Newsflash for folks interested in hiring me to present a workshop or speak on social media. I love doing it and have a blast presenting!
Presentations are tailored to each group and examples are created to be specific to your audience so folks attending can relate the presentation directly to their work. Unfortunately these are not a pro-bono service item and if interested, please contact me for availability and pricing.
Thank you!
Rachel
802-425-4886
rachel@rachelcarterpr.com
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sharing the Advice I Use with My Readers
This week I attended the WBON Burlington Chapter Luncheon at the always gracious Windjammer Conference Center in South Burlington. Most luncheon topics are one of the gals in the group giving a presentation on their area of expertise which members decide is either useful or not to their business and attend. This month was a bit different where members were all invited to give a brief speech and the topic I chose was to share some pieces of advice I got in the past that have been invaluable to my success in running my Vermont public relations business.
1.) In high school my mom said, "You are loud and you are assertive. People will either love you or hate you. You are not beige - beige is forgettable and you my dear, are not forgettable." Thanks Mom. This has helped me keep a level head and not take things personally and understand that dislike often stems from jealousy. This lesson has also been instrumental in marketing. You need to know who you are and how others perceive you - both as a person and as a product. This also streams into my number one marketing rule for any business - If you Try to Be Everything to Everyone, You are Nothing to No one.
2.) When preparing to leave my job working for The Man and tossing around the idea of starting a business or what else I might want to do, a very wise co-worker said to me, "Make a little time for networking and letting people know what you want and what you are looking for every day." I have done that every day ever since. Thanks lady!
3.) My traditional public relations background dating back to my undergraduate days at Marist College taught me the 80/20 rule - to spend 80% of my time on 20% of my media contacts. I have also learned this is true (thanks to mentors such as Mary Beth Quinn, The Growth Coach of Vermont) in getting business - 80% of time on 20% of prospects. Now that I am well into my third year of business, I have learned there is also an 80/80 rule - spend 80% of my time on where 80% of the money comes from.
4.) And because much of my success comes from my own mistakes along the way and I have not been following any sort of "how-to-run-your-own-business" manual along the way, I offer advice I learned for myself - you MUST say no and you MUST let it go.
Tenth grade attempt at being beige...
Peace Peeps! And don't forget to Fan me at Facebook and Follow me on Twitter!
www.facebook.com/RachelCarterPR
www.twitter.com/RachelCarterPR
1.) In high school my mom said, "You are loud and you are assertive. People will either love you or hate you. You are not beige - beige is forgettable and you my dear, are not forgettable." Thanks Mom. This has helped me keep a level head and not take things personally and understand that dislike often stems from jealousy. This lesson has also been instrumental in marketing. You need to know who you are and how others perceive you - both as a person and as a product. This also streams into my number one marketing rule for any business - If you Try to Be Everything to Everyone, You are Nothing to No one.2.) When preparing to leave my job working for The Man and tossing around the idea of starting a business or what else I might want to do, a very wise co-worker said to me, "Make a little time for networking and letting people know what you want and what you are looking for every day." I have done that every day ever since. Thanks lady!
3.) My traditional public relations background dating back to my undergraduate days at Marist College taught me the 80/20 rule - to spend 80% of my time on 20% of my media contacts. I have also learned this is true (thanks to mentors such as Mary Beth Quinn, The Growth Coach of Vermont) in getting business - 80% of time on 20% of prospects. Now that I am well into my third year of business, I have learned there is also an 80/80 rule - spend 80% of my time on where 80% of the money comes from.
4.) And because much of my success comes from my own mistakes along the way and I have not been following any sort of "how-to-run-your-own-business" manual along the way, I offer advice I learned for myself - you MUST say no and you MUST let it go.
Tenth grade attempt at being beige...Peace Peeps! And don't forget to Fan me at Facebook and Follow me on Twitter!
www.facebook.com/RachelCarterPR
www.twitter.com/RachelCarterPR
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Props to a Blog
One day I will transition from running my own Vermont public relations business to owning and marketing a property/business of some sort. When that time comes, I most certainly will be checking out the Vermont Lodging Properties Blog before anywhere else. I continue to drool over this blog from time to time at the amazing Vermont inns, homes, lodges, and bed and breakfasts I could potentially run. So as I prepare to embark for another multi-day recharge rocking out to my favorite band, Phish, I encourage folks to dream a little dream and check out www.vermontlodgingproperties.com. The coolest thing about this website is it's a blog - excellent business model and way to use a blog most effectively!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
PR is So Exciting with Social Media Integration
While social media is putting PR in its place, it is also revitalizing PR into its new Golden Age! With the fantastic new Burlington Vermont Social Media Breakfast Group (#BTVSMB), PR, marketing, and social media professionals are coming together all over the state and are all realizing PR and social media are one in the same. I have written about the new emerging PR landscape since I started this blog in 2007, and now it is here! The PR landscape IS social media and it has revitalized most PR professionals I know - the sad decay of our previous chosen profession, which started being looked at as just plain slimy, is now forging the way in the new media ecosystem (as Pitch Engine pros call it). Most PR peeps I know (and ALL of the ones in Vermont), never went into the world of public relations because we wanted to be the sluts of corporate marketing. We went into it because we are "people people" - because we love telling stories; because we love helping people and know that the power of the story can be a HUGE help; because we love writing, talking, and overall communicating; because we love analyzing what makes people tick and how we can affect change with that. And social media has allowed us to do what we have been wanting to do all along - it's like we're all doing the PR Ra Ra dance - now is the time to rock out with a Vermont public relations professional!
A group of us recently got together for breakfast at the Charlotte Farmhouse (that's the home of my VT PR firm). This group - the Vermont Public Relations Group (VTPR) - is a Google Group for Vermont public relations industry professionals to share technology, concepts, job openings, and higher learning encompassing both traditional and social media. We meet on a semi-regular basis at member businesses.
The event was sponsored by Three Squares Café in Vergennes and featured workshops by Marketwire – a traditional and social media wire service with offices in Vermont and Great Photographic Art of Vermont – a commercial, advertising, and publicity photography studio located in Burlington.
Pictured here are Vermont PR professionals from the following Vermont companies: Kelliher Samets Volk, Killoran Communications, Smuggler’s Notch, National Life Group, Vermont Ski Areas Association, Filkorn Public Relations, Sona Iyengar Communications, writer Leslie Kilgore, and Rachel Carter PR. Photo credit is Great Photographic Art.
Not in attendance as they were preparing for the #BTVSMB was People Making Good (PMG), but they were there in spirit! Info on the #BTVSMB is available through hash tags on Twitter and kudos to Digalicious for creating this fantastic concept in #VT!
A group of us recently got together for breakfast at the Charlotte Farmhouse (that's the home of my VT PR firm). This group - the Vermont Public Relations Group (VTPR) - is a Google Group for Vermont public relations industry professionals to share technology, concepts, job openings, and higher learning encompassing both traditional and social media. We meet on a semi-regular basis at member businesses.The event was sponsored by Three Squares Café in Vergennes and featured workshops by Marketwire – a traditional and social media wire service with offices in Vermont and Great Photographic Art of Vermont – a commercial, advertising, and publicity photography studio located in Burlington.
Pictured here are Vermont PR professionals from the following Vermont companies: Kelliher Samets Volk, Killoran Communications, Smuggler’s Notch, National Life Group, Vermont Ski Areas Association, Filkorn Public Relations, Sona Iyengar Communications, writer Leslie Kilgore, and Rachel Carter PR. Photo credit is Great Photographic Art.Not in attendance as they were preparing for the #BTVSMB was People Making Good (PMG), but they were there in spirit! Info on the #BTVSMB is available through hash tags on Twitter and kudos to Digalicious for creating this fantastic concept in #VT!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tips on How I Survive Running a Business By Myself!
I don't know! I figure it out every day. So, here are a few of my latest tips:
~ Realize that things will NEVER slow down and accept it.
~ Make things STOP by shutting off everyone related to work and hang out with your loved ones.
~ Inform people in your personal life (when you are not stressed) that running a business as an entrepreneur is like nothing else and unfortunately sometimes plans have to be broken.
~ Take time to yourself in the morning.
~ SAY NO! Don't work with everyone, don't be everything to everyone, and don't feel bad about it.
~ Collaborate! Once you've got your start-up networking out of the way, actually build relationships and scratch backs when you can - yours will be scratched too. But you can't think about it "as I'll do this for you if you do this for me." It has to be a pay-it-forward concept.
Those are my tips.
Fan with me on Facebook.
Tweet with me on Twitter.
Visit me at the Charlotte Farmhouse:
~ Realize that things will NEVER slow down and accept it.
~ Make things STOP by shutting off everyone related to work and hang out with your loved ones.
~ Inform people in your personal life (when you are not stressed) that running a business as an entrepreneur is like nothing else and unfortunately sometimes plans have to be broken.
~ Take time to yourself in the morning.
~ SAY NO! Don't work with everyone, don't be everything to everyone, and don't feel bad about it.
~ Collaborate! Once you've got your start-up networking out of the way, actually build relationships and scratch backs when you can - yours will be scratched too. But you can't think about it "as I'll do this for you if you do this for me." It has to be a pay-it-forward concept.
Those are my tips.
Fan with me on Facebook.
Tweet with me on Twitter.
Visit me at the Charlotte Farmhouse:
Friday, July 17, 2009
Active Travels
There are a ton of travel related websites and more of them than not are hard-to-navigate travel directories with corporate money behind them so they are what show up in even the most creative of searches. This is great if you are looking for budget airfare or hotels, but what if you are a bit more adventurous? Are you the kind of person who equates travel to merely getting away or fully experiencing other cultures? Do you like to do what everyone else does or are you more creative in your endeavors? Perhaps you would prefer to know about how to explore and navigate British Columbia without a car as opposed to staying in a fancy hotel (and trying to find that elusive low cost) in Vancouver. Or maybe you'd like to go to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup instead of watching it on an airplane while traveling to Chicago. How about knowing what trails and huts to hike and stay at in Maine instead of just parking it at a campground. Yoga in Nicaragua? Sea kayaking with whales? A family experience in Costa Rica?
Steve Jermanok, a well traveled, well spoken, and long time friend of many Vermont PR folks has launched ActiveTravels.com - a blog dedicated to giving expert advice to travelers, not tourists, on connecting with nature, people, and wildlife around the world while working up a sweat. The site is for anyone in halfway decent shape who yearns for an authentic and memorable travel experience outdoors, far away from the masses.Steve's travels span the globe in a fun and adventurist manner very in sync with my own personal travel goals and his writing experience bounces from National Geographic Adventure and Budget Travel to The Boston Globe and Robb Report as well as being the author of 11 books. Steve pulls from this fantastic repertoire to share tips, ideas, and details with readers and also offers a Go Play! Forum where you can create your own adventure with Steve's help - such an innovative tool - I plan to use it for my England exploration active honeymoon (I shudder at an all-inclusive resort honeymoon - ick)!
Please check out www.activetravels.com and share with your friends - Rachel Carter PR approved and highly recommended! And kudos Steve - this is an awesome example of what writers are doing in this shifting media economy and it's inspiring to see!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Classical Music & Hard Cider
I have to do it - I have to take a blog moment to promote two of my clients because what they have going on is definitely newsworthy!!! And, I am so proud and want to thank some folks who are helping make it happen!
Brandon Music - Vermont's Classical Music Haven announced the official opening of the Harmony English Tea Room, the opening of their Vermont art gallery with the first exhibit being by Linda Durkee, and launched their new website - www.brandonmusicvt.com - all in the past two weeks!
Surrounded by gracious countryside just outside of the artistic downtown community of Brandon, Vermont, lies Brandon Music – Vermont’s Classical Music Haven. Brandon Music 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 vintage collector’s corner. The Divine Art CD Store showcases a wide collection of contemporary to rare classical music from the Divine Art, Diversions, Metier, Athene, and Move record labels. Harmony English Tea Room – a chic English-style tearoom and music café – sells specialty British teas and coffees, tablewares, and vintage china and linens, and will schedule live music concerts and recorded music appreciation events as well as special themed events such as “tea-dances.” An art gallery showcases work by local artists and a collector’s corner is planned which will offer the sale of vintage and rare historic records while featuring a growing assortment of vintage collectibles and antiques. Brandon Music is open year round and more information is available at www.brandonmusicvt.com or by calling 802-465-4071.
Thanks to Stephanie and Mike Raccine of Off the Page Creations for creating such a fabulous website! Check them out at www.offthepagecreations.com.
Woodchuck Draft Cider is enhancing their Vermont presence starting by partnering with Vermont organizations and events and the next few weeks are getting quite busy - get a taste of the nation's best hard cider at these great Vermont events:
Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival at Stoweflake Resort, July 10-12, 2009
“Veillée” (French Canadian Dinner) at the Vergennes Opera House, Friday, July 17, 2009
5th Annual Taste of Stowe Arts Festival at Stowe's Topnotch Field, July 24-26, 2009
One Glove: A Michael Jackson Tribute at Higher Ground, July 24, 2009 - Woodchuck is the presenter of this fantastic Seven Days event in remembrance of the nation's king of pop.
Woodchuck Draft Cider is a hard cider handcrafted with apples in Green Mountain Beverage’s state-of-the-art facility in Middlebury, Vermont. The original recipe, known as the popular Woodchuck Amber Cider, was created by current cider make, Greg Failing, in 1991 in Proctorsville, Vermont. The Woodchuck Draft Cider family has grown to include Granny Smith, 802 (Dark & Dry), Pear, and a brand new selection of Limited Releases to which Failing adds his personal touch to ensure exceptional quality and premium taste to Vermont’s award-winning hard cider. A naturally gluten-free beverage, Woodchuck Draft Cider is also a favorite in food pairings and a key ingredient in a variety of recipes. More information is available at www.woodchuck.com and you can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WoodchuckCider.
On days like this I love what I do!! Thanks to Brandon Music and Woodchuck Draft Cider for being such exceptional clients!
Brandon Music - Vermont's Classical Music Haven announced the official opening of the Harmony English Tea Room, the opening of their Vermont art gallery with the first exhibit being by Linda Durkee, and launched their new website - www.brandonmusicvt.com - all in the past two weeks!
Surrounded by gracious countryside just outside of the artistic downtown community of Brandon, Vermont, lies Brandon Music – Vermont’s Classical Music Haven. Brandon Music 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 vintage collector’s corner. The Divine Art CD Store showcases a wide collection of contemporary to rare classical music from the Divine Art, Diversions, Metier, Athene, and Move record labels. Harmony English Tea Room – a chic English-style tearoom and music café – sells specialty British teas and coffees, tablewares, and vintage china and linens, and will schedule live music concerts and recorded music appreciation events as well as special themed events such as “tea-dances.” An art gallery showcases work by local artists and a collector’s corner is planned which will offer the sale of vintage and rare historic records while featuring a growing assortment of vintage collectibles and antiques. Brandon Music is open year round and more information is available at www.brandonmusicvt.com or by calling 802-465-4071.
Thanks to Stephanie and Mike Raccine of Off the Page Creations for creating such a fabulous website! Check them out at www.offthepagecreations.com.
Woodchuck Draft Cider is enhancing their Vermont presence starting by partnering with Vermont organizations and events and the next few weeks are getting quite busy - get a taste of the nation's best hard cider at these great Vermont events:Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival at Stoweflake Resort, July 10-12, 2009
“Veillée” (French Canadian Dinner) at the Vergennes Opera House, Friday, July 17, 2009
5th Annual Taste of Stowe Arts Festival at Stowe's Topnotch Field, July 24-26, 2009
One Glove: A Michael Jackson Tribute at Higher Ground, July 24, 2009 - Woodchuck is the presenter of this fantastic Seven Days event in remembrance of the nation's king of pop.
Woodchuck Draft Cider is a hard cider handcrafted with apples in Green Mountain Beverage’s state-of-the-art facility in Middlebury, Vermont. The original recipe, known as the popular Woodchuck Amber Cider, was created by current cider make, Greg Failing, in 1991 in Proctorsville, Vermont. The Woodchuck Draft Cider family has grown to include Granny Smith, 802 (Dark & Dry), Pear, and a brand new selection of Limited Releases to which Failing adds his personal touch to ensure exceptional quality and premium taste to Vermont’s award-winning hard cider. A naturally gluten-free beverage, Woodchuck Draft Cider is also a favorite in food pairings and a key ingredient in a variety of recipes. More information is available at www.woodchuck.com and you can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WoodchuckCider.On days like this I love what I do!! Thanks to Brandon Music and Woodchuck Draft Cider for being such exceptional clients!
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