Melodie’s 2009 Goals

Between personal and job related stress I’ll be completely honest and admit that 2008 was a rough year. To restore my sanity I decided to dedicate the month of January to refocus my energy, refresh my spirit and mentally prepare to positively  embrace opportunities that come my way. This leads me to share one of my favorite quotes:

“Luck is when preparation Meets Opportunity” -Seneca (Roman Philosopher)

The quote by Seneca is a line I truly believe in for all areas of my life. I take action and am assertive toward things I want to achieve.  I won’t just sit back and let things happen because I know they won’t. I’m prepared to embrace opportunities in order to maximize the success of my potential outcome. People often set goals and lose track of how to achieve them due to lack of clear milestones to track progress and lack of goal success indicators. I started off 2009 with an ambiguously big picture. I soon realized  I had no road map to achieve an undefined goal so  I decided to create this post  as  a personal reference for staying on task but also to help my readers gain a better understanding of the premise behind my blogs, social networks, client pitches, partnerships etc.

I must preface this list by saying that I’m not a numbers person but I know that numbers are a tangible way to measure a goal.  I’m using them for the sake of this list but am also using active words and  keeping in mind that my priorities may change so I might completely overachieve one goal but not completely reach another.

1. Write 120 Blog Posts
I have so much information that runs through my mind all time. If only I could be more consistent about documenting and sharing it. In 2009, I will be. I want feedback on ideas, provide resourceful information, share exciting events and news and leverage the power of the blogosphere to get my content out there. 120 seems like a lot but if you break it down, it’s 10 blog posts a month, 2-3 per week which I feel is very reasonable as long as I schedule time every day to blog.

2. Host 3 San Diego Speed Networking Events.
My previous post explains the event. After the last event I hosted I received great feed back and lots of emails from people asking “When’s the next event?” Before I can host any more events I have a long list of goals I need to accomplish. I need to redesign my website to make it more user friendly, seo friendly and interactive, the list goes on. I want it to be a resource for San Diego Networking. My ultimate goal to host 3 events will motivate me stay on top of all the prep work that I’ll need to do before I can even start planning the events.

3. Earn the business of 10 New Internet Marketing Clients
The more businesses I’m able to work with the more opportunity I have to execute and demonstrate the power of online marketing.  I’ll be able to share my passion through educating and helping others grow their business.

4. Leverage my own Social Media Campaign
I want to update and be active in all  my Social networks but I know it’s not an effective strategy if I just sign up for every social network on this list. It also won’t make sense to put minimal effort in each community.  I’m choosing  primary networks and secondary networks to invest my time and will remain remotely active in all the rest. I made a brief list of some things I’d like to achieve within each social network. This list is subject to change.

Primary Social networks

• Twitter- Build a strong following of people who know me as a resourceful digital marketer, connect people, provide useful information, entertain people as a socialite
• Facebook- Bridge the gap between social and work life, post photos
• LinkedIn- Become an authority by answering questions, connect people for career and consulting opportunities
• Tumblr- Anything goes! There seems to be a lot of opportunity for fun on here. Share recipes, green tips

Secondary Social networks

• Digg- Share interesting articles, videos,
• Yelp- Demonstrate and share my civic pride my letting people know about my experiences with local businesses, restaurants, events, etc.
• Myspace- I may eliminate this as a main social network  but I’ve had this the longest and want to see if I can reestablish a strong brand on here as a marketer
• You Tube- Create my own video resume, share cool videos

5. Present 5 Presentations In order to give presentations they require prep work, research, collaboration with other experts etc. The work that goes into putting together presentations is a great learning experience in itself. I like the idea of vocally and visually sharing my knowledge.  I get instantaneous feedback from the audience, have the opportunity to address questions, overcome objections and speak face to face with leaders who are eager to learn. In 2008 I gave the following presentations. I look forward to expanding upon this list in 2009. I know that I’ll need to update my speaker page with past presentations, photos, video, etc.

1. Women’s Global Network: Communicating with the Media
2. Art Institute of San Diego: Meet the Industry
3. San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce: Clear Channel Marketing
4. BarCampSD: Origami with Melodie

I have a plethora of other goals,  but I feel that listing five will allow me to stay more focused. Many of my other goals are actually milestones that will help acheive the ultimate goals on this list. And of course I have non-career related goals that aren’t listed but are just as/if not more important, one of them trumps the importanace of every other goal on this list so I’ve definitely got my work cut out of me in 2009.

Build a Strong Foundation with Online Marketing Education

By now I’m sure we’ve all made our New Year’s Resolutions. I’m also sure that many of us have already broken some of them . I made some personal resolutions but I also made a career resolution. My career resolution is that in 2009 I’m going to emphasize education behind online marketing. In addition to helping you develop your marketing strategy, I’m also going to educate you every step of the way. Many business owners have basic knowledge about SEO, Social Media, PPC, etc but don’t understand the strategy behind it. Understanding the foundation of your campaign is extremely important to keep your business ahead of the competition and at the forefront of your industry, especially in such a challenging economy. Let’s backtrack and bit to 2008.

The hardships we faced in 2008 including the credit crunch, out of this world gas prices, mortgage downfall, high unemployment rate and extreme national debt made 2008 by far one of the most stressful years in history.  I’ve seen more companies go out of business in 2008 than in my entire lifetime. However, despite such a down economy people are still spending, investing and buying. There are still opportunities out there, it’s just a matter of being smart on how you market and position yourself. I know it’s easier said than done as Marketers  in 2008  faced  tremendous roadblocks:

• Inability in generating qualified leads
• Struggle to get your website found
• Ineffective strategies for tracking ROI
• Traditional Media not working

Thank goodness 2009 is here and we all know it’s a year for change! Take action and don’t let the same roadblocks get in the way. When every single sale does matter and budgets are being cut left and right, developing a strategic and cost effective marketing campaign for your business  is essential. I recommend you constantly educate yourself on new marketing strategies and not repeating old school methods that don’t work.

This February 4th-7th, marketers business owners and anyone interested in learning will have a chance to accelerate their marketing knowledge at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego. They’re providing unique educational opportunities to attendees with certification programs, a career fair, hands-on workshops, on-site usability and SEO labs, thought-leader presentations on a myriad of online marketing topics and networking opportunities. This event is the perfect way to pump up your business for the new year!

Register here and receive a $400 online discount by January 10th. To ring in the new year I’m also giving away a free conference pass to 1 lucky winner. The prize is valued at $1,695.  To enter please leave a comment with your biggest marketing challenge in 2008 and what you plan to do about it in 2009! Short comments are ok, doesn’t need to have a lot of details but if you’re willing to share I would love to hear more! Let’s get a dialog going! Make sure to leave your email address. A winner will be randomly chosen on Tuesday January 20th, 2009 (Inaguration Day!) Good luck and Happy New Year!

A Clear New Vision

For those who don’t already know I resigned from my position as a Marketing Consultant at Clear Channel Communications. I begin my new venture at with 3K Interactive on Monday Sept. 22nd. I am excited to move into Online Marketing. The Internet is growing exponentially and the opportunity is unlimited! I’ll be a true consultant, resource and connector for my clients.

The main question I get is “Why did you leave?” First I’d like to say that I absolutely loved working at Clear Channel. For almost 2 and 1/2 years I have felt nothing less than proud to represent the company. It was a difficult journey and succeeding there is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Long nights, stressful days, driving all over town, cancellations, internal battles etc, but my hard work at Clear Channel was well worth it! The things I learned about building client relationships, developing targeted campaigns, interpersonal relationships, having a strong work ethic and marketing in general are priceless! The perks of working in radio aren’t bad either!

After working there I am confident that I can take on any challenge and succeed. It was a stepping stone that opened up so many doors. I didn’t leave because I wasn’t doing well or I didn’t like the company. The more I grew in my position there, the more I wanted to offer more to my clients. By creating campaigns for people only within Clear Channel Properties I became extremely limited. I wasn’t creating targeted campaigns. I was reaching out to thousands of people with a commercial that probably only 1% of listeners actually cared about. Out of those 1% only another 1% actually remember to go home and look up info about the ad. Radio is the largest form of word of mouth and works great if you’re a huge corporation with a large marketing budget but for companies who can’t afford to spend as much as Coke or McDonalds the online presence is essential before considering any other medias. Thus my transition to online marketing.

I’m an Entrepreneur at heart. I’m always formulating new ventures, business ideas and plans to grow my career so the transition to online marketing is perfect because . I never sold a campaign that I didn’t believe would work but the more I learned about marketing, I realized that there is more that I can do to help businesses grow. I will now create campaigns where my clients will be found by consumers specifically searching for their product/service instead of trying to find consumers who probably don’t care. My campaigns will be permissive and the advertising will be sought after rather than interruptive like most TV and Radio Ads. I will help my clients build a community to really engage their customers. I will optimize websites to increase conversion rates and I’ll be able to track everything which will allow me to fine tune and customize the campaign as it progresses. I could go on and on about what I’m now able to offer with the online world! If you’d like to learn more about my new marketing resources please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

So there you have it! The real story about my transition and new business venture!

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