You get to work. You get some coffee. You talk to your co-workers. Maybe you check the news.

You’re stalling again.

You look at the phone and look away defeated – even before you make the first call. You are about to enter the dead zone of cold calling.

No one and we mean NO ONE likes to make cold calls. Yet no matter what type of business or organization you belong to, someone higher up is forcing you to call someone that has never heard of you before.

There are very real physiological reactions to cold calling.

Your heart may begin to beat a little faster.

You might even feel a little light headed.

Some have reported blurry vision.

Even though you have your script in front of you, your tongue feels dry and refuses to cooperate.

The palms of your hands may begin to sweat – among other unmentionable areas.

You feel nervous and some may even feel nauseated.

THEN…there are the obstacles.

The first is most likely the biggest challenge – picking the phone up. It feels like a 100 pound dumbbell.

Then you have to get past the gate keeper (aka the receptionist, executive secretary, personal assistant) who has great mystical powers and can look deep into your soul over the phone line.

IF you get past the gate keeper, and we mean a big IF, that’s when everything falls apart as the person who is your target gets on the phone.

Let us be very clear. The person you are trying to reach DOES NOT want to hear from you. They don’t know you and could care less who you are.

At this point, try not sounding like a total buffoon when that person answers the line. Of course you totally forget why you are calling in the first place. Blast that script!

SO…why put yourself through it. Why make those cold calls? Why rip your body and soul apart each time you make that cold call?

Here is a novel idea. What if instead of making cold calls, the calls are actually coming to you.

Turn the beat around! Do a 180! Change the rules of the game! Do a paradigm shift! Pick one – you get the idea.

If the calls are coming to you, that means that the person calling actually wants to talk to you. It would be like slicing butter with a warm knife.

“How may we help you,” you say with glee. You actually feel giddy. You feel strong, confident, your voice has authority. You skip into your bosses office and deliver the good news.

So how do you make the calls come to you?

Stay tuned for the second part of this Blog. In Chapter 2 we will tell you how to turn the beat around on those cold calls.

You may never make another cold call again.

Do you have any cold call horror stories? We’d like to hear about them. We have some cold call stories that would make you scream like the guy in the picture above.

Image: ideaLaunch

With the launch of Facebook Places last week, geolocation applications are back in the limelight. Here is our conversation with Ramir regarding Facebook Places and geolocation applications.

1) What B2C firms stand out on the geolocation application space?

Even though geolocation services are quite new, some companies have taken notice of this new trend’s marketing potential. Some that come to mind are Starbucks, who offer discounts to their Foursquare Mayors as well as giving out a Barista badge after 5 visits to one of their locations. Also, the New Jersey Nets are experiencing success by distributing tickets as virtual items via Gowalla.

Pepsi is trying to break into the geolocation space by launching its own app called Pepsi Loot. This application gives you rewards for checking in to locations that serve Pepsi. I’m not sure how successful they will be, but I think they missed the mark by developing their own app instead of integrating with an established service like Foursquare or Gowalla.

2) Mostly B2C firms have seen benefits and buzz from using geolocation applications. Do you see any B2B firms taking advantage of it?

The B2B market has been slower at jumping into geolocation marketing. B2B firms barely understand the need to be involved with Social Media in general. However, I do see great opportunities for these companies. Commercial Real estate firms could use geolocation services to track traffic patterns. Companies attending tradeshows could offer promotions and incentives to prospects that have checked in to a competitor’s booth or their own. Businesses could use geolocation services internally to reward employees and offer incentives. For example, a corporate wellness program’s rewards could be awarded to those who regularly check in to a gym.

3) Do you see businesses being attracted Facebook Places since it doesn't have the “fun” and “game-like” features of Foursquare or Gowalla?

Business will be attracted to Facebook Places once they see users adopt it. Facebook has the advantage of having 500 million users, so a feature like Places has the potential of becoming a great way to geo target potential customers along with Facebook’s advertising platform and fan pages. Once Places goes mainstream, business will flock to it. I also believe Facebook at some point will begin rolling out additional game like features for Places.

4) What are some of the benefits for the working professional in "checking-in" everywhere they go? Do you see business networking opportunities in this?

A business professional needs to be aware of the benefits and dangers of “checking-in.” The trail of check-ins you leave behind tells a story of where you spend your time and the lifestyle you lead. If you are an out-of-work professional looking for a job, but your Foursquare history shows you checking into a bar every night, it might raise some red flags.

On the other hand, it can also help by facilitating impromptu meetings, prospecting by reviewing the history of a prospective client, so you just happen to be at the Starbucks where he gets his latte every morning.

5) Privacy will be a big concern for many now that Facebook Places is active. What do you recommend for those who are worried about privacy?

If you are using any geolocation application or anything that has to do with Social Media in general, you should take the time to educate yourself on its privacy settings. Knowing how to manage these settings is the best way to protect your privacy.

Image: The CMB Research Blog

1. Topic: What are you interested in speaking about? Don’t speak about something you aren’t knowledgeable or passionate about. Also, public speaking is probably not your day job, so make sure you have enough time to research, prepare and practice.
2. Scope: What type of audience are you trying to reach? How large is this particular audience? If you are new to public speaking, you may want to start small. You may already belong to an organization that you are familiar with. Use those groups to get your feet wet. If you aren’t in any groups, get involved. Once you’ve found a group or organization you wish to present to, get in touch with the appropriate people to set up a date and time for your presentation.
3. Research: Give yourself time to research your topic. Cover all the bases and talk to others about your topic. They may give you some much-needed insight or a different point of view.
4. Prepare: If you are going to be using a slideshow, keep it simple. Don’t flood your presentation with text and make your graphics as large and easy to read as possible. You don’t want your audience moaning about your slideshow, you want them focused and engaged on what you are saying. (Check out Tim Ferriss' post Public Speaking- How I Prepare Every Time)
5. Practice: Practice your presentation in front of family, friends and colleagues. Ask them for tips and don’t take their criticism personally.
6. Present: You are prepared and you are ready. So get out there and make it happen.

After your presentation, be sure to offer ways for your audience to get in touch with you and stick around to answer some of their questions one-on-one.

Public speaking doesn’t have to be a daunting task and we hope that these steps will motivate you to get out there. If you have any additional tips or steps, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

We are striving to get ourselves out there, which is why we submitted a panel idea for SXSWi. If you are interested in checking it out click here and vote for our panel Social Media and Politics: Shock and Awe! There are some other great panels out there, so check them out. You can check out more information about SXSW here.

Our idea revolves around how Social Media is a force to be reckoned with, particularly in the world of politics. President Obama’s 2008 campaign was able to harness the power of Social Networking to reach new voters. Recently, Scott Brown’s senatorial campaign was able to help him win a historic race in Massachusetts.

You can start voting for our idea, “Social Media and Politics: Shock and Awe!” NOW by clicking here. Voting ends at 11:59 PM CDT on August 27.

Voting is simple:

1. Create your PanelPicker account here. If you already have a SXSW PanelPicker account, sign in here.
2. Fill in the required information and click “Sign Me Up!” You will receive an email with an activation link shortly thereafter.
3. Once you receive the email, click the activation link to finish the registration process.
4. Click on this link to be redirected to our programming idea. Once you are there, vote by clicking the thumbs up icon.

We are thrilled about this opportunity and are looking forward to receiving your votes! Remember, you can vote for “Social Media and Politics: Shock and Awe!” starting now! Voting ends August 27.

1) How-To's: YouTube is full of how-to videos. From using Twitter for business, learning sales tips or blogging advice, YouTube has it covered. How-to videos are great because you can walk your viewer through a task or possibly a frequently asked question. This video from ProBlogger is a great example:

2) What's New: Your company is already blogging, or working on getting started, so why not create a video to replace or complement your blog post. Instead of writing a new blog post regarding a new product offering, make a short video. Here's a great example from Southwest Airlines:

3) About Products and Services: Show off your new or existing products or services. By creating a video you can show more features and how to interact with it. Check out this in-depth video for the HTC EVO 4G:

Creating videos is a great way to diversify your website and add some great user-friendly content your website and blog. Your videos don't have to be expensive productions either. Using a webcam and some basic video editing software can also be really effective.

Has your company ventured into Internet video? Feel free to share your videos or stories in the comments section below.

Image: TechFresh

One afternoon I received a message from a business consultant in Arizona. She was looking around for a marketing agency to team-up in preparations for a proposal to a popular electronics conglomerate. The consultant was going to be in Dallas and we arranged to meet-up.

We had a great meeting and saw that there were synergies between her services and ours. We were very excited to have made this contact and know that there could be more opportunities in the future. It’s all about making connections and LinkedIn helped us do that.

A few months ago we placed an advertisement on LinkedIn. We were somewhat skeptical at first, but then a week later we got a solid lead. Although we used a free trial to post our advertisement, we were happy with the results and are looking at ways to improve our advertisements on LinkedIn in the future. The great thing about placing advertisements on LinkedIn is how targeted you can make them. We were able to target specific users with specific titles. We work with decisions makers, so being able to target them is very useful.

What are some of your LinkedIn success stories? Feel free to share. We are working on utilizing LinkedIn for business development, so be on the lookout for some activity from us in the future.

The “wrench” is a big leap from the main designs we had brainstormed. It can include a drastic change to color, layout or typography. So why do we throw the wrench? To generate ideas:

1) For our Client: When our client sees our mockups they will see a fairly consistent look across the logos until their eyes meet the wrench. Sometimes, this logo is such a stretch that they simply pass it over. Other times, it inspires them. They may not like all the elements of the logo, but they may like the layout, a font or a color scheme. We work to make our clients happy and when we are able to do that and inspire them, it's very rewarding. It also helps us push them in the right direction.

2) For Us: Working on designing logos lets the ideas fly. Sometimes we get ideas for other projects. It could be for that particular client or maybe for other projects we are working on. The wrench isn't always the one that’s selected, so it allows us to have ideas to call upon. It also allows us to test out different ideas that we may have had floating around.

There is nothing more rewarding as a marketing agency than to give our clients their corporate identity. Creating eye-catching logos is the icing on the cake.

How often do you throw wrenches into your projects? Feel free to share. We'd love to hear how you and your team get inspired and come up with great ideas.

Do’s

1. Do use an image(s) with your story.
2. Do give photo credit where credit is due.
3. Do make sure the image is appropriate for your write-up – common sense rules here.
4. Do select an image that completes the story.
5. Do use hi-res images in your Website or Blog.
6. Do use a photo to accompany your press release – it increases it’s chances of being picked up.
7. Do mix-up your images – feel free to use charts, graphs, actual photos, illustrations, cartoons, stock photos – the possibilities are endless.
8. Do have an objective person review your article with its photo to get honest feedback.

Don'ts

1. Don’t use an inappropriate photo – see #3 above.
2. Don’t use an image that overpowers your article.
3. Don’t overuse photos – like most things, everything in moderation.
4. Don’t use low-res or poor quality photos for your Website – nothing kills a good-looking Website more than an ugly image.
5. Don’t try to be overly cute with your photo – remember the focus is still on your story or Blog post.

Not everybody is a visual person. Photos help your readers visualize what it is you are trying to say. The use of images also breaks-up blocks of text that can look daunting to the casual reader – “You seriously want me to read all of that?” You don’t have to be a photojournalist, but do mix in the use of images to help your article flow.

We’d like to hear from you. Let us know if you have any other tips on the use of images.

Image: NYTimes.com On the Runway Blog

1) Keep it real

One of the great things about this campaign was how customized it was. Albeit not everyone who asked the Old Spice Guy a question got a video response those who did received one unique to them (more than 180 people.)

How can you apply this lesson to your Social Media strategy? Don’t send bland, automated responses when you receive a new follower. Most people can tell when you have an automated response set up. If your goal is simply to rack up more followers (which is the wrong goal to have) keep using the autoresponders. Imagine how ineffective this campaign would’ve been if Old Spice simply used a voiceover on each video. It would’ve led to a total disaster.

If you want to really engage in conversation and have your followers feel welcomed, take some time to craft out a unique response. If you are planning on taking Social Media seriously, then it should take the time to be real with its audience.

2) Listen with intent

The Old Spice team did a great job of scoping out funny or interesting tweets that they could turn into videos. By listening to their audience they were able to accomplish this and you should do the same. Be on the lookout for interesting discussions about your products or brand, topics related to your industry or questions that you could chime in on. This is a great way to build recognition and trust from your followers or fans.

3) Be timely in your response

The turnaround on these videos was incredibly quick. Yes Old Spice did have a team to get this done as quickly as possible, but those handling your company’s Social Media accounts can do the same. And in case you were wondering having an autoresponder doesn’t warrant a timely response.

Try to minimize your response time when you receive a mention, reply, retweet or direct message. Twitter is real time communication, so do your best to keep up and keep your audience engaged. We are all very busy and often get drawn away into meetings or project work, but if you are keeping a mindful eye on Twitter or Facebook, respond as soon as you can. Also, if you aren’t in the habit of thanking your followers for retweets start now.

4) Don’t take yourself too seriously

Old Spice’s recent campaigns haven’t taken themselves too seriously, but this is a valuable lesson you can apply to Twitter. Have fun while you are on Twitter and know that the person on the other side is human (which is why those autoresponders are a bad idea.) Don’t be scared to interact and get yourself out there. Social Media is still relatively young and we are all trying to figure it out together. However, don’t be ruthless and use good judgment.

This recent Old Spice campaign has been one of the most original and interesting Social Media ventures that we have seen. Now that it’s over, it will be interesting to see how other companies respond and what their takeaways are from this campaign. We hope that some of the lessons we shared with you will help push you in the right direction on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments feel free to drop us a line or send us a Tweet, we’ll send you a personalized DM we promise! By the way, here is our favorite video from the campaign.

Alright maybe that’s a little dramatic, but you get the idea. PR and SEO have courted each other for quite a while, and now PR pros and SEO experts agree that it’s all about the content. PR wants compelling and influential content that is a call-to-action for customers and prospects alike. SEO consultants want rich key search word and varied content that attracts search engines and those famed little search engine spyders that read that content.

The end result is two fold: meaningful content that influences your customers AND that raises your Website’s ranking with search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo.

And why do you want to raise your ranking? Well, so that your customers and prospects can find your Website online. Think of well written content as a laser beam straight to your site.

There are many and emerging weapons in your PR arsenal to utilize in your search for the SEO holy grail.

These days it’s hip to know and use Social Media. More importantly Social Media gives the PR pro new tools to use to impact SEO. Whether it’s a Blog, a Tweet or a message to Friends, use the influence of PR and the reach of Social Media to bring new visitors to your Website. Let’s see how many people you can influence in 140 characters.

Websites and Blogs want the same thing – great content and original articles or stories. A savvy PR pro will use key search words in the writing of these articles. This applies to just about any industry and any medium. Use articles, with the right content, to make a difference in SEO. Would you really buy a product from a site that can’t put a coherent sentence together? We hope not. Thus PR and SEO work together to make the content make sense.

Someone on Twitter declared the press release dead. Well that’s just silly. Companies, organizations and many others have a need to announce their news. The press release has evolved into a powerful online tool for both PR and SEO. With the right news and key search words in place, a press release can certainly help drive interested visitors to starved Websites. But be careful! A press release is still a news tool. Disseminating deceitful or faulty press releases can create a backlash.

Radio and TV are powerful broadcast tools within PR and media. Nothing sells more than a CEO or famed consultant voicing an opinion on a major network or station. Both PR and SEO want this video or audio clip on the Website and for the same reasons. It gives the visitor a reason to come back to the site and to stay tuned. This makes YouTube and Flickr very valuable to your overall SEO goals.

This is a sampling of how PR and SEO work together in harmony and toward the same online goals. If you have other examples, feel free to let us know. And please use key search words when you do.