How To Efficiently Create The Most Interesting Online Presence

building brand trust, Content strategy, content writing

It seems like the only news that goes viral is that which is sensationalized. So how are you, as a business owner, or a personal brand, going to captivate new followers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? How can you be more interesting on line? How can you become a magnet for curious customers and clients?

Every new business owner I work with struggles with the same issue. On the one hand they know they should “put themselves out there” on social media. They completely understand the power of blogging and vlogging (video blogging) but at the same time they are overwhelmed and confused about the type of articles and videos they should produce and share.

Then of course comes the “who has time for all of this?” question. Yes, producing “content” is time-consuming.

So, just how do you prove your own worth on social media in the most efficient way possible? How can you get others to listen to what you have to say? How do you become noticed when there is so much “noise”? How do you cut through the clutter and really stand out?

The truth is, you don’t have to write every single post that you publish or create a new video every week. Each platform provides a way for you to share posts that are already popular, making you the DJ or curator of interesting content.

On Twitter you can retweet and share trending tweets that are getting the most engagement. Simply search for the topic you are most interested in #health #fitness #fashion #beauty and retweet posts that are getting the most likes and follows. Of course you want to make sure that the content you are sharing is in line with your values and is of interest to the followers you already have. On Instagram you can use an app like Repost to share popular videos and photos from those you admire and respect.

Here is a helpful article on how to share popular posts on LinkedIn as well.

Remember, you need to vet (carefully examine) the best content that has the most comments, likes and shares.

I am here to help you with your social strategy. Feel free to send me your questions by commenting below or drop me a line at hello@mj.works

Yours in Service,

Madeline Johnson

Building Brand Awareness for Health, Food & Fitness Startups

Brand Awareness, branded content, Content strategy, entepreneur, instagram, Key Messaging and Talking Points, LinkedIn, madeline johnson, Press Kits, Star Powered PR, Uncatergorized

Note to reader: I have included examples of digital press kits and timely news angles in this article that you can download. They may be helpful for you as you build out your stories to share with top tier media and influencers.

Examples from the Front Lines of Digital Marketing

One of the reasons I continue working with startups and emerging entrepreneurs is because it keeps my ear to the ground and in touch with the true pain points and biggest challenges that many new brands struggle with when it comes to marketing and promoting their products and services. The obstacles they face become my opportunity to help.

Case Study #1 – The More They Burn, The Better They Learn

Matt Gardner is a physical education teacher and health and wellness professional speaker from Novato, California. Championing kids to be more active and healthy on a daily basis, Matt has created PEbyDesign,, a program to help elementary school teachers get their students moving in the classroom for at least 60 minutes a day (a requirement from most states and the federal government).

I have been helping Matt build his side hustle, working with him on everything from his website user experience to building his own authentic voice while creating his digital press kit and all of his social media platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Right now I am conducting one-hour consulting calls with Matt and screen sharing video web chats with him to help him build out his social media strategy.

Case Study #2 – The Best Place For a Financial Wellness Check up

The best place to start your financial future and an empowering tool for financial wellness, I have helped R.J. Irving, a former Morgan Stanley advisor launch this SaaS platform to help Millennials understand how much to allocate to their 401K savings, health plans, and rainy day, emergency accounts. I created his digital marketing decks and press kit and scheduled and executed his strategy for Twitter and LinkedIn.

A sample of marketing collateral and digital press releases in a downloadable PDF file here Melius General Presentation-2.

Case Study #3 – Celebrating The Millennial Home Buyers Journey

Hearth & Beam’s creator Kyle Rothschild hired me to write his digital press kit, timely news stories, and social media strategy. Hearth & Beam was created to document and share everything that makes a house a true home.

Hearth & Beam’s downloadable digital press kit here. A writing example of a creator profile Kyle Rothschild, HearthandBeam.com,

An example of FAQ’s for the media and influencers here HearthandBeam.com Media FAQs

My fact sheet writing sample here Hearth and Beam Fact Sheet

And timely and newsworthy story angles here HearthandBeam.com News Stories

Case Study # 3 – Artisanal Gourmet & Organic Condiments

Brown Dog Fancy is the purveyor of artisanal gourmet mustard. Made from organic ingredients and sold online and in stores, I helped the owners of this condiment brand with their marketing collateral, digital press kits and social media strategy for #HowIFancy

Here are examples of a healthy food digital press release that I wrote for Brown Dog Fancy to share their story Brown Dog Fancy Story

Here, timely, news angles and ideas for reporters and influencers Brown Dog Fancy Story Suggestions

More writing samples including answers to media FAQ’s Brown Dog Frequently Asked Questions and more indepth information about the founders behind the brand Brown Dog Fancy Creators

Day-to-Day Marketing Success for Health, Nutrition & Fitness Pros

Content management, Content strategy, Creative Marketing Campaigns, digital marketing, Digital Newsroom, Health Coaches, How to Do Your Own PR, Marketing in the Moment, marketing muscle, Marketing Strategy, Nutritionists, personal trainers, video marketing, Yoga Professionals

Day-to-Day Marketing Success happens when you are creating articles, social media posts, and inspiring & enlightening “content” that is linked to remarkable products and services. This includes the ongoing creation of engaging information that people are willing to read, watch and share as they begin to refer your brand to friends and family.

In the Beginning, You are Building Trust & Giving them a Taste of What You Offer

These initial website visitors that you attract are so grateful and inspired by your willingness to help them through their daily struggles. Your initial marketing lures them in with free guides, downloads, helpful “how to” videos, uplifting social media posts, etc. Eventually as they begin to trust the consistent value that you are giving them for free they become more and more willing to buy your products and services, as they hand over their hard earned money to you.

Welcome to the World of Publishing

Your company should aim to be the ultimate guide, guru and media publisher of everything in health, fitness, nutrition and wellness. The number one source of information on each healthy therapy or treatment you offer – from yoga to meditation to personal training, whatever it is you do, give up your best advice and recommendations, for free. Everything you write, share on social media and offer to potential customers must be better than anything else written or filmed on the web. You must become the go to source for information about your speciality and beat out the

Experimenting is Everything

Smart marketers and businesses experiment as they grow and they also monitor and measure what works and what doesn’t. A part of day-to-day marketing is taking notice of your most popular social media posts, product promotions, blog articles and videos. Oh, and your competition’s as well. Smart marketers also dig deep to find out more about their first customers. Where do they live? What else are they reading? Where do they shop? They play close attention to those that are visiting the site often, commenting on YouTube videos and clicking their way to the cart.

Day-to-day marketing involves A/B Testing of website offers (testing one promotion against another), Buy one, Get one Free, 20% off first time sessions, $30.00 for referring a friend. Smart marketers try different promotions and use promotional codes to monitor their success and/or failure.

Some Daily Marketing Rules for Success

Build a 30-day Stock Pile of Great Blog & Social Media Content before You Hit Publish

Create, write and video at least one full month of content before you begin posting. This will be thirty days of blog articles, thirty days of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube posts. If you have one month of content you won’t get behind because each day you will be creating new content for the future.

You Will Be Marketing Every Single Day

Plan on publishing existing articles and writing articles for the future every single day. Not all articles need to be written, some can be posts of beautiful photos with a few lines of copy. Others will be 15 second videos. The most important thing is that they are very helpful to your readers, viewers and visitors.

Create the Article and Video First & Then Posts for All Social Media

You will start with an idea for an article, write that article, maybe script it for a short video too and then you will create a version of it for a Facebook Post, a separate Instagram Post, 3-4 Tweets, a Pinterest board, a Google + post, a LinkedIn Pulse article, maybe a different version of the article on Medium and a YouTube video. You will take that one idea and turn it into different useful updates for all social media channels and each channel should be understood to have a different context and a unique type of user.

Engage with Others by Commenting, Liking, Retweeting, Reposting & Sharing Their Content

Engage with your competitors’ readers, viewers and those that follow your competition, especially influencers so they can begin to become familiar with your brand. You don’t simply push out content, you must connect with your like minded tribe. On Instagram, search through hashtags and top users; on Facebook & LinkedIn look to groups; Repin and comment on Pinterest. Spend as much time as you do creating a post as you do reading and commenting on influencers and enthusiasts content.

What will we write about? What blog article content will be best for Health, Fitness, Wellness & Nutrition Professionals? How and where will we get this information?

The best content topics will be those articles and videos that answer the most frequently asked questions that people ask therapists and health professionals and the questions that they place into Google and Bing search engines.

This information needs to be gathered from a variety of places. How? and from Where exactly?

1. Survey the Practitioners

Survey all vetted trainers, therapists and professionals especially those that you follow or know in person. Make it easy on yourself and use a survey tool like SurveyMonkey.com

A list of questions

What are the most frequently asked questions from new clients and patients?

What are their biggest mental and physical health problems?

What treatments, trends and therapies are they most skeptical of?

2. Copy & Improve Your Competitor’s Content

Research and Monitor the type of content that your competition is sharing with the world. They have an advantage – sites like Mind Body Green & Greatest.com have years of users and data under their belt. They know to write and create video content that their audience wants. Copy their content ideas but make your articles more detailed, more instructive, more valuable to your audience. Yes, you want to steal content ideas.

3. Stay on Top of Trends in the Holistic Health & Natural Market Place

Read and Review trend reports from various media including traditional health media like Women’s Health, Prevention and even Mother Jones. Do more research, find as many lists of trending topics in health and wellness and write about each individual trend. What’s trending right now in 2017? Personalized nutrition, Ketogenic diets, Rope wall yoga, Animal Flow, Barre & Cardio Fusion, Women-only clubs, Mushrooms as the new superfood to name a few things. Google search your way to the top trends in health and fitness and plan to create your own trend report for 2018.

4. Actively Network & Record Conversations

Listen to Viewers, Readers and Those Customers You Meet in Person

Attend trade shows, workshops and events, keep your ears to the ground, listen to what people are asking, what they are talking about. Jot down questions in Evernote or your notebook. This will also make for amazing blog article content.

5. Review Your Online Offerings

Review all of your offerings – this includes in person and by appointment video sessions, courses, retreats, etc and write and script a video about the benefits of these offerings. Write about them in detail. Interview people (testimonials) who have benefited from these services.

Make sure that each blog article ends with a Call-to-Action without selling to hard.

A few Call-to-Action ideas –

Book a session now
Download Today
Sign up for our email newsletter
Schedule a webinar
Listen to a Guided meditation
Get a Free Workout Session

6. Publish Great Content Daily using Specific Keywords and Hashtags

Obviously the hashtags will change as you post about different treatment and fitness modalities or healthy recipes. Gather and write about all of the information you learn. This will allow you to create individual blog articles and a content strategy that will –

Build your organic search engine optimization for your website
Create a level of trust between you and your potential audience
Help convert website visitors into valued customers

Stay Organized and Create a Daily Content Calendar

You can use a word document, Excel, Numbers on Mac. Anything to keep you organized. One post per day, posted to your blog and then shared with everyone on each social media channel in a different way. Mix it up. One day about meditation, the next about massage therapy, then a favorite new roller work out, Energy Healing, test all of the different healing and health therapies you have and develop blog posts about them, using the formula above, to find out what people care about the most. Look at your stats, see what they like, comment on and read the most.

Your calendar should be in tune with everyone’s schedule. Most look at social media more deeply during the evening from 8-10 pm. This is what data shows for Facebook. Twitter is for news updates all day long. As you watch your Instagram stats you will see when you have the highest amount of engagement and likes.

How else can you stay organized? Well, you can stick to a consistent theme, so your customers and followers know what they can expect from you. Here is an example of a weekly themed calendar.

Monday Motivation

Lift up your audience and get them ready for the week. Empowering blog articles and videos will inspire your readers to help themselves heal their mind, body and spirt.

Tuesday Transformation

Articles (and social media) will guide readers and viewers through personal transformations using nutrition, fitness, mindfulness and empowering messages. Posts will clarify and answer questions for your audience – How does hypnotherapy help transform my weight? How does acupuncture bring on mental clarity while reducing stress? Will Reiki help me sleep better? How will personalized nutrition make me healthier? Educate & inspire them.

Wednesday Wisdom

Sharing of ancient wisdom of modalities like Energy Healing, Shamans, Ayurveda. Quotes from masters, unknown secrets to healing. Everything and anything to educate the public about how to stay healthy, wealthy and wise.

Thoughtful Thursday

One of the most popular days on Facebook, thoughtful posts can dive deeper into how we heal ourselves, how we live and how much thoughtful attention we should pay to our well-being.

Finally Friday

It’s the end of the work week. Keep Friday articles “lighter” and social media in line with getting ready for the weekend. Focus on “how to relax” “how to get the most out of your weekend” how to create an at home retreat”. Post about courses you offer that customers can take over the weekend. Maybe you are starting your business in NYC or possibly the North east coast. You may want to post about healing places to go, healthy & wellness events or new classes to take.

Super Saturday

Oh the weekends, when most are either hung over or ready to rock the gym.Weekend workouts, personal fitness and training, meal prep for the week.This is when people have more time for themselves to work out.

Spiritual Sunday

Focus on those therapies that can help heal the spirit. Meditation that soothes the soul. How to create an Ayurvedic spa day. A post about how Energy Healing soothes the spirits. Poems by great writers. Keep your content soulful and real, so it resonates emotionally with your followers.

If you have particular questions about how you should begin marketing your business, please feel free to reach out. Send me a Tweet @MarketCouncil or email me at m.johnson@themarketcouncil.com. I would love to connect.

The PR Playbook – Your Startup Strategy

business, Content strategy, editorial know how, Experiential Marketing, growth hacking, marketing plans, The PR Playbook, Uncatergorized

Who am I? Why am I creating ThePRPlaybook.com and how will it help you?

My name is Madeline Johnson and I am a Marketing & Media Strategist & Consultant specializing in health, wellness, fitness & nutrition. I am based in NYC. I enjoy working with startups and entrepreneurs who are creating anything that makes us look and feel good. I am also the creator of The PR Playbook, an essential guide to growing your business through brand awareness and consumer engagement that leads to sales.

I consult. I strategize and I create content for emerging brands. I help businesses grow. Right now, at this moment, I am working on –

Creating brand guidelines and editing training manuals for Tevia Feng, the creator and founder of White Tiger Qigong.
Writing and designing digital media kits for Kyle Rothschild, owner of HearthandBeam and BrownDogFancy.
Developing a blogging and social media strategy for Richard Silver, a very talented photographer who is about to embark on A Remote Year.

I am creating The PR Playbook, a two hour online course, to help startups and small brands cut through the clutter of repetitive, abundant and confusing marketing advice, while helping them to understand and execute only the most productive and critical marketing tactics and activities to build upon success.

This course is unique in that it is an intelligently-designed mash up of marketing strategy, timely tactics and and technology to help you grow faster.

With each lecture you will benefit from –

my years of experience working with businesses of all sizes while collaborating with top tier media like The NY Times and The Wall Street Journal and influential bloggers. I have had the opportunity to represent incredible brands like Reebok, Aveda, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Lisa Drayer, former CNN Health correspondent and author of The Beauty Diet, to name a few.
a real time focus on continual social media execution and every day marketing in the moment activities with real time insights as I work with brands of all stages and sizes and from around the world.
wisdom from winning business strategies and growth hacking techniques boiled down to simple and easy to understand and implement directives.

Note:

This course offers much more than just high level strategy and lessons on how to find a writers email or google more bloggers to review your new product.

Who is this course perfect for?

Startups, brands and personal consultants and coaches disrupting the world of health with technology and new products and services designed to help people become physically, emotionally and mentally prime.

Professionals in the wellness industry including aestheticians, spa operators, licensed massage therapists, cosmetic dentists, physical therapists, meditation facilitators and anyone with a business helping people become a better and stronger version of themselves.

Personal trainers, dancers and fitness coaches and mentors who are looking to build an online community and audience for their new workout product, video classes, gym concept, studio or other exercise innovation.

The two-hour course will launch this September. Sign up here to receive updates at ThePRPlaybook.com

Standing Out in a Sea of Startups

brand publishing, brand reputation, Communications, Content management, Content strategy, growth hacking, How do do your own PR, media relations

What’s keeping me busy these days involves writing and filming digital news kits for startups and new brands. I have a lot of fun helping them shape their brand stories as I prime them for interviews and news coverage.

Watch this 45 second video above for one of my best tips on how to share a more authentic brand story that influencers and journalists what to hear.

Like these tips? Want more? Sign up for my media relations 101 course for start ups and entrepreneurs, launching this September 2016. Check out ThePRPlaybook.com

Two Smart Tips for Better Blogging

Blogging, branded content, Content management, Content strategy, Cool Branding

Watch this short video to learn two tips for creating more followers and engagement. Blogging and VLogging tips from The PR Playbook, your essential guide to growing your online brand.

1. 80% of your content will come from 20% of your posts or videos. Create more of what people what to read, watch and share.

2. Creating helpful resource articles out perform anything that you are trying to create to go “viral”.

If you find these tips helpful, please subscribe. If you need help with your personal brand or business, send me a tweet @marketcouncil or email me m.johnson@themarketcouncil.com

Creating More Shareable Content

Brand Awareness, collaborations, Content management, Content strategy, Creative Marketing Campaigns, future of marketing, Social Content Management, social media marketing, social media statistics

In this video, I explain how to use the free version of software like Buzzsumo to find content that has been shared so you can get inspired to make your next video, article or post even that more viral.

Big news today. I was approved as a expert for Clarity.fm. Clarity links you with expert consultants to help you with your business. You can connect with me here and we can schedule a call to help take your brand to the next level.

Simplifying the Process of Marketing

Content strategy, Fitness, Fitness Marketing, How do do your own PR, marketing muscle, marketing rituals

Just like everything in life, things are easier when you break them down into phases. Here is a summary of phase two of marketing your own fitness, health or wellness business along with links to help keep your strategy as simple and effective as possible. Click here if you need to watch phase one first.

Some links to help you grow –

My PT Hub Personal Trainer Software

https://www.mypthub.net/features/

Zoho operating system and customer relationship management

https://www.zoho.com

Nimble

http://www.nimble.com

Social sales and client relationship management system

Insightly

https://www.insightly.com

A client relationship and project management tool

MailChimp

http://mailchimp.com

Finding Customers and Building Communities

brand publishing, Collaborative Consumption, Communications, Content management, Content strategy, Fitness, marketing muscle, online marketing, Social Content Management, social media marketing, social networking, Social Relations Specialists

As a marketing and PR professional, one of the most popular questions that I get asked is. . . “How do I attract new customers and build a community around my brand?” This is a big one, especially for start ups and for traditional brands trying to navigate the world of social media.

As customer communities permeate the walls of traditional business, they have urged brands to include the voice of customers into their operations, strategies and product development. Don’t have anything to share? Begin by listening and sharing posts and relevant information by thought leader’s in your industry.

What else can you do to lure them in?

Identify your core customers and find out where they are sharing on social. Beauty, fitness and fashion can be found on Instagram while health and nutrition on Twitter and Instagram. You don’t need to be everywhere, you just need to find out where your customers are having relevant conversations. Here are the 21 most important social media platforms worldwide.

Keys to Success

Determine your customer and community’s needs while keeping information short & sweet, listening closely and answering and asking questions for improved engagement.

Shortcuts to help you. . .

Find out who is already talking about you online.

Start a conversation in real time with Spot.IM

How big brands create experiences that customers love.

What Works

Inbound marketing via a dedicated blog, social media posts, landing pages and email notifications have been working well for attracting new customers. You just have to do it consistently.

Follow the Leaders

Take a look at how Adobe, a brand that has one of the largest online communities does it and Bank of America’s online small business community.

Online communities serve a variety of business goals, such as providing service and support, fostering innovation, and building brand equity.

More Community Building Tips

Produce and share useful content – ie. how to articles, tip sheets and reviews.
Prominently display your social media icons on your website, blog, email and printed material.
Repost your followers’ content and interactions with your brand.
Share promotions and brand engagement in charitable work.
More tips for building an online community from Inc. Magazine.

I hope you found this post useful and I invite you to share your questions with me in the comments below or via email m.johnson@themarketcouncil and on Twitter @marketcouncil

Beautiful Photos & Videos for Your Website

brand management, Content management, Content strategy, visual communications

By now you should know that building great content and remarkable visuals for your website and online brand is really important to your success. If you are starting a new business and you don’t have any of your own photos, there are plenty of new and popular photo and video websites and sources to choose from, including Clip Canvas and Open Footage and those listed here on Hongkiat.com.

I recently stumbled upon UnSplash from @pickcrew and I really like their creative work. While UnSplash is a creative community of freelance professionals, they do giveaway 10 free (do whatever you want) hi-res photos every 10 days. Speaking of free tools to help build your business, check out this massive list from The Next Web, here. We love 365PSD for one free premium graphic each day.

Just don’t have the time? Need help building your library of visual assets or creative content? Drop us a line at m.johnson@themarketcouncil.com