Part 2: Who Wants to be a Mom-prenuer?

Here is the second part of our new series “Who Wants to be a Mom-Preneur” featuring the expert advice of Lauren & Allison, the duo behind Townsend Olmstead Media Co., a full-service public relations firm. Having assisted in the launch of numerous products, they are excited to share some of the tips & tricks they have learned with a new crop of potential entrepreneurs. Mothers are incredibly resourceful and creative out of necessity and that often leads to innovation. With a little homework and a little hard work, your “quick fix” could become the next great idea. Here’s to the next BIG thing courtesy of a Mom!

Who Wants to be a Mom-prenuer?

Ways to Work the Social Networks

As we mentioned in our last post, social networks are a great way to market your product virally. That said, to be successful there are a few keys to success…here are our Top 3 Rules for Social Networking

1) Have a point of view – Whether you are blogging about your personal experiences as a mom, your new product, your hobbies, or the fabulous meal you made last night, your posts all need to have a point of view. This is what makes you unique! When launching a product, we at TO Media Co. like to take a whole “lifestyle” approach to our campaigns – for instance one of our clients sells beach-chic luggage, so for her it makes sense to blog/post about great trips she’s taken, her tried & true packing tips, “Around the world” spottings of her luggage, tips she’s learned or discovered about traveling with children, etc. It’s about reaching out and connecting with your customer base on a personal level while providing them useful and relevant information that ties back to your brand all in one pretty package (with a darling photo to illustrate the point).

2) Consistency – Whether you are on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, or the NEXT big thing, you have to find ways to keep people coming back for more. This means posting consistently enough that people feel like they are “missing out” if they haven’t logged in for a while. We often suggests blocking out a schedule of posts for the first few weeks before you get started so you aren’t staring at the computer screen with writer’s block. That doesn’t mean you can’t improvise if something timely hits your radar, but it will help get the ball rolling for you.

3) Be Proactive – The time you spend searching for new contacts, connecting with people, products, causes, networks that relate to your business – posting to their sites, starting a dialogue – will come back to you in spades! The goal is to get to a place where people come looking for you, but until that happens, you have to be proactive about searching out the kind of people you are looking for (which also ties back to our previous post about “Know Who Your Customer Is” – click here to refresh your memory).

Other things to keep in mind when working the networks:

*Pictures DO speak a thousand words
*Link back to your company’s website whenever possible
*Post to the blogs/pages that you are fans of… they will be more likely to check out your blog in return!
*Keep it personal and timely
*Link all your pages together… whether you have a website or not, post your You Tube video to Facebook, twitter about your latest blog post, etc.

PR veterans Lauren Townsend and Allison Olmstead are the duo behind Townsend Olmstead Media Co., a full-service public relations firm specializing in promoting the people and products setting trends and defining style. After years of strategic media outreach, creative positioning and building lasting relationships with the media, TO Media Co. has been successful in creating PR campaigns and strategies for companies large and small including Halsea, Pixie Dust Décor, Orange Coast Magazine, Bravo Sports and others by taking a “big picture” approach to each client. TO Media Co. has raised brand awareness and achieved measurable results for their clients through coverage on The Today Show, Good Morning America, People Magazine, Coastal Living, Real Simple, The Early Show and more.