Every Interaction Matters

My husband recently forwarded me a link to an article that so resonated with me I had to share it. Titled, “How to Build 24/7 Relationships, Using New Media.” You can read it at http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662348/how-to-build-247-relationships-using-new-media.

This latest piece in the PATTERNS series by the savvy folks at IDEO gave me hope that the days of being stuck in an endless and seemingly hopeless loop of one-way dialogue (which I recently found myself a part of when our air conditioner went out in the heat of the summer) are hopefully on their way out the door. Don’t worry the AC was eventually fixed but the customer service I received from the home insurance group I dealt with was so bad I was compelled to use Facebook as a place to vent my frustration. Every time I spoke to anyone it was as if I were speaking to a robot that gave a response to my question as if reading it from a list of answers on a cue card.

I feel the times they are a changing though. And I am excited and happy to be a part of it! With all the social media channels available to us, turning a negative interaction into a positive one, creating meaningful dialogues and truly connecting with colleagues, business partners and most importantly customers is a snap. It’s as easy as popping open your laptop at your local wireless café and logging on to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn group or blog. You have the power to create significant “micro-moments” and really make a difference in someone’s day.

Fingers frozen on your keyboard? Not sure what to say? Sam Ford at PRSA has some insightful words of wisdom for “Putting Messages in Motion”. He advises:
. Listen: Find the audiences who are talking about your brand and understand the issues they care about, the language they use and the nature and culture of the community.


. Converse: Reach out and address your audience’s concerns and issues those audiences you are listening to raise. Find where they are already having those conversations.

. Build: By launching social media platforms and initiatives in ways that link to and draw from the places where audiences are already talking, you stand the best chance of building a blog, microblog, social network presence or mobile application that people will care about.

. Maintain: Never look at listening as an initial “research phase.” To build a long-term relationship with your audience, it’s crucial that listening remains a cornerstone of your social media strategy.

For the complete article visit:
http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/TheStrategist/Articles/view/8756/1019/What_s_the_Rush_Creating_Meaningful_Dialogue_with

In the mood for some social media benchmarking? Check out some creative B2C and B2B companies that have added social media to their marketing mix at
http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/ and http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/02/b2b-social-media-winners/.

Have you added social media tools to your marketing arsenal? The team at BrightBlue would love to start a conversation with you. What has worked? What has not? Have you fine-tuned your 140 character creative Twitter Tweet? What compelling discussions have you had in a Linkedin group recently? Want to talk about best practices in regards to video blogs? Let’s share insights so we can learn how to perfect our social media marketing muscles together. Please join us in ongoing conversations of just about everything marketing! We’re easy to find on:
Facebook, search BrightBlue Marketing and choose the one that says local business page. Like us there; we'll friend or like you back!

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Andrea Lamarsaude

Event Management – What does it mean to me?

Event Management is the phrase that stands between you and stress. It is what makes the difference between a smooth Conference or Marketing Event and chaos. Ok, you understand that, but what does that really mean when it “hits the floor”?
An Event Manager (or event management company) handles all the details and logistics of any type or size of an event that your company would like to participate in or organize. What is behind the scenes of event management? It is the vendors (caterers, photographers, entertainment, etc.), selections (site, food & beverage, entertainment, décor, etc.), logistics direction and the detailed management necessary to ensure everyone is in exactly the right spot, doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment. More than this though, it is the umbrella where everything that is an event resides.

When your guests are due at any moment and you have just received a phone call that the catering truck has broken down en route to bringing your order to your event, the event management company or contact within your organization is the one who knows what to do. They will contact the caterer to see if a back up is on its way or will jump in their car, find the broken down van, transfer everything to their car and make sure it is to your event on time.

When you want to participate in a conference in your area or even out of town, the Event Manager is the one who has your back. They can do everything from finding the best conferences for your ROI, help pick your booth location, design and set up your booth and booth graphics, suggest appropriate collateral for each target group, and help with all the last minute details throughout the conference for you. In addition to taking care of all the details of each event, your event manager is the one who can step back and look at the big picture as well. This means ensuring that your chosen theme or message is consistent throughout all the different parts of any event or conference. You can rest assured that the message you have chosen will be heard and seen throughout every detail.

By bringing in an event management company it will help free up your time to bring in additional sales. For more information on event management check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_management or http://eventmanagement.com/.

We would love to hear your experiences with event management whether it was within your company or with an outside Event Management company. There has to be some great stories out there – let’s hear them!

Event Plan of Attack

Mass vs. Targeted Marketing: The Quality of Your List