On Thursday, 07 February, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak to the Philadelphia WordPress Meetup about Advanced Custom Fields: A Designer’s Approach. I walked the group through the process of using the Advanced Custom Fields plugin on a WordPress install.

My slides from the presentation are below.

That WordPress Community

Although it won’t be a surprise to anyone within the WordPress community, I have to say that I was blown away by the receptiveness of the audience. It was my first attempt at delivering a technically-minded “how to” presentation. Rather than pour disdain on my trepid steps to improve my code-knowledge, the audience was supportive and respectful of “a designer’s approach”. In retrospect, I should have expected nothing less from the WordPress community.

Yet I think it says a lot about the community when it is so welcoming and supportive of different professional approaches and backgrounds.

Photo credit: Andy Christian. Used with permission.

I have thinking about in-person networking lately, and I have a little story to share that highlights the importance of interpersonal marketing. This experience was a perfect reminder to me of the value of face-to-face marketing, and of how every single person in a company is involved in building the brand.

Let me set the scene.

It was a Saturday morning and I was in the Reading Terminal Market in central Philadelphia for breakfast. I was seated at a table at the Down Home Diner, eating with family. The diner uses long tables and so smaller parties end up sharing the table with other guests (which is fun). As we worked our way through breakfast, the diner hostess seated a gentleman at our table. Over the course of fried eggs, bacon and coffee, I got to talking to this fellow.

A morning chat

As it turns out, this gentleman was the Chief People Officer at The Wendy’s Company. A senior vice president. He was in town for Wendy’s annual franchise conference. His name is Scott Weisberg. A really intelligent, gregarious and insightful guy, Scott told me about how Wendy’s was working to be a leader in the restaurant business, creating dining destinations rather than in-and-out food service outlets. It was a great conversation — I learned a lot.

During the course of the conversation, I mentioned that there was a new Wendy’s opening up near me: the first one in my immediate area. Before meeting the chap from Wendy’s, I was not excited about the new opening. I was not against the new restaurant, but I had no feelings about it. Where I grew up, there were no Wendy’s restaurants. I don’t have memories from childhood of going there with my parents; my high school friends and I didn’t hangout at the local Wendy’s on slow weekend nights. I had no connection with the brand.

Yet during my conversation with its Chief People Officer, I learned a lot about Wendy’s. I got to peer into its ethos, values and vision for its future. It was exciting! I was given a window into a major global brand. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait for that new Wendy’s to open! I wanted to share in the Wendy’s experience.

My first experience

Last Thursday, my new Wendy’s opened (note, I feel like I can call it my Wendy’s now) and it has been rocking ever since. I’ve driven past the new restaurant on at least five occasions and the parking lot has always been full, the drive-through line a few cars deep. The sign out front reinforced what Scott told me over breakfast about Wendy’s commitment to its local customers: “Proud to be part of your community”. That was a nice touch.

Two nights ago I managed to get into this new Wendy’s for a meal. I loved the whole aura of the place as I drove into the parking lot. There was a sharp looking outdoor seating area. Through the windows, I could see a couple of people sitting in front of a fireplace eating burgers. (Well, a mock fireplace, but still … it was amazing to see. It certainly shook my preconceptions about fast food chains.) Stepping inside, I was welcomed by a friendly and personal staff. I was welcomed by loads of friendly staff. In chatting with a few of the managers, I learned that they have been racing since they opened. Looking over the counter, I could see what looked to be 15-20 employees hustling and bustling to fill orders.

What really surprised me when I ordered was that the manager asked me my name. Simply thinking him friendly, I introduced myself and thanked him for greeting us so pleasantly. A few moments later, I was surprised to hear my name called, as my order was ready. It was not “8314, your order is up.” It was “Liam, your meal is ready.” A subtle and classy touch.

By the time I sat down to eat my burger and fries, I was really excited to eat. Even more than the decor, the burger challenged my preconceptions about fast food. It was juicy and piping hot. The bacon looked, smelled and tasted like it just came off the griddle. Moreover, the fries were the hearty type: thicker than those served at most chains. Of course, I had to try a Frosty.

That face-to-face marketing value

As I finished up and sipped the last of my soda (Diet Caffeine-Free Coke, if you must know), I thought back to my conversation with Scott Weisberg. I would never had gone to this new restaurant if the HR guy had not so enthusiastically, genuinely and effectively convinced me to be excited about Wendy’s as a brand. His time, his thoughts, his willingness to interrupt his own breakfast to get a potential customer excited about his company is a brilliant example of the value of interpersonal marketing.

Earlier this month, I attended WordCamp Philly for the second year in a row. As what I learned about WordPress and web development could fill my blog post publication schedule for the next six months, I walked away from the event feeling energized to implement the techniques I learned, excited to have met in person those with whom I only had online relationships and eager to attend to WordCamp Philly next year.

As I drove home from WordCamp, I mulled over the value for small businesses in attending real events, in person — in the meatspace — as opposed to limiting marketing efforts to online. During this mental review, I recalled a great piece that I read about the value of holding offline events in connection with online marketing efforts, published earlier this year by our friends and colleagues at Philly Marketing Labs. The blog post, entitled 5 Reasons to Boost Your Marketing Efforts with In-Person Events, set down a very clear and formidable list of reasons why small businesses (and others) would benefit from holding their own events.

In pondering the weekend in connection with that blog post, I thought it worth exploring the value that small businesses can achieve from attending in-person events. In response to Philly Marketing Lab’s post, I came up with 5 Marketing Reasons to Attend In-Person Events.

1. Tell People Who You Are and What You Do

In-person events of any kind are always a great way to talk to people about our work. Of course, it needs to be done with savvy, but people expect to talk about their jobs, their careers, their companies or their employers at work-related events. Small business owners should take advantage of that expectation to promote themselves.

2. Find the Help You Need

While attending local in-person events, let’s make sure that we don’t just talk about ourselves. Listen first. Ask others about themselves and their work. It’s a great way to form a network of professionals whose own services complement ours. By actively inquiring about the skills and services that others offer, we can develop a network of suppliers to support our own small businesses, both internally (helping us run our own businesses) or externally (providing services that benefit our clients.)

3. Put a Face with a Twitter Name

Nothing beats the connectivity power of a face-to-face meeting. This is as true in business as it is elsewhere. Many small businesses rely on personal connections with clients for their steady stream of work. In an age when we have dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of Twitter “friends” and contacts, it’s important to seek ways to deepen that initial online connection.

4. Have Fun!

A great part of getting out to networking events is that we choose the events we wish to attend. More often than not, getting in a room full of people who are as excited as we are to talk about the same topic is fun. It’s invigorating. It can renew our excitement and focus about the topic of discussion.

5. Learn That Little Something Extra

We can always stand to learn a little about about our professional fields or industry. No matter how expert we are, there is undoubtedly some area within that field that we are a bit weak, or where our knowledge is slightly outdated. In-person events can help fill in those blanks.

On a related note, but not directly on point, check out Coreen’s Tossona’s Plan Your Next Event With Inspiration from Philly WordCamp if you’re looking for more articles about WordCamp Philly and In-Person events. (Disclaimer: Coreen and I are friends and colleagues; we co-organize the Philly ‘burbs WordPress Meetup together. We did not discuss or coordinate the publication of our two blog posts at all.)

For the second year in a row, WordCamp Philly has blown me away with the insightful presentations, the dynamic and friendly people and the shared knowledge of the WordPress community. From Friday evening to Sunday evening, I spent the weekend meeting, chatting and hanging out with some wonderful people from around Philadelphia and across the USA. I met new faces and learned more about others whom I had previously met.

For me, WordCamp Philly is about people. If I just wanted knowledge about how to create a Custom Post Type or which app is best for coding, I would have sat at home and Googled those topics. I wanted to meet and enjoy the company of people who make WordPress what it is today … and WordCamp Philly 2012 did not disappoint.

What follows is a list of ten (or slightly more than 10) people whom I met or got to know a bit better over the weekend. The list is presented in chronological order as I encountered or spent time with them. Of course, I met many more people than I could list here, so if I left someone off, I do apologize!

1. Brad Williams, Doug Stewart, Anthony Bubel and April Williams

While the names above are for four people, they acted as one in bringing together a fantastic WordCamp yet again. Brad, Doug Anthony and April put in a tremendous amount of energy, time and passion into creating a fantastic weekend-long WordPress-focused event that was exciting, engaging, educational and more. Brad is online at strangework.com, Doug calls literalbarrage.org home, Anthony posts photos at anthonybubel.com and April blogs at twoandthezoo.com.

2. John Kleinschmidt

The Director of Technology Development at CURE International, John and I met while traipsing our way around Old City, Philadelphia, hearing scary ghost stories about the haunting of historic places. Although I didn’t get to hear his presentation, I understand that it was outstanding. What he is doing with WordPress is very cool and worth learning about. John blogs at http://resplendentdev.com.

3. Christina Strommer

I met Christina through a number of Meetups, but it was only at WordCamp Philly that I got to spend real time with her. She’s a friendly and delightfully knowledgeable designer from greater Philadelphia. Hanging out with and chatting with her on the dev day was really fun. You can follow Christina at @jamminpsu.

4. Tracy Levesque

A designer and co-owner of Yikes, Inc., Tracy delivered a top notch presentation about WordPress’ Custom Post Types. Her presentational style was perfect: knowledgeable, laid-back, easy going. I learned a lot from Tracy at WordCamp Philly.

5. Tin Pham

Hitting WordCamp Philly to represent WP Engine, Tin Pham was yet another example of why WP Engine continues to get my vote for outstanding web host. Articulate and genuinely interested in learning my thoughts on what WP Engine could to do improve, Tin spoke with me at length about the company, its history and its plans for continued growth. His shared insight encouraged me to put even greater faith in WP Engine. Tin Pham blogs at http://www.hostblanket.com. He’s on Twitter at @tinner10tin.

6. Dre Armeda

The CEO and Co-Founder of Sucuri, Dre Armeda is nothing if not an expert in website security. His know-how for keeping WordPress websites, and other CMS-driven sites, safe and secure is second to none. On top of that, he is a very kind, gregarious and funny guy. I was glad to have had the chance to meet and get to know him a bit over the weekend. Check out Sucuri online at www.sucuri.net.

7. Krystal Knapp

When Krystal popped into the Happiness Bar at WordCamp Philly, I was lucky enough to be able to help her out. Then we spoke about her news site, Planet Princeton. It was really interesting to hear of an individual journalist working hard to progress a sustainable business model for covering local news, which in Krystal’s case is Princeton, NJ.

8. Clarissa Peterson

A gifted business card recycler, Clarissa was a real hoot. She’s intelligent, free-spirited, analytical and just good fun! I enjoyed hanging out with her at Dev Day. She really is everyone you ever need to know. Only the highway authorities might know where she is now, but you can find Clarissa online at clarissapeterson.com.

9. Justin Sternberg

I was lucky to grab a seat next to Justin on a bench in the beer garden outside Barcade. We got to talking about being designers who code. We had a great conversation about how we progressed from being just designers to being designers who code for WordPress. It was a short but wonderful exchange of creative philosophies. Learn more about Justin at http://about.me/jtsternberg.

10. Matt Mullenweg

When I arrived at the dev day session, I was delighted to hear the news that Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, would join us for the session. He’s a real inspiration for me — hugely successful, but still so down-to-earth, so committed to giving to and supporting the community and so interested in the greater good. It was a real pleasure to meet him and to hear his thoughts on the future of WordPress and other web technologies. You can find Matt online practically everywhere, but he has a blog at ma.tt.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to Matt from Downingtown, PA, and his friend, Cameron. I bumped into these guys at Barcade and we got to talking about WordPress, design and all points web. They were great fun — and Matt had a great mustache in the making. (You can see Matt in the bottom right corner of this photo.)

Lastly, if you’re wondering about the photo at the top of this point, I delivered my own presentation in costume as directed by the organizers of WordCamp Philly. I was dressed as the impeccable Dr. Watson, Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation.

In a very exciting turn of events, I am going to be presenting at WordCamp Philly 2012 later this month. In a presentation entitled Designing for WordPress, I’ll be speaking about what designers need to know about how WordPress works as they encounter the content management system for the first time.

Here’s the presentation description, as listed on the WordCamp Philly 2012 website:

As web designers and print designers encounter WordPress for the first time, it can be a challenge to understand how WordPress works. Yet, it is so important for designers to know the system for which they are designing. This presentation will address key points for helping designers understand the basic functionality and structure of WordPress — so that they can design truly beautiful and functional sites that run well on WordPress. This presentation will aim to help designers understand what developers do to get their designs live on a WordPress site.

As I clicked the “publish” button for this post, there were still tickets available for Saturday’s sessions.

Earlier this year, I published a post that filtered through the blogosphere to share valuable articles to help small business owners get better value from their blogging efforts. Since I received a lot of positive feedback from that post (mostly via email and Twitter), I am rolling out that format again. I’ve done the legwork so you can reap the rewards. Enjoy.

For this post, I primarily focused on intertwining online marketing efforts — blogging and inbound marketing — with offline efforts. As you can read below, the interaction of events, networking and blogging can pack a powerful punch for your small business.

1: A Blog is So Much More than JUST a Series of Blog Posts
12 Things You Should Be Using Your Blog For Besides Blogging is another gem from Corey Ediron of Hubspot fame.

2: Tie Your Online Efforts to In-Person Networking and Events
The minds at Philly Marketing Labs detailed 5 Reasons to Boost Your Marketing with In-Person Events. This is a post that I have read and re-read several times.

3: Online & In-Person, a Winning Combination
Another solid post from Darren Rowse … Traffc Technique 7: Networking and Collaboration

4: Affordable and Management Market Research on Your Smartphone
In Using Social Media to Test Your Ideas Before You Try to Sell It, Melinda F. Emerson highlights a brilliant tactic on the NY Times Small Business Blog.

5: A short and easy guide to keeping clear of social media gaffes and missteps
A no-nonsense and succinct guide to Top 5 Tips for Avoiding Social Media Fails from Stefan Töpfer.

As always, I welcome you to share links to great articles that you’ve found. Add ‘em to the comments please!

Related posts:

• 5 Valuable Blog Posts for Small Business Blogging
• Ideas of valuable content for small business blogs

Earlier this summer, I was approached by PressReader to write and publish a review of its app on this blog. Although I’m no “news junkie”, I do like to stay informed about current events. I’m always eager to checkout new ways to access and read news content about local, national and global topics.

Mixing Digital and Printed

Earlier this summer I did get a chance to review the PressReader app — it’s really fantastic. It offers a great way to get local newspapers from anywhere in the world. In a nutshell, PressReader delivers digital versions of thousands of printed newspapers right to your iPad. In a very smooth and easy-to-use interface, PressReader mixes the look and feel of a printed version with the portability and searchability of digital while maximizing the flip, slide and zoom capabilities of the iPad. PressReader allows users to see the printed layouts (local ads included) in a digital version. While I only reviewed the iPad app, PressReader is available for other devices and operating systems.

Tools for the Traveler

One of the more impressive features of PressReader is its ability to translate all the available periodicals into major languages like English, French, Spanish and German. That seems a very useful tool for those who travel for business or pleasure. Being able to download and read recent, relevant and English versions (alas, I cannot read other languages) of Berlin’s local newspapers would be very valuable for those arriving in the city for the first time.

For those who travel both domestically and internationally, PressReader allows for periodicals to be downloaded and saved locally to the iPad. This feature allows for reading when wifi is not available.

Powerful Search Functionality

For those looking to research a particular topic, PressReader boasts a powerful search tool that allows for searching for keywords across its library. Users then only need download the relevant titles to read on-topic articles. Searches can be restricted by newspaper title, country of publication, language and date. I can see this being a valuable tool for researchers.

Although the app is free, PressReader does charge for accessing periodicals. There are two price models: pay-as-you-go and monthly subscription. The former, which better suits me, charges $0.99 for each downloaded newspaper. The monthly subscription is $29.95 for a unlimited number of periodicals.

In thinking about the app, I am not sure that I would use it on such a regular basis. While interested in local and world news, I have no loyalty to a particular publication. I jump from news site to news site. That said, I could see using the app if I was heading to, for example, Minneapolis-St. Paul for the first time. PressReader would be a great way to conveniently review the local news, culture, sports and life.

The second post in a two part series, I’m considering the cons of scheduling the publication of content, particularly as that functionality relates to inbound marketing for small businesses.

As you can read in the 5 Pros of Scheduling Post Content, I had intended to run this series over the course of two weeks. But then a significant back injury threw a few hurdles in the way and I am only getting around to publishing the cons side of the conversation a month later. I suppose we can add this anecdote to the pro side of the argument.

Cheers to Dave Miller for the push on Twitter to get this post live!

@liamdempsey Just wondering, what happened to part two of your series on scheduled blog posts? Is its absence demonstrating the pros? ;)

— Dave James Miller (@DaveJamesMiller) August 5, 2012

Cons of Scheduling Posting

1. Appearing to be everywhere

It’s a matter of fact. A reality for small businesses. It’s simply not possible to be everywhere at all times. We don’t have the staff numbers to manage that. We also have work to do — we can’t always be marketing ourselves. There is a chance that if we appear to be everywhere on social media, especially when we had a major client project due, that this omnipresence could cause confusion and tension with our clients.

2. Lacking relevancy

Conversations move quickly on the internet. What we schedule for publication next week might no longer be relevant at that point. Someone else might have found the answer, developed a work-around or already shared the news. Pre-scheduled content can make us look old hat.

3. Seeming out of touch

Major global and local events happen every day. Taking a particular angle in a blog post that is appropriate this week might be completely insensitive or cruel next week. Our scheduled content can look sorely out of touch if something significant (and tragic) happens between the time we click the “schedule” button and the time it goes live on our blog or Twitter feed.

4. Failing to respond in real time

To be most effective, social media must focus on conversation. So, while our scheduled content may be poignant and fresh, if we’re out of the office for three days, we certainly won’t be able to respond to comments in the generally accepted time frame. It’s like we start a conversation and then walk out of the room before anyone has a chance to respond.

5. Forgetting the publication schedule

As small business owners, we’ve got a lot going on a daily basis. Keeping focused on what’s in front of us can be enough of a task without trying to recall what we’ve scheduled for publication tomorrow or next week. This runs the risk that we forget about our publication schedule, causing us to publish similar content twice or forget about the post that went live when we were on holiday.

In covering both sides of the coin, I have to say that I think there definitely is scope for scheduling posted content. Like most marketing approaches, using scheduled posts requires planning, forethought, savvy and a bit of luck.

What’s your take on it?

In mid June, I began to prepare to get out of the office for a few days. I had a vacation scheduled for the end of the month. I was looking forward to the break, and in particular, to the break from all the digital online activity. It was to be a break from the hustle and bustle of the online marketing world.

This preparation got me thinking about the value of scheduling the publication of content on this blog, on Twitter and elsewhere. As most readers know, on most content management systems for small businesses (like WordPress) and apps like Hootsuite, content can be scheduled for publication at a certain date and time. As part of a two post series, I will look at the pros and cons of such functionality, particularly as that functionality relates to inbound marketing for small businesses.

Pros of Scheduling Posting

1. Greater flexibility

As a blog reader, I appreciate when a writer established a publication schedule. Every Tuesday morning a new post is published. Or maybe it’s the third Wednesday of the month. Whatever. The point is that, as small business owners, we can’t always be in the office or online at our desired publication time. Scheduling posting can cover us when we have an important client meeting at our regular publication slot.

2. Increased efficiency

If we’re conducting an extended promotional campaign on Twitter, for example, it can be helpful to spend an hour or so at a single instance drafting, editing and scheduling a number of tweets which will be scheduled for publication throughout the week. We’re focused and attentive to the task and can make sure that

3. Avoiding distractions and hiccups

For small business owners, the “to do” list never really gets shorter. The “to do” items simply change names. A real value of scheduled publication functionality is that it can help ensure that we don’t forget or get too busy to carry on, for example, an inbound marketing campaign. We may want to run a series of blog posts connected by a topic stream. We might write a lengthy article on a particular topic and then divide that into a number of individual blog posts to be published over a few weeks. The publication scheduling feature ensures that those posts are published on time and in the intended order.

4. Covering more ground

This particular benefit is more for Twitter than for blogging. We may want to share links to important and relevant content on a daily basis. That can be difficult to manage on a day-to-day basis. Any small business owner will tell you that some days just get away. Scheduling a tweet a day, interspersed with our more organic tweets as and when we can, is an effective way to maintain a bigger social media presence.

5. Avoiding “Need something now”

We’ve all been there. A publication deadline looms before us. We feel its pressure and know that we have to get something online. Our mind wanders back to late last week when we had the hour of downtime. Why didn’t we write the post then and schedule it for publication today?

Of course, there are two sides to every coin. While there are clear advantages to scheduling posts and tweets in advance, there are also downsides. Stay tuned next week when I’ll publish a post covering 5 Cons of Scheduling Posted Content.

As the owner and director of a small business, I am very well acquainted with the difficulties of trying to maintain a consistent and well-managed online marketing campaign. The creation of fresh, interesting and relevant content can be very difficult indeed for small businesses to achieve on an on-going basis. It requires a lot time and energy – time and energy that can be hard to find in the packed schedule of a managing a small business in a difficult economy.

My own blogging efforts have me writing, editing and posting on three primary outlets every month: liamdempsey.com, my company website and chickenmonkeydog. In addition to those sites, I post periodically on other blogs including Brainshark’s Ideas Blog and The Governance Partnership’s AOB (Any Other Blog). This list does not consider the posts that I write on monthly basis for clients. So, yes, I get it: it’s not easy to allocate resources to developing a convincing and valuable online marketing presence.

Here’s a short list of tips that I use to help keep me on track. (Confession: there are times that I fail to meet my own marketing targets. I admit that. It’s not easy to always stay on track.)

1. Plan, plan, plan

I cannot say this enough: strategic planning is key to a successful inbound marketing campaign. Knowing in advance what needs to be done and when makes it so much easier to ensure that there is sufficient time, resources and ideas for blogging. I review and update my own online marketing strategy every six months.

2. Keep an ideas list

Ideas for great blog posts pop into my head all the time. “Oh, there’s a blog post in here …” is a little phrase that regularly runs through my head. If I don’t take a minute to jot that thought down, I’m likely to lose it. I store my ideas list for blog content in Evernote. I can’t tell you how many times that list has proved hugely valuable to my blogging efforts.

3. Develop a method for writing

Those who write for a living tell us over and over: have a system for writing so that when the writing gets tough, the writing still gets done. For me, blog posts always start on paper. Generally, it’s bullet points in my work notebook. I’ll work through that outline to the point where I have a detailed picture of the complete post in my head. Then it’s onto the computer. I write directly in WordPress, or in Inbound Writer. I complete a draft, leave it for a day or so (or at least for a few hours), then edit and publish.

4. Carry a camera at all times

Have you ever seen a sign, a product or a landscape that captures that exact point you’ve been trying to drive home with a client for what seems weeks? Yeah, me too. With increasingly more powerful smart phones and point-and-shoot camera prices dropping like rocks, it’s now easier than ever to always carry a camera. Take a moment to stop and snap that picture. Capture that message. Photograph that moment. It could make that blog post we’ve so been wanting to publish.

5. Get back on the horse

I admitted it earlier in this post: Sometimes I fail to meet my own blogging targets. That’s life in the small business lane. Yet, I’ve learned that the sooner I force myself to get back on the blogging horse, the sooner my inbound marketing efforts will get back on track and delivering returns.

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