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Posts Tagged ‘elevator speech’


The Social Media-Ready Elevator Speech: How Short Can You Go?

January 31st, 2011 ::

hotel elevatorIf you attend networking events, even if just occasionally, I am willing to bet $20 that you have met a handful of people who cannot tell you what they do.  And I don’t mean “I’m a CIA Officer, so I’d have to kill you if I told you about my job” people (we have a lot of those here in the DC area), but people who ramble on and on and seem completely incapable of quickly explaining to you what they do.

It drives me nuts.

In our sound-bite and social media-obsessed society, how can you not have a quick answer ready?  Twitter demands it.  Facebook is more generous, but when I’m skimming my news updates and you post something rambling, I am not going to hit “continue” to see what else you have to say in your status update.  Get to the point already, because I don’t have time.

Your elevator speech should be tweetable.  Yes, I am saying it should be 140 characters or less.  You can tweet it to new followers or use it in your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter profiles, but even better, you can whip it out at networking events.  Trust me, the shorter and more concise your elevator pitch, the smarter you sound.

So, to craft a super-succinct elevator speech, you need to write down the answers to these 3 questions:

  1. What is my product or service?
  2. Who are my clients?
  3. How do I help my clients?

Your answers should be short, and by short, I mean a phrase, not a long, complicated sentence.  Here is how I answer those questions:

  1. Marketing writing and editing
  2. Small to mid-size companies
  3. Generate leads and become thought leaders

If they’re not short phrases, strip your answers down to the basics.

Now, link the phrases together in a way that makes most sense, like this:

I write and edit marketing copy for small to mid-size companies that generate leads and position them as thought leaders.

That sentence is 123 characters, with spaces, which means I can expand on it a bit and add more specifics.  Instead of adding my bread and butter specialties of blogs, newsletters, and website content, I decided to tighten it up, like this:

I produce the content that small to mid-size companies need to generate leads and position them as thought leaders.

That was only 117 characters, with spaces, and I think it’s better than the first.  What do you think?

OK, your turn!  I would love to hear what you come up, so go ahead and add your before and after elevator speech in the comment section.

Image by Flickr user zwanzig (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media, social media | 2 Comments »

How NOT to Write a Cover Letter or Query about a Job

June 16th, 2010 ::

by Robin Ferrier

Photo courtesy openpad. Flickr Creative Commons.

There’s a lot of advice out there about what you should include in your cover letters. Below, I’m providing some advice on what NOT to do.

I received a query from someone the other day who was looking for a job. While I’ll give the person credit for actually addressing his email to me — so many people employ the “Dear Sir/Madam” — the letter was atrocious. Why?

In the first line, he said he was “wondering if there are any employment opportunities” with my organization.

LESSON: Do your homework because I’m not going to do it for you. Find out for yourself if there are any employment opportunities. You did enough homework to find your way to my site and to track down my email address. Don’t just use it. Instead, find your way to the employment section. (Because trust me, nowhere on our site is my name affiliated with job opportunities.) Granted, I don’t have a direct employment link on my site, but that’s because we’re a satellite campus for a major university and we don’t handle hiring here. The main campus does. So if you don’t see an employment link on my site, don’t just stop there. If I’m part of a larger organization, go to the larger organization’s web site and find the employment link there.

Next, he told me who he was — a medical student who has the summer off.

LESSON: Congratulations on having the summer off, but why are you waiting until May to figure out what you’re doing with your summer? I’m not inclined to hire someone who waited until the last minute to look for summer work because I’ll be worrying about what work you’ll put off until the last minute when you’re working for me. Also, telling me what you’re studying doesn’t tell me what you’re qualified to do — or what you want to do or what skills you bring to the table — even if I did have a job opening.

He closed with: “If there is anything available or if you would like me to e-mail a resume then please let me know.”

LESSON: Really? You provide that little information in your cover letter and you didn’t even include your resume?

This email was riddled with errors: His approach, the lack of information… the fact that he was a medical student inquiring about a job at a location that doesn’t have any medical offerings on its campus. It was just all around sloppy… and even though this particular person might be a great employee had we had an opening, the response he merited was basically “thanks for asking but we’ll pass.” How could I have responded otherwise?

So what should/could your cover letter include? Well, we’ll save that for another post… (After all, I have to give you a reason to come back, right?)

Robin Ferrier is the editor of What’s Next, Gen Y? and Communications Manager for the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus. She is also the President of the Capital Communicators Group and the co-chair of the Marketing Committee for the Tech Council of Maryland. She has inadvertently become a frequent career / professional / job hunt resource for friends and colleagues due to a career path that has included five jobs in 12 years.

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Posted in Cover Letters, Personal Brand, Robin Ferrier, WhatsNextGenY | No Comments »

How to Kill Your Business, Or Lead Generation Gone Awry

April 29th, 2010 ::

During this past month, we, the Network Solutions bloggers, have been relentlessly driving home the fact that inbound marketing is vital to any business.  The whole point of inbound marketing is to continuously drive leads so that your sales funnel, and by extension, your back account, is always full.

So, I have to ask: Once you get those leads, what are you doing with them?  This is where you say, “I’m talking to them via email, Facebook, and Twitter and answering their questions. I’m also gently feeding them our value proposition while finding out what their needs are.  As a result, I’m converting them to new business.”

But if you’re not saying that, what’s going on?  It can be easy to focus so intently on the needs of your current clients that you forget about cultivating potential clients.  If you want to kill your business, here’s what to do:

  1. Ignore comments and messages on social media. You already make time every day to reply to email, so set aside additional time to answer direct messages on Facebook and Twitter and reply to comments left on your blog.
  2. Only market your business sporadically. To keep a steady flow of potential customers coming in the door, so to speak, you have to be consistent in your marketing efforts.  That means setting up an online ad program, making sales calls and going to networking events even when you’re really busy, and so on.
  3. Send out newsletters and blog posts randomly. As stated above, you have to be consistent.  Publish your newsletter and blog at regular intervals.  Your newsletter should go out at the same time every month and your blog posts should be published on the same day(s) every week.
  4. Don’t bother with a mission statement. You need to know what problem(s) you solve for your clients, so potential clients will instantly understand why they need your product or service.  You also need to have a concise elevator speech so you can quickly answer the oft-asked question, “What is it your company does?”
  5. Confuse people once they’re on your website. Is your company’s mission statement front and center on your home page?  Is your website easy to navigate?  Do you make it easy for people to reach you by phone and email?  Are the benefits of your product(s) and/or service(s) clearly stated?   If people have to search for any of this information, kiss them goodbye.  They’re busy, and they’re not going to bother.
  6. Keep messaging inconsistent. Use the same language, industry terms, tone of voice, and style in all of your messaging, including on your website and in your marketing materials, newsletter, and blog.
  7. Un-brand yourself. Not only does your messaging need to be consistent, so does your look.  If your company looks sloppy and disorganized, potential clients might think your work is, too.  Find a graphic designer you like, and use them for everything: logo, stationery, business cards, website, brochures, etc.

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, social media, Web Design | No Comments »

Outsmarting your competition is easier than you think (but it does require some effort)

April 22nd, 2010 ::

By Jennifer Nycz-Conner

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pshan427/ / CC BY 2.0

I’ve been out of college for … well, let’s just say longer than I’d like to admit. Plenty has changed since then. Today’s twenty-somethings don’t have to battle the eternal questions surrounding the job application process: how many pages a resume should be, sending it flat versus folded in a regular envelope, to use a staple or paper clip.

But there are still plenty, less tangible, attributes that remain constant. A big one? How to make yourself stand out from the masses. In a good way.

With many years as someone who’s both been hired and done the hiring, I’ll let you in on a secret: It’s not really that hard to do. It will require some effort, however.

Steve Buttry has a fantastic example of this on his blog. As the Director of Community Engagement for Allbritton Communications’ new Washington, D.C. yet-to-be-named Web site, Buttry is on what in this economy could be referred to as a hiring spree, with plenty of qualified candidates from which to choose. But in his latest hiring announcement for a social media producer, candidate Mandy Jenkins popped to the top of the pile:

“Other excellent candidates interviewed before Mandy, though, and I thought of this as a crowded field when she arrived for an interview. I saw good signs even before she reached the office. She checked in from the Metro station nearby about 20 minutes before the interview, then from a nearby coffee shop. When I commented on that as I met her in the lobby of our offices, she told me she was using the beta of check.in, a new service that checks you in on multiple location-based platforms at once. There’s a good interviewing tip for you: If you’re applying for a social media job, start the interview right by telling the prospective boss even before you sit down that you’re using something he’s never heard of.”

That is a classic example of doing your homework, getting into your potential boss’ head and finding a way to use actions, not words to demonstrate why you are the right choice.

Here are some tips to make yourself stand out throughout the entire life cycle of the application process. It sounds like common sense, but many people do not do any of these, let alone all:

  • Spelling. Yes, this is basic, but you’d be amazed how many people don’t check their spelling. Want to show, not just say, you’re detail oriented? Spell your potential boss’ name correctly.
  • Do your homework. There is no excuse not to have done research on a potential employer today. It’s too easy not to. Don’t stop at the first two Google links you see. Go on LinkedIn and see where that hiring manager has worked previously. Check the news sites to find out what the company, and more importantly, its competitors, have been grappling with. Looking through social networking sites to find people you may know in common, or people that have worked at that company in the past. Ask them for guidance on what life is like inside the company. All of this is critical to prepare for the dreaded, “So, do you have any questions for me?” question. Which brings me to the next point…
  • Have a topic — or topics — ready for the dreaded, “So, do you have any questions for me?” question. You know it’s coming. Prepare for it. Better yet, use it as an opportunity to show what you know about the industry, your critical thinking skills, and your ability to add something to the team.
  • Think like your potential boss. If you were him or her, what kinds of questions would you ask? What kinds of answers would you want to hear?
  • Outthink your competition. What are your best competitors likely to do? How can you do it better, faster, different?
  • Follow up. Send the thank you note, and quickly (yes, it matters, says the girl who cringes at the thoughts of the ones I should have sent). Stay in touch, about the job, about the company and particularly with the person.
  • Be passionate. Anyone can have experience, or be shown how to do a job. Enthusiasm and passion cannot be taught. If you have it, show it.

Jennifer Nycz-Conner is a Senior Staff Reporter and Media Strategy Manager for the Washington Business Journal. You can read more great advice from Jennifer on Working the Room, her blog for the Washington Business Journal.

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Posted in Cover Letters, Interviewing, Jennifer Nycz-Conner, Job Search, Networking, Resumes, WhatsNextGenY | No Comments »

Your Job Search: Is it like looking for water in the desert?

April 12th, 2010 ::

Desert Landscape

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidavid/ / CC BY 2.0

Guess what? The world changes constantly. (Big surprise, right?)

It wasn’t that long ago that we were riding high with the many new industries opened up by the introduction of the world wide web and the fascination of what a company could do with computers. Jobs were abundant. Nationwide, headhunters were gathering candidates before graduation. It’s not happening like that today. (But you already know what that. You’ve probably experienced it first hand.) Why, you ask? Well, in case you’ve been living under a rock – and if you have, you’re going to have other problems in your job search – our economy has hit a few road bumps, budgets have failed, and companies have gone under. This can make it very difficult for today’s graduate to locate a job that is worth all the time and money spent in college.

I have had numerous students come into my office with the same complaints: Where are the jobs? Why did I even go to college if there is nothing out there for me?

Let me clue you in: There are jobs out there.

I definitely believe that. It’s just a matter of finding them. And that is the key: Companies are not going to find you anymore… you have to find them! So what does that mean for you, the job seeker? It means you need to learn a few new tools and techniques so you can creative in your job search. And that’s why I’m here. I’m going to teach you how to be assertive and aggressive in your job search by getting to know yourself and your potential and options.

Getting creative means looking for jobs in areas or with techniques previously not used. Did you know that only about 20–30% of jobs are actually published to the general public? (One of my fellow bloggers knows this is true. She wrote about it.) Yet, despite this fact, 80–90% of people looking for jobs concentrate their efforts solely on finding published jobs. So where are the rest of the jobs? They’re centered around an employer’s wish list or they’re just “thoughts,” waiting for the right person to come along and make them a reality.

All employers are thinking about the future: where the company is headed, what projects the company needs to undertake, and who they will need to hire to meet these goals. Many professionals network to find the person to fill positions rather than publicize it to everyone and chance hiring the wrong candidate. This means to you that you need to start digging for jobs rather than searching for them.

Digging entails networking with professionals already working in your desired industry/career field. It means getting to know the people, talking with them and picking their brains for ideas. Networking also may mean interviewing professionals about their career and how they got there (not necessarily just handing them your resume, but rather hinting at your search in progress).

Digging also can mean taking on more volunteer work, part-time work, or internships in the areas you are interested in. This will allow you the chance to get “your foot in the door” and gain contacts in the field. I cannot expect to just jump into the computer industry without first having some experience in computers or by not having any contacts to “back me up”!

Using this train of thought means you need to follow some simple steps:

  1. Get to know your interests: What is it that interests you? You must first learn the product you are going to be selling before you can create a marketing plan!
  2. Market yourself: You must continue to learn new things so that you have opportunity to move to different areas. Learn effective job search strategies from Career Services or from your contacts.
  3. Take away the bumps in the road: If your industry is feeling a pinch in your area, be willing to move somewhere else. I can remember a student who asked me the potential job market in the Greenville area for fashion design. I couldn’t help her much because, let’s face it, Greenville is not the center of the fashion world. Keep this train of thought in the forefront of your mind.
  4. Be positive and energetic: It will be hard in some instances…believe me. But, remember to keep your energy high and your mind positive. The more negative you become, the harder the process gets. Employers pick up the negativity in the interview and this will count against you. No one wants to work with a sour-puss!

So what happens when you do all this and still hit a brick wall in your search? Easy. Back up and find another road to follow. This is where your resources come into play.

Contact your school’s Career Services department. Contact friends who can provide you with an outside view. Contact alumni groups for your university. Contact your parents’ friends and your friends’ parents who work within a relevant field. And read further into this great blog! Anything to keep you moving forward with your job search.

Patrick Madsen, Director of Programs & Education in Career Services at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business SchoolPatrick Madsen is the Director of Programs & Education in Career Services at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. He manages the Programs & Education curriculum to include career advising services, speaker series, brand management training, and other events to help students prepare themselves for the world of work. His background includes a degree in Psychology from North Carolina State University, a masters degree in Counseling from East Carolina University, and a doctorate in Organizational Leadership/Student Affairs from Nova Southeastern University.

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Posted in Job Search, Networking, Patrick Madsen, WhatsNextGenY | No Comments »

Building your Personal Brand…

March 4th, 2010 ::

by Patti Nuttycombe Cochran

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenneth_hynek/ / CC BY 2.0

Your Personal Brand…when does it matter? Oh, only on days ending in “Y”!!!

Yes, you must consider your Personal Brand 24/7. Brand is synonymous with Character. And not to get too philosophical here, but Character is the ONE THING you build in this world and TAKE WITH YOU to the next. Okay, let’s avoid the afterlife debate and focus on the importance of one’s Personal Brand.

What do you want the world the think about you?

Do you have an “elevator pitch” to describe and define who you are and what your value proposition is? Ask your closest friend to describe you…that can be an enlightening activity!

Personal Brand is the new age term for Reputation. It takes a long time to build a good reputation (Personal Brand) and only one simple slip to ruin it. As “old school” as this sounds, you must take your reputation (Personal Brand) extremely seriously. YOU are the CEO of YOU. Your ultimate success rides on your Personal Brand being pristine…above reproach…consistent…and UNDERSTOOD.

Are you paying attention to your actions, however minor or seemingly irrelevant? Take Facebook. You may have heard this piece of advice before, but with the number of stories of people who ruined their personal brand thanks to this social networking gem, it bears repeating: What does your profile say about you? Would your Grandparents be proud or shocked by what they learned about you on Facebook? You can still enjoy sharing information about your life and activities, but first you’d better learn about using filters so you can be strategic about whom you allow access to your galleries and posts. And even then, you’d better be careful. Because mistakes happen, privacy filters may malfunction, and you never know when the wrong person may see something meant for another’s eye. (Don’t believe me? Check this out.)

Google yourself. It’s not an egomaniacal thing to do…it’s “recon”. Find out what’s “out there” about you! You need to know what you don’t know!

You need to be uber self-aware of your actions and their impact on your Personal Brand whether you’re at work or enjoying personal activities.

Be sure your Personal Brand messaging is clear and consistent, and positive. And stay tuned for future posts by me with more information about how to create a positive Personal Brand...

Patti Nuttycombe Cochran is Vice President-Client Services Consultant at Right Management, a global provider of Career Transition services and consulting expertise on Talent Management, Leadership Development, and Organizational Effectiveness. Patti is an avid networker interested in building the region’s business and philanthropic communities.

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Posted in Patti Nuttycombe Cochran, Personal Brand, WhatsNextGenY | No Comments »

Network Like You Mean It: 4 Ways to Make it Work

January 29th, 2010 ::

If you’re shy, the very notion of networking is paralyzing.  If you’re like me and not shy at all, the idea of networking is fun and challenging and an opportunity to meet a lot of cool people.  If you work at home alone, it’s also the chance to actually talk to someone in person.  And if you are a small business owner and/or just starting out, it is a great way to spread the word about your business quickly.

When I first started networking, I thought I would instantly pick up new clients.  As I learned, though, networking is not about sales, it’s about building relationships with people.  I have learned three other key things as well: have an engaging elevator speech, talk to as many people as possible, and, if it’s an evening event, don’t drink.

But first, you need to find events that work for you.  I have been to a few events that were packed to the gills with network marketers (you know, Mary Kay sales people and the like).  They are only interested in selling to you, so every conversation with them is about their product(s).  I avoid them like the plague now.  The events I do attend and enjoy are populated by small business owners, CEOs, and executives.  Rather than spending a lot of money and learning through trial and error like me, ask people you meet and like which events they attend and why they like those events.

Four Ways to Make it Work:

  1. Build relationships. As I said above, networking is about building relationships, not generating sales. Of course, if you meet someone who needs your service/product, awesome!  But that is not the point of networking.  I look for two kinds of people at events: those that are expert networkers and know tons of people and those who are in complementary businesses.  If I find an expert networker, I develop a relationship with that person.  They are most likely to be able to refer me business and introduce me to people I do need to meet.  I also like to meet those in complementary businesses: graphic designers, web designers, and those who work in marketing, public relations, and advertising, as we need each other’s services.
  2. Have an engaging elevator speech. If you and I met at a networking event and I told you I was a marketing communications consultant, well, so what?  That doesn’t tell you anything about how I can help you (and most people don’t even know what marketing communications is!).  So I tell people, “I am a writer and editor, and I help my clients articulate who they are, what they do, and why they’re better than the competition via blogs, email marketing, newsletters, direct mail, brochures, press releases, and website content, among other things.”  Then I’ll ask the person I’m talking to what sets them apart from the competition, but usually people will ask questions about my services.  The point is, you want your elevator speech to clearly state how you help your clients, and you want it to prompt questions.  If it doesn’t, work on it!
  3. Talk to as many people as possible. Sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be amazed at the number of people I meet who hang out with people they already know the entire time.  Almost as bad are the people who settle into conversations with one or two people and don’t bother mingling.  When I go, I say hi to the people I know, but mostly I walk right up to strangers and introduce myself.  If I see someone hovering nearby with no one to talk to, I invite them to join in the conversation.  If a conversation seems to be going nowhere, I say, “Well, it was great meeting you, but since we’re here to network, I better go network!”  No one has taken offense to that yet.  After all, isn’t that why they’re there as well?
  4. Don’t drink. Another no-brainer, but lots of people have no brains once they start drinking, so I figured it ought to be said.  I personally do not want to do business with someone who does not know how to handle liquor or themselves once they’ve had liquor. I also prefer to be fully cognizant of what I am saying to people and what they are saying to me.  If I want a drink, I have one when I get home.

One other thing to mention: be careful about the amount of networking you do.  It can get expensive and turn into a time-suck.  I try to go to one to three events a month, tops.  Anymore than that, and I am losing too many billable hours!

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Posted in Business Development | 3 Comments »