More than 111 million people tuned into Fox last year to watch the Super Bowl – making it a record breaking TV event, according to the Nielsen ratings. A massive audience is expected for this year’s big game as well.

No matter who you are rooting for, the Giants or the Patriots, one lesson moving forward for brands is that the famous Super Bowl ads are no longer just about unveiling them during the game. The New York Times just wrote an article about the changing landscape that includes a much bigger dose of public relations.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have changed the rules of the game by allowing Super Bowl ads to be about more than a single event. Brands are embracing social networks to extend their message and interact with customers and clients.

Media outlets are covering the making of the ads, the creativity, the pressure and price behind creating a hit, and after the game the analysis of who had the best ads. It produces excellent opportunities for clients to get in the news. Major media outlets devote coverage to the ad race almost as much as they do the game. (OK, that may be stretch. But they do get a lot of coverage.)Even small businesses with no connection whatsoever to sports can get into the game. There are plenty of people who are not football fans that will be looking for something to do other than watch the game. Social media channels are filled with anti-Super Bowl parties and promotions.

For marketers, the new paradigm is not to wait for Super Bowl Sunday to air your ad or run your promotion. It’s all about going viral and social before kickoff. Social media and PR now play a much bigger role in promoting your brand around the annual game.

We all have to learn to think beyond the coin toss and the final score. What are some of your ideas for promoting a Super Bowl ad or anti-Super Bowl promotion?

That doesn’t mean small business owners haven’t felt the economic squeeze over the last several years. Sixty percent of those surveyed said they changed their sales and marketing efforts as a direct result of the U.S. economy.  The survey showed that small business owners are using less traditional media (29 percent) and more viral marketing and word-of-mouth (33 percent) as compared to the previous year.

Staples asked: What could help? The answer: 52 percent of small business owners revealed they would grow their business through advertising and direct marketing if they had a larger marketing budget.  The survey found that two-thirds (66 percent) of small business owners have some type of marketing and advertising budget for 2012 that average just over $2,000.

To help small business, Staples launched the “Give Your Small Business the Push It Needs” contest that will award five small businesses up to $50,000 each in free local television advertising. Talk about a boost.

To enter, small businesses can submit a 15-second video about their company on Staples’ Facebook page.  Five small businesses will be chosen to receive 15-seconds of advertising in a 30-second Staples television ad to run in their local market.  The prize package is valued at up to $50,000 worth and includes $500 in Staples Copy and Print or Staples EasyTech™ services.  The company is giving winners a choice of either $50,000 in advertising or $40,000 in advertising plus $10,000 in cash.

“Successfully marketing your small business is the life blood of any company, but with limited budgets, entrepreneurs must be creative and resourceful,” said Rieva Lesonsky, CEO and President, Grow Biz Media/SmallBizDaily.com. “Any marketing boost that they receive from a program such as the Staples ‘Give Your Small Business the Push It Needs” can make all the difference in the world, especially in the current business climate.”

The bottom line: Who can’t use an extra $50,000 to put toward their business. Good luck to everyone who’s rushing to click on that Staples’ Facebook page.

The beginning of any New Year is the time many of us get to thinking about resolutions.  Sure, it’s easy to make them. But how can resolutions become important enough to keep, and help businesses continue to grow during the year

Inspired by our firm president, 2012 has become the ‘Year of Intentions’ at Tilson PR, bridging peace, prosperity and possibility together to bring the firm and all of our clients to greatness.  Any company can focus on the following three topics to build their business, increase their bottom line and inspire everyone on their team.

Peace – This sentiment doesn’t end after the holidays.  With inner peace comes creative energy and harmony, and there’s nothing better than that when trying to inspire your team.  Pursue inner peace with people by focusing on facts and not emotions, offering encouragement to others and diminishing negative thoughts and energy.

Prosperity – Prosperity means to flourish and can be applied to wealth, health, realtionships, education and more.  Set goals in each category and strive to meet them.  Writing down goals and putting them in a visible spot helps us to keep focused on them in order to meet and surpass them.

Possibility – Perhaps the biggest motivator is the possibility of what can be achieved by setting goals, staying focused and positive, and following through.  Whether the goal is to increase Twitter followers, ramp up social media presence, sell more widgets or launch a new division of the company, anything is possible with the right attitude and of course, attainable goals.

“Why Content Marketing is King”

“The Golden Rule of SEO: Content is King”

“As Devices, Distribution Compete, Content Enjoys Renaissance”

“Mobile Content is King”

Each of these links leads to an article or post about the importance of quality content whether it’s for a website, a mobile device, a white paper, a brochure or any other vehicles used to communicate with your customers. Why has content been deemed so critical that it deserves a crown?

It comes down to this: Quality content is about telling a story to entertain, inform or to sway a decision. Most businesses want content that will influence customer to buy their products or services. The most successful of those businesses have found a way to tell their story in a way that it stands out from competitors.

Of course, part of that success is having a good story to tell whether it’s a major technical advancement, a pricing or quality advantage or a novel approach to solving a problem. Whatever the case, most businesses stay in business because they can tell a story that their customers are willing to buy.

Some falter because they don’t know how to tell their story well. They can own be the best, most advance widget in the world, but if no one is telling that story to their potential customer the chances of success diminish.

The answer to the question “what’s my story?” can be the beginning point to developing content that’s worthy of a crown.

So tell us, what’s your story?

Here are five tips to get you started in creating content that can drive customers to your business and can help you grow:

1.    Write about what you know. You’re in business because you have something to offer that others are willing to pay for. Focusing your content on insights about your industry, business or customers.

2.    People (including readers, viewers, and FB friends) all appreciate value. So share information that others will find worth their time. Don’t use your communications channels frivolously to talk about what you ate for breakfast. Nothing irks readers more than you wasting their time.

3.    Focus. Focus. Focus. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Develop content on one topic at a time. Each post, each YouTube video, each blog should be about one thing, and one thing only. Also, focus on using one or two communications channels, whether it’s a podcast, blog, a regular newsletter, and build from there.

4.    Ask for feedback. Talk to your customers, employees, vendors and family members andask what they think, what can be improved, what works, what doesn’t. Do this regularly, and soon you’ll get a clear picture to help you make adjustments.

5.    Don’t be afraid to make changes. The beauty of constantly communicating with your potential customers is that you can do it again tomorrow, and try something different.

What are some of your suggestions for developing quality content?

Social media marketing executed well can help grow your business. However, it doesn’t just happen. It takes time and a committed effort. Here are few do’s and don’ts:

•    Do focus your efforts on the channels that make strategic sense for your business. You don’t have to be on every social media site. Master one or two, and build from there.

•    Don’t create a Facebook fan page or Twitter account and not use them. Existing or potential customers will find you, and recognize stale content. That’s not the first impression you want to leave.

•    Do build your audience by targeting key influencers, such as bloggers with large followings and local media. Remember, it takes time to build a fan base or a following. But once you reach a critical mass, you will have an excellent channel with which to market your business.

•    Interact with your followers. Comment on their posts. Wish customers a happy birthday. Retweet their tweets. It’s supposed to be social. Build those relationships so that you’ll be able to extend them offline.

•    Do respond to comments or tweets directed at you. If a customer praises you, thank them publicly. If one of has an issue, politely address it publicly, promise a fix it and then take the conversation private. Do your best to fix the problem. When it’s resolved, complainers often become your biggest fans.

Without tapping into the potential of social media marketing, you risk being left behind as competitors jump in, learn the ropes and grow their businesses. That’s where you want to be.

A marketing plan will take into account your target market, competition, to how to reach your market with appropriate tactics and how you differentiate your business from the competition. Here are 10 tips to keep in mind when developing a plan:

• The most important order you ever get from a customer is the second order.

• To survive and thrive, it’s imperative that you understand and adapt to your customers motivation and behavior.

• Make sure your message is consistent and repeat it often.

• Increasing profits should be the goal of marketing activities, not increasing sales.

• It’s much more expensive to sell to new customers, five times as much, than to sell to an existing customer.

• Sell what your customers want, not what they need.

• A superior product, technology, innovation or company doesn’t sell itself, you have to do it.

• People buy the benefits and solutions that products can provide.

• Spend 10 percent of your budget on testing when it comes to direct mail.

• From the boss on down to the typist, everyone in the company should part of marketing efforts.

Google Voice (GV) simplifies everything with one phone number, for free. Gmail users now have access to this service. When a user creates a GV account, he or she is required to pick a phone number from available numbers in selected area codes to use for this account. After the phone number is selected, the user is prompted to assign where calls to this phone number will be forwarded to. Users have the options of mobile, work, home and Gizmo. Selecting what time of day which phones will ring is another feature to customize GV.

The configuration and maintenance of the account is done online with an application that is styled after Gmail. Setup takes a quick 10 minutes.

After setup is complete, when a person calls the GV number, it will ring where the user assigned it to. For me, I have mine set to call my cell phone and Gizmo (computer). For people who own their own businesses and are reachable 24/7, they might include their house and office to ring simultaneously.

With GV being a call forwarding system, it makes it easier for people to contact you, especially if you’re never in one location for an extended period of time. It eliminates the need for a caller to dial your office, mobile and house. It also helps the GV user by channeling all voice and text messages into one inbox.

• In addition to simplifying your phones, GV offers other helpful features free of charge:
  Voicemail with voice transcription to text, where a GV user can read his or her voice messages
• Call screening where calls are prompted to state their name before the call is connected
• Blocking of unwanted calls
• Call recording of inbound calls
• Conference calls with up to five people
• Text messaging
• The option to be notified of new voice messages and text messages via e-mail

Although I haven’t used every feature of GV, the ones I’ve used have been handy.

Being able to read voice messages is a great feature when you’re in a meeting or in a situation where you need to be discreet that you’re on the phone. When reading the voice message, you have the option of receiving it as an e-mail or to log into GV to read it. Whichever way you chose to get your messages, you still have the option to listen to the message.

With voice messages being transcribed into text, it’s also a helpful feature if you have a lot of messages, because you can log into GV and do a search for key words to find the specific message.

Driving and texting is a bad idea, but driving and writing is worse!
When a person receives important news, many questions typically follow. When a GV user receives a call and is unable to take notes (i.e. driving), the user can dial “4” which alerts the caller the conversation is being recorded. The GV user can listen to the recorded conversation online by logging into his or her account.

Sorry, Wrong Number!
In the last year, I’ve met countless females in South Florida who I’d define as crazy. GV has helped me with this issue. After I meet a girl who I define as “a stage five clinger” or a stalker, I simply log into GV and edit the call settings for her number. GV gives the option of having the call go directly to voicemail or to block the caller – I opted for the later.

Google created apps for users of iPhones, BlackBerries and Android phones to make using GV easy. For users who don’t have one of the phones listed above, calls can be made from the GV number by using the GV website, or by calling the GV number from a phone which is assigned to the GV account.

In conclusion, whether you’re a business owner or a person who likes new gadgets, Google Voice can simplify your phoning experience.

When I started this company years ago, I never imagined that the communication vehicles we use would have evolved the way they have. The days of press releases, hand stamped and mailed – even faxed – seem like another era.  In fact they were.  But the key goal has remained the same – trying to reach the right people at the the right time with the right message.  The other critical element of relationship building with our clients, media and the community – that hasn’t changed.  So, although the tools have evolved at a break neck speed, the premise of why we do what we do hasn’t. it’s easy to feel “behind the curve” with all the new ways to reach just about everyone you would want to. But, at the end of the day it still comes back to knowing your audience, having a useful or interesting message, and being able to communicate.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Tracy Tilson, APR