Lip-Sticking

Dear Old People:

That's how the "Generation M Manifesto" begins. Writer Umair Haque, Director of the Havas Media Lab, writes his manifesto at Harvard Business Publishing, and he isn't pulling any punches. He's telling old people - let's say, boomers and seniors (whoever they are)..."My generation would like to break up with you."

I found his article intriguing, humorous, and slightly overstated, as many "manifestos" are. Umair apparently thinks anyone over the age of...I'm picking 45, is the cause of the state of affairs in the world, as it is today, and he aims to throw them out - so he and his "friends" (I use the term loosely), can "fix" things. Because, of course, they know how to do that better than we old people.

Know When to Shut Up and Sit Down

By Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

Hummpff!  Now that I've gotten your attention with that incredibly rude title...

This past week conservative columnist David Brooks wrote In Search of Dignity.

"When George Washington was a young man, he copied out a list of 110 “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Some of the rules in his list dealt with the niceties of going to a dinner party or meeting somebody on the street...

The dignity code commanded its followers to be disinterested — to endeavor to put national interests above personal interests. It commanded its followers to be reticent — to never degrade intimate emotions by parading them in public. It also commanded its followers to be dispassionate — to distrust rashness, zealotry, fury and political enthusiasm.

But the dignity code itself has been completely obliterated. The rules that guided Washington and generations of people after him are simply gone."

Stiletto Woman: Embracing New Ideas

Today I have the pleasure of sharing a stimulating interview with a new site that aims to do a lot of what we do, right here, at Lip-sticking. I share this because I believe in working with my sisters, not against them. These gals are on the right track and I applaud the work they're doing. They are Stiletto Woman - and our little blog is one stop on their blog tour. Here is their story:

Yvonne: Love your title, Stiletto Woman - but the thought makes my feet hurt! Should women wear their stilettos to work, or just save them for special occasions? Seriously, why did you choose that image, that concept, as your brand?

It's powerful but...will it resonate with women who don't wear stilettos anymore?

Stiletto Woman: Such a great question! Stiletto Woman is more than the shoes you wear. It’s really about a mindset—a way of thinking, a way of living. Our manifesto is Be Fulfilled! Be Empowered! Be You! Stilettos represent the courage, and willingness to create your own path—to be pioneering in all you do at every level.

You don’t have to wear a Prada bag on your shoulder to be fabulous. You don’t have to run a multi-million dollar business to be recognized. You don’t have to shower your children with gifts and live in a big house to be a great mommy. If you have those things, we celebrate you too, because you are an inspiration to those who desire to achieve what you have, nevertheless it’s not a defining factor to the happiness one can achieve.

Stilettos also represent our sense of style. To us being a mother, a wife, a student . . . or whatever your life causes you to be, doesn’t mean you forget about yourself. Organizationally, we have a hip and original approach to all we do. Having a full life doesn’t keep you from pampering yourself, enjoying life, or being fabulous—not in material things necessarily, but in self-worth and self-love.

At times, you may hear us mention “Stiletto-Fab”. To us, that simply signifies a women doing what she does, well. She’s happy. She’s true to herself. She’s a bit of an inspiration to us all. Now, if you happen to wear stilettos, then you’re in good company, because you can usually find us in a nice pair!

Warner's Fit-to-a-T Bra Fitting House Party Gives Women What They Want

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Last year about this time I wrote this post on a really cool promotional event that Hershey's sponsored and executed with an interesting marketing firm called House Party to help launch their new Hershey's Bliss Chocolate line. House Party integrates actual social events that happen in the real world with social media in the online world. Since last year House Party has really been expanding and they helped to create a party earlier this year called Warner's Fit-to-a-T House Party that I just have to share with you all here.

Now a House Party™ is thousand parties on one day taking place across the country with an exclusive brand experience at the center of the action. These specially designed parties are sponsored by a leading brand and take place in the homes of carefully selected consumer hosts who can invite their friends, family, neighbors, classmates , co-workers, whoever they wish, to experience these uniquely fun parties and the products they feature.

Warner's wanted to sponsor bra fitting parties to help support the launch of their new Invisible Bliss bra which is designed for women to wear under t-shirts. So House Party recruited 1,000 hosts for this event and also got Redbook on board as a co-sponsor.

House Party's CEO, Kitty Kolding, shared this with us the following: “The experts at Warner Bras have data that show that most women do not wear the correct bra size nor do they know how to select bras that fit them perfectly. So we worked with Warner Bras to design and deploy a national program of parties that gave women a trusted setting – the home of a close friend – in which they could learn, share and find the perfect bra. And at the same time, they had fun and shared that fun on the event website that ties all the parties together. To make it work, we did what we always do which is make a brand or product experience into an authentic, legitimately fun social gathering that delivers real value to consumers and extremely powerful marketing tools to our Fortune 500 clients.” 

The Grace of Being an Iron Girl: Interview with Judy Molnar

This is another post on the triathlon event called "Iron Girl". I wrote about this in June because I'm so impressed with the idea and the focus. It's a true leadership development process, and I only wish I were 20 years younger so I could participate. Now, Andy, my new best friend in PR, will likely say I can participate regardless of my age - but, he's as excited about Iron Girl as I am, so he's not likely to agree with anyone who says she can't do an Iron Girl event.

Here's the reason it's good for Lip-sticking - it's about being active, truly active - in life and thought. It's about girls - and Moms. It's about strength and power and achievement. All the things that are GOOD and RIGHT about being a woman entrepreneur in today's rich marketplace. Judy Mojjj

But, let's hear what Judy Molnar says about it - Iron Girl is her story if it's anyone's story:

Twitter DMs - Stop with the Invites to Increase My Followership!

I guess I should be out celebrating this fine, summer holiday - but I am quite happy indoors, thank you. I've done my share of picnics and beach parties and traveling to the relatives' for fireworks. Maybe we'll do something more 4th of Julyish next year.

This year, I'm working on the house. The one we're selling. And, I thought I'd rant a moment on this blog, to give readers who are also not out doing the 4th of July thing, something to read.

Here goes: I have not been on Twitter a whole lot in the last few weeks. Travel and work and fixing the house up have all commanded my attention. Despite my MIA status from Twitter, I'm still getting followers on all three accounts (@y2vonne - @mypetblog - @lipsticking) and I'm also receiving DMs from folks I follow and...

Why Are You Reading This? It's the 4th! (Almost)

By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

You should be enjoying the holiday (as I plan to, so this will be a short post.)  But before I send  you on your way, a couple of things to remember as we celebrate Independence.  Things are far from perfect, but:

1.  We Americans don't have to risk our lives to vote.  So how come more of us don't do it?  And, the old argument "they're all alike" just doesn't fly. The last presidential election should put that one to rest once and for all.  Or, read up on Iran's election (or Russia's, or Iraq's...or....); those folks would beg to differ.  There's always such a thing as the lesser of two evils, as well.

2.  We're still here. Sure, the US has a LOT of big problems, but the grand experiment of democracy is still chugging along.  Rather you like him or not - the fact that we elected an African-American named Barack Hussein Obama only seven years after 9/11 (and despite all the yelling and fear-mongering) - says something very positive about us and our system of government. 

Our Founding Fathers were a wildly diverse group of guys, many of whom didn't like each other very much...and had violent disagreements.  Yet, somehow they managed - without computers, air-conditioning or the Internet - to come together in a stifing room and build a country.  By contrast, imagine Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid coming together to produce anything (other than eye-rolling media fodder). Not happenin'. (I do, however, find it mildly amusing that Senator Boehner seems to wear as much make-up as Governor Palin...dial down the orange, John!...;-)

So, stop worrying for a day about the tough times.  Go wave a sparkler and be grateful for what we do have, including unlimited opportunities to make things better - in business, life and government - thanks to a bunch of wild-eyed, unrealistic, heretical guys back in the 1770s... 

SocialSweeps - Integrating Interactive Promotions with Social Media For a Winning Combination

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

The use of social media marketing by businesses and organizations has been exploding. Today more and more marketers are utilizing these platforms as innovative and effective ways to reach their targeted audiences while also achieving their branding and marketing communications goals.

I have been working lately on several proposals for prospective clients that want to get started with social media. This usually takes some education first that includes an overview of where the industry is currently at, a brief description of the main social media platforms and an explanation of the services that I could provide for them. So, I thought I'd share with you here some of what I've been saying and thinking and ask for your input and ideas.

Now the first step for any social media strategy is to set clear objectives. Goal setting a social marketing program should be no different than with any other brand communications plan. The goals that work best are traditional brand-health objectives, however my experience in this new marketing environment shows that most campaigns may involve the following:

• Increased brand awareness
• Brand engagement (pages viewed, time on site)
• Publicity, positive buzz and word of mouth (often uncovering brand evangelists)
• Relationship building
• Driving traffic to a website
• Sales conversions for products and services
• Strong inbound link generation, which benefits organic search engine rankings
• Positive ROI when maximum exposure is reached

7 Secrets of Happy and Successful Life Directors

If you haven't met Sandra Heinzelmann, you're missing out on some outstanding business advice and coaching. I don't say this lightly - she comes highly recommended by my own client and author, Dr. Susan L. Reid. So says, Dr. Reid, "A power-shot of inner wisdom that will catapult your success!"

There is no doubt that we all need a catapult, today. I'm watching CNN drone on and on about Barnie Madoff and his 150 years in jail (somehow, while his victims are happy about that, I find it ridiculous, why don't they just say, "For the rest of your life."?) It's a joy, then, to turn my attention to Sandra and her 7 Secrets. 

Sandra was kind enough to send me her book about a year ago. This was one book I looked forward to, but in the haste of many other projects, the 7 Secrets of Happy and Successful Life Directors got misplaced, until recently. Maybe it's Fate - because this is the most important time of my life, and of yours. Today...right now...as you read this post. It's the most important time of your life because it's time to be accountable...and to stand up and make the things you've always wanted to happen, happen.

Currency Isn't Always Dollars and Cents

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

I'm noticing a trend lately and it involves a saying that my Grandmother used to say: "You beg what you need and pay for what you want." What she meant by that is, the things most people NEED to have they're not willing to pay for. The things they WANT, they'll spend every dime they have on them. This type of behavior shows a complete lack of focus and upside down priorities.

Case in point, a couple of years ago - with very few exceptions - I stopped speaking for free. No ego; there just comes a point in your career where you have to take things to the next level. What's more, if you charge one organization a speaker's fee and then don't charge a similar organization (word gets around), you lose cool points and integrity.

In the past few weeks, I've received a couple of speaking requests from organizations that for whatever reason (economy, etc.), have decided they would love to have me speak, but could not do so due to lack of funding. By now, you know that I have not bought into the "economy" talk and Lena's economy is doing just fine, thank you very much. But, I do realize that every organization has a different outlook and a different perspective on the corrective turn the finances in this country have taken. Yep, I get it.

What bugs me most is not that the organizations don't have the moola, but that they don't bother to offer other forms of currency. If you're reading this, and you'd like to bring in a speaker whom you don't think you can afford, here are a few things you can offer a speaker that might make up for your lack of cash flow (it doesn't mean they'll accept it, but you can try):

• BORS (Back of the Room Sales) - this means information product sales and book signings and sales
• Opted-in attendee list complete with email addresses (ethical speakers know better than to spam your list)
• Laser consulting/"hot seat" sessions - this sets the stage for possible new client scenarios
• Key meeting set-up - if your members fit in the target market for the speaker (which they should), why not offer to set up a few one-on-one meetings for them while they're in town? This could also lead to a potential client scenario.
• Arrange for media coverage - if you can't pay me, at least help secure media coverage and a one-on-one interview for the event.

There are many more - and if you think of some that I've missed, chime in with a comment below.

The main point is, there's more than one way to "pay" a qualified speaker and if you know your budget is tight, plan on offering one or more of the above options to help sweeten the pot so you can pay for what you NEED.