Tag Archives: Marketing

Presentation Skills & Pitch Strategy

4 Oct

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A few months ago I taught a Skillshare class. For those of you that don’t know what Skillshare is, it’s basically a community of teachers and students. You can learn anything from anyone anywhere. It’s an amazing community marketplace. From the moment I found out about Skillshare I was hooked.

Each summer they have a “semester” concentration. This summer was advertising. With many nudges from the good folks at Skillshare, I agreed to teach a Presentation Skills & Pitch Strategy class. This was my first Skillshare class I’d ever taught and I had so much fun. My students were amazing, the atmosphere was very laid back.

The class was fully booked and I had a lot of “watchers”.  After much consideration, I’ve decided to re-open the class. Public Speaking is the #1 fear in Americans, even greater than death. That statistic always gets me, because it really isn’t so bad. I do understand why one may be afraid to speak in public, but when you give any fear a lot of energy it tends to grow into an uncontrollable monster. This was one of the reasons why I decided to re-open the class. I love learning new things and I love sharing things.

Now-a days tons of people have greats ideas and they need help expressing these ideas. I’m a big believer in project base learning, this class is very hands on. (Check out my blurb for Skillshare.)  In an hour and a half you can learn the basic skills necessary to be a better presenter, as well as how to deliver a pitch.

Click the link below to sign up. I hope to see you in class. As always, I want to hear from you.

Presentation Skills & Pitch Strategy Class

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The Science of Social Timing

15 May

Anyone that uses social media on a professional level knows that there is a science when it comes to social timing.

Here’s a great infograph on the Science of Social Timing.

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How Are We Using Social Media?

14 May

Here’s a infograph on the use of social media broken down by Marketing/Ad professionals vs. “Normal” people.

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What Happens in an Internet Minute?

8 May

Ever wonder what happens in an internet minute? Here’s an interesting look at how it all goes down in 60 seconds on the internet.

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Congrats Twitter! 100 Million Active Users!

8 Sep
Twitter logo

Like any proud entrepreneur would be, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of  Twitter must be on cloud nine today. Twitter announced earlier that they have 100  million active users. This announcement comes only 5 years after the very first tweet by Jack himself. Twitter is now officially a phenomenon, and numbers don’t lie.

The Chief Executive of Twitter, Dick Costolo outlined the company’s projection for gaining new users and increasing revenue. Twitter has set the goal of being on 2 billion devices world-wide. Mr Costolo also provided Twitter’s amazing breakdown of participation usage.

Here’s the breakdown:

  • Tweeps are now sending 230 million tweets a day, this number is up 110% from the beginning of the year
  • 50 million people log onto Twitter everyday
  • Twitter has a total of 200 million registered users
  • Twitter host 1 billion tweets every 5 days
  • Has recently set a new record of 8,900 tweets per second

Twitter is healthy and growing at impressive numbers. This growth is highly due to the usage of mobile platforms. 55 million Twitter users log onto Twitter from their phones and tablets every month. Twitter’s website traffic is estimated at 400 million visitors a month, this number has jumped from the 250 million that was originally reported at the beginning of the year.

Stay tuned, because Twitter has projected the addition of 26 million active users between now and the end of the year.

So, are you one of the 200 million registered users or will you be one of the 26 million new ones?

Follow me on Twitter! @woofer_kyyiv

Image by Slava Baranskyi via Flickr

Which ever you are, be sure to follow @scharipaul. ;-)

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Social Media, faster than the speed of light!

29 Aug

In this past week I’ve survived an Earthquake and a Hurricane. So it’s true what they say—New Yorkers are resilient.

Earlier this week, while I dismissed the possibility that I was experiencing an earthquake, replacing that thought with a more logical one—I was experiencing the side effects of lack of sleep, it occurred to me, that I was indeed experiencing an earthquake! My desk moving forward to attack me solidified everything. So, I did what any sensible person would do—I grabbed my phone and ran outside. After all the commotion died down, I turned to the one place that I knew would have the latest coverage: Twitter. See, the rest of the news outlets are a few minutes behind and as a New Yorker, we make every minute count.

In a matter of seconds, after I made my first post about the earthquake, the earthquake hashtag exploded all over my screen. Hashtags everywhere, #Earthquake, #DCquake, #VAquake, #NYquake, but none better than the #Earthquakepocalyse. Now, that’s just classic!

So, what does all this mean? Well, here is it in a nutshell. Social media is an unstoppable force. It connects people in real time. It’s relevant information at your fingertips. In a matter of seconds my friends around the world in Australia, Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Cambodia,Costa Rica knew about the East Coast Quake. About 15 minutes later, I saw the “breaking news” on the news. See, one of the most interesting components of social media is that is enables everyone to be a journalist/news correspondent. I’ve even heard rumors that it travels faster than the speed of light, but since I’m not a scientist, I can’t confirm it.

Just how fast is Social Media really?

Here’s a great example. Twitter says that more than 40,000 earthquake related tweets were sent within a minute of its occurrence. That basically breaks down to 5,500 tweets per second. (Refer back to my faster than speed of light theory.) More than 10,000 people had checked into Foursquare’s Earthquakepocalyse at the time of the occurrence. Those numbers speak volume as to how strong a medium social media really is.

Fast-forward to the end of the week—Hurricane Irene! Now, don’t get me wrong, I kept an eye on the television news coverage, however most of my Irene coverage came from Social Media. Social Media kept me informed, it gave me the information that I needed, the information that I was interested in viewing. I didn’t have to wait around during a commercial break, it was right there at my disposal. It was my timeline that first informed me that Irene had been downgraded to a Category 1 Hurricane, instead of the Category 3 Hurricane that was expected. It was social media that informed me that the NYC was shutting down public transportation in preparation for Irene. It was social media that informed me that Osama Bin Laden was killed. I can go on and on.

Infographic on how Social Media are being used...

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a quick look at what makes Social Media different than other media:

  • It exist digitally
  • It’s real time information
  • It is everything that there is to know
  • It’s an open forum
  • Social Media is quickly changing & expanding
  • You can reach thousands of people
  • It’s easily accessible
  • Social Media=User Friendly. You don’t need to know any special skills to share information
  • Permanence-you can’t alter a newspaper once it’s printed, but you can alter a blog post or a tweet. This is a great asset in the social media realm

With all this being said, the world is changing by volume of information and we must be able to process it.  Social media has removed the middle man, you can publish anything, there is no longer a barrier, and there is nothing to stop you. Participation has changed everything and thus, behavior is constantly evolving. In marketing we always want to grow with the trends and because of this, marketing is more effective than ever and it’s all because of influence!

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Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple=An End of an Era!

25 Aug
Steve & Apple Inc.

Image by marcopako  via Flickr

Today, the entire tech world shook with the news that Steve Jobs, Apple’s beloved CEO is resigning. This news comes one day after the North East Earthquake. Talk about no pun intended.

With that being said, what does this mean for the world? A world without one of the best, if not the best, CEO’s of all time. Steve Jobs is a total game changer. I mean, he only did change the world 5x!! Go ahead, click on it. Behold a really good article about the creativity of Mr. Jobs.

Not only did this man basically invent the computer, which in turn is aiding my addiction to social media, but in my defense, it’s for marketing purposes only! He changed the way we experience technology. I can’t even fathom my life without my laptop, my iPod, my iPad, and my iPhone. I think I might lose my mind. He has single handily changed the way we go about our daily lives. It’s hard enough trying to change someone’s mind, much less how the entire world views a service/product.With that being said, he definitely deserves a monument. When I’m done with this post, I’m going to start a trending topic on Twitter, #monumentforstevejobs.

Apple is a haven for marketing done correctly. For they have achieved the hardest of all marketing buzz tactics,  Word of Mouth Marketing. Word of mouth marketing is the most credible of all marketing forms and it serves as a positive reinforcement to the original marketing message. Apple’s sleek and user-friendly image has captivated the hearts and wallets of people around the world, myself included. Apple consumers are die-hard. They are the ones that sleep out the night before to get the new iPad, you know the same ones that are in line every summer, minus this one to get the newest iPhone. They are the ones that will spend their last paycheck on their favorite technology, as long as it comes with that sleek apple logo. Which, brings me to my next point–Brand Loyalty.

Brand Loyalty--Apple has an outstanding amount of loyal consumers. Most companies would kill for a fraction of the brand loyalty that Apple has garnered. They have successfully tailored their products to their consumers, which is basically the entire world. Their sleek design and user-friendly feature has attracted millions of users. How is this possible? It’s simple, be the best there is.

Innovation is the key. They are constantly evolving. Growing with the trends, but here is the formula that makes Apple so successful, they predict trends. They can see what the needs and wants of the marketplace are and they get their tunnel vision on and invent amazing products. We then we ask ourselves, “what did I go before this?” or “why didn’t I think of that?” Simple answer, did you see that trend coming?

It’s kind of like he’s a person from the future, helping us earthlings that are stuck in the present. If there is one thing that I learned from Steve Jobs is to never give up. Do what you love, do what you’re passionate about. For all those that like the words “unrealistic” and “impossible”, just how unrealistic and impossible is it that a young man from California, who starts a company in his parents garage, will one day change the world, not once, but 5 times! I’m just glad he didn’t utter those words to himself. Because after all, us unrealistic dreamers know that the only limitations you have are the ones you put on yourself.

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What is Marketing?

14 Aug

I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out if there is one thing, product, person, trend–well you get the point, that doesn’t need marketing. My conclusion—zip, zilch, nada. Marketing is present in all things. Don’t believe me? What do you do on an interview? You market yourself, your skills, your knowledge, your background. You’re competing with X amount of people for a position. Still not convinced? What do you do on a date? Or,when you like someone? You market yourself. Now, don’t get me wrong, I would hope no one is sitting there reciting the 4 P’s (Which I will get into later). But, long story short, marketing rules the world.

What is Marketing you ask?

When people ask me what I do, I often joke around and say ” I make stuff look pretty.” Now, of course I may not literally be making stuff look pretty, but I am painting the image that whatever it is that I am marketing is damn near perfect.

The American Marketing Association defines Marketing as:

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

In Marketing we want to:

  • Identify the customer 
  • Satisfy the customer
  • Keep the customer

Now, if you learn one thing from this post, learn this: The Marketing Mix.

The Marketing Mix is probably the most famous marketing term. Its elements are the basic, tactical components of a marketing plan. Also known as the Four P’s (as referenced in the first paragraph.) The marketing mix is a good place to start when you are thinking through your plans for a product or service. If used the right way, it can save you a lot of time and eliminate a lot of mistakes. The marketing mix elements are:

Representation of a Marketing-Mix with the fou...

Image via Wikipedia

Product- Ask yourself: What needs of the consumer does this product satisfy? What is the name of the product? Does it exist in the marketplace? If so, how is it different than its competitors? etc.

Place-Where will your consumers purchase your product? How will they purchase it? Will it be online, in a store, in a boutique? etc.

Price- What is the value of the product or service to the consumer? How will your price compare with your competitors? etc.

Promotion- Where, when and how will you get your marketing message across to your target market? How do your competitors promote their product/service? etc.

So, now we know what marketing is, what our goals are, and the marketing mix. With this information, you can be a game changer. Be smart, be strategic. And, most of all, don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Creativity is the key to standing out amongst the crowd. All, marketers will tell you, mistakes can be a good thing, because they can lead you to a world of possibilities.

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