Today I am teaching my “Digital Planning” class again at INSEEC university. For those who don’t know this is something I have been doing for a few months. We usually split the students into 5 or 6 groups and today I am planning on doing an in class exercise where each group will tweet me and then I will send them back a clue as to which of the below briefs they have. They will then need to create the intended social media channel and a solution to these briefs and present their plans in front of the class. Next week, we will have our next class and see how they have progressed! New things on the internet will happen as a result – interesting stuff! Big thanks to our lovely marketing intern Diana Huth for her help and structuring of the below!

Marketing brief – It’s all in a meme

Scenario: The Institute of Memes knows that memes are popular on the internet, but they have been asked by the government to take a tour around adult learning facilities, care homes and large investment banks to teach the older generations what memes are.

This means they have to explain:

1. What are memes?
2. Examples of 5 memes?
3. The most popular memes of 2013?
4. The most popular memes of 2012?
5. What are the channels people use for memes?

Primary Channel: Pinterest

Objectives

Come up with a plan on how you will use experiential teaching and Pinterest to:

1. Highlight the best memes
2. Help people see what memes are
3. Show positive stories of how memes help society

Budget

There will be no budget available for this campaign. Therefore use the power of social media that are free of media costs.

Marketing brief – Kurt Cobain

Project background:

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American rock music legend. The most famous song of his grunge band ‘Nirvana’ is “Come as you are”. Tragically, Cobain was only 27 when he committed suicide in 1994. Now, 19 years later, it is feared that Kurt Cobain will soon be forgotten and the next generation does not seem to care much. However, the topic of celebrities committing suicide and young people suffering from drug/alcohol abuse and depression is highly up to date. In addition the term “27 club” refers to musicians who died at the age of 27.
The campaign shall be designed to remind of the issue of suicide by remembering the tragical death of Kurt Cobain.

Objectives

1. Raise awareness about the life and death of Kurt Cobain
2. Find existing content and share it
3. Show the influence he had
4. Aim this at the new audience of people between the ages of 16-24

Primary Channel: Tumblr

Budget

There will be no budget available for this campaign. Therefore use the power of social media that are free of media costs.

Marketing brief – Fitspiration

Project background:

There are people all over the world who lead unhealthy sedentary lifestyles. Too much junk food, not enough exercise, and overly busy lifestyles mean that people don’t make time to prepare healthy meals or work out. They need motivation.

Objectives

1. Find existing examples of fitspo/fitspiration accounts
2. Create unique content which is inspirational and promotes good healthy habits
3. Ensure that you are not promoting fanatical unhealthy obsessions
4. Keep messages positive
5. Find recipes/tips etc to help
6. Build a following of at least 200

Primary Channel: Instagram

Budget

There will be no budget available for this campaign. Therefore use the power of social media that are free of media costs.

Marketing brief – Save the Planet

Project background:

Precious resources come to an end, the climate change is taking place and the process of extinction seems to be accelerating. The earth loses its balance. However, everyone can make a difference. Find ways to raise problem awareness and give solutions to help saving the planet.
Try not to address too many issues at the same time.

Objectives

1. Raise problem awareness about how the balance world is threatened and
2. Provide examples to help the planet
3. Share content which has solutions
4. Create a following

Primary Channel: Facebook

Budget

There will be no budget available for this campaign. Therefore use the power of social media that are free of media costs.

Marketing brief – World Hunger

Project background:

13% of the world’s population is hungry. That’s roughly 925 million people who go undernourished on a daily basis, consuming less than the recommended 2,100 calories a day. At the same time, parts of the world throw tonnes of food out. The project shall provide hunger facts to encourage people to care more about their food and about those that are not having enough.

Objectives

1. Raise problem awareness about how many people do not have enough to eat and what we could do to fight the world hunger
2. Achieve more than 50 clicks / shares between now and next week
3. Share content which has solutions
4. Create a following

Primary Channel: Facebook

Budget

There will be no budget available for this campaign. Therefore use the power of social media that are free of media costs.

Marketing brief – New Healthy Drink vs Red Bull

Project background:

A new brand is coming out onto the market which is going to provide the energy enhancing benefits of Red Bull and will be all natural – free of sugar and preservatives. It will be based on coconut water, and sweetened with apple juice.

Objectives

1. Come up with a name for this drink
2. Research the brand story behind Red Bull
3. Create a brand story for the new drink
4. Research and curate the existing market and provide examples of how Red Bull has captured it’s market – what campaigns have they run? How have they been used? What were the results?
5. For each example you find of Red Bull’s marketing success and journey, come up with something that will create a similar buzz – and create a selection of ideas which can begin the new brands journey to popularity and to eventually overtake the market share of Red Bull.

Primary Channel: Pinterest

Budget

There will be no budget available for this campaign. Therefore use the power of social media that are free of media costs.

So, let’s see what the students come up with

I have just started with this new group of students and they have really impressed me so far with their dilligence, commitment and hard work. Not only that, they have already come up with some amazing creative ideas in previous classes. So, I am really excited to see what the results of the above marketing briefs are! Comments welcome below – as usual!

Karen Haller (photographed by Kristina Gasperas)

We have one client who is a real star. We are always trying to get our clients to do more blogging and tweeting but it didn’t take much persuasion for Karen Haller – she just got it! From the very beginning when we created her site in 2011, she has diligently updated her blog, with a regular stream of insightful posts which clearly demonstrated the importance of the work she does. She also does regular email marketing to give updates on her activities and share her posts with her email list.

As a colour specialist, there is an element of education she needs to do in order to get people to understand why colour is important in branding for business. Each colour and each hue has a meaning and the best way to explain this is through stories, case studies and examples. So, through a spectrum of colours and brand names, Karen has been able to build an unparalleled archive of useful information. She has also really raised her profile through her continued presence online and through social media, networking and speaking engagements. And she has co-written a colour book, Colour design: Theories and applications. Showing her expertise in this field through her marketing activity has created many opportunities for her. I decided that others must learn from this – so I asked her to share with us what she does and what she has experienced as a result. See below for my Q+A with Karen!

How did you get started as a colour specialist?

It was my insatiable curiosity in colour and how it could influence our mood, our behavior and how we interacted with others. This led me on my quest of studying colour for the past 20 years and I know I’ll be a student of colour for life. It never ceases to amaze and fascinate me.

So, you’re a colour specialist, colour consultant, colour expert – which is the best terminology and what does that mean?

I think the best terminology is Applied Colour Psychology Specialist as my field of expertise is applied colour psychology and colour physics and I have developed a process called applied colour intuition ™.

Tell us some of the successes you have had since raising your profile online

I see my website as my stage, my store window. All my social media, guest blogging leads back to my website. I’ve worked on many colour projects with well-known brands such as Logitech, 3M Post-it, Thomas Pink and others currently under wraps. Amongst the many requests to speak, I was thrilled to be  asked to talk at Grand Designs LIVE and at Clerkenwell Design Week last month. Colleges and Universities have asked me to speak to their students.

How have you used your blog to reinforce the importance of what you do?

I use my blog on a number of levels. Firstly to educate my readers as most haven’t even heard of colour psychology. I give practical examples, tips and insights on how colour can be used in their business branding, their business interiors and for their clothing.  I also post general colour articles and events as I really want to inspire people to experiment and have fun with colour – just like we did when we were children.

Would you consider yourself “B to C” or “B to B” – and if both – what percentage of clients come to you from each?

I am more “B to B”. I work with business owners on their business brand identity, brand colours & design, interiors and clothes. I also work with business owners who want to look their best on television and speaking from stage. I am getting more and more enquiries on how people can find out what are the right colours for them which led me on to develop my system applied colour intuition ™.

How many clients have you worked with as a result of the enquiries you get from your online marketing?

I would say 80 – 90% of my clients come from my online marketing, bearing in mind I’ve never paid for online marketing.

What I have found amazing is being contacted by the media on a weekly basis to either be quoted in or write articles for the national newspapers and magazines for colour related topics. Google search seems to be one of their ‘go to’ places to find  experts and specialists.

Where do your new business enquiries come from – your website, blog, social media or speaking?

My new business enquires comes mainly from people searching on Google for a colour psychology or a colour expert on whichever topic they are interested in. And, because of my consistent blogging which are keyword rich, they come across my blog posts and then navigate to my website.  My social media e.g. Twitter and Facebook page drives traffic to my blog and website as well.

Have you ever had business you could directly attribute to your blogging activity?

All my major corporate clients and several of my speaking engagements have found me via the internet (Google searching) and I attribute this to my keyword rich blogging. I also write regularly for other websites (guest blog posts) and my clients have navigated to my website and contacted me.

Has your regular blogging activity changed the way you do business?

No, but given the number of enquires I receive from being found via the internet, I really see the value in blogging and being at the forefront of my profession on the web.

[Keren, not sure if I fully understood this question properly]

What tips can you give people who want to do this but feel they don’t have time?

Sales is the lifeline of any business, so you need to decide if you feel it will be of value to your business. For me it was educating my audience, building my creditability and which helped to position me as the authority in my field. Showcasing my expertise on my website/blog is my ‘shop window’ for my potential clients to see if my business brand offering is right for them, then they will contact me to discuss their needs.

If you want to blog but don’t think you have the time, then start with once a week or once a month, but like any of your social media activities be consistent. Last November I did a 30 blogs in 30 days challenge which was great fun as it really got me writing my blog posts quicker and I was able to engage my twitter and Facebook followers by asking them to send me all their colour questions – giving me an endless supply of blog posts. It certainly is a great way to build a new habit quickly.

I was honoured to  be interviewed by the Time4Business Magazine. Here is an excerpt of the interview called – written in the very popular Q+A style.

“Plan, design, execute”

Do you have a first rule of website building/design?

Keren Lerner: My first rule is to go for the highest quality you can afford. What a lot of people do is come up with a list of all they want their website to have on it and do, and then they take that list to a few people and see who can promise that to them at the most affordable price. Sometimes, this results in websites that are over engineered and over complicated. Other times, websites have too much information without much thought to key messages and ease of use. If you look at the single page websites we have designed you will see that you can achieve so much more with good planning, great copy and amazing design.

How true is the saying first impressions count when it comes to websites?

KL: It’s even truer than in real life. For most of the time, website browsing is a solitary experience. People are sitting on their PCs or looking on their phones or iPads, and they may look at your site and decide to click further or click away. There is no obligation for them to be polite and stick around – because no one is watching them or talking them through it. So, you have to engage them straight away, and the smallest thing might put them off.

What are some of the key mistakes that businesses make when they review/design their websites?

KL: Some of the key mistakes I have noticed are:

1. Not writing a proper brief: This isn’t something we have as an issue with our clients, as we are a consultancy led design agency and we help clients provide us with a comprehensive brief. But when people work with other designers they don’t always give the right information about their aims, brand and message, and then they don’t get the results they want or need. We help our clients with the brief, and when we work with clients such as Abbie Tanner she goes through and creates an incredibly comprehensive brief for us to follow which really helps.
2. Doing things in the wrong order: A successful project has to be done with all the steps in the right order. For example, if you write the text for the site too soon, without knowing the overall structure of the site or the layout the text is going to go into, then the website will often look overly text heavy. Or, you may think you need to have a section where people subscribe to information before you have built up a community on your different marketing channels.
3. Launching the site with things missing – like blogs with only one post in them and no content plan, or links to social media channels which have nothing going on when you click on them – I see this all the time.

Is it possible to create a professional website using DIY website design? What are the main pitfalls of which businesses should be aware?

KL: It is possible to create a professional looking website on one of these. It depends on the person. They need three key characteristics to make it a success (I often like to think in blog post headlines!). These are:

1. Patience – because these things take a little bit of figuring out the first time you use them, and likewise to make things look the right way.
2. A mind for marketing – any successful website needs to be planned and structured in advance to ensure that it’s going to appeal to the audience, and the most important things are immediately apparent.
3. An eye for design and detail – if you don’t have this, you may not notice when things aren’t quite right. You need to ensure that things line up, the elements on the page balance visually, images are well chosen and not cheesy, and there is correct capitalisation, grammar and spelling.

How often should a business be updating its website content?

KL: It depends on the business, but if you have a blog (and there are many reasons why a business should seriously consider having one) then you can aim to have a new post on your blog once a week on average. This has been statistically measured as the sweet spot for measurable increases in conversion on your website. Of course, the content you choose on your blog is equally important. Your headlines need to capture people and the content needs to be interesting enough to keep people reading (or watching in the case of video).

Websites are often viewed as marketing tools to attract new prospects but how important are they as touch points for existing clients as well?

KL: It is a good idea to think of your website as a way of keeping existing clients aware of your services and successes. Keeping them in mind means you can make sections of your website which will be useful to them – such as FAQs’ sections, a resource library, client focused events, and informative blogs.

T4B: How often should a business review its entire website to ensure it stays up-to-date and relevant to its market?

KL: It wouldn’t hurt for you to have a meeting with your website in your diary every three months. Spend an hour or so, and go through a mini checklist, asking yourself questions like “Does it reflect who we are now?” and “Is there evidence of what makes us great/unique here?” and “Is it going to interest our audience” as well as checking visual elements such as choice of images and if things are looking fresh enough.

Most financial advisers/planners provide similar services. So how can they differentiate themselves through their website?

KL: Yes, it’s true that there are a lot of similar services provided by financial advisers and planners. This would be the same for accountants, lawyers, banks and website designers. The differentiation comes from who you are in the business, how you approach your clients, where you are located, what type of clients you are very good at helping, and the unique twist you put on your investment services.This is where marketing and operations can overlap. If you don’t have enough differentiators on your website, you can look into how you can improve or innovate in your business, and then reflect that in your website as well. Taking the time out to look at your business and think about how you can keep moving it forward will mean you always stay one step ahead.

Many financial advisers have built their businesses solely on referrals and might argue that they don’t need a website.

KL: I hear this a lot, from many businesses. They get clients from word of mouth and they get repeat business. They have good relationships on a personal level with their clients, and the clients stick with them. But as more and more of the competitors also start to realise how important it is to use marketing as a way to build relationships (through helpful blogs, interesting and useful email newsletters, face to face networking and online social media engagement) there is a danger that someone else may come along and offer their clients a lot more attention. For example I have had an IFA for many years and she is a friend. But I also go to a networking meeting every week and there is another IFA who is also a friend, who I see every week. You need to keep on your toes. The other issue with having a poor web presence is that if someone wants to recommend you, they would want to send your details to someone else – including your website address and LinkedIn profile. If people go onto your website and see it’s being neglected, then that sends a message that you don’t care enough about your online presence. Need I say more?

Having a website does not guarantee that people will visit it. What else can/must a business do to ensure it attracts visitors?

KL: Very true! People are not going to wake up with an urge to go and type in your website address. And they may not Google you either. Luckily we have amazing tools at our disposal – Twitter, LinkedIn, email marketing, and your blog will all help to drive traffic to your website – if used cleverly and correctly. This is why I would say invest time in learning these tools properly, and practice becoming better and better at marketing. I regularly run workshops and training sessions for businesses on how to effectively manage their businesses online, profiling and email marketing, so let me know if you would like to know more or attend a workshop.

Many adviser firms are targeted at specific and niche markets. Is there anything they can do to help ensure they attract the ideal clients they would want to work with?

KL: A website is open to anyone so you could get all sorts of people visiting, but you can steer things in the right direction. To start with, I would go through a keyword research exercise and list the phrases and words you would think people would search for to specifically find you. Then, incorporating these into your copy – in a natural way – will mean your copywriting will resonate with your target audience. This would be on not only your website pages, but also your blog and email newsletter. If you can get a copywriter with a marketing angle to help, then you will of course get better results. You can also use social media to be very targeted, by first researching the profiles of other people and businesses who are either in your target industry or who also work with the same type of clients, and connecting/building relationships with them online (and offline too). And you can run useful/educational events as well (which can be marketed via your website, blog, email marketing and social media). These ideas should not be taken ad hoc – ideally you should be planning a proper strategy ahead of time and following it systematically. A good marketing strategy combines a mixture of planning content in advance, creating quality content that interests your audience, consistent marketing activity, and engagement with the right type of people.

Top Left Design is special and it has a special team, who care for each other. First and foremost Keren. She creates team building events, surprises the team with little treats like cupcakes after the last “Make My Lunch” session and she encourages everyone to eat as healthy as possible (besides those little sweet treats).

As almost everyone at Top Left Design has a sweet tooth, Keren created a healthy challenge of the week:

“Have an apple every day. We will get a bag of apples into the office 3 times a week for us.”

Challenge on!

Eight challengers, five day…that makes… 40 apples!!
Well, we won’t show you 40 apple pictures but here are some impressions:

Some team members are really shy, they rather let the apples speak…

*We had to take JP’s picture twice because he forgot to smile!

Thus, everyone was happy and that made Keren happy as well:

A week full of “Happleness” that will hopefully keep the doctor away.

Aspire Leadership

This one was our first fully responsive site and we are excited that we got a chance to look at it. We also blogged about it previously, did you see?

Aurora Group

This is a website for a group of financial advisors. We are no strangers to this sector – as you can see in the post where we talked about the websites we have done for UK Financial Advisers and Planners.

Mitravitae

What a lovely client we got to work with on this client. An absolute pleasure. Follow him on Twitter here

 Purcell Radio System

Another great client – with this project we also did all the branding and stationary as well.

Cognitive Match

A long standing friend of ours founded this company – and we are proud to create their online presence!

The Athena Network Singapore

A lovely client of ours, Gina Romero, asked us to help with this project. See our blog about it here.

Mountain Valley Wines

A full e-commerce website which we did in partnership with our hosting partners 3DPixelNet.

Flawless Feet

I love that we got to choose fun feet pictures on this one.

Rochdale Spears

Furniture makers with a production happening in Vietnam – run by Geoff and Sarah – and with a team of highly skilled and talented creative people doing amazing work. Kind of like us here at TLD (well, actually, just like us)

Thanks & Recognition

What a great concept, and a chance to communicate their big mission through their site – to improve employee engagement in the workplace.

Kell Skott Haircare

A true website with personality and a fantastic hair salon in Notting Hill. We keep in touch regularly with Kell and Jacqueline – and here is our blog about the site

Melimedia

Celebrity endorsement business from our lovely friend Tonya Meli (my birthday twin!)

Legacy Portfolio Blog

I particularly love the blog on this site, and our amazing clients Helen and Manon, who we have done several other projects for. They really are great at their own marketing!

Flutterfly Events

Sophisticated wedding planner business run by an American planner in London – the lovely Erika Unbehaun.

Goo Goo Gourmet

Gourmet baby food, home delivered, from the lovely Reena Patel. We did the branding and the ecommerce on this one, using Shopify as the ecommerce system.

OWL Regulatory Consulting

We also redrew the logo for this project.

Gina Romero Unconventional Business Thinking

A single pager for the wonderful Gina Romero, who is based in Singapore and is the subject of my blog about personal branding

Claire Kidd

A real personification of the gorgeous Claire Kidd, our content strategy and copywriter friend based in Singapore (yes, she knows Gina too!)

Karen Haller

Karen has been an amazing example of someone who took our advice and really worked on building her reputation and showing her expertise. I use her a lot in my talks about blogging.

Chris Court is incredibly inspiring. He is creative, has a sense for aesthetics, put things together and obviously, he is very handsome. In our interview, he talks about his furniture business and the exciting job he was doing before he started his own business.

What is your business and what do you do?

Hi, my name is Chris and I’m the owner of Furniture Warehouse. My company is based out in Essex and I have a website selling many different collections of furniture. Mainly, I specialise in Reproduction Furniture and Shabby Chic Furniture. However. I also have many different dining sets to choose from and I have a fantastic range of white bedroom furniture that is made here in the UK.

How long have you been running your business?

I’ve been running the business now for 5 years.

Please can you tell me 6 things that are unique about the way you are with your business/clients

Well.

1. I try to use manufacturers based locally as much as possible
2. This can reduce waiting times considerably
3. It allows the the client to have any bespoke requirements taken care of more easily. It’s also a lot easier if there is a problem somewhere down the line.
4. You can have items custom built.
5. We carry out all deliveries ourselves.
6. It’s not unusual for the actual owner of Furniture Warehouse to be out on the road delivering your furniture to you!

Do you have the stock in house – or somewhere else?

I try to keep certain items in stock as much as possible, but since I use local manufacturers it doesn’t take long to get new stock through.

Who do you mainly work with? Direct with clients or with interior designers?

Nearly all of the time directly with clients, however lately there has been interest in our French Furniture from interior designers, who want these pieces in the homes of projects that they are working on.

Have you ever had a request for something you couldn’t fulfil?

Not just yet. Literally last week I completed a couple of bespoke Reproduction Furniture pieces for someones home office in West London. It was a tricky job, but I worked closely with the client and the manufacturer was happy to undertake the challenge. The end products looked amazing and the client was extremely happy!

What did you do before running this business?

Ooh..lots of different things over the years! Directly before running Furniture Warehouse, I worked on the super yachts in the Mediterranean for 3 years, absolutely loved it. Working out in the sun and seeing some of the most luxurious places in the med!

I was given the opportunity to run the Twitter account for the event Youth Marketing Strategy 2013  I was invited by my friend James Eder (find him on Twitter here) because well he knew he could trust me to do a good job – as I am a seasoned and consistent Twitter user, and I have quite a few tricks up my sleeve!

It wasn’t my first live tweeting experience

Tweeting is part of my life, and events are a great place to really experience the magic of Twitter. Most events nowadays have a hashtag, which is invented by the people who create the event. When I run my social media seminars, I usually use the hashtag #dontignoreit, meaning “Social Media – can you afford to ignore it”.

Why tweet live?

A quick rundown of the “why” before I dive into the tips!

1. You can meet new people who are at the event, via Twitter. You may not even meet them in real life, but Twitter users are an open and friendly bunch and Twitter is the type of network where it’s ok to talk to strangers. So, follow the hashtag, follow the tweeters who tweet with that hashtag, and reply to them/say hi. One time I was at an event in Brighton and noticed the guy next to me tweeting. So I sent him a tweet saying “Hi I am sitting right next to you”
2. Your followers know you are at the event. By tweeting about the event, and with the hashtag, you and other poeple in the room who are doing the same are essentially inviting other people who are not physically there to share the experience. Often, we get tweets from those who follow us, or retweets.
3. By being one of the people actively tweeting at an event, you raise your profile. Not only from poeple who are watching the hashtag while not there, or people who are looking at the tweets while at the event, but also often if the event displays tweets on a screen, your name and Twitter stream would be seen by the delegates there.
4. You can leave early and still keep tweeting if you want to. Sneaky, I know, but you can if you are tired or have another event / appointment to go to, and then just keep up with tweets and you won’t experience “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out”)

Convinced? Time to get your Twitter ducks in a row! Here’s how to prepare for your day of live tweeting at an event

For this particular event, my job for the day was to be the official Twitter account for the event. Quite a big responsibility. It’s important to prepare your Twitter account so you make the most of the opportunity you have on the day.

1. Make sure your Twitter account is properly setup - Anyone who has done live tweeting at an event knows you get more people looking at your Twitter page and bi0 – so make sure your bio reads well, you have a good profile picture (don’t be an egg!), put in a branded background
2. Follow others who talk about the event – In the run up to the event, note who is going to the event, and follow them on Twitter.
3. Create different Twitter lists – specifically for delegates and for speakers, so you can check what they are tweeting and start interacting with them before the event.
4. Tweet relevant content - In my case the event was about marketing for young people (also known as “millenials” and “digital natives”) so we tweeted links to relevant articles on blogs and news websites about this, as well as general buzz creating tweets about the upcoming event and conversation with others in the same niche.

9 tips for live tweeting at an event

1. Bring your kit and find a power sourceAs I brought my laptop for the day, I looked for the power source and ensured I kept charged up. Even if you just use your smartphone, it’s a good idea to bring your charger, many venues nowadays have plugs on the outskirts of the room and you can congregate with other people who hang out by the plugs!
2. Summarise what speakers are saying This is the main activity for live tweeting. You are there as a roving reporter, and keep in mind you want your followers and other people who are following the hashtag for the event to get coherent ideas and information. If the speaker says a clear idea, tip or recommendation, tweet it with the speakers’s @name and the proper link to any websites/resources
3. Keep the tone light with hashtags, so the tweets are interesting Try not to be too “samey” with your tweets – keep the tone light as that’s the general culture of Twitter.
4. Gauge audience reaction and include references to mood You can also report on the atmosphere in the room, whether the audience is particularly entertained or interactive with any of the speakers or activities, and what the general mood is in the room (although I would personally not mention any negativity, I like to keep things positive!)
5. Tweet images of the event Share images with your followers, so people can see what the event, venue, speakers, delegates stage and food look like.
6. Retweet the other people tweeting with the hashtag If you see other poeple tweeting things you like or agree with – retweet them! You will make new friends and followers that way, and your followers will also get to see other poeple’s points of view.
7. Follow others in the room As you are at the same event, follow the people in the room, who are also tweeting and using the hashtag. You came to the same event, and you may not meet each other that day (unless you “work the room” like a crazy person!) but you can start to get to know them on Twitter.
8. Follow people who are similar industry who would be interested in the event On the day, you are busy tweeting about a specific topic (whatever the event is about) so if you choose this time to follow people who would also be interested in that, you will grab there attention – if the look at who just followed them, and see you are tweeting about X and they are also all about that X topic, well – you’ll see – many will follow you back!
9. Reply to those who comment If someone is tweeting about the event and you have something to say, reply to them, it’s almost like you are at the bus stop together and one of you comments that the bus is late, and then you agree it is, well – that’s how friendships begin! (Or, if you don’t like the bus analogy, remember – “it’s good to talk”)

So, now you have all the info you need to tweet live at your next event! Send me a tweet and let me know what you think! You can also find out more about my day at the Youth Strategy Marketing event here.

One such client is Cate Meredith from Bene Media. She is actually based in Virginia, so we couldn’t meet her in person, and in fact we still haven’t.

Working with Cate was an absolute pleasure. She was so enthusiastic and easy going, and was so happy every time we showed her the next phase. We did all our meetings with Skype video and basically as
I went through each stage with her, there was always happy exclamations and appreciations. I loved working with her and can’t wait to meet her in person!

Cate filled out the form on our website, and we asked “how did you hear about us” and she said

“Thanks for your quick reply. I found your website because I asked on Twitter if anyone could recommend a website designer. One person recommended another English design firm which didn’t impress me. However, because my boyfriend is English I decided to google for other English designers. Your website and portfolio really impressed me. Specifically, your “A Business Innovation” website is almost *exactly* what I’m looking for. The usage of Flash in that site seems very subtle and gorgeous and it doesn’t suffer when viewed on my iPad. That said, I also like the Kell Skott movement too.”

I love how she calls the Kell Skott project a “movement” – it is a bit since they too have been amazing as clients!

We interviewed Cate to find out if she could put, in her own words, her experiences in setting up her new brand, website and business – a journey we are proud to have been a part of!

Our interview with Cate Meredith

What did you learn from us?

“I like the combination of creativity and work ethic that I saw in Top Left Design. Creativity is important, of course — it is what provides the spark and flair that makes marketing fun. But getting the job done requires “old-fashioned” dedication to work also — try, re-try — work, re-work. I loved the way that Top Left Design went through the iterations of the design process with me and was willing to re-work the product every step of the way until we were happy with the result. That is a mindset and a process I always try to use with my own clients.”
“What motivates you to do such a great job at your marketing?”
Let’s face it … there is an element of marketing that is just plain fun! And, for me, it is like detective work — I feel like Sherlock Holmes (or Nancy Drew) when I am working on a marketing problem. Finding those elements which put a business’ best face forward is like solving a fascinating puzzle. Sometimes the solution to the puzzle seems obvious, but sometimes it takes a while to crack. But there always comes a time when it all clicks … and the satisfaction for me when that moment occurs is truly one of life’s great enjoyments.

Why is it important to you?

“It is important to me because it is important to my clients. Clearly, marketing can (and often does) make or break a company. Nothing is sadder to me than seeing a company with a great product or service, and great employees, that fails because nobody hears about it or understands its value. Good marketing can prevent that tragedy.”

What time management tips can you recommend to other businesses?

“When you’re just starting out, you want to know EVERYTHING and you want it now. That eagerness can cause you to sign up for every free newsletter and webinar, every trial subscription and forum and website you can find. Resist that impulse. It will overwhelm you, weighing you down with time-sucks that you can never get back. Reading newsletters doesn’t necessarily lead to more customers. Focus on your core competencies and outsource everything else. I’ve recently begun to take advantage of all those people working as tax accountants and corporate attorneys and technology consultants, people with PhDs and MDs and so on. It relieves me of feeling like I have to do every single thing myself and frees up time to do the actual work that will get me where I want to go.”

How did you find out about us?

“I discovered Top Left when I was actively searching for a web design company to create my website. I had searched locally at first but was unable to find exactly what I was looking for – design with a difference. When I found Top Left, I was struck by the fact that the company’s portfolio was so varied and gorgeous. When I made my initial contact, I was happy to see that we worked beautifully together, though we were an ocean apart and there time differences to consider. I’ve found Keren, Nichaela, and the whole team to be brilliant to work with, eager to get the details right, always on time and on budget. I wish all work relationships were as easy as this one.”

Aww! Isn’t it all just so wonderful all around! Thanks Cate for being such a wonderful client (yes, we know you are reading this!)

But I am always interested in the business side of social media, as some people still are sceptical. I can say to people “I made a new friend” on Twitter but really people want to know “is it worth my time”. So I asked Stuart to tell his story.

Here are a few thoughts about how Twitter helped me promote my book.

When I finished my first book ‘Designer Devil’, because I was publishing on Kindle I knew I needed to promote it myself. Outside of a few friends and family I realised that for it to reach any audience at all I needed to find a way to bring it to the attention of a larger group. Twitter was the best option for me as I didn’t have contacts that would help with this. When I first started promoting DD I had about 40 followers, as of this morning the figure is 2743.

Getting Enough Exposure

At first I began by just adding a link to my Amazon page, tweeting it and hoping for the best. But I soon realised that this wasn’t enough so I followed a lot of writers who were doing the same as me, and most followed back. This immediately gave me more reach as I found out to my delight that fellow writers will often re-tweet your promotions thus gaining you loads more exposure and lots of new followers. This process is a snowball effect, as the more people you interact with the more see your promotions. After a while I found that writers followed me, and I was glad to repay the favour.

Supporters

Certain people have been particularly helpful in supporting, advising and promoting my writing. One of those Keren has been you. You started off by giving me some tips on improving my blog and then helped me promote DD and the follow up Jed Lomax. You’ve also been very nice about the actual writing itself. I really appreciate it.

Social networking helped initiate the international sales

But in summary, thanks to Twitter, my two books have reached an audience all over the world. Copies have been sold in the USA, Australia, Spain, Germany and of course many in the UK. Without Twitter I expect that only a few family and friends would have seen it, but as it stands thousands of copies of my work are sitting on Kindles all over the world, and given my total lack of contacts in the business, this was only possible with social networking.