In or out?

I take a lot of online seminars and I read about 30 blogs a day. One of the biggest debates I have found in the past few months concerns inbound versus outbound marketing. As someone who worked in traditional public relations during the beginning of the Internet age, I have done both. But before I get into some thoughts I have, let's talk about the difference.

Outbound marketing is what most people know. It's placing ads--online and offline--, events, press releases and anything that reaches out to your potential customers. If you are using inbound marketing correctly, you are drawing customers to you with SEO, social media and content marketing.

My nearly teenage child sometimes calls me "old school" but I think some of the old school ways when it comes to marketing are still viable today. I am a firm believer in the power of a well-crafted press release. Note that is said "well-crafted." To get the attention of the media, you need a press release that they want to publish. Getting it published is imperative so that it can be seen.

As for ads, I am also a fan of advertising with local media. I think your outbound marketing--your website, social media, etc..., is great. But people do still read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch local television stations, particularly those in an older demographic.The key to buying advertising is to set a budget and to spend it with the media outlets that will get you the best results. One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make is spending advertising dollars without a plan.

Don't limit special events to grand openings, open houses or sales. You can host an online webinar about your business or hold a "Twitter party" where customers can use a hashtag to converse with you.

The possibilities for marketing your business online and offline are endless. Don't limit yourself to just inbound marketing when creating your plan.

Change

One of my favorite John Waite songs (complete with the cheesy 80s video) is a song called "Change." Change, even good change, is difficult for some. I have had a lot of good changes recently--a marriage and new home to name just two.

Those changes have slowed down some changes I have wanted to make to Kimberlee Media. Now that I am settled in, those changes are coming. I am finding some challenges since I have been remiss in keeping up with all the changes in online marketing, particularly in the field of content marketing. Before I make any permanent changes, I am spending some time taking online classes and reading--a lot!

This time of transition is very exciting. I am looking forward to the summer as I reveal my new website and two new ventures. The best is yet to come.

Oh, here's that cheesy song.

Victory in the wake of tragedy

This is a blog about business but I cannot ignore yesterday's events at the Boston Marathon. I was married on Saturday and was returning home from a short honeymoon when my husband and I heard the news on the car radio. I immediately turned it over to an all-news station for continuing coverage of the bombing at the Boston Marathon and have been praying continuously.

I woke up this morning with a long to do list that seemed so trivial. But it hit me--those who wreak havoc and terror want to disrupt our daily lives. To have victory, we must go on living.

My heart is very heavy this morning. I will do my part as an American and human being to do what I can through donations, etc...to help those who are suffering. But terrorism will never win, not in this country or in my life.

If only I had the time....

Time management has always been a challenge for me. When you are doing social media for others, sometimes it's hard to remember to do your own! I find this is a constant challenge for me. I get so caught up in the 'paying work' that I forget the importance of my own.

I have found that when I neglect my own social media, blogs and website I must face several consequences:

1. Clients cannot find me. My entire Internet marketing plan relies on me keeping my company SEO friendly and updated. I have to admit, I have not been doing so in the past few weeks.

2. I lose credibility. I preach to my clients the importance of updating their social media at least daily and blogging several days a week. I need to be an example for my clients with my time management skills.

3. I miss opportunities to present information that is timely and relevant. I read about 30 blogs a day. Some of them are blogs with news that my clients and readers may not have heard. If I wait a few days I may miss the opportunity to share news with someone that hasn't heard it yet.

So how do you manage your time? Do you have a time management program or website that helps you? I would love to hear about it!

Social Media and the Final Four

Sports sites are not the only ones getting traffic during for the Final Four games Facebook and Twitter are ablaze with fans cheering and jeering their favorites and their not-so favorites. How is this relevant to social media? When March Madness began, some social media pundits were talking about which teams had a social media presence. Here are a few excerpts from media around the Internet.

The first one comes from Mashable. A survey from SportStream revealed that many of the teams don't have social media accounts dedicated to their basketball teams. "School athletic departments all have a Facebook and Twitter presence, but when you drill down to dedicated, team-specific accounts, many schools are not yet connecting with fans on a meaningful level," Bob Morgan, CEO and co-founder of SportStream, told Mashable. "Without team specific pages, fans may become annoyed by news from sports they aren’t actually interested in — for example, a basketball fan may not want to hear about how the swimming team is performing during March Madness," he added.

The Nashville Business Journal says social media has changed the way we watch the games by giving us instant access wherever we go. Guest blogger Samantha Owens Pyle said: "If I'm unable to watch the game, I don't have to miss a single shot because of live-tweets. Another benefit is that we can follow our favorite analyst or reporter during the game to get their opinion on the break down and player reports. Never before have we been able to create a customized reporting channel for our favorite teams."

If you want to keep up with the excitement before the games, Final Four Atlanta has a Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/FinalFourAtlanta. You can also follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FinalFour.

What is your favorite team and are you following them through social media?

Sometimes change is good....

....sometimes it is not. I was so disappointed to read that Google Reader was going away this summer. In my business, which is very diverse, I read about 30 blogs a day to keep with the changes. Sadly, the disappearance of Google Reader is one I read about in my Google Reader. Isn't it ironic?

Google promises another product but I am wondering what was wrong with the old one? Several people have expressed the same disappointment to me. We are wondering if this change is going to be a good one or not?

What do you think? Do you use Google Reader?