One of my persistent challenges is how to bring the essence of my clients and their businesses to life on the web and sometimes to printed materials as well. This recently was the case with one client and I jumped at the chance as its always a fun, diverse challenge for me. It gives me the opportunity to practice what I teach, the importance of coordinating all aspects of your promotional materials, "Running the thread throughout" as I like to put it.

This website started it all and now I am very excited to see this ad, shown below, in an upcoming issue of The Business Journal. Designed for my client, Kristina Larsen, owner of Luxury Homes Internationale real-estate, it is the latest in a suite of promotional materials I have had the pleasure of working with her on. 

Word-of-mouth advertising is the best way to attract new customers and keep interest with existing customers. And best of all, it's mostly free! Having an online presence is just the beginning of maximizing this invaluable form of advertising. Not only are businesses today expected to have an online presence with a website but also interact with their customers

 using various forms of social media including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, a blog and the like. You know your products, services, and customers and you know your business, how to run your business and its a full-time job. You don't have time to post to Facebook, tweet on Twitter, post to your blog and let alone keep up with your reviews and customer comments. Smart businesses today use social media tools such as hootsuit and addthis to make it easier to keep up with social networks, incorporate commenting/reviews throughout your site and combine this with a fairly frequently updated blog which automatically posts to services like Facebook and Twitter. Use the re-tweet and like buttons. You will maximize your word-of-mouth advertising with minimum effort and maximum results. As I mentioned this comes at the cost of mostly free! The cost is mainly in time invested and if you incorporate some of the tools mentioned here and use some new media best practices, as mentioned on my MediaCorOnline site, you'll be well on your way to managing your word-of-mouth advertising with minimal cost.