rasberry consulting, llc

effective marketing on a shoestring budget

Tamara Rasberry — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:04:00 +0000

I’m excited to be offering this seminar for the DC Small Business Development Center on June 25, 2013 (Date Change.) I plan to teach small business owners, who often have little to no money to spend on the marketing they so need, ways to get the most marketing bang for their limited bucks.

If you or someone you know is a small business owner (or plans to be) in the DC area, please plan to attend. Register here.

client testimonial: #socialmedia

Tamara Rasberry — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:38:41 +0000

TESTIMONIAL
“I am pleased to recommend Tamara Rasberry to my clients and for all my consulting engagements. She not only knows immediately how to engage each client, but also she delivers to each client–ahead of aggressive deadlines–quality, thorough social media services. As one who is organized, professional, and a skilled communicator, Tamara has an acute business sense to lead teams in maximizing business relationships and increasing profitability through social media platforms. Tamara exemplifies both teamwork and leadership. Also, she has a strong grasp on the customers’ business objectives and requirements. She demonstrated these skills while revamping my company’s Facebook and Twitter business pages, and she marketed them well to my current and prospective audiences. Tamara possesses the attributes of one who is extremely goal-oriented—true visionary. Needless to say, I will–without hesitation–hire Tamara Rasberry to satisfy any social media management requirements!”
Melanie Parker
CEO, QualityOne Communications Consulting, LLC

social business tip: size matters!

Tamara Rasberry — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:19:33 +0000

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve clicked on someone’s Facebook page only to be disappointed in their choice of cover photo. I’ve been disappointed not because the photos were particularly unattractive or inappropriate but because they aren’t the right size.

In most cases, you can’t just drop your blog or website header image into Facebook as your cover photo and have it work. Too many times, I’ve seen words or images cut off and for the life of me I cannot fathom why someone would deem that an appropriate representation of their brand. I don’t know about you but it turns me off to the point that I don’t even want to take the time to look at what they’re talking about. If you can’t take the time to make sure your cover photo, the first impression of you that I’m getting from your page, looks right, why should I (or anyone else) bother going any further?

Facebook offers this advice for selecting an appropriately sized cover photo –

What are the dimensions for my Page’s cover photo?
Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you upload an image that’s smaller than these dimensions, it will get stretched to this larger size. The image you upload must be at least 399 pixels wide.

To get the fastest load times for your Page, upload an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes. For images with your logo or text-based content, you may get a higher quality result by using a PNG file.

Of course your Facebook Page cover photo isn’t the only place where size matters. LunaMetrics was kind enough to compile ‘The Ultimate Complete Final Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet‘ to help us get the most bang for our photo-sizing buck across multiple social networking platforms. Now go out and resize those images!

3 steps for overcoming shoemaker’s children syndrome..

Tamara Rasberry — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:09:45 +0000

Have you ever heard the saying “the shoemaker’s children go without shoes?” My former employer used to say this frequently because, as a firm, we often lacked things we would diligently ensure our clients had such as, an employee handbook. As an entrepreneur, I find myself in the role of both the shoemaker and her child. I’m making shoes for everyone but myself!

The other day I was on a call with one of my social media coaching clients and as I was advising her I thought, well actually I said it aloud, “I don’t even do this myself. I’m the worst at doing these things myself.” I take pride in the fact that I give great advice – both personally and professionally – however, I tend to walk around figuratively barefoot. I spend so much time focused on helping others that I neglect to help myself. Whether it’s social media marketing or a personal relationship, I’m usually the last one to take my own advice – even though I KNOW it’s the right thing to do. How do I know? Because when other people follow my advice, they succeed.

I’ve recently seen this referred to as “Shoemaker’s Children Syndrome.” Sounds like a disease, right? I suppose in a way it is. As I write this post, I am deciding to make a concerted effort to rid myself of this affliction. I need to work towards my own success as much as I work towards the success of others. I’ve come up with a three-step process to overcome shoemaker’s child syndrome. I call them the Three P’s.

Prepare! -
This goes back to my earlier post re: gaining clarity. One of the first questions I ask my clients is “what are your goals?” because everything I’m going to do for them stems from being clear on what they’re trying to accomplish. This step entails writing down goals and being specific about them.

Promote! -
This is something I’ve written about before and with which I still struggle. It is not in my nature to toot my own horn or talk about myself. I envy those who do it with ease (within reason.) Someone I saw on Twitter (apologies for not recalling the source) wrote a post called “Don’t go broke being the best kept secret.” That pretty much says it all, right? I must get busy self-promoting.

Practice! -
This step refers to other action items that will be beneficial such as reading, coaching and networking as well as consistently revisiting steps one and two. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.

Those are my three steps for overcoming Shoemaker’s Children Syndrome. Do you have others? Please share.

clarity is power

Tamara Rasberry — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:20:04 +0000

Clarity is Power. I read this some place (probably on Twitter) a few months ago and it struck me to the point that I now have it up on my bulletin board as a daily reminder. Clarity is Power. Three simple words that say so much.

Clarity is not only important in your personal life but also in your professional life and in your business. What are you about? What are your goals? What is your mission? What are your values? What is your image? What are you offering? How will you be of service?

Being clear on the answers to these questions (and others that may be more specific to your situation) will help you lay the groundwork for success. I suggest grabbing your notebook or tablet and writing down these questions and your answers to them. If you don’t have all the answers right away, it’s OK. Consider this to be a living document. Some of your answers may change over time but it’s important to at least begin the thought process. Let me know how it works out for you!

CLARITY IS POWER!

what are you thankful for?

Tamara Rasberry — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 01:34:49 +0000

Whether or not you “celebrate” Thanksgiving there’s no denying that this time of year puts people in mind of giving thanks and being grateful. Check the video to find out what I’m thankful for this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What are you thankful for?

social sharing on the go with glyder

Tamara Rasberry — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:43:58 +0000

My first Glyder post.

If you’re anything like me you use your mobile device just as much, if not more than, you use your computer. I also always have a million and one things to do and am always on the lookout for things that will help me get those things done easily and efficiently. Enter Glyder.

Glyder is a small business social marketing app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s designed to make it simple for small business owners to create and share effective marketing messages via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Email, Text Message, MailChimp and Passbook. Ingenious, right?! There’s even an option to share your completed post to Pinterest on the backend. Given the popularity of Pinterest, that was a brilliant addition. I wish Tumblr was also included but I guess we can’t have everything.

Glyder is very intuitive – no need to read pages of instructions to figure out how to use it. The current version includes five templates and the app promises “many more to come.” Glyder focuses on visuals and “short and sweet” updates which, the app says, garner 80% more engagement when compared to longer posts. We all crave greater engagement, right? There is also the option to create a custom Glyder design to match your existing branding. Another great addition.

So what makes Glyder stand out among the many other social sharing apps? Co-Founder Glenn Allen had this to say: “Very small businesses still struggle with the complexity of online marketing – they have to reach their customers on multiple platforms and are underserved by existing web-based tools. They don’t have the time required to figure out all the platforms or the money to hire an employee or consultant,” says Glenn, whose experience starting OpenTable helped develop the idea for Glyder. “After meeting hundreds of business owners and seeing the same issues over and over again, it became clear that these businesses need a faster, easier, more affordable way to communicate with their customers. We’re putting the power of professional design and proven customer communication into their pocket at a price that puts the interests of the business owner first.”

As a social media coach, I think Glyder will be a great option for my clients to use as a low-cost way of implementing some of the strategies I provide. Though I’m looking forward to seeing the expansion of this app it’s simplicity is part of it’s beauty. You want to do something, you do it, you share it, it’s done. Try it out and let me know what you think. Glyder is available for free at http://www.glyder.co and on the iTunes app store (short link: http://glydr.co/AppStore).

a new direction for rasberry consulting!

Tamara Rasberry — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:24 +0000

I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about passion and purpose. As you know, I’ve been providing social media management and image consulting services but I’ve decided that, in order to be in better alignment with my passions AND my purpose, I’m going to slightly change the focus of my business.

Take a look at this video then contact me!

event: google for entrepreneurs – dc

Tamara Rasberry — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:00:51 +0000

Google launched Google for Entrepreneurs this week, just in time to celebrate turning 14. Yep, Google is only 14 years old. Do you even remember how we responded to questions before “Google it” became a part of our lexicon?

In celebration of this launch, Google is holding several events and luckily DC was one of the locations. The event was quite well attended. In fact, we were told there was a waiting list of 200 so obviously interest was high. So glad I was able to be in attendance.

Check out my Storify story below.

social media & the arts: black watch

Tamara Rasberry — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 02:21:54 +0000

I had the pleasure of attending a social media call held by the Shakespeare Theatre Company to present scenes from the play ‘Black Watch.’ I wasn’t familiar with the play so I didn’t know quite what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. The scenes that were presented definitely made me want to see the full play.

I was quite impressed with Shakespeare Theatre Company for allowing press and social media the opportunity to preview and discuss the play prior to the run. It’s great to see the importance of connecting to your audience via social media being recognized.

Check out this video clip from one of the scenes called “fashion’ about the changing uniforms of the Scottish soldiers. I also created a short Storify story about the event – see below.