It was just over a year ago when I wrote about Google’s introduction of their WAVE concept. At the time, it was going to change how email and social media is used by business and consumers. The article I wrote titled: Is your PR  Marketing Strategy ready for the next “WAVE” was written in May 2009. Today, Google announced it was canceling the program by the end of this year.

Seems that even the people with all the money just can’t demand to change things if people are not willing to accept it. A lesson I hope was learned by Google. So what then happens to all these followers who jumped in? They will just have to go back to the old fashioned email programs that they have been using for the last 15 years.

So if you are a pr marketing person, or a pr client who thought this would change how we communicate, dust off that old email account and get back to business.

A new iPhone APP titled “Power Resumes and Interviewing” gives a quick study for those who want to improve their softs skills. What are soft skills? Well, it now has become a very improtant issue when HR people interview a person. These are the skills that we are not taught inschool. These are job readiness, skills, things like how to communicate better, what to expect at your job, how to interview,  writing a business email (that doesn’t have happy faces or typing in all lower case), and a lot more great information.

Having these skills will help you find a job and the 30+ cards in the APP deck for Pwer Resumes and Interviewing is an excellent source. If want to make sure your soft skills are at the level you need, go visit the website at www.Businesssoftskills.com. Better yet, go to the iTunes store and by a set of these cards today, it’s only $2.99. This could be the best investment you make!

For those who want to really get the jump on your competition when looking for a job, be sure to see the full set of video lessons that get right to the core of the information without all the fluff. Good luck with your job hunting.

Is email part of you PR Marketing Strategy, or do you only use Social Media?

There have been a lot of discussions about the future and what role email will be playing. Some people, even the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, thinks email is on its way out and people will rely on social media to communicate. This could be possible, but not in any near future. I doubt in my lifetime this will happen. As some writers said, like Chris Crum at WebPro News, all (most of them) social media requires an email to subscribe, or become a member. So that doesn’t sound like the system of social networks has or is ready to abolish email as the means to communicate.

We can only wait and see what new methods of communication develop over the next decade. Who knows, we may soon just think our thoughts and send them through brain waves. “Beam me up Scotty!”

Ok, enough said. This now brings me to the second part of this blog. How involved are your PR Clients with social media? Do you have a plan? Do you have a campaign in place? Writing one blog, or using twitter once or twice a week is not getting involved in social media. Social media can become a powerful marketing tool for any pr marketing strategy. If and when done correctly, results can be very positive. If you need to refresher course, just refer to some of my blogs that discuss “How to Use Linkedin to Increase Traffic“, or “Learn How to Use Social Media for PR Clients“. Or just click on the archive files to see many other related topics.

When you are ready to begin and implement a campaign, then give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. It’s the social thing to do!

I normally do not get into these types of discussions in my blog, but a lot of controversy has been running around about multitasking. So, does it cost a company when employees multitask, or make them more productive? No simple answer.

It seems PR Clients and major corporations are pushing their employees to multitask due to the reduction in staff. But are these decisions going to actually hurt a company in the long run? I think it will, and it seems to already be happening. When we multitask, many of us think it is doing a few tasks at a time, when actually we are doing a portion of a task. So nothing gets completely accomplished, and if it does, it is over a longer period of time.

When I first began working we did several tasks during the day. Was that multitasking? No. Are what young people doing today multitasking? No. The reason, our brains are not capable of handling more than one function at the exact same time. That’s a fact, a scientific fact. When people say they are multitasking, I prefer to use a term “Parallel Tasking”. That makes sense. This means you do one task, such as printing out a status report, and while that is printing, you complete an excel sheet. Another example, you begin to write or type a letter, then decide to have a drink of coffee or water that is on your desk, while drinking, you answer a phone call. So are these multitasks? They are “Parallel Tasks”. Remember, the brain is wired to focus on one thing at a time. Just like a circus juggler who looks like he is tossing objects in the air and then does something else (in the same spot) is using his reflexes that he taught to keep a motion going while he re-directs his attention to another task.

There are a lot of studies on the subject, even one called The Myths of Multitasking.

So I ask again, is multitasking helping or hurting your company? Before you answer that, check your email and finish typing that report, and oh, change the song on your iPod and get another cup of coffee.

If you haven’t done any web marketing on your web site in the last 8 to 12 months, then you probably think Google’s PageRank is important. Brace yourself folks, it isn’t any longer. Actually, it hasn’t been a tool that Google has relied upon for a year. 

A Google Webmaster Trends Analyst stated “We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.”

If this doesn’t convenience you to change your pr marketing strategy and re-work your web site, then you may just want to close your eyes and let the competition take away your market share.

Here’s an inside secret, Google is probably going to re-brand PageRank because a lot of people still use the PageRank in the tool bar. Why? Because some people still use PageRank as their final analysis for web sites.

If you need to hear this from the top people at Google, then watch this video – it is an interview with Norvig. Still need more? Ok, visit the WebPro News article from Chris Crum.

When you are ready to make things happen in a positive way with your website, contact George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc.

Blogging is still one of the most required media when creating a social network program. PR Clients need to make sure their blogging is done on a regular basis. Business blogs are necessary and helpful. Companies can control what is said about their people, products and services and can use their business blog sites to better understand the needs of employees. When done correctly, business blogs can help pr clients target thier customers needs by “listening’ to what is said. In turn, pr clients should respond to any negative or positive comments so customers feel a connection, which builds trust.

So what is different from a business blog vs a typical blog site?

This important pr marketing tool helps you to communicate more effectively to customers and potential customers as well. Last year in April, a blog I wrote listed of a few companies’ that have business blogs. These will give you an idea of how other company’s use blogging to improve their position and image:

• Gizmodo

• Google Blog

• Loosetooth.com Shop Blog

  If you need more reasons why a business blog can improve your company’s position and image, give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. It could be the best call you make this year!

Publicity is everywhere! And that is why social media is one of the most successful resources to get publicity quickly in front of your potential customers. Ok, I will now get into why LinkedIn has actually become a solid pr marketing tool.

Unlike Twitter (which should be part of your pr marketing campaign), LinkedIn is purely a businessperson’s social media. Yet, too often it is thought of as a place for job hunter’s or those looking for people to add to their company. In the past this was how LinkedIn was used, but it has grown more as a means to build traffic to your web site. Why is this a good thing? If you own a business, or are a VP or manager of a company, it can be a place to create topics, and discussions among peers. It can direct them to your site and establish business relationships that can lead to more networking and sales.

Without trying to give you many examples, just visit Chris Crum’s article on this topic. I was glad to see and read his article because finally someone else recognizes the value and maybe pr clients will listen to a different person who sees this as a major opportunity to build traffic to your site. As many of you may know (at least I hope you know) LinkedIn announced it is now integrated into Microsoft Outlook. This is a big deal for LinkedIn! So now you should more than ever take advantage of this powerful social media and add it into your pr marketing strategy campaign.

If you do not have the time, or the staff to handle a social media campaign, then contact a social media company that could get you started. Don’t know anyone? Then call George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. - 949-477-9400.

If you are a car enthusiast, like me, then you’ll appreciate this ‘70 Mustang Gran Turismo called the “Trans-Cammer”.

One of my PR Clients, Phil Koenen of Grand Touring Garage, called me a couple of weeks ago with some great news.

Phil Koenen, owner and designer at Grand Touring Garage, built a ‘70 Mustang this past year. And like all car buffs, he entered the car at the recent SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas. While enjoying the show and seeing lots of wild cars and accessories, Phil attended the awards presentation at the Palms hotel. That evening, Kazunori Yamauchi – creator of the Sony PlayStation Gran Turismo video game franchise, selected one car to be represented in the upcoming Gan Turismo 5 driving game. He selected the ‘70 Mustang “Trans-Cammer” that was built by Grand Touring Garage.

Phil was extremely excited that his 600 hp Ford powered, black beauty was chosen. I have known Phil Koenen for over 25 years and know that he builds excellent cars. This just proved that! Although I was very excited to hear this news, Phil is accustomed to prestigious awards over his restoration building years. He has won numerous awards at Pebble Beach, Hillsborough, Silverado, Amelia Island and Santa Barbara and at many specialty marques shows like the National AACA Shows and the Corvette Bloomington Gold Events.

I understand that in a couple of months, the engineers, designers and other craftsmen who create the Gran Turismo game will be developing the new version using the 70 Mustang “Trans-Cammer”. I don’t know how they do their magic, but I am sure it is going to be a wild ride.

Grand Touring Garage can now add this great award to their list.

With the new battle among Google, Yahoo, and Bing to become the “choice search engine” by users, it is important to keep your pr marketing strategies current. That means knowing how SEO’s are finding your site to give it a ranking position in their index. Keywords are very important, and keeping the content fresh is also key to a successful web site.

These tips below to optimize your site are used by professional web marketing companies and should be added to your pr marketing strategy as an on-going program. Just optimizing your site once a year, or every 6 months can cause your site to loose its page ranking. Why? Because your competitors are more aggressive today than ever before to keep their company in front of potential customers. If you do only the minimum web marketing for your site, then do not expect customers to find you. Or to see your site listed on the first page of any search engine.

Let’s look at a few pr marketing strategies for web site optimization.

1- KEYWORDS. You need to do more than add a few keywords to your web site html. You need to research which keywords are most often used by your customers. Don’t guess, or use what YOU think are the best keywords, use an analyzer tool, or contact a professional.

2- FRESH CONTENT. Keep the web site fresh with new information on a regular basis. Do this every 3 months. It isn’t necessary to change every page of text. Have your blog be part of your site, and add a link to your Twitter account.

3- USE LOCAL TERMS/WORDS. Not all businesses are nationwide. Even if you are a national company, be local with your site. Use words that relate to location. Such as “local publicity in Orange County”, or “full service advertising in Santa Ana, CA”.

4- DISCUSS YOUR INVENTORY. If you have a cosmetic or beauty store, mention what new items, or clearance products you have. That will help your visitors and those surfing for products know your inventory.

These are just a few tips to optimize your site to get better ranking and positioning with the search engines. For more in-depth, professional help contact George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. at 949-477-9400.

Bing, and Google who both recently announced deals with Twitter and Facebook.

Since both SEO’s like content, and a lot of it, then your Twitter and Facebook can become major sources to be recognized by these SEO’s. But remember as I mentioned in my recent posts about Twitter, you need to have good content in those limited words. Don’t make sales pitches, give content.

Use keywords in your tweets and Facebook sites. And important are the links you use in the content. One tip, don’t have your feeds cross back and forth from your tweets and Facebook, turn it off, if the messages are the same on both. This may affect Bing from picking up your feeds if the are the same. Make them each unique, and you are good to go.

This is just another change in the war of search engines struggling to become the choice of consumers. Keeping informed of these types of changes is a full time job. So keep following this blog and we will do our best to help you be current so that your public relations campaign and pr marketing strategy is a success

Here are a few tips that we follow in the industry. Follow them, and you will have a better chance to get published.

1- Is the topic newsworthy? Announcing the new position of a person in your company may be news to you, but not to the reporters or editors. Even an open house isn’t “big news”. This doesn’t mean those releases won’t be published, but the odds are not very high they will. Try putting something exciting into these. For example, for an open house, announce that you are having a guest speaker, or will be offering something to the community.

2- Make your intro paragraph interesting, not a sales pitch. Give the reporter/editor something that wants them to read more.

3- Be sure you follow the AP style/formats and that it is grammatically sound.

4- Is the release fact based and well documented?

5- Make sure the message matches your target audience.

6- Be sure all the proper contact information is listed.

These are just a few of the important tips you need to write a good press release. Also, keep it to one page if possible.  Your list of media needs to be considered when submitting the release. But that’s another topic. If you search Google for “writing press releases” you will see that these tips are mentioned by most all professionals and editors in the industry.

Everyone is offering his or her “secret” how to become a successful social media genius. If you are looking for a quick fix solution, or a one-step process to solve your pr marketing strategy problems, then you are not going to like the “TRUTH”.

The real secret to social media success is to start with a Plan. Yes, you need to plan your pr marketing strategy. Just like a road map, if you don’t have a solid plan, then you are doing a shotgun approach with your pr marketing strategy only to hope something will work. It will take time to build a good social media campaign. And it should not be alone; it should be part of your overall pr marketing strategy. That is another reason why companies fail.

Ford Motor Company has been one of the few major corporations to understand how to use social media. Many others are trying to follow their steps, but what they are missing is the plan that was set by Ford.

These are some of the real secrets to creating a successful social media campaign:

First, you need to realize that social media is NOT a marketing channel to push your message or products.

Second, you need to make social media engaging to your network of people.

Third, people will not respond until they build a trust with you and/or your company.

Fourth, it is not about the sale, but about developing relationships.

Fifth, you need to be active with people, where they frequent, sites they visit, etc.

Sixth, establish guideline. These are the guideline for your employees. You need to set how they should communicate about your company on their own blogs, twitter and facebook accounts. You cannot control what they say, but if your corporate culture is positive, then your employees’ communications will also be positive.

Social networks are growing and it is only becoming a path for what the future will be in terms of how we communicate. For example, there are many networks like “upcoming” and “SCRIB” besides Twitter and Facebook that your company should be involved with. Do you need help in getting a social network campaign to be part of your pr marketing strategy? If so, give George Carson, Carson Marketing, Inc., a call at 949-477-9400. It’s time to get serious and grow your company using these marketing efforts with your pr marketing strategy.

There has been a lot of discussion about social media replacing email. I doubt this will happen. At least for now. Email might be reconfigured over the next couple of years, but I think email is here to stay. Is your pr marketing strategy focusing on email or social media? If you are choosing one over the other, then your pr marketing strategy needs to be revised. It is best to keep both marketing strategies to have a successful marketing plan.

I read several different articles claiming that social media networks are replacing email. One in particular describes how everyone at a company is assigned an email account, but a movement to stop employees from using social networks at work is on the incline.

Another good article by a WebPro writer, Chris Crum, created a list of reasons why email is not going to be replaced by social media. These are just a few of his reasons:

1. People still send hand-written letters via snail mail, even though they could instead make a phone call, send an email, text message, or status update.

2. Nearly all sites on the web that require registration require an email address. Some are starting to integrate social media into this process (through things like Facebook Connect), but that is still a very small fraction, and they typically still allow for email information as well.

3. Email notifies you of updates from all social networks you are a part of (provided your settings are set up that way).

4. We haven’t seen any evidence yet that Google Wave really is the next big thing and will catch on a large scale.

5. Email is still improving. It hasn’t screeched to a halt with the rise of social media. There is still innovation going on, and integration with social media. Look at how Google is constantly adding new features to Gmail. Look at the new Yahoo Mail.

6. Even social networks themselves recognize the importance of email. Never mind that they update users about community-driven happenings via email. MySpace (still one of the biggest social networks) even launched its own email service recently.

The next time you are told by your pr client to not use email as part of the marketing strategy, just pass along this short list. It may not convince them, but at least you pointed out reason why it is important to keep email in the plan, at least for now. If you need help in deciding on the direction to take, or need help with a successful social media campaign, give George Carson a call today at 949-477-9400.

The great thing about Twitter, you can be a local orange county business, or a national company, even a global business and get people to follow you. So why, if you are a pr client, wouldn’t you want followers? It is a great pr marketing tool! When done correctly, you can actually increase traffic to your site. But remember, the content in those 140 characters need to be inviting. Don’t try to sell junk, or build traffic to only sell ad space on your site. Followers can be an important factor in growing your twitter name and your business web site.

I read a study by Rapleaf stating “active” Twitter users studied (40,000) had this in their report: “The most followed users gained followers at a faster rate than less popular users, contributing to a growing ‘popularity gap.’”  Also, “Users in the top 0.1% have around 5x as many followers as users in the top 1% and about 40x as many followers as users in the top 10%.”

Basically this is saying that many top celebs are being followed faster, and that people are more interested in the following than building their own followers. One writer uses the words “popularity gap” to explain this. That’s where the business part is loosing ground with this powerful pr marketing tool. If you understand this, it can actually be a good thing. Because you can use Twitter to build an awareness campaign for your service or business before too many companies realize the “gap” in their pr marketing strategy. So all you pr clients, wake up. Now is the time to improve your branding and increase traffic with Twitter. If not, your competition will just “twit” past you and gain more market share.

If you are somewhat familiar with SEO, then you may be aware of the Search Engine Strategies that was held in San Jose sometime back. The main thrust of the meeting/event was directed toward Google. One writer said that if the publishers would listen better, they might just realize how Google and Google News can help them. But that is another topic.

One of the neat things is the “real time search suggestions” with Google Suggest. For those writing in foreign languages, like French, Italian German or Spanish, Google News has added this feature as well. The best way to explain how this feature works was said by a Google spokesperson statement: “The feature can make your experience searching Google News better by helping you formulate queries, saving you keystrokes, correcting spelling mistakes and exposing you to queries you might not have thought of,” says Google. “The goal of all that? To get you to the articles you’re looking for as quickly as possible.”

Get your pr marketing strategy going in the right direction. Start using this tool. Just like a reporter, you then can get real time stories to be better targeted when you have the right tools, the Google Suggest tool that is. Get more tips on SEO’s with Web Pro News.

If your pr marketing strategies need help, or if you are a pr client that would like to explore this option to get more awareness, give Carson Marketing, Inc a call. Ask for George Carson. He knows SEO’s and can get your publicity marketing campaign ahead of the competition.

Contact George at: 949-477-9400.

Yamaha Music Centers are known worldwide and have the highest percentage of graduates who have become famous songwriters, musicians, and composers. Not all schools understand the Yamaha philosophy. That’s why the campaign we developed will further explain how children at a young age (from 18 months to 8 years) can improve their learning skills when music is part of their education. It is a fact that students who take music lessons have higher scores in math, and written skills. Carson Marketing, Inc. is now completing a new web site for the Yamaha Music Centers locations and creating various promotional, collateral materials for the schools. A publicity campaign is currently being developed as part of the complete branding program.

For the Spa, our company analyzed the current spa and found through research and a sampling focus study the former name (Spa Da Vinci) was not as appealing as once considered 8 years ago. Our client had recently acquired the company and was looking to increase its customer base. By changing the name (which our agency developed) to Spa OTANI and adding the tag line “Treat Your Body”  helped to establish the new spa as a place of enjoyment and relaxation. As part of our overall pr marketing strategy, we designed the logo for the new name, created a web site and developed all the sales materials for the spa. To further change the old image and to build a new branding image, we worked with the client by re-designing the interior rooms and selected new paint colors. A tie-in promotional campaign with hotels, and businesses is already in the works.

As you can see, sometimes branding could include a new name with a full image campaign or just a re-positioning of an existing name as in the case of Yamaha Music Centers. If your company isn’t sure of how to increase sales for the coming year, it might be time to contact George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. (949-477-9400) and get his expert opinion as what is needed for your company.

PR clients need to stay in touch with their local community programs. It is one method to gain local publicity. Although the rewards may not be immediate, you will see an increase in loyal customers.  Another method is to distribute press releases in your local publications. This is just one form of building a solid local publicity campaign. The Internet now offers a wide variety of web sites to further build upon this local branding campaign. Many of the local community publications have on-line web sites. In addition; you can find many regional and local sites that target your specific market.

So the next time you begin to plan your publicity campaign, be sure to have local publicity as part of the overall program. We have found this to be very rewarding for many of our clients. Especially now when pr clients are looking for ways to increase sales, but maintain a tight budget. If your publicity campaign needs some local direction, give George Carson a call. His Carson Marketing, Inc company has the expertise to get your company noticed which in turn will create more customers.

Ok, let’s go through a few tips as what a pr client should do to become a great spokesperson.

1- Make yourself available.  You, the client should be easily reached, and always be prepared to speak with the media. It might be a good idea to have an “elevator speech” ready so when the media calls, you can quickly tell your story.

2- Know that your main objective to get media exposure is to gain more visibility for your company. Don’t try to “sell” reporters. Instead, make your story relate to something of current interest. If you know the publication, or the media that is calling, make your story (or angle) relate to that industry.

3- Elevator speech.  As mentioned earlier, have at least two of these prepared. One will be a short intro about your company. The other is a summary of what you want to tell the media. It could be about a new product/service, expansion, new contract, etc. Just keep it short and interesting. The reporter will ask questions if your story is of interest.

4- Support facts. This is important. Having tangible facts to back up your claims will show reporters you are knowledgeable of how your products improve customer’s daily lives, or how it helps businesses become more efficient.

5- Have your publicity professional outline a few of what are called “difficult questions”. By practicing the answers to these questions, you will feel more comfortable when asked.

6- Reference cards. You never know when a reporter will contact you. So in order to be prepared, have all the information I discussed on reference cards. This will keep you from trying to remember what to say, or how to handle those challenging questions.

These are just a few tips on how to become a great spokesperson with the media. If you need further coaching, give George Carson a call at Carson Marketing, Inc. 949-477-9400.

You may not think it is important, but editors, reporters write and read for a living and they do not tolerate poor grammar, or the use of conjunctions to make long sentences. I read an article in Press-Release-Writing titled “Get a Grip on Grammar“. It has a lot of the tips I give my pr clients. Let me share with you a few of these from the article.

Q: I’ve heard the terms biweekly and semiweekly used interchangeably. Are they really synonyms?
A: A bimonthly appointment occurs once every two months. A semimonthly appointment occurs twice a month. If you’re a gardener, it will be easier to remember the difference between “bi” and “semi” - just think of the term “biennial” and it’ll be a cinch to remember.

Q: When is a comma used before the conjunction “and”?
A: A comma should be used before coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or) to join closely related sentences. A comma is optional, but recommended, with and before the last item in a series of three or more items. In most of their other roles as joiners (aside from joining independent clauses), coordinating conjunctions can join two sentence elements without the help of a comma…

Q: When are “state” and “federal” capitalized?
A: State and Federal are capitalized when they exist as part of a proper name such as “Federal Reserve Bank”; however, “state law” is not a proper name, so it is not capitalized.

These are just a few common problems that any pr professional, pr client, or novice writer should keep in mind when writing any releases, or articles. If you need further help with your current publicity campaign, give Carson Marketing, Inc a call at 949-477-9400. Ask for George Carson.

Hey, if you think this is just marketing bull, then you need to read a recent article in B-to-B magazine about the top Fortune 500 C-Level execs using the Internet. They are not asking their employees to do the work; these C-Level execs are doing it themselves. The research done by Google reveals that eighty-three percent of C-Level execs use the Internet on a daily basis. These are companies doing over $1 billion in sales! What are they doing when surfing? According to the research, 64% of these execs are locating business information everyday. Maybe now you can begin to see how important it is to have an updated, professional web site. These top-level execs could be looking for information about your company. Is your web site or social networking campaign current? If you still think this is a lot of hot air, then you are definitely missing an opportunity to increase sales.

Here is another great bit of information. 1 in 5 of these executives prefer to see videos on the companies they research to reading text. That shows you it is time to include podcasts, or YouTube videos with your site and social networking. So what are you waiting for? It isn’t too late to get a powerful pr marketing strategy together, if you have the right pr team. If you need help, then give George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc a call. If you choose to do nothing, it could be your company that soon appears in the “auction sales” listings.

Do you now get the point of my headline? Are we becoming that lazy or not willing to use our brains that we want a computer program to help us make these types of decisions? What happens in the next 10 years, or sooner, is going to be really interesting.

But not to be overlooked, Microsoft is still pushing to be king of search. They too have revamped their ZUNE seo for the new Bing. Know what BING stands for? Get this, But Its Not Google. Sorry Microsoft, the “but” is still Google. Although the graphics might give BING a new look,  Google will easily overshadow any changes Microsoft makes, quickly with their development team. Remember, we just saw the WAVE recently. Well, I am sure Google has a few other wild tricks in their lab that will launch soon and take the thunder away from BING, and possibly from hunch, after it launches.

So, listen up all you pr clients, publicity experts, and novice publicity people. Keep using these tools as they become available. Because when you use them for the advancement of your national pr campaign, or local publicity event, it could just get the attention you need, or learn something to make that pr event a success. When you need a web marketing pro to keep your publicity campaign in the front of your competitors, call George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc.– it could be the best call you make this year!

Google’s design team who developed the Google Map, are the lead developers of this unique program. It is difficult to explain how the WAVE works in this short blog, so be sure to check it out. But here are just a few of the highlights.

WAVE has incorporated all the other forms of communicating, which are Instant Messaging, Twitter, eMail, and even integrating what I believe is their version of video conferencing. The main point about Google WAVE is how it works instantly. Uploading pictures is instant. Typing your message is instant, by character. Unlike Instant Messaging, you wait until the person types before you see their message; WAVE shows each character typed immediately! This 2-year in the making program will be available by the end of the year. You can see the demo video; it is over an hour long, to better understand all the great features.

And like a videoconference, you can have several people on your WAVE at once. And the wildest part, each person can comment, INSTANTLY! It is like talking to each other, or a group of people at once. If you want to send a private message so all the others cannot see, there are “private” buttons to use. Now the other neat part. You can have your WAVE be part of your Blog or Twitter. Yes, they are incorporating this instant emailing into social media. You can access your WAVE on your iPhone, or other PDA devices. Are you seeing the benefits for PR Clients, or how to further your publicity campaign?

Google went further and made this program easy to use, easy to organize and very easy to place attachments into your WAVE. The program has a unique spell checker. It uses a database that Google created and corrects the spelling and compares it to how it is used to make sure the proper word is chosen. Want more? Yeah, there is a lot more. For example, you can add links to web sites real easy. You can “go back” to see the conversation, or…well you need to view the video to see what I mean.

So, is your pr marketing strategy going to use WAVE? If after all my short descriptions of these great features you can’t see the benefits, then you are way behind. All I can say is you better look back once in a while, or you might get hit from the next WAVE!

Basically, you can now get more indepth info rather than surfing hundreds of  web pages. The new feature, listed near the top and next to the word “Web” is called Options. This neat feature will give you more options for your search. Such as, videos, forums, results in the past 24 hours, or up to a year ago. Then there is the wonder wheel. This is a circle with spokes that give you further areas to review and develop your pr marketing strategy. Let’s say you type the word “encryption”. With the Wonder Wheel, it gives you options that read: encryption samples, history of encryption, java encryption, and several others. If you don’t want all of these “options” you can click “hide options” and it brings you back to the normal Google search of web sites.

A writer pointed out that even Facebook is looking to Twitter to see how they can improve their pages to be more real time and usable. A WebProNews Blog Partner, Bill Hartz, commented “From what I am seeing, the ’search engine optimization’ industry is actually turning back around to what it used to be: good old fashioned website marketing.” This again is good news. Search was getting confusing, because the way you received results was ovewhelming. Now the SEO’s are answering our needs, finally.

I have said this in past blogs, we are just starting to open the door of the Internet Future. Who knows what we will be saying and using in the next 12 months. I don’t know about you, but I sure am looking forward to this new passage.

Yes, Twitter actually has a very good search and gives good results. You can get local publicity information. Unlike Google, or Cuil, or Yahoo, this offers a different type of searching. For example, an article titled ” Twitter Search Will Be Powerful” by Joe Marchese explains his experience. When the earthquake happened in Southern CA the other day, he did a Google search to get more info. Joe had just landed and was eager to find more about the local news in Orange County and Los Angeles and level of the quake. Google provided hundreds of sites, but nothing current to that day’s event. Then he tried Twitter. The search allowed him to read people’s reaction to the quake. He was able to see/read the effects of the earthquake immediately. This is how local publicity in Orange County, or Los Angeles can be accesses immediately.

This is not to say Google, or Yahoo, or even Cuil cannot offer this information. It now shows us that search has become more than an encyclopedia of pages, but can now become a tool for other uses. Twitter is opening the door to new search. And according to Joe, he believes that Google (or someone else) will purchase Twitter to gain this feature it doesn’t offer. Sounds right to me. Joe wrote an article in March about his perspective on this.

Remember, what we thought was a new way to do things just a couple of years ago, actually just last year, is old news. This fast paced social media is teaching us that we are going to see new territories and discoveries opening up shortly. Who knows, this blog site just might become old news next year, and I’ll be communicating in a different platform.

If you want to keep on track with social marketing, do it now. Call George Carson today. 949-477-9400.

Wow, didn’t these bright people notice this before? Seems like the food makers (advertisers) or is it the marketers (ad people) are just now discovering this new arena. To no surprise, it has been going this way for about 8 months or more. But then, when you are a large company (doesn’t matter if an agency or food maker) they all take a long time to realize what is in front of their nose.

Then when I read a statement like, “This is the time to advertise. We are going to innovate” by a self-proclaimed supermarket guru named Phil Lampert, I can’t help wonder who is this guy? Was he asleep all these months? But then, when you proclaim yourself with a title as his, I guess no one listens, or if they do, they too are always behind the growth curve.

Why is it that a pr client will not listen to us smaller pr marketing people who have the insight and capability to move faster than the snails pace like the major pr and ad firms? I guess when you pay the high fees you have to believe these are the smart ones. Wrong! They are the onses who finally listen to the real movers and shakers. It’s us, the proactive marketers and pr consultants who are seeing and working with programs and campaigns that get noticed. We can change directions quickly and become proactive rather than re-active. Maybe we should charge more for our services, but then again, I’d rather be the leader of a marketing direction than be another follower. What’s your take on this?

For example, companies like Amazon and Domino have learned the hard facts and how to control your social network campaign, only after getting hammered by fans and other online followers. Remember, if you use this media, like Twitter, you better realize it opens you up to all sorts of people. You need to use the social networks as a tool to market your pr client or your products and services. But don’t treat these like a TV commercial. That isn’t why you have followers, or fans, etc. These can be your best approach to getting the word out, if done properly.

On the good side, look what Ashton Kutcher did for CNN. Yeah, he outpaced them with followers, but CNN got a lot of exposure and they used this to help strengthen their position by hiring the person who began the CNN “Breaking News” account.

If you want to start using this new and powerful social network (like Twitter), be sure to know the game.  It is best to get a professional to guide you in the right direction. Then you will be able to use it to your advantage; otherwise you can get destroyed faster than it was to build your company. Need help? Give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. His company, Carson Marketing, Inc. can get you into the social game so that your pr client, or your company will get great results.

Before you begin to use social networking for business, you need to answer these questions. First, do you have a pr marketing strategy? If not, do you have a pr marketing plan? Ok, if these are not in your business plan, then it’s time to develop a pr marketing strategy that includes social networking. It would also be an excellent pr marketing strategy to start a blog site for your company. All successful PR Clients have a solid pr marketing strategy that has social networking as part of their plan.

I have written about using of MySpace and Facebook as a means to market your business. And I wrote a lot on blogging, which in all should be a continued program with all companies and PR Clients looking to be successful in the next 12 to 16 months. Now let’s look at how you can use Twitter as a business tool.

What makes Twitter so exciting? When used properly, Twitter is a great way to reach out to new prospects and keep a trusted connection with existing clients.

Some important issues to know: Unlike the many other social networks, Twitter followers do not like in-your-face marketing. And unlike MySpace and Facebook, Twitter has “followers”. These are usually friends, and other people that you may not know directly.

The rules for using Twitter:

1- Don’t add people you don’t know. This new social group gets annoyed if you just add people who follow others you know. Start slowly, add people you know, and then let it build. The main reason people like Twitter, they can leave if they don’t want to follow you because of your content.

2- Look for people that are in your industry. If you find people that are recognized in your industry, or are smart, then getting them to re-follow you is easier. That’s provided you offer something they want to follow, or know more about. Remember, no one like spam, so don’t start the hard sell with followers.

3- Be genuine about your business. When you begin to tell about your business, tell it from the heart. Not like a sales pitch. Twitter followers will respond if they see you have a passion for what you do.

4- Be active. If you choose to use Twitter, you need to invest at least an hour or two during the week. Just like other social sites, keeping it fresh is important. But with Twitter, people follow because they feel they are getting up-to-the minute info about you.

Still want to Twitter? If not, at least build a social network that includes the blog site and the traditional Facebook site to keep your business alive. Need help with social networking? Then give Carson Marketing, Inc. a call at 949-477-9400. Ask for George Carson, he will personally assist you with your social networking needs.

To understand the right way, you need to know the “failure” signs of a poor web site. For example here is a short list of what a poor failing web site contains:

1- Poor Copy. Too often the copy talks about too many things, and is not focused on how your site, or the products will benefit your customers.

2- Difficult to navigate. If you have visited a site and thought how poorly it was to find things, or navigate, then use this to really see if your site falls in this category.

3- Difficult to find items. Many web sites try to pack as much products into their site, only to get the visitor lost and confused as what to buy. Keep your products limited to a few, or to a specific category.

4- Broken links to web pages. This happens too often. It will also cause you to get poor ranking on the search engines. Check all your links, make sure they work, and if you have links to other sites, make sure they work as well.

5- Poor design. This should be at the top. If your site is too busy, or lacks interest, then you need to re-design the site to be more pleasing for visitors.

6- Contact Information. Again, this important area is one of the main causes of people moving on from your site. If visitors have questions, or want to contact you, give them an easy email, phone number, or form for them to get in touch. People want to know you are real, so don’t provide a “yahoo” email account, or a PO Box for an address.

These are just a few of the pr marketing strategies that you can do to improve the conversion rate of visitors to your web site. If you want a FREE analysis of your web site, give Carson Marketing a call. We will give you FREE tips on how to improve your site. Or you can keep going on as usual and watch your competitors take all the business from you.

Our client, Encryption Solutions, Inc. developed the encryption software. The SkyLOCK At-Rest product is NIST/FIPS Certified encryption at 140-2, level 2 at 256 bits, HIPAA Compliant, and DAR approved. That may sound like a lot, and believe me it is. This stuff really works, and is used by the military and the US government. It is so powerful, that it is restricted to be sold to certain countries. Now that’s security at it’s best!

So when we wanted to make this available to everyone, we could only think of one way to publicize the product, use Leo Laporte. When he tried the software, he quickly learned how powerful and easy it was to use. ” I am encrypting everything now…hackers can never, ever, ever access your data…even if you email it through an unsecured system,” commented Leo. When we heard that, it was a natural for my pr client to run radio spots on his Saturday show (11 AM to 2 PM) the local KFI radio station (640 AM) in LA. You can also hear Leo on his Tech Guy Labs web site. To further prove that this is the best encryption software; our pr client is allowing consumers to download a FREE 30-Day Trial. Just go to www.skylockesi.com for a Free Trail. Then if you like it and see how easy it is to install and use, you might just want to let your friends know so they too can protect their data. One more thing, if your laptop is ever stolen, your data is protected. No hacker can crack this encryption software.

So if your pr client has a product or service that is truly great and meets the needs of today’s consumers or businesses, think of the best way to jump-start your pr marketing campaign. Think of someone that is visible, believable, and will endorse the product. Need help; call George Carson today for a free consultation about your pr marketing strategy needs.

You can find a lot of information about SEO optimization on the web. If you do a search in Google for the words “seo optimization” you get over 6 million searches. Too many to read, and which ones do you choose? You can’t only select the top 5 or 8 searches, because most of those only give a definition of seo’s. Well, I’ll make this simple and easy enough for any local publicity agency or even a novice web designer to do.

It’s no secret but here are the basic rules to keeping the web site fresh and seo friendly:

1- Keyword and keyphrases. Although many web marketers might dispute the fact that keywords and keyphrases may not be the pr marketing strategy to use, it still holds a lot of attention for seo’s and their methods of rankings. To keep your keywords and phrases current, you need to do some research. It is necessary to find what are the most requested terms/words for your specific industry and place them into your meta keyword/phrases. But do not overload or stuff your keyword, meaning do not put more than 12 to 15. This is what I recommend. Otherwise the seo’s will move you down the rankings.

2. Page titles. Very, very important. Do this correctly and it will pay off. Each title should be different for each page, and include the keywords you use. The best way to understand using titles is to think of yourself looking through books at a library. If the title helps you to stop and look deeper into that book because it relates to what you age looking for, then that’s how the titles work in your web site for the search engines.

3. Meta description. Similar to your page titles, these help the seo’s provide the description to your listings. Each page of your site should have its own meta description. Keep in mind to not have the description be more than 155 words. This is one of the areas that you can control since the seo’s will grab your descriptions for the listings.

4. Keeping the site fresh. You should make it a point to refresh the site every 3 or 4 months. Not change the site, but modify the text, refresh the keywords, and re-visit how the elements are positioned on the site. Then after doing this, re-submit the site to all the seo’s and directories.

There are many other things that will help keep your site listed and ranked high, for example these would be: a) blogging, b) publicity releases, c) articles published, d) RSS feeds, e) social networking, f)  have an on-going pr marketing strategy plan to assure the site meets it’s goals, just to list a few.

There are over a billion sites/pages and millions added everyday. If you do not have an on-going web marketing plan, then it’s time to implement one. Do you need professional help that is affordable? Give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. Carson Marketing, Inc has been helping pr clients with their web marketing needs for over 10 years.