The Deal: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Info Summits - short blasts of info for adventurous entrepreneurs!

Time: 2 minutes, 58 seconds - give it a listen with the Audio Acrobat player below. (Can’t see it? It happens sometimes. Click here instead.)

Featured Expert: Our own Allen Voivod, Certified Social Media Strategist and Co-Content Lover in Chief.

Summary: Allen recently spoke to a couple of undergraduate business classes at Southern New Hampshire University about social media and its place in the broader marketing planning and business planning picture. Post-lecture, he took a moment to riff on three top things to consider for social media strategy.

Teaser Quip: “This doesn’t always look like money, exactly - it’s not necessarily a straight A-to-B link.”

Idea Path: Integrating social media strategy with a marketing plan and a business plan  >> 3 top things to consider >> who/where the audience is now >> who/where the audience will be >> search engine optimization >> Google and Bing indexing full feeds of Facebook and Twitter >> Universal Search Placement (USP) >> return on investment (ROI) >> David Meerman Scott putting his pants on >> other ways to look at ROI

For More Tips, Tricks, and Occasional Falsetto Voices: Join us on Facebook!

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 6:53 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

The Deal: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Info Summits - short blasts of info for adventurous entrepreneurs!

Time: 4 minutes, 18 seconds - give it a listen with the Audio Acrobat player below.

Featured Expert: Our own Allen Voivod, Certified Social Media Strategist and Co-Content Lover in Chief.

Summary: Seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? Setting an intention for the outcome you want, but being emotionally detached from the outcome? There’s a way to reconcile the two, and even if you have two left feet, you’ll be able to put it into action for yourself and your own work.

Teaser Quip: “The path doesn’t look like what you always expect it to look like.”

Idea Path: Great minds in self-improvement >> desired results >> control through letting go >> value judgments >> the dancing analogy >> firmness >> accept and add >>how it applies to networking and business meetings >> having something to play off of >> purpose creates opportunity

For More Tips, Tricks, and Occasional Falsetto Voices: Join Us on Facebook!

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 6:34 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

The Deal: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Info Summits - short blasts of info for adventurous entrepreneurs!

Time: 16 minutes, 29 seconds - give it a listen with the Audio Acrobat player below!

Featured Expert: Stacey Hylen, Hylen Success Coaching.

Summary: Allen interviews Stacey ahead of Business Optimization Week about the reasons why hiring a business coach can be the smartest thing you can do for your business - even (and especially!) during challenging economic times.

Teaser Quip: “You can’t solve a problem at the same level of thinking that created it.”

Idea Path: Making people look and feel their best >> business makeovers >> business “optimization” >> what a coach really does for your business >> looking with different eyes >> how that creates possibility >> the effect of cutting back on marketing >> priming the water pump >> whose job is it to remember whom? >> creating accountability >> adding upsells >> one tweak leading to up to $11 million in revenue over 10 years >> what Tiger Woods’ coach is sharing with him >> 3rd annual B.O.W. >> marketing and mindset >> consistency >> stepping outside a comfort zone >> making it convenient to gain information >> preview of B.O.W. >> implementation packages for a “kick in the butt”

More Info: Business Optimization Week is FREE to attend, you can get downloadable recordings for a nominal fee (and a great deal on implementation packages on top of that). We’re thrilled to be joining the roster of speakers for BOW, including Dean Hunt, Ed Gerety, Felicia Slattery, Shannon Cherry, Therese Skelly, Lou Bortone, and many more!

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

The following is slightly adapted from October’s installment of The Broad Appeal: One Chick’s Case Against Perfection, Lani’s monthly column for the NH Mirror magazine.

 (Prefer to listen - or read along with Lani? Just click the “Play” button below.)

It’s time, ladies. It’s time to rule – and rescue! – planet Earth.

Humankind is evolving faster than a hummingbird hula-hooping, and our singular strengths are the headlamps guiding us out of the collapsing mineshaft of “Ye Old Way.”

“Women, it turns out, are built to lead – particularly in the modern world,” says biological anthropologist Helen Fisher. Based on what she calls our “web thinking” (as opposed to males’ more linear “step thinking”), we have distinct, evolution-bolstered gifts designed to excel right now. Fisher cites intuition, imagination, long-term planning and networking among our gender’s gene scene.

Not coincidentally, these traits are shared by successful entrepreneurs.

“But I’m not an entrepreneur!” you say. Oh really?

Do you organize and manage your life (a budding enterprise if ever there was one) with considerable initiative and risk? Do you play the odds, move mountains, make decisions and invent solutions as often as you’re supposed to do your Kegel exercises?

Then yes, incorporated or not, you’re an entrepreneur at heart. And Female Entrepreneurs are at the heart of a major cultural and philosophical shift – in power, productivity and possibility. Thanks to ideological momentum plus mind-blowing advances in technology, all signs point to seven feminine-laced virtues that are changing the way we all live, work and play together.

1. Creativity. “Web thinking” means discovering 1 + 2 sometimes equals kumquat. Creativity allows us to riff off that answer with purpose, passion, and elegant flair.

2. Compassion. A profound capacity for empathy helps us understand our neighbors’ trials, tribulations, and triumphs, too. Compassion inspires us to take action – like volunteering, sending care packages, cooking casseroles, and launching mission-driven organizations.

3. Collaboration. Listening to others without feeling threatened, then blending the best ideas to solve specific problems. What woman doesn’t get a thrill out of mixing a pinch of this with a dash of that to create something new, better, and delightful?

4. Connections. As in, making lots of them. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn certainly help. We socialize in life, and keep strong, meaningful connections going with the tools available to us.

5. Community. When Hillary Clinton said “it takes a village…” she immortalized the phrase. These days, your “village” could be a local one, an online cooperative, or a global community of like-minded souls united by a bold vision or venture.

6. Communication. I once heard the average man mutters 7,000 words per day, while his ovaried companion squeezes 25,000 words into her daily repertoire. By glare, gab, blog, bootie shake, text message, or gesture, we gals definitely revel in revealing what’s on our minds.

7. CRAZY. Seal sang it best: “Oh we’re never gonna survive, unless, we are a little crazy.” Fight it or flaunt it, but don’t dare deny it – crazy is a chick thing. We may as well use it to our advantage!

These seven “C’s” are giving us – the world’s Female Entrepreneurs – the winning edge that makes things all work out, against all odds.

And with crazy as our ace in the hole?

Not only can we grasp the kumquat equation in No. 1, we can live, learn and love at full blast. No boundaries, bras optional. Once and for all.

Lani is a Female Entrepreneur. Follow her on at http://Twitter.com/LaniVoivod, and become a Fan of Epiphanies, Inc. on Facebook at http://Facebook.com/AhaYourself, to stay connected to the social marketing & success strategies business she nurtures and grows with her husband, Allen.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am and is filed under ADD Info Summits, Inciter Articles. 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.

The Deal: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Info Summits - short blasts of info for adventurous entrepreneurs!

Time: 13 minutes, 17 seconds - give it a listen with the Audio Acrobat player below!

Featured Expert: Sue Moulton, Independent Associate, Pre-paid Legal Services, Inc.

Summary: Lani interviews Sue, about a very different way of working with lawyers. (They met at a Women Inspiring Women event and Lani was wowed by her.)

Teaser Quip: “Sue really had the most compelling talking points for the services, and I really wanted to share it with the Epiphanies, Inc. audience….you made me look at what you offer a little bit differently than what I had seen before.”

Idea Path: The overview >> like car or health insurance >> small biz ready to take their success to the next level >> example with faulty EZPass equipment >> five areas of identity theft >> what can be bought on the Internet >> medical fraud example >> 5K-7K attorneys(!) >> membership give access to specialties, even out of state >> two family plans, two business plans >> entrepreneurial opportunities >> recovered more than $22 million in 2008 for members, with just one letter or phone call on a member’s behalf

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 6:53 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

Time: 4 min, 37 sec. A quick listen!

Featured Expert: Allen Voivod, co-owner and Content Lover

Summary: Recounting an anecdote shared by John Daley of the Boston Police Department’s Operations Division. It involves the department’s commissioner, and what was more interesting to South Boston residents on Saint Patrick’s Day - public drinking or Twitter. (You get one guess.)

Teaser Quip: “If that’s not an indicator of the power of Twitter…I don’t know what is.”

Bonus: Check out the slides and audio from Social Media Breakfast #2, where John shared this story earlier today.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 4:07 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

Time: 10 minutes, 15 seconds. Give it a listen with the Audio Acrobat player below!

Featured Expert: Scott Cassano, Account Executive for Marketwire.

Summary: We just signed up with Marketwire, and before our account was officially activated, Scott called to introduce himself. So we decided to put him on the spot and ask him a few questions about the service, and how small business owners can get the biggest bang for their buck out of a press release service.

Teaser Quip: “You really want to think of your release as a web page as well as a press release.”

Idea Path: What differentiates Marketwire from free or more expensive services >> HTML distribution >> SEO >> social media press releases >> distributing within the social media community >> online only distributions >> AP circuits - public companies choosing these >> hyperlocal and global options >> consulting on press releases for biggest bang for the buck >> metadata and Google algorithms >> explosive changes >> keeping up with new information, and passing it on to their clients >> biggest mistake small businesses make with their releases >> what’s the goal of the release? >> strategizing >> adding enhancements to drive traffic >> writing PRs like web pages >> embedding photos and videos in social media releases >> tell the story >> traveling version of your press release >> adds visibility cost-effectively >> what can you do with a $300 budget? >> what’s a realistic budget and expectation? >> regional distribution, gets AP satellite network >> national with 1000 websites, trade publications >> adding metatags and enhancements to round it out

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 2:58 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

Time: 14 minutes, 30 seconds. Hey, it’s a big topic!

Featured Expert: Kevin Skarritt, Chief Nut, Acorn Creative

Summary: Widgets. Cute enough word, but for those of us who are technophobes, the brave new world of widgets can be daunting. Allen “Widget Neophyte” Voivod grills Kevin “Social Media Maestro” Skarritt on the particulars of widgets - what they are, why they matter to business owners, and how they can add to your bottom line.

Teaser Quip: “How can I [hit our business goals] through existing content or possibly new content or new ideas that could be served up via widgets?”

Idea path: WidgetWeb Expo in NYC >> What is a widget? >> “A portable snippet of code that can be placed in multiple locations within social networks” >> A little idea, program, portal, database, anything you want >> Examples small and large >> Also called “gadgets” >> 1000s produced daily >> Overstock.com’s widget banner/search box >> What’s a good widget strategy? >> Bad: “We need a widget ‘cuz it’s cool” >> Good: Increasing sales, web traffic, product exposure >> Product-based widget brainstorm: games, incentives, anything that increases awareness >> Facebook, MySpace, the desktop - where does the widget go? >> An analogy comparing websites, widgets and social networks to businesses and cities >> Taking a piece of your business to where the people are, and not making them come back to you, and still do business >> The community supports your business >> Widgets can easily be replicated, and go across domains >> How widgets differ from RSS feeds >> RSS feeds serve up content - text, video, images, audio >> Widgets can syndicate an entire database process >> Widgets can be free-standing, but RSS feeds always draw from a home base >> If 2007 was all about the mainstream recognition of social networks, 2008 is all about niche networks, and how they interact with each other through things like widgets

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 2:09 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

Time: 7 minutes, 28 seconds. (Roughly equal to 12 seconds of game time in an NBA Basketball broadcast.)

Featured Experts: Just the two of us this time

Summary: Hot on the heels of multiple failed attempts at helping a client get on the podcasting bandwagon, we explain what mistake we made, and answer the objections to podcasting by riffing on a few good ways to use them.

Teaser Quip: “Doing a regular podcast is almost like doing live radio in a sense, where anything can happen, people are going to screw up, and just like any sort of real-live sales conversation, you’re gonna have to deal with things on the fly.”

Idea Path: Basically, what is podcasting? >> Before “How-to, why-to” >> Need more time to think about what you say >> Record what you say all the time >> Intelligently leveraging your expertise >> Sounding like an idiot >> Sounding genuine, sounding polished >> Another reason for a sales touch >> How you connect with the way information is presented >> The way people search >> Roll with it! >> The time and place for passion and perfection >> Compared to live radio >> Deal with sales on the fly >> Set expectations for your podcast >> Reality web surfing >> What you want to hear, and how you want to hear it

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 3:22 pm and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.

Time: 9 minutes, 43 seconds. You’ve got that to spare, right?

Featured Expert: Bill Phenix, Marketing Consultant, WXRV (92.5 The River in Boston). That’s Bill in the office of Kevin Skarritt, Chief Nut at Acorn Creative. Kevin has a cameo in this audio.

Summary: Bill says he thinks differently than most radio ad sales folks about how to best use the medium. And he’s more than happy to explain why!

Teaser Quip: “If any of you have seen the movie…Office Space, where he comes in in the morning, and 15 different people say, ‘Did you get that memo?’ It’s the repetitiveness, and how annoying it becomes with each repetition. Radio is also like that.”

Idea Path: Managers encouraging heavy investment in radio >> return on investment >> taking radio too far >> remember without annoying >> frequency and the type of situation it favors >> consistency and the long-term view >> people ready to buy “right now” >> radio station compared to a lake >> fishing metaphor, and higher-ticket items >> best case scenario - having an “equity position” >> less frequency, more consistency >> effective use of your radio ad money >> do you close your business between your advertised events? >> tagging new endings on existing radio spots >> flexibility of spots >> changes in case of dire emergency

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 am and is filed under ADD Info Summits. 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.