The Fine Art of the Soft Sell and Social Media

I’m a huge fan of the Corporate Curmudgeon, a syndicated columnist who appears locally in our Arizona Daily Star doling out wry advice to the green, unsophisticated or just plain clueless employee. Yesterday’s column touches on an art form that, to me, is highly underrated:

The fine art of the “soft sell.”

Why, might you ask, should a marketer/copywriter/pr practitioner/social media guru/flack/hack/car salesmen care to know what a “soft sell” is? Well, my dears, because we as a society are burned out. And when audiences burn out, they shut their ears.

Nonprofit Uses Social Media to Increase Awareness

Stephanie Pendrys, hiking in Colorado

Think Social Media only works for retail businesses?

Wrong!

It was through Twitter that I stumbled across Stephanie Pendrys, marketing manager for the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. She and her colleagues have been busy gearing for the 2009 United Way Days of Caring event held a couple weeks ago. Kudos to the many volunteers who logged in more than 2,600 hours of service in Southern Arizona this year!

Exhausted, Stephanie agreed to answer some quick questions about how she’s using social media to raise awareness.

Back By Popular Demand – More Boot Camps!

In response to the numerous requests we received for more boot camps in October, I give you (drum roll, please):

• 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 16 (Friday)!
• 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 17 (Saturday)!
• 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 22 (Thursday)!
• 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 23 (Friday)!
• 8 a.m. to noon Nov. 3 (Tuesday)!
• 8 a.m. to noon Nov. 4 (Wednesday)!

The Social Media Boot Camp for Beginners will walk participants through the creation and establishment of three profiles via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter; examine the free tools available online that will make managing your profiles easier; and strategies for successful social media communication.

Each participant must bring their own laptop with WiFi capabilities to the workshop.

Please contact me at 520-795-4500 or socialmedia@calibergroup.com if you have any additional questions or to RSVP.

Buffalo Exchange – A Social Media Case Study

Michelle Livingston, Marketing Director for Buffalo Exchange

On the never-ending hunt for successful and local social media case studies, I decided to ask friend and peer Michelle Livingston to participate in a little Q&A with CaliberPulse.

As Marketing Director since 1999, Michelle Livingston has been overseeing marketing, advertising, graphic design, public relations, promotions and the online presence for Buffalo Exchange, a national chain of hip resale clothing stores based in Tucson. Michelle has participated in the impressive growth of Buffalo Exchange to 36 stores and 2 franchises in 13 states, with $56.3 million a year in sales.

Currently Buffalo Exchange has 5,414 MySpace friends, 3,606 Facebook Page fans, 1,193 Twitter followers and 222 Flickr photo favorites posted by other members.

Social Media Workshop Highlights the Benefits to Businesses

Sam Brace takes the audience through the smorgasbord of social media tools they can use to build their brand's reputation.

Caliber superstar Sam Brace gave an enthusiastic and informative presentation on social media this morning to the Northern Pima County Chamber of Commerce at Ventana Medical Systems.

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to attend on of Caliber’s many Smart Marketing Workshops, you can download a PowerPoint of the presentation at CaliberGroup.com.