Love

I have had a crazed week of travel, presentations, trainings, and yes..love.

So, very quickly, I must say I love what I do. I really love the clients I work with, the people I meet at presentations, the connections I create for people, and the funny people I work with and the relationships that develop.

Sometimes it is stressful. It always takes time. But, today especially while I am rather wiped out from my recent travels around the state - Charlotte to Stowe to Brandon to Rutland to South Royalton to Charlotte in two days - wow - I am feeling really great about what I do!

By the way if you are are business in the Rutland area - take my word for it - join the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce. They are one of the most organized and committed to their members organizations I have come across. And they hire great speakers! heeheehee

Tips on joining Chambers - you must maximize their services by making the effort after you join - you get out what you put in, and they can be one of the best expenses you can make as a small business.

And if you're looking for fantastic branding, design, and videography/new media capabilities - check out Hen House Media - they have got it going on!

Cheerio from the office of Rachel Carter PR:

PR Trends in 2010

Happy 2010! Thanks for respecting my absence as I took some much needed time away from the grind. But, back and refreshed - ready to really let my voice shine through in 2010! I thought I would share a few of my public relations predictions for 2010 - what do you think?

In 2010:

1.) People are going to be so frantic about social media they are going to let basics like customer service, regular communication, and having a good product/service slip - so take heed now - SOCIAL MEDIA ISN'T EVERYTHING!

2.) That said, if you aren't adjusting your finances, work load, and staffing to incorporate social media then you are slipping!

3.) Paper is back and green can chill. E-everything is pointless - when everyone is doing it no one is paying attention. Incorporate some time for letters, cards, and regular newsletters again. Not everyone wants to spend every moment in front of the computer. Buy locally made greeting cards, work with a local designer to create a cool notepad for your business or a newsletter that is of interest to your audience - NOT something that promotes you. Two suggestions I have are Kate Youlen: Graphic Design Studio and Bleu Sky Creative.

4.) Connect with your inner core and take the time to meditate, breathe, listen to your inner voice, and focus on the energy around you. Interested in getting started? Shyla Nelson's Live From the Core is where it's at.

5.) Stop Jumping On Bandwagons!!! Yes, local is it, before that was green, organic and fair trade keep fighting for the forefront - focus on YOUR business and YOUR customers and YOUR strengths and weaknesses and STOP worrying about what everyone else is doing!

Vermont Music & Entertainment Thanks

Over my three years in business, I have had the wonderful opportunities to work with a variety of music and entertainment related Vermont businesses and organizations. As a musician myself, it was been quite a treat to work with clients that touch a chord with such deep personal connections and I would like to take a moment to continue my advent of thanks and recognize some of these wonderful past clients:

The Green Mountain Opera Festival - Under the acclaimed artistic direction of Taras Kulish, the Green Mountain Opera Festival is celebrating their fifth year of professional opera in Vermont. I began working with the festival in their first year and it has been truly majestic watching the festival grow and awaken the operatic souls of Vermonters and Vermont enthusiasts near and far. Sponsored by the Green Mountain Cultural Center located at The Round Barn Farm in Waitsfield, Vermont, the Green Mountain Opera Festival offers a three week sojourn with events ranging from free classes and open rehearsals to magnificent Barre Opera House performances.
www.greenmountainoperafestival.com

Nectar's Restaurant & Bar - The home to the first performances of my beloved band, Phish, I have worked with Nectar's in various capacities both before and after opening Rachel Carter PR. From their first renovation event where Governor Douglas posed for some great pictures enjoying gravy fries to helping owners with side film projects to helping them gain regional recognition as a premier music venue in Vermont and throughout the Northeast. One of the original owners after Nectar sold over 6 years ago, Damon Brink, is now a provoking political figure and is the state coordinator of the We the People Foundation.
www.liveatnectars.com

Saint Michael's Playhouse - Greater Burlington’s professional summer theater, celebrates
live theater, nationally renowned Equity actors, and a professional theater internship
program and I was honored to help them boost regional PR efforts along with the talented folks at Shadow Productions. Now recognized as a 2009 Editor's Choice in the Yankee Magazine Travel Guide, Saint Michael's Playhouse continues to put on fully-staged professional New York caliber productions in a Vermont atmosphere and at Vermont prices.
www.saintmichaelsplayhouse.org

Brandon Music - Vermont's Classical Music Haven is the North American headquarters of owner Stephen Sutton's British classical music record company, Divine Art Recordings Group. Located in Warren Kimble's former historic red barn studio and gallery, Brandon Music hosts the Divine Art CD Store, Harmony English Tea Room, a Vermont art gallery, and a gift shop selling a range of mainly English gifts and curios and collectible vintage china. Helping connect Brandon Music to Vermonters and watching them build their classical music haven has been inspirational - keep your eyes and ears open and when in Brandon, stop by for a cup of tea!
www.brandonmusicvt.com

Such A Voice - Located in Vermont, but taught nationwide, is the voice over industry leader in cultivating voice over talent. Such A Voice is Tony Award Nominee, Dan Levine's voice over training and demo production company is the nationwide leader in launching voice over careers. I enjoy working with their fantastic staff as a consultant in a variety of areas and give them major kudos for their learning capacity and commitments.
www.suchavoice.com

Thank you everyone for enhancing my career with your talents! Stay tuned for year four of Rachel Carter PR with a significant focus on the voice, beginning with my commitment to Live from the Core™ sounding out across the nation from the Vermont voice studio of Shyla Nelson.

3 Years in Business & an Advent of Thanks

March 2003 - Began online dating and using the internet to make friends

March 2006 - Turned 30

September 2006 - Made the decision to leave the Vermont marketing agency world and began the four month fast track to figuring out what my new life would entail - did this by networking and meeting with anyone and everyone

December 2006 - Got my first client - G's Restaurant at The Sheraton in Burlington helping promote their Celebrity Chef Nights
AND spent my last days and month as an employee

January 2007 - National Life Group and The Inn at the Round Barn Farm signed on as clients

March 2007 - Began collaborations with Shark Interactive and began my first client work in social media with Green Mountain Power

April 2007 - Registered Rachel Carter PR with the state and opened a business banking account with the Key4Women program
AND met The Mitch!

May 2007 - Created and launched website - www.rachelcarterpr.com

June 2007 - Began 3 blogs (the Vermont Music Blog is now retired, but Vermont Vibes and this one are going strong!)

July 2007 - December 2007 - Business focus on marketing myself, building relationships, and networking

2008 - Business focus on establishing my accounting system and developing and experimenting with my brand

2009 - Continuing my branding experiment and honing my services based on client needs and my own time and energy levels

December 2009 - CELEBRATING 3 YEARS IN BUSINESS!!!

In honor of the first three years, I will spend the holiday season giving thanks and recognition to all those who helped me get to this point. Be sure to tweep with me on Twitter and fan with me on Facebook to keep tabs on all the gossip and buzz!!!

PS - In case you didn't know, The Mitch and I are engaged!

Bravo Farewell Travels: Select Escapes

As my Generation X life deepens into my 30's, I plan my wedding where I'll be a bride at 35, and make plans to travel in my mature years instead of attempting to raise a family starting in my 40's (don't judge - I'm helping to promote a sustainable population). I am increasingly realizing the stars are aligning very nicely with my plans and the travel resources at my fingertips. The Mitch and I can't wait to begin our traveling days with our month long wedding tour of England and we both can't wait to finally see the world, not just look at it in picture books.

While picture books have planted the seeds, independent travel websites are foraging the new way into thoughtful and exploratory travel. Created by some of the world's best travel writers, the fall of traditional media has awakened an entrepreneurial spirit of a solid collection of travelers who previously made a living as travel writers.

Some of my favorite people, work, and interactions in my dozened career as a public relations professional in Vermont has been with a wonderful group of travel writers I have worked with in various capacities throughout the years and I absolutely love how I am now seeing them publishing their own terrific websites. What's even better is I am bookmarking these sites to be my most cherished resources when my traveling days begin - which is not too far in the future.

Suggestions to other Generation X travelers and globetrotters all around - find yourselves some favorite travel writers and follow them, connect with them - there is no better way to learn than from an honest third party endorser who has been there and has the intellect to talk about places, experiences, and cultures you have yet to see.

I previously wrote about Steve Jermanok's Active Travels and you can read my blog post here. And now I will writer about another favorite travel writer...

Susan Farewell has been a wonderful media contact for a once green PR chickadee and helped me understand how public relations can actually work and I will forever be grateful. I look forward to evolving media relationships as the lines of PR and journalism and merged into something very new as social media continues to power its way through the savvy, quick, and unforgiving yet compassionate consumer.

Susan's online travel magazine - elegantly entitled Farewell Travels: Select Escapes is a beautiful display of her work and skill at bringing you deep within the experience she is sharing. From romance to culinary, health to adventure, Select Escapes is easy to navigate, simple in design, yet comprehensive in information - exactly what a website should do yet it is uniquely Susan abound with friendliness, ease, and solid style. The added bonus of some exceptional video work makes this a website where you forget you are staring at a computer screen.

While over a cup of tea with a travel writer a few years ago, I mentioned The Mitch's and I's England wedding tour dream before we were even engaged and was told to rent a canal boat. And when I clicked under the romance tab on Susan's Select Escapes website - the first story I see is spending a week on a canal boat in France. In all my research I have done, the only two times a canal boat was mentioned was by travel writers - they are the best resources for travel, no questions asked. Forget those lengthy websites that weaken your eyesight and find yourself a few solid ones where you can actually - travel.

Worthwhile Travel Experiences and Destinations - www.farewelltravels.com
Authentic Active and Adventure Travel - www.activetravels.com
Organized Cultural Tours for Discerning Travelers - www.culturalcrossroads.com
Family Activities, Events, and Attractions in Northern Vermont - www.findandgoseek.net

Do's & Don'ts of Social Media

Much of what I have been teaching and training clients in as well as sharing with attendees at presentations can now be seen in so many business building resources. I was just glancing through the latest Business Vision magazine produced by Key Bank for small business and entrepreneur clients. It is identical to statements I have been making and have written about previously in this blog. Now you can see this information in language written directly from one of the country's most respected financial institutions for small business owners:

DO observe and read other social media sites.
This is what I mean by engaging - learn by examples of how others are doing it successfully.

DON'T blatantly promote your company on a social media site. At least 90% of your posts should be relevant to the conversation.
So all the idiots that post ridiculous spam comments on my blogs - knock it off! To those who actually comment on the post - keep it up!

DO use search engine optimization (SEO) to increase the traffic to your blog or website. SEO tools help you find keywords your prospects are using in search engines. Google offers a free SEO tool, and how-yo articles.
Don't worry about the expensive design updates to your website - it's most important you ask a web designer how they can market the website for you. For the short term, talk to a web marketer about optimizing your site. Two Vermont SEO marketers I suggest are Off the Page Creations and Performance Web Solutions.

DON'T give up. It takes time to build your site. Staying engaged in the social media scene increases your chances of opening doors to new opportunities.
In Rachel Carter PR words - "Chill." When you move to a new town, it takes time to make friends and build relationships. The same is true for social media because while it is online, it is also the most natural way of connecting since the old school livelihoods of neighborhoods. So be real and make some new friends!

5 Reasons Corporations are Failing at Social Media

I came across a fantastic blog post a few weeks ago and felt I needed to share it with my readings. Written by Amy Mengel from her blog Mengel Musings, the post - 5 Reasons Corporations are Failing at Social Media - conveys my thoughts exactly and exemplifies a lot of what I have been talking about at recent presentations.

Kudos Amy - always great to see other PR/social media peeps out there with similar philosophies and thanks for the great information!