Marketing Communication Strategy

'Build your brand'. It's become a highly popular buzz phrase in marketing, technology and social media circles. Building a brand is a process, some would say a life-long undertaking for any company or product. It takes innovation, great customer relations and cosistent messaging.

If you're the leader of a company, small business or not -- it's just as important to build your personal brand. You are the public face of your operation to the customers, the media and various business partners. In meetings, in the headlines and cocktail hours, people will relate or be drawn to the personal brand you have developed and project. You had better start working on it if you haven't already.

Inc. Magazine has some pertinent suggestions to help you start.

Pick an area of expertise
So you're going to be an ambassador for your brand. But what do you want to be known as an expert or pro in? Maybe you run a marketing firm - your specialty can't be that broad when building a brand. What do you bring to the table that no one else can? Maybe you're great at the design aspect of marketing or maybe you know all of the technologies that can assist in marketing efforts. Just make sure you've zeroed in what it is you can do for others that really sets you apart.

The web is your friend
After you meet a potential employee or business partner or hey, your daughter's boyfriend -- where is the first place you go to get the 'real' scoop? Google of course. You should automatically assume this is where people are going to check out you, your company and anything else you've published or are associated with. You should be making sure your website as up to date and state of the art as possible. Also be sure any other sites you have profiles on are updated and grammatically correct such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

Writing and blogging
Making your perspective readily available for anyone who may be interested in it shows you care to communicate with others and you know how to intelligently express your opinions. It can also help you make connections with others, whether they be for business or personal purposes. If you blog regularly and invite comments, criticisms, etc. you open the door to two-way communication that can ultimately benefit you. (i.e. what if someone sends you an idea on new products or has insight into a global marketing strategy)

Make some headlines
Being quoted in stories or making an appearance in any form of media can benefit your personal brand, positioning you as an expert people go to for insight and information.

There is so much one can do strategically to enhance your personal brand which will ultimately benefit your company as well as yourself. It's not about publicity, attention or making yourself known. It's about establishing who you are, what it is you're about and being sure you can be seen in enough places where those who need to find you can do so.

We discuss the importance of blogging and social media quite often. It should be a part of everyone's business plan and an even greater part of your company's marketing strategy. And while you can appoint one key person to handle the load, it's important you have diverse voices coming from all areas and levels of your company so the average reader gets a comprehensive look at your operations.

Yet explaining the importance of blogging, making sure others understand it and are willing (maybe even excited) to participate isn't easy. You should be prepared for it to be a long process, one in which you will need to be patient and regularly follow up with people. I have been charged with implementing a social media strategy here at Milestone Advisors and encouraging others to take part so we provide well-rounded information on all of our specialties (which include marketing, technology, outsourced bookkeeping and much more).

Here are some suggestions that might make the process a bit easier for you that I have learned through trial and error:

1. Take time to explain and be sure participating members truly understand the value of social media, what it means to your company, your customers and more.

2. Explain the technical aspects of the platform you're using. You will surprised at how many people don't adapt quickly to different software products. Carving time out to walk people through the steps, leading by example will save you time in the long run

3. Do some creative brainstorming as a group. Just explaining what blogging is and how to do it isn't enough. And leaving it at that can lead to your team members sitting in front of their computers with question marks in their brains and blank stares on their faces. Helping them talk through subjects they can write about a few times will help them to easily develop story ideas on their own.

4. Send them some examples of blogs you really like, whether that's because they are well-written, tackle pertinent subjects or are just fun -- giving your team examples will also aid in inspiration.

5. Continue to provide encouragement. You're asking your team to step out of their comfort zones and do something for the good of the company as a whole. A confident financial advisor or marketing strategy pro may be nervous about sharing their thoughts in an open forum like a blog, check in regularly with words of advice, tips or positive feedback. It will go a long way

Company blogs aren't easy to get off of the ground and they're not easy to maintain but I will say, they are more than worth the effort. They enable you to connect with like-minded businesses, leaders, enhance your brand and maybe, sell a little!

Somewhere along the line, direct marketing has become a whole lot less expensive and unfortunately, more thoughtless. Perhaps this happened when all of us "marketers" shifted much of our outbound messaging to email, blogs and eMarketing. It's easy, it's quick, it's affordable and most of all we can get some great metrics. Ah, every marketers dream.... instant access to data. We can see when our message was delivered, when you opened it, how many times you looked at it, if you clicked on any links, forwarded it to someone else, a conversion rate and on and on. 

Blogging is a fantastic business medium. It can be molded to any cause or purpose, put a human face on your company, help build relationships with customers and make important information available immediately to large groups of people.

We've also discussed that encouraging your own team members or employees is a great way to fill a blog with rich content, different perspectives and infuse personality. And it should be a part of your business strategy to reach customers. However, empowering employees to put personal thoughts on your company website would give any leader pause.

There is always a chance that they could disclose confidential information -- it's easy to get lines crossed concerning things that are discussed in the office but shouldn't go any further than the front door. And, as much as we hope it never happens, unhappy employees sometimes choose to vent or air frustrations in public forums.

So, how do you give employees ownership of this social medium and ensure that your trust isn't violated?

1. Create a governing policy
Guidelines reign people in well and can be pointed to when there are small mis-steps giving you something to reference when discussing what is expected of all your bloggers.

2. Make it clear what should and should not be included
It's okay to tell people what they can and can't write about. It's also okay to extend the agreement to their personal blogs, if they want to participate at all, they have to agree to terms for both.

3. Learn from those who have gone before
Plenty of companies both small and extremely large invite employees to participate on corporate blogs and have create social media policies to govern their participation. Their guidelines are readily available online, when creating yours, see what some of the most successful companies have done.

A social media policy can save you a lot of frustration, time and money should someone abuse the forum. Incorporating a policy into your company's business plan, marketing strategy or strategic hr plan can only benefit operations.

That time has arrived. Ambitious college students abound, hitting the mall for dress clothes, making a sincere effort to enjoy the taste of coffee and heading off to a nine to five -- all to gain a few lines on their resumes. Yep, we're talking about internships. What used to be an optional form of summer employment has now become a requirement if one hopes to get a job opportunity immediately upon graduating from college.

Internships are not only a great resource for students themselves but also serve a purpose for the companies who offer the programs. They are exposed to the talent and imaginations of a variety of young, fresh minds -- a valuable resource.

How do you manage interns? A good question as there are different parameters for this type of arrangement than there are for new employees. Inc. Magazine has some tips and tricks into best practices when dealing with an internship program.

1. Know what you want
In order for either party to get anything out of the experience, you must have clearly communicated your needs and expectations for your intern. This way they will have every opportunity to produce results for you and they, in turn, will learn.

2. Provide for your interns
From menial tasks to the really big opportunities. Interns should be required to deal with PowerPoint presentations and Excel sheets as well as delivering actual presentations to senior members of your team, providing them a well-rounded experience. You should also give them resources to use after their time with you is through such as connections to professional networking organizations.

3. Provide mentorship and advice
Part of the value in having an internship is derived from the intangibles, things we are exposed to when entering the working world on a daily basis. They can sit in classes and hear about how things work all day long but nothing compares to the knowledge gained from actually being in a given situation or environment. Make sure your employees make themselves available for interns to pick their brains and ask for advice.

You can find the entire article here. I think companies and the interns themselves both benefit from these programs. It is simply important that internships are built into your business strategy or business plan and serve a clear purpose in which some area, marketing strategy, technology, etc. benefits and that you have the time and resources to be sure the participating student benefits.

It's true! They have a 95% success rate. I didn't believe it either at first. Yet it's an assertion backed up by a wealth of statistics.

A 2009 report by Elizabethtown College sociology professor Donald Kraybill. Studying several Amish settlements, Kraybill found failure rates ranging from 2.6% and 4.2%; interviews with loan officers, accountants and industry professions in other Amish regions yielded additional anecdotal evidence of closure rates significantly south of 10%.

How do they do it? The answer is rooted in their culture. In Amish communities, nothing is more emphasized or promoted than hard work. That ethic permeates not only daily chores but the companies they form, own and operate. The Amish also stress the importance of cooperation, relying on others' strengths where you may encounter your own weaknesses. And we're not talking about the kind of collaboration that takes place online, which so many of us rely on daily for business purposes. We're talking about face to face communication and team building that centers around tangible activities and challenges that can unite participants and capitalize on an individuals' best attributes.

Another defining aspect, Amish business owners have a solid understanding of their capabilities and more importantly, the things they excel at. They know what they're good at and don't try to push into realms they may not be skilled in. This inspires something corporations are constantly trying to garner: trust and loyalty of consumers.

It doesn't hurt that the Amish tend to demonstrate humility, a quality that allows good leaders to grow into even better ones.

Many Amish businesses demonstrate great knowledge of business strategy and the accompanying concepts. They build strategies around concrete ideas, incorporate humility into marketing strategy plans and much more. Read the entire article here.

What can you do to be more like the Amish? How can you incorporate their culture into your company's culture or your business strategy?

If you're in charge of increasing public exposure and enhancing the brand image for your company, there are some basics when it comes to social media that you must know, fully understand and put into action. They are simple concepts that won't take much time or effort to wrap your mind around, however, their effective implementation may take a bit longer.

Simple Truth #1
It's your duty to learn how existing and new tools can help your clients or your company. No excuses.

Simple Truth #2
Use and learn new Social Media tools before your clients or executives do. What is an expert? Frequently, it’s someone who just has a jump on the information.

Simple Truth #3
As you learn about a new social media platform or tool, sign up and try for a minimum of 30 days. You may find that it has little use for you personally but it may be a useful channel for your brand or clients to engage stakeholders and customers.

Simple Truth #4
Take some time to reevaluate your personal usage of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and any other platforms.

Simple Truth #5
You should be asking, what's next? One word, DIGITAL.

Once you take the time to research the foundation of each truth you will better understand how to use social media for yourself, your company or your clients. In-depth understanding of these concepts ensures effective implementation of all things social in your strategic business plan or marketing strategy.

Here at Milestone Advisors we advise businesses concerning almost every aspect of running a company. We consult on product marketing plans, financial market forecasting, writing business plans to attract potential investors or simply taking a look at someone's books to see if they could benefit from outsourced bookkeeping.

Recently, there has been a shift in the tools we recommend for marketing strategies. Social media has come out of the blue and now dominates most marketing and business strategy tactics. One of these mediums, Facebook, a social networking site, has become a hotbed for not simply B2C outreach but B2B as well.

In his most recent column, Fortune's Stanley Bing asks if this platform does society more harm than good. Even if you still plan on using the site as part of your social media strategy it's prudent to be aware of all the uses of Facebook as well as the different opinions being voiced about it.

He writes about Facebook as a place where the ugliest aspects of our worst high school nightmares come to life and fears that the worst perpetrators in this online environment will enter the business world and do immeasurable damage.

"In teaching social networking, virtual presence, aggressive electronic messaging and cold-blooded manipulation of group dynamics, Facebook is preparing young people to thrive in business life, particularly on the executive level. I’m just not sure it’s a future office space that I would want to live in."

What do you think? Is this a business world you want to live in? What can be done?

Email has come quite a long way. It is a vital component of our everyday business dealings and often, the lifeline of communication between either our clients or our customers. Some would call email, the most essential business tool we have in both terms of strategy and tactics.

While email used to be what the email marketing industry terms as 'one-to-one' communication, it has blossomed into 'one-to-many' or 'one-and-back'. Those marketers who understand the transformation of email as a communication tactic that can gain new customers, keep other loyal and lure old ones back - also understand it is now a tool of conversation and must be seen as such.

iMedia Connection recently detailed ten ways that email marketing has changed since it was first identified as part of any savvy marketer's arsenal. The article then highlights ways in which businesses can adapt to the changes and utilize public perception of the communication medium, connecting with them in a way that respects their preferences and ultimately leads to profitability.

Some of the fundamental changes are detailed below.

1. Acquisition is important, but retention is where the money is
The article asserts that people view their email inboxes as different from their actual mailboxes. It's more personal and companies need to ask for permission to be there. People should have the power of choice in subscribing to be a part of your communications. And if you can get them to buy in, you have to spend the time and resources in making them stay. Developing loyal customers is what will ultimately lead to increased business.

2. Email is all about the conversation again
If you're tuned into any social media sites or are keyed into the scene at all, you're aware that to truly engage clients or customers you must first 'join a conversation' before expecting something in return for your activity. This means providing information of value or commenting on things other industry experts are saying. Soon, you will develop loyal 'listeners' who appreciate your participation and are more proned to buy from you, or at least become familiar with who you are.

3. A marketer can't claim success until it's measured the right way
A good marketer will also measure the success of any email marketing efforts you may be invested in. But they should also be mining that data for other reasons, not just to determine if people are opening or reading the email. There is simply so much data available now, a lot of conclusions can be drawn from subscriptions, click through rates, opens, conversions and unsubscribes. And these conclusions should be incorporated as future tactics in any marketing strategy plan or marketing plan process.

The article contains many beneficial insights -- all of which should be analyzed as a way to incorporate email marketing into your business plan in an intelligent and proactive way that will allow true connection to those who matter most to your company.

As social media continues to grow by leaps and bounds in its practical applications for business operations and people's careers it's imperative we know as much as possible about the ways in which people use the forums (potential customers/clients included), how they prefer to be communicated with and what their motivations are for spending time on them.

But does Facebook have practical application for those of us working in B2B? Granted, we can all relate to its useful nature for any consumer product -- people love to visit and connect with their most trusted brands, see what promotions are being offered, what new spring line is being revealed or who won the latest contest. I could go on and on but we get it, it makes complete sense for those brands and companies to have a visible presence on Facebook. I, for one, am connected to Ann Taylor Loft across all SM mediums, I can't help myself and I get some pretty great coupons (which of course, lead me to shop and spend there more often than normal but I still sleep at night).

Yet in the same breath, all of us who work in B2B will acknowledge that marketing plans and marketing strategies often look much different than the fun and flash often associated with B2C. Yet, marketers, social media experts and leaders (and market research itself) alike are finding that Facebook has become a great place for B2B operations to be seen.

Follow this link for well done and highly effective Facebook Fan pages that B2B companies have added into their marketing communication strategies, product development plans and business plans to connect with clients in new way and demonstrate they're on top of the trends.

I read an interview with Guy that appeared in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago and thought it pertinent to share. Since entering the workforce and more specifically the world of communications and PR, I have looked to Guy for insight into the way people work and how understanding that concept can benefit the way you do business and simply work, on a day to day basis.

Some of my favorite insights are below:

Sales is everything. As long as you’re making sales, you’re still in the game.

You should hire people who are better at doing things than you are. So, in my case, I was not the warm-and-fuzzy manager, so I tried to hire people who reported to me who were warm-and-fuzzy types to provide a buffer. If you can’t do it, you should find somebody who can.

I learned from Steve Jobs that people can change the world. Maybe we didn’t get 95 percent market share, but we did make the world a better place. I learned from Steve that some things need to be believed to be seen.

Make yourself dispensable — what greater accomplishment is there than the organization running well without you?

Success in business comes from the willingness to grind it out. It’s not because of the brilliant idea. It’s because you are willing to work hard.

I don't think I am going out on much of a limb in saying that many managers, CEOs and entrepreneurs can all find a statement above that rings true or that hasn't already been incorporated into your strategic vision or strategic hr plan, etc. Listening to leaders such as Guy reflect on their experiences and impart wisdom is crucial to our own successes and failures as we grow in our careers and our companies grow. We should consistently investigate what others like Guy have experienced and incorporate their hard-learned lessons into our daily strategies our program management plans and even our financial plans (when appropriate).

Many of our clients are start ups or young companies with fantastic ideas on very tight budgets. It's not an easy process to start a company, become profitable and maintain that growth. Never mind initiating efforts to garner public exposure for your wonderful company and recruiting brand ambassadors through strategic marketing efforts.

There may be a new trend in public relations that will allow smaller operations or start ups to begin PR efforts on a tight budget. In a recent Inc. article a Los Angeles-based PR agency is offering a bundle of services for a flat fee, sort of like your phone bill. You pay a monthly fee and receive a specific amount of anytime minutes, nightime minutes and text messages. Except with these PR services, you won't be charged overage fees.

The packages vary but can include such things as media list building, pitch creation, 20 press releases a year and basic wire distribution. The minimum commitment for their services is three months and the longer you do business with the firm, the more tailored your service package bundle can become.

PR is an extremely powerful tool that can help point your operations in the right direction for profitability. Reaching out to the public should be a key element in any marketing strategy, product marketing plan, new product positioning or product launch plan.

Local, Indianapolis blogging software company (and Milestone Advisors' client) Compendium Blogware has announced growth of 160 percent for 2009. We have two words. Wow. And congratulations!

Over the past year, Compendium has added 217 new clients, placing their total client count in the 400s. This of course translates into more great news, jobs! To support all of the growth and expansion, Compendium also plans on hiring 50 new employees.

What a fantastic example of one person having a great idea, marrying that with time, effort, funding as well as strategic planning and experiences great success.

Milestone Advisors has been working with the senior team at Compendium for two years, providing CFO insight and leadership as needed.

We commend Compendium for their business savvy, relationship building and marketing communication strategy that have vaulted them to the top of their industry. Enjoy your win guys and know there is much more to come.

Involve bloggers in your specific industry who are already established and have a regular following. Once they begin linking to you, their much larger audience will get curious and click through to what you're saying. It also gives you instant credibility. Getting someone's attention who has the right amount of influence won't be easy. It may take time to develop a thoughtful, comment-provoking post but the results warrant the extra effort.

Use all other social media avenues to promote your blog and great posts. Whenever something new goes up, link to the post on Twitter, alert your fans on your Facebook page, etc. Each individual has their own specific preferences, some people spend more time on Facebook than others, some hate Twitter. Putting your news and name across the boards will recruit the greatest amount of readers.

Want others to link to you? A snappy, intelligent headline that strikes people as they scan the page will garner the interest that leads to the extra step of not only reading your post, but passing it along to others. The best promoters of your blog are unbiased third parties. People will trust them as they have nothing to gain by sharing your news.

Promote your blog offline. Put a link to it on your business cards and incorporate that into your letterhead, mention it in business meetings and add it to your PowerPoint presentations.

I think we all believe in the power of blogging by now. Use your posts to promote your company, introduce a new product or service, share news and provide potential clients or customers with a great resource for information (useful).

Incorporate blogging as well as your favorite best practices into your business strategy, new product development strategy, marketing communication and much more.

The basic concepts that lie behind being an entrepreneur.

You're creating something out of nothing, you should build a team around you that will support your goals and vision who also have the capabilities to help you expand. They should be creative, smart innovators, like you and have some diverse backgrounds to bring skills to the table you may not have.

Hiring a team for a startup is different than hiring for an older business. For the latter situation, you should be looking for organized, experienced people who are also comfortable with being leaders. They need to reliable and have high ethical standards. And don't forget, good communicators!

What about when you are expanding beyond an initial or leadership team? You should have some protocol in place that touches on expectations for employees, meetings and compensation practices. This will make it easier to bring new people into the mix. The other consideration, anticipating a change in communication. More people means more diversity regarding personality type and communication preferences. Getting a system in place that will make sure you're facilitating positive communication will be essential.

Let's talk about some common mistakes entrepreneurs make formulating a company, product and culture. Often times, these can occur in the hiring process, it's easy to hire people who look great on paper but aren't committed to your mission. Unfortunately, their lack of motivation can unravel projects quickly.

Don't hold on to control too tightly. Learn to let go. If you trust the people you've hired, at some point, taking your hand off the back of the tricycle is a must. They should continue moving forward as you stop and watch them go - freeing up your time to think strategically about growing your baby (company). And be understanding of mistakes, they happen to everyone from time to time.

Most important, accept and embrace your identity as an entrepreneur. Take your passion and communicate it clearly to investors and employees. Use these facts about what it means to be a leader and what it takes to succeed to develop an organizational development strategy, marketing communication strategy strategic HR plan that will give your passion a blueprint.

You are completely responsible for building the new world as your company will be part of it.

Any marketing professional worth their salt these days not only understands the importance of the Internet and technology to deliver a company's message and solidify their brand identity - they're incorporating these new platforms into their company, their marketing plan strategies, product marketing plan or marketing communication strategy.

But a truly smart, savvy marketer is going on step further and seeking out the next wave of Web 2.0 innovations that can bolster, aid or make more efficient their marketing outreach.

I did some research and found what some believe to be the emerging social media tools (via Social Media Examiner) that will continue to change the way we do business (and the tools we use to do it).

1. Foursquare
This location-based social network/gaming application is rapidly gaining users and mindshare.  Users “check in” at local businesses and earn rewards for frequently visiting participating establishments. Business owners can get value out of Foursquare by offering incentives for users to check in, such as special offers for repeat visitors.

2. Google Buzz
This is Google’s latest entry into social networking. Buzz allows users to post status updates and upload pictures and videos to a Google profile, not unlike Facebook and Twitter.  A user’s network is formed by contacts they interact with frequently on Gmail.

3.Loopt
Another location-based social service, Loopt aims to connect its users with their friends by visually displaying their location and availability on a localized map. Users can connect with friends in the area, see reviews and recommendations of restaurants, and find events in the area that might be of interest. Businesses have tapped into Loopt’s location data to offer targeted promotions.

4. Blippy
Blippy aims to connect people around the purchases they make. Blippy publishes the amount and location of customer purchases (with user permission), which the rest of the community can then react to.

5. Groupon
This site offers “collective buying power” by providing deals to groups of people who buy products and services in bulk from participating retailers.  The site uses social networking to get users to share offers with their communities, in order to reach the target number of customers the “Groupon” requires to activate. Businesses could gain exposure and new customers by making offers on the site.

The options or opportunities for creative innovation or implementation into your marketing plan, marketing process or strategy with the above tools are endless. Whether you're revamping a brand and plan to utilize giveaways and promotions as part of a product launch plan, all of the above are technologies that should be explored.

Under the impression that Linkedin is really a site just for people looking for jobs? Do you find it a little boring? That makes two of you. Ann Handley recently admitted in a MarketingProfs newsletter that for a long time, that's the way she viewed the networking site.

Guess what? You both might be wrong.

As she says in the note, "It's a happening place. It has more than 60 million members in over 200 countries, on all 7 continents. Execs from every Fortune 500 company are there. And 81% of business-to-business marketers use LinkedIn."

That changes things a bit, making it a place you and your company need to be. Do you have a company page and an established presence on Linkedin?  Take a look at the case studies the brilliant folks at MarketingProfs have put together to show success stories for different uses of the forum.

Linkedin can give your company a valuable presence online, it can be used as a part of your marketing strategy plan to get in front on clients or as a part of an overall business strategy plan (think start up phases), it can even be used to survey people for either customer service or market research services.

Either way you look at it, you should be jumping on there!

I am actually in the process of ordering both books by Dan and Chip Heath, Made to Stick and Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. The brothers, both business professors by trade who jointly write a regular column in Entrepreneur magazine are experts in what they teach as well as human psychology. Essentially, a great read for leaders to understand what their roles demand and what those they lead want from them.

In a recent interview the brothers shared insight into how to introduce your organizations to change - a difficult pill for the average person to swallow. If you're preparing to introduce different protocol, new employees or something far more drastic - understanding ways to facilitate widespread acceptance will go a long way.

Some of my favorite insights are below.

In reference to getting employees to accept change...
"One of the main mistakes is when leaders come up with a new vision but never translate that broad analytical vision into something people on the frontlines can actually execute. I was talking to an entrepreneur who wanted his employees to have a "mindset of customer service." But if you're an employee, when you hear that, all you hear is buzzword, buzzword, buzzword, jargon, jargon, jargon."

What about stubborn people...
"You can try to find the feeling that's going to make them empathize with customers. For instance, Microsoft had some very stubborn programmers who thought they were writing brilliant software. But six out of 10 customers Microsoft surveyed couldn't figure out how to use the new feature. When they told the programmers this, their response was, "Where did you find six dumb people?" Microsoft brought the programmers into a usability-testing lab and put them behind a two-way mirror. When the programmers watched a real customer struggle with the software they designed, the programmers immediately started thinking about ways of changing it. Don't try to argue with a stubborn employee. That appeals to the dark side of the analytical parts of ourselves."

Using the bad economy to motivate...
We commonly think that fear is a good motivator, but fear works for only a short time. And this recession has gone on for a couple of years in some parts of the country. So when we try to motivate people, we need to find feelings of hope and optimism.

Figuring out what motivates people, including clients, customers and employees is going to position you for success. Once you understand how people make decisions, you can tailor your services or management style to get the results you desire.

A strategic HR plan is just as essential as an in-depth marketing strategy plan. Establishing a communication style for your organizational development strategy will please both you and your employees allowing both parties to welcome change.

Why do you have a blog? Is it to garner publicity and brand recognition in a cost-efficient manner? Is it to drive sales and growth? If so, you might be going about achieving those things in the wrong way says Joel Spolsky, founder of Fog Creek Software and management columnist for Inc. Magazine.

In his most recent column, Joel asserts that too many blogs focus simply on the companies themselves, new hires, acquisition announcements and other company events. This type of communication doesn't recruit regular readers or garner interest in actually doing business with your operation.

Joel asks, what's the proper formula to turn a blog into an area that helps generate revenue?

The answer:

"...an entrepreneur's blog has to be about something bigger than his or her company and his or her product. This sounds simple, but it isn't. It takes real discipline to not talk about yourself and your company. Blogging as a medium seems so personal, and often it is. But when you're using a blog to promote a business, that blog can't be about you. It has to be about your readers, who will, it's hoped, become your customers. It has to be about making them awesome." (Advice from well-known game developer and author, Kathy Sierra)

There you have it. Blogging should be about making those you seek to serve or do business with even better.

As you develop a marketing communication strategy that incorporate business blogging, be sure to align your communication with the needs of your audience just as you would in any other marketing activity (new product positioning or development, product launch plan, etc.)

Every company has a different approach to communicating internally. Meetings are used to discuss company issues as well as brainstorm to develop plans for clients and delegate responsibilities for the execution of said plan.

Getting together is necessary to discuss the latest market research forecasting, new financial models or a product launch plan. Yet, sometimes they simply equate to lots of talking, little doing.

Yet, when run effectively, meetings put everyone on the same page and foster positive relationships throughout a company as well as the resulting creativity that occurs when minds meet.

MarketingProfs offers actionable advice to run a meeting that doesn't waste your time or your clients' time.

    •    Set a clear agenda when you schedule the meeting. The best outcomes happen when everyone is fully prepared to discuss the topic at hand.

    •    Ask for full participation. Instead of letting one or two voices dominate the conversation, create a collaborative environment in which all ideas are welcome. "Encourage everyone to speak up," he suggests, "but respect those that require time to process what they're thinking by not putting them on the spot right away."

    •    Don't lose track of time. According to Stephens, you should set a limit—and stick to it. "When the time is up," he notes, "the meeting is over. If you didn't accomplish [your] goal you'll plan accordingly next time won't you?"

    •    Establish what each participant will do next. Make everyone accountable by distributing an immediate summation of each team member's responsibilities.

I would recommend adding an area to your business communication strategy or strategic plan that deals with internal interaction and meetings. Establishing best practices for regularly occurring meetings will foster positive communication and increased productivity.