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Tag Archives: marketing strategist

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Marketing in the Coronavirus Age

Today, I attended a Zoom meeting for business advisors and when I was asked for advice on what marketing strategies to use during the coronavirus age, I stated the following:

First, make time to post and blog every week on LinkedIn. This is critical now as our online presence is really all we have. What should you write about?

I’m a news journalist so I’m always thinking of ideas for this. To keep it simple, brainstorm with your staff, once a week, and write down what you know about your industry or your business that could be helpful to readers. For instance, share some strategies you are utilizing to make the work you are doing for clients more efficient, more economical, or more valuable.

Second, reach out to current and former clients and take an interest in how they are doing. Find out what resources they may need and offer to connect them with others whom you know. But don’t use this time to “sell” your services. Make it about them, not you. By doing so, you may be able to deepen your relationships beyond just a “service” capacity.

Third, spend time looking at the online presence you currently have. Is your LinkedIn up to date? When was the last time you refreshed your website content? What could you add to what you already have to improve your online materials and make them more reader-friendly?

While many of the business advisors I know are working harder than ever right now, other people are experiencing lots of downtime. See if you can use that downtime efficiently and productively to take on projects that you haven’t had time to do before.

For me, Covid-19 has been a sad time – hearing about the struggles family and friends are having with the loss of their loved ones. But rather than getting anxious or angry, sad or depressed, I’m grateful that I have a business that operates primarily online, and that can readily service my clients at a moment’s notice.

All in all, I’m pretty grateful most of the time and ready to help anyone who needs help with finding a trusted advisor or someone with a certain specialty for their business or personal life. I’m always happy to help anyone who reaches out to me. I hope you and your loved ones are well and that your business survives this challenging time.

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What Makes You Different or Better Than Your Competition?

This morning I attended an interesting presentation by Eloqui, which is a consultancy that helps business people improve their speaking presentations. As part of a group of 30 or so business people, I was asked to recall from my background anything that could have contributed to my success in my career as a writer for businesses.

I thought about it and recalled that, as early as 8 years old, I loved to read. Not only did I love to read, but I also loved to write. Reading expanded my vocabulary and writing helped me put into action the words I was learning from the many authors I read. Consequently, I learned to love stories about people, their lives, their experiences, and their difficulties and challenges. Mostly, I loved reading about how people had overcome their challenges and learned to use them in ways that were truly inspiring.

My interest in reading and writing led me to Emerson College where I graduated with a degree in Mass Communications. I then used my education to land a job as a radio news reporter – and later as a print news journalist – to tell people stories. That’s essentially what news journalists do: they tell stories about what they see, hear, or experience. Of course, there’s a formula that we have to use in distilling that information to the public, but broken down in its simplest terms, I learned how to tell stories about my subjects, both as a writer and a speaker.

Today, I use my love for story telling in writing about my clients: their accomplishments, their challenges, how they solve problems for their clients, and how they use their experience in unique ways to differentiate themselves (and their companies) from their competition.

Today’s exercise was a valuable one: it reminded me why, as Writer For Hire, I am unique and different from other writers in my field. I know that if you are reading this, you also can use your experience, challenges, and love for what you do in your business.

Writer For Hire Pat Kramer is a business writer, ghostwriter, and social media pro with 30 years’ experience in the news media and as a business writer and marketing/PR strategist. For more information, please visit: www.writerpatkramer.com.

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5 Tips to Get More Traction on LinkedIn

I’m frequently asked by those who have service and product-oriented businesses to provide some tips on how to make LinkedIn more effective as a marketing and promotional tool. As someone who’s reaped the rewards of LinkedIn on multiple occasions, I’m often seen as somewhat of a LinkedIn ‘expert.’ It takes time to really get to know how to use LinkedIn’s many free tools (and even more time if you are a Premium member). So to save readers having to spend their precious time learning what I already know, I’m sharing 5 helpful tips today to give you ‘a leg up’ as you use the world’s leading social media site for business.

But first, I want to tell you my story: When I first got on LinkedIn back in the early 2000’s, I set up my profile and began making connections, and then… I waited for something to happen. After about six months went by and nothing really changed, I began wondering why LinkedIn wasn’t working. Given that I didn’t know much about using LinkedIn, I then decided to research it further by taking live and online classes on social media marketing. With that knowledge, I then started applying what I had learned to my own business as a content, marketing and public relations writer and author.

Those lessons paid off because it got me to invest time in setting up my own professional profile and then creating a strategy for connecting with others and initiating my own PR and marketing efforts using LinkedIn. Here’s what I learned – maybe it can help you too.

  1. A professional LinkedIn profile is of utmost importance. If your profile is incomplete, not written to engage or impress the reader or doesn’t highlight your experience, hire someone to write it for you. This is the very beginning of your journey into LinkedIn and every eye is going to be focused on your profile.
  2. Connect with anyone who you know from business, past and present.  This should include any organizations that you have been affiliated with, any charities that you serve, and people who you meet at networking events.
  3.  Communicate with others:  Those who you accept as connections are now part of your Circle of Influence. Think of them that way and value the connections that they may have for generating business in both directions. Start by looking at who they are connected with and seeing if you have any common connections. After you connect, write them a short response thanking them for connecting and asking them to stay in touch if you can help them in any way.
  4. Post weekly:  On LinkedIn, you can post ‘updates’ or ‘posts.” Posts are the same thing as blogs – LinkedIn offers you a free blog site to write and share your content. Once you post your blog, wait a few days then post it again as an update. The update section is great for sharing news about your business or your industry. You can also share stories that others in your company have written to strengthen your overall company marketing campaign.
  5. Be a part of the virtual community.  There are those people who sit on the sidelines and those who are out ‘front and center.’ Be one of those people who are front and center. By engaging with others, even to share short items of interest, you will be getting your name and your company ‘out there’ for others to see and remember.  Keep in mind that repetition is the main component in any marketing campaign. Be present for your LinkedIn connections and serve them as a resource – even if it’s as a ‘free resource’ right now. In time, that may change.

 

For help with setting up a professional LinkedIn profile, writing content for your company blogs, or generating press releases to showcase your accomplishments, please visit: www.writerpatkramer.com or email: [email protected]

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