You Know You're a WAHM

You know you’re a WAHM…

Whew! A series of events happened all at once yesterday. Things get done with a WAHM, just not in the traditional sense of working 8 – 5, behind a desk while the kids are with a care-provider.

• I’m experiencing my first sinus infection with throbbing pain in my numb, sensitive teeth. The pain radiates up to my cheekbones, temple and ear.
• I get a call from a colleague/client who is on vacation. She needs my emergency help to coordinate some interview questions for a reporter and the client I assist her with. I’m glad to help out.
• I leave messages with both the reporter and client.
• My daughter breaks out in hives for the 5th time in 3-days and the doctor says to call their office if it happens again. I call the office. They have an appointment in 45 minutes. I vow to make it.
• I look out the garage and hubby has the truck with the car seat.
• Get me and daughter bundled up.
• Call fitness center and ask them to tell hubby to come home.
• Race out the door with daughter and instructions to have reporter/client call my cell phone.
• Have to cover the seat with a random towel in the car because of hubby’s sweat puddle.
  Make it to the doctor appointment.
• Make it back home. In laws have arrived and let them admire the daughter while I check voicemails and emails.
• Reporter’s deadline is immediate so I call client and get questions answered.
• Type up responses and send them to reporter.
• Call colleague/client who is on vacation to tell her all it well and reporter should have everything she needs to complete her story.
• Go give daughter hugs and kisses for bed. Daddy and in-laws have done bath and book duty.
  
  Whew! Made it!

You Know You're a WAHM

When your daughter, who is not quite 2, announces to her play group that she has a meeting.

She's not even 2 and knows the word "meeting!"

When mommy has a meeting Daddy and daughter get to eat "fun" food like Sonic or chicken strips and baked beans.

I feel very blessed that my work breaks can include play time with other kids and moms.

Have a "You Know You're a WAHM" story? I'll be glad to share it along with a link to your website and your photo/logo. Email your story to me for consideration: lori at lbpublicrelations dot com.

Media Hit!

CBS Morning News, Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Beauty Buzz, Hottest Skin Care Gift Ideas

I pitched, and pitched this segment thinking it was so relevant and timely. Everyone wants to look younger for the holidays! I was just about to put the pitch to bed, when I heard from two producers. Yeah!

This same segment was also featured on Saturday's NBC morning news. I'm thankful for clients who get up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday to do a TV interview!

Here's the segment from Tuesday on CBS.

You Know You're a WAHM

This is a guest submission from fellow work-from-home mom, Jessica, Creator of Mom Fuse.

Mom Fuse is a resource for moms and an online magazine. They feature recipes, provide honest product reviews, have lots of give-aways, showcase some fabulous finds, and help promote moms who own their own business.

You Know You're A WAHM When...

"When you're checking email and responding to them while feeding your child (in my case children. I have 4 month old twins) and listening to your husband ask, 'I'm hungry, what's for lunch?' Also in that time the phone is ringing, the dog needs to go outside, and you realize you've been watching the Disney channel all day."

To submit your WAHM story, please send an email to lori at lbpublicrelations dot com.

Happy Thanksgiving

Instead of sending my clients Christmas cards, I send them Thanksgiving cards. I am so grateful for their support in helping me to be a work-from-home mom. I express my gratitude in a hand-written note within a Thanksgiving card.

As a work-from-home mom, I am thankful for...

• My clients!
• Media professionals who interview my clients and invite them on air, or place their stories in print.
• Media professionals who offer honest feedback when my story ideas aren't going to work.
• Fellow PR professionals who I bounce ideas off of and share resources.
• My computer and Internet access!
• Quick recovery when the Internet goes down.
• Clients who pay quickly!
• HARO - for all the free emails from reporters looking for sources to interview.
• The opportunity to be creative through writing press releases, pitch letters as well as blog and print articles.
• God - for protecting my business and always providing hope.

Happy Thanksgiving!

How to draw traffic to your website

I recently received this email:
I'm not sure what is available to me as a WAHM with my own internet retail site. I do blog, and I do have a newsletter, but what else can I do to help me gain more traffic (it has been gaining traffic since I opened (in Feb 2008), but I'm thinking that I may have hit a wall lately. I do my own SEO work, but wonder if I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle?

Here’s my tips about drawing traffic to your website.

The great thing about internet marketing is that we no longer have to rely on traditional media (newspapers, magazines, TV) to publicize our message. We can now market directly to our customers. However, the internet is not a one-way marketing vehicle. Use the various sources within the internet to develop relationships and position yourself as an expert. Social marketing should be done on a regular basis. You can’t just create a blog or MySpace account and forget about them. You must use them regularly. Link back to your website as often as possible when creating and using all of these social media sites.

Blogs
If you have a blog (which all companies should have a blog), search other blogs, read them and make genuine comments. If you have a babywearing business, read and comment on the blogs of pregnant women and women with babies. If you have a cake company, read the blogs of chocoholics and those who love to bake. You can read more about the powerful marketing effects of blogging on my website.

Forums/Yahoo Groups
There are many forums and or groups within your community or in the internet world. Does your city have a forum? Mine has 380 Guide. My community has a forum specifically for moms. Whatever your niche or target market there is a web forum out there where people are talking about your type of products. I suggest you become a member and these forums or Yahoo Groups and participate in the conversations. Don’t use the forums to directly sell your product, but provide your expertise when members have questions pertaining to your industry.

MySpace/FaceBook
According to MySpace for Dummies, “A social networking site is a site that allows users to create individual profiles in hopes of making contact with other site users that share similar interests of goals.” Businesses that create profiles on MySpace or Facebook have an excellent opportunity to generate a lot of “grass roots buzz.”

Traditional marketing tactics have always been a release-it-and-forget it process: place an ad, run a TV commercial, post a billboard. With on-line media outlets like MySpace and Facebook, it’s a two-way communication process. You simply can’t just create a MySpace page and hope for friends. It’s important to use the “tools” within each site to build relationships. Ideas include commenting on your friends’ pages, creating your own videos and posting them on your profile page, sending your friends bulletins about upcoming events and articles of interest. Be careful not to spam. The on-line social participants expect to be able to comment, leave questions and are uninterested in one-way dialogs.

YouTube
Another social networking site that provides beneficial marketing opportunities for spas is YouTube. Simple and effective video cameras are very affordable these days. Short videos about the services you provide, product demonstrations, wellness tips from your technicians and tours of your facility require little editing. Sites like www.onetruemedia.com allow you to clip your videos and create montages which you can then post to YouTube. Once you’ve created and posted your videos, there many marketing opportunities within YouTube for you to reach customers: share it with the friends attached to your account; post a message on a bulletin board; and invite friends to subscribe to your account. Your YouTube videos can also be posted on your blog and within your MySpace and Facebook profile pages.

eMail Marketing/eNewsletters
I’m a big fan of user-friendly on-line email marketing programs like Constant Contact, which allow companies to easily and effectively create high-impact, professional quality emails. The key is to provide valuable content within your eNewsletters – don’t just advertise your products and services. Valuable content includes success stories; photos of customers using your product; and news about your company; I always recommend that customers have an “Over at our blog” section with links back to posts for customers who may not have read your blog.

Twitter
Twitter has many faithful followers who are loving the marketing results they are seeing with Twitter. I haven’t played around in Twitter very much. However, the blog for New World PR, writes about Twitter quite frequently. You may learn more about the marketing vehicle over there.

Media Hit!

For Plano Aesthetics and their Dr. TED Diet.

CBS 11, Dallas
November 5, 2008

"Diet Fools Body Into Thinking Woman's Pregnant"

Click here to see the segment.