To Friend, Or Not To Friend

“Do you friend your wedding clients on Facebook, Dave?”

The above inquiry is one that comes up often with mobile DJs and is the question I will be answering this week. My decision on the matter has led, in part, to greater success in the relationships I have both inside and outside of business. Continue reading “To Friend, Or Not To Friend”

Are YOU as Glossy as Your Marketing Materials?

You influence the public perception of your brand every moment, of every day, in so many ways it is impossible to count. If you are in business for yourself, who YOU are is tied to your brand as much as your glossy marketing materials.

Are YOU as glossy as your marketing materials?

When it comes to brand awareness for my company, Special Request Weddings, each and every little thing I do Continue reading “Are YOU as Glossy as Your Marketing Materials?”

Scott Faver opens the CDJ Show!

With his popular, likeable and well known high energy, Scott Faver opened up the May 2014 edition of the CDJ Show in Calgary, Alberta this morning!

Scott Faver at CDJ Show May 2014

Scott’s presentation “Promotion is not Devotion” spoke at length about methods through which he “promotes” his name and his company. “Promotion” though, as he sees it, isn’t exactly what you might think in this case. Through an unparalleled devotion to his clients, Scott demonstrated how he stays top of mind with not only clients, but past clients, wedding vendors, etc. In order to accomplish this, Scott insists that proper and real relationships must take place before, during and after any event. This translates, when done efficiently, to a service that requires little to no advertising which is what Scott has enjoyed for many years.

As it seems to have been a common thread in materials that I’ve been reading and listening to over the last few weeks, something else Scott also shared really stood out to me, “If you are everything to everyone, you are nothing to all. FOCUS.”

Wes Straub at CDJ Show May 2014

Later that morning, Wes Straub, DJ and Website designer, spoke under the seminar heading “Power up Your Brand and Business”. Wes’s DJ background has taken him all over the map from clubs in North America to across the Atlantic in Ibiza. He also currently works as a user experience, interaction and graphic designer, technical development and project manager for Inspire Studios Inc.

The information and presentation Wes shared on creating an online presence for you and your brand was very well polished and delivered in a manner that was engaging and easily understood for even the most novice marketing individual. When discussing your brand and the idea of taking it online, his approach to that conversation requires answers to 2 very specific things about you and your business. Before you go online… define who your customers are and define who you are. All you’ll do is waste your time and everyone else’s time if you go online before defining both of those things.

I’ll also share 4 rules here that Wes gave us for creating and maintaining meaningful online content:

#1 Less noise, more voice. Be human online and make it count.
#2 It’s for your audience, not the entire world. You know who your audience is right?
#3 Be original, be unique, be inspiring. Create conversation, whether it’s about what you actually do or not.
#4 Audience first, SEO second. Search Engine Optimization is important, but never forget that your content needs to be written for your audience first.

Near the end of his presentation, Wes brought up a topic that I’ve written briefly on before and am very passionate about: How you represent yourself in every public face is your brand. Your brand is everything you do. Your brand is you.

That sums up this write up for the May 2014 edition of the CDJ Show in Calgary. If all goes according to plan, I’ll put together one more write up tomorrow.

Now… to go and find some sleep…

~ Dave T.

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Are YOU as glossy as your marketing material?

You influence the public’s perception of your brand every moment, of every day, in so many ways it’s impossible to count. If you’re in business for yourself, who YOU are is tied to your brand as much as your glossy marketing materials. Are YOU as glossy as your marketing material?

When it comes to brand awareness for my company, Special Request Weddings, each and every little thing I do makes an impression on my company. Every time I come into contact with another human being, I add something to my companies brand. The really important question is, am I adding positive influences or negative influences to the publics perception of my brand?

I am adding to my brand all the time and everywhere regardless of:

– the time and day (morning, weekend, night, etc)
– the location (at the shopping mall, on Facebook, stepping outside to pick up the mail and deposit at the bank, etc.)
– the people involved in the interaction (friends, the person at the drive through, the builder adding on to my house, etc.)
– and many more…

My brand, because I work for myself, is ME. As trivial as it might be, as cosmetic as it might appear, as superficial as it might sound: I AM my brand.

I might polish my brand with a nice website, colourful and happy brochures, sleek business cards, etc. but all of that can be undone in an instant. It only takes a few negative influences added to your brand to undo a lengthy list of positive ones. This means that if I don’t realize that I AM my brand, I may be continually backtracking my way to that new level of desired success.

That sloppy looking fool buying cucumbers and tomatoes at the grocery store, yep, that’s adding to my brand. That guy in to much of a hurry at the drive through window who let’s his impatience get the best of him while paying for his burger, yep that’s adding to my brand. That person trying to haggle a better deal on the new sofa that his wife wants, yep, that’s adding to my brand.

You influence the public’s perception of your brand every moment, of every day, in so many ways it’s impossible to count. If you’re in business for yourself, who YOU are is tied to your brand as much as your glossy marketing materials. Are YOU as glossy as your marketing material?

~ Dave T.

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Written as originally posted to the CPDJA online Facebook group on September 9, 2013.

 

___________
All content is © Dave Ternier but sharing of blog content online (Facebook, chat groups, etc.) is strongly encouraged provided the following two conditions are met: 1) Direct URL to the blog post must be shared and any part of blog quoted must be attributed to Dave Ternier or aDJthought.com and 2) Copying and pasting an entire blog post in it’s entirety is not permissible, but if quoting, please quote no more then 1 – 2 paragraphs.