Miley Cyrus Poses For Vanity Fair–But Why?

I am the mother of three daughters and one is a huge fan of tween sensation Miley Cyrus. Miley is 15 years old and is a huge Disney television star, singing star, and just plain ole’ star - especially to her demographic of 6-12 year olds.

She recently took some photos over at Vanity Fair Magazine with famous photographer Annie Lebowitz, and one of the photos was a nude Miley covered with a white sheet. In today’s world I wouldn’t consider it provocative or racy — But is it something I would want my 8 year old copying or emulating — uh, nope! Now while my child hasn’t seen the photo, nor will I show her, over 4 million people logged online to view the photos!

So after I got over my initial disappointment with her parents (who were at the shoot), because of course now I’m paranoid that she is one minute away from a Britney Spears or Lindsey Lohan slide, I thought about the marketing side of this (as I often do:)

Why did they do the Vanity Fair shoot? Yes, she is a famous photographer. Yes, Vanity Fair is a reputable magazine — but they are also known for this. Many major celebs that do a Vanity Fair shoot and/or interview ends up angry at the reporter and mad at the magazine. Because yes - they take it there. So was that a really smart move for the Cyrus family to make with their child’s career?

Sure - it was great for Vanity Fair. Millions of people logged online to see their exclusive photos. But for Miley - I don’t know if from a marketing standpoint that this was a good move. I’m sure I’m not the only parent now - that is a little more on “alert”. Waiting to see if she grows up a little faster then we hoped. Waiting to see if like her predecessors she forgets WHO her demographic is and WHO the people are that are paying for that demographic to watch her, listen to her, etc.

I think this was a lesson in remembering your marketing plan. Staying on track. Staying focused. And not falling for the next “bright and shiny” object to come up!

marketing plan, miley cyrus

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What’s Your Marketing Style?

Recently, there has been a pretty popular online guru who is running a promotion right now on one of his old seminars. He’s basically retiring it, because he said that a student of his took it, packaged it, and sold it as his own for thousands of dollars! Can you imagine?

Anyway - you can get the whole thing for a buck - supposedly as a way to counterattack the seminar thief. BUT of course there is a catch.

1. There are not one, not two, but I think there was about four one-time offer (upsell) pages after you paid your $1. Which to many, including myself, a little overkill and a lot annoying.

2. Plus, there is also an optional continuity program on the backend of your purchase, which means that in 30 days I will receive a copy of this guru’s print newsletter and be charged about 30 bucks for it. The option is - is that I can cancel it at anytime. Now - this guy is pretty successful on the web, so I don’t mind the newsletter. In fact I love print newsletters (which are hot right now). So that’s okay - but probably not okay for a lot of other people.

Now I must say to all the complainers out there — that you must be a little naive to think that we were going to get all that content for a $1 and there not be any other income-generating hoops to jump through. But it does make you think about what kind of marketing style you plan to adopt as you build your business on the web.

There were plenty of people very upset about this offer, but I think that the guru probably feels that anyone paying a $1 who didn’t want to pay for anything else he was offering — was not a profitable lead for him. So who cares that they were annoyed.

But the thing is - is that I do care. I don’t want to annoy anyone if I can help it, and I think that there is a potential profit in anyone who makes a decision to join your list. They could be an affiliate. They could be a possible joint venture. They could just be someone who you need to build a relationship with before they buy from you (which is how I usually market AND how I invest in other experts online).

So while this guru’s marketing style clearly works for him — remember that you can adopt a different marketing style that is just as effective but more reflective of who you are and how you want to present yourself to the world.

marketing, marketing style, online marketing

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Let’s Do Some Social Marketing Networking!

As I’ve mentioned before, I have decided to focus on a few social marketing platforms and build a presence there. And then the others - I may just add a page in order to build an authoritative link back to my site and add an article branding kit on it. So if you’d like to join me, please add me to your friends list. See you on the other side:)

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. MySpace
4. Digg
5. StumbleUpon
6. PlanetGirlShrink

digg, facebook, myspace, planetgirlshrink, social networking, stumbleupon, twitter

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How To Use Twitter For Business

I have been recently writing about how I have made the decision to really narrow down and focus on a few select social media and marketing platforms in an effort to grow traffic, my list, and my brand.

So lately, I have been thinking about adding Twitter to my very short list because from what I’m gathering - it can provide a significant impact to your blog readership (if of course you write something worth reading:)

I think two bloggers who really explained the spirit of Twitter and how to use it effectively in growing your brand online are Darren from ProBlogger and Maki on Dosh Dosh. It’s not just about collecting all the “friends” you can get!

I opened a Twitter account a while ago - but didn’t really “get it”. Now I think I do - and I thought it was worth passing it forward. By the way, if you are already a Twitter user, can you share the top 3 benefits you have experienced from using it? In the meantime, I’m going to get cracking and let you know about my results.

personal brand, social networking, twitter

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Are You Sick Of Social Media Sites?

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t got the time or the inclination to join every social marketing site out there, and neither can you if you are going to make any money at your business.

Pick 3 sites (including one bookmarking site) and spend a few hours a week dedicated to building a presence in those three. How do you choose? Well you have to know your market and where they hang out. You will find a different crowd on LinkedIn vs. MySpace for the most part - so find out where you fit in.

Meanwhile - you are not alone. Others are tired of all the choices too:) Watch this funny music video about the impending social media site bubble over at Jack Humphrey’s site.

linkedin, myspace, social media, social networking

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26 Free Buzz Building Monitoring Tools

The marketing pilgrim had a great post a while back that I thought was worth sharing with you buzz building fiends!

You can use these tools to monitor the buzz factor and the reputation of your business - as well as your competitor’s.

*Tip - Don’t use all of these tools. You’ll go crazy. And use the ones based on your level of expertise. Some are for advanced marketers. 

You can find the list here: 26 Free Buzz Monitoring Tools

buzz monitoring, good karma

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Should I Send Text or HTML Emails?

Isn’t this the age-old email, ezine, newsletter question of all time? Email is the life-blood of most online businesses. Sure we have RSS feeds, social networking, etc. - but at the end of the day, all of us should be asking the permission to continue contact via email of every visitor to our site(s). Period.

So how should you get your message out - effectively every time? Well, there was the theory that we should just send everything out via text because it was sure to get through the spam filters and many people do not have the capability of viewing html emails.

Then there was the case for html’s power to get the emails opened and read. They are attractive and compelling - just not as boring as the dozens of text emails we receive each day.

So now this is the new theory - really not so new:) - and that is to send out your newsletters in both text and html format for each issue. This way you are covering your bases. Those who can only view text emails or choose to only view text emails - will see your text email. Others who prefer html - will get your html version. This gives your subscribers the power to make the decision how they read your newsletter - and not you giving them only one option.

*HINT - There are many newsletter/autoresponder services out there which may give you the option of a text or html message, but pay close attention to the details.

There are some that can generate a text message out of your html message automatically - which is a nice feature.

There are others which can have you post both versions - and will send both versions. So your subscribers will get two emails with the same content. (That one annoys me. I use to have that option with my old service.)

Or you can have the option of sending both text and html versions - but the subscriber will only see the version they have set up on default. For example, I have set up my Apple Mail to always read html messages. I prefer them. So when I send a test email to myself - that is the only version I see. Others will only see the text version - never both. This is a really cool feature I use over at aweber.

Bottom line - take the extra step or the extra few minutes and send out both text and html versions to ensure deliverability. Remember that building relationships with your members/ readers is at the core of creating a buzzed about business!

email marketing, spam filters, text message

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Don’t Forget The Basics

In an effort to do more marketing for my business, more creative development, more tweaks, more networking, more yada yada…sometimes I can forget to stay focused on completing the basics.

1. Writing Articles

2. Sending out regular newsletters

3. Building Links

All of these things are important or rather they are crucial to the continued growth and success of your online business - regardless of the market.

Remember to build a solid daily plan of action around these three activities, and only then focus on the other parts of your business. I have to remember myself as I get excited about a new writing project, infoproduct, etc. to keep implementing the “basics” on a regular basis.

Its also important to remember that publishing more articles and speaking regularly with your subscribers builds credibility and confidence in you as the “expert”.

In fact, I need to listen to my own advice because I have a newsletter that I need to get out - so enough of today’s post. Just thought I’d pass on a little good karma off to the rest of you:)

credibility, good karma, marketing

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