Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Idle Chatter or Worthwhile Talk?

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This week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina:
What is the Monday Morning Message?

Before you read this message glance around and see how many conversations are taking place on your office floor.

How much of it is idle chatter and how much is worth while talk?

You wouldn’t dare — twice — to come into my office and tell me about the vaudeville show you saw last night. But some people impose on the good nature and courtesy of others by wasting their own time, and the other fellow’s time, with social visits during office hours.

Show me the man or woman that avoids useless explanations and gets right to the point.
Show me the man or woman who saves golden minutes by frankly telling the chatterer to be gone—

Show me these, I say, and I will show you the Purina Leaders of today and tomorrow.

This type of Monday Morning Message makes me uncomfortable because I must check up myself. Maybe it will make you uncomfortable too, and we will all have a better week.

Good-bye — Idle Chatter
Enter—Worth While Talk

Although William Danforth wrote this message decades before the Internet became a part of our lives, his words apply to the Internet, too.
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Do You Make These Social Media Mistakes?

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pass-noteSocial media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed and others, enable us to interact with people we know well and those we have never met IRL (In Real Life). My husband refers to my online friends as my “imaginary friends,” but I know more about my imaginary friends than he does about some of his “real life” friends.

If you feel isolated because you are working alone, social media sites can seem like a lifeline to other humans. They can also be a way to make connections with new customers, influencers and others who can help your business grow. Too often, though, I see people make simple mistakes that harm their reputations, rather than helping.

Here are some common errors and how you can avoid them. [Read more…]

Make Yourself Famous

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fame.jpgMy tagline at IdeaLady.com is “Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous.” Those things go hand in hand, as becoming even a little famous in your niche will cause customers to seek you out.

It is not as hard as you might think to get a little famous and, no, the paparazzi will not begin stalking you. Of course, publicity is a great way to gain fame, but you are dependent on the whims of the media for that.

So, while you are waiting for The Oprah to call, here are some things you can do today to make yourself a little famous. Many of these techniques are free, and all can help to create awareness of you and build your expert reputation while making you (at least a little) famous.

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Building Your Expert Platform

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crowd.jpgIf you want to market yourself as an expert–author, coach, consultant or information product producer–you need a platform. “Platform” is simply the current buzzword for being visible and having an audience.

In fact, most major publishers will not consider a book from an author who does not have an established platform. Even if you do not plan to seek a traditional publishing contract, however, having a platform will make it easier to profit from the content you create.

So how can you create a platform for yourself? [Read more…]

Do You Own Your Name?

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com.jpgI got a political brochure in the mail today, and it was a nasty piece of work. Perhaps the worst part is that the URL for their attack web site is the candidate’s name, as in “JohnSmith.com.”

Many times, people looking for information will simply enter the name of a person or company followed by “.com.” Voters wanting to learn about the candidate may enter his name and end up on a site set up by his political enemies. People who do not read the attack brochure carefully may even think that the “JohnSmith.com”  site is the candidate’s official site.

Fortunately for this politician, when you do a Google search on his name, his real campaign site comes up first and the attack site was not in the top results. However,  you can not be certain that this will happen if you are ever the victim of this kind of identity theft.

You may think that you do not need to own <yourname>.com. You do business under a company name, and you do not ever plan to run for office, so why do you need to register your name as a domain name? [Read more…]