Happy Holidays. We're on the cusp of a new year, so it is time to think about our game plan for 2005. If you are thinking about improving your business, an email newsletter could be the answer. Our first article looks at improving your business in the new year, and our second piece - written by my friend Ty Boyd - examines how to be a high achiever. If you want to be a high achiever, attend Ty's Excellence In Speaking Institute. I have found some good links for you as well.

Thanks to all who updated your profiles last month. For their efforts, these 10 lucky Think readers won and have probably already eaten their Charleston Cookies: Beth Anne Atkins, Jennifer Pierle, Juanita Johnston, James Parker, Cristin Thomas, Sheryl Love, Chip Brueckman, Gabrielle Richard, Walter Brzozowicz and Rod Brady.

Let's get going.

Cordially,

Harry Hoover
harry@hoover-ink.com

Ink Briefs

Holiday for Charity is getting good publicity locally, and generating solid traffic to my website to find out more about it. My hometown paper, The Huntersville Herald, featured an article about it recently. A regional monthly publication, Lake Norman Magazine, also had a nice piece on the project.


Media relations practitioners must have a keen understanding of all media, including the Internet. The web works differently than do the MSM (mainstream media), and you can use it to your advantage. Here is a report from Morgan Stanley that provides excellent information about the web and how to harness it for telling your story.


I couldn't resist telling you about this website that provides workplace communication skills training. It's a hoot. You'll need Flash and audio to experience it.


Friend Joe Grant, shared this recommended reading list with me, and I'm sharing it with you. Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office by Lois Frankel is written to help women overcome self-defeating business world behaviors. Also noteworthy: The Leadership Moment by Michael Useem. In the category of interesting diversion, The Riddle of the Compass by Amir Aczel, a great adventure tale about getting from Point A to Point B. And if words and commas are your thing, don't miss Eats, Shoots & Leaves by the cheeky Lynne Truss. Witty and instructive - a must-read for every writer. Drop me a note and tell me what you're reading.


Share your expertise to build your brand. Write articles and publish them. Here are several links to article submission sites where you can share your written words:

SimplySearch4It

GoArticles

ZonGoo

ArticleCity.


About Hoover ink PR

Hoover ink PR helps position businesses that are serious about their success. Then, we craft and deliver bottom line messages that ensure it.

Who are we? We're a marketing communications firm with more than 25 years experience in providing services to financial, high tech, real estate, tourism and consumer products companies.

From employee relations and media relations to collateral material and e-newsletters, we develop the programs and communication tools that will differentiate you from your competitors. And that's the bottom line.

 

 

Marketing 2005
OK, if you're not going to hire me to develop your 2005 marketing communication plan for you I have a few suggestions that you may not have considered as part of your marketing arsenal.

Of course, you already have a company name, a positioning statement, logo, stationery, business cards and a website. Right?

The next thing I suggest is an employee survey. Ask them about what's happening where the company meets the customer. Find out how employees feel about the company. A recent survey shows that employee attitudes have a huge impact upon a company's bottom line. Motivated employees provide great service, and great service can separate you from your competitors.

Next, develop a customer retention program. It costs five times more to develop a new customer as it does to keep an old one. E-newsletters, like Think, are an essential part of my customer retention program. Contact me if you want some information on developing an e-newsletter program.

Finally, here is a random list of other items that can be considered part of your marketing arsenal.

  • your reputation
  • advertising
  • consultations, demonstrations, seminars, samples
  • community involvement, cause marketing, philanthropy
  • media contacts, bylined articles, op-ed pieces
  • guest speaking program
  • great working environment
  • employee development program
  • networking, referrals
  • contests
  • customer surveys
  • special events

If your time for 2005 marketing related tasks is limited, take some advice from my marketing mentor, Bill Loeffler: pick three things and do them right.

 

Grow Or Die
By Ty Boyd

School is never out for high achievers. These are the people who are the most successful.

They understand that the key to success is that if you are not growing and improving in all phases of your life you will be left behind. Be it their personal or professional lives, they are always seeking knowledge of how to be better.

I am lucky. In my job, I'm surrounded by these high achievers. I recently went to Boca Raton for a session with 30 top executives - high achievers all - who were eager to sharpen their axes.

I also did a recent session at the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix with key people from Fletcher Music. The question I asked beforehand was: what will I tell these people that they don't already know?

My message didn't come as a surprise; it was a blinding glimpse of the obvious. Achievers like the ones I addressed got to their station in life by taking risks. However, they often are the ones who are least likely to take a risk when it comes to communication.

They learned how to take the self-confidence they have in their other professional abilities and display them in their communication to groups, to co-workers and to family members. Passion, not perfection, makes the difference.

I got these high achievers on their feet several times so they could learn that it is OK to make a mistake because we are human and that is what we humans do.

Finally, they re-learned the power of practice. Practice made them who they are in their fields of endeavor and it also made them more powerful communicators, allowing them to take their game to the next level.

Although you may not be in one of my upcoming sessions, my ultimate advice to you is the same. Spend lavishly on your personal development, so that you will continue to grow into the person you were meant to be.