THINKing » Networking http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog My CreativeTeam Thinks About Creativity, Marketing, PR & Social Media Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:40:12 +0000 en hourly 1 LinkedIn Recruiting http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/linkedin-recruiting/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/linkedin-recruiting/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 15:46:28 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2275

We will talk today about using LinkedIn for recruiting purposes in the final installment of our series Are You LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is more evolutionary than revolutionary. It is primarily a tool to help employers fill the pipeline quicker with qualified candidates, and a tool to help the candidate stand out above the crowd.

Whether you are hiring or looking to be hired, the number one thing you should be doing on LinkedIn is strategically building your network. The steps for both hiring managers and those seeking new positions are the same:

  • Maintain connections with colleagues from previous jobs
  • Expand your network with an eye toward your future needs
  • Search LinkedIn for the keywords that apply to the position you seek or the one you need to fill
  • Ensure your personal or company profile contains the correct keywords

Your success will depend upon the quality of your network. And if you never interact with your contacts except when you need something from them, you are doomed to fail.

PS – If you are a hiring manager, LinkedIn has additional tools for you.  Jobseekers should check out this LinkedIn tool.

 

 

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/linkedin-recruiting/feed/ 3 LinkedIn – Business Development http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/linkedin-business-development/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/linkedin-business-development/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:08:42 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2144 business development – n : business function focused on strategy, creating strategic partnerships and long-term relationships with suppliers and customers. The business development function within a business can be thought of as a jack-of-all-trades position focused on strategic deal-making with an eye toward increasing sales and expanding the company’s long-term business success or scope.

Based on the above definition, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for helping the business development specialist achieve his goals.  How so? Let’s say you have an idea for a strategic partnership that would be mutually beneficial to your company and the partner organization you have identified.  But you don’t know anyone at the company. Here’s how LinkedIn says to proceed:

  • Performing a People Search will quickly find the right person at the company and determine who you know in common for a warm Introduction. If this isn’t possible, you also have the option to reach out directly via an InMail.
  • While reading an article on partner sites (such as Business Week, CIO, etc) you can immediately see how your network can help you get access to that company to discuss an opportunity using Company Insider. Click the icon to see who you’re conncted to at LinkedIn.
  • Viewing your counterpart’s profile can help bridge the gap by providing mutual contacts, background, recommendations, etc.

The above is probably the most often used LinkedIn technique for business development, but there are a couple of other ways to use it. Let’s say you have an idea to develop a profit-sharing arrangement that is common in certain industries but not in yours. You can search Linkedin to find relevant contacts at companies in those industries, so you can reach out to ask them how the arrangement worked for them. Or, consider using Answers to get your questions addressed.

LinkedIn has some pretty powerful business development tools for those willing to do the work.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/linkedin-business-development/feed/ 4 Are You LinkedIn? http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/are-you-linkedin/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/are-you-linkedin/#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:30:13 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=1636 LinkedIn

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series about how to use LinkedIn for B2B purposes. We are preparing this for the Bank of Commerce’s School of Commerce.

Twitter and Facebook seem to get all the glory when it comes to social networks, but LinkedIn – with its network of more than 80 million professionals – can be a very important component in any B2B company’s business development program. We won’t go into detail here on what LinkedIn is, but here’s LinkedIn’s explanation of what the platform is about.

In our view, the top uses of LinkedIn for a B2B organization – not necessarily in this order – are:

1. Advertising

2. Branding

3. Business Development

4. Event Promotion

5. Marketing/Sales

6. Recruiting

In this installment, we’ll look at how to set up a LinkedIn account and a LinkedIn company profile page. Later, we’ll discuss how to use the platform for the six purposes outlined above.

First, go to linkedin.com and sign up for a personal account. This is free, but there are paid options if you want to consider them

Next, you’ll want to complete your profile fully. In essence, it is an online resume and it’s important to do this thoughtfully, using keywords and phrases that apply to you and your business. As an owner, you may not be looking for a job, but you are looking to connect with a wider range of people, so fill out the section on hobbies and interests, as well. If you want a step-by-step walk through, here is a good overview.

Your personal account has been established, so let’s create a LinkedIn company profile page. This page allows you to publish a company description, a link to your website, and LinkedIn’s platform dynamically generates your employee list.

Here are a few examples of company pages if you’d like to take a look before creating your own: eBay, Google, Yahoo!, Oracle.

Now, let’s fill out your company profile page. You must have a verified company email address in order to set up the company profile page. By that I mean you can’t use a gmail or hotmail account. Once established, you can allow others from your company the ability to administer the account.

Go to the Company page on LinkedIn. Look to the right of the page. You’ll see “Add A Company”. Click on that and you’ll be taken to a page where you enter the name of the company and your company email address. Since you have already set up your personal page, you’ll be taken directly to a page where you can start filling in the profile for your company immediately. An online wizard walks you through all the information you may enter.

When you are finished with the page, you’ll click the “Create A Company” button to make it public. Don’t worry if you haven’t uploaded your logo yet, or left out some key details, you or another employee can come back to edit later.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to put LinkedIn to work for your business.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/are-you-linkedin/feed/ 5 Are You Thankful? http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/are-you-thankful/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/are-you-thankful/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:00:50 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=1539

Are you thankful? What are you thankful for? On this day before Thanksgiving – my favorite holiday – I wanted to take the opportunity to give you my “thankful list”.

As you might imagine, there are the usual suspects: my health, my wife, my kids, my grandchildren, a long list of very good friends, my clients, and the freedom we have in this country.

I am truly thankful for the people I’ve met through my social media activities. I value your comments – positive and negative – and the things I’ve learned from you. I feel I have gained more wisdom from you than I have ever shared. Together, we’re building a community here that I highly value.

Thank you for all you have done for me. I hope you have as  much to be thankful for as I have. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/are-you-thankful/feed/ 4 Do These 10 Things Today http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/do-these-10-things-today/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/do-these-10-things-today/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 13:55:15 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/do-these-10-things-today/ Are you looking for ways to build your business? Sometimes we become paralyzed because there seems to be so many things we could and should be doing to market our companies. Longtime readers know I’m typically a strategy first guy, but sometimes you just need to do something to get  things rolling. So, here are 10 easy marketing ideas you can start on today:

1. Plan a speech

2. Start a marketing calendar, listing all of your scheduled events in categories like advertising, direct mail, networking

3. Write five thank you notes and send them to your best customers. Repeat tomorrow.

4. Review your LinkedIn profile (you do have one, right?) to make sure it is complete.

5. Connect with me on LinkedIn

6.  Sponsor a charity event

7.  Write a press release. See my article: 33 Reasons To Do A News Release

8. Sign up for my enewsletter on marketing

9.  Line up a college intern to help you with your marketing this summer. As a UNC-Chapel Hill grad, I suggest UNC’s intern program

10. Read my series on New Business

Got any more ideas? Comment, please.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/do-these-10-things-today/feed/ 1 Time To Plan http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/time-to-plan-2/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/time-to-plan-2/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:42:47 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=985 There’s usually some downtime at work around the holidays. What are you doing with your break? I’m using mine to meet with clients and prospects and to complete my planning for 2010. Do you have a marketing plan for the year? What new items are you incorporating into your plan?

Here are a few things I’m thinking about for 2010.

How much should I budget – both in terms of my time and money – toward marketing and PR? Does it make sense to spend it in traditional marketing, in PR, in direct marketing, in social media or in some combination?

Have the media habits of my clients and prospects – marketers and HR executives in Fortune 1000 companies – changed? With which media are they spending more time and which ones have they abandoned? Where is their pain in 2010? Are they still short-staffed and looking for outside resources to round out their teams?

Based on some of the research I’m seeing, it looks like marketing budgets will be up a bit this year.  According to eMarketer,

Next year, while broadcast television, radio, newspaper and magazine spending continue to downsize, though more slowly than in 2009, online ad spending will enjoy a nice bump-up: eMarketer currently forecasts 5.5% growth. And the increase won’t all come from search—banner ads will grow 3.3%, and online video will jump by 40%.

This is shaping up perfectly for My Creative Team, since we have a great deal of expertise in the online environment and in developing flash animation and corporate video for online use.

LinkedIn now connects me to 52 million professionals. Is there a better way to utilize my nearly 600 connections on this social platform? How can I use LinkedIn’s advertising capabilities to reach my target audience, specifically the HR audience? We develop a great deal of employee communication and training materials for Nucor, and would like to expand into HR with other Fortune 1000 firms.

Does a My Creative Team presence on Facebook still make sense since we are focused on Fortune 1000 contacts?

Tell us what you are thinking about. We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you plan to market in 2010.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/time-to-plan-2/feed/ 1 Monologue Marketing http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/monologue-marketing/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/monologue-marketing/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:27:08 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=965

Monologue marketers – thankfully – are dying off, but there still are too many. What’s a monologue marketer? Here’s an analogy:

Someone comes up to you at a business event and says, “Hi, I’m Bob.”

You say, “Hi, Bob. I’m Harry. I’m 57 years old, married – have been for 28 years. I have two children, three grandsons, love hiking, canoeing, fishing, anything outdoors, really. I love music. I am a huge blues fans – Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Tommy Castro, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, BB Chun King and the Buddaheads.   I’m into wine. Reds are my favorites…Bob, where are you going?”

Do you get the picture? This is the  way too many organizations approach their marketing. Actually, this is a sales mentality, not a marketing mentality. This approach – dear friend – is not conducive to marketing or to sales.

Let me use an example of one of my clients to show how it should be done.

“Hi, I’m Bob. ”

“Hi, Bob. I’m Camstar. Are you in manufacturing, too?”

“Yes, I am. I work for a large manufacturer in North Carolina.”

“Really? We’re headquartered in North Carolina, too.  Does your organization use a manufacturing execution system?”

“Not right now. But we have been looking into manufacturing software.”

“Well, that is what we do. We have an enterprise platform that includes modules for manufacturing, quality, intelligence and interoperabilty. Are you involved in any of those areas, Bob?”

“No. I’m actually in sales.”

“Well, Bob it was nice talking with you. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with. Here’s our card if someone from your IT department would like white papers on the manufacturing software.”

Friendly, professional dialogue and no selling. Camstar got out of the conversation when it was clear that Bob wasn’t in the target audience. Are you a monologue or a dialogue marketer? Have anecdotes about either? Comments are welcomed.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/monologue-marketing/feed/ 0 D.A.N.C.E. With Me http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/dance-with-me/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/dance-with-me/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:50:58 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=960 Recently, a client asked what he could do to help my business, but I wasn’t ready with the answer. A lot of us probably miss these opportunities because we don’t think through what we need and how to respond when someone offers to help promote us.

Let’s take a look at the D.A.N.C.E., a few simple ways you can enlist your network to help promote your organization.

Distribute and Display. Do you have literature or product samples that you can ask someone in your network to distribute for you? Perhaps you could ask them to place your information in their next client mailing, or hand out your brochures or samples at an upcoming meeting they are attending. If they have a high traffic office, ask them to display your products or material.

Arrange. Your contact knows a lot of people that you also should know. So, get her to arrange a meeting for you. It’s best if you can get your friend to accompany you to the meeting. This helps place everyone more at ease.

Nominate. There are all sorts of awards and recognition programs. Ask someone to nominate you for appropriate business and community service awards. Your local Business Journal has a number of awards ranging from Women in Business and 40 Under 40 to Diversity awards.

Don’t forget the community service related awards, too. For instance, our local radio station, WBT has a hometown hero award. Client Bank of Commerce is the sponsor of this award.

Contact. Your network also can provide you with leads and referrals. Maybe he heard about plans one of his clients has for expansion. He could pass this lead along to you and direct you to the appropriate contact. Someone in your network could give you the names and addresses of people they think would be good prospects. Better still, they could make the first contact with the prospects and then provide you their information so you can follow up.

Endorse. Testimonials are a time honored method of getting others to promote your business. Ask your client if he would provide you with a quote on what he gained from your products or services. This endorsement can then be used in a multitude of ways from your website to direct marketing.

A good way to get others to D.A.N.C.E. with you is to do the same for them first. So, make a list of those who could help your business and then offer to help them first.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/dance-with-me/feed/ 0 Links – 4/9/2009 http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/links-492009/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/links-492009/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:06:48 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=929 Today’s post is for sharing a few things I’ve come across in the past couple of days, and to resurrect a post or two from our dusty archives that speak to job-hunting. Let’s get going:

Even In Recession, There Are Jobs In Media

How Not To Get A Job With Social Networking

How Not To Get A Job

Remember, You Are Naked Online

Out Of Work? Don’t Be That Guy

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/links-492009/feed/ 0 New Business 2009 http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/new-business-2009/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/new-business-2009/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:09:21 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=889 Are you out looking for new business? Who isn’t? I wrote a series on the topic some time back. You may want to check it out if you missed it the first time around.

New Business Primer – Part 1 – Introduction to the new business primer.

New Business Primer – Part 2 – An organization’s brand identity must be a reflection of three things: market perceptions, the organization’s acumen, as well as its aspirations. Positioning is where these three elements overlap.

New Business Primer – Part 3 – My marketing mentor, Bill Loeffler, once said the the best new business program is doing great work for current clients. He was right.

New Business Primer – Part 4 – Let’s get past this strategic stuff and to the tactics that got you in front of prospects. First on my list of ways to get in front of prospects was referrals.

New Business Primer – Part 5 – Here is the best piece of advice I’ll ever give you, although at first blush it may not seem that astounding: focus. Did Harry say “focus”? Yes, he did. Wow, that’s deep!

New Business Primer – Part 6 – Let’s talk about social networks. In order to be most effective, you must select three to four networks and focus your efforts there.

New Business Primer – Part 7 – Cold calling is a waste of time and there are better ways to spend your time.

New Business Primer – Part 8 – Network It. Now that you have your client defined and you have looked at your list to identify those folks who can help you, you need to contact them.

New Business Primer – Part 9 – PR professionals know about reputation. But so often they don’t spend any time building their own reputation and brand. Step back and take a look at yourself as if you were a client.

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