// June 22nd, 2010 // No Comments » // marketing
We used to own an IT company here in San Antonio called Complete Network Care. We have since changed the company name and www.completenetworkcare.net is now available to purchase.
Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this domain. Due to the volume of interest in this domain, we will be accepting bids.
Please email me with your offer.
// June 17th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // SEO, idea xchange, marketing, social media
Guess who’s the guest speaker for the Idea Finishing School Idea Xchange on July 30?
Yep, that’s right, it’s ME!
Each month the Idea Finishing School hosts an open house called the Idea Xchange. Each month, they have a guest speaker to talk on a different topic in relation to small business start-ups. So far they’ve had Matt Reedy, a hugely successful San Antonio entrepreneur, John Bray and Court Allen, lawyers from Cox Smith, and Rudy De La Garza, who’s specialty is in taking companies public.
So this month they wanted someone to talk about how to make your company visible and get your name out there. Since I do most of the blogging, tweeting and social networking for the Idea Finishing School as well as several other companies, I guess I was the natural choice…
I believe in using a combination on SEO, social media marketing and face to face time to build a brand. I don’t think you should put all your efforts in one area, but I don’t think you should spread yourself so thin with being social that you’re not getting any actual work done. So, at this months Idea Xchange, I’ll be discussing how to use all of these methods to build your brand, create awareness of your company and most importantly, how to build relationships with your clients.
Social media shouldn’t be used just to blast out what you’re doing. It’s not just about advertising. It’s also a great way to see what people are saying about you. It’s a way to connect to people, to interact with them.
We’ll also go over the myths of public relations, like “all publicity is good publicity”. Having just come back from Australia, and been on the cover of several magazines, I can give first hand accounts of why your reputation is more important than any giant publicity blitz. We’ll also talk about how to pick who’s going to be the one who’s doing your social media. It’s important to have someone who really cares about your brand. You never want the type of person who says “never let the truth get in the way of a good story” to be in charge of your reputation….
So, if you’d like to hear me speak, or just want someone else’s opinion on all things publicity/marketing/social, come along to the Idea Xchange.
Idea Xchange
Wednesday, June 30th 4-6pm
3463 Magic Dr, suite 245
San Antonio TX 78229
// April 30th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // SEO, marketing
One of the best thing I like about Wordpress, besides its ease of use, is all the neat little plugins that you can install. I think my absolute favourite, and one that I have on all of my sites is the Visitor Maps.
It’s not publicly visible on all my sites, but it is in the dashboard of each. I know that there are other analytics tools out there. I have Google analytics installed, and I occasionally pop over to previous employer, Pear Analytics to use their site juice tool. But, there’s something nice about the visitor maps. Maybe it’s because I don’t have to go somewhere else to see the information. Maybe it’s that I’m a very visual person, and I like seeing the actual map. I like that it tells me how many times a visitor has been there before. It also tells me if they were referred from another site.I can see what term they were searching for in Google that brought them to me. When I send out a tweet with a link back to my blogs, I can see how many people actually clicked on that link and went to read it.
I guess I’m just amused by small things, but I really like this plug in. Even if you have, and you should have, another analytics tool installed, I’d get this one, even if it’s just for the fun of it.
Looking at the visitor maps on the Sarah Monahan website, I’m amused by how many people come to the site just by searching my name. Guess it’s an inside joke though. Ryan at the Pear made fun of my old site for not being properly SEO’d. He said it was only SEO’d well for “Sarah Monahan” and nobody would be searching for that. Over 39k hits in 4 weeks for “Sarah Monahan” ain’t bad Ryan.
No matter what tool you’re using, make sure that you’re using something. You want to know who your visitors are and why they’re looking for you.
// January 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // marketing
This weekend was the US Army Bowl game in San Antonio. I was working as promotional staff for the US Army. It’s a lot of fun, but it seems it’s always on the coldest weekend of the year!
We worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday OUTDOORS in sub zero temperatures. The 7am start time was pretty brutal. It was about 19′F. Thankfully on Saturday the sun was shining and there was no wind, so the 20′F wasn’t so bad…
The marketing company is charge did a great job of providing everyone with a super warm branded jacket. They also made sure we had plenty of water and hot coffee. The first 2 days we had those outdoor heaters and they also gave us hand warmers. I learnt that although these are great in pockets, they shouldn’t be used on bare skin. I had burns at the end of the day on my wrists…
There was a lot of staff originally scheduled, however, after we were given a security briefing about some guy who was supposed to be upset at the US Army after he couldn’t enlist, as well as the super frigid temperatures, we still had a decent turnout, but a lot of staff didn’t show.
The US Army bowl is the Army’s biggest promotional event of the year. They had teams come in from bases all over the US. It’s a fantastic display of the different jobs available in the US military, as well as a look at some of the future technologies, and a way to meet and thank some of the troops for their service. Everybody loves the give aways. I grabbed a couple of metal water bottles and a camo hat for myself. Everybody wanted our jackets, but even we had to hand those back in every day… They actually had us hand over our drivers license in the morning to get one and swap back again at the end of the day to ensure they didn’t wall walk off.
Of course, now that I can be back indoors and enjoy the warm office space the Ideagin folks let me use, it’s finally warmed up outside. Oh well, such is life!
Folks at the Ideagin office are excited today. I came in to find I had been moved into the main room next to Rebel. It was lonely by myself in the big space, so this is nice. Tomorrow they’re getting all new furniture for the Idea Finishing School. Should be a fun day.
// November 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // caveat emptor, marketing, social media
The Importance of Celebrity….
In today’s culture, being on TV is king. Everybody wants to be famous. So, it’s absolutely huge when someone says “As Seen On TV” right? Well, that depends…
How many times have you been standing in line at Wal-Mart and they have a bunch of stuff that has the “As Seen on TV” label on it. You know, stuff like the Snuggie. Or that thing that cleans your windshield. Or any other bunch of stuff that you’ve seen on an infomercial at 3am. In this case, just because it was on TV doesn’t make it good. They just bought airtime.
The same can be said for companies. You can buy airtime on the news. You can also buy a slot on somewhere like Great Day SA. You might also get on TV for free if you do something special or silly enough. So when someone posts on their website, “As Seen on TV”, you might investigate further. What were they on TV for? Was it free? Was it paid publicity? Did it have anything to do with what they are doing now? Was it even for doing something good?
I could post on here “As Seen on Channel 7″. In fact, I do. I disclose that I have been on TV in my About Me page. In my case, I’m giving a general history of myself, not trying to sell anything in particular. Some places will advertise a As Seen On… on their website, but it doesn’t have anything to do with what they’re doing now. They’re just trying to add credibility.
Here’s an example from another company in San Antonio:
Whilst it’s true that they were mentioned on all the above sites, they’re advertising is still a little ingenuous. You see, what they were on all of these sites for has nothing to do with what they are currently advertising their services as. They are currently selling a web based SEO tool, whilst all the “Mentions” were for a “twitter study”. Most of the mentions weren’t even very flattering. If you’re going to hire someone based on all the so called credibility of being famous, ask them to show you copies of all their mentions. See if it’s even good publicity. Bernie Madoff, if he were to ever be released from prison could start working as a broker again and state that he was seen on CNN and Fox News. He’s not lying. It just doesn’t mean that he was on there for the right reasons.
So always do your research. On Google, it’s easy. Type in the company you’re thinking of hiring, then do a news search. See if the news search matches up with what they’re saying. After all, you’d hate to send your kid to some summer camp because they said they were featured on TV, only to find out they were on the news because they failed their health inspections or a bunch of kids went missing on a hike….
Caveat Emptor.
// November 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // marketing, social media
Are you Alienating for Aliens?
San Antonio is a very Latin town. It’s expected that you’re going to see signs here in Spanish. Many companies have realized that the minorities are a very valuable market. In the greater US, it’s PC to show one of each color in commercials. When was the last time you saw a commercial for anything that didn’t have an AA, an Asian or a Latin person in it?
However, have people gone too far to reach the “minority” market? Have advertisers in San Antonio forgotten the English speaker?
After going to Honduras on student exchange, I don’t even notice when sign are in Spanish. I just read them and move on. My husband however, does not. We have noticed more and more that there are many times when signs are not only in both languages, but when they are ONLY in Spanish. At HEB yesterday, there was signs on the self check out announcing the Thanksgiving Hours. The problem was, the signs were only in Spanish. I have also encountered coupons on items that were only in Spanish. Do they think that only Spanish speakers deserve/need/want a coupon?
While in San Antonio the Latin population is over 70%, that doesn’t mean that all the Latinos actually speak Spanish. Many do not. Or they only speak Spanglish. So while companies try to embrace the “Latino” market, they are missing the mark. They are alienating a huge market share in favor of Aliens. Not all aliens either, since I’m an Alien myself, just not a native Spanish speaker.
On my side of town, which is actually predominantly African American, they are alienating the Blacks, the Whites, the Asians and all the Latinos who don’t speak Spanish. I stopped shopping at HEB for almost a year after feeling discriminated against because they only put out coupons in Spanish. (And I speak Spanish) But, I figure they weren’t interested in my money, so I stopped shopping there.
So unless you are a business that is specifically targeting Aliens, or Spanish ONLY speakers, don’t alienate your customers by only having signs in Spanish. Or Chinese, or Greek or Swahili for that matter. In trying to appease the minority, you may infuriate your majority.
