Prographics Blog Copy
A blog is a fantastic marketing tool for your company. Brief history lesson: Blogs started as a means of distributing news or putting your opinion out easily. If you read any blogs, you know that not much has changed. But what does this mean for you? What can a blog do for your company? A blog is the best way to build a relationship with your customers, bar none.
The idea is not to make sales, but to make your company the first place that comes to mind when they think of a certain product. You do this by giving your customers the best information possible. Take what I did for Prographics. Prographics is in the business of selling T-shirts and pariphernalia to college students. But, if you look at the blog, we barely mention anything related to the products that Prographics sells. Instead it's all about giving information that is relevant to the customers, college students.
We give them solid information, whether it's about summer reading, time management and group leadership. This does two things. First, and most importantly, it establishes Prographics as an authority in its field. This is a great incentive for a customer. Secondly, it keeps the customer coming back to your web site. Repetition is key to advertising.
Okay, enough jibber jabber. Here are some samples:
During the summer is a great time to do all that stuff where you say, “Oh man, I should really do this, but I don't have time.” Cleaning up your officer folder is definitely one of those things. Here are some things you should do:
-Print out documents and forms that you use frequently and put them in your folder. This will save you a lot of time and hassle down the road. Get those clear folders that can fit in your 3 ring binder. That way you can see what is in them.
-If there are pages that are looking weary, photocopy or reprint those pages. Your folder is probably getting a lot of wear and tear. You aren't going to replace those pages during the school year.
-Rewrite the introduction to the next officer. The roles of officers often change as your chapter evolves, and often times requirements change. Write up a new list of hints, tips and responsibilities for the next officer. This will make everyone's job a lot easier. While you're doing this, think back to when you started the officer's position. Is there anything you wish you had known? Include that.
-If the notebook is falling apart, go ahead and get a new one. Office supplies are not expensive. You just won't be chomping on as much ramen this week.
Sage advice, I like to think. In addition to building a relationship with the student groups, Prographics has a vested interest in the different chapters being successfull. Better chapter = More money. More money = more T-shirts. Good information is a good investment. Let's look at another example.
TJ Sullivan has another great post over at his site, where he gives tips on how to get people to pay attention during meetings. Here are a couple of his better points:
Be sure that you celebrate everyone involved with any recent success. If the event on Thursday went well, be sure to publicly thank and celebrate those responsible for making it happen.
Highlights. Go around the group and have everyone share something positive from the last week – a program that went well, a personal triumph, anything. Set an expectation of positive energy.
Have smaller meetings. Maybe you don’t need to have so many people at a weekly meeting. Consider having your larger meetings every other week, and then just have your key people meet weekly. Simply ask yourself, “Why do we meet this way? Do we need all these people at a weekly meeting?”
I think that last one is the most important one. The way a group meeting should be handled is that all of the major decisions should be made before the meeting is started. For example, the head of the each relevant committee should have analyzed each situation at their meeting. The debate should not be about the subject at hand, but rather whether or not to implement a certain decision. This accomplishes two things. First, it keeps the subject matter on topic which means people's input will be more valid. Secondly, it makes meetings shorter, which simply means that people's attention will be less likely to wander.
One factor that cannot be ignored is the temperature of the meeting venue. When I was president, we had our meetings in a very poorly ventilated room, which, when filled with 27 bodies, got very hot, very quickly. Everyone was very sleepy by the end of meetings. I got the university to install an air conditioning unit, which drastically reduced the temperature in the room, and I noticed people payed much better attention after that.
Another HUGE thing you can do is have an agenda, print it out, and hand it to everyone before the meeting begins. This keeps everyone on point, and shows them that there is an endpoint to all this madness.
Most of all, try to make it fun and lighthearted. But not too fun that people get off track.
Here I've quoted another blogger that is pre-eminent in the field. Again, the benefit of this is two-fold. First, it adds to the legitimacy of the content. It's one thing to talk about improving leadership qualities, but if you are quoting someone who makes a living working with student leaders, well that only gives you more authority. Secondly, when you drive traffic to an outside website, that traffic will get sent back to you, by means of a links or referrals. The best part? This is traffic of your target audience getting shuttled to your website. In this case, student leaders will get sent back to Prographics.
Having a blog or a website with constantly updated information is the best way to build a relationship with your customer base. It increases your authority in the field, and, most importantly, gives them a reason to come back to your site. Each time they come back, they are more likely to buy one of your products, plain and simple.
If you're interested in reading the rest of the copy I write for this blog, here's the link:
Greek T-Shirts That Rock Blog
I have written everything since May 21st, 2010.