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October 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to Red Carpet Strategies, thank you for joining us here to participate in our presentation with the Global Coaches Conference. Follow along with the slides below as you listen to Lisa McKenzie share her strategies on how to build your personal brand, share your expertise, grow your audience and discover how to measure and manage your social influence.

About Global Coaches Conference
Global Coaches Conference is the fastest growing online coaching conferences for global change leaders. Lively, enriching, powerful conversations with change leaders around the world.

Got Clout GCC Global Coaches Conference October 2011

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Why Smart Companies Dismiss Social Media and Why They Shouldn’t?

April 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

I think you’ll agree with me that the relationship between companies and customers has changed radically over the past few years forcing companies to rethink the way they engage with their customers.  Just as open, honest and transparent communication is the key to good inter-personal relationships, so it is intrinsic to a brand or business’s relationships with its customers.  

Customers are now expecting two-way conversations with their brands.

The numbers are very telling.  Here’s a look at some interesting facts:

  • 101 million web users read blogs – Comscore
  • 17% of time online is spent on social networking and reading blogs/reviews – Neilsen
  • 70% of bloggers write about brands organically, almost half post product reviews – Technorati
  • 65% of blog readers access blogs to get an opinion – Synovate
  • 92% of people trust user reviews over sales people – Penn Shoen and Berland
  • 52% of readers said blogs factored into the critical moment they decided to buy – Jupiter Research
  • 78% listen to someone else when it comes to buying not the company – Forrester Research
  • Fact or fiction?  Most customers seek out deals, discounts, promotions online – CIO Magazine  

When Nielsen conducted a study on what drives consumer trust, the results were clear: almost 70% of people turn to family and friends for advice when making purchasing decisions.

It is clear by looking at these numbers that companies and brands are not in control anymore.  Gone are the days of well crafted press releases, brochures that your clients could only get through your sales team and with the public relations and marketing communication departments ruling the day by controlling the brand image and messaging.  Nowadays, after years of being disenfranchised, the customer is back in power. Your brand is no longer what you say it is – your brand is in the eye of the customer and is defined by the way the market perceives your brand to be based on your company’s actions, transparency, authenticity or lack thereof.

Now that your customers have access to digital and social media interactions, it has changed significantly, and forever, what customers expect from their brands and the way that they buy. 

In the past, companies have used top-down, self-proclaimed marketing messages and with the advance in social media “the marketing campaigns”- have turned into Conversations – more like -transparent two-way talk between you and your customers where you have the opportunity to create a bond, even loyalty, toward your product or service – but it requires that you change both where your focus your marketing efforts as well as shift where you spend your marketing dollars.

It requires that you allocate less resources building awareness through advertising and promotions and start making marketing investments of time, resources and money that help your customers through the evaluation process, engage with them to build trust and continuously improve on the customer experience and they will reward you with their loyalty, their wallet and by spreading positive word of mouth about your brand – (even become your brand ambassador/evangelist).  Every company on the planet should be bending over backward to transform customers into advocates. Here are some facts to prove it.

As reported in The Thank You Economy, the most recent book of bestselling author and successful entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk (a must read by the way), according to an IBM study of online retail consumer buying patterns:

  • Advocates’ share of wallet is 33% more than that of customers who aren’t advocates
  • Advocates spend about 30% more dollars with their favorite online retailers than non-advocates do
  • Advocates stick around longer, proving themselves less likely than other customers to switch to a competitor even if it offers similar products at similar prices
  • Advocates have significantly higher lifetime value than regular customers, for not only do they spend more now, they are more likely to keep spending, and even increase their spending, as time goes on.

Want a tangible ROI from using social media?  Start treating your customers like they matter a great deal, because they do.  If you still have any doubt that engaging with your customers, and making each and every one of your customers feel valued and heard, will pay off for your company over time, take a look at these facts:

According to the Customer Experience Impact 2010 Report, sponsored by RightNow®, consumers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience and switch brands if there are getting a negative experience.  

  • 82% of consumers have stopped doing business with a company as a result of a negative experience
  • 55% became a customer of a company because of their reputation for great customer service
  • 40% began purchasing from a competitive brand simply because of their reputation for great customer service
  • 66% said that great customer service was their primary driver for greater spending
  • 85% of consumers said they would be willing to pay between 5% to 25%  more over the standard price in order to ensure a superior customer experience.

As Pete Blackshaw author of Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000 appropriately states:  “If consumers trust other consumers more than they trust traditional advertising, and the platforms to convey their trusted recommendations are now reaching billions, the ROI for social media should start to enter the “no brainer” zone.

At the core, social media is a dialogue. “It’s not just about sharing information, it’s about sharing understanding and caring for one another” – and it represents a golden opportunity for companies, like yours, to engage with your existing and prospective customers in ways you never could have before.  To do so effectively it implies that you know about your customers, and that, as a company, you care a great deal about them.  You cannot fake authenticity.  By telling your stories in an authentic voice, engaging and helping your customers make better decisions, and tapping into social networks and online groups that are passionate about your products and services, your company has the ability to communicate the way that it’s always wanted to, but never could before so please take advantage of it.

The net net is: If you don’t engage with your customers and do everything you can to WOW them, your competitors certainly will!

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*Brand* Awareness through *Social Media Marketing* | Blueprint for Success Tips

March 16, 2011 By 4 Comments

Our partner, Cindy Ratzlaff, was named to the Ad Age Marketing 50 List for her branding campaign for the blockbuster bestseller, The South Beach Diet.  Since then she’s been touted as an essential must follow on Twitter by Forbes, Business Insider and Social Mouths among others. We sat down with her recently to talk about the key elements of creating brand awareness through social media.

Lisa McKenzie:  Which social media platforms do you think are most important for creating strong brand awareness?Cindy Ratzlaff:  First, let me say that I think social media is a piece of any brand awareness strategy and not the whole pie.  That said, the social media components of most brand awareness campaigns should include a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, YouTube, a Blog and two profiles on LinkedIn, a personal profile and a company page.  We call those “the essential big five.”

Francine Allaire: What do you think are the essential key elements of branding?
Cindy Ratzlaff: The key elements of branding, in my opinion, are the four “V’s”: voice, visuals, value and variation.

Lisa McKenzie:  Let’s run through how each one impacts the “big five” platforms.  What about Voice?
Cindy Ratzlaff: Voice is your brand message and your brand personality.  Even though each social media platform has a slightly different tone, unique language and way of interacting, your brand voice and message should be consistent.  Hearing that message across multiple social platforms will reinforce brand awareness and give people the feeling that they’ve “heard of you.”

Francine Allaire: What about visuals?
Cindy Ratzlaff:  Visuals are self-explanatory.  You develop a look, a color palate, a type-face, a logo and while you can moderate it slightly for each platform, you keep it consistent utilizing a brand playbook of approved images.  When you see a swoosh, you think Nike.  When you see golden arches, you’re think Big Mac.  That’s what you’re looking for in your visuals: iconic, emotional images that consumers remember.

Lisa McKenzie:  How does Value affect brand awareness?
Cindy Ratzlaff: Value is your brand offers.  You should spend as much time developing your offer as you do your visual look and message voice.  Make sure you know your market competitors and be clear that you offer value within that market.  Communicate that value in all of your channels.  This is the brand element that benefits MOST from social media.  By being involved in professional organizations, by speaking and teaching and guest blogging and posting, you increase your perceived value to the community who will be most interested in hiring you or using your brand.  You utilize maximum strategic visibility to become a thought leader in your field.

Francine Allaire: What is variation?
Cindy Ratzlaff : Variation is your differentiator.  How are you, your brand and your offer unique?  What do you offer that is different that what everyone else is offering?  This element is what sets you apart.  Use your growing social equity, which you’re developing through maximum strategic visibility, to become unique.  Through social proof such like awards, program development, speaking engagements and publishing articles, you can become more unique in a crowded field.  By guest blogging, you become unique.  By speaking you become unique, and by hosting your own events you become unique.  Writing a book, hosting a web radio show or television show.  There are so many ways to develop your variation.  But ultimately you must deliver value to your customer, and THEY decide if what you deliver is valuable, so bring your best stuff to the table immediately.

Lisa McKenzie:  Once you’ve nailed down your key brand elements, what’s the best way to use the “Big Five” to spread brand awareness?
Cindy Ratzlaff: I like to follow this strategy.  Use your blog as homebase and craft your message.  Then use Hootsuite, Tweet Deck or ping.fm to send it to Facebook, Twitter and in some cases, LinkedIn.  Next make a short video about your blog post and post it to your YouTube Channel.  The next day, post that to Facebook and using the Facebook Twitter App, pull it into Twitter, too.  Answer every comment, elaborate if people have questions and give readers a call to action.  Ask your followers and readers to help you share your message.  Then, thank them.

Francine Allaire: What are your other Brand Visability strategies?
Cindy Ratzlaff: I love Twitpic for sharing photos of conferences and panels real time, right to your Twitter account.  I carry a Flip Ultra HD camera with me and I like to do quick interviews on the spot with interesting speakers, celebrities or anyone who has some valuable information for my audience.  I always think “Is this something my followers could benefit from hearing or seeing?”

Lisa McKenzie:  Are there any more mobile apps you really recommend?
Cindy Ratzlaff: I love both Utterli for audio messages, again great for conferences and panels.  You could even do a quick interview and post directly to Twitter and Facebook.  And, I love Bump for iphone for sharing contact information and pictures real-time with fellow conference or meeting attendees.

Francine Allaire: What camera you use for videos?
Cindy Ratzlaff: I personally use a Flip Ultra HD camera for conferences or distance filming, I use the Kodak zi8 because it has the ability to use a mic.  Love the convenient hook up to Facebook and YouTube.

Lisa McKenzie:  Which app do you use the most?
Cindy Ratzlaff: I use FaceMic for iphone all the time.  I take a quick picture if I’m with a celebrity or a high profile person, add a quick audio message AND then I can post it directly to their page or to any fan’s profile that I think might enjoy seeing the picture.  This increases my visibility and theirs by association.

Francine Allaire: Any other brand awareness building advice?
Cindy Ratzlaff: Do your homework in developing your brand before you launch BUT if you are clear about your voice, you value and your variation, you can tweak your visual along the way.  So don’t let not having the perfect visuals hold you back.  Just take action, but informed action.

If you liked this post and found it helpful, please leave a comment or question and share it with your followers.  Be sure to “Like” us on our Facebook fan page for more information about marketing, branding, social media strategies and more.

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Social Media for Businesses | 5 Ways for Companies to Use *Facebook Ads*

March 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Facebook Ads

Facebook advertising can be one of the most cost-effective tools for rapidly attracting and engaging with new fans and potential customers.  Unlike traditional advertising campaigns, the short messages and limited visuals available in Facebook advertising present a low-cost, flexible way to test the strength of a company’s message or to drive consumers to take an action.  Here are five simple ways any company can begin using Facebook ads to attract new fans.

1.     Promote a live event.  Advertising on Facebook can be micro-targeted.  If your car parts CEO is giving a keynote address in Austin, you can promote that fact to males over the age of 18 with a college education who live in Austin and are interested in automotive issues.  You are able to set the daily or lifetime budget for an ad campaign, pause the campaign at any time or add additional ads to a campaign and test their effectiveness against one another.  Ultimately, you can choose the highest producing ad and pause all the others.

2.     Target your competition.  You can create ads on Facebook that will be shown to people who have “liked” a specific page.  The business rationale for this would be that if someone likes Cheerio’s, they might also like your new product, Multi-Grain Circles.  At the very least, targeting your competition gives visual exposure to your new brand to people who have already expressed an interest in cereal.

3.     Engage friends of your fans. Sponsored ads are new Facebook ad options.  Here’s how they work.    Someone “likes” your page.  Normally a story about them interacting or commenting on your page is generated on their friends’ News Feeds, which they may or may not see due to the dynamic nature of the News Feed.  If you create a Sponsored Ad campaign, however, now in addition to a story about your fan interacting with your page, their friends may now see a Sponsored Ad in the right hand ad column with this same information.  These Sponsored Ads have a better chance of being seen by more people, and act as a friendly recommendation to your page from someone they know.

4.     Give something away. By setting your default landing page to a custom created tab with a free offer, you can drive new fans directly to the offer using a Facebook ad.  Make sure you have a free offer includes an opt-in box that people must fill in so you can deliver the free download via e-mail.  This works particularly well with a free report, whitepaper or series of video tips that you’ll deliver to the person who opts to join your e-mail list.

5.     Run a contest. Contests can be a very effective way to entice new fans to engage with your buiness page.  Supporting a contest and promoting it with Facebook ads will increase the number of people who see your business page.  Facebook requires business pages to use an approved third party application to run a contest and there are many good ones that allow you to create a contest for very little money.

Facebook also offers detailed metrics on the interests and demographics of those people who click on your ad, which aids in creating more targeted, more effective ads.

Creating a virtuous marketing circle with your business communications by feeding information from your corporate blog to Facebook and then driving new fans to your page with Facebook ads is just one of many strategies you can use to introduce potential customers to your business.

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Media

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Front Page

Client Testimonials

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“As the owner of several small businesses, each with its own unique way of creating freedom and joy in people’s lives, I needed a social media formula and a revenue growth strategy that would make whatever I did successful. Through working with Francine Allaire, I learned to define my message and create a consistent business strategy that works. She makes it simple and encouraged me to explore new ways of getting my message out there. Here are a few of the results:
•    My book, “Cultivating Radiance”, sold out within 3 days on Amazon.
•    At Encore Gymnastics we have raised event revenue by 48% this year.
•    This year’s olive oil harvest sold out in less than 8 hours! (It usually takes me months)
The cool part is that I spend less time making more money. If you are committed to creating your dream and growing your business, the information you’ll receive from working with her will get you there and beyond. I had to start dreaming BIGGER! She helped me with it.”- Tamara Gerlach Owner, Encore Gym, Prana Life Coaching, Gerlach Olive and Oil, Author, Cultivating Radiance

“You just know Cindy is always someone you would want on your team. She is a great connector and builder of relationships, and she brings a high level of trust and authenticity to her work. She is extremely knowledgeable in the world of social media strategy, yet she understands it is a consistently changing world and has committed herself to constantly learning and evolving along with it.”- Rich Greif, National Executive Director, Everybody Wins! USA

“Working with Lisa has taken my business to the next level!  She has the gift of clarity, which helped me quickly and easily arrive at the answers I was looking for.  She helped me get clear and specific about who my target audience was and how to relay my core message to them most effectively.  Her techniques and exercises were fun and easy to follow.  Nobody understands and communicates effective marketing strategies better than she does.  Thank-you Lisa!” ~ Susan Hobson, Elite Performance Coach and founder of www.EliteHighPerformance.com

“Francine is a dynamic, upbeat person who sees the Big Picture while not overlooking attention-to-detail. I’m impressed how her personal integrity and sense of collaboration integrate to make her an excellent colleague and provider who can assist customers in increasing their market share, forming strategic alliances and building long-term business growth. 

She is well-connected and highly self-motivated. She is focused on enabling others by sharing practical and effective strategies for expansion and venture enhancement. 

I give Francine my unqualified and highest recommendation as a ‘Can-Do’ provider who will work with you for long-term success. You would do well to solicit her guidance and follow her wise counsel.” – Michael Potter, Esq., CEO, Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC

“I worked with Cindy on the launch of The South Beach diet brand.  Cindy works to find win-win solutions to business opportunities. She is easy to work with and is a creative problem solver.” Howard Brandeisky, VP, Global Marketing & Innovation at John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc.

“Lisa is a consummate professional who started with an excellent presentation on how to create your business presence in the social networking realm and then delivered the goods on how to make it profitable. I’ve seen many presentations on social networking but Lisa cuts past the fluff and dives right into the details as a seasoned expert. Her services are well worth the time and investment which is paid back through business exposure very quickly.” – Leslie Eisner, Ignite Potentials

“The niche market that I was focusing my business around just didn’t seem to fit any longer. I was losing my passion for it, which was alarming considering my company name was a result of my passion for life and business. Then came along Francine Allaire, after talking with her for only a few minutes, she planted the seed that grew into my new found business focus and as a result I was able to reclaim my passion not only for my business but my life as well. Francine gave me the means to think bigger and broader, I realized my niche was too narrow and it alone wasn’t enough to feed my soul, but she allowed me to see that what I had to offer could encompass a bigger audience and she was right.” – Lisa A. Fredette, Certified Life Coach

“Cindy Ratzlaff was an engaging and informative speaker. She displayed an overabundance of knowledge and understanding on the subject of social media and was able to deliver that information in an energetic and easily understood fashion. Her keynote address was the perfect kick-off to our marketing solutions conference.” – Margaret McConnell, Marketing and Communications Director with Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation

“Lisa McKenzie is the social media networkingqueen of Canada! Her passion and understanding of the most important communication networking tool of the 21st century is unsurpassed. I work with Lisa because she is the best and she gets results!” ~ Nadja Piatka, founder of www.NadjaFoods.com and www.UltimateGirlsGetaway.com

“Francine has inspired me to reach outside of my comfort zone and achieve my dreams. Without her advice and support, I’m sure that I’d still be talking about my future, rather than creating my future. If you want to be a success, I strongly recommend giving Francine a call. You’ll be glad you did!” – Joanne Flowers, Owner, WGW Events

“Cindy is one of those rare individuals with a strong business acumen and incredible creativity. I love working with Cindy on projects because something brilliant, lucrative, and fun always follows.” – Valerie Valente, Vice President, Publishing Director, Rodale Inc.

“Lisa is a passionate, knowledgeable social media strategist; she has the ability to ‘connect the dots’ and make facebook, twitter & affiliate marketing easy and actionable. I’m already using the valuable info I’ve learned. I highly recommend her work.” – Janice Besner, Manager, Marketing & Communications at Cummings Centre

“Francine is a very experienced and insightful alliance professional. Her background in sales, marketing and partnerships gives her a unique perspective and experience on how to make alliances successful. I regularly seek Francine’s wisdom and advice.” – Chandos Quill , Global Vice President, Strategic Alliances

“Cindy Ratzlaff created a significant social media presence for our book launch, growing the fan base on Twitter and Facebook from zero to more than 7,000 in just a few short weeks. Cindy helped us translate the author’s message and voice into the language of these platforms to drive viral awareness of the launch. Working with Cindy was cost effective, easy and we highly recommend her services to other authors seeking to jump start their social media strategy.”  Rodale Books

“Being a woman in business for over ten years I believe it is essential to know everything you can about how you can continue to grow your business. Lisa helped me understand how fun, easy and essential using Social Media & Joint Venturing is these days. Not only was it very educating, but her enthusiasm & passion for business was very contagious & I left every class feeling like I fell in love with my business all over again!” – Vered Haiun, Danserotek.com

“Francine and I keep running into each other at business events. To date, these events have not been in either of our backyards. Meeting another woman with my business passion is grounds for discussion and that we have done. Francine is indeed a “Daring” business mind who I’ve had the pleasure of conversation with. She is thoughtful, driven, passionate and truly able able and willing to spread the abundance of success with her great vision. I highly recommend Ms. Allaire for any like-minded project or joint venture aligned with your purpose. This is one smart lady and she has her priorities in place…her clients being at the top!” – Mo Bailey  Owner, Write4Good Research & Communications, Mo Bailey & Associates, BizSimplicity Coaching Concepts

“Everything I know about social media, I learned from Cindy Ratzlaff.” – Kathy Kinney, star of MrsP.com

“Lisa McKenzie quickly taught me that Social Media is a very powerful marketing medium that can dynamically grow my business. Yes, anyone can learn Twitter and Facebook from their 15 year old. But what does one do with that knowledge? I have lofty goals for my company PicPads. Lisa, a successful marketing woman in her own right, taught me how to harness the power of Social Media to effectively reach large groups of people with my corporate messages. Lisa teaches with great patience and a truly genuine attitude of “I want you to succeed” in every session. I gained not only potent marketing strategies but a life long business advocate who cares about my business as if it’s her own. Thanks to Lisa I have a lot of confidence in Social Media and believe that it will be a great asset in reaching my goals.” ~ Laura Eiman, founder www.PicPads.com

“Francine is a high energy, effective business executive. I have seen her in a variety of projects. She is always very enthusiastic, provides great leadership, and participates as a strong member of the team. In several projects, without Francine’s leadership and constant energy, we would have failed to achieve our goals.  It is always a great privilege to be involved in any project with Francine.” – David Brock , President and CEO, Partners In EXCELLENCE

“Cindy Ratzlaff is an eloquent and engaging speaker who is able to take decades of marketing and brand development experience and make it easily understandable, accessible and memorable. She provides inspiration and action items for her audience and we highly recommend her as a speaker.” – Michelle Galloway, Assistant Director of Professional Development, Villanova School of Business

“Lisa taught us how to monetize our contacts and develop our clients through Facebook and Twitter. Her program was relevant, accessible and enjoyable. We came away with a clear strategy to grow our business and a positive attitude towards this new marketing method. She is a great teacher and we highly recommend this program!” ~ Tanya Chernova and Joanna Andros, founders of www.CourageousLiving.com

“I had the pleasure of interacting with Francine. She is very customer-centric and is outstanding at developing and fostering business relationships with clients and prospects alike with the goals of providing them with perspective, pathways and solutions to their most pressing issues.” Top qualities: Personable, Good Value, Creative – Jeff Reid, CIO

“I attended a Social Media Strategy presentation by Lisa McKenzie. She has great energy and passion for an area which can feel overwhelming to many business owners (myself included!). 
Her communication style is very engaging and informative – I left with some great tools and know how. I would definitely recommend working with her and hope to do so again myself in the not to distant future!” Moira Hutchison, Life Coach & Holistic Health Practitioner, Wellness Wisdom With Moira

“I worked with Francine for many years and I consider a close friend a well. She has great work ethic, is totally dedicated to the success of her people and customers equally and, can keep her focus on the task at hand like nobody else. Her customers think of her as knowledgeable, personable and creative. Francine is always to the point. If you’re looking for a long existentialist conversation or the latest riffraff of the day, look elsewhere. If you have a business problem that keeps you awake at night, your business is at risk or you think all options have been exhausted, sit down with Francine and let her help you plan your way out of troubles.” – Francois Brunelle , Sales Representative , Oracle Canada

“Lisa, you opened my eyes to a potential that I could never imagine. I was skeptical at first but now I understand this IS a marketing tool that one can not live without. Seriously, you made the sessions so easy to follow. I recommend this training program to everyone because it’s where the future is headed and more importantly you are a great teacher. Your gift is your flexibility in dealing with each individual’s needs and comprehension. We were all we eager to forge ahead and take your techniques home to try them immediately. Priceless! I look forward to learning more!!!” ~ Patty Contenta, founder of www.SensualitySecrets.com, Canadian Champion Ballroom Dancer and owner of Arthur Murray Laval

“Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to work closely with Francine through a leadership program offered through WOMEN Unlimited Inc. In working with Francine I have been able to directly observe her drive and passion in assisting upcoming leaders with their individual development opportunities with focus on achieving career goals. Francine was very effective as a mentor with these senior leaders in that she really challenged individuals to look deep and broad into source of challenges they faced and to come up with options that really stretched them in professional growth and to prepare for next level of executive leadership. She is a true partner and always made herself available and gave 100% towards any business relationship that she was involved in. Her ability to network and establish strong business relationships is strength of hers and has led to new business engagements that have helped organizations move their business forward. In summary Francine is a very professional individual to partner with and is focused on making a positive impression and difference with all that she comes into contact with.” – Matt Ek, Division Vice President, ADP

“I had the pleasure of hearing Lisa McKenzie speak recently on the Topic of Digital Footprint & Facebook Guidance for Parents. Compelling and convincing, Lisa gave us ideas to help guide our children through safe & responsible use of social media. Insightful about the ways in which online predators can use social media, she enlightened us on the use of Facebook privacy controls. She instilled the idea of promoting within our children a keen awareness as to their own digital footprints. Parents who were previously scared and unsure of how to use Facebook went home and adjusted privacy settings on their own accounts as well as their kids’. 
As a person who uses Facebook to promote my business, I am often asked questions about social media use for professional purposes. When I am not sure of something, I immediately recommend they get in touch with Lisa. She has marketing savvy combined with social media know-how, most notably an intricate knowledge of the ins & outs of Facebook. 
As a mom, I recommend that anyone with kids hear Lisa speak on Digital Footprint & Facebook Guidance for Parents. As a businesswoman, I recommend that anyone considering the use of social media to promote their business have the opportunity to hear Lisa speak on the subject. You will come away empowered, enlightened and understanding how Facebook really can, and will, help build your business.” ~ Tanya Toledano, founder MontrealMom

“Francine has a long history in business development and understanding how to close complex sales. Her strong understanding of strategy gives her the ability to connect with the right companies, targets and business alliances leveraging her success in meeting sales and marketing goals. My experience with Francine is that she is highly effective in marketing to the needs of clients, alliances and verticals and is someone that would be an asset to any sales/marketing team.” – Marsha Steed , Business Development Manager, CSC

“Francine was a natural fit for a role where she worked extensively with the channel partners, partner sales managers and the Business Unit executives. She was highly effective in both the strategic and tactical aspects of the job. I highly recommend Francine for any type of strategic sales management role. She will be an asset to any company she joins.” -Terri Gudger  Senior Director, Business Planning and Management, Systems Group , SUN MICROSYSTEMS

“I was introduced by phone to Francine shortly after her hire at CSC in September 2008. It was during that very first conversation I realized we hired an extremely bright, articulate and professional individual. I was excited with the prospects of what Francine would be able to offer the regional offices she supported. And she did not disappoint. Because of her initiatives the West region offices increased their pipeline and awareness to the marketplace at a level never seen before. Francine was creative and challenged the status quo in those offices and achieved more there in less than 2 years than several of our business development people did over 5. It would be my pleasure to work with Francine again.” -Glenn Chamoff , Business Development Director , CSC

“I look forward to continue connecting with you. I love your passion and genius in “inspiring beautiful women to do amazing things.” Thank you for seeing the light in women and inviting them to claim it for themselves. Have a magical day.” – Daniela Koenig

“It’s always a pleasure to work with Francine on any project, since one can feel confident her contributions will add to the overall success of the project and the team. She is outstanding in identifying and developing new business relationships to support overall business goals. She is both innovative and thorough in everything she does, and consistently projects a positive, professional attitude.” – Bill West , Account Executive, Computer Sciences Corporation

“I really like your positive vibe and will be following your social media posts closely. Over the past 6 months I’ve really begun to embrace the power of social media and have begun to incorporate internet marketing into my network marketing business. I find it to be much more powerful than the “old school” network marketing strategies but I have so much more to learn. I believe in learning from the best and you are definitely in my radar.” – Blessings, Sondra Briggs

“Francine brings energy, dedication and enthusiasm to everything she does. She is particularly adept at building and leveraging relationships to help businesses grow. She always projects a positive, can-do attitude with a knack for zeroing in on the key wins for everyone.” – John Schweisberger, Managing Director, Pacific Southwest Region , Computer Sciences Corporation

“Francine Allaire worked under my direct supervision at Advantius, I had the great pleasure of seeing a true professional at work, bringing exceptional enthusiasm, commitment, creativity and expertise to our company. Francine is a hard-working self-starter who invariably understands exactly what a project is all about from the outset, and how to get it done quickly and effectively. She worked with Advantius’ largest clients, where she taught them, trained many of their employees, and created systems that they can follow well into the future. Ms. Allaire is a resourceful, creative, and solution-oriented person who was frequently able to come up with new and innovative approaches to her assigned projects. She functioned exceptionally well as a team leader, and has superior sales leadership skills and techniques. Other employees were always delighted to work with her on her projects. On the interpersonal side, Francine has superior written and verbal communication skills. She gets along extremely well with staff under her supervision, as well as colleagues at her own level. She is highly respected, as both a person and a professional, by colleagues, employees, suppliers, and customers alike.” - Robert Stevens,
 President, Advantius

Filed Under: Front Page

Training

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Corporate Social Media Training – Basic and Advanced Levels (virtual or in-person)

We design customized virtual or in-person Social Media Training for your employees, managers and executives.

Benefits to the Class Participants

  • Show the participants how to brand themselves online
  • How to find, engage and attract their ideal audience/customers (beyond their immediate circle of family and friends)
  • How to create/find interesting content to share that will help them rise above the noise in a very crowded social media world
  • How to establish themselves as a go-to-person in their niche
  • How to connect with potential key players and influencers
  • How to find their unique personality within your organization
  • How to use social media in compliance with your company’s digital policy
  • How to energize their audience to take action

Benefits to Your Organization

  • Create a passive, ongoing revenue stream
  • Maintain the integrity of the brand by teaching the community how to properly use social media in compliance with your company digital policy
  • Create exponential social equity, brand awareness and buzz for your company by the collective and approved usage of your brand throughout social media
  • Take an active and leading role in providing the leadership team and distributors with social media training, an emerging essential skill set to have
  • Help establish closer relationships with leadership team and distributors by offering social media training and support for the community

 

You CAN master the power of social media marketing and put yourself and your brand front and center with thousands, even millions, of potential customers.

The Blueprint for Social Media Success series is 9 power-packed training modules designed to explode your brand message across multiple social media platforms to reach the widest possible audience. Using our exclusive easy-to-follow formula, you’ll create an attraction-based brand presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn and learn the secret strategies used by Fortune 500 companies to draw massive audiences to their brands.

You will learn to attract your ideal customer, turn that customer into your best brand evangelizer, entice that customer to take an action such as sign up for your e-mail list or make a purchase, use strategic keyword techniques to rank highly on Google and other search engines and develop social clout to position yourself as a leader in your field. In other words, we’ll show you how to stand out in the crowded and noisy social media arena and attract pre-qualified, interested customers to your brand.

Learn more about our Social Media Training and Curriculum at the Social Media Academy for Women

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Solutions

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Consulting

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About Us and Managing Partners

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Red Carpet Strategies is a boutique consulting firm specializing in providing digital marketing solutions and partnering strategies. Through the use of proprietary methodologies, social marketing, customer acquisition and collaboration strategies we help our clients: corporations, emerging companies, franchisors, direct selling companies and experts (authors, speakers, coaches, consultants, actors, performers), build brand equity, social influence, competitive advantage, incremental revenue growth and a leadership position within their field of expertise or industry.

 

Cindy Ratzlaff was named by Forbes to the “20 Best Branded Women on Twitter,” list and Forbes Woman called her one of the “Top 30 Women Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter.” She’s also a frequent contributor to BusinessInsider.com’s War Room, writing on social media and marketing strategy. She is a 20-year veteran of the book publishing industry, having worked for or consulted to Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books, Rodale Inc., Meredith, Macmillan and Oxmoor House. At Rodale, Cindy was the Vice President of Brand Marketing and Associate Publisher, Trade Books. During her tenure, she designed and executed the marketing and publicity campaigns for the very first New York Times bestselling books in the 68-plus year history of that company. She guided more than 150 books onto the New York Times bestseller list during her publishing career.

In 2005, Cindy was named to the prestigious Advertising Age Marketing 50 List for her multiple award-winning launch of The South Beach Diet. For the next five years, she managed the international publishing program for the more than $150 million dollar a year brand and consulted to the 36 international publishing partners who published more than 23 million copies of the South Beach Diet books. Cindy pioneered a new book publishing methodology called Marketing 360, which is now widely emulated throughout the industry and lectures on this strategy at major industry functions. Cindy is an experienced keynote speaker on a using social media for brand development. She was a founding member of the International Social Media Association, a current member of the Women’s Media Group, an author, and President of Brand New Brand You Inc., a branding and marketing firm, where she focuses on cross platform integrated marketing strategies and key message communications. She is a Managing Partner of the Social Media Academy for Women, a boutique training and consulting firm specializing in using new social technologies for brand visibility.

Connect with Cindy:

E-mail Me

Francine Allaire was named by FORBES as one of the Top 20 Women for Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter for Business, Marketing and Technology Advice. She is a Managing Partner of the Social Media Academy for Women, a premier training and boutique firm specializing in social media and joint ventures and the Founder of The Daring Woman™ a global community and transformational company for women with the mission of inspiring and empowering 1 million women globally to dare to turn their dreams into a profitable reality.

Francine is an award-winning sales, marketing and strategic alliance executive with 20+ years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience working for global industry leaders in the high tech and consulting industries such as: Dun & Bradstreet Software, Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, KPMG Consulting and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). During her career, she has been responsible for building global sales and alliances teams, developing long term client relationships, forming profitable partnerships and providing solutions and successful outcomes to corporations, entrepreneurs and professionals. Experienced at structuring complex deals with prospective clients and with diverse strategic alliances, she has personally negotiated over $200 million worth of business solutions and strategic partnerships with companies and individuals worldwide. As a revenue acceleration consultant & advisor, she is passionate about helping experts, companies and organizations grow incremental revenue, gain competitive advantage and increase brand equity and market share by harnessing the power of strategic alliances, social media and targeted sales and business development initiatives as effective and profitable business building tools and strategies to turn prospects, connections and conversations into clients or profitable partnerships.

Francine possesses uncanny sales skills with results of quadrupling sales growth and revenue in as little as 18 months (from $22M to $88M). By working with Francine, her clients uncover fresh solutions and untapped opportunities they have previously missed. As a result, many have doubled and, sometimes even tripled their overall revenue. She is a sought after trainer and speaker and her audiences include: Tech America, MENG (Marketing Executive Networking Group), ASAP (Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals), NAWBO (National Association of Business Owners), and many others. She is the Los Angeles Social Media Marketing Writer/Columnist for the EXAMINER.com, a blog with 10+ million readers, the Chair of the Association of Strategic Alliances Professionals, Southern California Chapter, a founding member of the International Social Media Association, a Mentor with Women-Unlimited and an advisory member with Tech America. She was named in International Who’s Who of Professional Women and in International Who’s Who of IT Professionals.

Connect with Francine:

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Lisa McKenzie is a social media and joint venture strategist at Red Carpet Strategies where she designs customized cross platform integrated communications and marketing strategies for brands led by women or marketed to women. She is also co-founder and faculty trainer at Social Media Academy for Women where she shares her expertise in building communities of fans and evangelists, creating profitable joint ventures and using video to enhance brand visibility. She has been the spark that has ignited countless strategic partnerships and fueled the community growth for her clients across North America.

Lisa is a vibrant sought after keynote speaker on topics such as Digital Footprint, Social Influence and Marketing to Women, with a passion in demystifying and guiding business owners through the intricacies of social media to leverage this new world of marketing. Her clients and colleagues describe her as on-fire, engaging, inspiring and authentic. Voted a Noisemaker of the Year by the Montreal Mirror, her contagious enthusiasm makes her a star social media influencer who knows exactly how to use attraction marketing to help clients achieve their goals.

In her previous and not so social career, Lisa spent many years in the finance industry with her last 11 years at the NCO Group where she was the Director of Client Relations for Eastern Canada and responsible for managing more than $250 million a year in client receivables. She managed teams in three branches and was the Executive Accounts Manager for lead accounts such as Avon, Readers Digest, ICS, Diners Club and Royal Bank.

Connect with Lisa:

E-mail Me

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