Expert Marketing Blog - Marketing - Page 32

The world keeps changing. I use to hate change but as a marketer I have learned to love it. Move my seat one day to another, I am all ready to get up and look at the new perspective that is put in front of me.

I use to love a PC but my team wanted Mac's because they were sexier, so I reluctantly changed last. Now, I have no idea how to use a PC and my Mac is joined at my hip.

There is so much to love about being headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The peaches, the honey, the friendliness, the cost of living and the people. Not so much the Grits but I think that's an acquired taste a bit like vegemite. 

With so many Fortune 500 companies headquartered here; The Home Depot, UPS, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Airlines, Aflac, The Southern Company, Genuine Parts Company, First Delta Corporation, AGCO, Rock Ten Company, Sun Trust Banks, HD Supply Holdings and I could really go on and on - but I think you get the picture.

Wow! I mean wow! I just arrived in the office in Atlanta and I am completely and utterly amazed at the talent and sheer determination of our Marketing Eye team in Atlanta.

They are not only the best looking team in all of Atlanta, they are also the smarter and most competent.

Who would have thought that they could put together a team like this all by themselves and start running the business like I always dreamed it would be run.

For the past 3 weeks I have been quite sick and this has made it quite incredibly hard to be able to work at a pace that is acceptable in my business. Fortunately for me, the team has been running seamlessly and have continued to grow and prosper.

Due to our inherent need for a number of new positions to be filled due to our high growth company, we have to be very careful what clients we take on for now and the future.

Over the years, there have been a few PR experts that have stood out to myself; namely Shona Boyd. She is an industry veteran in Sydney and has had every big name client under the sun. She is more professional than the rest and without doubt is one of the few people in the industry that guarantee results. She has a no bullshit radar, and refuses to work with people who can't sit straight. I love her. She was one of the first real PR people that I have ever met.

Then there were others that came along, without qualifications but equally capable in getting column centremeters like Roxy Jacenko. They have built their businesses on largely fluffy PR but have done so with gust and have certainly gained my admiration.

I played the PR game earlier on. I realised that it was a quick way to make some serious money. I worked on the more serious part of the equation; public listings, technology PR, business PR and alike. It was fun. All it required was an ability to write a press release and build a relationship with a journalist. By knowing what the journalist was interested in, I was able to tell the client upfront whether or not they had a chance of getting published or not.

For that privilege, I wrote the press release in 20 minutes and charged $2,500 per piece. Easy money and paid the rent. Didn't get much better than that.

Gosh times have changed. Why did I ever stop doing this. Now, we charge a few hundred dollars for writing a press release and send it out to a database. Not the same results might I add, but it seems that that is what most people are doing and getting away with.

Great PR people have the following qualitites: