Posts Tagged ‘branding’
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Want to speak at corporate and association events? Then listen up: budgets are back…at 2008 levels. Even the big dawgs — like the insurance industry — have the budget blues, according to a small (100 respondents) study by Financial & Insurance Conference Planners (FICP). The good news: meetings are on top executives’ radar, so killer speeches will be noticed by high-level buyers. The bad news: doing more with less has resulted in meeting consolidations and more pressure on “value.” The new buzz word: prudent search. Translation: even if you offer reduced speaker fees and other goodies, buyers will keep looking for a better deal. So don’t expect your gimme’s to speed up the close.
Bottom line: Everyone — even those who can afford lavish events — are scaling back. Says one respondent: “the days of Bruce Springsteen singing at our event are over.” Bummer…
Tags: branding, Marketing, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Gave a short talk on branding in Phoenix the other day. An interesting question was raised: how do you get full value from folks you hire to help? One person thought that issue was on the vendors. “Be very clear about what you are going to get,” she said.
I agree, due diligence is a smart move. Some folks will say anything to get a client. As someone who both hires and gets hired, I think return on investment rests more on the client. Three questions to ask ourselves before we hold outsiders accountable:
- What is solving this problem worth to me?
- What am I willing to do to get what I say I want?
- And very important in this economy: what resources am I willing to invest in meeting this need? (Over 75% of the incoming calls I get can not answer this question. Seriously.)
Every problem has a price, both in time, effort, and in money. Not only must we be clear on our needs, we also must be willing to implement and invest in what we need. Perhaps the due diligence starts with us.
Tags: accountability, branding, Marketing, value, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, 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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Thursday, 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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Thursday, 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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Tuesday, 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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Thursday, 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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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
When meeting industry association SITE (Society of Incentives and Travel Executives) decided to rebrand, guess what word was left out? Incentives. Now known as lavish boondoggles. New buzzwords: motivational experiences and/or engagement programs.
Heads up: the same thing might happen to “motivational speakers.” I hear rumbling about not hiring “those motivational speakers” as opposed to those with more educational content. This unfortunate idea hasn’t gained much traction…yet.
The moral of the story: watch your labels.
Tags: associations, branding, Marketing, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Interesting study out last month on how associations use social networking. Omnipress surveyed 325 associations and learned this blinding flash of the obvious: the top objectives are to increase buzz and attendance for their meetings. What I found the most interesting: 35% of associations have custom-built social network systems. When you own the structure of social interactions, you own the community.
Prediction: larger associations will move in this direction and recruit smaller, related groups to spread out the cost. And they are going to need a steady stream of content to keep folks engaged in a more enclosed setting. Great starting place for anyone who wants to be famous in an industry.
Tags: associations, branding, communities, social networking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
My favorite part about the Here’s the Deal call this last Tuesday: how community is driving the new definition of “cool speaker.” Yes, association buyers still want our community to promote attendance. What’s happening now: speakers are being judged by how fast they light up the Tweet Deck. Example: one of the Video Marketing Expo’s speakers got so much buzz via Twitter that they immediately rehired the guru for a second session — for the same meeting. Now that’s spin-off business.
I reverse engineered this dynamic on the call — one of my favorite things to do. Also dissected another way to use community in real time during the event. Here’s the link to get the MP3 file: http://www.sullivanspeaker.com/HTDcommunity.htm
Tags: branding, community, Here's the Deal, Marketing, promotion, Speaking, Vickie Sullivan
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