They say what you focus on expands.

Never has this been more clear for me than over the last year, since Twitter first got on my radar in any real and meaningful way.

Still, I continue to get waves of “OMG!” when I come across whole sections of major, heavy-hittin’ media outlets - like this mighty Forbes.com Twitter info cluster - dedicated to the business applications, cultural impact, and FUN FACTOR in, round, and inspired by the Twitterverse.

As they say in their suitably brief intro leading to a Twitter info portal of vast clickability:

TwitterNation: Give us 140 characters, and we’ll turn on the world.

News has never traveled faster. The first Twitter prototype was cobbled together in two weeks in March 2006. By the end of the year, it had became a sort of digital pulse—a way that anyone could communicate thoughts, ideas, news, views or just greetings. “I tweet—therefore I exist” became the mantra. The company was founded in May 2007. A gazillion million tweets later, Twitter is becoming the way people all around the globe reach out and touch someone.

Fascinating. Addictive. Engaging. Enthralling. Ridiculous. Brilliant. Inspiring. Simplicity exploded into infinite applicability, complexity, and miraculous connectivity.

And to think, as of the last week or so, the whole Twitter behind-the-scenes Empire consists of Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams, and just 35 or so other peeps.

Just goes to show us all — add a little audacious “What if…?” thinking to focused, streamlined technological razzle-dazzle, and you change the way we silly little humans communicate with each other.

Whodathunkit?

Posted in Fun With Marketing, Social Marketing | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Fun With Marketing, Social Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

First, I’m cutting to the chase: DON’T MISS OUT. SIGN UP NOW. Even if you can’t make it, you’ll get the mp3 recording. So stop reading this blog post, click here, and sign up, pronto. It’ll be the best thing you can do for your biz and brains all day, possibly all month.

Now, if you’re a tire kicker, or new to this blog, to Epiphanies, Inc., or to our inimitable “Content Lovers” style, here’s the scoop on today’s free Twitter teleclass, on which my hubby/biz partner Allen Voivod (twitter handle = @AllenVoivod) will be interviewed by iBizAcademy.com’s Boris Mahovac (twitter handle = @YourEzineCoach, and author or the award-winning Contacts2Clients ezine!).

Attention: Professional Service Providers & Small Business Owners!

“TWEETING FOR YOUR BOTTOM LINE”

How to Use TWITTER, Social Media’s Fastest-growing Star, to Boost Your Business

Hosted by: Boris Mahovac - Your Ezine Coach, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
FREE Tele-seminar on Wednesday, April 15 at 1pm ET

Registration Required

One of the fastest-growing social marketing tools out there is Twitter. That’s the micro-blogging powerhouse which lets you get your message, mission, and vision out to your Ideal Audience in 140-character blasts.

Twitter has grown more than 1300% over the past year - six times faster than Facebook. But what can you do or say with just 140 characters? And how can you make it profitable for your business (instead of a huge waste of time)?

With his wife/biz partner Lani, Allen Voivod is already helping Mattel (the toy company) and the state government of New Hampshire with their Twitter strategies, and just returned from Melanie Benson Strick’s CEO Factor Retreat, where he fielded dozens of questions about Twitter from some of the most ambitiously growth-minded entrepreneurs in the country.

He’s ready to share what’s he’s been learning and hearing, and help even more coaches, consultants, solo professionals, speakers and entrepreneurs start confidently with Twitter.

In this call, you’ll learn why businesses big and small are folding Twitter into their broader marketing strategies - and watching their businesses thrive thanks to this versatile tool.

In This 60-minute Tele-seminar You’ll learn:

The top 3 reasons entrepreneurs resist Twitter
and how to avoid their mistakes

The key to folding Twitter into your existing marketing
and day-to-day activities with ease

8 valuable benefits of using Twitter in your business
to boost your revenue and results 

Don’t miss this free 60-minute teleclass, & the chance to have your Social Networking with Twitter questions answered!

Hosted by: Boris Mahovac, aka Your Ezine Coach

Guest Expert: Allen Voivod, of Epiphanies Inc.

Time and Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time

ZERO COST! This is a free training call and you will walk away with some very useful and actionable information. “Seating” is limited, so please register early.

Posted in "A-Ha!" Events, Social Marketing | 1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 9:53 am and is filed under "A-Ha!" Events, Social Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

(Updated with currently available slots in strikeout and red. Act fast to get your Twitter strategy handled - details below.)

Like blogging and Facebook before it, Twitter is on the verge of exploding into mainstream professional use. It’s the fastest-growing social network out there - six times faster than Facebook, and trouncing similar services with authority.

Here at Epiphanies, Inc., we’ve started working with our clients - including Mattel and the State of New Hampshire - to help them get flying with Twitter accounts and integrate them into their larger social media marketing strategies.

And if you were a fly on the wall, you’d hear them say the same thing that dozens of other businesses, large and small, have been saying to us about Twitter in the past few months:

“I just want someone to handle it for me.”

Is that something you’ve been saying about Twitter? Then keep reading - you’re about to get that chance, if you take action quickly. But first, you should know that Twitter is just the application, the tool. It’s the feature, not the benefit.

What does Twitter really deliver?

• Greater visibility
• Expanded connections
• Deeper community
• Broader reach
• Higher credibility
• Targeted access
• More money

The last point is really important. For-profits and non-profits alike ask us how Twitter makes them money, and while you can send customers from your Twitter feed straight to a place to buy something, what’s more effective in the long run is to use it for:

• Increasing your permission-based marketing list
• Getting potential customers into your marketing funnel
• Building your Know, Like, & Trust Factor over time
• Delivering the value that drives more successful sales offers

Companies as global and diverse as IBM, niched and targeted as Whole Foods, Internet-based like Zappos, and brick-and-mortar-based like Starbucks, are all on Twitter. Every biz owner, marketing professional, or passionate person with a cause to promote can use Twitter to realize their goals. Will use, in fact. Like having a website, it’s not a question of “if,” it’s a question of “when.” And we’re here to help.

You have the opportunity, right now and for a limited time, to take advantage of our investment in social marketing (we were just welcomed into Mari Smith’s six-month intensive program to earn our “Certified Social Media Specialist” designations) and our work with valued clients, by working with us as success partners on your Twitter strategy.

It’s a simple, powerful, and totally easy step to take. We currently offer two Twitter packages. Which one is right for you?

Twitter Biz Visibility Package
(Be there when your Kindreds come lookin’!)

• Ensure professional, consistent brand presence
• Demonstrate company involvement
• Share promos, resources, mission/message
• Your overall, customized Twitter strategy, developed and delivered
• Your Twitter content (50 tweets/month), created and submitted in advance for review
• Your Monthly Progress & “Twips” Report, via email
• Reserve your package now: $750/month (six-month minimum service) or lock in a year in advance and get two months free (with an option to be billed in two installments)

Twitter Brand Loyalty Package
(Connect with your Kindreds and make a great brand, product, service, company, or organization even better!)

• It’s the Biz Visibility Package, PLUS…
• Strategic engagement with “Followers,” prospects, associates, centers of influence, etc.
• Build Followers list with purpose and integrity
• Relationship management
• Monthly phone check-ins
• Reserve your package now: $1,500/month (six-month minimum service) or lock in a year in advance and get two months free (with an option to be billed in two installments)

You’ll receive maximum attention and results, since we only accept 1-2 new Twitter outsourcing clients per month.

If you’re responsible for the marketing of a for-profit or non-profit with at least six figures in annual revenues, you know that one of the keys to success is to focus on what you do best, and delegate/automate/outsource the rest.

The Twitter Biz Visibility and Brand Loyalty Packages help you build your micro-blogging presence with confidence, leveraging the experience of a team with more than a dozen years of working with million- and billion-dollar clients, for less than the cost of an entry-level, part-time employee.

One last thing: Twitter is also a key part of integrating your social media tactics and leveraging your online marketing efforts. Start here, and get it handled once and for all.

Twitter Biz Visibility Package - Monthly or Annual w/ 2 months free

Twitter Brand Loyalty Package - Monthly or Annual w/ 2 months free

If you have any questions, call our direct office line at 603-524-5248. Don’t hesitate - the value is there, the price is the lowest it’ll ever be, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find another truly qualified, brand sensitive, content savvy company offering this kind of soup-to-nuts service. Lock in your package now!

Posted in Fun With Marketing, Social Marketing | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Fun With Marketing, Social Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Because it’s a fantastic view into the world of professional survey research, I jumped at the chance to be a part of the Gallup Panel when they offered it last year. (Note to Gallup - show a progress bar on your survey pages. They’re too long not to have them.)

Occasionally, they’ll send an email with a summary of some of their findings, and we thought this one was worth sharing:

During an ongoing assessment of Americans’ health and well-being, Gallup asks panelists to reflect on a list of nearly a dozen feelings they experienced a lot of the day before the survey. Of the nine feelings Gallup asks respondents to identify, panelists are most likely to report experiencing happiness (74%) during a lot of the previous day. Likewise, 71% of respondents say they experienced enjoyment.

About half of panelists say they felt stress (49%) and 42% say they experienced worry a lot of the day before the survey, whereas 30% say they felt physical pain and 21% were sad. Panelists are least likely to experience anger (16%), depression (16%), and fear (14%).

Considering how insistently our mainstream media is hammering the doom and gloom buttons, isn’t it great to know that, as a nation, we seem to be much happier than the nightly news suggests?

It’s not a Pollyanna thing - obviously, a lot of people are worried/stressed, and for good reasons - but there’s even more joy and good feeling present, and we’ve gotta start tapping into that more as a nation and a people.

Off my soapbox now.

Posted in Lessons Learned, Mood Boosters | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Lessons Learned, Mood Boosters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

You hear a lot of buzz words at events, but this one kind of snuck under the radar. Allen (with Lani behind the camera) drags a certain buzzword into the limelight, and shares its importance in three areas of your business. (from Day 1 of the CEO Factor Retreat.)

Posted in "A-Ha!" TV, Call in the Coach | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 3:29 am and is filed under "A-Ha!" TV, Call in the Coach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Lani riffs on her Donny Deutsch-style “Top 3 Takeaways” from Day 1 of Melanie Benson Strick’s CEO Factor Retreat. Also starring Lani’s notebook (get a peek at her signature scribbles - no pun intended), a spectacular coastline view, and our veggie tray.

Posted in "A-Ha!" TV, Call in the Coach | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 11:22 pm and is filed under "A-Ha!" TV, Call in the Coach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Lani (with Allen behind the camera), on the beach by the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel on the morning before Melanie Benson Strick’s CEO Factor Retreat goes into full swing. We went on a walk before we recorded this to chat about … almost everything except what Lani was going to talk about in the video. See if you can tell when Lani catches Allen’s signal to start walking up the beach as she talks. Can you tell we’re having fun with this?

It’s gonna be a marathon three days, and Lani talks about how to get psyched up for it.

Posted in "A-Ha!" TV | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am and is filed under "A-Ha!" TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We’re excited and sleep deprived, and it’s been a long travel day (not to mention dealing with a wakeful baby the night before - miss him terribly, but it’s going to be so nice to get a good night’s sleep without him waking us up every three hours).

But we had to sum up a couple of points post-”Dessert Reception,” which took place here at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel, CA, the night before Melanie Benson Strick’s CEO Factor Retreat - that’s the event being referenced in the “#ceof” hashtag being used in the title of this video. (And boy, do they have lots of great tasting cheese at the Ritz Carlton, too!)

So without further do, here are our top three takeaways from the night, and a bit of the hotel room, and Homer Simpson pajamas. Can’t forget those.

Posted in "A-Ha!" TV, Dances With Gurus | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 2:24 am and is filed under "A-Ha!" TV, Dances With Gurus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.