Category: Sales & Marketing

As presenters, it is almost always wise to take a positive approach. Stress solutions when reporting on problems. Say what you will do, not what you won’t. Focus on supporting evidence, not concerns or doubts. But notice I said “almost always.” You knew there had to be a few exceptions to the rule, didn’t you? Here they are,

Three things you should never do in a presentation:

1. Ad-lib your opening and closing. The first minute and the last are so important you should script them. Or at least think them through carefully. Say them out loud two or three times to get a feel for how they flow. Or test them on a small group first. Or your cat.

2. Apologize. You may not consider yourself the supreme subject matter expert or maybe not even the best person to give the presentation (your boss asked you to fill in at the last minute) but resist the impulse to apologize before you even begin, or anytime. Unless you step on someone’s toes, or otherwise hurt someone, then by all means apologize!

3. Overload the audience. We love our loaded baked potatoes, but those overstuffed presentations are another matter. Keep it lean, mean, and leave them wanting a little more. So much better than having too much content and stuffing it in. Ugh! As you prepare your talk, consider ways to keep it lean while setting aside details you can delve into if time permits or questions arise. Deliberately create a presentation that uses 75-80% of your allotted time, preserving unhurried time for questions. If you should happen to finish a few minutes early, you will probably look like a hero to your busy audience.

In addition to avoiding these behaviors, N is for never letting anything get between you and your audience.

Barriers to avoid:

Don’t block the view. Don’t use a lectern unless you absolutely must. Don’t sit at a table to use the computer; instead use a remote presenter so you can get closer to the audience. Don’t turn to the slides, but keep your body facing the audience as much as you can.

Don’t hide your face. Push your hair away from your face. Keep beards and mustaches trimmed up neatly. If you wear glasses, choose those with lighter frames and untinted lenses.

Don’t allow distance. Don’t allow empty chairs in the front of the room. (I sometimes bribe audiences to sit up front.) In a long, narrow room, try to move to the side or walk to the back of the room from time to time. On stage, move toward the front or down onto the floor if you can.

Definitely, think and act in the most positive way you can. But never let these don’ts come between you and your audience.

If you have read my blog before you know that I am a trainer and speech coach, and I have some professional acting and theatre experience.

While trying to do the right thing for my talented daughter, Allie, who is dying to get into the business of being “discovered,” I found despicable marketing practices from those who tour malls around the country “discovering” the beautiful little ones, especially pre-teens.

Now my particular experience may be unique, not applicable to the company or others like it, but this is an experience to walk away from or at least train a better way to market this kind of product. I found it to be as the title says: mean target marketing.

Mean target marketing starts with “talent scouts” in the mall identifying parents and “discovering” their beautiful and starry-eyed children, telling them they have star potential–all they need is the right marketing.

The process beings with “we are a marketing firm. We take products you have and make it better.” They will tell you–well, that’s what they said to my wife when she asked so maybe it is not company policy: “There is no money involved in this marketing endeavor; we are paid by the companies.” That could maybe be the marketing, but I’m not sure.

I will start by saying that I have no marketing degree so I will be approaching this from customer point-of-view, my experience with the field the company claims to be marketing. I knew at the outset there was more to this than what my wife and daughter had been told at the mall; I knew it had to do with packaging a part of marketing, but that’s not what anyone is told up front. Since I have been a professional in the field and understand how people get jobs in modeling, acting and dance, I agreed to take my daughter and “see” what it was all about.

I received three phone calls once I agreed to a meeting and each time I was reminded the wife and husband and child were required. This is the shady part.

Why all of us? Simple, they want the child to plead, beg or cry for it. The wife and the husband so they cannot go away and discuss the possible transaction as an excuse to be negative on the whole. And, of course, the salesperson wants the “sale.”

The sale of what? you ask. Product, of course. Packaging, which you can call marketing, but I don’t see the company paying for it yet. Do you? I saw absolutely no evidence, and nothing was said that you could bring in your own products and they would market you. No, you had to buy the company’s expensive packages, ranging in the thousands.

I hate hard sell, and I hate marketing like this, too. Don’t train it. You will lose. Company policies like this one close doors for people like me. Sometimes I want to look–just look–like at a car on a lot.

One time while seriously looking to buy a new car I had to fill out what seemed a ton of paperwork, listing more personal information than I care to add before ever being given a chance to look at a car (even in the showroom) without a salesman.

Once I saw what was happening, I walked out, never to buy that kind of car again. Someone in marketing must have thought it wise to gather as much information about the customer before handing him or her over to the salesperson.

Bad move. I wanted to look at aesthetics and had done some homework. Now, I just wanted to leave. The manager came over, aghast at my reaction, but I told him, “all I wanted to do was look before sitting down and now I’m not a customer at all.” Remember, customers have needs too, and to get back to my original story, feelings, too.

Push too hard and people push back. Make their child cry and you may never see them again. The idea is if the child is sold and the parents don’t want to disappoint, they’ll sign up. I wonder how many parents are actually caught in this web.

The irritating part: I had to drive a hour for the meeting and wait another hour before seeing someone, but that’s what you have to do to market your child as a star regardless. They say bring three pictures and attach one to the application you fill out. The “director” came out and introduced himself to my daughter and me and ushered us into his office. There he tried to confirm once again I could make decisions in the moment for my daughter.

Then he brought out the big guns: composites and head shots of his company’s successes. Every model, actor, singer or dancer knows they must have tools to be successful and those tools, head shots, composites, demo videos, MP3s, etc., have to reach the right people. In this electronic age, it’s easy to be overwhelmed and lost–and ripped off!

Our “director” stumbled over talking about SAG, AFTRA and Equity. Struggled is perhaps a better word here. I don’t think he knew the difference; my twelve-year old daughter does. She has an agent, but we haven’t pushed the agent because of the time element and other personal reasons that have precluded us from being constantly available for auditions, and quite frankly, her grades needed improvement. She is experienced. I put together head shots and composites, which he accepted politely but hardly looked at.

Turns out (and you probably saw this coming), this marketing to agents, casting directors and the “right” people to see Allie can be had if we sign her up for pictures, both professionally done composites at $4.50 a piece and head shots at $1.50, and of course the studio fee to cover the various levels, and add up the number of products we need top have “marketed” we feel is necessary to launch her career. It’s up to us. Mom, Dad and Kid! Really!

Now, the dollar signs. I said, “I’ll be happy to take some information and show my wife. We need to look more at financing and timing, etc.” Needless to say, he was not happy.

The truth is, with children, head shots are rarely needed to get an agent or casting director’s attention; kids change too fast and grow. And, in today’s market, casting directors and agents have their own huge electronic data base to draw from. To give this company credit, they may have had more target resources (they are a big company), but did they really market or just distribute pictures? It didn’t sound like they could give good advice. To me, this was cheap business practice to get people in the door trapped and designed to be sold. I would be ashamed. Miniscule initial identifying is done by hard copy these days; it’s mostly electronic from agents, managers and casting directors. The actors, models and dancers bring them in when they audition.

Now, if you have a different view of these kinds of companies, feel free to respond and let us know the truth you have validated and how you know this to be the way it is done. I’d love to hear it.

I’ve gone on a little long and will unashamedly fill some space with pictures of Allie. If you are a parent, do some homework, ask questions of the pros (not other parents) before you commit your hard earned money. As for trainers, I’d love to see training that tells it like it is and not selling services on the side.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

That’s all for me. Looking for a speaker, speech coach or trainer, check out my website. There you can also find my scribbling on other subjects–mostly related to humane training and communication as I see it. Check out my books: The Cave Man’s Guide to Training and Development and my novel, In Makr’s Shadow, a surprisingly upbeat adventure about what happens to the world when it allows an evolving artificial intelligence make the hard decisions to save the world from its own destruction.

As a Technical Writer, you have no control over the number of revisions a document will go through when it comes to, for example, the Requirements document or the Technical and Functional Specifications. Even if you have attended every meeting to gather information for the new product, problems will arise. Why?

• Because more than likely, the product/application will in all probability have new requirements or changes at the beginning of the project and that will flow down to your initial writings. To avoid frustration, be flexible enough to go with the flow and update your documents as often as needed before the final approval of the documents are agreed upon.
• Because once the stakeholder or client sees a prototype, they might see things that they would like changed or added. When this occurs, be sure to document the fact and update all appropriate documents, i.e., the Requirements document, with authorization and dates. The Requirements document contains high-level material, along with critical client/stakeholder requirements. Be sure to make note of all the critical prerequisites at the front of the Requirements document as well as within any Technical and Functional Specifications. Note: ensure all critical information is also stated within the Test Plans to ensure validity.

A good Technical Writer has to be flexible enough to maintain the accuracy of documents by staying on top of all changes. Changes include and are not limited to updates to the application/product, SMEs (Subject Matter Experts), management, resources, timelines, etc. In other words, anything that has to do with the project.

A good Technical Writer will always take the initiative to perform some research to confirm that what was stated at the meeting could be executed. Make sure you know and are able to question the SMEs involved. Ask the SME if what was stated so far at the meeting is doable. Find out if there are any roadblocks or bottlenecks to the end result. Sometimes meetings are full of twists and turns and ideas get thrown around very quickly and certain issues could be lost. If you are not the recorder of the meeting, and are unclear of certain information, take it upon yourself to get all the facts and present them at the next meeting to ensure that everyone is aware of the requirements and are on the same page and have the same understanding.

If incorrect requirements exist, then the wrong resources may be selected, or the timeline might be incorrect, just to mention a few. Even though you do your best, there still might be changes down the road due to unforeseen circumstances, so be aware and be flexible to work with the modifications and adjust your documents accordingly. It is not easy to be a Technical Writer. Think of yourself under this situation as a mediator or intermediary – someone who is the liaison between two factions and who is trying to get the right information or to connect the dots to produce the right outcome.

State of the Media Statistics – Interesting and Useful

Marketers rely on statistics to make decisions every day. “How does my target audience act?” and “What does my target audience want?”

Media and marketing statistics help answer those incredibly important questions. At least, they give marketing executives insights, so they can communicate with their target audience in more meaningful ways.

THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

Internet Access

In 2000, 132.2 million Americans had internet access. Today, that rate has more than doubled to 274 million Americans with internet access.

Social – Blogs and Networks

81 BILLION minutes is now spent on social networks and blogs by 169.6 million visitors. 81 billion is a number that may be hard to grasp. Think of it this way: the amount of time spent on social exceeds the time spent on email.

Mobile Phones

An astounding 64% of mobile phone time is spent on apps. When you consider that Americans regularly use 2,000 – 3,000 minutes per month, 64% of that is 1,280 – 1,920 minutes per month on apps. Quite surprising! By the way, App usage among adults peaks at 5pm.

Share of Internet Time by Category

• 21.3% – Social Networks & Blogs
• 7.7% Online Games
• 6.5% E-mail
• 4.3% – Videos & Movies
• 3.8% Portals

Top Websites Visited While Watching TV

1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. Zynga
4. Google Search
5. Yahoo! Mail
6. Craigslist
7. eBay
8. Electronic Arts (EA) Online
9. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
10. Yahoo! Homepage

With this introduction to the Digital Revolution, it’s clear that consumers are deepening their usage. Smart marketers will continue to consider the impact of online media in their market research, planning, and communication.

What has worked for you or your company?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, The WebPowered Entrepreneur – A Step-by-Step Guide will be available in July 12, 2012 at Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/MyaQmp and Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/M5T0KO . Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. She helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

What’s your message? So many times we have data or facts we need to get across, but without a message to tie it together, set the stage or give it context, those facts can get jumbled or just ignored.

For speaking success, start and end with a big-picture message about why you are speaking and why the audience needs to hear what you have to say. It is up to you as the presenter to figure out what the message is, rather than hoping it will become clear as you go. You know the content best, and if you are planning the presentation or meeting, you should know what you wish to accomplish.

Do this even if you think it should be obvious. It isn’t. And even if it is, the audience still needs to hear it from you. They need to hear it in the clearest, most compelling way you can tell it.

Some examples of messages:

• As we migrate to this new software, we will have new efficiencies and accuracies that we’ve only wished for in the past.
• By turning in your vacation requests when due, we will be able to process your vacation pay and make sure your requests for time off are honored.
• Adopting kaizen measures in our plant will result in cleaner, more efficient workspaces, making our jobs easier and most likely saving time and money.
• Purchasing this new equipment for the office will allow us to operate more safely and efficiently.
• A deeper understanding of accounting principles will help us to make better financial decisions on a day to day basis.
• The purpose of this meeting is to bring everyone up to speed on the project, and to determine and assign action items that will keep us on track.
• In our phone conference today let’s hear from each of you on customer concerns so we can use that information to improve our service.

What did you notice about these examples? Hopefully, you noticed they:

• Are complete sentences, not phrases or questions
• Are short in length, and use simple, common language
• State or imply benefits for the audience, team or organization
• Are big-picture, generally not including specific details
• Suggest actions to be taken by those listening
• Tell the audience what to expect

In order to create a strong message, take time to answer these five questions:

1. Who is your audience?

2. What do you want to say?

3. What do they want/not want to hear?

4. What strategies can help you bridge any gaps between 3 and 4?

5. What do you want them to do, say, think, feel or remember?

The answers to these five questions should help you formulate a message or overview statement. As you begin to capture your ideas about what your message is, play with the words, tighten the message, and say it out loud a few times.

If you aren’t convinced, then your message isn’t right–yet. Walk away for a few minutes, and come back to it fresh. Or ask someone else to talk it through with you. Just don’t settle for a message that leaves you cold; that is not a great way to start your presentation.

Once you capture it, you will experience a positive recognition that “this is it.” Be sure you capture your message on paper so you remember to start and end with it.

When you approach your next meeting, training session or presentation with a clear and compelling message, you can speak with confidence, and your audience will be able to understand and remember what you said. How great is that?

Guest Post by Jean Ryan

Reputation management online is something a lot of businesses are interested in today. With the popularity of the internet today, news is able to travel very quickly. This could obviously be good or bad, depending on what is said. Therefore, keeping up a good online reputation is essential.

There are plenty of strategies for doing this. Here are 5 guidelines that work:

Hire A Reputation Management Service

There are plenty of these services out there today, and they are similar to PR firms in that they help you maintain a good reputation. Essentially, these services are designed to stop negative press, while promoting positive things about your company. In many instances they can do this more effectively than you can, and hiring them could be worth the investment.

Respond To Negative Feedback

If you have a popular product or service, then chances are people have reviewed it online. If there are negative reviews about you, make sure you respond and set the record straight. Obviously you do not want to get in an argument with the person.

Instead, you might want to acknowledge your mistake (if it is true, of course) and offer to make up for it. You could offer them free future products or services, a discount for an upcoming promotion, etc. This can be a very effective strategy for winning that customer back while also helping you in the eyes of the general public.

Blog

Starting a blog is a great strategy for maintaining a connection with the people you are trying to reach. Many companies are using blogs to effectively get their message out, and better reach their customers. One of the reasons they are so effective is that you can respond to comments from your customers, and answer their questions.

Article Marketing

This strategy has been around for quite some time, and it is quite effective for giving you a good reputation. Submitting articles allows you to provide free information on quality article directories. This just enables you to reach your target customers more effectively. At the bottom of the article, you can include a link to your website, so it can drive in some new customers as well.

Get Feedback

It is important to see what your current customers think of you. Every now and then, make sure to ask them about your products and services, and what they would like to see you improve. This just shows them you care about their opinions, and it can help you to better meet their needs.

Reputation management online can be very effective, when done right. Use these 5 guidelines, and you should see good results shortly.

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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Author’s Bio:

Jean Ryan is a highly experienced writer and an internet marketing entrepreneur. Her ideas on web reputation management are highly effective, borne out of decades of experience. She specializes on providing consultation services to businesses in need of solid online reputation management. Follow Jean Ryan on Google+.

The Technical Writer Project Manager (TW PM), has to be organized, analytical, detail-oriented, possess common sense and patience, and be an excellent communicator. The TW PM must plan, control, maintain, and be persistent in bringing the project to completion.

To plan each project, the TW PM will have to:

• analyze the project requirements,
• set milestones which indicate the critical dates,
• estimate the budget that is required to complete the project,
• identify the types of documents (as well as format) required for the project,
• select the appropriate resources (in source, outsource) to gather data, research, and create the content,
• ensure that the right tools are available, and
• determine whether or not the writers require training or need to be re-trained.

To control the all the projects, the TW PM has to:

• meet with all stakeholders to ensure that all requirements have been gathered,
• interview subject matter experts (SME’s) and developers to ensure understanding of the new projects,
• select appropriate team leaders to work on each project,
• maintain communication between the team leaders or members,
• maintain communication with all stakeholders to keep them informed of the projects status as well as to ensure that all required information has been gathered,
• ensure that each team stays focused and on target to ensure delivery dates are met,
• plan ahead and creates contingent plans for any unexpected delays and bottlenecks, and
• ensure that all problems are resolved.

To maintain management of the project, the TW PM has to:

• generate reports on the projects, budgets and overall status of the projects as well as reporting any unexpected issues,
• coordinate and manage the documentation (establish overall knowledge management processes and procedures which involve content taxonomies, styles, sharing, and distribution),
• interact with other departments for process improvements,
• perform final review/edit/proof reading prior to being published, and
• ensure establishment of style guides (definitions, metadata, processes, etc.) to ensure accuracy and consistency.

The TW as a PM has to focus on time, budget, and quality, as well as establish the high-level Project plan. One of the most important jobs of being a PM involves planning. Planning requires the PM to:

• plan out the projects (determine the work breakdown) and set milestones (critical dates, as to when the project has to be delivered),
• make sure that each team is informed of critical dates and ensure that team members will be available on specific dates, and
• establish backup plans for unforeseen developments or circumstances.

The TW PM has to also possess good judgment in selecting the right technical writers (or team leaders) for specific jobs. Once all of the necessary tasks have been prioritized, organized and under control, the project will be brought to fruition.

How many times have you sat through a meeting or presentation that was so dull and lifeless, you could only wish for it to end? What does suck the life out of these communication modes, and how can we get it back?

Here are some ways you can add more life and living to your speaking:

Only speak on topics that you can get excited about. If you can’t breathe life into them, maybe you should let them go. Write a memo or email instead.

Find the personal connection. How do you relate to this topic? How has it impacted you or those close to you? Why is it important? What are one or two stories you could tell to breathe new life into this material?

Get as close as you can to your material. Steep yourself in it. Read or scan books, blogs or articles so you will be refreshed and full of new thinking on the subject.

Engage the audience. Give them a quiz, put them in small groups to work on a problem, or ask them to share their thoughts with each other. Ask them for their stories and experiences. Often you can bring your energy and theirs together to make the content come alive.

Thoughts on bringing laughter to your speaking:

Don’t force humor. If you try too hard to make people laugh, you often just make them uncomfortable. Laughter is meant to relax and connect, so the more you force it the more it won’t work. Don’t try to be funny; just be lighthearted and see what happens.

Don’t tell jokes. Again, the harder you try the less funny you will probably be. Jokes are especially worrisome; there is always someone who gets laughed at. And so many times you run the risk of offending, or wasting time, or forgetting the punch line.

Do find natural, spontaneous humor and go with it. When you take a light-hearted approach, things just seem to happen that are funny. Mistakes can be funny as long as no one gets hurt; I often laugh at my own spelling or handwriting on a flip chart. Yes, it’s that bad. But if I can laugh at that, you might feel less concern if you make a mistake.

Laugh early and often. I find if I can get a chuckle or even a sparkle in someone’s eyes in the first 5-10 minutes, it’s going to be easier to laugh and have fun throughout the day. This dispels anxiety—mine and the listeners’ and makes the whole experience more human.

Have you ever thought about your audience, really connected with them to the point that you could say you loved them? If you have, you know what a moving experience that can be. If not, you might be missing out on making genuine connections, and that could leave you worrying about being perfect or impressive when you speak. Instead, think of connecting with and loving your audience, and you will see something shift.

How to “love” your audience:

Target your content to them. Never give a canned pitch or presentation; people can smell them coming a mile away and no one wants to hear them. Target you message, your language, and the examples and stories you tell, so that the audience sees that you understand them. (If you can’t do that, then use universal stories and themes that most people can relate to.)

Be curious about them. If you are all wrapped up in yourself, trying to be perfect every moment, you won’t have any energy to think about the audience. When you start to wonder about what they are experiencing, you can make stronger connections. I recently worked with an individual who never asked a single question about me in two days of working together. If he was curious or cared about me as a person I had no way of knowing.

Be helpful to them. If you desire to be perfect in your communication, that puts tremendous pressure on you to perform rather than to connect. Audiences always want to know how the information will impact them. If you can provide useful information, they won’t care if it is delivered perfectly or not.

Be real with them. For years, I wore a mask as a professional trainer. I didn’t let people know much about me, as I didn’t want my presentations and workshops to be about me. Over time I learned that it is about them and me. Just as you “see them” the audience wants to “see you.” Who are you as a person, what is important to you, and what kind of cookies do you like best? The audience doesn’t want to hear about you ad nauseum, that’s for sure, but don’t hold back everything either. Let them see you, and let them see you care.

So live, laugh and love your audience. Bring your content to life, and share your laughter and personality. Yes, get down to business. Have good information, well organized. But be sure you don’t overlook the human side of speaking.