According to Steve Jobs, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, karma, whatever. Just follow your passion and stay hungry, stay foolish.

Hitting the reset button on marketing communications begins by accepting a new perspective on what marketing communications needs to accomplish. Switching a company’s perspective from that of a traditional advertiser to that of a tightly disciplined, personalized publisher can help a company join the online conversation. The company’s Web site can generate dramatically more sales leads than it ever has before by offering more-timely, personalized, and useful content.

One way to communicate directly with a targeted audience is to create a company news site, one that focuses on the company, its news and events, and industry issues. Maples Communications proposes creating a news site to the company’s global content onto a single page, updated and prioritized each day and laid out much like a newspaper.

The Lakers have their legacy – another NBA Championship. What will be your legacy? Are you willing to figure out what it is going to take for you to accomplish your goals? Are you willing to miss some shots and take some risks to find success? For me, I found my niche in life and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to be successful and to make my clients successful. I have passion, commitment and loyalty to my family, my friends, myself and to my clients. I may get knocked down from time to time, but I will never, never give up.

Maples Communications is launching a “Flat-Rate” PR and social media program to help companies build brand visibility, attract new customers and boost their businesses. The program is about using the power of the Internet to lead customers through the buying process.

As Director of Social Media, I know I am supposed to champion new media communications tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. but sometimes I think in the midst of all the hype around social media we forget to use the most social of tools-the telephone.
It first started with e-mail, the godfather of social media, [...]

Walking into a ballgame, you are likely to hear someone shouting, “Program! Get your program! Can’t tell the players without a program!” I can’t think of a better analogy for developing a “best practices” social media program: its all about nailing down – in writing – who you need to connect with online, what you are trying to achieve with them, and knowing what to measure so that you will know if you have achieved your goals.

When looking at the value of social media tools like Twitter, we need to realize the real value isn’t the tool itself; it is the information the tool has to offer.

Being able to see beyond the scope of your customer base to understand how your market is influenced is one of the most important advantages of a social media program.

If the company is going to achieve and maintain a brand value using social media, it will need to first understand the company’s stake in the marketplace and the value it offers to its customers. The value proposition is all about the customer. What matters to them and how you can deliver value that differentiates you from your competitors.