Go Where The Customers Are Located
By Cheval John
The companies or organizations who are more successful have this one thing in common.
They always innovate.
They look at ways to make the customer experience more rewarding.
We see that with small businesses because they do not have the resources like the larger companies to advertise their products or services.
The larger companies will buy space at major events like the super bowl and this year’s major league baseball playoffs to advertise to a large audience.
The small businesses will be more creative with content marketing because of a much smaller marketing budget.
They also know that if you can build an audience slowly through content marketing strategies (blogs, podcasts, live streaming, etc.), they will win all the time because they have earned their trust.
An example of innovation comes from mid-sized college sports conferences like the Southland Conference (SLC).
They basically formed their own television network, the Southland Conference Television Network, in 2008 and have brought many sporting matchups to their member colleges fan base.
Two of the fan bases within the SLC are Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) and Sam Houston State University (SHSU).
Their annual rivalry, “The Battle of The Piney Woods” moved to NRG Stadium in 2010 and has become a fixture in the Houston sports scene.
This year’s event drew an attendance of 26,792, who saw SHSU defeated SFA 27-16 for their seventh consecutive win against their rivals.
Post game press conference from #botpw from @NRGParkFan #VallanoMedia #smsports https://t.co/7LPC9o4QP0
— Cheval John (@chevd80) October 7, 2017
The rivalry has continued to draw crowds since they moved to NRG Stadium in 2010 with no signs of slowing down.
And the SLC dissolved their network in 2015 due to television deals with ESPN3 and other regional networks while at the same time focus their resources on their digital network.
Another example of innovation comes from the company, Paper.Li.
Under then community manager of Kelly Hungerford, who is now the owner of Community Works, Paper.Li built their company through their twitter chat #bizheroes and have increased their customer base.
The lessons here are as follows:
1. You must create your own media company.
Brands can’t rely on press releases anymore because they are considered spam.
They also can not depend on ads because people do not want to be interrupted with commercials that will take them out of rhythm in consuming content.
The brands must have a place where they can put out quality content that will help the consumer make smart decisions which can make their lives better.
And when the consumers believe they are being helped by the brand through their content, they will tell their friends about the brand.
Soon enough, the press will find out about them.
Look at examples from organizations and sports teams like the Houston Texans who created their own networks to provide content to media outlets.
2. You have to go where the audience are at.
If your ideal customers are located on a particular social platform, you have to be there as well.
When you meet them where they are at, you show them you care.
In the same way, both SFA and SHSU decided to move their rivalry to NRG Stadium after being approached by Lone Star Sports and Entertainment because the majority of their fan base lives in the Houston area.
Plus, they get exposure from the 8th largest media market in the nation.
More press leads to more recruitment for future Bearkats and Lumberjacks.
In conclusion, you have to be where your audience are at and you have to create your very own opportunities because the right people will always notice.
Rebekah Radice: The Master of Preparation
By Cheval John
Those who are great at their skill have one thing in common.
They are masters at preparation.
Peyton Manning, who won two Super Bowls, was very meticulous at preparing for each football matchup.
Another one who I believe is very great in this particular skill set is Rebekah Radice.
Rebekah recently made an appearance on my show, What’s The Word? to share about her newly launch book, “Social Media Mastery”
What I can say about Rebekah is that she is really great at social media because of her dedication to preparation.
Her attention to detail in everything, whether it is creating a blog post, preparing for a speaking engagement, or even recording her new podcast, allows her to stand out from her peers in the social media world.
Rebekah was part of the reason why a few twitter chats which she co-hosted became extremely popular during it’s time because she planned each of those chats for months before they were launched.
Another thing is Rebekah did not look for the quick success when she launched her blog in 2004 at the time when blogs was still a niche medium.
She basically stayed focused on growing her blog during the early years and the results started to occur.
Rebekah’s blog was named a “Top Ten Blog” in 2015 and 2016 by Social Media Examiner and she has spoken at their conference on many occasions.
Rebekah’s attention to detail and hard work allows her to achieve all of the success with her business.
Many should follow Rebekah Radice on all of her social media platforms.
Also, they should take a look at her blog because it is filled with rich information on growing a good business from scratch.
You can leave a comment below if you agree or disagree with this post.
Building Online Presence One Step At A Time
By Cheval John
The old days of having a career at one company is over.
This holds true for journalists too.
The sequence for every journalist back in the day were:
Spend a couple of years in a smaller media market in order to gain work experience before moving on to a top ten media market like New York City, Houston and Chicago.
Move on from the major media market and work for national media like ESPN, NBC, CBS or ABC.
In this environment where technology is changing the way how we consume content, major media and news stations are cutting back on staff to save money.
Sometimes though, people who work in journalism, decides to leave the profession because the work is demanding.
They might end up leaving for positions in media relations for a large company, a professional sports franchise or even the athletic department at a university.
They believe the transition to a media relations role is easy.
They get a rude awakening of how challenging being in media relations is.
Erica Holloway depicted the transition from journalism to public relations with her article here.
Though journalists stayed at one place their entire careers in the past, some still made a change in careers because they were led to.
Sabrina Cadini spent a couple of years as a television announcer in her native Italy before moving to the United States
She transitioned to event planning and is now the owner of La Dolce Idea Wedding and Soiree, a wedding planning company.
She explained to me how she made the transition to wedding planning
One thing to note.
Sabrina knew how important live streaming is for her business and is using Periscope on a weekly basis to share tips with her audience about social media.
Smart people like Sabrina understand the dynamic of live streaming, podcasting and blogging because it saves them a whole lot of money on their marketing budget.
People who are looking to make transitions in their careers should be building their online presence one step at a time because they never know when their department will shut down.
Are you building your online presence now through social media? Leave your comment below
English Soccer Met Texans Cheerleaders
By Cheval John
Houston sports fans had the opportunity to witness one of the most historic rivalries in the English Premier League.
As part of their tour for the International Champions Cup, Manchester United and Manchester City faced off at NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans, to a sell out crowd on Thursday night.
Manchester United treated the pre-season match as a regular season game in which they won 2-0.
As a result, they have bragging rights until they face off again in the 2017-18 season.
Apart of the promotion were visits from the Texans’ football players with some of the players from Manchester City.
And the coverage of the Texans Cheerleaders on their respective clubs’ media outlet.
Like this tweet here from united
It just wouldn't be a proper match day in the States without cheerleaders – thanks for your support, @TexansCheer! pic.twitter.com/4Xjq0WF3y6
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 20, 2017
And this report from Kelly O’Donnell of Manchester City
It really not a surprise to see Texans Cheer get this media coverage from both Manchester United and Manchester City.
There is a strong possibility both clubs saw the reputation of the texans cheerleaders due to coverage of their recent #htcpicnic from major media outlets from around the world.
You are thinking, “They represent a National Football League (NFL) franchise, so whatever they put out will automatically get mention in the news.”
It goes a bit deeper than that.
The texans cheerleaders did not expect to get a lot of media attention from their #htcpicnic.
One of the members from texans cheer mentioned they were showing their fans a glimpse of having a good time at their picnic on their social media channels and were not seeking media attention. #paraphrased.
I totally believe them because the texans cheer are very active on all of their social media channels.
People have seen the texans cheerleaders twitter stream buzzing because each of the members interact with their fans on a daily basis.
In addition, they share a behind the scenes of their events on snapchat.
That is why the texans cheerleaders have earned the attention from major media outlets and the soccer clubs of Manchester United and Manchester City.
The lesson businesses can learn from the Texans Cheerleaders is focus on providing value to your customers and not look for a transaction.
Even if you don’t see immediate returns on your labor, you must have a mindset of serving your audience because over time, the revenue will come to you.
Plus, abundance of business will flow because you will continue to get referrals from people who trust your brand.
Just like the continuous media attention the texans cheer are receiving.
Learning How To Build A Business Blog From The Houston Astros
By Cheval John
November 3rd, 2017
On a normal day, going to downtown houston from the northline train station would be a breeze.
Today was not one of those days because the city of houston hosted a parade for their hometown team, Astros, who won their first World Series (WS) championship on Wednesday night.
The people of houston were very excited to celebrate with their team.
By all accounts, an estimated one million people lined up along the parade route leading to city hall.
Half of those traveled by train into downtown to be a part of history.
The Astros brought hope to those who were still recovering from hurricane harvey.
The road to victory began in 2011 when Jim Crane bought the team from Drayton McClane.
The condition to get the sale approved by Major League Baseball (MLB) was moving the team to the American League from the National League the following year.
At the time of the sale, the Astros were on the decline after their previous appearance in the 2005 World Series.
Crane knew they had to rebuild the team from scratch.
The first step in the master plan was hiring Jeff Luhnow, who was the architect behind the St.Louis Cardinals 2006 and 2011 championship teams, as the Astros general manager.
Luhnow used sports analytics to figure out who would be the right fit for the Astros.
In the early stages of the rebuild, the Astros lost 100 games in three straight seasons.
Fans were wondering what was going on with the team.
Many sports pundits thought the whole system of analytics were a joke because they believed Luhnow did not play the sport of baseball.
The criticism intensified in 2014 when Sports Illustrated (SI) declared on their cover the Astros as the 2017 World Series Champions.
Many thought it was a marketing ploy to get more readers.
The folks from S.I. knew they were heading in the right direction.
Signs of the rebuild began to show when they made the 2015 playoffs, where they lost to the eventual World Series champion, Kansas City Royals in the American League Divisional Round.
Though the 2016 season was a failure, the Astros fans were very optimistic for 2017.
The team did not disappoint as they clinched their very first regular season championship in the American League West, went through the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees to win the American League pennant.
Then they went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games to complete their dream season.
You might be wondering how the Astros winning the World Series got to do with growing your business or personal blog?
Glad you ask.
Growing a blog takes a whole lot of time and patience.
In the same manner of how the Astros’ general manager had a long term goal to make the team a success, you must look at the long game in building a tribe for your blog and not go after the home run.
No one can build a blog to 500,000 views in six months unless they had learned lessons from their first blog or if they are a celebrity.
You also must stay the course and ignore the outside noise from those who might be telling you to give up.
If you think you do not have the time to put together the words from scratch, here are some business blogs who uses twitter chats to put together weekly posts.
Note: This is not a quick fix at all because it takes a lot of work to host a twitter chat and even more work to put together the recap for the blog.
#ContentWritingChat, hosted by Express Writers
#TwitterSmarter, hosted by Madalyn Sklar
#SproutChat, hosted by Sprout Social
#VCBuzz, hosted by Viral Content Bee
#ContentChat, hosted by Erika Heald
What are more ways you can build your blog from scratch?
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