Continuing the series of Q&A: What goes online and in print varies from a person to person and must align with industry norms. For example, when I ran an environmental contracting business my market was general contractors with public-bid jobs. Contractors are low-tech, and expect bids to be FAXED, not emailed. Most of them have Yahoo or Hotmail accounts and a LIGHT web presence if any.
Let's say you're a baseball card collector, you love all things about the sport but your paid work is interior design. How to get into the new media groove? You might talk about the parallels between project management and third base coaching or dealing with a difficult customer with a personality like Ty Cobb's. This makes you a REAL PERSON, infuses warmth into your posts and will probably garner you a following of other baseball lovers. Wow, imagine having a client roster full of other people who love the game -- that's the potential of your new media voice.
This week I speak to the Carolina Professional Saleswomen and Entrepreneurs on a favorite topic: Newsletters and CAN-SPAM. I plan to start with a primer on the scary compliance stuff and then discuss how professionals can build their newsletter subscription list (as well as subcriptions to blogs, ezines, etc) with a solid CONTENT strategy, including article marketing.
I don't go in much for Hallmark holidays -- the ones that everyone feels obliged to celebrate. I am tempted sometimes to play my "Mother's Day cards" to get the men in my life to give me the princess treatment, but resist. I put all my cards in on my birthday -- the day that's uniquely mine. If you call me on January 31 I'll probably answer the phone "Birthday Girl Speaking" since it makes me smile and takes everyone off guard.
