Would YOU hire you? and a FREE resume analysis

On May 11, Denise Denise Pringle, has agreed to come and speak on the subject of "Would you hire you?"

Ever wonder what those recruiters and hiring managers think of your resume when they see it lying on their desk? Can you imagine what a person who has seen hundreds if not thousands applicants thinks? How do they dissect the resume?

Denise Pringle will use her expertise to help people who want to gain fresh insights into their resumes and interviewing skills.

And... a special offer...

If you would like to have your resume analyzed, mail a copy in to the sig - to MarketingSIG (at) sdforum.org. Ten resumes will be randomly chosen for an analysis at the meeting. And don't worry - you can remove your name, or we will do it for you - you will be the only one who knows its really you...

Denise Pringle has extensive experience in both domestic and international human resources. She has held executive HR positions in high technology and medical device industries. She has worked on transition teams for mergers and outsourcing and has had responsibility for training, organizational development, staffing and university relations. Denise received her Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences with a concentration in History from San Jose State University. She has been the principal for Pringle Consulting, an HR firm providing HR services and training and has held an adjunct faculty position at San Jose State University's Professional Development Center

The meeting will at the regular time, at the regular place...details here

Social Media Marketing Best Practices

A few notes from Sudha Jamthe's April 13 presentation at the SDForum SIG meeting.


By Mark Helfen



On April 13, Sudha Jamthe spoke on the subject Social Media Marketing Best Practices - For You, Your Product and Your Business. Her presentation was wide ranging and covered many topics. Here are some of the key ideas.

• Marketing jobs are changing. In two years, social media will be part of your job. Each of us has the power to change now and add value to your companies marketing, and to increase your value to your employer.
  
  
• Over the evening, the three main social media sites were discussed - Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter. Jamthe is a fan of what she calls the "platform play" - using the API that these sites support to build applications that interact with them. Companies can use these applications to increase their brand awareness and loyalty.
  
  
• The old model was to speak with customers at specific occasions, for specific purposes. In the new model customers are holding a conversation on-line, whether or not you are there, even if your not listening. You need to measure your visibility, and you need to be there now.
  
  
• The objective is to form a deeper, longer lasting relationship with customers. An example is someone who is in the PR world, who forms a relationship with opinion leaders, journalists, etc... This relationship transcends a single job or product, the PR person knows at least some of the personal interests and facts about the person. Their value is in maintaining these relationships over their career.
  
  
• Social media is an additional part of your marketing mix. One more area to assign budget to - not a replacement for any current part.
  
  
• Even someone as "passionate" about social media as Jamthe can be overwhelmed. There are "too many sites, too many technologies." She focuses on Facebook. Her advice is to use the tool/site that makes you most comfortable, but for her everything is linked - she posts at Facebook, but her postings show up everywhere else.
  
  
• There was some discussion of Facebook versus Linkedin. For Jamthe, Linkedin is another channel, Facebook is a two way conversation. But between the three sites, the particular choice for a marketing campaign depends on the particular customer base.
  
  
• The first part of a social media marketing campaign is to try to analyze the current discussions about a product or idea - Jamthe's first action when helping a new client.
  
  
• Facebook now supports profile pages. You can create a profile for a product, person, brand, company etc... At no charge. Visibility at no cost

Some of the tools that she discussed include:

• search.twitter.com
• www.oneriot.com
• www.radian6.com
• www.techrigy.com
• hootsuite.com

These sites can give you analytic data to understand your current visibility, and the effect of your marketing programs.

A good source to follow to keep up on these is Mashable:


(As an exercise for the reader, go to search.twitter.com, and enter your favorite consumer product. You might be amazed as to how much is being discussed. )

Jamthe related several stories about her experiences:

• When she started consulting at Intuit, she first developed an "asset list" of their social media resources. The executives were "blown away" to find that there were 14 people using social media resources to contact customers. This is an example of the disconnect between parts of the company.
  
  
• On the last election day, Starbucks gave a free coffee to people who voted. Jamthe went to the local Starbucks, took pictures of people waiting for their coffee, posted this on her Facebook page, and got a surprising amount of reaction - she described it as "the thread that wouldn't die". This "keeps the brand alive for people who are loyal, and gives a venue for people who are not loyal to comment." In any case, it generates lots of PR for Starbucks.
  
  
• She told the story of "Natalie at Dell," a Dell computer employee who developed a following on Twitter about computers. Eventually Natalie changed jobs. She became "Natalie at Petco," taking her Twitter account with her. Suddenly all of those followers were seeing postings about pet food. According to Jamthe, the managers at Dell learned a lesson from this, as should all companies using social media, about who owns the on-line identification.

You can reach Sudha Jamthe at:
A blog: http://coolastory.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sujamthe
Facebook: http://sujamthe.socialtoo.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sujamthe


=====

Mark Helfen is a Marketing Consultant and Freelance Writer. He can be reached at
Email: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Helfen/1423354725
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mark_helfen


============================

NETWORKING

SMILE! A positive attitude is infectious...FIRST AND FOREMOST!!

1) Wear your name tag on the RIGHT side to provide easy viewing when shaking hands.

2) Stand with open arms instead of arms crossed, you want to look inviting and approachable!

3) Be sure to introduce yourself!

• Say your name clearly: "Hello my name is Jane Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you."
• Shake hands.
• Use an elevator speech: Describe who you are or what you do in 10 seconds or less.
• Be clear about who you help and what problems you solve so people can remember you and refer you business.
• Include what might be a good referral for your business.
• Offer a business card, and ask the other person for his or hers.
• Be sure to ask about the other person's business. Be a better listener than a talker... listen for a reason to follow up.
• Follow up with the people that you meet.

4) Make notes on the back of the person's business card of important information that you might want to remember later.

5) Follow up with a thank you note, email or phone call. 90% of all business cards exchanged at events don't get followed up on, so by following up you will automatically be in the top 10!

6) Don't sit down until the actual meeting starts. Some of the best contacts are made BEFORE and AFTER the actual meeting!

7) Don't stay too long in one place. After 5 - 6 minutes, excuse yourself with a pleasantry such as, "It was nice meeting you..." continue networking to meet new people & form new contacts.

8) Approach groups where you don't know anybody.

9) IF YOU ARE AT AN EVENT - SERVING A MEAL: Select a dinner table where you do not know most of the people.

10) If you feel stressed, take a break & enjoy the moment! Networking is best when you feel relaxed!

Remember, you are here to build relationships, not make sales pitches.

Enjoy the process & HAVE FUN!!!

National Association Women Business Owners - Silicon Valley Chapter NAWBO
http://www.nawbo-sv.org/memb_get_active_networking.html


posted for:

LESLIE BUTLAR
Marketing SIG Public Relations Director
lmbutlar@comcast.net
www.linkedin.com/in/lesliebutlar

The MarketingSIG Marketing Dog.....

VIP Networking Tips = Play The Contribution Game

Step One. Connect deeply with everyone you meet.

Step Two. Find out about people
a. Be interested
b. Seek to understand them
c. Find out WHO they are
d. Discover thier Goals and Dreams

Step Three. Contribute to People. As you discover what they are up to, think about these questions.
1. How may I serve?
2. How can I help this person?
3. How can I contribute?
4. How can I support?

By following these steps in your Social Media Network, You will build a "strong personal brand".

Best Regards,

By LESLIE BUTLAR
Marketing SIG Public Relations Director
lmbutlar@comcast.net
www.linkedin.com/in/lesliebutlar

Check this blog out!!

Since I started as co-chair for the marketing SIG I have been exposed to an onslaught of information on marketing - how surprising.

Being a nerd of sorts and not used to taking things at face value I set out to make sense of all this information, by doing the one thing that we nerds do when we need to learn something new. I went to the library, checked out a hefty stack of books and set out to read them all. The reading material was very nice and educational but something was missing, there was no excitement in their writing. None of the pleasure that a live person makes you feel when they speak to you about the subject that is close to their hearts.

I figured I have a better chance of finding something like that in blogs about specific marketing subjects. This way I could pick out the ones I was interested in faster. Right now, after doing my blog research, one of the blogs that I enjoy reading tremendously is Seth Goldin’s blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ ). In my opinion it is very well written, very informative, very concise and always up to date with amazing insights - exactly what I was looking for.

To conclude my long intro and the short point that I made. Books are great if you know what you want to read. If you are new to the subject picking a bunch of books may prove a disappointment and drive you away. Find a good blog (pick your own criteria for what constitutes a good blog) and go on from there. I hope that my blog pick will help you lay one more brick in your brick path to a successful marketing career.

Social Media Marketing Best Practices

Meeting Preview
SDForum Marketing SIG April meeting - 4/13/09
By: Mark Helfen


Your marketing job is likely to completely change over the next two years, as social media becomes an ever larger part of the marketing mix. So says Sudha Jamthe, who will speak at the next Monday's SIG meeting, helping you get ahead of the curve.

I spoke briefly to Jamthe about her upcoming talk. She said that social media - Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter among others - will become an increasingly important part of your job in marketing. A "social media mix" to add to the marketing mix.

"But only a handful of people know this. You should be one of them."

She believes that the combination of Web 2.0, and the new social media tools will change every role in marketing - product management and marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and the rest.

Jamthe works as a consultant to companies like Intuit, AOL, and Bebo, helping create a social media strategy in their marketing campaigns. She finds that customers are ahead of her clients in using products like Facebook and Twitter.

"Its more ubiquitous than people think," she said. Most of the marketing people she works with are knowledgeable about Linkedin. But her clients are "blown away" by what their customers are already doing, telling her "they had no idea that they can to that."

Jamthe's bio describes her as "passionate about social media," so I asked her what drove her interest.

She said the social media bug bit her about two and a half years ago. As a marketer, she likes to engage in conversations with customers. Before, she could only speak them at specific times - events, meetings, phone calls.

Now she can be connected all the time, and really get to know people. It takes the conversation to the "next level."

Like all good social media marketers, Jamthe has lots of ways to reach her:

A blog: http://coolastory.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sujamthe
Facebook: http://sujamthe.socialtoo.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sujamthe

You can read more details about the meeting here

Getting in the spirit of the topic, I guess I should also show the following for ME....

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Helfen/1423354725
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mark_helfen

Happy tweeting......




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Mark Helfen is a Marketing Consultant and Freelance Writer. He can be reached at mhelfen@wordpixel.com

Upcoming meetings - April 13 and April 20

This month, the SDForum Marketing SIG will have two meetings.

On April 13, at our regular meeting, Sudha Jamthe will speak on the topic:

Social Media Marketing Best Practices


And on April 20, the Marketing SIG will co-host a meeting with the Startup SIG:

Strategic Pricing for Start-ups, New Products and Innovations

I will try to post additional information on both of these meetings over the next week, but in the meantime mark you calendar.

You can see more information on the SDForum meeting schedule at the SDForum calendar





Mark Helfen
mhelfen@wordpixel.com

Photos from the March meeting

Here are a few photos from our March meeting, courtesy of SIG co-chair Filomena U.