• How should you develop — and deliver your brand message?
• How can you prove to your boss that social media is, indeed, a wise investment?
• How do you plan an effective social media strategy– without overdoing it?

The following four articles provide excellent ideas. Click the headline to access the full article.

No one ever bought anything in an elevator

The true meaning of “elevator pitch.” [Seth Godin]

How to Tell Your Business Story in 60 Seconds or Less

This short article provides an excellent method for quickly framing your “elevator pitch” or “brand message.” [Entrepreneur, by Carmine Gallo]

Dear Executive…

A brief letter to a corporate executive that addresses, “What’s the ROI” of social media marketing? [Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer]

The Dangers of Half-Assing Your Social Media Efforts

This article examines the pitfalls of doing TOO MUCH when planning your social media strategy. [Mitch O'Conner, DreamGrow]

Image: twobee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Join me for five social media workshops — take one or take ‘em all. The workshops are sponsored by Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center and are at the beautiful new East County campus in Monroe, WA.

You do NOT have to be a student at Everett Community College to take these workshops. These workshops are geared for adult entrepreneurs, small business owners, lifelong learners, and cubicle dwellers who are interested in learning how to use social media tools. The workshops are targeted for people who consider themselves “technologically challenged.”

To register for a workshop, click the link at the end of each course description.

*Note that this series will also be offered Spring Quarter, so if you can’t fit it in your schedule this winter, pencil the course in on your calendar for:

• April 12 – Facebook
• April 26  – Blogging
• May 10 – LinkedIn
• May 24 – Twitter
• June 7 – YouTube

Social Media For Business Series

Sign up for all five classes and save $45. Fee $300
For information on how to get the series discount, contact Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center (425) 267-0150.

Business Blogging Basics

Thursday, February 2, 2012
6-8 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

If you want to build your business online, blogging can give you a very good return on investment. Learn to identify blogging topics and blogging strategies to increase your company’s visibility and credibility. We’ll evaluate several blogging platforms, and you’ll learn how to create blog posts that lure readers and keep them coming back for more. This class meets at the East County Campus in Monroe.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/everett/course/course.aspx?C=687&pc=14&mc=&sc=

Facebook Pages for Business

Thursday, February 9, 2012
6-9 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

Use the world’s largest social networking site to promote your business. During this intermediate level hands-on class, you will create and customize your Facebook Business (Fan) Page and learn how to publish enticing updates that help you build your business. Participants must have a personal Facebook profile set up prior to enrolling in this class, and should have basic proficiency with Facebook.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/everett/course/course.aspx?C=598&pc=14&mc=&sc=

Boost Your Business With LinkedIn

Thursday, February 16, 2012
6-8 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

Learn how LinkedIn can help you network with other professionals, attract new customers, and discover job opportunities. We’ll discuss how to craft an enhanced profile and solicit recommendations. You’ll learn techniques for growing your network through Groups, applications, and a Company Page.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/Everett/Course/Course.aspx?c=733

Expand Your Brand, One Tweet at A Time

Thursday, March 1, 2012
6-8 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

Known as a micro-blog, Twitter is ideal for building your brand reputation, 140 characters at a time. During this workshop, you’ll learn how to craft tweets that provide value, how to cross-promote your Twitter updates on other social networks, and how to entice your followers to pass on your brand message.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/Everett/Course/Course.aspx?c=734

Broadcast Your Business with a YouTube Channel

Thursday, March 15, 2012
6-8 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

Forty-eight hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. It’s no wonder that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. With users who range from 18 to 54 years old, YouTube is an ideal medium for local businesses to broadcast product launches, interviews, tutorials, ads, and more. Learn how to create, customize, and optimize a YouTube channel that will increase your company’s reach.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/Everett/Course/Course.aspx?c=735

Share With a Friend

If you are unable to attend these workshops but have friends who might be interested, please share the link to this post with them: http://www.bloggingbistro.com/?p=10023

Book Laura to Speak With Your Group

Laura Christianson is available to teach workshops and keynote at your conference or event. For more speaking topics and to book Laura, visit the Speaking page.

Why not start 2012 off on the right foot by updating your business cards?

Here’s a cool infographic, the Ultimate Guide to Business Cards, courtesy of the folks at businesscards.com.

Below this infographic you’ll find links to more articles about business cards.

Created by BusinessCards.com

 Articles About Business Cards

• How to Market Yourself With Business Cards
• 15 Secrets For the Perfect Business Portrait
• Client Spotlight: Angela Welsh Designs Salon & Spa
• Local Printer: Your Essential Marketing Partner

We started talking about websites and Facebook pages and business cards. One thing led to another, and the Blogging Bistro team soon began working with Angela to design the following items:

• Logo
• Business cards
• Appointment cards
• Facebook page profile banner
• Window signage decals
• Gift certificate cards
• Stickers to go on to-go hot drink cups and bags
• Tote bag logo (yes, the totes are pink)

We’ve had a blast working together. I recently visited Angela at her new salon and snapped a few shots while I was there. Angela spent months collecting art, lamps, comfy waiting room chairs, and other décor from stores ranging from Ikea to antique shops.

There’s a “crown” theme in the salon’s décor (and in Angela’s logo). When I asked her about the significance of the crown, she explained that it symbolizes the crown of a person’s head.

Angela is multi-talented; in addition to cutting, coloring, and styling hair, she’s also a professional photographer who specializes in wedding photography (she’ll do the bridal party’s hair and makeup, too!).

If you’re in Bellevue, you must stop in and tour Angela Welsh Designs Salon & Spa. It’s a unique and delightful place, and the women who work there are equally delightful.

The salon’s address is:

13256 NE 20th St. Suite 11
Bellevue, WA 98005

Salon phone: 425.484.0901

Here’s a slideshow of the pictures I took while I was there:

So it was with great delight that I read Phil Vischer’s autobiography, Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables.

With his trademark wit and a healthy dose of silliness, Phil reflects on the rise and fall of Big Idea Productions, the original parent company behind the VeggieTales empire.

Phil’s explanation of how people became “infected” with the VeggieTales “epidemic” intrigued me.

Who do you think were the original “brand evangelists” for VeggieTales?

I guessed moms of young children.

I was wrong.

Phil says, “Young moms were too busy taking care of their kids and driving to soccer practice to try every new video that showed up in a Christian bookstore… this vegetable thing? They thought. Who has time to give it a try? It’s probably stupid and cheap…”

The audience that did get VeggieTales going was college kids and young, single adults. More specifically, college kids and young, single adults who worked in Christian bookstores. Phil writes:

Jenn Doucette, Laura Christianson and Grace Fox at a preview screening of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything," Atlanta, 2007.

“In the early 1990s, most Christian bookstores were small independents that often filled out their staffs with college kids and young singles working part-time. Particularly in less vital areas of the store, like, say, children’s products. By 1994, with home video boom in full swing, just about every Christian bookstore had a TV and a VCR in the back, most often in the kids’ department where some Christian kids’ video invariably looped all day long, making the young staff member assigned to that area a little, well, loopy. When VeggieTales came along, it was at least worth a look. So these college kids and young adults would open a VeggieTales video and pop it in just to check it out.

And they loved it. The Monty Python references, the severe tongue-in-cheekiness, “The Hairbrush Song.” It was exactly what college kids and young single adults had never seen before in a Christian kids’ video: something they would actually enjoy watching.”

VeggieTales parties began springing up at colleges and universities around the country.

And the college students who worked in Christian bookstores began playing all VeggieTales all the time.

When harried mothers walked in looking for new videos, the young clerks responded, “Have you heard of VeggieTales?”

“No—what’s that?”

“Look! It’s playing right here! In fact, your kids are watching it right now! And they’re smiling!”

Ring it up, Bucky.

Had Phil and company launched VeggieTales first at Walmart, Target, or Toys “R” Us, the “college student as early adopter/promoter” would never have happened. That’s because, in mass market stores, the store clerks can’t touch the VCRs (airtime in the big box stores is reserved for vendors who fork out the big bucks for the privilege—kind of like naming rights for football stadiums).

Phil says, “Had the clerks in local Christian bookstores not have been able to play the videos they liked, moms may never have bumped into VeggieTales. Big Idea Productions may have gone out of business before anyone knew we even existed. As it happened, exposure through Christian bookstores was the fuse that college kids had just lit. Bob and Larry were ready to explode.”

Who Are Your Brand Evangelists?

I hope this story inspires you to reconsider who your “brand evangelists” are.

I hear from lots of people who tell me, “My blog’s dead in the water.” Or, “My business is stagnant.”

If that’s the case, perhaps, like Phil, you’re preaching to the wrong choir. Or you haven’t yet discovered that ideal audience who will become hard-core fans of your brand and tell everyone they know about you.

If you’re feeling brave, try this exercise:

In the Comments area, share one primary product, service, or idea that you “sell” (whether you collect money for “selling” or do it for the joy of sharing). Don’t tell us who your ideal audience is – just tell us what you promote.

Those of us who read your comments will suggest audiences we think could become early adopters and promoters of your “for sale” item.

Who knows…someone might suggest an audience you haven’t yet tapped – an audience who just might explode your “Bob” or “Larry.”

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

When Julia introduces herself to the Society members, she writes:

Since you should know something about me, I have asked the Reverend Simon Simpless, of St. Hilda’s Church near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, to write to you. He has known me since I was a child and is fond of me.

I have asked Lady Bella Taunton to provide a reference for me too. We were fire wardens together during the Blitz and she wholeheartedly dislikes me. Between the two of them, you may get a fair picture of my character.

That statement got me thinking: If someone who is not particularly fond of me wrote a reference, testimonial, or endorsement about me, what would they say?

Would the character reference from the person who dislikes me highlight the same qualities as the reference from the person who has known and loved me all my life?

In my business and in my life, I try to treat every person I meet as if she or he could become a testimonial.

That doesn’t mean I try to butter them up so I can get something from them; rather, it’s a reminder to strive for congruency in all aspects of my life. I want to be the same person when I’m chatting with a client or teaching a workshop as I am in my role as wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

I don’t always succeed at being congruent, but it’s an ideal I strive for every day.

What about you?

How important is being congruent to you?

Do you know people who are incongruent (please don’t share identifying information)? If so, how does their lack of congruency affect you?

If you had to ask someone who doesn’t like you to write you a character reference, what would they say?

More of my reflections on this topic:

• What’s Your Core Principle for Doing Business?

Too much intensity.

Way too soon.

I needed time.

I needed to walk sloooow-ly toward the altar.

We needed to build our relationship in stages. Going from A to Z didn’t work.

The same is true with our advertising. We can’t expect one ad to do all our heavy lifting, to get our customers to think we are the end all and they will absolutely be unfulfilled if they don’t purchase our widget.

No. We need to guide our prospects toward us, tantalizing them with subtle information, helping them realize they can’t live without us. We can do this in a number of ways. Laura wrote a great shakedown of giving away content as one aspect of this strategy.

When it comes to our advertising, we must first determine our goal for each ad, knowing it will serve just one primary function on the road to our register.

• What do we want our customer to do or feel as a result of our ad?

Once we know this, we can make our message and call to action comply.

Three Facebook Ad Strategies

How does this question relate to advertising on Facebook? I’ve found that answers generally fall into one of three categories.

1. To get attendees to an event such as a book signing, a special sale, or other special event.
2. To increase brand or logo recognition.
3. To increase traffic to a blog or website where you can hand the baton to the next marketing objective (providing content to keep them there).

With each ad, we are competing with mind-riveting online activity, such as Bejeweled and Farmville, so it is important to write informative headlines and include eye-catching images.

For an event, book signing or sale…

…give enough information to pique interest and show how the event fits into their schedule. For instance, if merchandise will be marked down by 40%, say so. And include the date so the viewer can make a quick decision whether to explore further.

Here is an example of an event ad:

This ad gives viewers enough information to make a decision about this event without clicking through (many viewers hesitate to click an ad). Hard to do in 135 characters, but possible.

To increase brand or logo recognition…

…use a logo easily identifiable to the target audience. In this example, the advertiser’s goal was to increase awareness of a new store.

By using a logo brand from one of their product lines, they made a statement to their target audience that this was no run-of-the-mill family bike shop. Their logo added credibility.

Note they also managed to get an address and phone number in the ad. They hoped to associate a location with their brand to those who couldn’t be bothered to click-through.

To increase traffic to a blog…

…where we can work on providing valuable content—and therefore winning trust—it is important to lead with an intriguing headline, much like a tweet on Twitter.

(Notice that in this ad, I used my picture. Studies have shown that women’s faces get higher click-through rates than any other image. Go figure.) Whet the viewers’ appetite with a tasty morsel of what they will learn if they visit your blog.

So, what is your ad goal today? Where on the road to the register would you like your prospect to land?

Tell us about it in the Comments area.

And if you need help creating a Facebook ad that gets results, contact me.

Carrie Schmeck has over 20 years experience in corporate and small business marketing. She serves as Blogging Bistro’s Facebook Ad specialist. You can email her at carrie@bloggingbistro.com.

This is a guest post by Joanne Kraft. If you would like to submit a guest article, please check out our guest post guidelines.

Many moons ago I wrote an author.  Back then I had to scour her book for an address and finally resigned myself to addressing the envelope to her publisher.  I never did hear back from her.

Not that I’m bitter or anything…

A few weeks ago, Paul called me from the road, “Hey cutie, turn on Hugh Hewitt. He’s interviewing a mom-author.”

Wiping my hands on my apron, I turned on the radio program in our kitchen. Within seconds I was listening in, within minutes I was emailing the author. And, within the hour I was chatting with her via email about the learning curve of author-marketing.

How did I find her? I googled her name and book title – up popped her site.

If you’re a  nonfiction writer like me, you need to be within reach of your readers. Could your readers find you if they wanted to?

When you’re building your brand, your domain name is an integral part of your platform. Choose it wisely.

A few tips for domains:

Purchase your name.

Hands down this is the most important domain to own. Even if you’re not published yet, grab it! If you’re already an author, purchase the title of your book and anything else you think a reader may google to find you. There’s nothing wrong with pointing more than one address to your website.

And, there’s nothing wrong with snatching up a domain and doing nothing with it. Domains are like real estate. Give yourself some time to figure out what you want to build on your little piece of world wide web.

Laura Christianson from Blogging Bistro says, “I not only purchased my Blogging Bistro domain name, I purchased a few misspellings of the word ‘bistro’ too. That way, no matter what, I can be found.”

K.I.S.S.  Keep it simple, seriously!

If you write about cooking, don’t have some long obscure address about your cutesy-culinary-ness. People aren’t going to take the time to figure it out. You just aren’t that important (yet).

If you want to see if a domain name or vanity url is available go to NameChk. A writer-friend suggested it to me a few weeks ago. I think I’m in love.

Your name is taken?

Don’t fret. You can use a middle initial, or a pseudonym. You might even try contacting the domain owner and inquiring about purchase. You never know.

Domain police.

I can’t tell you how many times I read an amazing domain name and excitedly head over for a visit, only to be disappointed in my discovery.

In a perfect world I have the authority to seize all fantastic domain names from unworthy owners.

Joanne Kraft has a passion for encouraging moms. A sought-after speaker, Kraft has been published in Today’s Christian Woman, In Touch, ParentLife, Kyria, and P31 Woman Magazine. Her book, Just Too Busy-Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical is due out on June 2011. You can find her at her blogs http://www.JoanneKraft.com and http://www.OneSoBlessed.com, or follow her on Twitter (@JoanneKraft).

*Note: This article was originally published on Joanne’s blog. She gave me permission to reprint it here at Blogging Bistro.

This is a guest post by Eric Siu. If you would like to submit a guest article, please check out our guest post guidelines.

Blogging can be an excellent opportunity for an individual to become an expert on a topic. Whether you know a wealth of information about woodworking or your favorite hobby is coin collecting, there is likely a blog on your hobby or favorite activity.

While most individuals are not going to become famous blogging overnight, individual bloggers can increase their notoriety and buzz by guest blogging on larger blogs in their niche.

1. Increasing Buzz

Buzz is extremely important on the Internet. Readers want to read blogs that are written by individuals with authority. While a well written blog is important, individuals could care less if you have nothing credible backing up your blog.

Guest blogging on a major blog in your industry can help to increase buzz around your blog. The more visitors a blogger receives, the higher likelihood that they will ask you to continue guest blogging for them in the future.

2. Networking

Networking is extremely important in any line of business. However, networking with other bloggers can open up a wide range of opportunities. Bloggers may be able to share stories or even tips on how to improve their content. Blog owners who network are also able to increase readership on their respective blogs. Some guest bloggers are so excellent at writing content that they may be compensated for their efforts.

3. You Enjoy The Topic

Hopefully the blog that you are guest blogging on is about something you are passionate about. For example, why would you guest blog for a blog on food when your passion is duct tape wallets?

While some topics such as food and fishing may be able to together, a number of topics simply cannot be mixed.

Bloggers need to be aware of what they are writing about so that they do not get boring. Ask someone else to read your blog entry before hitting submit. Content that engages is key. However, bloggers do not want to have an all out war about your topic so be sure to keep the topic within reason.

4. Search Engine Optimization

Some guest bloggers are able to include a link back to their blog in their guest post. This is an excellent way to receive new visitors to the guest blogger’s blog as well as increase the search engine optimization of the guest blogger. Who knows what one link may be able to do!

5. New Visitors

While one link may bring in new visitors, your name is exposed to all of the readers on this new blog. Readers may research your name and visit your blog. Make sure to write powerful content so that readers are enticed to visit your blog!

6. Collaboration Within a Community

Guests bloggers who are able to write powerful content are going to become established members of the community. They will become well-liked and will be invited to a number of opportunities. Networking is important but having a large group of friends can ensure that many doors are opened for a blogger.

7. Different Viewpoints on the Same Topic

Guests posts allow individuals to share different viewpoints on the same topic. For example, one expert may believe that individuals need to exercise more than diet. Another expert may believe the exact opposite.

Being able to bring these views to the table can provoke discussion within the community and offer excellent information to the readers.

Eric Siu is a specialist at Wpromote, a PPC management and search engine optimization company.

I received an alert that a monthly column I wrote for the Snohomish County Business Journal (SCBJ) had been reprinted in the Everett Herald (that’s the newspaper that owns the SCBJ). Or perhaps I should say, pre-printed. That’s because my column is not due to be printed in the SCBJ until February 1.

I’m a conscientious, deadline-meeting freelance writer, so I dutifully turned in my story by the January 10 deadline. But The Herald must have been having a slow news day, because they printed my column two days after I sent it. Not only that, but The Herald reprinted my January SCBJ column a few days before that. The opening blurb for the new column reads:

Last week, Business Insider contributor Laura Christianson addressed the need to develop an editorial blogging calendar for business owners. This week, she talks about how to effectively manage your social media time.

It’s like a quadruple whammy! My columns for January and February are each being printed in two separate publications, netting me a much wider readership that I would received by being published in only one of the publications.

…And there’s more!

I’m a firm believer in getting as much mileage as possible out of the material I write. Both columns started out as posts on my BloggingBistro.com blog. My editorial calendar column is an adaptation of three separate blog articles, and my time management column is adapted from my post, “A Two-Step Method for Managing Social Networking Time.”

(A quick aside: If you plan to repurpose content in this manner, be sure to check with you editor ahead of time regarding any potential copyright issues.)

If you subscribe to my e-newsletter, Bright Ideas Blogzine, you received an expanded version of the editorial calendar column in January, and you’re going to receive an expanded version of the time management column in February. My newspaper columns are limited to 600 words, but I have no such restrictions in my e-newsletter, so I provide bonus material for my subscribers.

And guess what? If you attend a writers’ conference or other event at which I’m teaching, you’re going to hear some of this same content from me, in person.

Why recycle content?

You may be thinking, “But Laura, that’s cheating! You’re recycling your content over and over.”

I don’t consider it cheating, and here’s why:

People need to hear the same information repeated eight-to-ten times before it lodges in their long-term memory.

People need to hear the same information repeated eight-to-ten times before it lodges in their long-term memory.

People need to hear the same information repeated eight-to-ten times before it lodges in their long-term memory.

Are you remembering that statement yet? I hope so, because I really don’t feel like repeating it eight times!

Plus, I have a business to run. My first priority is my clients, and when things get crazy (which they often are), I run out of time to blog and write e-newsletter articles. I realize that there is some overlap among people who religiously read my blog, my e-newsletter, and my newpaper columns, but a significant portion of my readership does not overlap. So I’m hitting as diverse an audience as possible from several different forms of media.

And finally, recycling is the environmentally-friendly thing to do, even if it’s virtual recycling of ideas.

Do you recycle articles? If so, please share what works best for you.