A lot of people ask me daily...
"Martha how did you create those amazing Instagram posts?" "Martha!!! Your business cards look so cool!" "Martha what do use to schedule your social media? You can't be doing this around the clock!?" The truth is I have been in marketing for close to 7 years now and my skills and the tools I use have evolved over the years. I remember being so obsessed with PicMonkey.... yeah PicMoney. That's what I was using to create a lot of my graphics circa 2013-2015. I was recently creating my work portfolio when I was let go unexpectedly from a job I had for 3 years. My graphics and posts looked dated. But like anything when we are in an area or a field we love, we get better as we go. Today I wanted to open up my tool box and show you the tools I use to create and maintain my brand effectively. Canva Canva is the ultimate godsend for marketers and creators from all walks of life. Your skill set could be beginner and you will look like you have been a graphic designer for years. In Canva, you can create your social media posts, marketing plans, presentations, brochures, business cards, Instagram Stories, resumes, portfolios, posters, postcards you name it, Canva can do it. You can even save your branding colors so when you are creating you don't have go back and manually put in your color codes. I happily pay $12 a month for this service because a lot of MDMC's content and branding pieces have been made in Canva. It is with the $12... trust me. Buffer When I'm done creating amazing works of art on Canva, I schedule it all out on Buffer. The reason I gravitated towards Buffer a while back was because at the time they were the only ones allowing Pinterest pins to be scheduled. In this industry if you want your website to get some traffic, you have to schedule at least 5 times a day. Buffer is a smart software that creates posting schedules that will allow your posts to be seen on the prime time posting times. This software knows the algorithms and the best times to post so you don't have to figure it out. I will create content weeks ahead of time and depending on the events of each week I will schedule out ahead of time. You set it and forget it. Buffer allows you one free account to manage. If you want more you can jump up to $10 for 10 accounts and the pricing and plans jump up higher. So depending on your company size and how many accounts you manage, buy accordingly. I pay $10 a month. Managing MDMC Entertainment, my blog and few clients this works for me... for now. MailChimp Let's face it, if we can get away from not paying money for a software program we will take advantage of it. This is where MailChimp comes into play. MDMC Entertainment is about to send out a massive email blast to the masses. Email is not dead and it can help generate business no matter what industry you are in. We have used MailChimp for years and so far so good. iMovie iMovie has been an instrumental tool for our video editing. We started filming videos for the MDMC YouTube channel and iMovie has been our godsend. We are able to edit our videos to look professional and to be honest, video is not our strongest forte but we love how swift and easily we can edit and distribute videos with ease. These 3 tools are the tools we use the most in our day to day business. I hope you start dabbling in these and see what works for you. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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So the other day i'm driving down a highway in Southern California and my phone went off with an alert from Gmail. One of my clients received an email. When I got home I looked at the email and it was an email from a competitor asking if my client would be interested in working with this person again. I politely wrote back "I'm in good hands thanks." What made me mad was this person had worked with my client first before his last person then me. So lucky number 3 was able to produce results that number 1 and 2 couldn't do. In fact number 1 did an awful job and has gathered a pretty bad reputation in the comic con world that at this point only has a hand full of clients. Someone I know actually got a hold of that client list and this person falsely put down people this person doesn't even work with. Now this isn't being written to blast someones poor work ethic but it opened my eyes up to another problem. Poaching... I have never once poached a client. I have received all business from referrals or website traffic. I run an honest business and I am so proud of that but there is a legit problem out there. When people are scrambling and running out of luck most people come to the poaching method to save their business. Poaching makes you look desperate, it's inappropriate and it's unethical. The truth is poachers are people that need to stop doing business until they get their own business under control. Two they should work on their networking. If you need new business networking is possible to increase your clientele. Don't steal other peoples clients.. find your own. I think the true issue here that makes people result into poaching is their business has hit the proverbial wall and the way to get more business is dipping into someone else's pool. Most people don't tend to be smart when expanding their business because they don't know how to so the easiest way is to steal clients to keep money pumping into their business. This is a sign that one, you don't know what you are doing and you don't need to be in business. Playing dirty never wins. I remember when I first started working in entertainment, I fell into it almost instantly. Then I started to have phone calls with people from Star Trek Voyager and then I was on a Hollywood set in less than a year.
I kept plugging away and working. The only people asking questions were my family members from my extended family. It was kind of funny since I have no relationships with most of these people. I started to see that I was disrupter when I landed in a new fandom. I started working with someone from a popular 90s show and my contributions was just 1 of 50 other peoples so it wasn't like I was contributing a lot. It wasn't until another person from that franchise reached out and asked for help because they knew I was a marketer. From there on it grew and grew and we started working with more people in this franchise. It came to the point that I noticed I started to make waves and people didn't like it. A couple of veterans who had been doing this for a couple of more years than I did started to ruffle my feathers. Then sent over spies to figure out what I was doing, they would use aliases to email me inquiries. It got intense. It got worse when I had a confrontation with one of these veterans and they accused me stealing and lying. The heat was hot and it turned it's ugly head when I showed up to a popular convention with a new client. My client was leaving his current agent who had promised him the world and didn't deliver. When we arrived, I knew I was in the snake pit. I had so many people walking by and giving me dirty looks. Even the veterans couldn't say anything to me anymore, their boss reached out to me for marketing help. It was at that moment when I realized that working in this industry was going to be tough. Since then I kept my head down and tried not to cause any waves. It wasn't until just recently when I started to make waves again that I realized that I didn't give a fuck what anyone thought, I was going to do me and keep doing it. Over the time of me keeping my head down and plugging away I saw people trying to copy my formula and they weren't successful in their efforts. Well it's obvious why. Just because you see someone being successful working one way doesn't mean it will work for you. It never works. I just recently realized with some of the work MDMC is conjuring up in this next quarter is that you shouldn't care what people say or think. In fact if people are mad at the waves your making it means they are threatened. It took me a while to come to terms with it all. I am really good at what I do and my success rate is pretty impressive. Moral of the story is don't let anyone question your abilities. Don't let anyone get in your head and stop making you feel proud of what you accomplished. If you have a passion run with it, if you want to do something don't let anyone talk you out of it. If you a disrupter... embrace it and revel in it. It means you are doing all the right things!!! I have seen this time and time again... promising looking comic cons pop up and look like they are going to knock it out of the park and all of a sudden that Facebook or Instagram post comes up and says.... Convention canceled.
We at MDMC Entertainment have had the wonderful privilege to spruce up comic cons that need a little TLC before they end up a subject of conversation on "Rate that Comic Con" Truth is your show bombed because you sucked as a promoter. Yeah I hit you right in the jugular but i'm making it a point to say it now so you can fix your issues now versus helping you draft up your nicely worded letter before bowing out completely from the game. So here is the thing, you need to consider all these things before you put on your first comic con. If you can humbly go down this check list and say "I'm ready" then by all means get out there and make those comic and nerd fans happy. Let's get the meat of this blog. 1. Thinking you're going to bank I have seen this happen so many times. People get together one day and say, "Hey comic cons generate a ton of money, lets make a comic con" Just because you see people making money in it, doesn't mean you're going to make money doing it. A lot of people rush into these business ideas thinking they are going to score the mother load and come to find out you actually don't start making money until 3-5 years down the road. Can you wait that long to make money? If you're in it for the money, get out now. 2. Lack of Organization To many times I have seen promoters jump head first into the bigger parts of the show when in reality they aren't paying attention to the basic stuff. It's easy to get lost in it and organization falls through the cracks. If you don't crack before show time more than likely your show will look just as disorganized. 3. Getting Caught up in the Politics AKA Agent Wars Promoters just want amazing talent to be guests at their shows but the problem is they can be hard to secure. You gotta deal with contracts, negotiations, logistics, the green room, and accommodations. It's tough and it's just one portion of the show. I have seen fantastic shows have an amazing line up planned but an agent or agents muddy the water. The show becomes tainted and before you know it your show is suffering before D Day. Promoters can't play around in the agent wars. It's the most time wasting time of the con planning. One of the reasons shows have become predictable is because agents have become pretty good and nailing down territory. Which is sad because fans deserve more than the same guests you keep bringing around. Stop with the agent wars, stop with the politics it's your show run it the way you want to. 4. Lackluster Marketing Let's face it Marketing makes the show. The attractive fliers that make you want to go to these shows are what drive those ticket sells. The marketing sets the tone on what kind of show you are giving the people. So why go cheap on this side? Basically you can't afford to, it would end up being a liability. Get a marketing team that is equipped in the field and market your show like the super star that it is. 5. High Admission Costs Ok... so I recently came across this issue because I wanted to attend a local show. Now this show doesn't have many celebrity guests and I actually just wanted to go to see a friend who was signing. $50 per person... I looked back and looked at the guests and I was wondering "What is my $50 going to get me" This is a small show and frankly it has lost its luster over the years. I couldn't really figure out if it was even worth it to go. I started hitting up industry friends to see if they had passes. I get you are trying to make up some of that money honey but $50? and no major headliner or major guests... PASS!!!! 6. You threw your money to ONE thing So... funny story. One year in the SoCal area a new comic con had popped up. It was able to secure at least 8 celebrity guests and it looked like a decent show. When we got there it was taking place in the parking garage... Yeah so the con was mostly around the entrance doors and it felt small while you can see the rest of the empty parking garage. This show had money they just allocated it to the wrong areas. So these poor guests are not busy and the con is pretty much dead but their was a grand prize of $10,000 for the best cosplay. Well the cosplay contest took place on Saturday leaving Sunday virtually dead. That show died in it's first year. The location could have been better, more vendors would have been nice and maybe not scaring away your business after the first day would have been nice. I know some fantastic first time shows that knocked it out of the park in their first year and i'm so excited to see them grow. As for others i'm watching and hoping you make it. I get it's hard asking for help, but if you need the help, contact us to schedule your consultation. Don't end up a trending topic on Rate that Comic Con. In public relations we hear about clients wanting press kits or media kits but, what are they exactly? A media kit or press kit is an information packet about a business or product. its a great way to educate your audience of what you do and how you do it. Press kits are used by large businesses to the smallest entrepreneurs. The press kit is the resume to your company, it typical has a collection of company information and articles put together to address questions from the media, investors and potential clients. If you aren't sure what to put in your press kit, here are some suggestions. 1. Letter of introduction: This letter of introduction is your first impression to your readers. The purpose is to intrigue them and to keep reading through your press kit. Tell them why they should care about about what you're trying to tell them. Provide a table of contents and a brief description of the items. Let them know you are available for follow-up interviews and questions. Also make sure to include your contact information in this letter. 2. Information on the company: Include all of your company information like history, company profile, information about your chief officers, management, staff and ownership. Having this information upfront can give the human element to your company, the faces behind the ones making the company go. Doing this well make you relateable to your reader. 3. Product and service information, including a product, service or performance review: This is the moment you show your reader what you do and how you do it. The more details you have about what you do and why you are successful is important. Include photos, infographics, reviews, and any other detailed piece to tell your story. 4. Recent press publications and articles: If you have been published or received any press, include them in your kit. It's a great accomplishment to have this kind of coverage, it shows you are serious contender and are valued for your work. Include copies of articles and printouts your company has Copies of recent press coverage is very appropriate for a press kit. After all, what other media have done will be of interest to current media targets. This can include article reprints and printouts of online press that a company might have received. 5. Audio and video files of radio or TV interviews, speeches, performances and any other media-covered event: More than likely, most of your coverage isn't in print. Include links and dvd copies in your kit so it's easier for your reader to view. 6. Other items to include:
Getting your press kit noticed is the key to publication and action! Remember, getting attention is important not only with audiences, but also with editors. Package your materials in a unique way and make sure the materials are presented professionally. Make sure you follow up with the recipients who received your press kit and follow up and schedule a time to meet. Build relationships with your kit and create lasting partnerships. Media Kits can get expensive so remember to have a plan intact ready to go to build you relationship and incorporate it to your marketing strategy. remember when creating your kit to assemble the best pieces of your company and tailor it to your audience. Make sure your not boring your audience with unnecessary information. It's also important to create a kit on paper and digitally or both, stay ahead of the curve. I had an amazing opportunity to work at my local hometown newspaper shortly after college. It was decent pay for the small town cost of living. It was a great way to get my feet wet and really delve into my professional career. Since I was a Public Relations major I wanted to work in PR because... hello that's where the money is. Now most reporters don't go into the journalism profession to get rich, far from it. They get into it because of the love of writing and being able to be the voice of news. News is not dead but print journalism is, in turn newspapers are going to be extinct soon. Think about it, when was the last time you opened a newspaper and read it cover to cover? For me, it has to be at least year. Since I am currently a marketer/digital marketer we on this side know that your percentage of leads coming from a newspaper will be at the bottom of your lead sources. Needless to say print as we know it is dead. Advertisers wont even advertise in newspapers anymore. I met quite a few reporters and during the end of my editorship I told my colleagues I was going into public relations, I was told I went to the dark side. I said, "There is no money in newspapers, the only way you get paid decently to write in print is if you work at the biggest newspapers in the world." and with that I left. Something I said resonated with them because before I knew it they either went into Marketing, Public Relations or a completely different field. The problem is a lot of these newspapers are being bought up by other entities and causing newspapers to let go of employees. I still have a few reporter friends on Facebook that work at papers and one story caught my eye. A reporter was kicked to the curb after another entity bought out the newspaper they were working at. I asked the question that must be asked, "Why are you still working at a newspaper?" Now I get it people have dreams and what not but when you clearly see that the dream you are standing on is sinking into quicksand, maybe it's time to think of plan B, C and D. Now I know this is not the first time this individual has faced this problem because it's happened to them at least twice in the career span. The response I get is "I'm not ready to give up on print, there will always be a need for it." But will there be a need for it? These newspaper closing are a sign of the times. Think about it, when a breaking story breaks broadcast journalists are stocking Twitter for updates. Twitter! Yes because that is a real time search engine that now has the weight that any journalist use to have. The story breaks you hear all of it on social media and TV (if you still watch cable) by the time you get the newspaper in the morning it's old news because you have read all of it on your Facebook and Twitter feeds. Now this former colleague of mine is putting limits on themselves because they want to stay within a certain radius around familiarity and find work at another newspaper, to which is own. However, you don't grow as an individual if you have limits, (ironically I just learned this lesson) much less will you grow as a professional. I know the love of print maybe a hard break up but it's time for you journalists who want to be journalists to go into a digital entity. Newspapers are converting to the online market by being a reputable online news source. Even with the capabilities of social media, newspapers can go live and do live broadcasting. It's the way of the times and you always have to be ahead of the curve. This gives journalism students a fighting chance to be journalists in the 21st century. I'm sad to have to give you this reality check but if I don't you will be jobless and looking for plan B.
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AuthorAt MDMC Entertainment. we are lovers of all things pop culture, marketing and bringing them together to create a buzz that all clients desire and deserve! Archives
February 2024
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