The Importance of Video in Social Media

Video is becoming an integral and necessary part of social media and an essential way to reach customers. YouTube, a worldwide video-sharing community, is the second largest search engine in the United States, and more than one-third of the time that someone does a Google search, video content comes up.

There are 24 hours of video downloaded on YouTube every minute of the day…this is where people are “shopping.” Facebook is the second-largest video referrer. By providing potential customers with something interesting to watch, they not only stay on a website longer, but also are a lot more likely to buy.

The quality and value of the video’s content is more important than the quality of the video, as the public are familiar and comfortable with cell phone and inexpensive Flikr camera videos. But that doesn’t mean it can be slipshod. Simple techniques are to keep the background clean, look straight into the camera, and make sure there is good lighting on faces.

Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale LLC, says professional video really outshines any other form. “Professionally done looks and sounds better. But you won't do it as frequently. I do a video every single day and it has made a huge difference in my book sales. I can post my videos directly into social media sites. You may want one video on a website to be a truly professional video. But to increase traction for books and speaking, you need to get in front of the masses as often as possible.”

The most effective videos are honest, transparent, real, relevant, educational and authentic, all factors which take the opposite approach of traditional sales, says Jennifer Abernethy, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Media Marketing. And the first and potentially most important component of marketing videos is that the video must be targeted. This means that it must 1) identify your audience and highlight your product with what it can offer that group, 2) target specific groups, because if you are too broad you will glaze over most people, and 3) understand and relate to the groups’ needs and interests that you are targeting.

Set a goal of posting a video on a social media site at least once a week – mark a time in your calendar. Be creative and give valuable information, don’t make it a sales pitch. And for those with home offices, yes its best if you get out of your pajamas for this work assignment.

Kenya Association of Women Business Owners

Kenya Association of Women Business Owners
Inspired by NAWBO, KAWBO is now a thriving reality

Mary Schnack just returned from Kenya and Rwanda where she conducted communications trainings (http://www.maryschnack.com/), as well as purchased more items for http://www.upfromthedust.com/, including from a KAWBO member.

The Kenya Association of Women Business Owners (KAWBO) has grown to 120 members since its inception about three years ago. All the members are currently located in Nairobi and their vision is to grow to 1,500 members throughout the country, with chapters set up.

KAWBO was patterned after the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) in the United States. I was the Chair of NAWBO’s International Forum and reached out to the Kenyan women I had met at conferences, including Aoko Midiwo (pictured right with her husband Elkanah Odembo, Kenyan Ambassador to the U.S. and I) of Legacy Books and Eva Muraya (pictured below with me), then of Color Creations, who would become KAWBO’s co-founders.

What a joy it was to see them thriving when I was there to visit. And I bought some terrific items for Up from the Dust from a KAWBO member, Jennifer Mulli. Eva’s new business, Brand Strategy Design (BSD), which contracted for me to come to Nairobi to do a three-day communications seminar, also gave me a wood bowl that was beaded by Jennifer’s company as an appreciation gift.

KAWBO is planning another conference for March 2012. Three of us from NAWBO spoke at KAWBO’s inaugural conference in May of 2009.

“We began in response to a yearning among local business women for a forum in which they could network, professionally engage on issues affecting their businesses and acquire requisite skills that would enable them to upscale their businesses,” said Muraya, Chair of KAWBO’s Board of Directors. “We hope to create more awareness and a stature, along with a significant level of resources, to benefit the women business owners’ communities and contribute to the national economic performance.”

Muraya attended two of NAWBO’s national conferences and met with many board members, Chapter leaders and NAWBO members doing international business. “Using NAWBO as a successful platform and getting information and advice from their members, leaders and sponsors was invaluable for us in starting KAWBO.”

Vital Voices Global Partnership sponsors KAWBO through a grant from their economic development program funded by Exxon Mobile.

Kenya’s Trade Ministry is assisting in rolling out trainings, which include:
o Entrepreneurs and Handicrafts: How to leverage skills in the handcraft category.
o Start and Improve Your Business. This training is implement in almost 100 countries through the International Labor Organization and KAWBO hopes it will help bring in younger entrepreneurs to their association.

KAWBO also has a training curriculum for mentors, which is different from anything else in the market and supported by the Danish International Development Agency. The five-month, 20-meeting program covers Business Dimension Skills, analytical tools, and Mentoring Dimension Skills, the “softer skill” approaches to working with the mentee.

Monthly breakfast meetings are held which sometimes are devoted to networking and other times feature a speaker on topics such as business finance, business etiquette, human resource policies and elevator pitches. They also have group outings to movies, plays, etc., to increase networking opportunities.

Almost all of the members are in service industries, plus agriculture and banking. Many of the women worked in the corporate sector and now have moved to entrepreneurship.

For more information on KAWBO or their March 2012 conference, please contact Elizabeth Kariuki, Senior Programmes Executive, at spe@kawbo.or.ke, or go to their website at http://www.kawbo.or.ke/.

Up from the Dust Purchases in Africa

I love shopping! Although I say my passion in starting Up from the Dust is because of my strong desire to help the women in developing countries grow their businesses, I know my shop-a-holic tendencies also are a great contributor.

Here are the women I purchased from during my trip to Africa last month and of course, you can view and purchase the products at http://www.upfromthedust.com/.

Katchy Kollections was started by Jennifer Mulli and her son, Anthony. Anthony started designing jewelry at the age of 16 years with the aim of helping out in paying house bills, having lost his father at the age of 2 years, as well as creating employment for the youth and women. They started out in the backyard of their house with only two employees in 2006, and a jewelry product line, sold through word of mouth. Today, they employ 15 regular permanent youth and have increased the production line to incorporate leather bags, sisal baskets, sandals and home ware that encompasses beaded wooden bowls, spoons, sisal beaded table mats, cotton beaded table mats, beaded guards etc., and are proud to say that they now have a workshop to work from that allows them expansion.

Anthony continues to be the head designer with a creative and youthful open mind and sets trends for others to follow.

I also had fun doing a little design. I loved their big rings. And I looked at the beaded necklace that Jennifer was wearing when we met. I asked her to take it off and slid my ring on it. Sure enough, the ring also works as a pendant. So – I created a new design, ordered some of them, and they were a big hit at the NAWBO conference in San Diego!

My dear friend Phyllis Mwangi started Zingira Wasanii, literally meaning “embracing the artisans,” which seeks to identify, improve and manage the quality of products created by Kenyan artisans living in low income areas. Once the process is complete, Zingira Wasanii provides market access for the artisans’ products through domestic and international corporate partnerships. Most of the products do well as corporate gifts. Phyllis, who is a terrific trainer and is in the middle of conducting a fabulous youth training program, has done well capturing corporate buyers in the US, but still “humors” me and my customers by providing their fabulous beaded bowls. I hope to add beaded rings to my orders in the future.

A very touching story to my heart is Monda Africa. I bought some items from Carol Monda personally two trips ago when my friend Eva Muraya suggested I look at some higher end jewelry from Kenya. Monda Africa is a Fair Trade Certified Kenyan company with a focus on creative, socially responsible entrepreneurship with an emphasis on eco- friendly products. The products include home decor and personal accessories made of recycled glass and other materials. I met Carol on my last trip and when I contacted her this time, her husband told me the unfortunate news that she had tragically died in July of a pulmonary embolism. I had a pulmonary embolism in February 2010. I was in the US. Carol was in Kenya. Thus the difference in our outcomes. Carol’s husband is committed to continuing the business to support their son and the women who work for them, so I am committed to continue buying from Monda Africa.

I bought more dolls from Beacon of Hope. They have been such a favorite. Their mission is to bring hope to women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS within poor communities by empowering and equipping them to meet their economic needs.

On my first trip to Rwanda, I bought from a woman named Allen Joy. Allen Joy was mentored through the Peace Through Business program (http://www.ieew.org/) by a friend Laurie Johnson of Phoenix, who also has a retail business.

My budget for purchasing from Allen Joy was $300. When my total added up to $600, I scaled back to $500 but I couldn’t justify cutting out anything else. And of course—at my first exhibit, at the NAWBO national conference, I sold out on some of the things I had put back. I bought four beaded belts instead of the original eight I was going to purchase. The four belts sold within minutes of the exhibit hall opening!

And if there are any doubts about why I do this work, Allen Joy told Laurie what a thrill it was to get my big order and she was so pleased that I liked her products. And then she added, “And now my husband is taking my business seriously if I can receive orders like this.”

Helping our sisters’ businesses thrive, that’s what Up from the Dust is all about, and is what helps feed my soul.

Cecilia Katunga of Kenya

In August I went to Kenya to do a three-day communications training. Of course I used that opportunity to buy exciting new items for Up from the Dust. I also made my first trip to Rwanda and bought items from there as well.

But there was one meeting that caused me to break into sobs--sobs of happiness.

I was hosted by Cecilia Katunga at her new home. If you remember, Cecilia's home in the Mukuru Fuatanyayo slum of Nairobi was burned in March of this year. I asked you, my friends, on this list if you could spare $20-$50 to help Cecilia. We sent a total of $750 to Cecilia and that was enough money for her to get out of the slums, and rent a new room.

Actually her new home is two rooms. Orphaned at 13, Cecilia, age 25, still supports a brother and sister who live with her.

Cecilia was so excited to greet us. (My friends Eva and Joe went with me. Eva helped support Cecilia in setting up her knitting business about four years ago). Cecilia was dressed up and couldn't get the smile off her face. She served us tea and buttered bread. They had been on a blackout all day but she was still cheery. (Would we be after a day without electricity?) When Eva said grace before we enjoyed our tea and bread, I just started sobbing. What does $20 mean to us? $50? So little--yet by 10-20 people sending in small amounts of money, Cecilia now has a new life.

I was overwhelmed by how happy she was and what a difference we made in her life. She told Eva, "When I heard from Mary Schnack that she was wiring the money, I was no longer a fire victim."

I bought more scarves from Cecilia (red, black, brown, maroon, white, peach, light green) and two darling baby outfits--one pink and one blue. She has also moved her knitting machines out of Kenyatta Market into her home. Please go online and support her business by buying her products!

Cecilia is so thrilled with her new home, the extra space, the sense of community around her and she said it is a much safer place to live.

I Finally Went to Rwanda

My first trip to Africa was in May, 1994, when a humanitarian aid group, ADRA, sent me to Nairobi to lead their communications efforts during the Rwanda genocide.

We worked out of Nairobi, Kenya, because that’s where the press was centered. We also went to a refugee camp in Burundi, which neighbors Rwanda.

I was in Africa for three weeks and I left before the war was over. When it ended, I had an incredible ache to return to East Africa and go to Rwanda.

Africa had kept a piece of my heart and my life changed forever with that trip.

I have made seven or eight trips to Africa since then, to Ghana, South Africa, Swaziland and many more trips to Nairobi, but I never made it to Rwanda.

I read everything on Rwanda. I watch all the movies and TV shows. I volunteer to do training and mentoring through the Peace Through Business program (www.ieew.org), which works with women entrepreneurs from Rwanda and Afghanistan.

Finally, I was able to close the loop and went to Rwanda. It was only a two-day trip, but having the opportunity to go, I had to grab at the chance even though it was far too short.

Called the land of 1,000 hills, the capital city of Kigali is beautiful with so many parks and open, green areas, and most houses and buildings built on the side of hills (giving almost everyone gorgeous views).

I met the three women I have been involved with mentoring through Peace Through Business. Deborah Kakoma has a brand strategy business, Chantal Zirim is working on opening a juice bar and Honorine Mugorewase has a hotel/apartment building which I was able to see and tour.

I also met Chantal’s and Honorine’s families which was such a treat. Deborah took me to the new Film Institute and to a poetry slam. As someone said, I am living my bucket list!

I also spoke to a gathering of about 30 Peace Through Business graduates. Many of the women I have met before and call friends, as I have done training for the program the past four years. Their enthusiasm for business, soaking up new ideas and experiencing the new concept of networking is inspirational and one of the things that keeps me going through difficult times.

Deborah introduced me to Rose Kabuye. When commenting on all the greenbelts and parks in Kigali, she said, “Thank you. I like to think I had something to do with that.” Rose, who had been just another woman business owner that I enjoyed meeting and talking to at lunch, was now larger than life.

She told me some of her background, which I have augmented with her Wikipedia entry. She is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan Army and remains the highest ranking woman ever to serve in her country's armed forces. She is currently working in the private sector as Chief Executive Officer of Virunga Logistics and Startech Limited but is best known for her work as a freedom fighter in the liberation of Rwanda from 1990 through 1993. She subsequently became Mayor of Kigali City, Rwandan Chief of State Protocol, and a member of the Rwandan parliament. Because of her participation in the liberation struggle, she was awarded The Rwandan National Liberation Medal and the Campaign Against Genocide Medal.

Now as a board member on the Rwanda women entrepreneurs group, she hopes to encourage women to get involved politically at their local community levels.

I could have talked to her all day. Be sure to Google her and look at the Wikipedia entry on her. I have only told a small, small part of her story.

I also bought more items for Up from the Dust from another Peace Through Business graduate, Allen Joy Mbabazi (more in another upcoming blog). Saudah Nalule treated me at her Spa and Salon to the most incredible facial I have ever had and Immy Kamarade sent me home with fresh roasted coffee from her business. Immy was recently named the President of Rwanda’s women’s chamber of commerce.

Chantal showed me the real “Hotel Rwanda.” Honorine took me to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Besides many mass graves, there is an outstanding exhibition, which goes through the history of Rwanda and what led up to the genocide. It is a powerful presentation and should be seen by all.

I did not realize at the time that Honorine lost her parents and family in the genocide and spent three months in a refugee camp in Burundi. It must have been difficult for her to be there with me. Afterwards, I got to meet three of her four children, her husband and see her new business. She is a great example of how Rwanda has worked towards recovery (I think recovered is still too strong of a word) in a short 17 years since the genocide.

My main thought after going to the Memorial is how embarrassed the international community must be at letting this genocide happen. It could have been stopped. At the least, it should not have lasted as long as it did.

The Memorial also details other genocides. The world said it would learn after World War II and the genocide of the Jews at the hands of Hitler. But it is clear that we did not.

And now it is clear how much we have to learn from Rwanda.

How Many Other People Can Recite Your Elevator Pitch?

I used to own a sign and banner shop in Marina del Rey, California. It is the first business I started as an entrepreneur. I set up shop in the same geographic area as the hospitals where I had worked. Since Community Relations reported to me at the hospitals, I had been active in the Chambers of Commerce and a lot of other local groups.

My #1 form of marketing was networking. Besides the Chambers (I think I joined five), the police auxiliary board, morning breakfast meetings such as LeTip, and the American Cancer Society, I also targeted women’s business groups.

My “elevator pitch” was “A business with no sign is a sign of no business.” Catchy, memorable and a good call to action. (See Rhonda Abrams story about Signs, the tried and true in marketing business).

In fact, when I would stand up to introduce myself, after just a couple of weeks, those present would say my tag line for me. My phone number was the same forwards and backwards and something I made note of when I said it, so that made everyone remember my specific phone number as well.

I had equal success with clients. When Broadway Gymnastic School reinvigorated their branding, we added the tag line “Helping Children Grow Since 1979”. This says that they do more than gymnastics,--they care about children overall, and are not a new start-up gym but a long time community member. They were able to use this phrase effectively--and immediately--when their gym burned down and the media and concerned community members and parents were at their doorstep.

After attending one of my communication seminars, Gone Rural from Swaziland, Africa, added a tag line : Gone Rural designs and produces uniquely beautiful home accessories handmade by 700 rural Swazi women. The only part of the story that tag line doesn’t tell is that Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world—and many of those women are raising their grandchildren.

As Runa Magnusdottir and I teach in our BRANDit workshop (www.brandit.is), whether you are trying to raise capital, promote your company, or promote yourself, it‘s essential to have an elevator pitch. You have less than a minute to explain yourself, your business, your goals, and your passions. Your audience knows none of these. Are you prepared? Can you present your vision smoothly, enticing them to want to know more?

1. WHO

DESCRIBE WHO YOU ARE: Keep it short.
HINT: What would you most want the listener to remember about you?

2. WHAT

DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO: Here is where you state your value phrased as key results or impact. To organize your thoughts, it may help to think of this as your tag line.
HINT: this should allow the listener to understand how you or your company would add value.

3. WHY

DESCRIBE WHY YOU ARE UNIQUE: Now it‘s time to show the unique benefits that you and/or your company bring to business.
HINT: Show what you do that is different or better than others.

4. GOAL

DESCRIBE YOUR GOAL: Describe your immediate goals or intentions. Look at your markers from Your BRAND Your Passion worksheets. Include a time frame.
HINT: This is the final step and it should be readily apparent to the listener what you are asking of him / her.

5. CREATE ONE SENTENCE OUT OF THE PRIOR FOUR

These guidelines help you communicate your main message quickly, clearly, and distinctly to someone who doesn‘t even know you. A good pitch takes planning and practice to deliver quickly and to make it memorable.

PR WORKS: Know your Strengths …..And Weaknesses

When creating a communications plan or branding statement, one of the most important things to come up with is: “How are you unique?” It’s a question that a lot of business owners feel challenged in answering, but it’s the key to making them stand out from the crowd.

Now I want to take that idea one step further: As important as it is to understand your strengths, it is even more critical to know your skeletons, or areas of vulnerability. Understand these skeletons and work to correct them, but also be prepared to communicate about them.

How well do you really know and understand your organization…it’s structure, the mission statement, the history, past, present and future challenges. Who are you? Why do you exist? Who is your customer? By answering these questions, you’ll find your businesses strengths….and weaknesses.

For example, in the mid-1800s, a group of Adventists set a date for the end of the world. Although the mainstream Seventh-day Adventist Church has never sanctioned date-setting, it is an irrefutable reputation of the church. One cannot just respond to a question on date-setting with a denial. There must be a brief, sensible explanation on how it happened in the first place and why it no longer happens now. (I counseled them on this during the Waco Cult standoff in 1993.)

Besides understanding our own strengths and weaknesses, it is imperative to know what is going on in our community, our industry, with small businesses, and overall--our world. What are challenges that others are facing? You may not be immune to those same challenges for long. What is happening in your specific community? In the business and political worlds in which we operate? It is important to have a grasp on the world around us to put our own strengths and weaknesses into perspective.

When I owned a sign shop in the mid-90s, we used vinyl to make the lettering on our signs and banners. It was a big step forward from the toxic paints that had been used in the past. At the same time, I was aware that there was a lot of publicity around the fact that disposable diapers, such as Pampers and Huggies, did not break down in landfills and there was a push to go back to cloth diapers for the environment.

So what do diapers in a landfill have to do with a sign shop?

I investigated the vinyl we used for our signs and found out they would take far longer than diapers to break down. If diapers had become a major story, what about all of these new vinyl sign shops that were opening across the country? Fortunately, this never came to the media’s attention, but I knew it was an area of vulnerability if it did break, and I was prepared with answers.

Access where you are vulnerable. Seek out the vulnerable areas within your area where you can prevent a crisis and immediately begin to correct the problem.

With the advent of social media, we are even more vulnerable as word spreads virally much more quickly.

This is where a crisis communications plan is helpful. You note a problem, anticipate what type of crisis may occur even after taking precautions, and then label a set of steps to take place to handle the situation and communicate during the crisis. Have your message points ready and include plans for social media. It’s far better to do this in advance than in a reactive mode.

How Events Around the Globe Can Affect Your Business

Here’s my second blog post on It's Your Biz, powered by SBTV.com.

I never expected the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to affect my business. Too far away from my U.S. offices.

I never expected the tornado and its devastation in Joplin, MO, to affect my business. Too far away from my offices in Washington DC and Arizona.

I never expected a volcano going off in Iceland to affect my business. Yes, I go to Iceland once or twice a year to give seminars. But the timing would have to be oh so precise....

Well, all three events DID affect my business. And in vastly different ways.

1) My client, Acura of Glendale (CA), had to suspend public relations (fortunately, only for two months) when they weren't getting any new cars or financing deals to promote. Why? Most Acuras that are sold in the U.S. are actually made in the U.S. But there are some little parts that are made in Japan. And without those parts...there are no new cars.

2) Life Cube Inc. started talking to us about doing their social media work about a month ago. Life Cube is a quickly deployable, portable shelter that can be enormously helpful in providing life-saving shelter and supporting on-the-ground operations by aid workers.

But the day after the Joplin, MO, tornado, Life Cube called us and said-start now! Here's the signed agreement and the check is in the mail (and it really was). We dropped everything and immediately set up their social media accounts, started Tweeting and obtaining significant "follows" for their accounts.

3) I was scheduled to go to Iceland to speak for the European Women Inventors & Innovators Network International Conference. But on May 21, three days before my trip, the Grimsvotn volcano started erupting and the Keflavik Airport outside of Reykjavik was closed. The conference, expecting more than 300 attendees from throughout Europe, was postponed until September.

So what's the lesson in all of this?
- Be aware of what is happening in the news-for yourself and for your clients. How can you localize and personalize a story for a client? The media loves local interest stories. How can you use this to make your social media more relevant and timely-a vital part of attracting attention on social media.

- I found out my ACURA client was "back in business" with new financing deals by calling her. She had not had time to call me and gear her PR back up. So stay in touch (without being annoying) and be there to help.

- After a day or two, I got in touch with the Icelandic conference organizers and offered to share my speech presentation and hand-outs with the people who WERE going to attend. I slightly changed the presentation, which was on Building a Brand on a Sustainable Business. I used it as an education/To Do piece that, now they had over three months to build their brand on sustainability, what steps they could take so it would be strong and powerful by the rescheduled date in September.

Yes, indeed, it's summer and the perfect season to make lemonade out of lemons!

Read the full blog.

Targeting the RIGHT Audience for Outreach

I have a new blog on It's Your Biz, powered by SBTV.com.

A good thing about the Oprah show being over, to a publicist, is we have always heard from clients "I want to be on Oprah."

Well, that was easier said than done. Yes, there would be great benefit to many clients to be on Oprah. But it wasn't always the best way to spend your money, to have your PR firm spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make this happen!

I remember when I had a client of nurse-owned home health care agencies across the state of California. They wanted to be on Oprah (that's a given) and CBS, and written up in USA Today, and Time Magazine. (I'm not sure how they came up with that list.)

But when we scheduled a half-day meeting to brainstorm a Communications Plan, we took a hard look at their TARGET audience. Their primary audience was case managers at hospitals, people who would recommend an agency when someone was discharged from the hospital and needed home health care services.

Knowing your target audience is so vital. Do hospital case managers watch Oprah? Maybe. Do they read USA Today and Time Magazine? Maybe.

But we know they read the stories in the industry publications geared towards nurses and case managers.

It may not be as exciting at the dinner table to say to your family, "I was featured in Case Manager Today magazine this month" as it is to say "I was quoted in USA Today." But it will be more effective to grow your business! And it's probably just as much fun at the dinner table to say "I got five new clients today" - even though you weren't even on Oprah.

So the basic lessons here are:
1. Develop a Communications Plan, which will include your target audiences.

2. Decide the best way to reach those audiences.

3. When you do get media coverage, leverage it through reproduction, social media, posting on websites, etc., so it has a LONG shelf life.

Read the full blog.

Ingenuity in Iceland

What do you do when the U.S. leaves a base with all its buildings? This happened in Iceland when the U.S. Military left the area after being there for 60 years. The area soon had staggering numbers of unemployment and foreclosures and threatened to turn into a ghost town.

But ingenuity is something Icelanders are never lacking. A new company, Keflavik Airport Development Company (Kadeco) was founded with the goal of putting the defense area and its facilities to civilian use. Kadeco is wholly owned by the Prime Ministry of Iceland.

The goal and purpose of Kadeco is to lead the development and transformation of the former defense area for civilian use. Part of that process is necessary preparation work, assessment of the area and facilities as well as assessment of development- and growth opportunities in cooperation with invested parties.

Keilir Atlantic Center of Excellence was founded in the spring of 2007 and the name symbolizes Iceland’s position in the globalized world; with the goals of the institute being to build up knowledge, teaching and research at a university level within the international academic community. Keilir’s main international focus is on two schools: School of Energy and Technology and an Aviation Academy.

Of course, the one that caught my eye is the Ásbrú Incubator at Ásbrú Enterprise Park which offers support and facilities for entrepreneurs, start-ups, early-growth companies, and R&D departments of established companies, in the areas of green energy, health and fitness, and aviation related businesses.

There are basically three ways for an entrepreneur to come to Ásbrú. The first is to buy or rent facilities. The second is Eldey entrepreneur centre where the Icelandic Innovation Centre provides facilities and support for entrepreneurs. The third way in is through the undergraduate diploma in entrepreneurship at Keilir School of Creative Industries. Its goal is to educate and graduate students who will use their creativity to further our society.

Their initiatives include an international centre for health and relaxation will rise at Ásbrú and health related tourist services will be marketed internationally and a cluster of companies that produce green energy, use green energy and improve energy utilization. The energy cluster at Ásbrú is unique on a global scale for its access to clean energy from the geo-thermal power plants in the area. And the Eldey entrepreneur centre, which is a joint project by Kadeco, the University of Iceland and the Icelandic Innovation Centre, specializes in green energy.

Innovation and entrepreneurs are always a good mix and in my opinion, too often ignored by our political representatives and funders. I look forward to heading back to Iceland in April and learning more about Asbru.

I’ll close with a Video Testimonial by Asbru Project Manager, Thoranna Keilir, who attended my “Be the Expert that You Are” seminar for the Iceland Trade Association that I conducted in October 2010.

The Importance of Professional Online Video

We have seen video grow from a “frill” some businesses occasionally include on their websites, to an essential, competitive differentiator that drives SEO and increases brand identification.

Knowledgeable companies embraced this shift and made video a central part of their online offerings. Videos grab attention, engage viewers and, if executed properly, can succinctly communicate your entire value proposition in as little as two minutes.

There are many new techniques people are using to promote and increase the sales on their website. Videos are considered as one of the best methods for communicating with audiences. A fact that all of us know is that it’s much easier to consume the visual image than to read something. The visual impact created by videos can often be creatively used to reach out and capture the imagination of a wide audience. Video’s use of real people, animation and music are valuable when motivation is a key ingredient in your message.

Video is best for the communication of a simple, convincing message. We can feel an emotional connection more readily with video’s moving images and sound than other communication mediums – to an audience it is the closest medium to reality.

Streaming videos over web pages has caught on with an increase in the available bandwidth and connection speeds in the last couple of years. Often a good video can double or even triple the ’sale ability’ of the product. The impact created by the video partially depends on the quality of the created video.

Here is a video on my media training work that I did in one take, having a friend hold my Flip video camera.

And here is a video that was professionally done and edited at the BRANDit Workshop.



Do you see the quality difference? Would seeing one video versus the other one make a difference in your decision to hire me to do media training?

Now add your video into an online magazine and you have even more impact and a variety of ways to reach people.

A good video, bundled with the right support material, will definitely prove to be one of the most effective ways of reaching out to a worldwide audience 24×7.

Branding: Making an Emotional Connection

When talking about branding, we most often have to start with a definition—what is a brand?

A brand is a name that stands for something in the mind of the customer. Your brand is your most valuable asset. The goal, therefore, is to define a brand that creates an emotional connection between you and your customers.

What emotions do you want others to feel when then think of you?

Maya Angelou said, "At the end of the day people won't remember what you say or did, they will remember how you make them feel."

We are overwhelmed by thousands of product choices, and we’re all short of time. That’s why the emotional connection is so important. People want the facts (why is this better?) and the emotional connection (why is this right for me?).

The power of appealing to emotion is detailed in Wharton professor Deborah Small’s groundbreaking research. She shows how the use of statistics by non-profits, as opposed to a vivid “identifiable victim,” results in lower giving. People want to hear and be moved by real stories.

You want to unite an idea (your brand) with an emotion. But how do you do that? The best way is to tell a story.

You use a brand, both visually and verbally, to educate your prospective customers about who you are. You tell them both visually (with a logo) and verbally (with a short message that best describes your business and its benefits). The key to creating a strong icon or logo is to paint word pictures. Then compare the word or visual pictures with your description of your business and what sets it apart from the rest of the business world. Think unique, think independent, step outside of your marketing mindset and get creative.

Everything you do stimulates an emotional response whether you want it to or not. Even if you don't know it, you leave every encounter with someone feeling a certain way, whether you meet in person, via social media, or simply by them viewing your business card, flyer or web site. So knowing that, why not be proactive about this and work to stimulate the emotion you want others to feel instead of leaving it to chance?

To take an active role in the emotions you make people feel, start by being aware of what you want to portray and sprinkle it in here and there. Do you use inspirational quotes on social media? (I specifically make sure I do NOT do that since so many others are). Or if you want people to feel excited and alive, do you send out samples of music and music videos that you like?

I send out research, relevant articles, to friends, clients, past clients, potential clients and colleagues. Thus, an emotional connection with me is one of networking, a strong resource, and someone who stays on top of current events and trends. In the online marketplace, it can be easy to get trapped behind a monitor and keyboard.

You have to remember that business is about people, not numbers. It’s about relationships, not computers. In our rapidly evolving business environment, the entrepreneurs who are going to thrive are the ones who engage their clients and build long-term relationships. So get out there and develop your cheerleading squad, refer business to others, join groups and tell your story.

You can purchase my webinar on The Brand Called You or sign up for the BRANDit weekends coming up in Santa Barbara or Iceland. Watch this video from Harpa Georgsdottir, Manager of Rain Deer, who attended our BRANDit workshop in Iceland in October 2010. She talks about the importance of the emotional connection.

Online Video Ads Reign over TV Ads

Since I became involved with the BRANDit program (www.maryschnack.com/brandit or www.brandit.is), I have become more and more aware of videos on the web. Besides training on re-invigorating your brand, The BRANDit program offers attendees a new marketing kit-which includes new head shots and a video for their website.

Being a trainer and speaker, I've been "trying" to get videos up on my website for three or four years--and just wasn't successful in getting it done. Now I have four on my home page--which all tell the story of what I do much better and more succinctly than all the text on my site!

I notice other articles about the power of video on the website. For example, according to Forrester Research, you are 53 times more likely to appear on page one of Google's search results with video on your website. Video raises click-through rates up to 200 percent.

The story I saw today about online video ads versus TV ads doesn't totally apply to our individual business websites but its still interesting. In a research conducted by The Nielsen Company and Microsoft it was found that video ads shown during the full episodes of TV shows shown on the Internet have deeper brand impact on the viewers than has TV ads during the same show when relayed on television, because there is greater brand recall. The over-arching reason for this, that does have influence on why we should videos on our websites? "The research showed that people are more engaged and attentive while watching on the Internet, which assists in brand recall."

I'm working with my clients to get videos on their websites. The more professional the better. The Flip cameras are great, but you can't fill your site with amateur videos. As more and more business goes online this is an important marketing step to take.

Who Are You Cheering For?

When I watch tennis, I usually cheer for the higher ranked player. I think once you get to the top, it's hard to stay there. Everyone is gunning for you and they are often playing the game of their life. One bad day and the top pros can find themselves on the losing end.

But when it comes to basketball, that rule doesn't apply. Because I am loyal. Loyal to my Los Angeles Clippers.

I lived in Los Angeles for 18 years and during most of that time, I had both Lakers and Clippers season tickets. The difference was--my Laker tickets were in the 25th row and my Clipper tickets were in the sixth row--or better.

The Clippers play the same teams the Lakers play, and I had the best seats. A real basketball enthusiast (anyone surprised--TWO sets of season tickets?), I enjoyed being closer to the action despite it being the Clippers instead of the Lakers. When I decided, for both time and financial reasons, that one of the sets of season tickets had to go, it was the Clippers tickets that I kept.

So no matter who the Clippers play, I cheer for the Clippers. When I was both a Clippers and Lakers fan, I would always cheer for the Clippers when they played for the Lakers. Once the play-offs started, it was all Lakers for my cheering (primarily because the Clippers in the playoffs is a rare event). During one Clippers/Lakers near the end of a season, when a Laker win was important for home court advantage during the playoffs, I still cheered for the Clippers, much to my date's chagrin. He thought I should be more cognizant of the long term impact of that game.

There's no other team as consistently bad as the Clippers that I cheer for. I hated it when Phoenix didn't embrace the Cardinals--until they started racking up some wins two years ago. I hated it even more that I was one of the fair weather fans!

As much as I like, and I hope, for an underdog like the Clippers (which Sports Illustrated dubbed the worst franchise in pro sports), they have been replaced in my heart. There's nothing like knowing a player personally and cheering him (or her) on. Since I personally met Channing Frye and got to know what a terrific person he is, I am for whatever team he plays for. Fortunately, he was picked up by the Phoenix Suns last year so I was able to cheer for the home state team (by then I was living in Arizona). Until Channing joined the team, I was for the Suns--unless they were playing the Clippers, Lakers--or the team Channing played for (Knicks or Blazers).

Now,only when the Clippers play the Suns do I root against the Clips. Blake Griffin is a bright spot and a leading candidate already for Rookie of the Year.
Go Blake Griffin! Go Clippers! Go underdog!

But most of all--Go Suns! Go Channing!

Being a Small Business Sub-Contractor

It always amazes me as I travel around the world how different our cultures and life can be--and yet how much is still the same. As a small business that has worked in the transportation industry in Arizona, I found an amazing similarity when I met a woman from Afghanistan that builds roads. See Video.

My experience with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) was primarily as the Communications Manager for the State Route 179 project. I also worked (an am working) on some smaller projects, such as the study on Interstate 17 north of Sedona and south of Flagstaff, and several projects for the City of Sedona. I am always a sub-contractor to the primary business that won the contract award.

There are great people/companies to sub for, such as Katherine Bush at URS in Phoenix and DMJM+Harris (now AECOMM) in Phoenix, there are some that are good and there are others that are terrible--which I am so tempted to name, but probably better not. The worst offender was a woman in Phoenix who used another colleague and myself to win the award, and then brought our services in-house (so she would get more of the $$$$). We wrote and designed the proposal.

But when I talk to a woman in Afghanistan about building roads--I expect to hear all kinds of problems -- about security, about funding, about working conditions, lack of supplies, etc. Yet what was her main complaint? About being a small business sub-contractor. She said the large firms get the $3-$5 million contracts and then contract with her to do the work at just a fraction of that price, keeping all of the profits. Well, its best left to hear in her words: See Video

Things My Daughter has Taught Me

My daughter’s cat had to be put to sleep on Saturday. Looking back to how she got this cat as a kitten 16 years ago made me smile. And made me realize for the first time at the age of 12 she also had a pretty good business sense.

I was in the process of selling my sign and banner shop and Christmas was just a week or two away. I was having a holiday open house for 150 people later that week. Busy time, to say the least. My daughter called me, right before I was heading home, to let me know that she had found a kitten abandoned in our outdoor storage shed. Could she keep it?

But her question wasn’t that simple, figuring that I would say no, she quickly added, “I talked to Connie and she said you need to pick up…..” and she gave me a list of things (like a doll bottle and baby formula) to pick up on the way home. Connie was my best friend and is the ultimate cat lover. She also had helped Erika pick out her initial two rescue kitties three years earlier (one of which was now dead—leaving Erika to believe there was room for another cat in the house).

I had to give it to Erika. She did her research BEFORE she called me, and rallied “the team” around her request. But I still said no—if I had to stop on the way home to do that type of shopping—I was just too tired and had too much going on to take on something else like this.

Erika did more research and called me back. She had called Connie again. By putting cat food and water in front of the kitten, and the kitten eating and drinking, meant the baby bottle and formula wasn’t needed. I didn’t have to shop on the way home. She added creativity and initiative to the mix, along with foreseeing problems and obstacles and having her message points ready, and added that—oh by the way—she had made a bed for the kitten in her shower and named it Butterscotch.

Of course I said yes this time. Just shows what good research and good teamwork can accomplish!

Who’s the Quarterback?

It always seems self-serving when I recommend that an outside consultant is needed during a crisis communications situation.

Let me back up a beat. First of all, the MOST IMPORTANT thing for a crisis or challenging situation is to have a plan in place in advance. That’s most important.

I have a video clip that talks about the importance of having a plan in advance, and why outside consultants should be considered.

See Crisis Communications Video.

An outside consultant or agency helps add a dose of objective realism. It may be difficult for internal staff to see the whole picture objectively, as an outsider would.
When you work at a company, you are part of that company’s family--no matter how good you are at work/life balance! Thus, when something happens that may be upsetting, those in-house are emotionally involved and are not necessarily in the best position to either make objective, critical decisions and/or may need help in carrying out everything in the plan.

What is important when you bring in an outside consultant to help, is to define who is going to be the “quarterback” of communications. Control should always be firmly in the hands of the organization, but the outside consultants should become an integral part of the crisis team. The agency or consultant should play an advisory role while the organization makes the final decisions.

If you are working with an outside public relations agency or consultant, it is important to keep them on retainer so that you have their expertise available to you with the additional people power that can be brought to bear quickly in a crisis. By having them involved early on, it will help your ability to deal quickly with the media should a crisis occur. If a retainer relationship is not possible, bring in an outside consultant before a crisis occurs so that the company benefits from the preplanning expertise of the consultant, ideally to the extent of avoiding a crisis in the first place.

Discuss with the consultant or agency, in advance, such things as what resources they can make available, what media contacts they have, what they would charge in a crisis situation (by the hour, day or crisis), who exactly will be working with you (what level of seniority), and can they work on-site?

The downside of bringing in external help is the morale of your current communications staff (feeling discredited or unappreciated) and the perception of your external audiences that may indeed be an even bigger crisis than they imagined since you are soliciting outside assistance. (Consequently, a prior relationship with any outside sources is important so this perception does not exist).

SEE WHY MARY RECOMMENDS OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS FOR CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS—and more on the importance of having a plan prepared in advance…

Take the Time to Reinvigorate Your Brand

Last month I gave a speech on crisis communications at the AMMJE conference in Cozumel, Mexico. I talked about the “crisis” that Cozumel, and Mexico as a whole, was having with the tourism industry being way down. Media reports of swine flu and drug cartels in other areas of Mexico have affected Cozumel severely, as well. One of my suggestions was to take the time to develop scenarios of what might happen in the future, and develop their responses. Rather than operating in a “crisis” mode, be proactive.

I also talked about being innovative and looking at new strategies besides the cruise ship tourists. Who else can they communicate to?

At dinner that night, a business owner’s son asked, “My mom is busy every minute of the day. How can she take time to plan? I am helping her this summer, and I don’t even have time to think about these things.”

Patty DeDominic, a Strategic Business Coach in Southern California, says you have to step out of the office to do such work. “Outside workshops and retreats are becoming more and more popular. You must step back and work ON the business not just IN the business. When you go offsite to do planning you get the big picture and can capitalize on the energy in the room. By getting away from your daily tasks, you can see things in a different light and get a more accurate reality of your strengths and weaknesses, rather than just a one-sided perception that the office is giving you that particular day.”

Karen Duncum, owner of a coaching and training firm in Santa Barbara, recently wrote a column for The Huffington Post on “Put Your Feet Up and Innovate.” She said leaders arrive at big-picture solutions by pulling the plug on their usual routines and doing nothing. “Most of the time executives find themselves bombarded with reports, e-mails, telephone calls, fire-fighting, and meetings. The answer is to engage in what I call passive innovation. I routinely advise my clients to unplug by taking a drive to a park, the ocean, or into the country with only a blank pad of paper and pen. Think of it as a coffee break for your brain.”

Two of her tips in the article for “overachievers to clear their minds and open up pathways for breakthrough thinking” were:

Put on Your Thinking Cap: While you can't force inspiration, you can mentally prepare for a productive session of creative ideas. Setting aside time for the specific purpose of "doing nothing" can train your mind to be open to the process.

The bottom line: We all have an unconscious tendency to sell our mental abilities short by miring ourselves in unnecessarily restrictive, shortsighted thinking patterns. Use mini-vacations for your mind to break free from the forces that keep your untapped creative powers in check. Don't be surprised if you discover your greatest productivity occurs when you're doing nothing at all.

Workshops, such as the upcoming BRANDit four-day workshop in Iceland where I will be speaking, offers just this kind of escape. Not only is it an opportunity to combine work with pleasure, but the striking setting of Iceland is the perfect back drop for the workshop. The inspiration of Icelandic nature is being incorporated into the workshop for the women while they are reinvigorating their own branding. There will be some scenic and remarkable side trips, including a stop at the world famous Blue Lagoon.

DeDominic added, “Sometimes it might take an international location to truly get people to turn off their cell phones and e-mail feeds during the planning sessions. It’s important to be in a quiet environment where you are not distracted and give yourself permission to think totally creatively.”

How long has it been since you’ve taken a few hours, or a few days, to explore how to re-invigorate your branding, your strategic plan and/or business operations? It might be time now to purposefully set aside time on your calendar and make the reservations to get away.

Branding is Not Just For Start-Ups

By Mary Schnack

Your brand is your most valuable asset. How long has it been since you’ve re-vigorated your branding?

How do YOU as the business owner fit into that branding?

The goal of branding is to define a brand that creates an emotional connection between you and your customers. It is not just the traditional “graphic” elements that confirm your brand identity.

As business owners, we represent a big part of that branding. It’s everything—the organizations we join, where we advertise, how we reward employees and for what, where you meet with clients…..how firm your handshake, how thorough your follow-up, how aggressive your sales pitch -- all of these say something about you and about your business. Every action either builds on or detracts from your brand.

The owner is the lead ambassador for the brand. You are identified with your company’s brand, and your company is identified with you.

You may start with your visual and your words, but a brand is built on fundamental sustained behavior. Never lose sight of what makes your business special, promote your strengths and build a brand that targets your core customer base. It becomes part of a business’s anatomy based on how you, the business owner, engages with your audiences—whether they are customers, local community, suppliers, industry colleagues or the media.

“When we started organizing our BRANDit workshop, the first reaction from women business owners was that it must be for start-up businesses,” said Runa Magnusdottir, a certified business coach and the CEO and Founder of Connected-Women.com. “We want women with established businesses to look at transforming themselves from “an ordinary business woman” into a “powerful brand”. Our workshops will help them think unique, think independent, and step outside of their daily business mindset and get creative.”

Magnusdottir and Bjarney Ludviksdottir started BRANDit, offering women business owners worldwide a four-day workshop in Reykjavik, Iceland, to create and reinvigorate personal and business branding. Ludviksdottir will use her experience as a casting director and co-owner of Eskimo Models, an Icelandic modeling agency, to capture each woman’s personality via a new headshot, video trailer and press kit.

BRANDit offers the opportunity to revisit your branding. You can change the direction of your business, add new products or services to your business model, but you never change your core values behind the brand. That’s who you are as a brand. It’s your businesses personality.

You have to communicate that brand promise and in order to do that, you have to know what that promise is inside and out. Just like you re-visit your strategic plans, you need to re-visit your core values and branding. Your brand promises customer service, community leadership, corporate integrity, environmental responsibility and democratic values. The brand is YOU, YOU as a leader. It’s more important than you may think.

Creating a Business Value and Culture of Sustainability

I stated earlier that I didn’t learn much about sustainability at the World Expo in Shanghai because of my terrific client, Nancy Goshow, co-founder and managing partner of Goshow Architects in NYC. She gave a webinar yesterday for WIPP’s Entrepreneurs, Energy and Environment series titled Creating a Business Value and Culture of Sustainability. Nancy packed so much information into the 30-minute webinar that I would highly recommend people to go listen to it online. You can find archived podcasts of this and other past training sessions on EntrepreneursAndEnergy.com in the Resources section.

Goshow Architects is dedicated to sustainable design for the public sector and is known for its diverse range of green projects in the New York metropolitan area. These are now starting to expand internationally.

Most of us have, by now, started recycling programs and changed our light bulbs. Many have even quit using paper products. (Even me—who HATES to do dishes!). In this webinar, Nancy not only told us HOW to be a sustainable business, but more importantly for what I want to write about here -- how to create a culture of sustainability in our workplace.

Nancy outlined points on creating that culture:

- Inspire stakeholders toward a greater greener future.
- Engage by delegation and collaboration (two heads are better than one).
- Create a Green Task Force supported by a green study group.
- Foster communication up and down within your organization.
- Require accountability and flexibility from all participants.
- Ask all stakeholders to be open and on the watch for new ideas.
- Promote & Maintain an ongoing sustainability conversation with all stakeholders.

She also discussed the triple bottom line: people, planet and profits. Goshow Architects has reached their goal for the triple bottom line this year:

- People: We are a diverse firm of architects working collaboratively.
- Planet: On a variety of High performance green buildings.
- Society: For public sector government agencies serving the public good.
- Profit: We are a very busy firm and we are profitable.

She said sustainability has given Goshow a future focused strategically for success in the 21st century. However, their success has not only been on green design for their projects, but because of the diversity of their people and projects. I’ll be writing more about diversity in the future, and I love to see the importance of diversity tied in with sustainability.