The holidays created a time for giving. On New Year’s Eve, we reflected on past mistakes and resolved to be better for 2012.

Here at Boardroom, the protocol of the season got us thinking about the protocol of networking. When we network, our objective is simple  — we want something.

But the holidays remind us that relationships, networking ones too, are about a give-and-take exchange. Remembering that spirit of the season, forget about what you can get out of the relationship. Focus on what you have to give.

Here’s a simple tip that can help you revamp your networking strategies, whether on the web or at the next annual New Year’s cocktail party: be interested, not interesting. Yes, keep your business card in tow; but rather than focus on yourself, really listen to the other person.

The best networks are those of mutual benefits where everybody wins. It’s time to tap in! Find out what makes the other person tick. Sincerely inquire on how you can help foster and support their needs.

That’s our New Year’s resolution.

So here’s to making 2012 a time of giving and connecting, whether it be in our networks of co-workers, family or friends.

The holidays are here! Not only does that mean ’tis the season to be jolly with family and friends, but in the workplace as well.

By peppering your business with a little holiday spirit, you can revamp your brand image and inspire some holiday cheer in your customers.

Take Starbucks.

Its holiday marketing campaign, which debuted in November, features seasonal beverages like the “Peppermint Mocha” and “Gingerbread Latte” served up in special edition holiday cups.  This year, Starbucks has gone one step further with the Starbucks Cup Magic App, which allows coffee-drinkers to animate the action on their coffee cups on their smartphone screens.  The object, says VP-Global Digital Marketing for Starbucks, Alexandra Wheeler, is to both “surprise and delight” customers during this holiday season.

So get in the spirit! Here are some things you can do to make the holiday season a catalyst for your business:

-Deck the halls with boughs of holly! But seriously, some easy, simple decorations can go a long way.  By creating a fun, holiday atmosphere, your employees and customers alike will relish in the spirit of the season.

-Learn the holiday news cycle. To avoid missing out on an opportunity for your product or service in a publication, make sure you’re up to date on the editorial calendars well in advance to see what specific topics the media outlets will focus on during this holiday cycle.

-Wish your social media following a happy holidays. A simple tweet or Facebook post spreading the spirit will bring you back into sight and into mind.  Keeping up a rapport with those in the digital world (and continuing to maintain your online presence) is extremely important, especially now!

So enjoy this holiday season, and take advantage of the opportunity to enact some timely marketing strategies. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Looking to better brand your business and generate more buzz? Public relations, social media and advertising may work. But in the busy South Florida and national product marketing landscape, a brand ambassador has your back.

A “brand ambassador” is an advocate who represents a brand in a positive way, says GC Marketing services. The ambassador is charged with expressing the message of a company to consumers – or to anyone who would benefit from learning about the brand being promoted. This could be done via on-air messaging or print advertising, or by using “street teams” of people who spread the word – and possibly product samples – into the community of targeted prospects. Think of the brand ambassador concept as a public relations / human resources hybrid – someone who both educates consumers regarding the brand, and promotes it with traditional and new and social media.

This advocate can be an executive or employee with the firm, a paid spokesman, or – best of all – a customer or client who truly believes in the company or its products. Transforming company employees into brand ambassadors is a logical starting point. Educated in the benefits of the product or service, they’re sent into the marketplace to touch consumers and prospects. For example, if you market a product targeting young adults, a college campus is a goldmine that can expand your target audience in a big way.

Your team would scout out “popular” kids or leaders on campus. In fact, this has grown into a nation-wide trend. “Companies from Microsoft on down are increasingly seeking out the big men and women on campus to influence their peers,” notes the New York Times in “On Campus, It’s One Big Commercial.”

Tapping into the college network connects a brand with young people who know the ins-and-outs of social media and how to “be cool.” Simultaneously, they grant you access to their Facebook friends, twitter followers, Greek organizations, and other various networks on campus. Barnes and Noble has a national Campus Ambassadors campaign, as does Luna Bars, Red Bull, and Hewlett-Packard, among others.

Whether you look to your current staffers or the student union, seek out social, friendly, captivating people to spread the word about your brand. Having a great product simply isn’t enough. You need to actively educate people as to your existence and what you have to offer.

And brand ambassadors can help carry that marketing load.

Much already has been written about Steve Jobs – his marketing genius, his control of public relations, his ability to skillfully meld the products he created with a pent-up consumer demand for those products (or so we thought once his products were released).

That was the brilliance of Jobs. To paraphrase something he once said, “It isn’t up to consumers to know what they want. It’s up to us to tell them.”

Steven Jobs was one of those transformative inventors who comes along once every few generations. Perhaps it is a testament to how much he touched so many that – as President Barack Obama commented – so many learned of Jobs’ passing on a device he had invented.

He was also a public relations and marketing mastermind. His retail success came from creating powerful products backed by the buzz that made people feel they must have those devices. Apple’s iMac, iPod, iPad and iPhone wowed audiences when revealed in grand on-stage debuts – with Jobs as the emcee. Journalists were awed, and their articles reflected their amazement.

And we consumers bit – hard.

Apple didn’t need “traditional” consumer electronics marketing. The company consistently avoids major announcement hubs like the Consumer Electronics Show, notes PRdaily. He launched the hype – and sustained it.

Most (dare we say All-But-Apple) cannot afford to sidestep the major events. We bend over backwards to please our patrons, and play the retail merchandising game the way the industry has created it. Yet Jobs’ prowess in product development showed us that the brand dictates the trend – and not vice versa.

By developing one-of-a-kind products with unique messages to match, marrying art and technology in a way we’ve never seen before, Jobs dominated the technology industry. As the article explains, many described Apple products as “funky” and “snazzy,” showing their appreciation for the visual appearance of the tech.

Steve Jobs was quoted once as having said, “The customer is not right, I am.” Masterfully brilliant, unabashed in his view of the world, in every essence of the word, Steve Jobs – in his jeans and black, mock-turtleneck – didn’t just sell us things. He sold us dreams.

And if you were listening, he sold us a new roadmap to successful marketing.

Jeff Haden recently wrote about 8 words you should not use on your Twitter bio for his LinkedIn column. This should be expanded to essentially all bios – and other copy as well.  Too many brochures, websites, and other collateral use jargon that is so repetitive, it is meaningless.  How many things are truly passions?  What makes you an authority?  And what the heck is a technologist? Click on the image below to read his full article.

Also check out his “10 words you should never use on your website.”   Good stuff!

In the wake of the Weiner scandal, Spirit Airlines has proved that capitalizing on hot topics in popular culture can be an effective marketing strategy.  As explained in a recent Miami Herald article, the Miramar-based company is now roasting up “The Weiner Sale”—a 9 dollar fare with round trip purchase.  Though Spirit never mentions the congressman specifically, the jabs do anything but shy away from Anthony Weiner. The airline touts that its Weiner deal is “too hard to resist” and that patrons should “hurry to book now, before this sale gets hacked!”

While Congressman Weiner faces public humiliation, Spirit might just make bank off its “shock marketing” strategy. Current pop culture crazes like Weiner’s lewd photo or Rebecca Black’s hit single “Friday” can serve as potential marketing platforms, outlines for jingles, puns, wordplay and instant consumer recognition.

Spirit’s charade has garnered the airline national attention, with spreads in The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal and a segment on MSNBC. As Arun Sarma, marketing professor at University of Miami explains, “They’re quick decision-makers in the sense of, ‘Why not take advantage of this?’” Why not, indeed.

You don’t have to be as big as Spirit Airlines to take advantage of a public relations opportunity like this. If you see a chance where you can tie into a hot news story that could make sense with your campaign or your product, as Sarma says, why not? The publicity you could generate via email and word of mouth could bring you just as much buzz as Weiner himself!

There are over 126 million blogs on the internet according to a Miami Herald article. So the question is how do you make your business blog stand out? Tasha Cunningham, web entrepreneur and PR expert, suggests the following tips to help boost your ranking in the search engines.

Tip #1: “Be Free” – Creating free blogs through Wordpress or Blogger will increase your chances of ranking higher in search engines.

Tip #2: “Good words are key,” – Instead of using your companies name all over the blog, pick a keyword related to your business and center your blog around that word.

Tip #3: “Think like an editor,” – After you have found your key word, do not over use it. It is recommended to use it in every other post.

Tip #4: “Inform,” – Make sure that when you post you are informing your readers about your business, not just using the blog to post advertisements.

Tip #5: “Educate,”- In your blog posts, teach your readers something they didn’t already know. You can also post instructional videos.

Tip #6: “Persuade,” – In each post, end with something that persuades the reader to try something or view something else. For example add a link at the bottom of the post relating to what you just wrote about.

Tip #7:  “Compliment your competitors,” – It is recommended to comment on the blogs of your competitors. Do things like talk about how well an article was written and then post a link to an article you wrote on the same topic.

For more blog marketing tips visit www.BizBytes101.com

 It’s interesting to see a traditional business magazine like Inc. grasp the importance of optimizing your website via a sound search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.  According to Inc.’s recent article, ”Even companies that do big business online struggle to be noticed by Google users….Traffic is directly related to your site’s rank among Google’s searh results.”

It’s important to understand how the search engines decide their rankings. Each website should consider important factors, begining with the strength of keyword usage and the organization and functionality of the website. 

The Inc. SEO guide is a great read and checklist for those considering a proactive internet marketing program for their business. For more tips, read Inc. full article here.

By Deborah L. Cohen

(Reuters) – Philip de Souza, founder and president of data security firm Aurora Enterprises, believes in ghosts.

After trying for weeks to persuade his small team of in-house engineers to blog under the company’s fold, de Souza went looking outside for ghost bloggers who could deliver compelling prose on security and related industry issues for his L.A.-based firm.

“Our engineers are dispersed. It’s hard to get them to stop short and sit and blog, although they have a lot of intelligent things to say,” said de Souza, whose 18-year-old business primarily caters to middle-market customers. “We need to be babysat.”

Aurora is not alone. Many small businesses recognize the growing importance of blogging – free-range online commentary that invites response – in the playbook of social media tools used to generate interest from would-be customers.

Limited internal resources, however, call for some to enlist the services of unnamed contractors that can help feed the beast.

“We’re seeing a big increase in demand,” said Don Silver, COO of Boardroom Communications, a Florida-based PR firm that represents a variety of small businesses. He attributes rising interest in blogging in part to a decline in opportunities for traditional media coverage amid newsroom budget cuts.

“You’ve got to find new platforms to convey your news and messaging,” said Silver, whose firm develops blogs for clients ranging from insurance companies to local retailers. “In addition to planned postings, we react to breaking news.”

The ghost blogger’s job can include a mix of strategic and editorial tasks: keeping abreast of hot-button issues, developing editorial calendars, penning original posts, as well as enlisting raw copy from a company’s insiders and transforming it into readable text. Adhering to a strict schedule is a must, said Silver, whose firm is sometimes responsible for all or just component parts of the process.

Field of Flowers, a south Florida chain of three floral stores, relies on Boardroom to supplement internal posts released under authorship of its fictional nom de plume, Dr. Phil O. Dendron. The good doctor writes about special events taking place at the stores and alerts customers whenever company executives appear in local news.

“We thought it would be fun to have a character who is presented as being the person who gives out a lot of information,” said company president Donn Flipse, adding that such a character also makes it easy to present a unified voice from posts created internally and by the agency.

 TALENT FOR HIRE

There is no shortage of scribes ready to take up the anonymous pen for small businesses. In addition to marketing professionals, the ranks include current and former journalists, book authors and a range of others with experience in traditional and new media.

Cynthia MacGregor, an author of more than 50 books under her own name, many on lifestyle topics, advertises her ghost blogging services on Craig’s List. She recently began ghosting on behalf of a small company in the food industry and expects to soon sign a contract with a provider of adult entertainment.

“If someone else gets the credit, that’s okay, I enjoy the process,” said MacGregor, who is based in Palm Springs, Florida. “I respect their right to take full credit and not have me be the shining star.”

Oakland, California-based freelance writer Jessica Swesey said her ghost blogging assignments have grown from her background as a reporter covering the real estate market. She now specializes in the industry, ghosting on behalf of several real estate brokers on hot topics such as the homebuyers’ tax credit. Blog posts require intimate knowledge of a business and its services, she said.

“You want to take on the tone of the company,” said Swesey, who spends significant time up front interviewing company principles about their top-of-mind concerns. “I’ve taken control and offered up ideas,” she said. “They’ve also come to me and said, ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking.’”

Hiring a ghost blogger doesn’t necessarily mean handing over control. Alternative Reproductive Resources, a Chicago-area firm that has been matching infertile couples with gestational surrogates and egg donors for 18 years, produces its blog, Conception Connections, in close collaboration with its PR agency, Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications.

“It’s very much a team approach,” said Robin von Halle, company founder. “A lot of times we write it and they go over it.”

The blog, whose posts have ranged from “100 questions & answers about infertility” to “Step-by-step: Understanding the surrogacy process”, is responsible for bringing interested clients to ARR’s doors, said von Halle, noting the personal nature of her business is well suited for a medium that targets specialized audiences.

“They’re looking for more information,” said von Halle, whose blog is updated weekly. “It’s very helpful to them.”

As part of its media engagement for Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., Boardroom placed the firm’s CEO, Roger L. Desjadon, on the cover of the January 2010 issue of the South Florida edition of Smart Business. The management journal provides insight and advice for top decision-makers.

Throughout the profile, Desjadon detailed his leadership style and his belief that providing employees with a sense of purpose contributes to their productivity and success. A notable quote:

When you hire highly qualified individuals and you pay them well, you need to give them more than they can handle and allow them to rise to the occasion.

The five-page article, headlined “Following Policy,” featured a full-page portrait of Desjadon and and second photo. A question-and-answer article with the feature had a headshot.

Boardroom regularly places corporate clients in media strategic to their businesses. Profiles, interviews and feature stories are linked to a company’s goal of raising its awareness and bettering its image with a targeted audience.