What: #icacaterchat

When: Tuesdays, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. PST

Why: These hour-long conversations are a fast and fun ride with fellow caterers and tweeters and help to create a community of caterers and foodies that will make your Twitter experience that much richer. To take part, you first must join Twitter -- remember to have a photo of yourself and profile ready to upload. These are two important components of being successful on Twitter.

• Go to www.tweetchat.com and sign in with your twitter name and password
• Enter the room #icacaterchat (this is a hashtag that references this specific conversation)
• You will see the chats that have been posted to this hashtag. It filters out other posts coming in so you can see the caterchats and respond to them easily and quickly.
• Plus, Tweetchat automatically adds the hashtag for you (subtracting the characters for it automatically as well). This makes it even easier to respond.
• Just remember, if you are replying to another person, the "@" before their twitter name allows them to see the chat that is directed to them.
• Then, introduce yourself to the group and begin!

See you on Twitter!

By Liese Gardner

I just finished reading Gary Vaynerchuk's book, Crush It! I loved it because Vaynerchuk tells readers how to use the Internet to turn passion into business. He speaks from experience. He turned his family's local wine shop into a national industry leader using video blogging, or vlogging. He chose video because it better suited his personality and he talks about knowing your DNA -- your marketing makeup so to speak -- and playing to your own personal strengths be it writing or speaking.

He affirmed why blogging works for business . It creates a connection and can build a personal brand faster and more effectively than any other medium. One thing he said that stood out was this -- "Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business."

What else is a blog post but a story?  And what does that make you but your own own reporter, editor and publisher? It's what you do with that information that's important. Here are some key points on which to focus when approaching your blog. I've said it before and will say it again -- these are the same questions to ask, the same issues to address as with any marketing campaign. This time it's just a little more personal!

Voice + Look + Content

• Think of your blog as building your own story, personal or business brand
• How does its content reflect you (or your business if you are more comfortable blogging as the business, rather than yourself) -- who you are are and what you do?
• Who are you…what is the image you want to project?
• One way to keep on message is to find three words that define you or your business, such as “Hip, professional, smart.” Be sure all content follows them in some way.

Audience + You

• What is the purpose of your blog?
• Who is your audience?
• Who do you want it to be?
• What does a successful blog look like for you?
• What is keeping you from achieving that  success?

Let's talk about that last question. Chances are the only thing standing in your way is you! It's hard to tell your own story. I hear three different worries from clients:

• No one will care
• I'll be annoying to my audience
• It will look like I'm blowing my own horn

I guess this might be true of a blog that is set up just as a place to publish press release material. So,  the way to avoid this is in the content. Write or speak from your passion, no matter what your subject. Make sure each post answers the question: "Is there something here that can intrigue, inform, move, educate or entertain my reader?" And even if you are blowing your own horn by blogging that you won an award, turn it into something of value for the reader by providing photos of the event, perhaps an insight into the challenge you faced producing it, or something unique you created that they might find helpful.

One more thing -- don't be afraid to just do it. There is no right or wrong way to create a blog. And there are no "experts" on it. We are all lifelong students and while the media changes, the message remains the same -- be real, be relevant and be ready.

Erecting a  Social Media Strategy Using POST

By Liese Gardner

While working with clients on their social media strategies, I never summarily assume that one strategy fits all. The process begins with the questions that are at the heart of ANY marketing campaign -- what are your objectives? Who do you want to reach? What is the ultimate goal?

While I believe social media works, it's not for everyone or every campaign, at least not yet. One reason? It takes a little bit of time to build a Twitter or Facebook audience organically. Another reason? At this stage of the social media game, you might not even find your clients using these tools yet. So while it might be fun to tweet, if your market is not there listening then your message is just blowing in the wind and you look to other ways to reach them.

And, even though social media is successful for driving traffic to your web or blog, building a community or widening your circle of influence, it too requires a well-thought out campaign that begins with the same questions: "Who do you want to reach? What do you want to say? What will the results look like?" From these answers strategy is born.

Since social media is still so new and changing every minute, there aren't many tried and true rules yet (and there may never be). However, I did find a great acronym that helps layout the structure of a social media campaign. On the web site of Forrester Researchers, two of Forrester's researchers, Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li, have written a book on social media technologies called Groundswell and in it they coined a phrase -- POST -- that works like this ...

POST (as described by Josh Bernoff on the Groundswell blog)

P is People. Don't start a social strategy until you know the capabilities of your audience. If you're targeting college students, use social networks. If you're reaching out to business travelers, consider ratings and reviews. Just don't start without thinking about it.

O is objectives. Pick one. Are you starting an application to listen to your customers, or to talk with them? To support them, or to energize your best customers to evangelize others? Or are you trying to collaborate with them? Decide on your objective before you decide on a technology. Then figure out how you will measure it.

S is Strategy. Strategy here means figuring out what will be different after you're done. Do you want a closer, two-way relationship with your best customers? Do you want to get people talking about your products? Do you want a permanent focus group for testing product ideas and generating new ones? Imagine you succeed. How will things be different afterwards? Imagine the endpoint and you'll know where to begin.

T is Technology. A community. A wiki. A blog or a hundred blogs. Once you know your people, objectives, and strategy, then you can decide with confidence.

Although Bernoff uses his T for technology, it could easily be Tools or Tactics. And in addition to blogs, add in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, as well as web sites and e-mail blasts (which yes, still have their place in a marketing campaign).

All these tools work together to start the conversation, get the word out and increase your exposure to new markets. But once again, like any marketing campaign, its only as good as the strategy which always begins at People.

Creating Online Content that Connects

Whether we are blogging, creating newsletters and e-blasts, updating on Facebook or tweeting out 140 characters, we are creating content and looking for ways to connect with one another. But for communication to be effective, it needs to send a clear message that resonates with readers.

In many ways, being an editor is no different than being an event producer, wedding planner, caterer or florist -- you  have an audience and your goal is to please it. However, the skill set required is very different and the biggest challenge is content. By being so close to the material in a blog newsletter -- virtually BEING the story -- it can be hard to organize everything in a way that doesn't come across as self-serving. This is where stepping back and becoming your own editor begins.

TO BEGIN…

(NOTE: For the purposes of this post, I'm mainly concentrating on e-newsletters that have multiple stories, but much of this applies to blog content as well.)

ONE Just like a magazine or newspaper editor, your mission is to educate, entertain and inform. As such, think of your newsletter not as must a promotional piece, but as a way to communicate and CONNECT with your reader.

AND TWO Welcome to the world of hard choices. Every editor is faced with the challenge of fitting all the content he or she wants into a certain number of pages. No matter how fortunate she is to have a magazine fat with ads, there will never be enough pages to include everything.

And to be brutally honestly, not everything should be included.

Approach every idea you have with a critical mind. By “critical,” I don’t mean negative, but selective. We sometimes fall in love with an idea that just won’t work, no matter how hard we try. Be prepared to give up your darlings (whether that’s a story, an image or a sentence) for the sake of a stronger product that sends a clear message.

There is an axiom that it's better to be fast than good when it comes to 2.0 communication. That is true in many respects but at some point, to engage, keep and increase your audience, you'd better also be good. This applies to content and to writing.

All good writing is in the editing.

And if you think editing and writing comes easy to some, think of what Mark Twain said: “The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.”

CONTENT

Create a Tone for Your Newsletter

Is it helpful, inspirational, friendly, informative? All of the above?

All of the above is great, but if the content is not well organized, your main message can slip through the cracks. One way to organize your content is to assign certain themes to certain months and have each of the stories reflect a certain aspect of it. For instance, if the theme is holidays and you are a caterer, consider enlisting your chef to write about new food presentation ideas, your marketing director to give tips on invitations, and an outside design partner or vendor to give tips on décor (more about involving vendors later). Try to choose stories for which you have images and include a headshot of the person who is writing the item. Photos and captions help draw readers in.

Lead with a Strong Story

Start each newsletter with a lead story idea. This can be the season, news from your company, a food or design theme, or overall industry happenings such as an upcoming conference at which you are speaking or attending or an award you’ve won.

Keep your Audience in the Front of Your Thoughts

Remember to approach and write everything with the reader in mind. What will he or she get from this information? If the lead story is about an award you’ve won for an event, highlight some of the great points about it, give the reader an insight into your design philosophy, the challenges you faced or something important you learned while producing the event.

Include Images but Be Selective

We all know that photos say a lot, but make sure they are good photos. View them with a critical eye. If they are blurry, not lighted well or just plain unattractive they can do more harm than good. And as for images, mix it up a bit and also include video from time to time. But same rule applies -- make sure the video is of good quality in terms of audio and visual.

Be Inclusive

Be selective when it comes to content and photo quality but be inclusive when it comes to creating stories. Involving vendors, venues and even clients in your newsletter will widen your readership and create more varied editorial voices and content.

Get serious

Set up a schedule for the year and assign stories and deadlines that are taken seriously.

Write Tight and Bright

Have fun with the lead paragraph but remember to have the “who, what, where and why-is-this-important-to-the-reader?” all answered in the first couple paragraphs.

It’s All In The Details

Check and double check spelling and grammar.

Make Contact

Always put links to your web or blog and always put your phone number in strategic places (i.e. the end of an article or at the very end of the newsletter depending on how you set it up graphically).

In the world of 2.0, it’s all about making a TWO-WAY connection. As you progress, find new ways to engage the reader and to create feedback and interaction. Perhaps a give-away for the first three people who send back an e-mail comment, or a value-added promotion on certain items in your newsletter. Or you could solicit ideas from readers on how they have used your product, or ask readers for their favorite holiday recipes and publish those that you found most interesting.

Finally, by consistently creating exciting, interesting and relevant newsletters, you will never have to worry if your readers will be irritated by receiving them. In fact, if they are done right, you’ll find people actually asking you when the next one is coming out. And as you begin to get more feedback, good and bad, you will begin to understand the impact your communication has on your reader. Then you truly will be an editor!

What has worked for you? LEAVE A COMMENT to add to my list of tips and techniques. Or, leave a question you'd like answered regarding your own online communications. Thanks!

-- Liese

Three Steps to Business Health

Every now and then I will go out to the garden to trim a plant or add fertilizer and find that I'm able to lift a plant completely out of the dirt. The plant had appeared to be alive but was actually existingon air with no visible means of support. It's roots had atrophied long ago.

As someone in the creative field of special events, it's easy to focus attention on the excitement of current clients and projects -- the green, flowering plant that lives above the ground -- only to find that when business slows down its roots have died from lack of nutrients such as an ongoing marketing campaign. And when that happens revival efforts become difficult. 

It's understandable. You got into this industry because of those adrenaline moments and crunch times that bring out all your passions. But there is a different type of creativity and excitement to be found in building marketing campaigns. They just take a little more work and a little more time at the foundation level (or, using the analogy of the garden, in the dirt)!

Here's some actions you can take now...

1. Practice business Pilates and get re-acquainted with your core

• Take a hard, honest look at your business. Does everything you do tell your story to the client?
• Consider what three descriptive words apply to your company and invoke them every time you reach out to a new client, take on a new marketing action, blog, or tweet. Such as: "My company is all about events that are hip, green and professional?"
• Have you marketed your assets to their full potential? Before adding on another service or going in a new direction, dig deeply into your core business and find new ways to market it.

2. Cultivate old relationships and build new ones

• Create face-to-face opportunities where possible. These could be as elaborate as producing your own happening for top clients or starting a workshop to as simple as calling someone for lunch or going to an industry event.
• Build a new community on Twitter and Facebook. Simple, effective, doable.
• Start a blog to keep things fresh. It will actually force you to look at yourself anew. You are the story and the brand -- what do you want to say? This can be a very invigorating exercise and that excitement will extend to everything you do.

3. Reach out to the media

• Why not? It's surprising how many people don't send items and photos into the media. Just touching base with editors of targeted publications with a great idea or photo once a month helps you build a relationship, build name recognition with them and put you in their line of sight when they are looking for a source or story idea. And remember that bloggers are now media too!

It's all about digging in the dirt, getting a bit messy, trying something new and always amending the soil with rich nutrients. You will be surprised at what new growth you'll find for your business and for yourself personally.