Archive for July, 2011
Getting ‘Camera Ready’ Before Your First Shoot: 5 Steps to Successful Video Interviews
July 29, 2011
Congratulations, you’ve scored your first on-camera interview. And you’re a master at phone interviews, so a video interview should be a piece of cake, right? Well, it’s not as simple as you might think…
It doesn’t matter if you’re scheduled to be on CNN or you’re shooting a quick FlipCam video for your website, there are a few tricks of the trade to keep top of mind before jumping in front of the lens:
- Dress accordingly: This is the most common mistake. Just because you look good in the mirror doesn’t mean you’ll look good to the camera. Wear plain colored clothing that will contrast with More >
Social Media Faux Pas – Hijacking Hash Tags
July 28, 2011
by Greg Hakim
in Miscellaneous
There aren’t too many rules governing the use of hash tags on Twitter – but there’s one pretty important one to pay attention to: Never hijack sensitive, political or breaking-news issues to promote your brand or product – especially if it’s completely unrelated.
The latest example of social media failure – Entenmann’s trying to take advantage of the Casey Anthony ruling. With #NotGuilty trending as one of the hottest topics on Twitter, Entenmann’s foolishly Tweeted: “Who’s #notguilty of eating all the tasty treats they want!?”
The hash tag certainly increased the company’s visibility, but More >
PR Ninja, Social Media Guru, Marketing Rockstar – Oh Mud!
July 27, 2011
We’ve all seen people on LinkedIn with non-traditional sounding titles. Are these annoying or clever? It’s a hotly divided topic. A recent survey by PRNewser Poll found:
- 48 percent said PR firms can add a touch of whimsy to PR titles.
- A little over 45 percent said PR firms should stick with traditional titles
A large PR firm recently spent nine months rolling out a new structure, and new title changes, giving the heave-ho to traditional titles like account executive and account supervisor, and switching to new ones, like strategist, creators, connectors and catalyst. That’s in direct More >
Blogging on Blogs #1: Reaching Your Audience, Sharing Personal Interests
July 18, 2011
A lot of B2B businesses are blogging, but not quite as many are gaining the audience they want. This is the first of what will admittedly be a random series of posts to address some of B2B’s most common blogging mistakes, and offer advice on how to build a better blog.
So why now? Well, in the last six months or so, businesses have suddenly re-discovered blogging, and with it, two truths: 1) Writing ‘em is time-consuming, and 2) Simply having a blog doesn’t do much; it needs to be read, and by the right people.
For starters, it’s not enough that it interests you. That’s actually a big More >
Guest Post: Building the Sales and Marketing Machine That is Now Silicon Valley Bank
July 13, 2011
I joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1995 and the experience has shaped me in a lot of ways including how I now think about marketing and how it interacts with sales. The following chart will give you some historical context:
Just to be clear, I was there and witnessed the transformation. I didn’t lead it … mine was a bit part to be sure.
The bank in 1995 had successfully established a presence in Massachusetts. When Allyn Woodward, Ken Wilcox and Dave Fischer left the then failing Bank of New England, they took the vast majority of their clients with them. The bank offered checking accounts, More >