Getting Linked Up With Linkedin

While many business professionals know they need to be on the social media platform LinkedIn, a majority of users are failing to use this tool to its fullest potential. 

Don't miss the opportunity to learn more about using Linkedin to make vital connections, learn about inside business opportunities, prospect and close sales or talk with someone inside a company who can help get you a job. 

This 75 Minute FREE Conference Call is your opportunity to learn how to position your profile to take advantage of these opportunities and more.

During the call, you will learn about these key elements: 

• The one sin where you are making a instant poor first impression - no matter what excuse you make.
• How to think about LinkedIn in a different, more effective way.
• How to get the people you want to connect to you, even if they aren’t on LinkedIn.
• How to make a better first impression when asking people to connect with you.
• Techniques to build your creability, leadership and name recognition.

All session participants will recieve our free check list to review against their profiles. 

Plus, the first 25 sign ups will recieve an additional one on one 30 minute FREE evaluation call where we review and evaluate your Linkedin Profile. 

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Support Services for Small Businesses

Vouchers for RTP Services are an outstanding way to achieve your marketing and communications goals and lock in a budget pleasing price.

With one of our vouchers:

• You pre-purchase amounts of time in five hour increments. 
• You purchase them at a discounted rate - Only $50 per hour, instead of $68 an hour based upon our traditional bill rate. 
• You can budget them for the services and projects you need.
• You receive all the time and attention as regular clients.
• Each voucher is good for 12 months from date of purchase, with one three month extension if working on a current project. 

Vouchers Available

5 hours + 1 Free Hour $250.00 USD 10 hours + 2 Free Hours $500.00 USD 15 hours + 3 Free Hour $750.00 USD 20 hours + 4 Free Hour $1,000.00 USD 25 hours + 5 Free Hour $1,250.00 USD

Possible Solutions

WRITING COACH -  Drawing forth your best ideas and helping you put them on paper!

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Design, focus and manage writing projects including books, training modules, campaigns and

EDITING: Objective views of content and continuity. Proofing for correct content.

RETAINED WRITING SERVICES:  Some call this 'ghost writing,' but I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTIONS

NEWS AND SECTOR SPECIFIC PRESS RELEASES: Writing, Distribution and Media Contact.

EXPANDED MEDIA MATERIALS: Creating Press Kits, Media Portfolios and Query Letters to Editors/Producers/Gatekeepers.

TRADITIONAL COPY WRITING: Direct Mail Pieces, Postcards,  Print Newsletters and PowerPoint Presentations.

SOCIAL MEDIA COPY WRITING: Blogging, Posting, Tweeting, Web Site Content, Search Engine Optimization.

CUSTOM WRITING: Sales and Business Letters, Policy and Procedure Manuals, Employee Handbooks, Technical Writing, Writing In Collaboration, Writing For Publication, Biographies.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTIONS

COLLABORATION: Retained collaboration on the above areas, marketing and communications consulting, custom research projects.

ON SITE REPRESENTATIVE: Media Liaison, Emcee/Host, Spokesperson or Special Event Coverage Contact.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Production assistance from concept through output.

STRATEGIC PLANNING: Assistance developing and implementing your marketing, media communications strategy.

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS: Who to call, after your lawyer, when 60 Minutes is at your door.

Don't Slam Other Professionals - It's Not Professional

Our hometown online paper recently had an article where a reader was looking for help writing a resume. A recruiter almost instantly responded,  "I am a recruiter and always happy to help someone craft a resume. They can message me. Don't ever pay for a resume service...they aren't worth it a d you can easily find free help!"

As a communications professional, I felt the need to say something to her. While many people can write a fine and functional resume, others don't have the interest, skills or time to do such.

I discreetly sent her the following note:
"As a professional writer, I was concerned about your statement in response to the (local newspaper's) inquiry for someone to aid with resume writing. I wanted to share some thoughts with you. Not all resume writers or communications professionals are created equal.

When I work with career changers, I try to be as supportive as I can. My goal is to bring high value to the interaction. Often their resumes read like job descriptions and lack both achievements and activities. I believe that when a job hunter is looking for work, often their lowered self esteem makes it more challenging to talk about their strengths and accomplishments. So, I prompt them often with questions which both give the resume heft and substance, and helps them to see that they did achieve goals. One of my value added propositions is trying to insure their social media profiles sync with their materials so they speak in one voice to both hiring managers and recruiters. I also work with people so when they file an application on an app site, that they have the tools to sell their skills not just type in a job descriptions. This value added time and mentoring is often not billable, but every bit as valuable to these career hunters as they head out with their newly minted resume.

It has been a great challenge in our current economy to be a professional writer and communicator. Many prospects and clients who have a college education feel that they can write resumes, press releases, ad copy, training modules or technical writing with the same level of experience, insights and expertise which I bring. Other times, I meet people who want to pay us $7.40 an hour because the belief is that I really didn’t do anything, despite the fact they were struggling with it. Distilling one’s experience into a series of crisp, succinct statement, formatting the document to be professional and delivering a highly usable end result is often thankless work.

Any blanket statement about anyone in an industry many not come across as professional as I perceive that someone like you would like it to be. That could be akin to saying bankers are cheap, IT programmers are nerds and doctors all think they are Gods.

My experience has been that the good recruiters help many professionals with tightly defined skill sets, such as IT, technical sales, or medical services. But for far too many others, the majority of your peers won't work as hard for a $35K mid level job for a career-changer. The commissions aren’t there as it is for a VP of Finance, Java Beans with Cocoa certified programmer or Neurology Clinic Director/Researcher.

My thought is that you not lump anyone together, be it communications professionals or recruiters. I do sincerely wish you only the best and success serving your clients."

I'm still waiting to hear something ....

One easy step to increase the power, presence and persuasiveness of how you communicate.

Here's the easiest trick when writing to insure that you are clear and accurate each and every time you write. Give every noun (person, place or thing) you ever write on the dignity of calling it by its proper name.

Even using slang or jargon is better than using a word like "things." No matter what you talk about, share the real identification of what something is or is not. 

Objects in nature are often major victims of holding back. An evergreen and an oak are very different trees, as are poplars, willows, birches and redwoods. Too many writers opt for trees.

Let's look at this:

Car is so-so. Sports car is better. 2012 Lamborghini Aventador tells you that you better have $380K worth of cash to get all this performance out of the dealer's parking lot.

Cloth is so-so. Fabrics is better. Crisp wool suit that's finished, but not too tight in a look that goes from office to after work tells you just how you look and feel in the outfit. (I'm not a fashionista, so I had to ask someone who is about  this one.)

In business, word economy in communications is cherished by most readers.  When you focus your words like a red, hot laser beam, your message is clear and accurate ... and hits the target.

Increase the power, presence and persuasiveness of how you communicate - Name names. This will also increase your brain power as well.

Windows 8: Where Are We Going Today?

The release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is only a week away.  And, the promises are that this will be the most dramatic change in how the system looks, feels and operates since Windows ’95 replaced Windows 3.1.

Right now, Microsoft appears to be truly reminiscent of an aging pop star. It needs a hit to be highly relevant again. Its greatest successes are in the past, like Journey, Styx and Foreigner.   If a UK judge in June can determine that Samsung’s tablets do not legally infringe on Apple’s iPads, because “they are not as cool;” Microsoft needs to really have a breakthrough to be considered "one of the cool kids."

A key to their strategy appears to be ripping a play straight from the Apple playbook. The introduction of the Surface tablet as a proprietary item is one way that Microsoft will challenge Apple. The other key is that Windows 8 is going to be one OS across hardware platforms, unlike Apple who has different OS for their handheld devices and their laptops/desktops.

To Microsoft’s credit, they are always willing to give it a go. At times it's seems like they show up too little and too late to the party with its efforts, but the creatives in Redmond have never been shy about reworking any idea which they feel they can do better. Considering their success rate on products, for every X-Box they make, there’s a Zune. For every MS Office, there’s a BOB, a Bing, a Vista and Clippy the talking paperclip    Sure, Apple is not totally immune to failure. Just look at Apple TV, Newton and iWork to name a few.  But, right now, Apple is top of the charts as the innovation and style leader. Apple, Inc. is truly the world’s most profitable company. Those who dissed Apple ten or more years ago as a product of the creative class now own several of their products. The world rocks to an iPod and communicates on an iPhone.

Microsoft also has to learn how not to tick off their core corporate clients while coming across as innovative and leading to end users. Any piece of popular culture has the challenge of being either too hip or too hype. With the promotion I've seen in place, perhaps the hype will keep users from trying what promises to be interesting ways to communicate.

There will always be a place for the Microsoft OS. A piece of hardware has to boot up somehow.  While the OS is the heart of the computer, it is no longer the soul. With all our online apps, cloud storage and handheld devices; desktops and laptops have become more like Thin Clients, where the core programs are stored and hosted someplace else. Google has attempted to bypass hardware based apps with Chromebooks and Android tablets to only limited success.

But to answer the 1994 question Microsoft asked, “Where do you want to go today?” the overwhelming answer today is anywhere I want to go ... but not just only on this one piece of hardware.