Awesome is Calling…ANSWER IT!

Needless to say, when Shelley Boston told me she was talking with Scott Stratten about coming to Red Deer, I was inappropriately giddy. This is not only huge for a nerd like me, this is huge for Red Deer. This national best-selling author of UnMarketing, this guy that is ranked one of the top twitter influencers in the WORLD, is coming here. HERE! And I get to meet him. Unbelievably AWESOME.

November 1st, for a half day seminar – UNAWESOME IS UNACCEPTABLE – where we get to pick his brain about all things social media and marketing. And this will not be a blow smoke up your butt or put you to sleep seminar – Scott tells it like it is – no bullshit, straight up solutions and advice to how to market your business on social media. Oh, AND we all get signed copies of his new book coming out later this year too – The Book of Business Awesome.

If you own any business – small local business, home-based, large corporation, charitable organization – anything, this guy can teach you how to market it the RIGHT way from how to address complaints, how to re-recruit your employees, how to re-court your customers, to how to avoid trainwrecks.

And if there are still some of you out there that are non-social media fans? Well firstly…WAKE UP, IT’S 2012!!!! Like it or not, it’s how to reach people. If you don’t adopt it now, you are missing out on a huge market. What better way to start then to learn from the best?  He gets 60,000,000 hits on his client videos. SIXTY MILLION PEOPLE!

Tickets went on sale Monday, this is his ONLY Alberta stop this fall and tickets are going quick. I don’t want you to miss it. Be Awesome. Be there.

My all time favourite words from Scott? There is no such thing as tweeting too much.

Amen brotha.

Ronald McDonald House

I’m not going to lie, this past year I’ve felt inundated with charitable donation requests, events and fundraisers. It’s tough, you want to support them all; the ones that are marketed in such a way that it’s fun to participate, the ones that affect your friends and family, and the international programs that tug at your heartstrings, and of course the ones that involve a sweet wide eyed kid on your doorstep.

You can’t possibly do it all, so you choose what feels right.

The Ronald McDonald House feels right for me. When Larry Mathieson started tweeting about its construction probably a year ago I felt excited. I’ve had friends who have used these facilities in other cities and thought wow, this is so awesome for Red Deer. No, this is HUGE for Red Deer. Not only that, but Larry struck me as an honest, sincere, caring man that I trusted. (relationships built on twitter people, i can’t say enough!)

So when Angie asked me if I wanted to join her in taking the Orientation so that we can go in to the House and prepare meals for families there I was IN. What a great way to help. In my world food is comfort (yes I know Trainers, but it is!) and if we can provide home cooked meals to these families that are under insane stress and give them even a tiny bit of comfort in their day, count me in.

Can’t wait to get started!!

The Right Way to Market

I had an experience a week or so ago that I HAVE to share. Why? Because it’s IMPRESSIVE, and smart, and should be shared.

I saw a tweet from Dan Ouwehand…I can’t remember what it was now (sorry Dan!) but it had something about Laebon Homes in it. I didn’t hesitate to tweet that Laebon built my first home & the experience was great. I was a young single girl, no idea what the hell I was doing or what I wanted, just knew I wanted a home that looked good and wasn’t going to require maintenance that I couldn’t afford.

From the Sales Guy to my Project Manager, every one of them treated me with respect, like I was as equal as a family of 10 walking in the door. I think that’s huge, and over the past 11 years, I’ve shared that story a million times.

Point of my story…not even 10 minutes after I tweeted that? An email from Laebon’s marketing department, thanking me and asking me to come by and pick up an Earl’s GC they had for me in thanks for my ongoing support.

AWESOME.

There is nothing unawesome about that. THAT people is how it’s done. What review would you rather hear? Which review would you trust? One that was prompted or paid for, or a genuine unprompted one?

I know which one I’d choose. Lesson here? Reward those who promote you because they love your product. Those people are your billboards.

Thank you once again Laebon Homes for being awesome.