Thought Center

angela moore

How Waiting Tables Set Me Up for Success

I have always said that working as a server (it was called waitressing back then) was one of the best learning experiences of my life because it taught me important skills that I use in my job every day.

Serving was a desirable job in my youth because you had the opportunity to make money instantly by earning tips.  But little did I know that slinging hash would set me up for success all these years later. Below are some of the ways waiting tables made me a great consultant.

Getting slammed. This is restaurant lingo for having multiple tables sat in your section at once.  It’s never ideal, but when it happens, you must jump into action and take care of every party with a smile.  This taught me tremendous project management skills, including stress management and prioritization. The funny thing is, I still have nightmares about being slammed to this day.

Recovering from mistakes.

View Full Post

Best Marketing Advice Ever: Build a List and Nurture it

I recently attended a webinar by one of my favorite marketers and authors, Chris Brogan, and this advice was hands down the best takeaway. I am grateful to Chris for reminding me how important email marketing is for building business.  We easily get caught up in finding new customers, learning new apps, using the right keywords, and over analyzing blog titles, that we sometimes forget about tried and true practices like email marketing.

Since that webinar, I have been reminding all my clients to go back to their lists and nurture them. We are getting reacquainted with a practice most of us have done since the beginning – snail mail, then email. It’s actually been fun coming up with fresh ideas for content, catchy subject lines, and good old-fashioned personalization.  

Think about how many marketing emails you receive. Chances are good you open several a week, and it’s likely that some of them prompt you to take some kind of action.

View Full Post

John D. Russell – Photographer, Entrepreneur & Leaper

I have had the pleasure of working with photographer, John D. Russell during several Habitat for Humanity events over the years. There is something special about the people you meet at Habitat builds – from the volunteers who arrive with an open heart and zero build skills to the crew leaders (made up mostly of volunteers) to professionals like John Russell, who provide their time and expertise to support the mission in other ways.

Like all of the people I have met along my Habitat journey, John has become a friend and I am so happy he agreed to share his entrepreneurial story with me. There are many layers to John, which may explain his ability to capture people and places so beautifully. As always, I hope John’s story will inspire others out there to follow their passion and take the big Leap!

Describe what you do for a living.

Photo credit: Paulius Staniunas

 

I am a Professional Photographer.

View Full Post

3 Great Marketing Resources – From Free to Almost Free!

In our opinion, Marketing and PR is more fun today than ever before, yet it’s moving quickly and requires tracking and analysis.  In an effort to provide helpful tips and resources, we want to tell you about three resources we cannot live without out. We encourage you to give them a try.  If you do not at least use the first one NOW, you’re truly missing out on valuable information.

Google Alerts.  This free tool is essential to staying on top of your brand and industry. Set up Alerts easily to track what people are saying about you, your company and your competitors.  You can choose to receive updates in real time, once a day or once per week (we recommend once a day).  Be sure to set up Alerts for upcoming events you may be attending or hosting.  This tool is free so don’t hesitate.

This image was created in Canva for FREE in about 10 minutes.

Canva.  I cannot praise this site enough. Canva makes graphic design simple.

View Full Post

Talking Social Media at LAX Coastal Lifestyle Group Event

Starfish PR was invited to be one of three presenters at the LAX Coastal Lifestyle Group’s Social Media event on Thursday, October 8th. Hosted by the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce, the Lifestyle events always bring together a vibrant group of creative, entrepreneurial women, and this meeting was no exception!

L-R: Marci Klein, Angela Moore, Jamie Gregor and Liz Peters

Omni Online Solutions‘ Liz Peters spoke first on the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and touched several times on one of our favorite content creators — the blog. Emmy-winning Klein Creative Media shared videos for a variety of clients, illustrating the importance of strong visuals and emotional connection when promoting your business.

View Full Post

Accepting Applications for Summer Internships

Are you a college student interested in a creative career? We have several opportunities to intern with our team of PR professionals this summer.  To apply, simply email us the following information:

Cover Letter – tell us about yourself and why you think you’d be a good fit with Starfish PR.
Resume – We understand your career is just getting off the ground, but we’d love to see what you have been up to.
Examples of Writing – Do you blog, post reviews or write poems and music?  Show us what you’ve got!
Availability this summer.

Email this info to Angela@starfish-pr.com and  we will respond as quickly as possible.

View Full Post

Cause Marketing: It’s Not About Your Company

The Starfish PR team at Power Women, Power Tools hosted by Habitat LA

We have been working with nonprofits in Los Angeles for over a decade — so we’ve definitely learned how best to tie your business in to a charitable organization. For one thing, it’s not about YOU: it’s about those who benefit from your gifts.

Having been on both sides of cause marketing, we understand what the real story is. We’ve been pitching media, creating content and telling these stories through blogs and other mediums with great success for many years.

Here are some tips if you’re planning to partner with a charitable organization:

Ask your staff which causes are important to them. By polling your staff, you will gain great insight into what matters to them, possibly discovering some real philanthropists in your organization. You will want employee buy-in, so their input is vital.

View Full Post

Social Media Tips

 

We are always coming up with social media tips and tricks for our clients, so we wanted to share some here on our blog. These are just a few suggestions to help build your following and engage your audience.

Initiate connections. Add your social media handles to your email signature and business cards. By making it present in your communications, you will give others the opportunity to connect with you and network further.

Tap into Trending Topics. Check out what’s trending on Twitter throughout the day because there just may be an opportunity for you to join the conversation and bring awareness to the organization.

Update your Profile Often. Don’t shy away from updating your social media profiles. Add personality with topical thoughts, motivational quotes or give a shout out to your favorite sports team. People want to connect with people, so be sure your personality is as apparent as your professional resume.

View Full Post

Listen, Connect, Share – The New PR Strategy

Depending on your storytelling skills and willingness to be creative, it’s likely that you do not need a press release. In the olden days, the press release was used to distribute company news to the media. Companies paid to have a professional press release written and distributed to news media. Thankfully, the days of “begging” media to write about your company are long gone.

In a digital, hyper-connected world, we now all have the power to tell our company’s story ourselves, directly to our target audience. If you have a website, blog or social media page, you can post your news, in your own words, as often as you like.

It’s a wonderful thing to have that power; you’ll never be misquoted again. And, the best part about digital storytelling is that, when done well, the media will take notice.

Here are 4 ways to get your publicity machine revved up right now:

1.

View Full Post

Take 30 Minutes Today for a Website Check

In this digital, hyper-connected world, you must give your professional website the attention it deserves.  Even if you just updated your website last year, you’re probably already in need of an update.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Here are three ways to monitor your website in 30 minutes or less:

Monitor your website daily. Visit the site every day from various browsers (Chrome, Safari, Explorer and Firefox) to make sure all the pages load correctly and the site is live for that matter.

Visit your site from your phone or tablet.  If you visit your website on your phone and you can barely read the text, you are not optimized for mobile and are likely losing visitors instantly.  No visitors means no new customers.

Search for your business.

View Full Post