From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

Ever ask yourself why you should blog? Ask no longer.

Here are 8 great reasons why you should be blogging:

1. Blogging gives you a rockstar voice. Use it!
2. Blogging can work wonders in creating, managing, and molding your brand.
3. Blogging provides a way to create meaningful conversations.
4. Blogging can, and at times be a primay tool to, help with reputation management.
5. Blogging can help you be fundamentally successful with inbound marketing, link building, and lead generation.
6. Your competitors are already there!
7. Your potential customers are there.
8. A few influential statistics:
   1. 73.6% of North Americans are on the Internet*.
   2. 83% on Internet users watch videos online**.
   3. 49% of Internet users use a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc.) every day***.
   4. 73% of Internet users read blogs**.
   5. For companies that blog versus non-blogging companies****:
      1. 126% increase in monthly leads generated.
      2. 55% increase in visitors.
      3. 97% more inbound links.
      4. 434% more indexed pages in the search engines.

If these points, and especially the statistics, don’t convince you that you should be blogging, I give up. Let’s do it. Send me your blog address. If you do, I promise that I’ll put you in my Google Reader and keep up on your activities.

* source: Internet World Stats
** source: Universal McCann
*** source: Pew Research
**** source: Hubspot

Image credit: flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to In My Place by Coldplay.

While driving through Norfolk this afternoon a truck passed me that was painted and wrapped with company logos and colors. But what caught my attention was the cool name of the company - Doody Calls.

That one didn’t take but about 3 seconds to figure out that they were a service company that would come out and clean up your yard behind your little Skippy.

All companies cannnot have a name as rememberable as Doody Calls but take a second next time you have the opportunity to dream up company names. Think rememberable. Think original. And think, can I remember that name an hour later when I get to Panera Bread to blog about it.

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Okay, maybe blogging won’t change the world as in solving world peace. But blogging can play a major role in influencing the opinions of many people.

Blogging can work wonders in creating, managing, and molding your brand.
Blogging can provide a way to share your thoughts.
Blogging can provide a way to begin meaningful conversations.

Stowe believes that blogging provides a medium to change the world one mind at a time.

Euan believes blogging provides an outlet for your ideas.

What about you? Why do you blog?

image credit: flickr.com/photos/barnett

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Let It Grow by Eric Clapton.

I’ll be teaching a how-to class on Twitter in a few weeks. The idea behind the session is to get non-profits and museums across Virginia onboard with the powerful networking aspects of Twitter.

I’ve come up with this course description and bullet conversation points. If this looks like something that would benefit your organization, feel free to contact me to setup a date. I’d be more than happy to talk with your action officers, decision makers and executives on the true power of social media and new media marketing.

Twitter for Your Organization - The Why and How

Building and maintaining your organization’s brand and reputation is a crucial aspect of the success you achieve. Twitter, one of the power players in this era of social networking, has proven to be an efficient tool to help with brand management.

But why tweet? Here are some of the topics we will cover in this session on tweeting to help you understand how Twitter can help your organization.

- What is Twitter and how does it work?
- Why should we tweet?
- The Twitter lingo.
- How to get started tweeting, creating an account, setting up a profile.
- What software programs can I use to tweet?
- How to post tweets.
- How to manage multiple Twitter accounts.
- How to @reply to others and retweet (RT) other tweets.
- The right way to interact with other twitterers.
- How to add Twitter to your blog.
- How to add Twitter to your Facebook page.
- Twitter marketing with your mobile phone.

Teacher: Keith Parnell, JASE Group Marketing & New Media

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Truth Serum by Dishwalla.

Do you wonder who is JASE Group?
Do you wonder what JASE Group does?
Wonder no longer!

Related info:

http://www.JASEgroup.com
http://www.CoffeeWithTheCEO.com
http://www.jasegroup.com/brand_management
http://www.jasegroup.com/inbound_marketing
http://www.jasegroup.com/design
http://www.jasegroup.com/blog

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to After the Storm by Norman Brown.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Below is a picture of my laptop and coffee hanging out at Panera Bread in Pembroke in Virginia Beach yesterday. Between the weekly Coffee with the CEO sessions, the coffee and lunch meetings, the many virtual work sessions at local coffee shops, and various social media networking events, my laptop sees an estimated 500 fresh pairs of eyes per week. That’s over 2,100 people seeing the stickers on my laptop per month and 26,000 people per year being exposed to my brand.

What is that kind of exposure worth to your company? We’re talking creative advertising at its finest. Let’s talk.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to White Flag by Dido.

photo credit: sportsagentblog.com

I just ran across a blog post by my friend Leah that touched on a topic that a lot of people think about, discuss (sometimes heated), and wonder about almost daily if they do business on the Internet. Read her blog post here. By they way Leah is an online sales consultant for a local home builder in Hampton Roads.

Leah is struggling with mixing the personas of her business life and her personal life on Facebook. A lot of people struggle with this. Should I mix my personal brand with my professional brand? How would this affect any current or potential business relationships? How would this affect the communications with my personal friends on Facebook?

I offered my comments to this topic:

I think the thing I like the most about this topic is that there is, and won’t ever be, a right answer. Each of us use social media and its various platforms in our own special manner, which is what makes us special, which is what social media is all about - people (personalities).

I don’t think that any of us ever want to upset or disturb the balance of a friendship or a business relationship on any level. And I think the best way to not disturb that balance is to just be yourself. Be your brand. Be your company’s brand (if that’s your goal). And people will like you, or not. And that’s okay.

What about you? What is your take on the mix of personal brand and professional brand on communities like Facebook for those of us that do business on the Internet?

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

photo credit: thundersquee.com

I’ve been working through several major topics the last few months with the goal of publishing them as eBooks on the web. A couple of the topics, including personal and corporate branding strategies, inbound marketing techniques, yes’s and no’s of blogging, and social media business strategies that work, have emerged at the forefront and should be published soon.

With the publication dates drawing near, I’m finding myself at another crossroads, or will be soon. Should I publish the eBooks as free downloads? I’m talking totally free - as in, don’t even collect email addresses prior to download.

I’m thinking in my minds eye that I should, if for no other reason than to increase the posibilities of viral distribution via email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, etc.

But being of a marketing frame of mind, I’m also hearing from the other shoulder that I should think lead generation and at least collect contact info at the time of download.

What do you think? Would a contact info gate before the eBook download prevent you from stepping further?

Research from the field:

• David Meerman Scott seems to say no to collecting info in this post and this post.
• Ann Handley lays out both points of view nicely in this post.
• Susan Gunelius agrees with removing the registration gate in this post.

Did any of these change your mind?

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How strong is your brand? Is your brand stronger than your company’s brand?

I got to thinking about that this afternoon while watching the introductions of Brett Favre to the Green Bay community on his first return to Packers stadium. He received mixed reviews from the Packers fans but the majority were probably cheering for Bret, despite the fact that Green Bay is the only NFL franchise that is owned by the citizens (tax payers) of the City. Seems Brett’s brand does far exceed the strength of the Packer’s brand from the perception of loyal Packers followers.

So I ask you, can your brand stand strong outside the umbrella of your organization’s brand?

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There is a difference between branding yourself as an expert and calling yourself an expert. The difference between the two could make or break you in today’s social media communities.

The mentality and emotion of electronic social media today is very different from old school socializing in the business world. Being “branded an expert” will not sell your product on this platform, conversing about your product will make you successful.

Let me know what you think. Any horror stories you’ve seen?

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I found myself this afternoon driving around Town Center in Virginia Beach looking for a parking space before a lunch meeting at Gordon Biersch. For those of you that do not live in Virginia Beach, Town Center is ‘the’ business mecca in Southside Hampton Roads.

In front of me at a stop light was this (photo below) mobile truck advertisement. With a quick glance you can tell the ad is for a television program. I can make a logical guess that the advertiser just wants me to tune in to the tv show.

But what if the advertiser were to display a website address (URL) on the ad. Wouldn’t that make more sense? A website builds community. A website builds loyalty. A website builds a list of consumers that like you that could potentially buy from you. A website creates a location for more (lesser expensive) advertising. A website provides a location for past shows on video. I could go on but you get the picture.

Don’t miss out with your advertising. Don’t think that inbound marketing sources are only from online tentacles branching from your web hub. Use your offline techniques to build a more loyal online community.

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In this age of sprouting social media, social networks and easy-to-use social communities, are we really practicing what we preach? Do we use social media to communicate and even more importantly to interact with our customers?

We should. Now, more than ever before, we have the tools to increase bi-directional and multi-threaded interaction with our closest and also the most distant customers. We should be thinking of new ways everyday via social media to let our customers know they can rely on us to deliver on our brand promise to them.

I sent out this quick tweet last night to my JZ, Twitter and Facebook network but thougth I’d run it by you guys in the blog network to see what your thoughts are.

TBS MLB playoffs are “presented by BlackBerry”. Not Rim. Product brand recognition bigger than company brand. Good thing?

What do you think? Should a company make it standard practice to spend millions of dollars to brand one of their products rather than their company name? Should the MLB playoffs on TBS be “presented by Rim”?

I read this great quote this morning from Milan Martin talking how you represent your agency’s brand to a prospective client. Essentially the message is to be yourself. Represent your brand and your company’s culture accurately and more often than not, you will win over the confidence of your audience.

When they [a prospective client] visited our agency, did we take them to Chez Francois for lunch? No. We had Shake Shack brought in. Double cheeseburgers, black-and-white shakes and fries. On paper plates. Because that’s us. We’re burger-eating, jeans-wearing, show-you-an-idea-even-if-it’s-not-completely-baked-yet kind of people. And that doesn’t work for everyone.

Misrepresenting your agency culture or your personality in a pitch would be like convincing a beautiful girl to marry you based on your common love for Michael Bolton. You may have won her hand, but you’ve got a lifetime of Michael Bolton ahead of you. And if you weren’t a Michael Bolton fan to begin with, the thrill of “victory” will soon fade with each rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

Source story: What We Learned From a Client’s Parking Lot

Think he cares that Starbucks is the hottest brand name in the food vertical since McDonald’s? No. But as comfortable as he looks, he’s probably glad his buddy cares.

What about your brand? Does your brand span from - those that care - to - those that hang out with those that care?