uberMental: What's Your Elevator Pitch? Got A Passport? Alicia Keys Is Hiring A Head Blogger...
So, my phone rings and I hear, "The infamous Carolyn Tann-Starr. What's your elevator pitch?"
Without batting an eye I go into my elevator pitch: "Got questions about leveraging social media madness into a monetized, marketing strategy to blast your business into the blogosphere to help improve your public relations and bottom line that will leave you laughing on your way to the bank? Call me…"
Then I start cracking up because blogging on ActiveRain makes life soooo much more interesting than when I wasn't. I know, I know, some veteran marketers may be thinking not quite a Twitterpitch (140 characters or less) but done in 30 seconds, which is what an elevator pitch is really all about: (1) Direct. (2) To the point. (3) Interesting.
Guess what? People routinely call me so if you don't have one you better figure it out and memorize that puppy. It has to be true. It has to be real. It has to be you. It has to be what you are about and what you and your firm are known to do. If you stutter, you will miss the one shot at getting their business card before they get off. BTW, I always hand them my cell phone so they can call their cell phone when I tell them to call me. Just sayin' better safe than sorry if you really want to make that instant connection... The move frequently gains compliance (LOL). Of course, if your personality and pitch sucks you ain't getting um.. er... you know... (fill in the blank - LOL).
Just because Real Estate happens to be a major focus in my life it doesn’t mean it is the only focus that I have (LOL). For those of you who think that line can’t possibly help me sell real property, introduce my music and art, think again.
More often than not the response to that statement is a variation of: “What do you do?” and “How do you do it?” If they invite you to get off the elevator with them you would do well to have an outside office habit like I do. Nothing like a laptop and air card to keep the conversation going. That’s when I get to show off my ActiveRain portfolio and other 30 plus websites. In order to service sellers and attract buyers I have to market myself on the fly. In the process of marketing my business interests I expose prospects to my firm, my friends, my relatives, my likes and dislikes.
I routinely show off the places I work and play because people can relate to business versus home and vacation life. I do it to the point where you, the reader, decide you do or don’t want to read and/or work with me. The cool thing is while I am hanging out with you chatting about life and business in general I get to branch out into other streams of revenue while in pursuit of interesting things to do. Some of you even decide we should be friends because you don’t mind doing them with me (LOL). If you’ve been hanging around on my blog you know I have this Wednesday morning gig where I’m doing radio with The Value Pages Group. Since I owe you guys a post on Web Syndication, I’m updating a draft that I have been working on for months that should be useful and dovetail very nicely with Josef’s pending presentation April 28th.
The Wordy C 101 has to continue because it appears you don’t like me not answering your questions (LOL). So, time to answer some of my marketing e-mail so you can decide for yourself if tuning in to our Blog Talk Radio show will be worth it. I am steering this towards the business person point of view but I am quite sure there are a few of you out there who may also find this a wee bit useful if you are thinking about entering the job market (your resume is only half of your marketing strategy) and/or to supplement and enhance what you have already done.
If you are finally going to take the plunge and start a new business you might want to troll sites like Monster.com to see who is looking for contract/seasonal help to start building your client base. You also may want to hire someone like Josef Katz to help you market your business interests. I will use me and my industry as an example to give you an idea of what I am talking about, but feel free to plug in the industry of your choice and absorb what is useful, disregarding the rest.
Realtors either own their firms or are independent contractors to brokerage firms. Ergo, every real estate practitioner you meet has and is running a business. When I approach someone like Josef Katz for branding, marketing, advertising and public relations help, his firm is hypothetically going to assume that I am (a) looking to expand my brand’s reach, (b) break into a new market, (c) am a clueless person because I am just starting in the marketing / public relations career field as a "do it yourselfer" who can’t afford the dedicated employee I need to handle this type of work and realize I am way over my head, and/or (d) I am a small business owner running my own marketing / public relations campaigns who wants to get the best bang for my buck and have budgeted for his professional services to enhance the social media madness I created on my own.
Use your imagination and figure out where on the wide spectrum of possibilities you belong. If you find yourself with a great professional resume but are out of work due to the recession and downsizing, I want you to consider becoming an “independent contractor” in addition to the “normal employment venues” most people gravitate towards because they like working as an employee for others. You can do both. If you are creative, organized and great with your time management skills you can do several without having to quit any of your day jobs (LOL).
What position(s) you do land depend upon your ability to market yourself. You have to promote yourself well before you can promote others. There are a lot of people looking to have their interests promoted. Take Alicia Keys for instance. She needs a creative blogger with the gift of gab, a passport, social media experience and who is computer literate in Adobe and MS Office, etc.
Who wouldn't want that as a primary position? I do, I do, I do, I do... (LOL)
Too bad I don't have a passport (sigh). Oh well... good luck to the candidates who do try. I am afraid I have to sit this one out because it takes a while to get those bio-metrically enhanced puppies. Besides, I do have a Minion Blur who would make it his life's mission to engage in the ritualistic sacrifice if not total destruction of her electronics in a devious, PDD-NOS scientific experiment if she gave my three year old five minutes near anything in her office (LOL).
What? If you read me you know perfectly well I take the little minions everywhere (LOL). At some point they would have to come to the office. Seriously... It's Murphy's Law meets Parenting Karma (LMAO). Oh well... Some dream jobs you just have to let go for the best interests of others. I shall make myself content by just lurking on her website and promote the fact she needs an excellent blogger. Why? Because I am a huge fan looking forward to the new launch just like everybody else. After all, I can follow along and write what ever I want about it over here (LOL). That's what makes social media so great. It's about being social. It's a fave point I like to remind people of. ;-)
My other point? There are fabulous jobs out there just waiting to be discovered so go discover them.
BTW, Alicia Keys really is looking to hire a Head Blogger. I am not being facetious (this time, - LOL). Lots of travel involved... Did I leave out the travel thing previously? Oops. My bad. First trip is London, UK. Home of my gorgeous gal pal Poppy Dinsey. Now there's a blogger who would be perfect for the job. I may have to send her a link (LOL). Why? Are you kidding? Who wouldn't want Poppy in New York??? She'd set Manhattan on its digital ear and tip that puppy into the virtual ocean (LOL).
She's friggin' Poppy. Duh??? (ROTFL)
Go update your resumes people. You can apply on Monster.com so go log in or create an account. According to this article she will be selecting her writer in May:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/jobs/now_hiring_alicia_keys_rkAoZTMbkc0BeDPE23dA9J
Cool...
Need marketing tips for your business? The Value Pages Group is LinkedIn to some of the best minds in the industry. We are very happy to interview business professionals like Josef Katz to help you get more business.
