February 4th, 2010
Interesting findings from CareerBuilder’s 2010 Job Forecast survey. Social media experts will have plenty of work this year, as organizations plan to restore their brands through these campaigns. Other big opportunities loom for hiring experts, as organizations invest in efforts ranging from recruiting a diverse workforce to finding top performers.
Bad news for meetings, especially in the association market: Corporate America will continue to cut travel expenses in this year. Why do we care? Because convention attendees won’t go unless their employers pay for travel. Which means attendance challenges will continue to dog these groups, which means less money for speakers. Their antidote: virtual meeting attendees for association conventions. Stay tuned…
Tags: Marketing, meetings, Speaking, strategy, trends, Vickie Sullivan
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February 2nd, 2010
After last week’s call on Big Dawg bios, I’m still getting questions about how to tell your story. Here’s a great example of how to use your expertise in one area as a springboard to a completely different place. Here’s how Fast Company reframed Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash in last month’s issue:
“To watch Steve Nash is to observe someone uncannily at ease with change. Rapid change. (Enter basketball achievements here.) No one better embodies the metabolism of our times, when industries, technologies, and careers are in constant flux. (Enter more basketball stuff here.) Nash demonstrates how to navigate uncertainty — with flexibility, collaboration, and inventiveness. He has developed a gift for finding order in chaos.”
See how they did that? They reframed his success on the basketball court and related it back to what we are all facing. They took this basketball star and branded him as a change agent. Click here to see the entire article.
BTW, it’s not too late to sign up for Extreme Mini Makeovers. We recorded last week’s call so you can get the MP3. Next session later this month will be on everybody’s favorite: those dang elevator speeches and other tricks for high-end networking. Click to hear my latest rant on creating your best bio and to sign up.
Tags: bios, branding, Extreme Mini Makeovers, Marketing, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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January 28th, 2010
The #1 takeaway from last Tuesday’s Extreme Mini Makeover call: the most compelling thing about us is hidden in plain sight. Anyone over 25 years old has a ton of experience…somewhere. It’s all in applying what we’ve done to pave the way for what we’re doing now.
And sometimes, it just takes a pair of fresh eyes to show us what we’ve got. Had a blast at the first Extreme Mini Makeovers call. Many thanks to those who participated. For those of you who want to package your expertise for your best markets, go here to register … it’s not too late, and you’ll be able to download the MP3 file from last Tuesday’s call.
Tags: branding, Extreme Mini Makeovers, Marketing, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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January 26th, 2010
Here we go again…Congress is asking 33 top medical societies for a list of funding sources going back to 2006. What are they looking for? Ties to the pharma and medical equipment industries. “Transparency” is the reason cited.
My prediction: look for a chilling effect. Pharma funding is big here and the last thing they want is an “AIG” incident. There’s no evidence that conference content is bought and paid for — and that doesn’t matter. Watch for even more scrutiny on the horizon. The antidote: independent content from folks like us. Look for topics on soft skills and running a better practice. It won’t completely replace clinical education — just a safe alternative.
Tags: education, Marketing, medical societies, pharma, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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January 21st, 2010
Think the AIG effect has gone away? Think again. A recent survey by Ypartnership reports that “35 percent of respondents would plan fewer meetings in 2010 because of image / publicity / public policy considerations.” Ouch! That translates to an estimated $2.5 billion in lost economic impact.
The industry’s response is a PR campaign — “Face time. It matters.” Yet another clue that two things — interactive experiences and education — take center stage this year. Position your expertise accordingly…
Tags: branding, education, interactive experiences, meetings, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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January 19th, 2010
There’s a reason why I live in Phoenix and I remembered it while speaking in Boston last weekend. Good news: they have heaters there so I didn’t freeze.
What really hit home: buyers decide how bad they need us based on the information we give them. What we say about ourselves and our work determines whether we are the “gotta have” solution to buy now or the “nice to have” resource buyers can pass by. That’s why I’m focused on helping folks say the rights things this year. I created Extreme Mini Makeovers 2010 as a combo of one-on-one hot seats in a group setting. And with the online coupon, money can’t be an excuse for not getting the help. Click here to get the schedule and to sign up.
Tags: Extreme Mini Makeovers, makeovers, Marketing, solutions, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
Posted in Marketing, Speaking, branding, strategy | 3 Comments »
January 14th, 2010
Want to give web-based classes and let someone else promote them? Check out edufire, who is giving standard education a run for its money. They do the promoting and the registering (and have signed up 50,000 users according to Fortune Small Business) and give their instructors a decent commission. They offer a wide variety of business classes and frankly, the experts look pretty standard. Definitely worth a try.
Tags: education, Marketing, promotion, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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January 12th, 2010
Well, you’d think the world has come to an end. Sponsorship spending didn’t hit the slight increase IEG projected. Bottom line: spending was down less than one percent, shaving $100M from the marketplace. I am not crying in my beer about this.
Here’s why: big-ticket categories such as those sports packages got hit hard. Our neck of the woods (associations) increased almost three percent. Even with that increase though, results were mixed. Associations with year-round relationships did just fine with increased sponsorships. Those who sold events and piecemeal items didn’t get the deals.
IEG predicts a 3.4 percent increase in sponsorship spending for 2010. But that’s only for those who play by a new set of rules.
Tags: associations, branding, Marketing, Sponsorship, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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January 7th, 2010
Happy New Year! It’s time to start anew with some fresh thinking.
What happens when you put a bunch of brilliant people together? You get a great (and free!) e-book that sets up a perspective to create a fabulous new year. Seth Godin is at the helm, so you know it’s good. Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/ye8pkb3
Tags: branding, e-book, free, Marketing, Vickie Sullivan
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January 5th, 2010
Had a fabulous conversation with Bryan Caplovitz of SpeakerMatch right before the holidays. We were comparing notes and his observation really hit home: “There are many buyers out there fresh out of college and they are spending a lot of time online looking for the right speaker. They’ve got their marching orders — find a cool speaker for no more than (enter super low fee here) — and they are working hard to stay in that range.”
He’s right — many speakers deal with these buyers. If you want higher speaker fees you’ve got to deal with the folks who set the budget in the first place. Bryan and I are drilling down on speaking trends for 2010 this Thursday, Noon CST. It’s free, so there’s no reason not to join us. And if you can’t make it, download the MP3. It’ll be lively, I promise you that. Here’s the link: http://www.speakermatch.com/radio/
Tags: Bryan Caplovitz, budgets, Marketing, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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