are operating on virtual systems that require little overhead, apps have made nearly everything more accessible, convenient, and “real-time,” and don’t even get me started on the “i” products. 

Is it good?  Are we moving forward?  Or I guess the more relevant question is “are we moving up”? (PLEASE PLEASE) Oh, I don’t know. 

Who is John Galt? 

It probably is good….all this democratization stuff, enabling us to feel connected and “with it” even if we have no social skills. 

I mean, I watched a 2.5 year old bang around on the iPad for twenty minutes at the Apple store over the weekend…he was actually typing and making things happen.  When his mom asked him if he wanted anything he just grunted – while simultaneously pointing to the ice cream store within his virtual game.   Language renders obselete.  I was stunned.

So perhaps in twenty years the business world will be full of a grunting, socially inept, yet technologically inclined workforce which is quite possibly better than the entitled, verbally sassy, overweight GenX population?

We may end up being practically pre-historic!

But here’s the real “reality”: if innovation takes over, and you refuse to change – your business model, your marketing plan, your communication habits, or whatever – you will most certainly be left to rot while the rest of us enjoy our virtual interaction with a high flying supercouple.  And while we enjoy our alternate-reality anytime of the day in pretty much any country in the world, we will be sure to send you an email (hotmail or yahoo anyone? SNAP!) about it while we share the experience with our REAL friends in REAL time.

By: Rebekah Iliff, founder and principal, SGC

I’m throwing out a standard disclaimer for anyone reading this post: this is kind of a rant. No wait, it’s an actual rant.

It’s a reaction to something that continues to happen to me, and THE # 1 reason I quit going to networking events, handing out my business cards at conferences and trade shows, and in general, have become a complete curmudgeon when it comes to connecting with people – both online and off. 

What has become the bane of my existence, you ask?  A trigger for sheer impatience of an otherwise generally happy, optimistic individual? 

Let me describe the all-too-familiar scenario:

You go to an event of some sort which has managed to lure people there under the “auspices” of a networking opportunity, business conference, etc.  You meet two really competent people and several others who many not be competent but seem good enough at their jobs to warrant a conversation.  Then you exchange business cards and say: “shoot me an email so I have your contact info,” and the usual niceties such as “great to meet you, best of luck, and stay in touch” – even if you don’t mean it.

Several days later, you take the time to personally email all of those contacts and say that it was lovely to meet them and definitely stay in touch – knowing full well that what this means is “connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter so that I can build my online army lest anyone who sees my profiles knows that I’m not a complete loser. (BTW…as of today I only have 31 followers on Twitter…go figure).  As silly and superficial as this sounds, it’s COMPLETELY socially acceptable. 

Here is what is NOT COMPLETELY socially acceptable, and in my book the quickest way to go from legit to legitimately awful:

1. Don’t return my email, even if it literally takes you 5 seconds.

2. Do send me a LinkedIn invitation with the standard “I’d like to connect with you” BS with no reference whatsoever to how we may have met. NOTE #1, you never returned my email.

3. Do add me to your email list and send me updates on things that I care nothing about.

4. Don’t ever acknowledge my 2nd attempt to get in touch, then send a request for me to follow you on Twitter.

5. And for the love of all that is holy and good….please, whatever you do, give my email to others who may be interested in soliciting me or selling me something and let them repeat the mistake you made in #3.  That is perhaps my favorite.

Stay tuned for more rants.  It’s oh so therapeutic.  I’ll be sure to send you an email about it even if I don’t know you. OH…and can you please follow me on Twitter?

By: Rebekah Iliff, founder and principal, SGC

Measuring Growth

Any marketing communications professional who has survived through the “thrash and burn” of the past two years is most likely all too familiar with this question: “So how do we measure our investment, and how do we know if what you’re doing is really effective?”

In the past, this question would send me reeling, put me on the defensive and make me want to shout: “Ok you nincompoop, you know it all, you try doing it yourself and see if you can answer that idiotic question!”

The past, however, is not the present, and once I got over the initial irritation of someone questioning my “expertise,” I understood the importance of truly being able to answer it.  In reality, if you can’t measure marcom efforts - and this includes everything from email marketing, SEO and SEM to public and media relations through the “impressions” and lead generation cycle (note: not the sales cycle, this is nearly impossible unless you are in-house marketing and public relations OR have a very engaged client) –  then your efforts may render pointless.  They may NOT REALLY be pointless, but most clients will see it that way, particularly if they have investors or boards that speak the financial language of ROI, brand equity, and rate of return.  Heh? Exactly.

Surviving in today’s economic climate can be summed up in one exacting phrase: Work 3x harder for 3x less and with 3x the results.  That’s it. If you can do that, your business will thrive.  If you can’t, you lose.

Is this even humanly possible? Isn’t this superwoman’s job?  How can any sane, normal, human being expect results with limited budgets, limited human capital, and limited potential customers?

The answer is simple: They can, they will, and they do. 

But I digress. 

In order to measure the effectiveness of any campaign, you must INSIST that your clients have measurable, track-able systems in place.  Consider this your insurance policy and know that without these analytics, your campaign may feel like a success but it may not be viewed as a success.  Bottom line: measurable data = happy clients. 

EVEN IF the growth is not what was expected, the fact that you have the numbers and can re-strategize if something isn’t working often shows the client that you’re aware and willing to navigate change in order to find success.  Whether we believe it or not, this goes a long way.

So let’s talk about how to measure growth, and some simple tools that have easy-to-read measureable data built-in that will make your life easier.

Growth % is measured by this equation: (final number – original number)/original number x 100.  Growth % over time is measured by the aforementioned outcome divided by the days, months, years of the campaign.  So the equation would look like this: (final number – original number) /original number x 100  / (campaign duration)

Here is a simple example from one of SGC’s recent campaigns in which we wanted to grow the email list exponentially prior to a potential acquisition.  We used THE BEST web-based email marketing service provider: MailChimp.

When we started our marketing communications efforts, their email list was hovering somewhere around 1200.  After six months of concerted effort, the list grew to nearly 2200 engaged, opted-in readers. 

So if we use the growth % formula, we can measure the overall growth:

(2200  -  1200)/1200 x 100 = 83% growth. 

If we want to know the average monthly growth rate we would divide 83% by the duration of the campaign, which was 6 months.  So 83/6 = 14% average growth rate per month.

But what does this growth have to say about the success of our campaign? So what if the list grew? How does it translate to sales?

Fortunately for us, this same client more than tripled their revenue within this six month period (a result of our strategy alongside other key internal members’ efforts), which may or may not have had anything to do with the email list growth.  But the reality is that if numbers are moving in a positive direction, the assumption is that there is a correlation.  Let’s look at their sales numbers and do the same exercise:

 (180units – 30 units) / 30 units x 100 = 500% growth.

Now, let’s average that over a six month period: 500% / 6 = 83% average growth rate per month. 

So when I met with the company who was sizing my client up for acquisition, and deciding whether or not they wanted to keep us on board, I could simply refer to these numbers to build my argument.  Everyone, particularly financial/numbers people, love to hear about a 500% growth in revenue in a six month period with an average of 83% growth rate per month.  But what financial/numbers people (and when I say that I’m generally referring to CEO/COO/Investors/Boards) don’t really want to hear are things like: average number of impressions per day, number of media pitched in an average month, blog posts generated and the number of visitors to the site. 

Marketing people love that stuff, but if you’re working directly with the C-suite they could honestly care less.  Although I hate to admit it, they’re right.  Hands down and without a doubt. 

What’s the moral of this story?  Well, for starters, if a client isn’t willing to work with a trackable system or tools that will allow you to measure data, walk away.  Do this knowing that you are saving yourself  a world of frustration and disappointment, and possible failure.

The second moral is this: do your homework, research, and asking around to find out THE BEST integrated marketing platforms and tools that will allow you to track and measure growth.  Here are a few of our favorites, for starters:

Business Wire  - newswire service

Mail Chimp  - web based email marketing service

Word Press  - content management system and website development platform

Google Analytics  -  allows you to track all website/blog activity

Happy measuring!

Yes…we still hear the same question from our clients, friends, family, and colleagues – “What is Twitter and what does it mean to tweet, retweet, yada, yada?”  Well, we have some answers for you! According to Wikepedia, Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Along with Twitter comes new lingo that one might not be familiar with, so here’s the 411 on ‘Twerminology’ and its meaning:

What is a Tweet?

A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter. Because Twitter only allows messages of 140 characters or less, “tweet” is as much a play on the size of the message as it is on the audible similarity to Twitter.

What is a Retweet?

A “retweet” is a reply to a tweet that includes the original message or a tweet that includes a link to a news article or blog post that you find particularly interesting. Like hashtags, retweets are a recent community-driven phenomenon on Twitter with the aim of making the service better and allowing people to follow discussions easier.

What is a Hashtag and how do I use it?

A “hashtag” is a word or acronym used to describe a tweet in order for people to easily follow the conversation. Hashtags began as a community effort to tag individual tweets. Once their popularity took off, Twitter began supporting hashtags by automatically linking them into the search engine. Tagging your message on Twitter is easy. Simply add a hash (#) in front of the word, phrase or acronym that best describes your message. Due to the limited number of characters allowed in a tweet, the best hashtags are usually a single word or a few letters.

For more Twerminology, go to our source and visit About.com’s Twitter Glossary.

Whether you’re a publicist drafting a press release or a business owner creating website content, you MUST use keywords in order to increase online presence. With BusinessWire’s free keyword tool suggestions, you will be provided with a plethora of resources to help you optimize your search, generate new ideas, gauge the relative popularity of different keywords among searchers or even just learn some new words.

BusinessWire suggests two types of tools. The first, Keyword Generation Tools, gives you ideas and statistics based on keywords you input. Below are the recommendations:

• Wordtracker’s Free Keyword Suggestion Tool is the granddaddy of online keyword tools, where usage is simple. Just enter a keyword and click the button. You’ll receive the top 100 related keywords in order of search volume. For even more numbers surrounding these results, you can also try SEOBook’s free keyword tool (registration required), which borrows suggestions from Wordtracker.

• Wordstream’s Free Keyword tool lets you put in more than one keyword at once, which will allow you to more easily gauge popularity of different terms. Most importantly, it will provide you with a full list of matching keywords via e-mail rather than limiting results to the first 100. Wordstream also provides Keyword Niche Finder, which aims to give you segmented result sets for niche keywords based on a single keyword that you enter.

• Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool pulls recommendations and data directly from Google. As the name suggests, this tool is designed to help Google AdWords advertisers and tends to show you very broad keywords with the most search activity by default. You could also supplement your research with Google Trends for even more data. For example, when searching keywords for SGC’s client, AuDNet, Inc. (a nationwide network of licensed audiologists dedicated to providing expert, professional hearing and balance care), I searched “find audiologist” and “hearing loss”. Here are the results:

The second type, Quirky Keyword Tools, helps you look at related words in different ways and may even give you a few ideas. The following tools can help you spot trends and relationships among all the words floating around the web.

• SEOMoz’s Popular Searches tool simply displays popular searches and topics from Google, Yahoo, Technorati, Amazon, eBay and elsewhere. All of this data is available scattered around the web, but it’s great to have it in one place.

• Quintura is designed as a visual search engine aid. The site shows related keywords in a tag cloud style design when you perform a search. Each keyword is clickable and leads you on a web search, making it both a helpful general research tool and keyword visualizer.

• VisualThesaurus is not entirely free, but you can perform a few searches before the app starts asking for your credit card information. The clean display and comprehensive depth really make it stand out.

• Soovle grabs the search auto-complete results from various popular websites and displays them all in one place. As opposed to the Popular Searches tool, which tells you what’s hot now, Soovle can be a novel way to find out what searches related to the keyword you enter are the most popular in the long term among many searchers.

After experimenting with these keyword tool recommendations, you will soon find what suits you best, and be on your way to crafting successful online content!

A good friend of mine, Kim, from the k101 Agency in Chicago forwarded the following email to me today and I thought it was worth sharing.  The email discussed how you can prevent your email from entering your recipient’s spam folder. Read on for further details …

Good morning! I just wanted to take a few minutes and talk about Spam, and how to prevent your email from going to your recipient’s spam folder.  Most email programs are set up to filter, block and destroy spam without the recipient ever reading or seeing the message. This is useful when messages are truly spam, but when you have a message to get across, it is important to make sure your work does not end up in someone’s spam filter, even though the spam filters are getting  most spam, at times a legitimate email will be caught, unfortunately.

Below I provide steps to assist you to prevent your legitimate email going to their spam folder:

1) Include plain text in your email if you can. Emails that use HTML or that include images and links might get flagged for spam.

2) Try not to have too many attachments. One of the dangers of spam is they can contain dangerous attachments, and can also trigger the spam filter. Plus, it will help theiremail load faster.

3) Do not use phrases that can trigger spam filter. Most spam filters work by looking at text/words, and if it spots a “dicey” word, it will flag it and send it to the spam folder. CLICK HERE for a list of spam keywords to avoid.

If you get an email from someone and that recipient is trusted and ends up in the spam filter, you can add them to the trusted senders list , these lists are within most email applications such as Outlook.