The Web PR Blog

Spend More Time Planning

2011-04-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

I realize that planning can seem like a waste of time or an extra headache but it will save you a huge amount of time and wheel-spinning throughout your week.

I see a lot of people just go to work and get into the motion of work and handle actions as they come and attempt to just produce but there is very little forward motion related to this. What we are looking to attain here is precise, predictable forward motion that conquers goals.

So, here is what I want you to do - take time to plan your week. On Sunday, sit down and write or type out exactly what is needed to be done for the week in order to attain your goals. Make it clear, concise and actionable. If you're in sales, list every cycle you are working on and the actions needed to close each cycle this week. Be thoughtful about the physical steps that must be done to execute and attain each action. Print it out or write it down on a notepad - whatever works for you but have it all worked out.

Then, when Monday comes, you simply need to execute the plan. Stick to the plan. Push the plan through. Get it done. That's it. Don't try to just "be productive" with no game plan. Be thorough and make a defined plan and then do it. Simple. Try it out.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Why We Hate Butterflies

2011-01-07T08:43:00.001-08:00

Sounds like a funny title but the truth is, butterflies are a serious problem in the business world. Chasing them that is. In today's busy and sometimes chaotic world it's easy to get distracted and end up dreaming or chasing butterflies rather than staying the course and focusing on your goals, mission and the immediate tasks at hand. My advice, learn to hate butterflies as well.

Focus on who you are, what you do, what the goal is and your next most immediate step toward it. Get focused in every aspect of your company from knowing what target audience or vertical market you want to go after, exactly what you sell and what your value proposition is making sure that you aren't trying to be all things to all people, getting your people focused on their mission and tasks to attain your focused goal and only promoting and selling to your focused market etc.

There are zillions of things that can take you off course. Distractions. Butterflies. Get rid of them and learn to simplify your company to get focused and then get tunnel vision about that focus to work toward goal attainment. It may sound more "fun" or sexy to chase the constant new adventure or idea but it's wasted time and effort. They prevent you from true victory and goal attainment.

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Focus

2010-12-16T12:53:00.001-08:00

The other day I was going through my Twitter feed and saw a tweet asking a question to Gurbaksh Chahal (a very successful entrepreneur who sold his last company for $300MM and the one before it for $40MM) about whether he get's tempted to work on other ideas while he is working on a company. His response... "never. Focus is everything."

To me one of the biggest elements of failure or simply lack of success lies in most people's lack of ability to stay focused. I'll admit, I love millions of ideas as well and have a tendency to daydream from time to time but being that I have owned four companies, I know the power of focused attention and the deadliness of distractions or dispersals. Focus is everything.

If you know what your company stands for, sells and delivers and have clearly named out or defined your product or service and then defined your goal or vision the only next step for you to take is to do everything that is focused toward executing the goals to attain the vision. Do not get distracted and do not let any other "bright ideas" enter the equation. Focus your time, energy and effort on your goal.

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The Best Deal

2010-11-11T13:08:00.001-08:00

There is a saying in business that goes like this.... "sometimes the best deal you made was the one you didn't". In other words, it's the deal you turned away or left on the table. It's always tempting to take on every single deal that comes your way in business due to the woo of possible profits related to it, but I would advise to you closely look at every deal to ensure the prospect fits your criteria and will truly be profitable for you.

This may mean that if something doesn't feel right about a deal or the prospect is being difficult upfront or it's outside of your core competency or or or... etc, well you may need to get up and walk away from it for the sake of your company. It most likely will be for the best saving you and your company huge amounts of wasted time and effort not to mention money.

One of the most profitable angles in business is knowing who your target public (audience) is and who is a desirable client to take on and who isn't. If you can peg who isn't you will avoid 90% of all headaches for your company. The ability to spot problem child's early is a vital tool toward a growing and profitable company. Sure, you may end up leaving a few perfectly good deals on the table but you don't need to worry about that. Focus on distilling the deals that don't fully align with your goals, purposes and policies and I assure you that you will be ultimately more profitable and happier.

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The Best Deal

2010-11-03T12:13:00.001-07:00

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The Makings of a Group

2010-10-28T12:16:00.001-07:00

The ultimate pursuit in business. To attain a group. A true team. Loyal, focused and driven to attain the goals of the group. It's fantastically difficult to attain but virtually indestructible once created.

Here are the makings of a group as I see it:

1) Everyone is focused on an agreed upon goal. In other words, there's a mountain and everyone see's it and is focused on climbing it without any deviation or distractions. The goal needs to be completely known throughout the group, intertwined into everyday actions, targets and programs. "What will we do today to take the mountain?" Get a goal, make it known and pursue it.

2) The group thinks in futures, meaning that everyone in the group is focused on their future within the group. Where will we be in 2 years, 5 years, 20 years..... This then breeds loyalty to the group and therefore strengthens the group as a whole. A great group is one that no one would ever want to leave.

3) The group works as a unit, synchronizing every action and coordinating efforts. No individuals are in the group, only one unit that operates as a unit knowing and acting with every area, division and department fully reliant and responsible for each other.

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Aim Small - Miss Small

2010-10-21T12:03:00.001-07:00

There was a line in the movie "The Patriot" where the character Mel Gibson plays is about to ambush a group of British soldiers to save his son. He tells his other two son's to remember what he has taught them.... "aim small miss small"

The other day I was in a meeting with our production team and while we were discussing strategies to attain client reaches, that exact phrase came out of my mouth... "aim small miss small" which lead to this blog.

It's a great concept and relates exactly to business and client growth. Focus your efforts. In other words, identify a segment you want to go after by profiling who you sell to now. Who buys from you? Then take aim at that small segment and go after them heavy. We are not aiming at the whole audience here, we are aiming at your audience. The people most likely to need, want and buy your products or services.

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Being a Martinet About Neatness...

2010-10-14T12:21:00.001-07:00

I was reading an old book by David Ogilvy today and he makes a comment about how he used to work in a professional kitchen in France and the head chef, Mr. Pitard, was a martinet (one who enforces strict discipline) about being neat. He had the chef's clean the kitchen twice per day to ensure the quarters were spotless. David Ogilvy carried many of these lessons over to his agency which grew to be one the best and biggest of his time.

David's comment for his agency was this, "Today I am a martinet in making my staff keep their offices ship-shape. A messy office creates an atmosphere of sloppiness, and leads to the disappearance of secret papers."

I tend to agree fully. I am a bit of a neat freak myself and always keep my quarters in ship-shape. I also tend to get a lot more done than the average person, I think partly because I operate in a neat orderly fashion. It's worth taking a look at yourself. Do you keep your office immaculate? Is everything where it should be? If not, I'm willing to bet that you are loosing valuable time and opportunities.

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Sales, Selling Your People and Getting People to Sell

2010-10-07T13:11:00.001-07:00

What role does sales play in your company? Have you recognized the fact that every person and every opportunity is another angle to sell? Let me clarify. Sales is intertwined into every aspect of your company.

You need to sell your products and services to your target market. You then need to sell and keep selling your people on the company, the task at hand and on your new clients that were just closed which motivates them to get the job done and carry forward what was sold. You then need to get people in your company to sell to your clients, your prospective public and the employees to constantly carry your company forward.

While there are many posts/titles in any company, everyone has a role in selling. A smile to a new client walking through the door sells. A welcome email to a new client sells. A follow up call to a client sells. Everyone in the company plays a role in selling to either cultivate new business, cater to and maintain current clients to ensure they are happy and are constantly sold on your company or to keep the team focused and motivated. The executive team, managers and CEO alike all sell the people of the company on the goals, future, mission at hand and on their specific tasks to motivate people to get the job done.

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Blockbuster Vs. Redbox

2010-09-30T13:19:00.001-07:00

Approximately 5 years ago Blockbuster came up with a campaign to start sending clients late fees to collections. This lead me to start looking at their business model to see how powerful or infallible they really were. After looking at the company model and recent campaigns I realized that they were on their way out. This was in 2005.

Lately I have rented all of my movies from Redbox because it's fast, simple and inexpensive. It just makes a heck of a lot of sense. When comparing the two, Blockbuster had every opportunity in the world to evolve and scoop the market share early for this strategy that Redbox has executed but failed to do so.

I'm not sure if it was arrogance on the part of Blockbuster or lack of insight but they have clearly lost the battle already. I saw recent news that Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection and have noticed a few stores closing. Here is where I feel they failed:

1) Instead of focusing on making their process more customer centric focused, they alienated their customers by sending late fees to collections and ultimately ticking off a lot of people

2) They became too focused with trying to make the mail in rentals work in order to compete with Netflix and must of somehow completely missed the entire concept that Redbox executed.

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Why I Would Pay for Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin

2010-09-24T09:37:00.001-07:00

I recently heard rumblings of news about Twitter potentially charging a fee. Some people have stated that if they did so, they would cancel the service. Silly.... in my opinion. Here's why:

Thus far, the public at large have exchanged (paid for) nothing from Twitter or most social media platforms yet are willing to pay monthly fees for silly expenses like TV to watch a constant inflow of advertisements that attempt to sell products which takes money from them. Twitter, is quite possibly one of the best promotional and sales vehicles that exists today. That statement may not be real for a lot of people but I assure you, it's correct. Let me qualify that statement further.

Twitter gives people the ability to reach out to any target public audience to establish communication with them and develop relationships that can and do result in sales and revenue. By survey, the number one and two sources of new business for any company is word of mouth and referrals. This is precisely what Twitter facilitates. You may not be familiar with Twitter or how it could be the very best promotional and business development tool for your company to employ but nevertheless, there are ways to use it strictly for business development that produces new relationships and sales. Our agency uses it for this very purpose for ourselves and our clients. To us, Twitter is no different than a cell phone. It's a tool to be able to communicate with who we want, when we want so we can develop new business.

Would I be willing to pay for it? Yes! of course. $50 per month? Sure! It helps me produce new business which is a vital aspect to any company. I pay for my office phones, my staff mobile phones, internet connections etc so why wouldn't I pay for Twitter? I can't wrap my wits around why anyone wouldn't pay for it. It's a tiny price to pay for something that could help me produce thousands of dollars per year for our agency.

Now, I actually don't think Twitter will end up charging for their service but will rather take the advertisement supported model but regardless I support it and will absolutely pay for it if they charge a fee, it's worth it.

Consider the intrinsic benefits of these tools before making a rash decision like John Mayer to close his account on Twitter recently. He just locked out 3 million fans from being involved in the conversation. The value of staying in front of your audience is priceless. John made a silly move to close his account and if I was his agent I'd be having a fit right now. The fans are his customers and his obligation to keep happy. No fans means no money. No celebrity is above bottom line numbers being affected by silly moves like that.

If you're thinking Twitter is simply a site to say "your getting a coffee right now...." then let me clarify that you have completely missed the strategy and opportunity with it. It's more than discussing random thoughts and the people who only use it for those purposes think they get and really don't. It's blows the doors off of most promotional outreach strategies if used correctly and will continue to do so. If there was a monthly fee, it would be insignificant compared to the value of it.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group - Follow us @richter102media

Speed

2010-09-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

Have you ever truly looked over the value of speed as it relates to your companies growth, strategies, sales, delivery and expansion? I personally rate this as one of the highest valued items in our agency and in any company.

Speed. How fast you can take an idea into execution to make that idea a reality. Speed is your friend and time is your enemy. Speed of delivery. How fast can you deliver your product or service with the highest level of quality. Speed of sales. How fast can you find your audience, prospect, sell and close them to create hoards of new business.

Speed is something you should measure, if you don't already. People talk frequently about competition, what the other companies are doing etc. If you master speed, the truth is, there isn't any real competition out there. Most companies are slow. Most people are slow. Competition is a highly overrated concept. Focus on speed and the "competition" becomes something that you view from a distance scratching your head wondering how and why they don't get it.

Even looking at today's economy, if people and companies operated faster, new companies started fasted, decisions were made faster, speed became a central and crucial element of the marketplace, we wouldn't have a problem. The economy would recover swiftly and new fresh funds would be produced and circulated quickly.

Sometimes simple answers are the hardest to figure out but are ultimately the best solution.

Make a point this week and next to execute tasks faster. Speed up your cycles. Look at how you can take the time out of the equation on situations and your production will increase. Look at all the applications of speed and figure out how to put them into action.

- Speed of sales
- Speed of promotional ideas to get them into action
- Speed of quality delivery
- Speed of internal communications
- Speed of external communications
- Speed of news to the market
- Speed of promotional updates or changes such as websites etc
- Speed of hiring, training and executing actions
- Speed of meetings and phone calls

While this may sound a little overboard - it's not, I assure you. There are slownesses all throughout your personal actions day to day as well as throughout your company and I promise, it's costing you the game. Take speed seriously. Get disciplined about it and your "competition" will become a silly concept. Companies are slow, people are slow ..... take advantage of it.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

The Red Bull Way

2010-07-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

When it comes to promo and getting the word out.... there is a standard and a bar which you can measure yourself by.... it's called Red Bull. Now there is a company that thinks BIG. They have plastered their brand, PR, Marketing and advertising absolutely everywhere.

I guarantee you that if it were not for their unbelievably HUGE promo efforts, the company would not be what they are today (which happens to be a billion dollar annual revenue producing machine) The drink is not exactly tasty. That factor has no role in their success though.

I admire this company for their sheer volume of promo and in their creative ways to get the word out.

So, what can we learn? Well, when looking at your promo efforts I would recommend that you address the volume and angles. In other words, what are you doing right now? How much promo, outflow, avenues are you using daily, weekly and monthly to make your companies products and/or services known. I tend to think that most companies grossly underestimate what they need to do. Companies get so focused on other things that are important but not nearly as important as driving in new business so heavily that your only major problem will be... how do you manage the inflow and deliver and service it?

Revenue should never be your concern. New clients should never be your concern. These things will come in floods if your promotion and sales efforts are actually sufficient and not sufficient per your normal standard.... I mean Red Bull type thinking.

Make a list and focus on how you can create a Red Bull size strategy to get the word out. Get absolutely crazy about promotion and driving in new business. Then focus on executing the strategy in an obsessive fashion to drive new customers/clients in the door. From there, you can then figure out how to deliver, how to service, quality etc but all of those items come after you have promoted, made your company known, gotten new sales, clients, customers etc. Your first priority should be on your front lines.... promotion!

When your scratching your head wondering why sales are down, why revenue is down etc. - look no further than your efforts to get the word out about your company to actively get in front of your audience and therefore cultivate new opportunities. That is the WHY.

So this week, think like Red Bull. They are a company that has gone completely berserk when it comes to promo.... and it's working like crazy. Make a list of new angles to drive in new business and execute, execute, execute....

- Robert Cornish
Richter10.2 Media Group
http://richter10point2.com

Richter10.2 Media Group Elevator Pitch

2010-04-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

It's Christmas Time..... Promote

2009-12-03T08:53:00.001-08:00

It’ that time of year again when companies frantically try to wrap up sales, collect income and push statistics for the year end bonuses, expenses and overall revenue numbers. Although it is such an improtant time of year, consistently I have found companies to become slow and lazy around this time. They seem to be hard to reach and have developed a bad case of procrastination…. The line “We will look into this after the new year…” seems to come up all too frequently…

Now is the time to promote! Get the word out and get in front of your target market fast! Saving all of your money and not spending money is not a strategy! Your focus should be on how to get in front of your target market audience to stay on their radar and close deals like crazy before the end of the year. Your company, your people and the entire economy is dependent upon large amounts of production, sales and revenue around this time of year so my strong recommendation is for you to promote. Promote your brand, promote your company, promote your products and services, promote in order to get new reaches, new sales and new revenue before the year is out.

If you have been operating in lazy mode or procrastination mode, my advice is to knock it off, pull up the socks and get into action now! While you wait for next year… there are thousands of companies and people making it happen now….this year!

Happy Holidays!

-Robert Cornish

Let's Clarify the Goal....

2009-11-25T12:03:00.000-08:00

While there are many talented, smart and creative people and firms out there for PR, Advertising and Marketing I have found that many have deviated off course from what the job truly is, what the goals really are and what the clients really need.

Creative ideas and bright ideas are absolutely vital however, they must push forward the end goal – sales and revenue. In this day and age this is not a nice thing to have, it’s a must. That sounds like a simple thing to say and a common and basic knowledge but I see examples everyday that are clearly off-course and not forwarding client goals.

Here’s an example:

A Facebook widget or video game – look, I like to have fun as much as the next guy and I am guilty of downloading a game or two on my iPhone for sure but here’s the thing… what is the clear goal for the Facebook Game? How are you measuring it? Are you getting reach, interest, sales? There were many many many bright ideas during the 1995-97 period for dot com companies and ideas that sounded cool which distracted millions from the actual goals of what a company must do – which is produce sales of their product or service and generate revenue. It’s not a negotiable point.

The job of any PR agency, marketing firm or advertising agency is simple – create an idea, execute a strategy and communicate with the clients target public audience in order to make the client known to them, create interest and generate actual reach that can be used to assist the sales team and further the company growth and revenue. That’s it! If you have been sold on something other than this, well then they probably are creative geniuses but they are not serving your best interest.

Now is the time to get back to basics while the shift of traditional media continues to become less effective and new media is the vital way to communicate with the massive audiecne that is online using the interest that is now intertwined into every aspect of their lives from laptops to iphones. We must focus on people, relationships, what they need and want and how to communciate with them, service them better and build, cultivate and nurture those relationships in order to generate long term clients.

If you focus on the audience and the clear goals of your company to drive sales and revenue your PR, Marketing or Advetrising efforts will be dramatically improved. Don’t lose sight of the goal. Every tweet should have the goal in mind. Every facebook post should reflect the goal. Every blog article, press release, banner ad, video, photo gallery etc should have the goal clearly in mind and being systematically executed.

-Robert Cornish

Richter10.2 Media Group

http://www.richter10point2.com

The Fundamental Change

2009-11-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

Currently the marketing, PR and advertising world is experiencing one of the most dramatic evolutions over the past 100 – 200 years in what traditionally were “tried and true” methods.

I am not sure too many people and professionals fully understand this. I deal with many companies, CEO’s and CMO’s on a daily basis and across the board there seems to be some level of awkwardness and discomfort with the rapid changes.

Over the past 100 to 200 years there have been very workable and fundamental ideas related to how marketing, PR and advertising basically worked and reached a specific audience. There were specific rules and methods to execute strategies that had workable formulas such as positioning, how to write ad copy, how to grab attention via posters, billboards and TV commercials etc. Basic marketing fundamentals like what the typical percent of response will be from a marketing campaign via direct mail, etc.

While all these methodologies worked extremely well all the way up to close to now, unbelievably…. they no longer do. These methods and ideas have run their course and have essentially gone through the stages of infancy from the beginning idea to maturity to dated and now obsolete. It’s incredible to even think about and seasoned professionals clearly seem uncomfortable about it. Speaking to an experienced CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) who wants to still work off of, and hang on to, these old ideas can be rather frustrating as they try to apply something that is obsolete to a new way of thinking.

So what is relevant?

With New Media (social media, etc.) the way to communicate and engage an audience is different. It’s a conversation. It’s on-going and most of how the audience wants to be reached or is receptive to is being decided by the audience – not the marketing, advertising or PR firm. This is a very authentic and transparent approach. We aren’t trying to “spin” a story, we aren’t trying to scream a message and button at the audience to get a response and we aren’t trying to have the audience see a message 7-9 times so they will “act” So what are we trying to do?

We are focused on using new media tools (social media) as a platform to communicate with a specific target audience geared toward your company and use PR to build relations (relationships) with that target audience in order to spark conversations, increase word of mouth, generate buzz and result in interest and reach for the companies’ products or services via acceptance from that target audience.

We are authentically reaching out to get involved with the audience and make a company known to them to build awareness, brand loyalty and stay on the target audiences radar to in turn increase the sales and revenue.

I am sure you would agree that people are more inclined to do business with companies they:

Know
Like
Feel Comfortable With
Trust
Have a Relationship
Think this through for a second; think of a company you do business with or a person you do business with and then think about why? I am betting it’s because you know them or have a relationship with them or you personally like them or trust them. These ideas are the very essence of why new media (social media) is so powerful. It aligns with the basic way people buy and how sales typically occur.

Now I am not at all talking about spamming people on social media sites or being the “salesperson” that annoys everyone on Facebook! The idea here is to make it natural and in a PR way encompasses engagement, conversations, building new connections, making yourself known and ultimately building real relationships from a given target audience that is desirable to your company that will result in interest in reach for the company and therefore sales and revenue.

It’s not easy. It takes time and knowhow, but, when done correctly, it’s the most effective strategy you, or your company, could possibly apply in today’s market – just ask the audience!

The Fundamental Change

2009-10-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Currently the marketing, PR and advertising world is experiencing one of the most dramatic evolutions over the past 100 - 200 years in what traditionally were “tried and true” methods.

I am not sure too many people and professionals fully understand this. I deal with many companies, CEO’s and CMO’s on a daily basis and across the board there seems to be some level of awkwardness and discomfort with the rapid changes.

Over the past 100 to 200 years there have been very workable and fundamental ideas related to how marketing, PR and advertising basically worked and reached a specific audience. There were specific rules and methods to execute strategies that had workable formulas such as positioning, how to write ad copy, how to grab attention via posters, billboards and TV commercials etc. Basic marketing fundamentals like what the typical percent of response will be from a marketing campaign via direct mail, etc.

While all these methodologies worked extremely well all the way up to close to now, unbelievably.... they no longer do. These methods and ideas have run their course and have essentially gone through the stages of infancy from the beginning idea to maturity to dated and now obsolete. It’s incredible to even think about and seasoned professionals clearly seem uncomfortable about it. Speaking to an experienced CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) who wants to still work off of, and hang on to, these old ideas can be rather frustrating as they try to apply something that is obsolete to a new way of thinking.

So what is relevant?

With New Media (social media, etc.) the way to communicate and engage an audience is different. It’s a conversation. It’s on-going and most of how the audience wants to be reached or is receptive to is being decided by the audience - not the marketing, advertising or PR firm. This is a very authentic and transparent approach. We aren’t trying to “spin” a story, we aren’t trying to scream a message and button at the audience to get a response and we aren’t trying to have the audience see a message 7-9 times so they will “act” So what are we trying to do?

We are focused on using new media tools (social media) as a platform to communicate with a specific target audience geared toward your company and use PR to build relations (relationships) with that target audience in order to spark conversations, increase word of mouth, generate buzz and result in interest and reach for the companies’ products or services via acceptance from that target audience.

We are authentically reaching out to get involved with the audience and make a company known to them to build awareness, brand loyalty and stay on the target audiences radar to in turn increase the sales and revenue.

I am sure you would agree that people are more inclined to do business with companies they:

Know
Like
Feel Comfortable With
Trust
Have a Relationship

Think this through for a second; think of a company you do business with or a person you do business with and then think about why? I am betting it’s because you know them or have a relationship with them or you personally like them or trust them. These ideas are the very essence of why new media (social media) is so powerful. It aligns with the basic way people buy and how sales typically occur.

Now I am not at all talking about spamming people on social media sites or being the “salesperson” that annoys everyone on Facebook! The idea here is to make it natural and in a PR way encompasses engagement, conversations, building new connections, making yourself known and ultimately building real relationships from a given target audience that is desirable to your company that will result in interest in reach for the company and therefore sales and revenue.

It’s not easy. It takes time and knowhow, but, when done correctly, it’s the most effective strategy you, or your company, could possibly apply in today’s market - just ask the audience!

Which Social Media Sites Should I be On?

2009-09-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely a personal decision and will vary depending on who you are and who you are trying to reach. For instance, a band and a stock broker could equally benefit from Social Media, but would use different sites and methods to do so.

The first key point in choosing which sites to use is deciding exactly what you want to share and who you want to share it with.

Next, you should think with comprehensive profiles and the four main types of content you will be sharing: video, photo, status messages and blog posts. Ideally, you would incorporate each of these regularly into your Social Media presence and plan to have a presence on at least one site that specializes in each. Following this, a simple yet extremely effective strategy would be to have a Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter account, as well as a blog, in your Social Media Campaign.

Lastly, you have to know how much time you can allot to your Social Media efforts.

It is vital to plan the size of your Social Media presence according to what you can comfortably maintain. It is exponentially better to have some key sites always up-to-date than many that are outdated.

Although it is the case that sometimes updating your network can fall to the bottom of the to-do list, in order to be successful at all, you have to keep your profiles up-to-date. Therefore, it is a great idea to make Social Media part of your daily routine, just like checking your emails. If you can only allot 15 minutes each day, realize that 40 different profiles to update is not for you.

So, with a little research and following the three simple points above, you can choose the correct sites that will give you the greatest chance of success.

A Simple Guide to Using Social Media in Business

2009-07-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

As you may have already figured out, I am a strong believer of social media in business. I use Twitter and Facebook and blogs every day in my job, and you can too. Here are a few tips and tools to getting yourself started in the social media world.

Social Media for Business Resources

http://courtspencer.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/twitter-is-time-well-spent-not-money-well-spent/ <-- Twitter is time well spent, not money.

http://enovapr2.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/its-the-law-2-0/<--Web 2 .0, social media guide.

http://blog.neoco.com/2009/07/22/a-z-of-social-media-this-is-actually-pretty-good/ <-- the A-Z of Social Media

http://jeffbullas.com/2009/07/22/5-steps-to-optimize-your-email-for-social-media/ <-- 5 steps to Optimize your email with Social Media

http://www.richter10point2.com/buildyourown <-- Build your own WebPR campaign!

http://www.whywebpr.com/alimagnano <-- My Social Media Press Kit

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
Visit Our Site

5 Perfect Snacks to Munch on During Your Workday

2009-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

After a little research, I found the 5 perfect snacks for you to munch on during the workday, and to get you going. Because who doesn't get hungry while sitting at their desk all day? It’s inevitable. So you might as well be a little prepared! But these snacks, over other unhealthier snacks like chips and candy, will keep you alert and feeling great.

1)Hard – Boiled Eggs
Rich in protein and will help raise your energy level to get you going!

2)String Cheese
Tasty and easy to eat while you’re at work.

3)Yogurt or Cottage Cheese
Something about yogurt or cottage cheese is very filling, and its also good for you! You can get little to-go cups of either of these at the grocery store.

4)Animal Crackers
These little crackers are the solution to your sweet tooth, and are lower in calories than most other treats.

5)Mixed Nuts
Cashews, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, or all of them! Throw in some dried fruit and raisins to add a little something extra, and this can be munched on all day.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Get @BreakingNews via Twitter!

2009-07-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered a Twitter account that discloses breaking news! I figured there must be something out there in the social media world similar to this but hadn’t discovered it until earlier today, and it’s definitely a tweeter I’ll be following.

I think this is very convenient, especially because nowadays with all the iPhones and SmartPhones that have been released and now are in the hands of pretty much every businessman or woman around the world, along with many other people, this news is easily available to people wherever they are.

News tidbits are simply tweeted by @BreakingNews and are available to any of their 860,357 followers.

Here is a recent tweet from @BreakingNews earlier today:

“Chris Brown, in a video on his official website, has for the first time publicly apologized for beating singer Rihanna in February.”

about 22 hours ago, from BNO Headquarters

This really contributes to the evolution of social/new media versus old media.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Statistics from President Obama’s Social Media Campaign

2009-07-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Internet Usage in United States

United States Population: 303,824,646
Internet Usage: 220,141,969
Growth from 2000-2008: 130.9%
Stats from Internet WorldStats (Census, Nielson)

Facebook
Obama: 2,379,102 supporters
McCain: 620,359 supporters
Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

MySpace
Obama: Friends: 833,161
McCain: Friends: 217,811
Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

YouTube
Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110
McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993
Obama has 403% more subscribers than McCainObama has 905% more viewers than McCain

Twitter
Obama: @barackobama has 112,474 followers
McCain: @JohnMcCain (is it real?) 4,603 followers
Obama has 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain

It is clear that Obama has dominated social media activity. Enough said :)

Check out how to build your own Web PR campaign here.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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The Good Samaritan

2009-07-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

I recently visited my hometown, Chicago, for a family wedding. While en route back to Tampa, I did the inexcusably, unbelievably silly thing of leaving my laptop on the plane.

Of course I had a sleepless night when I returned home and discovered that I didn’t have my laptop. Of course I called the Lost and Found departments of all three airports I had been to that day, only to discover they were all closed and I would need to call back in the morning.

The next morning I woke up dreading how I was going to tastefully inform my bosses that I wouldn’t be able to go into the office that day (no laptop = no work to do). After many internal debates, I decided to say it – plain and simple. My bosses were very understanding and wished me the best of luck on my laptop hunt.

However the stars aligned when I received a voicemail message at home from an American Airlines flight attendant named John Stewart letting me know that he had my laptop and would be keeping it safe until he heard from me. I immediately called him back and thanked him profusely! I asked what he wanted in return and he adamantly told me that he didn’t want anything, maybe just for me to something nice for someone else if the opportunity arose. I had my laptop shipped overnight, thanks to Mr. Stewart calling me when he had arrived to the UPS store to ask which shipping method I preferred. My computer arrived the next day and all was golden.

When all of the dust settled from this ordeal, I realized that there are a lot of WONDERFUL people out there in the world we live in. Despite the bad news we constantly hear about the failing economy, crime and terrorism, there is still much more good in people than bad.

I then asked myself, “What can I do to pay it forward?” Of course, I will be on the lookout next time I travel for stray laptops in need of their owners, but there is a bigger thing that I can offer: SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTISE. The company I work for, Richter10.2 Media Group, specializes in helping businesses expand using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. If your business could use some help getting up and running in this new day and age of Web technology, then we’re your people.

We have lots of free tools, articles, blogs and links on the subject that can help demystify social media and how you can use it to expand your business.

To learn more click here.

Julia Jaquillard
Richter10.2 Media Group

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Highlight Your Company – What Is a Social Media Press Room?

2009-07-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, I’m sure you have heard the buzz about the Social Media Press Kit, one of the newest and most advanced tools to maximize your business presence on the Web. Now there’s an even more comprehensive tool that works in conjunction with the Social Media Press Kit – the Social Media Press Room.

The Social Media Press Room is a dynamic information and resource center for companies, products and services. All of the vital information that relates to the company can be accessed here including press releases, blogs, videos, social media and new media pages, real time Twitter status updates, company bio and links to Social Media Press Kits within the company. This is a cutting-edge press room for the digital age, providing all of the information and resources anyone could want or need about a company and its products and services.

It is built directly into the company website with a simple navigation link to the full press room site. Use the Social Media Press Kits for individual sales agents or top executives in your company, and then have a Social Media Press Room representing your entire company for the maximum amount of Web and PR presence. The purpose of this tool is to fully highlight the company.

Get your target public's attention through all of the top social media sites on the web, with one main “room” linking to them all.

Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

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10 Ways to Wake-Up in the Morning and Get through Your Work Day!

2009-07-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

You know the feeling. That alarm clock goes off, you press the snooze (even though you know that only means that you’ll have to make your shower five minutes shorter), rush out the door and hopefully make it to work on time. The feeling seems unavoidable. As well as after your lunch break at work, when the clock reads 2 pm and you know that you have a few more hours of work to do, but you just can’t help feeling lethargic and annoyed at the thought of having to stay awake.
So what do you do? I have found some simple ways to get you through your work day and arrive at work in the morning feeling fresh and awake.

1) Don’t Eat Dinner Right before Bed

If you have the munchies before bed, a good thing to have is a little bit of fruit or some tomato juice. Something light and fruity. You don’t want to eat an entire meal right before you go to bed because the digestion process takes awhile. Try and leave a few hours in between your last meal and your bedtime and see how you feel in the morning.

2) Leave the Curtains Cracked

Leaving the curtains a little bit open will let some natural light into your room in the morning, which will help you wake up. The natural light can be strong but soothing.

3) Wake Up To The Smell Of Coffee

Get a coffee machine that has a setting for automatic brewing. Set it for a few minutes before your alarm clock goes off and when you wake up you will have a refreshing and lovely smell of freshly ground coffee in your room. Get fresh coffee beans!

4) Stretch Every Extremity

Stretching your arms and fingers out for about 15 seconds right after you wake up will help more than you think. It will get your blood circulating again in your body and helps you feel more energetic.

5) Eat A High Energy Breakfast

You would be surprised how just skipping your first meal of the day affects your energy level. You need to eat breakfast to get your metabolism going and to tell your body you are awake and ready to start digesting food again and making energy for your body. You can drink a protein smoothie, or some complex carbohydrates like a bowl of oatmeal or whole grain cereal topped with some fruit and skim milk.

6) Eat Protein Throughout The Day

Eating protein with your lunch will give your energy levels a boost. Snacking on nuts will also give you more energy, because they are high in protein.

7) Listen To Some Good Music In The Car

Find some good music, and get together an assortment of CDs to play on your way to work in the morning. Turn up the volume. If the weather permits it, open the windows instead of turning on the AC. The fresh air will wake you up, with the sound of the music, and get you ready for the day.

8) Take A Break

Take a break from your work desk when you’ve been sitting for a long time. Walking around to get a little exercise gets your blood flowing and can make you feel refreshed.

9) Chew Sugar-Free Peppermint Gum

There is something about the strong flavor of peppermint that makes you feel refreshed.

10) Cold Water

Cold water is refreshing, especially when it gets hot outside. Keeping your self hydrated throughout the day, and starting with a cold glass of water in the morning, will keep you refreshed and awake. Drink a cold glass roughly every hour, and splash some on your face when you need it.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Social Media Tip of the Week #2 – What is Twitpic?

2009-06-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Recently, I found a really cool new Twitter tool that got me so excited I just had to write a blog about it! Twitpic. It’s how you Tweet pictures.

As you know, the thing about Twitter is that, unlike Facebook or Myspace, you can only have ONE picture, and that’s your default. How frustrating! Well, now with Twitpic, you have a whole album online that you can Tweet and share with other Tweeters.

Now, what kind of pictures would Tweeters most like to see tweeted? Breaking news, humorous ones and Twitpics by celebs were some of the top viewed. Like on-the-scene twitpics of a shuttle launch! (click here) Or the king of Twitter, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) tweeting his own photos, of course. (click here)

Now, you can start using Twitpic to expand your Twitter influence.

Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

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Photos of Social Media Press Kits!

2009-06-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

To learn more, click here and view the site.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group

Social Media Tip of the Week #1 - What's the Best Type of Photo to Have on Twitter?

2009-06-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been doing some research and have found that if you want the most traffic to your Twitter site, you need a good, eye-catching photograph of yourself.

What type of photo is eye-catching enough that you will be looked at first over other Tweeters?

When you first register on Twitter, you are provided with an avatar. Everyone gets the same avatar. What is all-too-common is that Tweeters will leave that up instead of providing a real picture. The Tweeter is then a “faceless entity” on a huge Social Media Site and easily gets lost in the crowd.

Your image is the first thing people see when they decide to follow you – or to not follow you. It should be, ideally, a recent photo of YOU. It can be your brand’s logo, but if you are going to be the sole person using the account, then you should have a picture of yourself. Seeing a real picture of you gives others the feeling that they know you. Also, don’t change your photo too often – other users tend to see the image before the name, and you can get lost if you change your image too frequently.

So the moral of the story is - get other Tweeters to notice you by providing a fresh and recent picture of yourself.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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The World’s Most Dynamic Virtual Business Card

2009-06-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

This is a Social Media Press Kit. It was created and designed by a top Web PR firm - Richter10.2 Media Group.

A Social Media Press Kit is a tool for maximizing your presence on the Web. With a cutting-edge image on the Web, you will find buzz, reach and interest being generated about your business.

A microsite that showcases you and your company to your target public audience, a Social Media Press Kit is the way for you to easily communicate with anyone, no matter their location.

Have you seen Skittles’ or Starbucks’ new Web campaigns? If not, take a look and see the value of a well-established Social Media campaign. If you have, then you would probably agree with me that Social Media is an integral part of expanding your business.

So, what IS this Social Media Press Kit? What does it look like? To find out, click here.

Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

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What is a Social Media Press Kit??

2009-06-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

What is a Social Media Press Kit?? It is a tool that will help you expand your business and your presence on the web.

To find out more-watch this short video! By clicking here.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group

"Web 2.0" declared the one-millionth English word!

2009-06-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

The English language can be beautiful yet complicated . Tricky to learn-yet popular worldwide , and it also has the most words out of any language.
Yesterday, the word “Web 2.0” was declared the one millionth defined English word by the Global Language Monitor.

Web 2.0: “the second generation of the World Wide Web in which content is user-generated and dynamic, and software is offered that mimics desktop programs”

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Win an iPhone via Twitter??

2009-06-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

For 30 days, squarespace.com is giving away a 3G iPhone every day. The contest may be entered by anyone, and includes simply having a twitter account.

For the next 30 days, (actually, 28 now because the contest started on June 8^th) all you have to do is insert the hashtag "#squarespace" into one of your tweets, and one of those lucky winners will be chosen at random.

I'm sure it helps if you hashtag all your tweets in one day, and just keep tweeting "#squarespace, #squarspace, #squarespace." But the point of the contest is also for tweeters to get creative.

I see this whole thing as quite genius, really. Social Media is really taking on its reputation as a very popular marketing strategy, and is the way to gain presence on the web. Because-lets face it-if you’re reading this you most likely have a Twitter or a Facebook or a Myspace account. So using Social Media in Squarespaces’ new campaign to gain web presence is working-how could it not?

So if you don’t have a Twitter account, get one-pronto! And go get yourself an iPhone.

Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

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The Fine Line Between Social Media Brilliance and Faux Pas

2009-06-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

The lines between business and social media are becoming more and more blurred every day. People are realizing more and more that while this was once simply a way for the younger generation to wile away too much time, it is in fact becoming a vital and exciting part of our society.

As many have no doubt mentioned elsewhere, social media is breaking down the last barriers to information for people all over the world. An example of this is an aircraft making an emergency landing in the Hudson and the masses knowing about it before mainstream media could blink. How? All thanks to twitter.

One aspect of this is the fact that people using social media want to interact. Through avatars or not, they pour out their opinions, creations, likes, dislikes and so on.

So, let's get this straight. In social media we have a pool of 100's of millions of people who are sorted by demographic and who tell the world what they want ? This is a marketers dream come true!!!

Not.

Time for a dose of reality. Like any community, social media sites have etiquette. When you see the opportunity social media presents you are of course right, but if you go bulling into the china shop without knowing what you're doing you will end up the pariah you deserve to be.

Spam has been the awful, barbed thorn in the side of everyone's email program and internet browser since...well, since this whole internet thing began. Pop-up adds and emails from $upersexxxiii666 about enhancing this and losing that are in the very least irritating. So are friend requests containing a pitch for your product. Get it?

I'm not saying that people haven't tried this in social media. Build profiles as fast as possible, get a few friends and pitch before they get wiped out, rinse and repeat. But, unless you want you and your business to be thought about in the same breath as our friend $upersexxxiii666, don't be that stupid.

There is no trick, no silver bullet. Just use social media as it is intended, on a personal level.

You can take advantage of this amazing opportunity. In fact, if you do it right your presence online will position you as a force in your field and get thousands of people in the know about who you are and what you do. That leads to business, it just does.

First thing is first, choose the sites you wish to be on. Then, what is your area of expertise? What can you offer? Be thinking about this as you start to send out genuine friend requests, letting people know who you are and that you can help if they have questions regarding ____. You really don't even have to go that far, though. Just think, how would you introduce yourself in usual conversation when meeting someone new?

If you work at this, you will build up a network of people who will now talk to you in a little more depth. Build these connections, post things that aren't just about your product, but that you find interesting. Foster the relationships you have in the networks you build and you will achieve social media greatness in no time!

Remember, social media is all about people. No one wants to receive a sales pitch they didn't sign up for from you. Become someone who is a known expert on your subject in the communities you join online, help people, comment, message and all the time be yourself and you will achieve organically more than you ever could if you were just using your pages strictly to market.

Don't be a spammer, take social media by the horns and make it your own!

Spencer Barnes
Director of Delivery
Richter10.2 Media Group
spence@richter10point2.com

Two Minute Sales Video

2009-06-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

How do you maximize your presence on the web, thus increasing your business?

Find out here.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Donut Giveaway! Dunkins plan for their Social Media Campaign.

2009-06-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars, June 5th in officially National Donut Day!

Dunkin Donuts is celebrating with a giveaway "we will give every customer a free donut of their choice, with the purchase of any beverage, limit one per customer."

The store has also been conducting its first ever “Create Dunkins Next Donut Contest”.
With over 130,000 submissions, and Dunkin plans to announce the $12,000 winner on
National Donut Day.

While we’re at in, let me mention that Dunkin Donuts has huge presence on social media sites. (@dunkindonuts has about 23,000 followers) Some of these huge brands like Starbucks are also starting to find creative ways to tie offline brand experiences with online social media promotion. Starbucks is currently experimenting with an online/offline social media challenge.

Now with Dunkin Donuts and the Keep it Coolatta Sweepstakes , fans of the brand on Facebook (there’s over 800,000 of them) can post a photo of themselves with any Coolatta beverage to the Fan Page wall with the caption #CoolattaGiveaway, and they’ll be entered to win a daily giveaway through June 24. Dunkin’ Donuts will randomly select winners, award the prizes, and update their official profile with the winning image.

Social Media and coffee and baked-goods chains are really hitting it off this summer. Good thing that Dunkin Donut Giveaway rules “one per customer”, so you can’t go too crazy.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Twitter: Male-dominated Social Media

2009-06-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

We all know that Twitter has grown in over the past year. It is now one of the top 3 social media networking sites in the world. Ill admit it, im addicted to updating status messages, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were too.

In a suprising recent study that took place in May 2009 by the Harvard Business Review, the activities of a random sample of 300,000 Twitter users were closely watched. The results were unexpected.

It was found that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman.

Similarly, an average woman is 25% more likely to follow a man than a woman. Also, an average man is 40% more likely to be followed by another man than by a woman. These results cannot be explained by different tweeting activity - both men and women tweet at the same rate.

Looks like Twitter is a male-dominated social media networking site, and more women are just not much of “tweeters”.

Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

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Skittles tasting success with the latest Social Media experiment?

2009-06-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

Skittles has relaunched their website so that it is essentially a Twitter search for the word "skittles".

Visitors to Skittles.com are now directed to the Twitter search result for the term “skittles” and invited to navigate their way about Skittles’ social web presence by using the flash navigation menu that overlays the page. (Their homepage is now a Facebook page.)

We have experienced a lot of controversy on the Skittles new Social Media campaign. Some think that the “colors of the rainbow” have experienced an epic fail on launching this new campaign but as reported by Marketing Pilgrim in a recent post, the Skittles web site traffic experienced a “1332% increase in web visitors on March 3rd.” Pretty impressive considering only one day had passed since Skittles launched this social media experiment, which was quite a risk.

A consideration that I am hearing a lot is that, what about the ordinary people that aren't as experienced with Social Media? And is Social Media really a way to represent a corporate website like Skittles?

Buying a piece of candy is an impulsive thing. You’re not buying a car or a house or something that you will need a lot of information on about the product and the price. Skittles is just a sweet, innocent and colorful candy, with a huge corporation. Do they really need an informative ad on their product? Not really. They are focusing on building their presence on the web, and Social Media has proved to be the way to do that. And are there really any regular web users who have never heard of social networking and the most common web apps?

I suspect not. So, after all, great work Skittles.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Is Twitter Addictive??

2009-05-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

If you can answer “no” to this question then tell me your secret. You probably post several status updates a day because you are fantastically addicted to letting others know what you are up to or whats on your mind. We are all starving writers at heart as Tweeters and the mico-blog format that lets you express your thoughts in 140 characters-not words, characters-is somewhat challenging and extremely addicting.

Basically, what I wanted to say was... follow @richter102media.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
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Aston Kutcher: Top Twitter User and Master at Public Relations.

2009-05-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

Ashton Kutcher is Twitters number one user (@aplusk) who has almost 2 million followers. Recently, the dedicated Ashton threatened to shut down his account if Twitter decided to partner in a reality TV series. Details about the show are scarce, but a statement from producers did say that "ordinary people" will be "put on the trail of celebrities in a competitive format."

So it seems like the Twitter show turned out to be a bad idea. Twitters are strongly protesting and as Kutcher wrote in a recent Twitter posting, "It's all fun and games until somebody gets stalked.”

Ashton definitely has Twitter in a headlock; no one wants to loose the top Twitter that sets the standards for Twitters all around; especially with almost 2 million followers and lots of updates on his new movie with behind the scence tweets.

Ashton demonstrates that setting good Public Relations on the web can be valuable.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.richter10point2.com

Social Media will change your Business.

2009-05-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Now, if you haven’t realized that a large amount of the communications of our world are rapidly turning over to the Social Media sites on the web, then you must not have a Twitter account, which means that you need to get one, I suggest as fast as possible, to be blunt, if you care at all about the sanctity of your reputation.

The New York Times has even recently hired a full time Social Media editor (@NYT_JenPreston) – this is a breakthrough. Easily one of the largest magazines in the world is realizing that they need to focus on the Social Media side of things to stay in print and keep the interest of their readers.

How do you fit into all of this? Getting yourself hooked up on Social Media is a start. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and several more are sites that you should be actively participating in. You should have a corporate blogger typing away at articles, and maybe upload some pictures from a holiday office party so your clients can see the fun side of your company, and feel like they know who they are doing business with.

This is where we come in. Richter10.2 Media Group is a WebPR firm that deals in Social Media communications. We will make a campaign specially tailored for you and your company to really make it boom. The New York Times, The White House and many other companies across the globe are doing it-you can too

www.richter10point2.com

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.richter10point2.com

Boston Police Department is on Twitter: We will let you know when the Zombies attack.

2009-05-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

While most of us were taking the long weekend off in celebration of Memorial Day, social media kept on going. There was no shortage of breaking news, amazing stories, and incredibly useful social resources.

Well let’s see how Social Media sites are extremely useful for news and updates. So much that even the Boston Police Department is using Twitter to “tweet” about incidents on the streets of Boston. Other citizens can interact this way easily and be up to date. Officers can warn their Twitter followers about an intersection to avoid because of an accident. Roads closed for construction, traffic, arrests, etc.

Sometimes they also reply to reader questions. A short conversation between a concerned citizen and the Boston Police Department revealed just how dedicated the boys in blue can be, as they pledged to inform the world of any zombie attacks they come across.

Boston_Police: INJURED OFFICER: Officer from district 4 transported to Beth Israel Hospital, human bite to arm, suspect in custody.

Twitter user willcady used the opportunity to ask the police a burning question:

@Boston_Police if that was a zombie bite, would you tell us?

The police, answerd him:

@willcady Yes, absolutely

Look for your local police department on Twitter. You never know, it could come in handy.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.richter10point2.com

Technorati

2009-05-22T08:53:00.001-07:00

Technorati Profile
Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.richter10point2.com

Starbucks uses Twitter in their online/offline Social Media Campaign

2009-05-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Since I’m on a roll with Starbucks and coffee, (I had my double cappuccino this morning with non-fat milk-see last blog), I thought I would research how Starbucks Coffee Company is using social media.

Starbucks already has a strong presence in social media. You can visit their Facebook, or if you are a Twitter fanatic you can find them there. Starbucks Twitter account has over 185,000 followers and the Facebook page has nearly 1.5 million fans.

Starbucks has recently launched “the biggest marketing effort it has undertaken,” according to the New York Times. The coffee company is displaying posters in major cities, and then challenging people to be the first to find and tweet a picture of their posters. Starbucks has other social media initiatives planned for this campaign. One is a contest for store employees to submit headlines for future ads and YouTube videos with coffee experts talking about Starbucks coffee. Starbucks’ social media presence gave it an advantage over competitors with gigantic ad budgets because its fans wanted to talk about it online. The idea for the Starbucks photo contest came from watching what people already do on Facebook and Twitter.

The reason for companies building this presence, I observed, is that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are ways of reaching many of your clients and building a relationship with them-and that’s what we call PR. It’s the building of a relationship with the public. You want to engage in interesting topics with blogging and microblogging using sites like Twitter where you have to express an entire thought in only 140 characters.

The largest coffee company in the world seems to be catching on.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.richter10point2.com

Starbucks Latte Abuse: Enough already!

2009-05-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

We all know that hardly anyone can survive the workday without their morning coffee. For me and most of the people at the office, nine-thirty rolls around and it’s like clockwork that we get up and make our daily trip to Starbucks.

I was picking up a hazelnut cappuccino, not my normal order, but about once a week I decide to go all out and also added a cheese croissant on top of that. Anyways, I realized that I spend approximately $1,500.00 a year on coffee. That’s with only one cappuccino or latte a morning, if I add a cheese croissant one morning a week I end up spending an extra $200.00 a year. Now, some other people in the office are more dependent on the caffeine to get them going and end up having about three orders a day at Starbucks which winds up in them spending approximately $4,350.00 a year on coffee orders from Starbucks-cheese croissants not included.

There is also another point, and that is the calories that add up in these drinks. Weigh your options and keep in mind that a grande cappuccino with non-fat milk is only going to cost you 93 calories, compared to a grande latte with non-fat milk that is about 168 calories. Every pump of flavored syrup is 20 calories. So, by this point you may be thinking you will just go with an iced Tazo chai-think again. A grande iced Tazo chai with non-fat milk is going to be about 213 calories.

So, it’s not all bad, by cutting down to one order from Starbucks a day and being smart with your options, you can consume less than 100 calories and you can save.

The morale of this short story, and the real point of this all is: cut down on the caffeine, not only because it can be hazardous to your health, but also to your wallet.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.richter10point2.com

#Googlefail, get your news from Twitter!

2009-05-18T07:23:00.001-07:00

So yesterday in the office everyone was freaking out because the Internet wasn’t working. It was lagging and nobodys email was going though, and basically driving us all crazy because 99% of what we do is on the Internet. There are probably about ten or fifteen active computers in the Office and they were all having problems. So we thought, it must be something wrong with the connection. We tried turning on and off the Internet connection, resetting it a few times, thinking that it would help, but no luck. So when someone finally got onto their Twitter account they saw that the trending topic of the day was #googlefail.

Now, if any of you are reading this and you arent already Twitter fanatics, you are really out of the loop. (get a Twitter account, pronto!) Instead of messing around on our computers all morning and turining on and off the connection and being totally in mystery as to why it was so hard for everyone to send an emial from our Gmail accounts, we could have eaisly figured it out just by looking on our Twitter accounts at the status updates. “#googlefail.”

So, basically Im saying that Twitter is apparently becoming a source of breaking news, or at least it’s going to tell you when somethings wrong with your Internet connection.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group

DREAM JOB: $70k to use Twitter and Facebook!

2009-05-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

I was reading this article…http://mashable.com/2009/05/09/twitter-facebook-job/

And, honestly, I’m not really surprised. A county in Oregon wants to pay someone $60k-$70k a year for a job that requires using facebook and twitter. Seems a bit outrageous, but take a look.

Nowadays there are so many social media butterflies around that Facebook, Myspace and Twitter have become a huge part of promotion. It is the most efficient way of reaching more target public in less time.

The most expensive method of advertising in America today is through television commercials, averaging about $400,000.00. Now, promotion of your business through television is obviously going to reach many people around the nation who happen to be watching TV at the moment of your commercial, so I'm not necessarily against it. But promotion of your business through the Social Media tools available to all of your target public on the web, internationally, is guaranteed to get a lot of people in the know about who you are and what you do.

Linkedin is the most popular tool right now for business and networking, with Facebook up and coming right behind. It has been predicted that 2009 is going to be a huge year for business networking. So, makes sense, right? And all this great PR for you and your business for a fraction of the cost of a television commercial.

This doesn’t mean that advertising and public relations through Social Media has to cost $70k a year, but for Oregon, it does. Don’t be surprised when you get a friend requested by Multnomah County in Oregon or any of the other Counties around America that have started creating Social Media sites as a way to keep you up to date.

Ali Magnano
Director of PR
Richter10.2 Media Group
www.whywebpr.com

White House Embraces Social Media.

2009-05-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

What is Social Media? Wikipedia defines it. “At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content.”

With the success of Barack Obama’s campaign through the use of social media web tools to gain fund raising and support, the White House has officially launched pages on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. This transition keeps web savvy citizens up to date on the latest news and information. You can probably imagine that Obama himself is too busy lately to keep up with his old Twitter account, so this new account is the perfect way for others in the White House to “tweet” on his behalf and keep people informed about what’s going on.

In their ways of “old habits and stale thinking”, as stated by Obama, they are fundamentally changing the way that they do business in the White House. I believe the plan is to build a new foundation for the 21st century and the way to go about it is by reforming the government so it is more efficient and more creative-through social media.

In a recent blog post titled WhiteHouse 2.0, the White House says,
“In addition to WhiteHouse.gov, you can now find us in a number of other spots on the Web: Facebook .com/WhiteHouse, Myspace.com/WhiteHouse and Twitter.com/WhiteHouse.”

As you can see, technology has profoundly impacted how and where we gain information. These sites like Myspace, and Facebook have become the ways of communication to one another. If you look, you can see the demographics continue to shift. Now more than half of the Myspace visitors are age 35 or older. New users pour onto these sites every day, not only to keep up the communication with their friends but also to get insight on what’s happening around the world.

It seems the White House has noticed that WhiteHouse.gov is an important part of the Administrators effort to reach the public quickly and effectively-but it isn’t the only way.

Ali Magnano

Director of PR

Richter10.2 Media Group

Barack Obama - Web PR Case Study

2009-01-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

Close to 65% of the American population voted in this election, its highest turnout since the election of 1908. By all means, this election was profound in its results. Obama’s victory is deeply symbolic. Politics aside, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent or member of the Green Party, we cannot overlook the power of real world community relations combined with the reach and engagement of online social communities and networks.

Online tools such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter contributed to the netting of record-breaking campaign funding and the staggering galvanization of a younger generation of first-time voters who truly made an impact and a difference. The Obama campaign leveraged multiple technology platforms, social immersion strategies and good old fashioned door-to-door relationship building to engage constituents directly, raising an astounding $600 million in campaign contributions.

On Twitter, Barack Obama sent messages to convert prospective voters to action and subsequently extend reward for the result. This is extremely effective.

On Facebook, the Obama page boasted over three million fans compared to McCain’s 618,000.

In a text message sent to supporters on the eve of the election, he reaffirmed that they will be part of Presidency moving forward;

“We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree…and to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

**Messages like the ones above that are focused on your target public telling them about your product or service offerings will deliver results for your company.

This isn’t just about broadcasting content through new channels or merely soliciting feedback, participating in popular networks or actively listening, it’s the ability to identify and internalize themes to precipitate change and earn support through action – not just words.

For the first time, the U.S. President can simultaneously cultivate communities where people create, discover, and share information online.

For example: Obama Web PR Campaign Scope

- Launch a social network at Change.gov and/or whitehouse.gov

- Create a citizen feedback and collaboration page at GetSatisfaction

- Solicit policy proposals that people can vote up or down on Change For Us.

- Open the blog to comments on Change.gov (with community moderation).

- Address the country on YouTube and all other video networks with updates, polls, and also address issues in between official State of the Union broadcasts.

- Capture behind-the-scenes footage of the inner workings of the White House and share across all video networks.

- Create a user-generated channel on Magnify.net that features content from constituents.

-Create an @obamacares or @whitehousecares account on Twitter and other micro-blogging communities to listen and respond directly within each network.

- Complement the Presidential radio show with a regular podcast or livecast on uStream.tv or BlogTalkRadio and also interact with the people online, in real time.

- Publish speeches and important policy documents on document networks such as Scribd and Docstoc to be shared and disseminated throughout blogs and personal social profile pages.

- Create a portable and evolving Obama Widget using a SproutBuilder.

This is how a President, or any politician or business for that matter, can authentically connect with the people formerly known as the audience - in the real world.

**People shouldn’t only have a voice during an election time; listening and responding should be an ongoing practice and process of any office.

Adam Rooke,
Director of Operations Canada
Richter10.2 Media Group
http://www.whywebpr.com/adamrooke

Client Acquisitions...

2008-11-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

There are many many ways to acquire new clients as a company, some difficult that require a lot of effort and persistence and some methods can be very effortless if done smartly and strategically.

I wanted to mention a few of the latter….
Here is a first thought, if you are trying to acquire new clients, the first step in doing so is name out who your target public actually is. In other words, who typically buys your product or service. This will be your easiest sale and most likely to buy. This is an important step if you want to make your life easier as it applies to sales. So here are few items to think about and use…

People like to do business with who they know, which means if they know you because you are neighbors or you went to high school together then the chances of them using you for a service or to buy product that they actually need are much greater. Just think about every time you purchased something, if you know a dentist and you need your teeth cleaned, chances are you are going to call the person you know. So with that said, there are ways to use this strategy online to become someone your target public “knows”. How about the many social media sites, by having your bio, picture and info about yourself etc, once you make connections, people feel they know you and will be more inclined to go to you for what they need.

Another item to think about is the fact of how many people there are in the world that most likely need your product or service but never buy from you simply on the basis that they don’t know about you and have never heard about you. There is millions of potential clients out there for your product or service yet they will never buy from you because you are unknown to them. So how can you make yourself known to this huge pool of potential buyers? Well, for starters I am guessing that every person you know has a computer and has an internet connection which means they are all online. With that said, all you have to do is figure out how to harness the vast reach of the internet to be able to make yourself known and to get in front or introduced to these people. That’s it!! Just make your product or service known to your potential public using the huge reach and easy access of the internet and drive sales through the roof.

The key objective for any company is to make relations with your target public in order to control and increase revenue growth. Don’t waste time on people who are never going to need or buy your service or product, make relations with your target public to introduce yourself and create huge amounts of sales opportunities.

Now, you can go about it in a passive manner (ads, keywords etc) and hope that someone types in the correct keyword or clicks on your ad that hopefully caught their attention so they can land on your site and hopefully call you. Or you can take an ACTIVE approach to prospecting and go out and find your target public demographic online, make an introduction, build relations and create reaches that results in sales for your company. Go and find the business, make your product or service known and get reaches to sell. Simple.
In order to execute the above steps, it is vitally important to use all of the tools and methods available today to broadly get attention, make yourself known and be visible online as well as actively using the tools to find your target public to make relations with.

Go out and get the business and take an active approach to boosting your sales!

Robert Cornish
Managing Director
Richter10.2 Media Group
Robert Cornish
+1 727 447 3600
+1 727 213 6386 fax
robertcornish@me.com

Hey, business owner! Web 2.0. Are you Savvy?

2008-11-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

What business is McDonald's in?

Perhaps that is a strange way to begin, but only some people understand that burgers don't have very much to do with it. One of the largest real estate portfolios anywhere is probably a better guess.

What does this have to do with Web 2.0? What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is taking the boring, one-dimensional internet whereby someone simply views a page if it's interesting and turning that into an interactive experience whereby users contribute to a website. These contributions are in many forms; videos, blogs, profiles, updates, bookmarks, etc.

While such interaction makes for an amazing online experience, it was all done for one reason. This same reason that new social media sites pop up every day and MySpace was sold for $580 million.

If you think that reason is for teenagers to have profiles, you also only saw burgers when you saw McDonald's. Once again, it's all about real estate; advertising real estate.

What does this mean? Frankly, the administrators of such social media sites are trying to get more money for advertising. How? By making their sites read highly on search engine rankings.

This is done in two ways. First, they employ every possible SEO technique they can to make their page read highly. Second, the get as many users as possible. This is done by refining and offering as many user-friendly features as possible on their site.

What does this mean to you as a business owner?

It means that you could spend a lot of money using old hat SEO techniques which may well do fine in making your one site read well. Or, you can take advantage of the work social media sites put into reading well and the incredible features they offer. Because out of necessity, the features are truly amazing.

The point of this is that your competition thinks burgers. You need to see what is really going on. Take advantage. When you sign up for an account on a social media site, you automatically have every one of their programmers on your side.

Now. Imagine what would happen if you did that on ten sites...twenty...thirty?

Got it?

For God's sake, TAKE ADVANTAGE!

Spencer Barnes
Director of Delivery
Richter10.2 Media Group
spence@richter10point2.com

Are you effectively controlling attention to attract new clients?

2008-11-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

These days the internet is fast becoming the one and only source for researching companies that potential clients use. If you think having a website and possibly even a blog is enough these days to attract new clients and sales, then I will ask you to think about this.

If someone finds out about you or your company via a business card you handed out or a postcard campaign or a referral from a friend or by whatever means and then research you on Google, what turns up? What are the results? Do you feel you are effectively representing the image and reputation you are going after? Are you controlling the search results to guarantee that your new reach gets the data they need to make a decision?

Here is the thing, nowadays it is vital to gain massive attention online to attract the clients you are looking for and turn reaches into sales. The way to do that is to control attention online by controlling every search result on Google to show what you want and to have enough good information that clearly states and defines who you are that you actually get business from the internet.

PR is the step behind marketing, advertising and promotion, you MUST do this before you do anything else otherwise you may as well throw your marketing dollars out the window.

Create a standard Web PR campaign that cleanly reflects who you are, what you do and creates a large enough reach to make an impact. You CAN use the internet as a very successful strategy to drive in sales, you just need to have the correct strategy.

Create attention, attract new clients and increase business.

Robert Cornish
Managing Director
Richter10.2 Media Group
robert@richter10point2.com

The Economy and Web PR as Promotion...

2008-11-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

What is the solution for your company in a down economy?

Well, businesses have been taking a real hit lately with the economy having a major impact on their sales and bottom-line. So what are the correct actions to take in order to out-create the down economy and improve your overall sales in this type of economic scene?

Promotion and production and lot's of it. Let's face it, if you were comfortable last year with 10 sales of a given product which resulted in a certain amount of gross income to your company and you are doing the exact same things this year, you simply won't make it. So what do you do? How can you make up the damage with the economic shift to not only get back to the make break point but to actually be flourishing even in this economy?

Well, if you have ever experienced that when you promote your company, gain attention and are making yourself known to many new prospective clients, it resulted in booming sales and healthly profits then you should really look at what your promotional efforts are right now. Are you currently promoting your company on a massive scale? Or have you cut back on promotion, advertising, marketing etc? Many companies cut back and contract in a down economy when in actual fact they should be doing the exact opposite!

Now is the time to PROMOTE! You must look at your promotional efforts in all aspects and ask yourself if it is enough? Are you "getting in front" of enough people on a large enough scale? Are your efforts much larger than last year? If the answer is no then it is time to correct that and start to broadly make your company known on a massive scale, especially in this economy.

So, how should you promote to get your company known, gain attention and generate more leads which can be turned into sales to improve your profitability?

MASSIVE WEB PR CAMPAIGNS!

If you have ever researched a company online or found a company that you did business with using the web, then you know what a valuable tool the internet is and if used correctly can help you create a majority of new business for you.

Web PR campaigns handle 2 functions specifically:

1. Build your image online to create a positive public perception. This means that when one does a search online for your company, you control the search results fully and the results for your company are all positive and are what you would want your potential public to see about your company.

2. We create a massive amount of attention for your company online using many different tools to increase your companies reach and in essence get your company "in front" of millions of potential buyers of your product or service.

The fact is that a sale is made only after you have found a prospective buyer, had the opportunity to make yourself known to that prospective buyer and had the chance to interest them in your company to the point that they have reached for your product or service at which point they can be closed and the sale is finalized.

This is what a Web PR campaign handles. The idea is to make your company known, build positive public perception, control search results and reach millions of potential buyers in order to increase overall profits.

Now is the time to promote your company on a massive scale and Web PR campaigns can be used as a very effective tool to correctly position and promote your company online to gain attention, generate leads, create sales, help to make your marketing and advertising efforts "stick" and improve your overall bottom-line.

To find out how a Web PR campaign can help your company out-create the down economy, please contact us today.

Robert Cornish
Managing Director
Richter10.2 Media Group
robert@richter10point2.com

PR vs. Advertising

2008-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

In smart promotion, one does not say “the public,” referring to all of humanity en masse, one says, “my public,” talking about his target demographic. It would be as ridiculous for the Leer Jet salesman to promote to the lowest income bracket as it would be to try and sell tractors to a stock-broker.

PR, or public relations, could be summed up as the perception one’s public has of one.

In the case of an individual, this would be as simple as the way he was dressed, his manners, his mannerisms and methods of speech, his aura of competence or lack thereof.

For instance, if someone walked into your place of business looking for a job, their public would be you, as they are actually selling themselves to you. What would happen if they arrived hungover, unwashed and with horrendous body odor? Even if they have a Harvard MBA, their impression on you is not going to be positive.

On the other hand, let’s say someone walks into the same business and is well groomed and dressed, is sharp and sincere in their communication and is passionate about doing a great job. Which person is getting hired?

The second applicant may be seemingly less qualified on paper, but he gets a job because his relations with the people around him are so well managed that the perception of him by them is excellent.

For a business, PR follows through as the same concept, but becomes even more important. Why? Imagine if your business produced high-quality tractors and it’s solvency depended on selling them, but the local farmers all agreed that your tractors were poorly made, because the exterior of your sales-yard is in disrepair and your employees are slobs.

All of the above are extreme examples, but I mean only to point out one thing. It is imperative to have an excellent public image. As further proof, think about how much money presidential candidates spend on their public relations!

Can you imagine what would happen if Obama or McCain wore jeans and a t-shirt during the conventions? It would near-on crash their campaign, because who wants a president that doesn’t even care enough to handle his appearance? It’s all PR.

Also, all examples so far have applied to the real world, what about in cyberspace? At first glance, this may seem like less of a factor, but is as much, if not more important to not just advertise, but have great PR online.

Advertising is just getting the word out. Great, let’s say you advertise and in the sea of other ads, you get someone interested. Then he clicks on your webpage and it is dinky, or nonexistent! You lose money, right there.

Or, here is the more likely scenario. Potential customer sees your advertisement. He then does his homework, by looking you up on a search engine. What does he see when he gets there?

Is your company’s PR good?

In most cases, he sees the competition and they have a nicer webpage and it ranks higher, so they obviously know what they’re doing. Or, your webpage reads first, but right underneath you have a blog post by the one disgruntled customer in the history of your company saying he got ripped-off. Or a thousand other bad PR scenarios that could happen.

What happened in that short space of time? You lost the customer. Frankly, if you show mediocrity in this crucial moment when someone is interested, you will hemorrhage business.

So in this we see that the effectiveness of advertising rests upon public image of your company. We can also see that nowadays, this public image is more important on the internet than just about anywhere else, as there is no salvaging an unimpressed potential customer when competition is just a click away.

Perhaps now it is easier to see the value of PR against advertising; with bad PR, advertising has no foundation on which to work. Plus, a lot of business will come through word of mouth and good PR in general.

Spencer Barnes
Director of Delivery
Richter10.2 Media Group
spence@richter10point2.com

Want more business? Become known and generate interest.

2008-11-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

If you are struggling to figure out how you can create more business for your company in this economy and your finding that your old or existing efforts are not as effective as they once were, my recommendation is to look at your promotional methods and dollars spent. Are you using direct mail? Newspaper ads? Cold Calls? How much time and money is going into these efforts?

If your efforts are not resulting in the revenue needed for your company, it may be time to look at new ways to promote, become innovative and make your company known on a much larger scale.

We are all well aware of the internet and how utilizing the leverage expansive communication can do for a company but how can you harness this tool to work to your benefit and get your company "in front" of your prospective clients?

Let's take a look at first making your company known. The key here is that in order to sell anything at all, your potential client has to know about your company. Once they actually know about you then they need to be able to easily access information about your company to understand clearly what you do and how it will fit what they need and at that point you will want to make sure your company stands out from the ocean of competition online.

Seem like a tough task? It can be. Here are the actions that you must be able to achieve in order to make your company known, get your public's interest and get them to reach for your company to become a lead, sale and become revenue to your company.

* Massively make your company known online which includes controlling the entire first page of Google for the search results for your company and no, it's not good enough to just have your site come up in first position.

* Reach areas of the web to "get in front" of new prospects which you normally would not be able to access

* Allow people to easily access you and clearly understand who you are and what you do

* Continually keep your company name in front of all of your prospective clients to keep your company name fresh in their minds

* Make new contacts daily, weekly, monthly using the internet to create new opportunities

* Write interesting blogs and articles to provide your potential clients with useful information which sparks interest in your company

* Personal messages (not bulk mail) to all connections made which will introduce you or your company so you can have the opportunity to sell them your product or service

* A complete overall web presence to be utilizing all that the internet has to offer that will help you or your company become known, gain attention and generate leads which can create sales and revenue.

If the above seems a little daunting and you happen to have the thought that there is no way that you will have time to do all of this, I would recommend a full Web PR solution which includes the entire Web PR campaign and management of the campaign to do all of these actions on your behalf so you can focus on running your business.

A Web PR campaign is a full solutions to truly make your company known on a large scale, generate attention, attract interest to strategically result in revenue. Web PR management is an on-going action to handle every possible aspect of your companies online promotion and to make your company known consistently to generate interest, leads, sales and improve your bottom-line.

The best thing you could be spending your time on right now is selling your product or service to qualified prospects not spending hours upon hours trying to figure out where the prospects are, who the prospects are and why they don't respond to your direct mail.

The thing that will keep your company afloat and expanding in this economy is sales which means you will need a flurry of people to sell to which means you will need to find ways to promote and make your company known so you have people to sell to.

This is precisely what a Web PR campaign and Web PR management is for and what it handles.

It's time to use the world wide web to make your company known on that level. The prospects are out there waiting to hear about you and they actually want what you sell, they just don't know about you.

Robert Cornish
Managing Director
Richter10.2 Media Group
robert@richter10point2.com

It's time to look at how you're generating new clients...

2008-11-11T08:39:00.001-08:00

More and more I have been running into clients who are running into problems with their promotional strategies to drive in new business. I spoke to a business owner last week who was spending $5000-$6000 per month of marketing, postcards and radio and is getting little to no return.

I can't help but scratch my head and wonder why anyone continues to pay huge amounts of money on loss leader advertising and marketing campaigns with little to no net results.

The only way that I know of that any sale is made is through generating interest which is the result of being able to effectively "get in front" of a prospective client either through a phone call, referral, email or in person meeting and introduction. So the idea is, how do you get in front of your target prospects to make an introduction and gain interest in your product or service?

If you really look at it, the majority of all business owner and potential buyers are currently online so this accounts for a massive public to go after. The fact is that the internet is one huge networking and prospecting pool! Why bother looking elsewhere? Your prospective clients are online and the only reason they are not buying your product or service is because they don't know about you yet!

By effectively using the internet in every aspect, you could have more business than you know what to do with. Your problem won't be prospects but how to organize them and service them.
The only two things you should be focused on when it comes to bringing in new prospects to sell are generating massive attention online to promote and gain interest and get your salespeople to sell to all of these prospects!! Simple!

Forget the other options and forms of "promotion", your future clients are online, every one of them. Get their attention and interest them in what you offer and your really won't have a "lack of business" or "lack of sales" problem.

Robert Cornish
Managing Director
Richter10.2 Media Group
robert@richter10point2.com

The Movie Promotion Strategy

2008-11-10T09:05:00.000-08:00

I was just reading several different magazines that all had the same person in each magazine and while reading I thought about the different demographics of each magazine. I was wondering why this particular celebrity was in the magazine I was reading because it didn’t seem to relate; and then it occurred to me that the strategy is to gain the attention of every single media outlet and demographic to promote their new and upcoming movie.
I realize this may sound like a “no brainer” sort of speak however I hadn’t thought of it before. I am now thinking about what a brilliant strategy Hollywood applies to promote their new up and coming movies and how they seem to be absolutely recession proof. Take a look at it yourself and you can start to think about how you are currently promoting your company in comparison to how you SHOULD be promoting your company….on a Hollywood scale!!!
Let’s look at it for a minute, here are some of the strategies Hollywood applies to promote a new movie:

* An article with the lead actor in the movie in every single magazine they can be featured in
* Newspaper articles, reviews and advertisements
* Billboards
* Park Benches
* Postcards
* TV Commercials
* Internet Banners
* Websites
* MySpace
* Facebook
* YouTube
* Posters on the side of buses
* Taxi cab signs on top
* Posters in movie theaters
* Trailers on every media rich site online

Just think for a second if you didn’t think about how much this all costs but what it would mean to your company and your bottom-line. Imagine creating this level of attention and controlling all of these medias to generate interest in your company.
This level of promotion would drive in sales and revenue on a massive scale. Now, take a second and look at what you are currently doing to promote your company, really look at it. How are you promoting?
Now although you may not be able to afford the same strategy Hollywood applies to promoting new movies, there are ways to gain a massive amount of attention and promote your company online that serve the same purpose and cost a fraction in comparison. While the entire world is going online for everything they need both business and personal, it is absolutely vital to utilize the internet to promote your company and get the attention needed to drive in sales and boost revenue.
Take a full Web PR strategy as an example, this can include:

* Company blogs

* Articles

* Web Video

* Press Releases

* Communication tools

* Social Media outlets

* Press Kits

* RSS Feeds

This is just to name a few, now imagine if your company had a thorough quality Web PR campaign strategy that put your company name in a huge amount of pockets online to dramatically increase attention and actively make your company known which resulted in generating interest, reaches, sales and revenue.
What is your online strategy now? Do you have a campaign in place?
When there are little or big dips in the economy, the safest path to surviving is to dramatically increase your promotional actions that help to increase your sales actions and steadily increase your revenue. I realize that most people start cutting back and contracting their promotion efforts but those same people typically go out of business all together.
From recent news I have read on some of the latest movies, Iron Man ($314M Gross), Indiana Jones ($317M Gross) and Tropic Thunder ($120M Gross), it doesn’t appear that the economy has affected Hollywood in any way which leads me to the idea of promoting your company on a Hollywood scale to gain a massive amount of attention and generate interest to drive in sales and run revenue through the roof while sailing your way through the “bad economy”

Robert Cornish
Managing Director
Richter10.2 Media Group
robert@richter10point2.com

Why Web PR, Really?

2008-11-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

These days, it seems that most people are aware that the internet can be at the very least an excellent tool to facilitate communication. It is also true that most business people do recognize that a strong presence online could affect their bottom line.

However, it is still only the truly savvy entrepreneurs and companies that actually push through the barrier of the sheer enormity of the internet and translate those suspicions into actual business created.

What is the difference between these people and those who don’t make it?

Well, to use the analogy of the internet as a sea of ideas and websites, the classic cliche of “sink or swim” can be brutally applicable. Hence, today we see an enormous industry of SEO companies and specialists who endeavor to keep their clients afloat at the top of search rankings using whatever flotation devices will do.

The obvious problem with this, however, is that if you were to follow the above analogue through completely, your website is in fact not a swimmer but just another drop of water; just one more page in that ocean.

Don’t get me wrong here, SEO is fine and a valuable service, for a start. But let me ask you, as a consumer are you that impressed by a top-ranked site on google when the rest of the first page is either completely unrelated, full of competitors or even derogatory of your company?

I thought not.

Well, what’s the solution, then?

It comes down to a frame of mind, really. Are you going to try and get along in the ocean, hoping not to be driven under? Or are you going to make waves?

All cute analogies aside, you can approach your marketing online and indeed any problem in business with either the attitude of making something happen, or hoping someone else will. You can either go out and cause that lead to come in, or that sale to be made, or you can whistle in the dark. Frankly, the latter only and inevitably leads straight down the chute.

How then do you create waves online? You create a well-optimized, easy to use website as your starting point. Then where?

Well, have you ever used a social networking site? Have you ever watched a video on youtube? Did you know that of the top 10 most frequented sites on the planet, 4 of them are social networking and video sites? How about taking the enormous power of all of the biggest and best of those sites and presenting your company and its branding over and over and over again to networks created solely for that purpose?

There are entire online public relations companies that survive on posting blogs, and others that only do online press releases. At Richter10.2, we give you blogs, article submission, social bookmarking, social profiles, professional videos and let’s not forget the kitchen sink until literally all of the best ways to get the word out about your company online are not only covered, but slammed home.

Then, next month, we do it all over again.

What is the end result?

A great first impression whenever someone enters your company into a search engine, a growing and interested audience to your message online, contacts made, business done and as a result, a positively affected bottom line.

In other words, waves.

Spencer Barnes
Director of Delivery
Richter10.2 Media Group
spence@richter10point2.com