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a new beginning…a new opportunity

October 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Opportunity is a funny thing, when you aren’t looking for it, it seems to pop up left and right. When I began RavenWood Creative, I networked, I passed out business cards and told former colleagues and friends all about my Marketing and Communication experience. I depended on Word-of-Mouth advertising and it worked great. Former colleagues gave me opportunities to work on projects both internally in their companies and externally to try to market their wares or services.

Everything was going great. The company I started, which I thought would be providing mostly writing and graphic design services, quickly evolved to one providing web design 80 percent of the time. I found there was a need for small and medium size businesses to have a single source of marketing materials, whether they are online or on paper. WordPress became a powerful ally, as most clients wanted the ability to create content and update their own website to talk directly to their customers. My design skills came in handy when creating new web graphics and corresponding brochures, business cards and advertisements. My desktop publishing skills were tested and expanded as I began laying out hundreds of pages of reports and books for clients such as Monitoring Analytics and Flourtown Fire Company.

Then I saw it, an ad from a financial firm, they needed help with their marketing and communications. The job entails everything I’ve been doing with RavenWood Creative wrapped up in a neat little company that is rapidly growing and with plenty of opportunity. So as my relationship changes with my clients, I ask for patience and understanding as we make this transition to a new opportunity for all of us. It’s been a pleasure working with everyone, as most relationships go, they’ve had there ups and downs, but in the end I hope your relationship with RavenWood Creative has helped grow your business and opened new opportunities.

Tim

Filed Under: Blogging, marketing, Networking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Power of Words – The Fall of News of the World

July 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As I’ve noted in prior posts – contrary to the popular belief the core of the Internet is not images, but words. Twitter and Facebook thrive on the words of the populace and with the news of the demise of the 168-year-old News of the World. Social Media is being proclaimed as the victor in bringing the alleged illegal action of the newspaper to the attention of the world. Now that the consumer is an instant author, even a historic bastion of journalism is susceptible to being brought down by the words of the masses. According to Gerry McGovern, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and others through history understood the power of words and appropriately as technology has evolved so has the way words get to the masses.

Today it’s a 140 characters at a time, but as the Muslim Spring and other tragedies have shown us the words of the public spread information and news quite effectively. The pressure to get the story in this digital age seems t have caused the News of the World to do anything to get the story, but in the end the public has the last word.

Until next time, Tim

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

RavenWood Creative Published in the Library of Congress

April 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yes, with the acquisition of the Twitter archives by The Library of Congress, where every public tweet ever “SENT” is now archived with the Library, everyone who uses Twitter publicly is now published in the Library of Congress’ vast archives. So such great tweets from @TimErnst and @RavenWoodCreate as the following:

@TimErnst Lots of little projects filling my day, today. But’s it’s these types of days that keep me busy and projects moving. Bouncing 1 to another.

Or my personal favorite, my first tweet: @TimErnst blogging and surfing the web

Or @RavenWoodCreate Just completed the 2009 State of the Market Report for a client, just under 700 pages of Adobe InDesign Layout and… http://bit.ly/djE9Jj

… are all now a part of American history.

As you can see its stunning insights into the human condition that I’m contributing on Twitter. But it is interesting and historic that the LoC has deemed this relatively new form of communication (started in 2006) worthy of archiving. Our President used it to thank supporters when he was elected, and the Miracle on the Hudson was broadcast first on Twitter by rescuers and folks standing on the wings in the chilly river. So it looks like Twitter will be around for a while and it’s archives even longer. Can you imagine a student researching our history in years to come trying to write a report citing their facts in 140 character snippets?

Until next time, Tim

Filed Under: Blogging, Historical, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 5 WordPress Features Customers Are Asking For

March 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Within the last six months, my graphic and web design business has seen a shift. WordPress-powered sites are becoming quite popular with my clients. And who can blame them? The features a blog-based site gives them outstrips old, static websites. Also I’m finding this powerful content management system has something to offer everyone.

Here are my Top 5 Features Customers are asking for with WordPress.

1. Control Over Their Content

When I visit with a new client. I can tell you the first topic they bring up. It goes something like this, “I have this website, [insert name of young relative, inexpensive web design co. found in yellow pages, or themselves] designed it. It’s okay, but I can’t update it, and when I want to it takes days to update it.” Sound familiar? It’s a refrain I hear from clients all the time. WordPress solves this by putting the control over content back in the proper place, the site’s owner. With the user-friendly dashboard interface, I can train most people on how to update their site once it’s set up and customized in a matter of hours. Want to update your site? Take your pick of pages, posts or widgets and you’re ready to go. Clients love that they can ask for a certain look and feel to their site with WordPress and then it can be turned back over to them to expand and develop their site and online brand the way they want.

2. Tie Social Networks into My Site

Many of my customers are dipping their toes in the social networks or they have dived themselves and their company whole-heartedly into social marketing. A blog-based site helps you wherever you stand or “swim.” With the thousands of plugins available for WordPress and the ease of which sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn make it to cross-reference and cross-populate your social networks, the hours spent tweeting about your latest project or the comments you’ve gotten on your work on Facebook can all be featured on your homepage. With automated features such as tweeting your latest blog post, making social media marketing a part of your marketing mix, a WordPress blog becomes very attractive.

3. I want easy-breezy, lemon-squeezy ways to upload photos and video

By giving my clients some training on WordPress, I find they pick up rather quickly on how to upload and feature their photos and videos in WordPress and, more importantly, on their website. I have a real estate firm, Dan Helwig, Inc. Realtors that is using WordPress to feature the properties the want customers to know about. They upload hundreds of image every year and WordPress helps them feature all of them and a few “special” properties on their homepage. WordPress makes it easy.

4. Migrate my old content to my new blog

Another client of mine, Environmental & Engineering Solutions, Inc. recently added a WordPress blog to it’s site. By doing so, they were able to eliminate the older model of creating a subscriber-only area on their site for newsletters and information. By migrating all of this past content over to the blog, we were able to quickly add existing content to the blog (enhance SEO) and organize the content chronologically to offer EES clients a searchable, tagged database of all its past articles, related websites and commentary on environmental engineering issues. The subscriber model has changed a bit, rather than supplying an email to access the information, a customer can now subscribe to the blog’s feed and be updated automatically when EES posts something new. It greatly simplifies the site for the user, enables them to find what the want when they want it, and keeps EES in the front of their mind for future projects.

5. I need to organize my site

Another way WordPress helps is by organizing content in a fashion most people can understand. With Categories, Pages, Posts and Widgets, I haven’t found a business or organization yet that can’t benefit from organizing their content in this fashion. I find it particularly powerful for non-profit organizations that have upcoming events and updates for members to be able to post the latest information for its members and the public. Two recent examples I’ve worked on are MidAtlantic Tax Solutions, Inc., a firm that helps homeowners reduce their property taxes and Flourtown Fire Company, both are enjoying new WordPress-based sites. MidAtlantic is enjoying the fact that update no longer take hours to complete and are excited by the ability to expand the site along with the business. Flourtown Fire Company, an all-volunteer, non-profit organization also is enjoying being able to update the site soon after responding to an incident, but also the ability for multiple members to update the site and feature upcoming events. The various areas of the company from Ladies Auxiliary, to officers and its rich 100-year history all have a place on the site and can easily cross-reference with one another through tags and categories.

As you can see I’m a big fan of WordPress and have been finding it answers the needs of my customers. What are your thoughts on WordPress and what are your favorite features? Let me know below. Until next time, Tim

Filed Under: Blogging, Design, Web Design Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s your Font Type? Revealing Your Personality Through Your Choices

February 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Wow, in the 542 years since Johannes Gutenberg’s death (1398 – 1468), the world of fonts has certainly come a long way from the Gothic styles and primitive fonts of his era.

Now with blogs and the ever-changing web fonts have become more and more expressions of one’s personality, corporations use fonts to aid in branding themselves. Coca Cola has made its font into an extension of its brand, and corporations are starting to move away from the old-stand-bys of Helvetica and Times New Roman. Here are 30 fonts that might work for your company or project. RavenWood Creative uses Eurostile extensively in its marketing materials, invoices, and proposals to put forth the clean, modern and sleek appeal of the design firm. Does it work? I think so, the font inspires me to be clean and organized in my work, something I think my clients appreciate.

But I might want to rethink my font choice… I recently discovered through Twitter, it’s amazing all the stuff you discover by following others, the following link -

http://ow.ly/16pWX

It’s for a blog from Extensis, a software company, and where typematching meets matchmaking. It’s a fun site, check it out and see what font you are. I’m a Stencil in the typecaster, but I think I’ll stick with Eurostile!

Typecast Yourself!

Until next time, Tim

Filed Under: Blogging, Design Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Happy Birthday Edgar! Here’s to an Original…

January 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Edgar Allan Poe would be 201 today. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Every man is born an original, but sadly, most men die copies.” Lincoln who would come to national prominence after Poe’s death, surely was familiar with Poe’s works. Poe was an original. Although many critics of his time, i.e. Rev. Rufus Griswold, thought him to be an odd and overly analytical literature critic. Griswold who met Poe in 1841, thought they shared a love of literature, but that’s about all they shared. Griswold thought befriending Poe would help his own writing career. Until later in 1841, when Poe wrote his first criticism of Griswold’s work in “Autobiography” – the friendship was over.

In this day of citizen journalism, with blogs, you tube, and all the other social media available, I find it hard to find an original. It’s just so easy to just retweet, cut and paste and just create a copy of others works. I wonder what Edgar would think of all this instantaneous media and news? Would the Griswold vs. Poe feud take place on Twitter? Would their “personal brands” be damaged by being thrown under the bus by one another on TMZ?

The two men would continue to criticize each others work. Phrases such as “hack”, “outrageous humbug” and “lacks independence, or judgment or both” were traded between them and in letters to friends. Griswold would hold the grunge beyond Poe’s death. Griswold’s obituary of Poe would become infamous, as the fans of the first detective novel and the master of the macabre, would forever color Griswold as the villain.

Do you have someone in your life that you’re cordial to in public, but behind their back you slight and criticize? How has society and the implementation of so much technology changed the way people criticize one another?

Until next time, Tim

Filed Under: Blogging, Historical, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

9 Tips for Marketing Your Business

September 9, 2009 By 2 Comments

9ball_rack_2As a Communicator/Marketer | Web Designer | Writer and Blogger, I’m a big fan of Inbound Marketing, the Internet is a great forum for any business to present itself to customers who are researching “what’s out there” before they buy. To help you attract attention online and to honor the unusual date 09/09/09, I’ve put together  9 tips for Marketing Online. Forget, trade shows, traditional advertising, cold calls, and the yellow pages, the web is where you should be.

1.) Develop a flexible website:

Many of the clients come to RavenWood Creative seeking to either establish a web site or redesign one where they can “control the content” and “update it” whenever they like, without having to depend and wait on IT Professionals to make the changes. Content Management Systems such as WordPress, Joomla, and other Content Management Systems today make it the right choice for businesses today. It enables business owners to control their content and more importantly respond to changing market conditions, world news, and their competition online, where the customers are looking.

2.) Make your Online Presence – Attractive:

Anyone can have all the greatest content and be subject matter experts in their field, but much like a box of cereal on the market shelf, without attractive packaging and an organization behind the content, no one will spend the time to stop and peruse the offerings. Visuals in Web Communication are as important as the words on the screen. People often forget that the World Wide Web is a visual medium, much like television. That images and how information is categorized is paramount to the content itself. If a potential customer can find what they need from you in an easy and attractive fashion, you’re one step closer than the competition to landing that customer. People like clean and easy, they move past unorganized and screens full of text for sites NOT designed in the 1990s. Break up the text with visual cues, and use visuals as part of your navigation.

3.) Don’t forget “Grammar” School:

Writing, that subject you learned in grammar school, is also important. Sure you’ve attracted a potential client to your site by means of a good ranking in a search engine and a visually attractive web site, just to make them click the back button. Why? Because your pages are full of typos, run-on sentences, and a general “let’s put everything up there” attitude about the web site. Your site shouldn’t be a dumping ground for every profile or market report you’ve ever produced. Editing is good. People scan web sites, if they want more, they’ll ask. Less is more on the Web, and your bad-typing skills and lack of organization over your content will lead them to look elsewhere.

4.) Seek Other Opinions:

Sure you know your business and you know what your customers want, you wouldn’t be successful if you didn’t. But, have you ever asked your customers how you can better serve them? The web is a great place to get other opinions about your work. Polls, surveys, comments, and testimonials are the backbone of most social media sites and other successes on the web. Why do you think people seek out recommendations on LinkedIn, or answer a polls on Facebook? Businesses like people seek feedback. Generally, the feedback is constructive and helps you focus your efforts. Use the tools available on the Internet to your advantage and allow other to comment on your work. The next five tips on on tools to use to spotlight your business online.

5.) The Magic of SEO:

With every web design client RavenWood Creative works with, the question of search engine optimization, SEO soon pops up. Many clients have heard of it and many know they should have it on their web site. It makes sense, increase your web site’s ranking in the search engine and drive traffic to your site, but how? It’s like some sort of magic to most, but it all comes down to using the right keywords and other tools within your site that match what a typical or ideal customer will search. The confusion comes from which search engine the customer is using, Google, Yahoo, Ask. Or what the search engine returns, BING returns are slightly different than Google rankings. But all search engines like new, fresh content (see #1) and any way you can do that for your business will pull your information closer to the top in rankings.

6.) Blogs:

You reading one right now, you probably read one more often than you think. Blogs are a great way to keep your site fresh, up-to-date and relevant (remember, search engines like this type of content). But it’s more than a way to post information fast, blogs are a two-way street and comments and conversations are their life blood. Post as often as you can and comment on other blogs more often and soon you’ll be positioning yourself and your company as a subject matter expert. Blogs can be your entire web site, as WordPress and other blogging technology gets more and more sophisticated, keeping your content rich and your visuals up-to-date is easier and easier.

7.) Social Media Worlds:

Each day the Social Media sites converge more, and with this convergence your customers, old friends, and existing clients are spending more time on the sites. It makes sense to be in the location where your customers are asking questions, seeking advice, and sharing thoughts. Ask Comcast, Zappos, and other corporations that are using social media like Twitter to address customer needs. It’s the future of customer service, no longer do you search out an 800 number to call, you Tweet about your service on Twitter and more often than not, you get a response from someone with advice or help. Go where your customers are, go on social media sites.

8.) Social Media Releases:

Gone are the days of typing up a press release on paper and sending it to the local business editor. Social media releases are rapidly taking the place of the static, and stale press releases. Releases with video clips, images, and actual quotes or testimonials are helping get the word out for many companies. PRXbuilder, Pitchengine, storycrafter, realwire are some of the companies helping to push the social media release technology.

9.) Viral Marketing:

We’ve all received them in our inbox, a video or photo that has circled the globe with sleeping cats, crashing cars, or blenders chewing up an iphone. Take advantage of the human behavior to share the fun, the wacky, or the unbelievable. Don’t take yourself or your business too seriously and word-of-mouse techniques can work for you. Ask for opinions, ask them to share and reward those that help you. Sooner or later something will go viral, ask the Blendtec folks.

Have any other tips about inbound marketing to share, please share a comment below. Until next time, Tim

Filed Under: advertising, Blogging, marketing, SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Changing Definition of “Audience”

August 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The social media aspects of the Internet are changing the rules of the game and personal technology, (i.e. mobile phones) are changing the audience at those games. As I prepare to take in a ballgame of the 2008 World Series Champion Phillies tonight, an article on Mashable caught my eye. It seems the SEC College Football Conference has updated its media policy to be stricter on regular fans in the stands:

football-fans“Ticketed fans can’t “produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event. …”

This policy is stricter than most policies out there and written that way for a reason. Since it’s publishing it has been slammed by bloggers, Tweeters, and the like as “chasing shadows,” or “not enforceable.” All true, but I don’t see security personnel scanning 90,000 fans and swooping in on a fan in the stands who’s using TwitPic to upload a shot of the latest touchdown by University of Florida.

I agree with most that state that such policies, such as the SEC’s is a fear reaction to not only the present technology that makes every fan with a mobile phone “a mobile news van” but also a policy that is trying to prevent the future from happening when phones will be uploading and sharing video of the action (can you imagine the phone bill?). The definition of audience is merging with the media. Fans are becoming reporters and reporters are relying on such technology to capture fan reaction or track down different perspectives. Remember policies about using the phone at work? Or ones regarding sending personal emails from work? Some are still in place in the corporate world. And right now there is an HR professional out there somewhere writing a policy regarding the use of social media within the company. All will be ignored or skirted as the technology becomes easier and easier for everyone to use. “It’s my mobile phone. I can do with it what I like,” is the prevailing attitude and I think the SEC will soon find that out. Technology is making it more difficult to keep events, whether they be sporting events or a plane crash on the Hudson, from being the sole domain of the media. We’re all media and the sooner the traditional media: newspapers, TV, even today’s bloggers realize it and forget about trying to legislate how we interact and use technology the easier it will become for them to reach and engage their “audience.”

What do you think?

Until next time, Tim

Somewhat related video from YouTube, could this be the future the SEC fears.

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FTC wants to Regulate Bloggers

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

images.jpg

Look out Mommy Bloggers and Reviewers, the government is coming to get you! According to the Washington Post (Article June 22, 2009) the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing guidelines it hopes to present later this summer that would regulate how bloggers disclose that they are receiving payments or freebies for their review. MomCentral (@momcentral) and IZEA (@IZEAinc) both of whom follow me on Twitter are mentioned in the article. I’ve met Stacy DeBroff very quickly after she spoke to IABC in San Francisco recently and put the following question to her via Twitter:

My question for @momcentral how do you stay transparent that you are tweeting/blogging for a paying client? #iabc09 ROI to SOI7:38 PM Jun 8th from Twittelator

I haven’t received an answer, yet. I’m sure Stacy or @MomCentral fields hundreds of direct tweets, so maybe they can’t answer them all, but it’s curious that the Washington Post singled them out over their practice of supplying coupons to Mommy bloggers so a certain product can be reviewed. IZEA on the other hand follows me, but has yet to reach out to me to offer any products or companies. But, it should be interesting how the FTC handles the slippery slope of trying to regulate the Internet.

Will bloggers go off-shore to accept payments for reviews? What about Twitter, much of the buzz on the microblogging site, is where do you put a disclaimer in the 140 characters you have to work with? I think the government should review the existing laws it has in place for retailers and the like. Rather than trying to chase down every Mom on a blog or band geek turned techno-blog reviewer, the U.S. Government should clamp down on the unscrupulous retailer trying to lure shoppers with “independent testimonials.” Code of ethics for bloggers are a good thing as well, and most bloggers who don’t disclaim they are receiving payment for their posts are soon uncovered by others who are trying to make blogging an trust-worthy news and information source. As for me, I have never taken payment for my thoughts, if I were, trust me, it would be disclosed.

What are your thoughts on this controversy?

Until next time, Tim

Other thoughts on the issue: Debbie Weil; Ideas that Spread; Weblog Tools Collection

Filed Under: Blogging, corporate blogging, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Recap via Twitter of IABC World Conference 2009 – Part 2

June 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

SanFrancisco_FerryIn my last post, I reviewed the first half of the IABC 2009 World Conference as I saw it (and how I tweeted about it) and how Twitter was a huge part of the conference. Now I’d like to review the second half and the powerful speakers who helped shape the focus and energize the attendees.

Tuesday was, of course, followed by Monday night, and the IABC Heritage Region reception where I met @kathryncobb (from Chicago, its a long story how she wound up at the Heritage Reception) and two friends I’d made the night before at the Welcoming Reception at the Ferry Building (pictured here) in San Francisco. Laura Stone Bell and Erin Sullivan from Jones Day were, as many IABCers are, welcoming, friendly, and a lot of fun. Long story short, the four of us wound up at Halmand Palace, an Afghan restaurant in SF. The food was delicious, it was my first time having such cuisine, but Kathryn, who grew up in Pakistan, explained to us first how to pronounce  what we would be eating and what is typically in the food of that region. Seems her father a doctor, took her family to Pakistan when she was young to show villagers how to cut down on infant-mortality and other health-risks and the family lived in northern Pakistan until she was 17. Another world-shrinking moment for me as a result of my involvement with IABC.

Tuesday General Session:
I was frankly too enthralled by Robert Swan, OBE to tweet much during his speech to IABC. His insights into leadership, the environment and our own sustainability as a planet where spot on, and I’m proud of IABC as an organization which brings us such speakers and walks the walk with its own environmental practices. Gone are the days of water bottles, huge conference programs and directories at IABC conferences, instead opting for more online resources for speaker notes and glasses and water jugs in the session rooms.  Why do such sessions make us so thirsty? Bravo IABC!

Tuesday Morning:
BJ Fogg, Ph.D. presentation Design for Behavior Change: Why Facebook and Twitter are winning was awesome. His insights into to how design can make people act, for me, was worth the price of the entire conference and yet, it was only one of the many sessions I attended. BJ broke down the complex nature of behavioral studies and design into clean, fun, and powerful examples. His session was the first I ran into that the speaker didn’t want anyone blogging about his presentation as he is publishing a book about the topic. He didn’t mind the occasional tweet about it, so I’ll respect his work and limit my review of the presentation to my tweets: Behavior change through on line video very interesting. Start small…; BJ Fogg improv with audience members very funny. Good sports and adventurous Adam, Eve and Serpent #iabc09 persuasion behaviormodel.org; BJ Fogg pain/pleasure core motivators hope/fear social belonging other core motivators; BJ Fogg behavior is all about motivation and ability. Make it simple, to motivate “view your world through this filter.”; We live in a one click world – BJ Fogg.

Tuesday Afternoon:
After a lunch out by Union Square, where I caught some of the 47th Annual Cable Car Bell-ringing Contest. I was back at the conference for the Web 2.0 and internal communication panel discussion with Deborah Moore, from here in Philly, Karen Horn, from Washington State and Jeremy Schultz (@jschultz) from the state of Oregon and Intel. This discussion really found its legs when it was opened up to questions from the audience. It seemed the post-lunch energy level of the panel was a bit off as the majority of the session was very low-key and the examples were nothing earth-shattering. Tweets speak for themselves: T10 web 2.0 presentation needs more energy. Speakers seem very laid back. GSK Intranet homepage the busiest I’ve ever seen.; T10 Web 2.0 a second wind has liven up the presentation with questions from the audience. D. Moore is quite the comic “youtwitface”; RT @disruptivethink #iabc09 – check out ibm beehive -http://bit.ly/1Tejt Intranet based on facebook; RT @llibitz #iabc09 T10 – Web 2.0 tools don’t replace the traditional emp. comm tools (printed pubs, f2f, etc.) just augments them – AMEN!

While I was sitting in the Web 2.0 presentation I was also following along with on Twitter the other presentation going on through my fellow Twitter-journalists such as @BryanPerson who was conducting a Twitter session for communicators. It was the first time that that’s happened at an IABC conference and it was like a sub-conference of information going on.

All-Star Session Tuesday Afternoon:
I chose Shel Holtz @shel for my late afternoon session and his topic News Releases in the Social Media Era. I’ve seen Shel present several times and he, like most of the all-star presenters, never fails to deliver. He captured the mood of the present state of print-publications, newspapers and magazines and then set about explaining how social media, the web and the up and coming workforce are changing the rules. I found it very interesting how IABC has sponsored the creation of standards for the social media news release, or as Shel said it should be called the Media Packet, as it contains more than stale quotes and boilerplates. It’s holds logos, video, images, key content, facts, and links to what others are saying on the web. My tweets: Traditional press releases are dead or dying as they were designed for print when most journalism is moving online. #iabc09 shel holtz as5; @shel sncr.org shel founding partner of society of new communication research. #IABC09 SNCR; Online press releases work to push folks to Corp. Websites and interview requests, but it must be news; @shel Mayo Clinic uses YouTube and wordpress to spread its news no video bandwidth used at Mayo US Dept of Labor on twitter; @shel ”Communicators need to learn SEO it’s the price of admission” learn how to use keywords. #iabc09 focus on first 250 words of pr; #iabc09 pressreleasegrader.com can be used to test your online press release before you release it. @shel can only analyze ones in English.; “PDFs don’t work as online press releases. Avoid them at all times.” @shel #iabc09; @shel IABC is sponsoring and pushing the social media release. Lots of controversy followed. #iabc09; @shel showing core facts, links, and multimedia (video, logos, images) of the social media press release. #iabc09; @shel research aids include tags, links, and what other people are saying about this release #iabc09 boilerplate, contact and SM links.; @shel PRXbuilder, Pitchengine, storycrafter, realwire are all Social Media Release creators. #iabc09 all trying 2 standardize.

Dine-Around: An IABC Tradition:
I chose Nettie’s Crab Shack for the San Francisco Dine-Around, as I like seafood. Little did I know the lack of seafood most Canadians from Calgary, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the like have access to in their hometowns. It explains why out of 9 of us at dinner only three including our host David Kilgman from the SF chapter of IABC where from outside the U.S. – Simon Hardaker from Great Britain and I had to explain why we chose the restaurant. It was a great meal and good company and we all got to know a bit more about each other. Adrianne Hartley Lovric explained how she was recently married, but was just now getting to met her in-laws as her husband was from Croatia. The International in IABC can be overemphasized, I learn how small the U.S. is in the world and yet I was asked repeatedly by those from other countries what Americans thought of our new president. I suggest the Cobb Louis salad at Nettie’s Crab Shack, by-the-way.

Wednesday Morning:
Sam Harrison @zingzone from Georgia got our creative juices flowing in his session the Three Ps for more Creative Marketing – passion, performance and pitch. My tweets can’t cover the inspiration I felt during this session and beyond as I’ve started on some project back here in office. #iabc09 where are we in a rut in our lives? Sam Harrison 3ps where are we not creative because of our “velvet rut” – our comfortable zone. Passion fuels creativity and we need to practice Kaizen and stretch our selves. 3ps of marketing #iabc09; Learn not to be careful- D. Arbus – take risks and be willing to take risks. 3ps of marketing #iabc09; Harvest your mistakes. Good mistakes = strong procedure/bad results 3ps of marketing #iabc09; Sometimes you need to go against the rules of your org. And personal rules. Stop worrying what other people think. 3ps of marketing #iabc09; Dave Eggers and the story of 826 Valencia – go against the rules. 3ps of marketing #iabc09; Don’t fool yourselves and get galumping (L. Carroll ) 3ps of marketing tap your childhood creativity and whimsy. #iabc09; Throwing paper airplanes with inspiration phrases images at each other in Sam Harrisons sessions. FUN #iabc09 3ps of marketing; (the paper I picked up by the way simply said “Oz” on it, I think it’s fate, as I’m a huge Baum fan and collect all the Oz books, serendipity!) Great inspirational stories of people looking at the ordinary in new ways. #iabc09 3ps of marketing find the opportunity in the ordinary.; Popping bubble wrap in Harrison’s session pop pop pop take the ordinary and turn it into extraordinary. #iabc09; Get outside and get outside ourselves. 3ps of marketing #IABC09 get inspired by nature. Playpumps.com; Good/bad stuff lists – you find the good always outweighs the bad. 3ps of marketing #iabc09 list what good stuff happened to u today and bad; Stop saying “they just don’t get it.” it’s our job to make sure they get it. Prepare, not about you it’s about the decision makers #IABC09; Ask if it’s a good time to present your ideas, and be passionate. – Harrison #iabc09; Missle defense system prior to presenting anticipate objections (missles) and your defenses – Harrison #iabc09 be persistent.

Closing Session:
I can’t pretend to do justice to Sir Ken Robinson’s, Ph.D.  closing speech to IABC. All I can say is buy his book(s). Out of Our Minds and The Element. You won’t be disappointed. If we all found our passion the world would be a much better and happier place. The conference ended fittingly with a standing ovation.

Let’ keep the dialogue going. What did you think of the conference, a session in particular, what have you done since the conference that was a direct result of attending? What did you think of the Twitter coverage or my summary?

Until next time, Tim

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