New LinkedIn Features to Know
Last year vitalink published a white paper on Using LinkedIn to Highlight Your Company and Staff. We’ve now updated it to include some new features available in this useful business focused social media tool. What’s new that you can use?  Add a “Follow us on LinkedIn” widget to your company website, share status updates on Twitter, and more! Read more.
Jeanne Frazer a "mover & shaker"
Our own Jeanne Frazer was busy this month! She had the opportunity to speak to the Raleigh Chamber West AM Breakfast Network on the 5 Myths of Creating a Marketing Plan and Budget. She also visited with the Charlotte Business Professionals group to discuss Using Social Media and the USPS to Create Customers. Both interactive sessions were quite popular and generated great discussion. We hope that all attendees had some great takeaways to  immediately include in their marketing efforts. For more tips, follow Jeanne’s blog. To book Jeanne for your event, group, or business visit marketingspeakerauthor.com or e-mail us.
The highlight of the month was being selected as a 2010 Mover & Shaker by Business Leader Media at an awards ceremony on September 23rd in Raleigh. The annual Movers & Shakers awards recognizes business leaders for their high level of performance at their organization, leadership skills and positive contributions to their communities. Frazer was recognized for growing her business and adding staff during this time when many agencies are downsizing or closing. She recently launched the new marketing speaker author division within vitalink to offer writing services and marketing coaching for small to mid-sized businesses and has partnered with Lawyers Marketing Agency. A cancer survivor, Jeanne serves on several Boards, including the NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Science’s College Relations Advisor Board. And this summer, she provided pro bono creative and PR services to the local Art for Haiti, helping raise $30,000 for Habitat for Humanity’s earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
growing fast: location tools
You may have heard people mention foursquare or Facebook Places—maybe you even use these tools. Both have fans and are growing rapidly. But if you aren’t sure what location-based tools do, you should learn more about how they work and how you might incorporate them into your marketing toolbox.
From a marketing perspective, let’s say I own a retail boutique at the mall and participate as a foursquare vendor.  Foursquare knows when my potential client is at the mall. Foursquare can send a special offer to her mobile phone telling her that if she “checks in” at my boutique, she gets a 10% discount on the new fall styles that just arrived. Built-in analytics features allow me to track the number of shoppers that use the check-in feature. Don’t forget to cross market this in displays that people will see. Put a poster in your store window asking people to check in, which gives them another reason to enter your store. Then add a reminder such as a register topper and a postcard letting people know about your location based promotions and asking them to participate.
The usefulness of the tool does depend on your industry and client base, but think outside the box and consider how you might include this capability in your marketing arsenal. Read more about it.
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