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Girl Geeks Coverage
Girl Geeks (North East) founder Mia Chapman was interviewed by Lisa McCormick for her show at BBC Radio Tees about the launch of the network. What an experience! Mia's first radio interview...at least it wasn't live and Lisa joined us for the launch event - a great Girl Geek and iPhone fan! listen to the interview
The Girl Geeks Network launch event featured in the Evening Chronicle.
Following interview with Deborah Johnson, an article announcing the launch of Girl Geeks. Deborah also joined us at the launch event. Article
Following an interview with Joanne Butcher, two articles announcing the launch of Girl Geeks.
bdaily business news network covered the launch event details.
An article highlighting the launch event and network.
High Speed Links For Girl Geeks
A blog and website review of Girl Geeks.
Girl geeks in the North East - new network launched!
An article highlighting the Girl Geeks September event.
Live radio interview on 19th August 2009 discussing the benefits of Twitter and why it has become the leading social networking tool.
An article highlighting the September event and network re-launch appeared in the Science and Technology supplement.
Girl Geeks event opens up technology to women
An interview for Girl Geeks founder Mia Chapman with Karen Wilson resulted in a two page feature article and front page focus highlighting the Girl Geeks network in the North East and featured Girl Geeks member Julie Donaldson.
As a result of Rebecca Thomson's arranged visit to the September Girl Geeks event, interviews were scheduled for some of the Girl Geeks members and Rebecca's article focusses on the recent announcements of the new JEREMIE £125 million technological business investment coming to the North East region in January 2010.
Media Landscape
Only 21% of all news subjects (people interviewed or whom the news is about) are female
Grabbing the Headlines - boost your business through the media
Ever wondered how people get into the media and promoted their goods or services? Ever felt just a bit queasy about the thought of doing it yourself?
Getting an article or mention in the press (traditional and online) is one of the most powerful forms of endorsement you can get as research shows that people tend to believe what they read. Good coverage gives you or your product credibility, gravitas and stature. Best of all editorial coverage is free!
Snap Shot of the Latest Internet Trends and Stats...
Econsultancy recently released their 2009 Internet stats compendium. Crammed with 207 pages of statistical and market data it’s a great resource for everything relating to online marketing, ecommerce and digital media - here's a snapshot:
Usage & demographics
The total count of unique UK internet users is 36,820,000, according to comScore May 2009
The UK has the most active online population in Europe.
The online population now reflects the demographic make-up of the UK as a whole, with a 52%/48% male/female split. 21% of internet users are 25 to 34 years and the over 50s now represent 30% of total time spent online. [Source: IAB UK, 2008]
Video
iPlayer was the second most popular video website in the UK, picking up 13.3% of visits to sites in the Hitwise online video category (which remains dominated by YouTube, with a 65.1% share). [Source: Hitwise, July 2009]
UK internet traffic to online video websites increased by 178% between February 2007 and 2008 [Source: Hitwise, March 2008]
Audio
8.1m people in the UK listen to the radio via the internet, either live or through a listen again service. [Source: RAJAR, Jan 2008]
Social media
At one point in its history, MySpace was the most significant contributor of traffic to Entertainment – Multimedia sites (YouTube remains the #1 site in that category) providing over 35% of traffic to the category. That percentage now hovers below 10%. [Source: Hitwise, July 2009]
Of 500 SMEs surveyed, 17% are actively using Twitter. [Source: O2 via Econsultancy March 09]
Within the top 100 UK technology corporations, only nineteen of them are using Twitter commercially. [Source: ntl:Telewest Business via Econsultancy March 09]
About 60% of people on Twitter end up abandoning the service after a month, even when taking into account client-side Twitter applications and 3rd party websites. [Source: Nielsen, April 2009]
Ecommerce
In 2008, online retail sales accounted for 15% of the total UK retail sales. [Source: RNCOS, February 2009]
Online retail is set to reach £31.2bn by 2013, accounting for 10.0% of total retail spending. [Source: VerdictResearch, June 2009]
81% of people use consumer reviews in their purchase decisions [Source: Nielsen Online via BizReport, February 2009]
More than half of UK online customers say reviews are extremely or very important in making an online purchase, more than half say they have more trust and respect for brands that show product reviews. [Source: Bazaarvoice/Vizu Research, 2007).
Online Reputation
A large percentage of retained PR budgets are being spent on online PR. Company respondents report that 39% of their PR activity is online whilst agencies report that 47% of their clients‘ retained fees come from online PR. [Source: Econsultancy Online PR Industry Benchmark Report, Dec 2008]
According to the Econsultancy / Lynchpin Online Measurement and Strategy Report 2008, a fifth of companies (21%) are already looking at online reputation and buzz monitoring, and a further 37% have plans to analyse this type of data.
Email
Email is used more regularly than social networking for personal communication. 79% of respondents use email as their primary mode of communication, only 10% use social networks. [Source: Epsilon International via Econsultancy June 2009]
One in five emails are invisible and ineffective due to blocked images. [Source: Email Experience Council, Jan 2007].
Search
Search remains the leading advertising format in Europe with the strongest year-on-year growth rate of 26%.[Source: IAB Europe, July 2009]
Paid-for search advertising grew by 22.7% in 2008 to £1986.9 millions, a 59.3% share of all online advertising in the UK. [Source: IAB, April 2009]
91% prefer using natural search results when looking to buy a product or service online, according to Tamar‘s 2008 Search Attitudes Report.
Video advertising
High engagement videos account for nearly half (47 percent) of ad recall. [Source: Yahoo, August 2009]
28 % visited an advertised brand or product’s website after viewing a high engagement video versus only 10 % for low engagement videos. [Source: Yahoo, August 2009]
How to promote your personal brand
People 'buy' people in the same way as they purchase a product or service
Self awareness of your own value will help you sell more effectively
Keep a record of your successes and use this to build confidence
Being consistent and keeping your promises is also key to success
What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
Do you stand out from others in your field of expertise?
People ‘buy’ people in just the same way as we buy any product or service. We make our decisions based on how much we think we will benefit from buying a product or service and if we will enjoy experiencing the brand values its reputation promises.
Top tips
Keep a ‘challenge-action-result’ record
Whenever you are set a task, make a note of what it was, how you dealt with it and the successful result of your actions.
Build your reputation as an expert within your field and never compromise on your service
It is a well known maxim that reputation is hard won and easily lost, but what is often forgotten is that reputation has to be worked at every day. Make sure you are in control of your reputation and that it is saying what you want it to say.
Know how important you are to your business
A great brand comes from a consistent, relevant and sincere understanding of your own abilities. Understand the expectations of customers and colleagues and look for ways to deliver beyond expectation.
Always look great
Shallow though it may seem, image still matters significantly in others’ judgements of you as an individual. Your consistent display as a confident individual with self esteem will mark you out as a person of integrity who can be trusted.
Work on your interpersonal skills
Really listen to people, don’t just hear. Keep great eye contact and remember what people tell you about themselves.
Be consistent
Are you keeping all the promises you have made so that a client or colleague never feels let down?
Seek feedback and input from others
If appropriate, find a mentor and have regular heart-to-hearts from someone with more experience than you may have. Find out how you are really being perceived. Is it how you think you want to be perceived and if not what can you do to change this perception through strategic intention, alongside absolute authenticity, to improve your brand profile?
Be confident and network
Learn how to walk into a room with confidence (i.e. with your head up, smiling and offering a firm handshake). Build your network of contacts through networking enterprises like Girl Geeks.
Know yourself well
Once you are clear about who you are, your value, what you offer and why you are different (i.e. your USP), you can more easily stay ‘on brand’ and concentrate on those actions that will deliver. It is a remarkable fact that ‘knowledge’ is only approximately 10% of what we offer in our marketplace. Skill and attitude play a much larger role in the overall perception of someone’s value, and someone who has the right attitude to a client’s requests and has the ability to find the right answer is offering better value and will elicit a better response.
Be enterprising
Don’t just be a cog in the corporate wheel - be enterprising and entrepreneurial where you can. It’s important to understand that building a brand is not just for now, it’s something you will continue for the rest of your life and it needs to be a part of your daily routine. A little concentration on your own brand will ensure its healthy sustainability and development.
Building your own brand within the brand of your business is about being recognised as valuable, being seen as remarkable and being noticed for your USP for all the right reasons.