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MSC Leadership Team

How to Get Your Product into the Hands of a Celebrity

It's many a business owner's dream to get the product they're so proud of in the hands of a star. In many cases a bit of stardust can have a huge impact on the success of your product, as celebrity watchers keep a close eye on these influential trendsetters. And with the right product, preparation, and persistence, a celebrity could be showing off your items on the red carpet. So, where do you start?

First you'll need a list of target celebrities, a database of media contacts, and a one-paragraph summary of your product or company for a press release. To grab attention, make sure your release includes the celebrity name, event information (when there is one), a paragraph about your product (plus cost and where to purchase it), names of VIPs (even local) or celebrities who have used it, your contact information and website, and your logo to reinforce your brand.

Click HERE for entire article

Expansion 2011 Update

Myrtle Beach, SC

President, Jayne Jorden

Jayne has been a resident of S Carolina since 2004. She relocated from California where she resided for 39 years. Born in Colorado and moved as a child.

Jayne’s professional portfolio is comprised of employment that is associated with Public Service, Mortgage lending (specializing in Reverse Mortgages), Senior Servicing, Marketing, Management and Sales. Her strengths lie in networking and promoting business. She has been an entrepreneur and a vocational educator in the area of Marketing, Sales and Fashion Merchandising.

Jayne’s volunteer work has been associated with The Alzheimer’s Association, director of various network organizations including Biz 2 Biz Commerce, AIDS foundation, Cancer Society, community outreach and Founder of the For You Network (in California).

Jayne loves the organized barter system and says that this has been the “saving grace” for her with the down-turn of her vocation. She loves to introduce other businesses to free resources to increase their business, referral base, production and advertising....this being one of them.

Jayne is currently seeking a transition in her career, due to the changes in the mortgage industry. She is stepping into the position of President of the Myrtle Beach chapter of MainStreetChamber with hopes of helping her local community build their business and thrive in the current economy condition.

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Are you looking to advance your career?

Take a leadership role with MainStreetChamber.

Apparently MainStreetChamber has caught the attention of corporate headhunters. In the last few months we have received many reports from the field of chapter presidents and ambassadors being contacted to interview for positions and several have received significant job offers.

Not being involved in the hiring process, we can only speculate what drew the attention to local leadership. Here are a few things we can assume:

Leaders Wanted. The roller coaster economy has put a premium on people who can produce and get others to do the same.

· Production is critical. Employers want people they can put on a job and not have to look over their shoulder to make sure it gets done.

· Who knows you? It has been said who knows you is more important than who you know. Becoming a leader on the chapter level increases the number of people that know you. People are more likely to take calls and schedule appointments with someone they know or know of.

· Passion is present. Showing up to a job is easy, they are paying you to do it. Showing up and being part of something because it is making a difference shows that you have passion and are not interested in settling.

How can you get involved? Contact your local chapter president.

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Behind the Buzz: Five Tech Trends, Defined

As a small-business owner, manager or informed employee, it's more important than ever to stay on top of the latest technology. But with all the buzzwords out there, it can be a hassle to figure out what's what and which trends are here to stay. Here, we offer our explanations of the technologies that are reshaping the way we do business.

1. The cloud. The cloud is just another term for the Internet. So cloud computing is simply online or Web-based software and services that are often cheaper and easier to use than purchasing licenses and maintaining software on your own machines. This can apply to everything from financial software to document and file storage. But beware -- not all cloud solutions are alike, and security, reliability and scalability will vary.

Then there's the banter around "private cloud" and "public cloud.” A private cloud is either a secure internal network running "behind the firewall," where employees can access applications and data from a central location such as an intranet, or a service in which the cloud provider stores your data offsite on a dedicated server.

Click HERE for entire article

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Five Social Media Tools for More Buzz for Your Buck

Whether you've been leveraging social media from the beginning or are just now boarding the Twitter train into the forbidden forest of Facebook, it's time to get a handle on your social media efforts. With all the chatter, real-time updates and "Fail Whales" looming, managing a social media presence effectively can be a headache and a half.

There are a few ways to tackle social media: in-house, through an outsourced agency or with short-term or ongoing consultants. If you've decided a full-fledged social media company doesn't fit your budget, there are some great and economical DIY solutions available to small businesses.

"We use a variety of tools to manage our social media engagement, including Actionly, TweetDeck, Google Alerts and Hyper Alerts," says Stephanie Bullis of Grasshopper, a virtual phone system designed for small businesses. "The analytics that these tools provide allow us to better understand the social platforms that our customers are using most."

Shel Horowitz, a green marketing consultant and lead author of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, says one Twitter tool in particular is helpful in extending his tweet efforts. "TweetDeck allows a lot of functionality lacking in Twitter's own interface: reply to all, toggling link-shortening on and off, editing retweeted posts and a feature that allows longer tweets than 140 [characters]," Horowitz says. "What this means to me is that I can spend 15 to 30 minutes per day for all social media together and still establish a meaningful presence and brand."

Click HERE for entire article

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