Burnout

I was recently asked if I had any thoughts on burnout to share, so I wanted to post these previous articles in an easy to access spot:

*Zen and the Art of Social Media

*Do You Have a Team or an Entourage?

*Lessons from Burnout (free ebook download)

*Mental Detox (free ebook download)

Burnout is a slippery slope and having burnt out before (to a crisp), I am a strong advocate of recognizing the signs before it's too late. Have you dealt with burnout before? If so, how did you handle it?

Splendid Sundays Volume 28

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*Two scholarships for Engage!10 are available. You can apply here.

*10 Tips for Entrepreneurs.

*Listening to customers vs letting them steer the product.

*The IRS is cracking down on companies who classify employees as subcontractors.

*Quotable: "Talent is in such short supply that mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered." - Charles Saatchi

Do you have any splendid finds to share?

Sponsored Posts on Wedding Blogs

This question came up on the Think Splendid Formspring account a few days ago and I wanted to share it here since sponsored posts are becoming a more popular form of online advertising. I've also expanded a bit on my answer:

What's your take on sponsored posts? Is it worth a vendor's money to pay someone to write a post about them? Is the average consumer savvy enough to understand that a sponsored post is a paid advertisement? Do credible sources write sponsored posts?

I feel that sponsored posts are okay as long as they are disclosed as such (which is now the law, per the new FTC regulations that went into effect this past December). I'd also like to think that the average consumer knows what the word sponsored means.

As for whether or not it is worth a vendor's money to pay for a sponsored post, that all goes back to their advertising and marketing goals. Some questions to ask bloggers when determining whether or not this will work for you:

*When does the post get published?
*What is traffic like on that day?
*How many unique RSS subscribers will see the post? (This is an advantage sponsored posts have over blog ads - the subscribers see the posts; they don't see any non-feed blog ads.)
*What is the average click through rate on links for a sponsored post?
*How many other posts get published on the same day - is your post going to be live for an hour or two before a new post replaces it and pushes it down further on the page or in Google Reader?
*Who is the blog's demographic - who is reading their blog? Is your product or service a good fit for them?

As with any online advertising opportunities, it's always wise to ask the blogger to provide screenshots of the analytics that are relevant to your decision making (traffic, click-throughs, etc).  There are many credible blogs who operate with the utmost integrity who offer opportunities for sponsored posts, and, again depending on your goals, I do believe it can be a smart way to get your company in front of targeted buyers.

Splendid Sundays Volume 27

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*How social media SAVES your intellectual property from plagiarists. (Thanks to Trisha Hay for sending this article over.)

*Accept credit cards securely via your mobile phone.

*Why Google Buzz is brilliant. This article sums up my thoughts on it quite nicely.

*What is blog-worthy?

*Quotable: "If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves." Thomas Edison

In honor of Valentine's Day, I also want to give a big online hug to all of you who make reading Think Splendid part of your daily routine. It really means a lot to me that you tune in and find what I write worth making time in your busy schedule for. So from my office to yours . . . happy Valentine's day and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Being Better vs Being the Best

You don't win a poker game by showing all of your cards in the first round and hoping that the other players split their winnings with you at the end.

Some people like to wax philosophical about how there is no competition. It's a feel-good saying, but it's also incorrect.  There IS competition and there always will be.  A wiser choice would be to choose to ignore them, not to pretend that they don't exist at all.

You don't have to be better than your competition, you just have to be the best at what you do.

Think Splendid Q + A

I receive quite a bit of emails with questions about social media, blogging, running a wedding business, and so on. The truth is, sometimes it's hard to keep up with those emails, especially when several people ask the same questions. In an effort to keep myself organized and to answer the questions I receive, I am going to use my Formspring account to answer them.

If you have a question for me - business-related or personal - ask it here. I'll answer them as I'm able (while waiting for an appointment, while waiting in an airport, while watching The Office - you get the idea) and that way a library of previously asked Q&A's can be built up.  Almost any topic is on the table (hey, a lady has to keep some mystery) and you have the ability to ask anonymously without having to sign up for an account of your own.

Here is the Think Splendid Formspring account. Ask away!

Discussion: Using Magazine Scans on Wedding Blogs

In order to produce content that will be interesting and relevant to their readers, many magazines pay large sums of money to create photo shoots for their pages. Many magazines (both wedding and celebrity-focused) also often pay for real wedding features, whether paying the bride and groom for the rights to use the images (think featured weddings in People or US Weekly), or to fly a photographer and stylist out to the wedding location in order to create a piece that is technically correct for printing. In short, the magazines are paying tens of thousands of dollars (and in some cases, much more) to create their pages. They fund these costs as well as the salaries of their employees through advertising.

Many wedding blogs will scan images and articles from the magazines in order to share that inspiration with their readers. Because of this, readers are consuming the glossy articles for free from sites with advertisements that don't benefit the magazine.

So here are my questions and they're up for discussion: is it okay for a blog that makes some amount of money from advertisements to post scanned magazine images and articles? Should the magazines be grateful for the "free word of mouth" because of a link on the blog? Is it okay that the blogger is making money off of someone else's dime without paying for that content?

What are your thoughts?

Splendid Sundays Volume 26

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*Retailer JoS A Bank will begin renting tuxedos in order to directly compete with Men's Wearhouse in the special occasions rental space.

*The Missing Google Analytics Manual

*Tips for identifying trade secrets from a new legal blog for entrepreneurs: IP Law for Startups

*Super Bowl marketers shift to platforms.

*Quotable: "Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash." - Harriet Rubin

Do you have any splendid finds to share?

Tell Your Story

I love people and I love people's stories. I love hearing them and I love telling them. If I am introducing someone to another person, you can often hear me saying "They wouldn't tell you this about themselves, so I'll brag on them".  This is why I love social media so much - when it comes down to it, it's not about the technology or the next big thing, it's about sharing and connecting with other people. I am not a super techy person (I have other brilliant people I use for all things tech), I just believe that everyone has a story and that it's a story worth telling.

One of things I find in getting to know people is that the most fascinating parts of their stories (be it personal or career-related) often don't come up until later in a conversation. Then, they are often embarrassed to share it because they think of it as mundane. If it's an accomplishment, they are often reticent to share it because they don't want to come across as bragging.

This is a fair point and a valid area of concern, however as Sean Low says, "a closed mouth gets no credibility." While there is certainly a fine line between arrogance and confidence as well as bragging and stating the facts, you won't get any business if you are keeping your story to yourself.

At the end of the day, people do business with people they like, regardless of the economy. You have a story and you are the best at being you. Tell the world.

Four Tips on Public Speaking

One of the questions I am frequently asked is in regards to public speaking. Teaching is part of what I do here at Splendid Communications and as a result I have spoken several times.

1. Wear clothing you are comfortable in but that is still professional. You should be able to move around in it. You should not be spilling out of it, in any way. You may also be sitting on high stools, so avoid short skirts as well.

2. Know how to run your computer and slides. Do not depend on the A/V people to know everything.

3. Don't start your talk with meaningless or dull questions. "Did you all have fun last night?" "How were the other sessions today?", etc all set a poor tone for the rest of your presentation.

4. Prepare and practice. This isn't rocket science but I can't tell you how many speakers go into a presentation with no idea what they are going to talk about. I have even been in a very uncomfortable presentation where the speaker was scribbling her notes while she was being introduced. People have invested time and money into hearing you speak. Honor their choice to do so. They are the ones doing YOU a favor by being there, not the other way around.

What tips do you have for speaking, either from a presenter's or attendee's perspective?