Public Relations Archives - Page 5 of 13

Your Blog, You and 2014

01/06/2014 By Jayme Soulati

Bet you didn’t notice this blog had nearly a two-week hiatus, or maybe you did. There wasn’t a day that went by I wasn’t guilty to not be writing despite the lowest-trafficked periods of the year.

What I continued to tell myself is that this holiday break was critical for my need to rejuvenate and refresh my moxie while getting inspired to write about a whole bunch of new topics.

You see, blogging becomes part of you; it gets under your skin, and courses through your blood. There’s never a conversation or interaction in which I don’t identify a topic or two to write on. It makes me a better listener; it’s inherent now with easy thought to add to the endless stream of ideas.

How about you?

If you’ve been blogging on nigh a year, perhaps this sort of topical instinct isn’t happening yet; no worries! Trust me when I tell you it will!

If you’ve been blogging three years, you should absolutely have blog topics written all over the place on scraps of paper. Maybe you’re truly an electronic wizard (which means you use the other side of your brain a tad more than creatives), and you can organize your thoughts into a list. Does List.ly have private list-building?

It’s A New Year

What I’m trying to say is that a new year is always psychologically, well, new. You know? The ball drops at midnight, and the pressure is on to be more…you know, more.

Let me try to explain.

As the years go by and blogging becomes part of your inner psyche, you want to grow. Your blog has to change with the times and become more exciting in parallel to your own growth journey.

As you transform, so, too, does your blog.

This morning, I just read a friend’s post about taking a huge hiatus and coming back to find fewer folks who’ve stayed the course, fewer comments, and fewer success stories with nil banter. Indeed. Bill Dorman is right; it’s a tough road blogging. That’s why you need goals and aspirations.

Have you thought about how you want your blog to grow and what you’d like to see happen in your house? Do that; it’s time.

Used to be we blogged more for the fun of it and to have a party in the comments; maybe a good old Team Blog Jack, too. Now, though, that’s pretty much dried up; you’re gonna need to reach deep within and find the divining rod into your heart. Then? Let the floodgates open and turn it up a notch; pour out your passion like never before aligned so closely with your business goals. You need your blog to make that happen; it’s the only steady you have on the social sphere.

Blowing Up Your Business

In 2013, I successfully blew up my business. I’m told that’s what entrepreneurs do; they reach a brick wall and rather than go over, they dynamite. Perhaps they get to the other side, or perhaps they drown in TNT. I’m the latter, and here’s the good news. I KNOW IT. I know I blew up my business (and only I can define internally what that means), and I also know that 2014 is critical to regroup and rebuild.

What that also means is the blog is part of the larger plan, too.

Want to know something really simple? There’s nothing like blogging to showcase smarts, expertise, personality, and to give gifts.

Soulati-‘TUDE! Is Turning Four!

My blogging birthday is coming up; we’re gonna be FOUR! That is HUGE! It’s so #RockHot I can’t even tell you.

I’m seeking ideas for how to celebrate Soulati-‘TUDE! IS FOUR.

Perhaps I’ll plan a virtual party; perhaps I’ll launch 4 guest posts on the same day, perhaps I’ll donate to four charities, or…what? What shall I do to celebrate?

My journey has been so rewarding, and here’s a secret. Without this blog and you, I never would’ve made it (I am not kidding).

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG!

The Happy Friday Series: Suddenly Delightful Jamie

11/29/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Think about your online friends and how long you’ve known them. In 2009, when I was a Twitter noob, this woman with my same name and different spelling asked for people to vote her to the top of some contest. What did I know? I stepped up to help without a clue what I was doing, but I lent her support because she asked and it seemed to be a good cause.

Since then, Jamie Wallace and I have uncovered more similarities betwixt and between. She’s a good egg and one who shows her smarts in a variety of places. As communities go, she’s one to invite, befriend and love for life.

As Suddenly Jamie on Twitter (I never knew why she suddenly became Jamie – maybe she changed her name suddenly?) and via her blog, Suddenly Marketing https://suddenlymarketing.com, Jamie writes about stuff like this:

I help my clients craft standout brands, transform ideas and visions into profitable content, and create rave-worthy brand experiences. Part strategist, part writer, and part cheerleader, I love making marketing fun. I’m also a mom, an aspiring fiction writer, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice, trapeze, and horseback riding (not at the same time … though, that would be interesting …).

When she was invited to write for The Happy Friday Series, she did that with aplomb; her obvious life zest is apparent in the story when she asked whether life should be serious.

Here’s what’s cool about Jamie…she approaches life with appreciation, asking why all the way.

Look at this post she wrote about “delight.” It’s a word she says we don’t use often…see here:

Delightful is not a word we use very often. It seems, perhaps, slightly antiquated for our times – a little too naive, a little too simple.
Such a shame.
To me, delight is more than just pleasure or even joy. Delight embodies a more complex feeling that is layered with the sense of having been given a gift (as in when we say, “Delighted to meet you”) and a sense of surprise – of happily coming upon some unexpected goodness, beauty, or kindness.

But what is really delightful is this sentence Jamie wrote and today’s gift Jayme gave:

So, to be delighted is to be gently jolted out of your everyday existence by someone or something presenting you with an unexpected gift.

Thank you for writing for The Happy Friday Series, Jamie.

Love, Jayme.

Social Media, IT And Analytics Have Created Title Soup

11/25/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Advertising Age featured a story, “Don’t Call Me CMO: Top Marketers Say Job Has Evolved Beyond Title,” I find quite amusing.

The giggle is more about the why.

Why do people feel the need to define themselves based on a single three-to-five word title? When a professional reaches the level of chief anything officer, they have successfully moved along the professional development career path to become a chief.

Why don’t we call everyone in the C-suite “Chief Cook & Bottle Washer?” That would sum up the role we’re all playing in the workplace today, right? Technology, analytics and social media have created a pea soup of necessary qualifications, and the chief marketer appears to be the most confused.

According to the article, some of the “better titles than CMO” proffered are:

Chief Value Officer – what does “value” really mean? Value of what?
Chief Growth Officer – isn’t marketing about growth already?
Chief Innovation Officer – ah-hah, but limiting right? You come up with the ideas only and don’t put them into action?
Chief Commercial Strategist – as opposed to residential?
Chief Customer Officer – Who is the customer? Inside, outside? Maybe this means a sales person who is adopting a role in the C-Suite.

Title Soup in PR

Coming from a discipline of marketing frequently at odds about titles and roles, I get the confusion and need to create identity in the marketplace. Public relations professionals have been grappling with professional branding for a very long time; of late, we’ve been quite clever about hiding behind a really cool title to mask the fact we’re in public relations.

Perhaps it’s cool to be in public relations again?

I have now adopted the new label of “hybrid PR” for myself, thanks to Gini Dietrich’s blog post awhile ago when she described all the things PR peeps do in the marketing arena and it matched my competency. The only problem is it still requires explanation. At least hybrid vehicles paved the way for a combo engine, and people looking at a title can guess that hybrid means many things added to the mix. It’s pretty easy for me to just be president of Soulati Media, Inc. because that it indeed the title put on incorporation documents to get my federal tax ID number.

For those who lead teams in a corporate environment, there is so much merging and blending happening that I can see why the title thing has become an issue.

I don’t think there is a title for the chief marketing officer that can capture everything they’re responsible for, do you? The kettle has to simmer first before anyone will be able to tell.

The Happy Friday Series: Being Happily Half Empty

11/08/2013 By Jayme Soulati

You meet the most remarkable and provocative people online. When you engage a tad deeper and peel back the layers, you see the seedling sprouting into the fruit of the earth. That’s Jenn Whinnem.

When she wrote this Happy Friday Series, Glass Half Empty and Happy in February 2013, she knew it very well could be regarded as different with a bit of a twist.

Indeed.

Laura Click, Jenn Whinnem and Stanford Smith at Social Slam 2012

My Twitter Pal, Jenn

Jenn Whinnem is the best writer I’ve seen around, and she’s an amazingly good editor, too. She works at the Connecticut Health Foundation, and she’s #RockHot, teaching peers and colleagues about social media and communications because she is totally an expert.

Jenn recently married, and she’s step mom to a young boy. She is always around to listen to me rant about something on my mind, and she’s always there to pitch in and pick up the ball to help. The load she manages every day puts her squarely in my stratosphere of respect every day, and she manages half empty quite well; better than most.

I want to say thanks to Jenn for being the consummate community manager, friend, peer, colleague, and avid listener. I also want to thank her for writing with her neck out to show a side of persona, perspective, and pizazz that is not mainstream at all. I like that, for she consistently makes me think a little harder and a bit differently.

Thank you, Ms. Whinnem for writing here and being you.

Soulati Media On The Street With Millennial Entrepreneur

10/24/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Chris Craft

A young up-and-comer is impressing the heck out of the social media marketing sector, and you need to know him.

My distinct pleasure this morning is to introduce you to Christopher Craft, @ChrisQueso, with whom I spent oodles of hours at ConvergeSouth where we both spoke and had the same flight back.

What makes my head spin is everything he’s doing and so much more. He’s an entrepreneur managing his youthful firm, he blogs here and also doing a full-time gig for another employer. As a daddy to two (listen for what I caught him saying in the wee hours pre-conference!), he’s way on the run with three smartphones he totes for each job and the wife.

Did I say he is also a published author of O.P.E.N. Routine, a personal branding book?

Please meet Chris and follow him in all those places. Thanks, Friend!