Blogging: 10 Tips

"No rules. Just things to consider."

When blogging for yourself and/or for friends or family, there really are no rules. But if you are blogging for business, you are writing your own articles, so here are a couple of things to consider:

1. As a blogger, you are a publisher! Blogging can be part of a brand. Even if it is the brand of you! Think about your goals as a blogger. Do you want to be seen as an expert? Do you want to share your personal ideas and thoughts? Do you want to get people thinking? Do you want feedback? Or do you just want to use it to document your life?
2. You can have more than one blog. In addition to WOW!, which focuses on marketing, public relations and events for business, I have a personal blog about "stuff" that I share only with with friends and family.
3. Create your blog in a word document. Sometimes it is easier to use spell check in Word. And in a third world country, you never know when the electricity is going to go out and you lose everything you wrote for the last hour!
4. Stick to one area of interest for business. Be the expert in your field! If your blog is for business, or sales and marketing purposes, feature a key "story" or idea for each post. More than one post a day is ok too...especially if a blog is timely.
5. Edit yourself. A senior public relations professional once said "write what you write, and then cut at least 10%". How awful it seemed at first to cut out "my" wonderful words! Eventually, I learned to delete flowery adjectives (four meticulously unique and specially compounded, botanically formulated new-age hormones), flip sentences to write action-oriented content (use "is" not "will be"), and edit superfluous words from content (that is one word that can often be cut out of that sentence because deleting that will cut that copy by at least that much) - some words, such as that, can be deleted from copy without changing the meaning of the sentence.
6. Use bullet points or numbers. Formatting helps break out or define thoughts and makes it easier for readers to follow content.
7. Use subheads. Just like a magazine or newspaper article, subheads improve readability.
8. A picture is worth 1000 words. Post photos at the top and/or insert them throughout the content. Photos break up copy and add interesting graphics.
9. Be mindful of tense. Monitor flipping back and forth between yesterday, the present moment and the future. If the tense changes, use transitions, so the content is more clearly read.
10. End with a call to action. Always ask for the business, feedback or comments.

If you need help getting your blog started, want to know how to blog to market yourself and your business, or need someone to "ghost write" your blog, contact me at mmonte@hotmail.com or 407-964-1557!

Measuring Public Relations: Leading them to water...

You can lead a horse to water...
But you cant' make it drink.

Four days after a grand opening event, the restaurant manager questioned the fact that he had not “seen much publicity." He said, “I believe that event was a waste of time and a failure.”

At the event:

• 150 guests were in attendance;
• 30 reporters represented different media outlets;
• Extremely positive comments were heard during the 2 1/2 hours;
• Someone thought the WOW! moment (video and photo op) aka grand opening blessing came from a famous book (oh it was an original idea...mine : -);
• An hour into the event the mayor's staffer cancelled all his other obligations that evening because he was having a great time and did not want to leave; and
• The night went off without a hitch (not exactly what happened behind the scenes, but who knew except for us?).

Now...about what he did and/or didn't do:

• Gave the internal and external marketing and public relations team two weeks to pull off the event (the team already put in the plan the pre-event work would require at least a month);
• Distributed invitations two days before the event by email and a few hand-delivered invitations to elected officials (the plan suggested...and Miss Manners would say that invitations should be sent out at least two weeks ahead of time);
• Cancelled the $500 live entertainment because it was “too expensive” two days before the event and didn't tell anyone (the original budget was $1,500);
• Didn't order the $2 nametag logo'd credentials and didn't tell the team (this was also in the plan);
• Didn't put together the media kit (he had insisted on doing it himself because he loved the design he had created for the CD cover; so the marketing team with the help of bartenders made black and white copies and stuffed kits in plain blue folders 30 minutes before the event was to start);
• Forgot ???? to bring collateral, i.e. to go menus, catering menus, brochures (again...in the plan);
• Produced a much “less than special” goody bag as a take home (the day before he had shown everyone what it was going to look like, and then we all said...under our breath...NOT exactly the same one!);
• Finally, held the dress rehearsal 45 minutes before the event (it had already been rescheduled three times); and
• Failed to send any kind of thank you to guests...not even an an email (his final task in the plan).

Even though the client did not fulfill his assigned sales and marketing tasks, (a day-by-day two-week checklist was provided) he pointed a finger at the marketing and public relations team and said:

• “Business is too slow."
• "There wasn't anyone here the night after the grand opening except for one couple."
• "We paid a lot of money for the grand opening and are not seeing the results."
• "Why are we not on the front page of the newspaper?"
• "Why has channel X not been here to do a story?"
• "Why is there not a story on X website?”

As the saying goes...you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And that is hard for a client to understand when they are a bull.

Long story short, two days after this one-sided conversation, the clips poured in and a reporter from a national media outlet called to set up a story.

The media and invited VIP guests had been lead to the water (otherwise at this event known as Martinis, Fois Gras and Crustinis), they just didn't drink as fast as the client expected.

Marketing, public relations and events are not exclusive. Though each uses different tactics and measurements, they all support the sales function. And like a ball of snow gathers more and more snow as it rolls down a hill getting bigger and bigger, so works the process of sales and marketing.

The client and the marketing and public relations team must work hand-in-hand. If a task is assigned. The delegate must perform...whether assigned down by the client or up by the team.

Do you want to know more about how to lead a horse to drink? Even if you have a beer budget, together, we can teach that horse to love it as much as drinking finest of champagnes.

Blogging: To Blog Or Not To Blog

As a child I had a diary with a key.
Now, I blog online just for me.

In December 2005, I spent five weeks in Costa Rica studying Spanish. Before the trip, I decided I didn't want to be obligated to email or commit to a time for regular phone calls because I wanted to "remove myself from technology," and not miss any impromptu surf session or una Cervasa Imperial on the beach at sunset.

After hearing a few groans/hints/concerns that I would not be in touch with "the world", I decided to start a blog. By blogging about my travels in Costa Rica, my friends and family (mom especially) would know I was ok.

I visited the local Internet cafe every few days. While enjoying the best cafe con leche, I would grab a computer in the corner and write (the cost was about $2.00 an hour!).

After returning home, I continued to blog my thoughts, adventures, lessons, hopes, dreams, occasions and life in general. Writing for me is like exercise, sleeping and eating. I have to do it. A computer makes the task much easier than pen and paper. My personal blog is really more like a diary. At times, I've posted on it daily and then months of working seven days a week and 12-14 hours a days left little time for me. Seeing those months with no writing is like looking at long lost time. Where did it go? What was I doing? What was I thinking?

It's time to set aside "Monte blogging time"! Personal writing can be a word map of your life, without visual pictures. And it is really awesome to occasionally read old posts to reflect, compare, contemplate and see the roads and paths taken.

I encourage you to write in a beautiful book, personal diary or online blog.

To learn more about how to set up a blog for business or personal use, contact me at mmonte@hotmail.com or 407-964-1557.