Introducing our Guest Speakers: Two Professional Communicators with Two Takes on the Technical Writing Career Path - A Guest Blog by Simon Abbott

In this blog I would like to introduce our guest speakers for Saturday's Alumni Event - Geraldine Eliot and Andrea Noble. Both are accomplished writers and know a lot about social media and self-promotion.

Geraldine Eliot – Director Meerkat Communications, Writer, Marketer.

Geraldine wrote her first epic at the age of six while growing up in South Africa. She knew then she wanted to be a writer or a teacher. She now does both at the same time.

Passionate about social media, Geraldine’s personal blog, The Canadian Chronicles, was a runner up in the 2009 South African Blog Awards. She has sites on LinkedIn and Google+ and is an active Tweeter.

Geraldine has a great range of experience in creative and business writing and editing. She is a contributor to both print and online magazines (like Suite 101.com and Entrepreneurial Woman) and has had her poetry published. She has developed content for the online destination guide Wordtravels and its companion site, Mytripreport.com. And if all of this was not enough, she has taught Business and Technical Communication at BCIT and still teaches there part time. Her courses are Business Communication and Language Development, Communication for Interior Design and Writing for the Web – part of BCIT’s Technical Writing program.

A firm believer in knowledge sharing and community building, she served as the Director of Communications for Wired Woman Society, a non-profit organization focused on education, networking and mentorship for woman in technology, new media and science. She also volunteered as their Marketing Coordinator. She currently volunteers in a communication role for Education Without Borders.

Geraldine is married and lives in Vancouver and when she's not working she’s busy wrangling her French bulldog, Spock, traveling, experimenting in the kitchen, or reading.

To contact Geraldine directly, email her at geraldine@meerkatcommunications.ca.

Andrea Noble – Copywriter and Creative Strategist

Andrea has been a working writer for over 10 years. With a background in visual art, theatre and creative writing, she enjoys generating concepts that lead to integrated marketing solutions. Describing herself as a “born storyteller”, she is a master of persuasion who loves to show B2B companies how to increase their sales.

Andrea graduated from UBC with a creative writing honours degree. She also completed the Business Entrepreneurial Skills Training at BCIT.

A trained improvisational actor, she has learned to use quick wit and on-the-spot thinking to brainstorm ideas – fast. She has performed for over 10 years in front of large crowds “making people laugh, cry, and cringe.” She uses these skills with staff, clients and anyone else who wants to participate in all levels of industry including such diverse customers as: London Drugs, the City of Richmond and the Canadian Navy.

In addition, Andrea teaches communications and technical writing at BCIT. She has also created training materials and delivered business-writing courses for ICBC and the City of North Vancouver. They said she was a “Fantastic speaker and made the topics interactive and fun.”

Andrea is married (just celebrated her 6^th anniversary!) and lives and works in Burnaby. When not working, she loves to read, write, watch TV and play with her 2 dogs Beasley and Calli. She also loves watching stand up comedy and pondering life’s big questions - why are we here? Why? Why? Why??

To connect with Andrea, visit her Contact page. Andrea is also on LinkedIn. 

Give It Away and “They Will Come”; see you in a week at our Alumni Event! a guest blog by Simon Abbott

As Social Media Marketing Consultant Jim Lodico says in his blog, Social Media and the value of Free Information, ask yourself if you would rather work with a financial planner you have never met or with one who provides you with free, valuable, online information? If you are that financial planner, you are building valuable relationships as well as establishing yourself as an industry expert. Do it well and often and people will notice. This is self promotion.

In his ebook A Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing, Blogger and small business marketing consultant Adarsh Thampy talks about how his content marketing strategy consists of communicating with customers and potential customers without selling. Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, he advocates developing a competition analysis to determine what social network(s) your competition is using and what results they are getting. Then you should decide what network(s) would work best for you. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin by using too many. Focus on your audience. Nurture them. Giving away free quality content always keeps them coming back for more.

But this is something everyone does - how do you make yourself stand out?  Thampy suggests the following content marketing tools  along with social media to separate you from the pack:

• ·      Blogging
• ·      EBooks
• ·      Press Releases
• ·      Training (offering courses)
• ·      Audio and Video (Podcasts, Webinars, Videos on sites like Youtube)

Blogging – Easy to set up for little or no cost, blogs work well with readers who can leave comments and share their own content which is beneficial to you. Typically, blogging will require only a few hours a week of maintenance though that will depend on the number of posts you wish to make. Just remember: quality over quantity and make sure you respond to comments and questions – that’s how you create relationships.

Blogging tools: Blogger, Tumblr and Wordpress.com – all of which are free.

EBooks – These are usually shorter than regular books, twenty to thirty pages long. What you want to do is pack them with useful information and lots of links. Perhaps a good way to think of an eBook is as a collection of blogs you have already written – all on the same or a similar subject. It’s not quite as daunting that way. Your aim is for your audience to find value in the eBook – whether they buy your services or not. Again, this is how you create relationships.

EBook tools: MS Word (save as PDF format) or Adobe Acrobat for creating eBooks and Scribd for EBook hosting and distribution.

Press Releases – A press release can seem odd in the context of content marketing but a good press release can stand out for that reason. If you have a specific message, a press release can help spread the word. It should not exceed 300 – 400 words. If it contains valuable information that comes straight to the point, your readers will likely read it all.  Distribution services are free and paid but the free ones may have limited reach and you may not be able to use links within the release.

Press Release Websites: PRWeb (paid but effective), 24-7pressrelease (paid and free plans)

Offering Free Training/Mentoring Sessions – You may think you don’t have any special skills to offer, but if you have something that can solve another’s problems, then think again! Provide training sessions through webinars so that you can interact with the audience and build relationships. Your audience can enroll ahead of time and you can tape the session to sell later as a potential product. Just be sure that your webinar software/service is up to scratch. There is nothing worse for an audience than enrolling for something that they have difficulty connecting to. You want them to have a positive experience.

Webinar tools: Freebinar (up to 200 attendees free – ad supported), Yugma (works with Android – 20 attendees), Intercall (IPhone and Blackberry add-ons, unlimited webinars, monthly charge)

Videos and Audio – When people see your face and/or hear your voice, you become more real and a bond is quickly formed. Use services such as Vimeo or YouTube for distribution. Create tutorials or provide explanations on subjects your audience will value. Think about providing captions in different languages thus opening yourself up to foreign prospects. For audio formats as free content, consider podcasts using iTunes. Increase the value by providing a transcript for those who find it difficult to find the time to listen. Transcripts are also great for repurposing.

Video and Audio tools: Tube Mogul (Video syndication website)

Every time you use one of these content options, think in terms of combining and repurposing. Today’s webinar is tomorrow’s blog and tomorrow’s blog along with several other blogs becomes the basis of your latest EBook. By providing free and valuable information consistently to prospective customers, the customer will eventually come to you. It’s all about getting your name out there and gaining trust by using content within social media to self promote. What’s your strategy?