Spotlight News

Gnitekram (marketing) is the most important thing you can do for your business yet it is one of the most neglected

Gnitekram? What is gnitekram, you ask? It is marketing spelled backwards! See, how marketing works? Just by spelling the word marketing backwards I have caught your attention. And catching people’s attention is one of the top goals of marketing. Without the backward spelling, I would have written just another heading, one without much attention-grabbing ability. And this, my dear Reader, is but only one simple marketing tactic. This is just a tip of the marketing iceberg! Marketing is the most important thing that you can do in business yet it is usually last on the list (if even on the list at all). Many times there is very little budget (if at all) for this most important part of creating and managing a successful business. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’ll take care of the marketing part after my business is up and running” or “When my website is making money then I’ll focus on marketing”? Many people will go to no ends to establish a business, whether it’s brick and mortar or an online business, and yet promoting their products and services is but a mere thought. Or no room is left in the budget for marketing and promoting everything that you have worked so hard to develop. What a shame as marketing is the one thing that will get the word out to their target audience on what they have to offer and why it will benefit their visitors. What could be more important than promoting your business? Think about it, ever try running a business without customers? It just doesn’t work that way. Getting your products/services out to your potential customer is key! Marketing helps you to identify your target market, develop the business, products, and services according to the needs and wants of your potential customers. Marketing allows you to develop a plan and a strategy. Without a plan, many businesses fail. Marketing helps you to know how to set your prices. Knowing how to set your prices is important as proper pricing and discounting affects your customer’s perception of how attractive your product and/or services are. Marketing tactics such as press releases, announcements, or classified ads, which are submitted to relevant sites and various avenues, can spread the word about your business faster than wildfire. Placement – when and where is your product available to people- is another aspect of marketing. How will you promote? Will you advertise by using the Internet? If so, how, when, and why will you market? Will you use traditional marketing tactics such as mailers and promotional materials? People are another factor of marketing tactics and people are detrimental to the success of your business. Whether it’s through a phone call, an e-mail, or a word-of-mouth recommendation, people will promote – or demote – your business. These are just a tip-of-the-iceberg examples of what marketing can do for you and your business. So whether or not you see the importance of marketing, it is the most important thing that you can do for your business. To not employ marketing tactics is similar to building a store, placing the products/services that you built based on your own limited research and assumptions (and not on your potential customers’ needs and wants) on the shelves. Then it’s like taking a guess at what the price tag will be for these dreamed-up products/services, and waiting for customers who are eager to purchase at your particular store over all the millions of other businesses out there. This, dear Reader, just is not how it works. The motto “If you build it, they will come” does NOT stand true when running a business. Marketing has been around for, well, forever. Even before all the developments and technology of today ever came into existence, marketing tactics were employed. With so much information available, it is too tempting to “take a go at it” on your own. It is very common for people to do their own marketing. IF you have the know-how and the time, it can work as there are people who can handle the ongoing task of the MANY various traditional and non-traditional marketing tactics as well as tackling all the other responsibilities. However, improper marketing can actually damage your reputation, your business, and your nerves. Many discover this to be true after it is almost too late or when it is too late. Don’t let this happen to you. Marketing is an ongoing process that, when done correctly, can not only add creativity and fun to your business and allow you to meet many goals as well as to meet many new contacts, it can deliver an excellent ROI. But you can’t do it alone. Isn’t your business worth it? Aren’t you worth it? Don’t your customers deserve it? Don’t take a chance with your business. Don’t overlook the importance of marketing. You have worked too hard to risk it. Review the services of Celebritize You and allow us do what we do best so that you can do what you do best. lena@celebritizeyou.com 754.484.0021

Adding photos to your website will SEO and increase your traffic

For those of you, savvy business owners, who think that your website is one that doesn’t require photographs or can do with just a few pictures because you have a more technical or serious business, think again. Photos play a huge role in search engine optimization as search engines spiders index them too. By adding keywords to the captions and alt tags of your photos, you can use pictures not only to liven up your site and break up all that text but to climb up the search engine ladders. Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others really like those images.

An example of this can be found at danielstoica.com. Although this website is full of tax, accounting, and consulting information, the photos and images really bring the site to life among users and with the search engines. The right keywords will assist your website into making it into vertical searches too. Photographs, images, and icons also help to drive your point across, add a personable-professional look and feel, and is educational and entertaining no matter what type of website you have.

Another good example is mandatek.com. You would think that a company which offers technology solutions wouldn’t need photos and images as it isn’t similar to the website of a vacation club or a photography website. But think again. There are many benefits to adding photos and images to your website. Along with adding color, breaking up monotonous text, and adding a pleasant look to your website, photographs do lots more than you would think.

Therefore, website owners, drive traffic to your site by adding photographs and the right captions. Remember, your website is the world’s window into your business and you. It’s THAT important.

For more photography tips, visit lenahunt.com and examiner.com.

Celebritize You spotlights Tampa Bay fashion photography

Tampa is starting to put itself on the fashion map. It doesn’t claim to be NYC, Beverly Hills, or Miami. Tampa is an extension of these fashion forward cities. Think of New York City’s Fashion District, South Beach, or Rodeo Drive as the gown and Tampa Bay as the necklace or piece of jewelry that sets off the gown.

Tampa Bay Fashion Week held at the Sheraton was one event where I, along with other members of the press, got a great chance to snap shots of incredible designs by local fashion designers. Amongst the high-heeled and well-dressed spotlighted artists were:

Ivanka Ska, who moved from Poland to NYC then to St. Pete, where she owns the House of Ska and The Art of Modeling & Runway Studio. Ivanka is a media favorite. She is an ongoing guest on NBC’s Daytime, Studio 10 and Fox 13. She also has been named the official designer to the Royal Family of Prince Mario-Max Schamburg-Lippe of Austria…

Read more at www.examiner.com.

Celebritize You highlights free and discount travel that offer great photo opps in the Tampa Bay, FL

Take advantage of both great discounts and freebies on things to do in Tampa, Florida while getting many chances to snap memorable pictures. You will find that our list of free and cheap things to do make great photo opportunities too. Discount and free places to experience the Tampa area: www.examiner.com.

Use inbound marketing to reach people who are already looking for the products and services that you offer

Outbound marketing is no longer as effective as people are finding more ways to block unwanted e-mails, advertisements, calls, and spam. Outbound marketing consists of pushing your message and marketing out into the world to the masses, to whoever. Satellite radio, spam filtering, and many various blocking features make outbound marketing less and less effective. On the other hand, inbound marketing allows you to focus on your particular industry, the one that you are already in and are the expert of, and helps those who are seeking what you have to offer. Inbound marketing helps you to be found. Attracting visitors naturally by using various tactics including making your website a portal (or hub) for your industry, using blogs, and business and social networking is more effective than aimlessly targeting everyone with no rhyme or reason. Although inbound marketing is on the rise, outbound marketing is still the preferred method. This is because people are still thinking old school. Yet due to the economy crisis and the cutting back of expenses, outbound marketing is not even employed or used. Marketing is decreased dramatically or not even done at all. In order to survive these days, thinking out of the box is required. Neglecting your marketing is detrimental to your business. Marketing is even more necessary when business does not come so easily. And this is the beauty of inbound marketing. It is affordable. Inbound marketing also allows for the following: — Being the hub and expert in your selected industry — Reaching those who are already looking for your service and/or products — Avoiding wasteful marketing that goes out to uninterested parties who are finding more ways to block advertising efforts — Employing tactics that are inexpensive and/or free of charge — Helping YOU be found by those who are looking for you — Avoiding the search for the needle in the haystack Inbound marketing is the new great thing that the Web and Celebritize You has to offer. Contact Celebritize You now to learn more about inbound marketing. lena@celebritizeyou.com

Celebritize You highlights food photography

Two of the biggest things that people fail to do when taking pictures of food and dining is not timing the photo session properly and not having the right lighting. The color and highlights of the dish or food are not enhanced, do not exist, or are completely off. This completely defeats the purpose of photographing food because you want the food as beautiful, delicious, and as fresh as the moment it was set in front of you before your very eyes and smacking lips. Choose a time that is off peak. The typical meal times – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – are when many guests are around and too much is happening. There usually is too much clutter in the background and you will have to spend more time cropping people out of the background. Restaurant staff won’t have the time to make special dishes or tend to little requests in order to make your shots better. It will also be more difficult for you to move things around, push a chair away, and/or stand up and back away from the dish to get the best angle and focus that you need. Even if you are snapping pictures of a picnic on the beach, an overly crowded beach can be frustrating. Therefore, when possible time your eatery photo session. Taking pictures of meals usually requires more lighting. The ambience in that cozy cafe or romantic restaurant just doesn’t allow enough lighting to make the food really shine. Yet when you use an extra flash, it can be annoying to other diners and guests. So timing is the first thing to consider then your lighting and lighting equipment is the second priority to examine. Lighting should be relatively flat as you want to spotlight the details and texture of what is on the plate. As with any art, a photographer will draw into his/her creativity to make the shot more enticing. This means that you’ll be moving things around on the table, pinching the bread just a bit, poking the lettuce under the meat dish, and so on. Don’t just shoot the dish as you see it. Use your imagination and creativity. Create a story with your photograph. Finally, remember to frame and angle differently. The typical plate-smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-the-frame is ho hum boring. Yes, you can still do those shots but zoom in on a corner of the plate or tilt your camera just a bit. Allow people to experience ALL of the dish by allowing them to “see” the sights, sounds, colors, surroundings, textures, and taste of the food with your creative food photography. Continue your photography lessons and follow Celebritize You’s food photography spotlights at www.examiner.com.

Celebritizing You: Tampa Food and Wine Festival

Where do the best winemakers and chefs gather under one enormous pitched tent on a pristine beach to present amazing creations that are delicious, entertaining, nutritious, and eco-friendly? Not only that, where do celebrity chefs, new “Green” companies, local tourism and commerce businesses, and the media wine and dine with the public like rock stars to pulsating island sounds of Caribbean artists? Where else but at the Tampa Bay Wine & food Festival held recently at the historic 1928 five-star Don Cesar, a Loews Hotel.This famous unique “pink” hotel with an amazing history oozes luxury from its perfect beachfront setting to its impeccable touch-of-class attitude. Business guests and vacationers will be spoiled rotten with indulgences on every corner starting frozen grapes delivered to their poolside lounge chairs. From the perfect valet parking to the concierge’s assistance to my entrance into the Grand Tasting Tent, everything at the Don CeSar is smooth. The Grand Tasting Tent. I like that name! No shoes are required in the sand so I place my sandals in the shoe slot and a’ grand tasting I go! Over 400 wineries and 40 eateries with their main focus on the global trend of going green are here to fulfill the taste buds dreams of guests. Medocino Wine Company, Jim Bean Global, Solaire by Robert Mondair, and Seven Daughters as well as Bern’s Steak House, Capitol Grill, and Parkshore Grill are just a few of the distinguished wine and food purveyors serving drinks and treats. They are among many who are here to give excited guests an amazing experience in culinary innovation in sustainable living and the Green movement. In other words and as far as my stomach is concerned, they are here to give me a taste of delicious environmentally-conscious creations which will not only be great for my tasting pleasure but excellent for the planet too. Time to unleash my palate! Sizzle! Chop! Puree! Swizzle! Splash! Blend! As the drinks and food come to life so do the intoxicating sounds of steel drums. Tropically-attired artists perform as the coconut palms sway in the Florida breeze. This is as close to the Caribbean as one can possibly get and paradise is not but one step away. Gleaming, peaked chefs hats bob above the crowd. Finely dressed fashionistas, casually-clad tourists, and suited and tie’ed managers mingle happily under the shade of the enormous tent. Two small children, who are oblivious to the going on’s around them, are the only ones to remember that the floor is still a beach and continue to build their sandcastle. Tucson’s Southwest Grill of Clearwater, Florida offers rich, bold flavors. Tucson’s 7 Layer Dip, Fiesta Salads, Slow Cooked Baby Back Ribs, and Homemade Enchiladas are just a few of the fixin’s from the Southwest that these guys deliver. www.TusconsCantina.com gives you the lowdown on more yummy dishes and their full-service customized catering. As the music mellows out a jazzy beat, Gulfport’s Island Flavors & Tings spices it up with exquisite food presentations so colorful that I think I’ve landed in Bora Bora. Or Barbados. Or is it Thailand? Their staff or international chefs provide delicacies for both eye and palate: Shrimp Cigar, Rasta Pasta, Oxtails, Mango Bread, and Coconut Lobster are on the wish list has literally come true. All the way from breathtaking Sonoma County, Ferrari-Carano gives us tastes of fruit so fresh they seem to have been plucked this very morn. Directed by Don Carano and orchestrated under the supervision of Steve Domenichelli, Director of Vineyard Operations, intensive irrigation and nutrient regimes, trellis systems, and canopy management, rootstock and clone combination, and prune and cane selection make the finest wines on this planet. Hand sorted and whole clustered pressed Chardonnays Fume Blanc and Pinot Noirs blink and wink at me through my wine glasses. So many wines, waters, and beverages and so much food yet only one me! But I have to say that my favorite drink of all uses the Asian lychee fruit. I start to wonder if they are going to tell me to go elsewhere but nope, another smile and another pour. I duck into “The Master of the Green” seminar. SWS Masters Sommeliers Eric Hemmer and Brian Kozial challenge my inner cork dork. Industry experts can judge a sample of wine without knowing its origin, price tag, or label. And I’m about to learn their secrets! Glasses holding liquids of various tints and scents stand before me like pastel soldiers in a row. A plastic bucket is at hand for my testing procedure. Look. Sniff. Swirl. Split. I’m still trying to get the process down as other guests are spilling out their guesses faster than I can spit the wine into the bucket. “This sample merits a cloudy-clear sediment. It has a dull brightness. Its color is a yellow gold. Using deductive tasting, there are obvious flaws. The wine must have come from the first winery in New Zealand,” one person explains. Say what? How do they get all this from one swish around the tongue? I nearly out loud. I’m baffled. Another guest chimes, “the palate is, as my nose confirms, a hint of grapefruit and blackberry. Sensory analysis concludes that this is a grape blend from a warm climate in the Old World.” Now I’m not bedazzled but also confuzzled. They have got to be making this stuff up or someone’s playing a joke on me. Okay where is the tutoring session for the seminar? I think to myself. “Greenability” with Michael Lynch. This class seems simple enough. Senior Culinary Manager for the Art Institute teaches how to tastefully go green. He educates on the importance of consumers and food providers to encourage a self-sufficient community and to help the environment in the process. Local and seasonal foods that don’t have to travel thousands of miles save energy and leaves little carbon imprint on the environment. Regional foods are more economical and nutritionally complete. Easy enough and makes sense, I tell myself. Live to you from the Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival, the Love Chef Francis Anthony from the “Love Chef” Reality Game Show entertains in person just as he does on air. I’ve seen him on “Live with Regis & Kelly” and now the audience roars with laughter as newlyweds and not-so newlyweds discover that they hardly know each others’ food and going-green knowledge. All this gut-busting laughter is making me hungry so I must find my way back to the most scrumptious scallops I had ever tasted. Now where is that booth again? I look for Eve, the mascot-ess of the event, who is donning her garden apparel. The Grand Tasting Tent. Like I said earlier, I like that name! Men in rolled-up linen pants juggle plates and glasses smile as they walk by. I have my own juggling act going on as two plates of those scallops and two glasses hang on for dear life. My Nikon gets in the way of adding a third plate my always-willing-to-help assistant struggles with his own camera equipment and dishes. If one person brushes into either of us, the end of my electronics could lead to the end of my travel correspondent career. Ah! But I have had much experience with food and drink. I have this down to perfection. No problemo. Now it’s time to use my passport to fine wines by Pernod Ricard for the grand finale. The romance between Pierre-Nicolas-Marie Perrier and Rose Adele Jouet produces the elegant Champagne Perrier-Joulte. From the Grand Cru vineyards, thirty to forty crus are used in mastering the art and magic of Champagne blending. As a painter mixes his oils, the blended masterpieces are Perrier-Jouet’s Grand Brut and Blason Rose. Simply, simply magnificent! Now that I have wined, dined, and have been refined, it’s time to find a place under a coconut palm to rejuvenate from all the festivities. As I slip into a slow slumber with a view of the pink birthday-cake-look-alike Don CeSar Resort, I am offered a frozen grape by a poolside attendant. Shrug. Why not?

Facebook versus MySpace. Comparing apples to oranges.

Social networks are not just for socializing anymore. Although originally created by Mark Zuckenberg, a Harvard University student, and his roommates in 2004 for the purpose of education and social networking, businesses have started using these sites to advertise their products and services. They create smart pages to to market and advertise and to interact with their customers, target, and fans. Some well known names such as Obama, Starbucks, and Rihanna use sites such Facebook to promote their brand. But which one to use? There are debates about whether Facebook is better or MySpace is better to use for these purposes. Well, that is like comparing apples to oranges. MySpace is excellent for creating your own home page on the web. It allows for you to customize the design and content. MySpace allows for a mini website that focuses on videos, music, photographs, art, and other content. It is easy to customize according to your desires and is great for artists, musicians, designers, and other in the creative industry. Facebook is great for interacting with others. The smart pages that can be created help to advertise products and services and to promote a brand. There are more restrictions with Facebook thus can assist in keeping a cleaner presence and adding a bit more security. It allows you to create groups and fan pages as well. One can debate about the two endlessly yet it will be similar to comparing apples to oranges. Celebritize You suggests that you use both as they are so different but the use of social networks for business should be relevant to your business and its goals and target. Using MySpace, Facebook, or any other social networking site for business purposes is rather tricky. For starters, unlike LinkedIn and other business networking sites, there is not much room and option to place a complete profile. It is also too easy to allow the socializing part to distract you and take you off the business’ focus. This is where Celebritize You comes in. By assisting you with the appropriate content when using social networking sites for business, two completely different types of networking sites can be used to get the word out. Similar to apples and oranges, social networking sites and business networking sites can both be used as they are so different. Allow Celebritize You to help you use them appropriately and affectively.

Give your boss a unique Boss Day greeting.

Boss Day is October 16. Let Celebritize You spotlight your boss for a job well done. Using your selected photograph(s), words, content, video, audio, and more you can give your employer a customized Boss Day greeting. Let your imagine be your limit and let Celebritize You give him/her the most unique and special Boss Day greeting designed by you and/or Celebritize You. Contact: 754.484.0021 lena@celebritizeyou.com

When times were better, word of mouth brought customers to your business. If someone liked your services, products, and personality he/she would tell someone else. Word of mouth also made finding jobs easier. Friends, families, and contacts would tell a manager, boss, or someone who is hiring about you and that led to a giant step in the door. Yet what do you do during this recession when word of mouth no longer works? What do you do when word of mouth fails you? What do you do when you need a job or a better job? What do you do when you need more customers? Advertise. You may not think of a resume as an advertisement but it is. It is an advertisement written about you. Your resume tells others about the education, experience, expertise, skills, and talents that you can bring to their business. It tells how they can reach their goals by having you on board. Approximately half of job seekers write their own resumes. The others hire a professional to write resumes for them. Professionally-written resumes that are well crafted gain more success because a professional writer has that copywriting experience of writing attention-grabbing advertisements and know how to put the facts and history into a resume (advertisement) that gets attention, makes sense, and is complete. Resumes crafted by a professional were: 40% more likely to get job offers 38% more likely to get the attention and calls from recruiters 31% more likely to get interviews The worse recession in eighty years is no time to take a 50/50 chance on your job – your income and your livelihood. Why risk it? Allow Celebritize You to craft your most important advertisement – your resume – so that you can grab the attention of businesses that are hiring, get the interview and land the job.

Multimedia Marketing: Make your website talk and move.

What is multimedia marketing? It is advertising that talks and moves and allows more user interactivity. The Internet used to comprise of words/text and pictures. Now audio and videos elements have been added, which have led to increased visits to websites, longer length of time at sites which lead to more sales. A richer Internet experience is offered as music can be delivered to set the mood and ambience for your site, services, and products. For instance, cool jazzy sounds can complement a chef’s website and upbeat tunes can make your social networking site even cooler. Audio elements can change a mood and set an emotion. By adding your own voice in an audio introduction and/or explaining your products and services, you provide another avenue for visitors to gain more information. By hearing your voice, your audience will have a more comfortable feeling and you provide an added level of trust. Video elements are another tool you can employ in your marketing campaign. You can create your own Internet commercial. You can demonstrate how to use your product through a video. You could even video testimonials from happy customers. A video will allow potential customers to attach a “face” to the product or services you are selling. A simple example is to upload a short video on your website (such as the one below). You can also add text over the video and an audio introduction. You can add some music. The Internet’s the limit! By making creating a richer, more interactive, and satisfying Internet experience for your visitors you can increase your response rate by up to 300%. That’s pretty astounding so why not use what is available – multimedia marketing.

Your Online Business Path: Wherever you go, they’ll follow.

Online users are looking for your information. 52% of Internet users are searching for your videos and that percentage is growing. They want to learn more about you. They need to know more about your business. There are a plethora of websites, tools, and mediums where you can tread, leave your foot print and your trail for people to follow. Some examples include: business networking websites such as linkedin.com and ecademy.com; social networking sites such as facebook.com and MySpace.com; video uploading websites such as youtube.com and clipshack.com. There are also job search sites such as careerbuilder.com and monster.com. Actually, there are too many to mention. Yet the more you sign up, add your information, photographs, content, and videos the more of a footprint, or trail, you will leave for others to find you. Yet I’m sure some of you have found that it can take up to an hour to upload one video (depending on the length of the video)! That’s just one video upload at one location. Then what is the possibility of setting up accounts, profiles, and content at a few websites? How about the chances of finding the right sites to join and the time to sign up and add your pertinent content? Seems nearly impossible, you may be thinking. Yet having the online presence is crucial to your business as more and more businesses and customers are going online. Allow Celebritize You to do what we do best so that you can focus on the most important thing: your business. The top networking sites, the best video sites, and the most effective blog sites and forums are selected for you and your desired content, photos, and videos will be uploaded. Allow Celebritize You to set your business path so that others can find you. As you leave your mark online, others will follow.

Celebritize You highlights fashion and designers.

Most of us start our design “careers” by revamping the styles of our Barbie dolls. Whether it is butchering the dolls’ lovely long hair or shortening the hem of an outfit, our first experiences in being stylists and designers begin with the poor bendable plastic toys.

However, as a young girl I went a little further. My Barbies were given fresh designs straight from my imagination and at the wee age of eight, I was hand sewing these little garments as I watched my mother do for hours and days upon end. As a natural-born artist, my paper dolls were blessed with new styles as well. Pencils, crayons, and scissors were all it took for paper creations. It was a challenge to make the paper doll clothes tabs as large as I could get away with as this allowed the wood pulp fashions to hang on the dolls better. (You know, kinda how designers lay the fabric on the mannequin or on the model? It’s all about the flow of the material.)

Yet that wasn’t enough. I moved on to create hand-sewn curtains, pillow cases, and bedding for my room. Everything was made from a set of sheets so it all matched perfectly. I’m sure my dragging an unused, heavy piece of carpet from my dad’s old house to the new house we were living in at the time (about 200 yards or so away) and bringing in rocks and dirt with it wasn’t highly favored by my parents. Life wouldn’t go on if the flooring in my room didn’t coordinate with everything else!

As I grew older, Barbies were no longer enough and it was I that needed to be adorned. Just as I had done so with my dolls, fashion designs were fantasized in my mind and made into reality with fabric and sewing needle. Using bed sheets for everything, I completely matched my home decor. One couldn’t tell where I begin and the bedspread ended!

My parents finally caught on that fashion design and sewing would be something that would hang around. My mother purchased an ancient sewing machine from a yard sale which sped up production. Then a couple of years later, a brand new sewing machine and an entire bolt of fabric were my Christmas gifts. (My dad didn’t know how much fabric it would take to make one dress.)

As the years moved on, I designed and created entire wardrobes for my family and even for a couple of clients. Needless to say, my love for fashion begin at an early age and continues on. Even my son and daughters have acquired the skill of designing and sewing an item or two. I’m sure as you read this, your passion of fashion begin at a young age as well in your very unique way.

Whether or not one can draw or sew, we have a passion for fashion. Regardless of size, age, race, culture, and many other factors fashion is something that we share. The crisp feel of cotton, the liquidity of silk, and the heavy texture of wool are all varied but there is something delicious in what we place against our skin and lay our eyes upon. Deep hues, neutral tints, and neon colors express who we are for the day, perhaps even for the moment.

The passion for fashion grows more intense as designers are able to put together what we can only dream of. The body is a living piece of art and the fashion designs enhance and upon choice, may exaggerate or subdue the form. We can be as expressive as we wish. What we wear and surround ourselves with create the lifestyle that we embrace. It give us a smile and can even change our entire demeanor. How often have you sat around the house in sloppy clothing or stepped outside of the apartment with your less-than-best outfit, only to feel downright “God awful”?

Now think of the many compliments you have received on your top designer Prada bag or your Giorgio Armani suit. How did you feel then? How long did that feeling last? All day? All week? You get the picture. What were your thoughts and feelings when you admired someone’s Prada belt or Dolce & Gabbana shoes? What did you see in the way he/she carried himself/herself? What do we all want to know about when it’s time for the Grammy Awards, when there is a special event, or when “So and So” steps into the room? We want to know what they are wearing, what bag they have selected to escort them, and what sandals tickle their tootsies. We want to know about the FASHION. And fashion does indeed make a statement! Whether you’re the person who owns the fashion or who admires others’ fashions (or both!), this is why top designers have this passion. So that they can continue to wardrobe us, THEIR real live Ken and Barbie dolls.

Photo 1: Lena Hunt. Photography by Gwen Drake of photogalaxia.com. Hair by Milagro Bauer.

Photo 2: Photography by Lena Hunt of Lena Hunt Photography.

Photo 3: Ivanka Ska of House of Ska. Photography by Lena Hunt.

The Customer is always right.

Starting a new business, launching a new product or service, and/or keeping a business going requires that a business concept be carefully designed and implemented. Even the best ideas and inventions can flop without everything being in alignment for a business concept to take off, rise to new heights, and stay in flight. Often our past successes and accomplishments gives us a false sense of security as we take the risk of believing that what we do now and will do in the future will also be successful. However, no such thing is guaranteed. This type of attitude is very dangerous. Many individuals and companies focus on the bottom line, their strategies, and their financial goals and lose sight of what should be top priority – their customers and potential customers. Their target audience should always be numero uno in every decision and step that the business takes. There is so much competition out there especially in the economic crisis that we are facing. Customers, or target audience, are bombarded every which way with too many options on where to spend their time, money, energy, and resources. Business strategies, business goals, and the bottom line are important indeed and they are absolutely necessary. The key is that they are part of the end result of the purchasing decisions that customers make, customer service, and most of all, customer satisfaction. Some may disagree with what I am about to say next. Yet I find many more agreeing that every step in business is marketing oriented. The management of business, whether you’re an individual or a huge corporation, is steering in the directions that are market oriented. It used to be that businesses would offer a product or service and set the price and customers would make the purchase. There was no such thing as customer service. This outdated way of conducting business is a thing of the past as it should be. As companies started seeing the need to keep customers happy, absurd and risky promises (as many saw it back then) came about. The leaders in customer satisfaction came out with guarantees such as “We’ll accept returns for at any time for any reason.” L.L. Bean made this promise and still offers this guarantee and keeps its promise. Therefore, to be successful in business the customer has to be the top priority and main focus. Learning about your customers, finding their needs, meeting those needs, providing customer service and customer satisfaction, getting feedback from customers, and refocusing and redirecting all aspects of your business based on customer orientation is the key to your success. In order to do do this, your decisions must be marketing oriented as this will allow you to learn the needs of your customer, or target audience, determine how to meet those needs, and let them know what you have to offer in order to meet your target’s needs. Sadly, many individuals place marketing last on their list of things to do and last on their budget. Even more don’t even consider marketing. However, by ignoring the importance of marketing (both traditional and online marketing), you are ignoring the most important part of your business and the one thing that will bring you success: your customers and potential customers. In essence, the customer is always right!

Top three ways to make and keep your business successful:

1. Focus! 2. Focus! 3. Focus! You should determine the main purpose (goal or mission) of your business. This purpose is what you should use to guide your organization. This main purpose should be based on your target audience’s needs, even before they have to ask you, and meeting those needs. Therefore, the customer’s goals should set the main purpose of your company. Many businesses focus on the business goals and have the customer as an after thought. Yet your focus should be on your target audience, your client or customer. Approach your goals differently, from the customer’s perspective instead of your business’s. Determining your business’s main purpose requires that you define your business. Two questions should be asked in order to accurately define your business: 1. What business am I in? 2. What business should I be in? This allows you to focus. Focus means determining what you do best and building on it. You should not offer the customer, client, or target audience everything under the moon and you should not delve into areas that you do not fully understand. Keep your focus clear and build on what you do best. When you add too many other things other that what you do well and when your focus is not clear, you risk doing nothing well. Keep your focus on target as this will keep you from spreading your business resources and energy three miles long and one inch deep. Keep in mind that most companies fail because they don’t commit themselves. Much is lost when you’re spread too far, too wide, and too thin. Much is lost when you do this to your staff and employees. This is truly important in today’s economy as many “irons are thrown in the fire” in search of work and potential income-producing products. Of course, you should step outside the box and give your customers what they want and need but keep it within your abilities. If you allow your search for potential jobs or projects, income, new customers, or new ideas to stray you away from what you do best – your core competencies – you can lose focus and get lost in the abyss of the strategic sea. Getting lost is the fastest way to lose your focus and losing your focus will lead you to business failure. By staying focused on your business’s main purpose, which should be determined by what you do best and your customers’ needs, your business has a much, much better chance of success. Also, you get to focus on what you do best and can truly enjoy your work. Stay true to your customers, stay true to your business, and stay true to you by FOCUSING.

Take charge of your (online) life before someone else does.

“Take charge of your life.” You hear it all the time on television shows, radio talk shows, and in daily conversations. You read the same message in books and magazines. So you’re working each day to do just that – taking charge of your life. Yet have you realized that taking charge of your online life and online reputation is just as important? You may choose to deny this or not see the importance of guarding your online life and reputation and/or you may not even be actively participating online but sooner or later you will have an online life. And the chances are high that people will say something about you whether it’s posting a comment on a message that you have posted, adding feedback about your company, or putting in a few words about you and/or your company in their blogs. They may even use your website and blog to capture the attention of others and then direct your information to promote theirs! This may sound wonderful as getting promoted by others can be a good thing yet who is connecting with you and what kind of company and digital presence do they have, which they have linked to you, is very important. Even if you are not aware of this, it still may be happening. It happens to many others so the stakes are high that is is happening or will be happening to you. We all can learn from feedback. Good or bad feedback can be used in knowing what to keep, what to change, how to refocus, which direction you should take, and so much more. Yet too much bad feedback without damage control can be devastating. But you can breathe a sigh of relief as there are ways to check on what’s being said about you and how your online life is going. Then with the very same computer mediated communication via the Internet, answers and solutions can be provided which will help keep the integrity of your digital presence and help you to be in control of your online life. Keep your online life as consistent as your daily life. Now I have TWO lives to control as if one isn’t enough, you’re thinking to yourself? Have no worries. Celebritize You can assist in controlling your online life as well as provide some tools and support which will carry into your every day life.

Celebritizing You, Private Jets VIP.

When people think of private jets, they often think of the cost of renting a private jet. Then their thoughts quickly roll over to today’s economy crisis, going green, and making a difference. So private jets are typically considered a luxury and not a necessity. However, for some people these jets are indeed a necessity and CAN make a difference. Private Jets VIP is proud to align itself with the Corporate Angel Network (CAN), an organization dedicated to helping cancer patients receive the best possible treatment for their type of cancer. CAN is a public charity that arranges the free flights for cancer patients to treatment using empty seats on business aircraft. Since its founding 28 years ago, CAN has grown to include over 500 participating corporations, five paid staff, and a team of fifty part-time volunteers who work with patients, physicians, corporate flight departments, and leading treatment centers to coordinate medical travel needs of cancer patients with the scheduled flight activity of participating corporations. To date, CAN has flown more than 30,000 patient flights and currently provides between 200 and 250 such flights each month. CAN has flown more than 30,000 patient flights and currently provides between 200-250 such flights each month. Private Jets VIP encourages its clients to join CEOs of the United States’ major corporations by providing an empty seat to a cancer patient on their charter flights. It is good to know that something that provides necessary business travel and flights for fun can also make a matter-of-life-or-death difference. Private Jets VIP’s mission is to “resolve to deliver our unique and proven ability to increase efficiency and lower costs while maintaining the highest safety and service levels in private aviation.” Visit PrivateJetsVIP.com for more information. Private Jets VIP… in a class by itself!

Many jobs are not posted. Be ahead of other job candidates by getting your resume to right place at the right time.

Companies and employers have to work on a much tighter budget now. This means that there are jobs that are not posted online or in the newspapers. Those are the two most common places where job seekers go to look for employment. Yet many vacancies aren’t even posted. Just because they aren’t posted does not mean that they don’t exist. Celebritize You can get you ahead of other job seekers by creating a most effective resume, cover letter, and also by submitting them to the right place at the right time so that you can be right in front of other job candidates. By doing it the right way and being at the right place and the right time, you can land the right job! Contact Lena at lena@CelebritizeYou.com or 561.460.8111.

What do employers really want?

Employers these days are experienced and savvy. Being flooded by resumes, they have probably seen everything under the sun by now. So they are looking for information that is presented in an easy-to-find and easy-to-understand manner. They are also looking for credibility. Yet they spend on average a mere thirty seconds on each resume. It is crucial to gain their attention immediately with what they are craving when they quickly scan through each resume. Provide the information that they want with an accurate, complete, and well-written resume. If you aren’t getting any e-mails or phone calls from potential employers then it’s time to take a look at that one document that is so crucial in your chances of landing the job and start getting an income. If you are not getting any interviews, your resume could be the reason why That’s quite an eye-opening thought to think that your resume may be the culprit! There are too many people out there competing for the same job. Employers are craving to find what it is that they are looking for. It is important that you have a professional writer critique your resume and perhaps rewrite it for you. Having a resume makeover can get you to work much sooner. Yes, it is well worth the small investment. The sooner you land the job, the better, as you already know. Time and money can be had by allowing Celebritize You to critique your resume and, if necessary, doing a resume revamp.

Gnitekram is the most important thing that you can do in business yet it is the one thing that is put last, not done properly, or not implemented at all.

Gnitekram? What is gnitekram, you ask? It is marketing spelled backwards! See, how marketing works? Just by spelling the word marketing backwards I have caught your attention. And catching people’s attention is one of the top goals of marketing. Without the backward spelling, I would have written just another heading, one without much attention-grabbing ability. And this, my dear Reader, is but only one simple marketing tactic. This is just a tip of the marketing iceberg! Marketing is the most important thing that you can do in business yet it is usually last on the list (if even on the list at all). Many times there is very little budget (if at all) for this most important part of creating and managing a successful business. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’ll take care of the marketing part after my business is up and running” or “When my website is making money then I’ll focus on marketing”? Many people will go to no ends to establish a business, whether it’s brick and mortar or an online business, and yet promoting their products and services is but a mere thought. Or no room is left in the budget for marketing and promoting everything that you have worked so hard to develop. What a shame as marketing is the one thing that will get the word out to their target audience on what they have to offer and why it will benefit their visitors. What could be more important than promoting your business? Think about it, ever try running a business without customers? It just doesn’t work that way. Getting your products/services out to your potential customer is key! Marketing helps you to identify your target market, develop the business, products, and services according to the needs and wants of your potential customers. Marketing allows you to develop a plan and a strategy. Without a plan, many businesses fail. Marketing helps you to know how to set your prices. Knowing how to set your prices is important as proper pricing and discounting affects your customer’s perception of how attractive your product and/or services are. Marketing tactics such as press releases, announcements, or classified ads, which are submitted to relevant sites and various avenues, can spread the word about your business faster than wildfire. Placement – when and where is your product available to people- is another aspect of marketing. How will you promote? Will you advertise by using the Internet? If so, how, when, and why will you market? Will you use traditional marketing tactics such as mailers and promotional materials? People are another factor of marketing tactics and people are detrimental to the success of your business. Whether it’s through a phone call, an e-mail, or a word-of-mouth recommendation, people will promote – or demote – your business. These are just a tip-of-the-iceberg examples of what marketing can do for you and your business. So whether or not you see the importance of marketing, it is the most important thing that you can do for your business. To not employ marketing tactics is similar to building a store, placing the products/services that you built based on your own limited research and assumptions (and not on your potential customers’ needs and wants) on the shelves. Then it’s like taking a guess at what the price tag will be for these dreamed-up products/services, and waiting for customers who are eager to purchase at your particular store over all the millions of other businesses out there. This, dear Reader, just is not how it works. The motto “If you build it, they will come” does NOT stand true when running a business. Marketing has been around for, well, forever. Even before all the developments and technology of today ever came into existence, marketing tactics were employed. With so much information available, it is too tempting to “take a go at it” on your own. It is very common for people to do their own marketing. IF you have the know-how and the time, it can work as there are people who can handle the ongoing task of the MANY various traditional and non-traditional marketing tactics as well as tackling all the other responsibilities. However, improper marketing can actually damage your reputation, your business, and your nerves. Many discover this to be true after it is almost too late or when it is too late. Don’t let this happen to you. Marketing is an ongoing process that, when done correctly, can not only add creativity and fun to your business and allow you to meet many goals as well as to meet many new contacts, it can deliver an excellent ROI. But you can’t do it alone. Isn’t your business worth it? Aren’t you worth it? Don’t your customers deserve it? Don’t take a chance with your business. Don’t overlook the importance of marketing. You have worked too hard to risk it. Review the services of Celebritize You and allow us do what we do best so that you can do what you do best.

Keeping it real!

Yahoo News announces that Pfizer Inc. has been slapped with some GI-NORMOUS fines due to illegally and improperly promoting itself and its products. It is not in Celebritize You’s interest to comment on what happens in the daily news yet it is Celebritize You’s goal to promote you in the most accurate and effective way possible. “Keeping it real” is the goal. To promote the whole you – the person and the professional – is the main reason we exist. Many times, a person’s online presence does not fully express who he or she is in real life. All too often his or her bio, resume, website content, documents, promotions, photographs, and announcements are incomplete or are not presented in the most impact-ful way. For example, many business websites and profiles read like the syllabus of a college course. Although the intention is to promote the professional and the business, the individual’s true personality, education, and experience is not revealed. With the Internet and our global world it is even more important to truly express yourself in a way that people, no matter where they are located, can get a true sense of who you are and what you do. Through technology we are able to reach out to the four corners of the planet and network with people who we would never dream of communicating with before yet the relationship must still be formed and developed. It is Celebritize You’s passion and job to fill help you with this. Celebritize You has been working on Daniel Stoica and as you visit this Accounting Consultant’s site, you can see that it is more insightful and alive compared to most websites in the same industry. Daniel Stoica’s About page is in sync with who this professional truly is. Celebritize You explored the whole professional Daniel Stoica. One who has an amazing personality, wealth of education, experiences, and passion, is now accurately presented due to our passion at work. Celebritize You will promote who you are. We believe in keeping it real. We believe in focusing on your strengths and celebritizing them. We believe in referring you to our strategic alliances, if necessary, to insure your success. We believe in giving you the best, most impact-ful digital presence through learning about you and working alongside with you in order to best portray who you really are.

We believe in keeping it real for YOU! We believe in Celebritize You!