With Neil Godin

What? A warning: If they’ve started to build cars – and you’re still making buggy whips – you could be in trouble.

Why? Here’s a live example, hot off the press: I just opened an email from Marketing Dangerously regular, Debbie Peck, of Mosaic Wines in Vancouver. In the email, she shares a note from a friend who has suddenly become unemployed because her company – one of the most successful PR firms in Vancouver – is suddenly closing its doors. Her email goes on to include a news story, from the Vancouver Sun, about the firm’s closing. It reads: “One of Vancouver best-known public relations firms is shutting down after 15 years managing high-profile crises like labor disputes at Telus Corp. and the avian flu outbreak.”

“The communications and public relations landscape has changed more in the last few years than ever before, particularly with the emergence and influence of social media,” Mat Wilcox, founder and CEO of the Wilcox Group said in a company blog post Wednesday.

In an interview, Wilcox said: “It’s very similar to what’s happening in the newspaper world where everything is so dramatically changing. A lot of the things that used to bring in money, like media monitoring and clipping services, no longer exist,” she said. And with social media, “everybody can send out a press release, and everybody can Google their name, and everybody can know what’s going on. You have to have true passion and belief in what you do, and you have to have complete understanding that you’re giving the right advice,” Wilcox added. “And I didn’t feel that I was doing that for my clients any more.” After working with Richard Branson, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And, helping to bring the NBA and the Vancouver Grizzlies to B.C. And, launching Starbucks and Viagra in Canada – Wilcox Group will shut its doors on August 31 – with 18 employees looking for new opportunities.

How? It’s time to start paying attention to what our competitors are doing, in terms of their use of social media. Keeping our heads in the sand really is no longer an option. And what can ’you’ do specifically? You can start by Googling the names of your competitors. You can also go to their websites and check to see if they display links to social media sites. And, you can look them up on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter (etc). You can also set up Google alerts, so that you are notified whenever your company – or a competitor – is mentioned on the web. These concrete preliminary steps will tell you if (and how) the shift is affecting your business or industry. Our advice: Do this – now.

Tipzntrix: If you’re not sure of how to execute on any of our suggestions, please ask us for more detail. We can be reached at ndgodin@shaw.ca, or jonathan@neilgodin.com. And we love hearing from you.

NG
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This week’s special offer:

‘Daily Sales Networking’

(Do this and you will succeed)

In this TeleCoach audio download, Neil shares the What, Why, When, Where and How of making daily sales networking calls. In an hour long interview by marketing expert, Shane Morgan, Neil walks you through the do’s and don’ts of sales networking – and emphasizes the critical importance of doing this work on a daily basis – and making it enjoyable.

Because very, very few business people use this ‘daily’ networking approach, we’re sorry, but if you do this there is virtually no way that you can avoid success in exceeding your sales goals.

Regular price: $29 US
Your Social Media Challenge discount price: $18
Sale ends: Monday, June 14

Click here to link to our store:
Then please copy and paste this code:  CHALLENGEWEEK3
Then click on the word ‘Apply.’
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We need your story!

If you use social media in any way to build your business, send an email to ndgodin@shaw.ca, or jonathan@neilgodin.com with the details – or provide your telephone number, and we will call you for details.

A special ‘thank you’

We will say ‘thank you’ with a copy of Neil’s ebook, ‘How to Start Your Economic Recovery – Right Now!’ for every idea submitted – whether we publish the idea or not. If you already have a copy of this ebook, let us know and we will send you a valuable alternate product.

Thanks very much!

Neil Godin  and Jonathan Christian.
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