Finances, The Recession and Generation Y

I'm not sure if you have heard, but it seems as if we are in the middle of a bad economy. Chances are you have heard and have an opinion about it. All over the mainstream and not-so-mainstream media outlets, people are weighing in about investments, currencies and credit. The markets are under analysis and people are giving a million suggestions on how to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, one key demographic is blatantly absent from a lot of these discussions. Young adults are not often brought into discussions relating to finance for a variety of reasons. The most critical reason being that a lot of college students and recent graduates simply do not have enough accumulated wealth or savings to be a part of the target market many financial institutions are soliciting. Regardless of the reason, younger people, me included, feel like nobody is speaking to them.

To further this stigmatization, gay and lesbian youth are pushed even further away. The general feeling in the business community is that gay and lesbian adults tend to have more discretionary income and indulge in investments, large-scale purchases and travel. Many studies have suggested that gay and lesbian people tend to bounce back quickly after a recession; such was the case following the September 11th attacks. With a lack of coverage of the financial troubles of both youth and gays and lesbians, those of us in both groups are especially left in the dark.

Today's young people are becoming a vital part of the economy in a way that no previous young generation has been. In today's workforce, it is no longer acceptable to have just a Bachelor's degree in order to find a well-paying job, but a very large portion of young people are seeing the need for post graduate degrees, as well. This is creating a need for "Generation Y" to budget, save, invest and spend in unprecedented ways. I could sit here and spout all the benefits of budgeting, saving and investing - but we fundamentally know that those things should be happening in theory. The hard part is implementation. Instead, there are other ways to keep yourself afloat in this type of economy while educating yourself through streams of information that may neglect you.

1 Educate Yourself Make it a point to keep up-to-date on the goings-on in the industry you work and the industry your skills are in. If you can adequately assess changes in the market as it relates to your job, a drastic job change will not come as such a shock. Being prepared and knowledgeable is essential to being able to deal and adapt to change.

2 Develop New Skills When the job market is volatile, every thing that sets you apart from the competition is extremely important. While it's a great asset to know your job well, it only benefits you to dabble in other skill sets that you can present to your employer or potential employers. For instance, if you program websites for your company, pick up a book on best case marketing practices and learn how you can use that website and other means to position your organization effectively. Then share these new ideas and skills with your co-workers to show how valuable your ideas and actions are.

3 Increase Revenue Streams Take your hobbies and figure out how to make money doing them. With so much technology at our disposal, there are a variety of ways to diversify your income. Becoming a freelance writer or photographer, designing easy websites or working retail once in a while are all ways to take something you love doing and to supplement your income. This is a good way to have more money to save and it will not leave you hopeless if for some reason your job security isn't so solid.
 
4 Have Contingency Plans Being prepared is half the battle. If you can think about the worst case scenario and figure out what you would do in such a situation, you will be prepared for anything. It will also help you feel more secure in your current place because you will know that you are prepared and can handle what the volatile markets throw at you. 

5 Be Young One of the greatest assets to our generation is our ability to adapt and learn. Older generations may chastise us for growing up with a need for instant gratification, but in a volatile workplace it can be a blessing. We expect things to happen very quickly and we can change quickly. If rent shoots up and spending habits need to change or if your employer suddenly needs you to take night classes learning Spanish - embrace the new opportunity.


The markets are volatile and job security is not what it used to be. Still, as Generation Y gays and lesbians, we have so much on our side to be at the forefront of change. Do not let the lack of representation in the financial media curb your enthusiasm or diminish your creative desires. We can set up secure futures for ourselves and ride this recession out in style.

Article brought to us by Richard Brower (richardtia@gmail.com)

Merry Christmas!

This week I join with billions of followers and admirers of Christ in celebrating his birth.

Many followers of Christ call themselves Christian as I do, having dedicated their lives to studying and following the example he set for us in his life and accepting Christ as our sole personal Saviour and relying upon his mercy or grace for salvation from sin.

Other religions such as Judaism and Islam admire Christ as a prophet, a wise and noble leader, a rasul or rabbi. Still others admire Christ's teachings from a philosophical, secular viewpoint with an admiration for his ability to lift the human spirit.

I find nothing not to like about Christ. I am grateful for a federal holiday we have to honor the birth of such a person who promoted so much good in the world and has inspired so many to persue love, kindness, truth, forgiveness, and charity.

In the spirit of Christ, let me wish you and your family a "Merry Christmas"!

Spotlight on NewGayTravelGuide.com

Over the years, quite a few gay travel websites have come along, with some emerging as real leaders in this strong GLBT niche market.  Very few, however, have managed to keep up by utilizing some of the latest technology online today including travel social networking, online video and blogs.  NewGayTravelGuide.com, however, is one of those exceptions.  Starting out as a single blog covering the GLBT travel market, the folks at NewGayTravelGuide.com (Michael Snell and Derrick Sorles of Chicago, IL) have developed an entire network of GLBT travel blogs covering such popular destinations as Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, and of course, their home town of Chicago itself.

Providing daily GLBT travel articles on their sites was one of the more important aspects of how they've gotten started.  Their articles are of the breadth and quality that has earned this team the opportunity to be included on a variety of destination's GLBT media familiarization trips, including one recent jaunt over to Disneyland in Anaheim for the Gay Days event they had recently.

More importantly, this team has learned early on the viral nature of a blog and how to put that blog to work in driving more and more traffic to their New Gay Travel Guide blog and their various destination blogs they've developed.  By their very nature, blogs index well in the various search engines, and the more links one blog has from another qualified blog, the higher the Google search engine ranking becomes.  By developing a network of quality GLBT travel destination blogs, these guys have taken a lead in one of the most basic yet most important aspects of operating a network of quality GLBT sites.

On top of all this, Michael and Derrick have utilized the strength of some of the newer and more recent additions to the Web 2.0 world that are becoming more and more important in a company's overall online marketing in the years ahead.  This team has fully embraced the online blogging communities of MyBlogLog.com, Technorati.com and BlogCatalog.com, just to name a few.  Working with these ever-growing sites, their blog is not only made more relevant in the online world reading blogs (which is becoming a larger and larger percentage of the overall online audience today) but is also able to reach individuals that would not normally have found their blog through the normal channels of either following a link from another site or finding them in an online Google search.

Sites such as MyBlogLog.com, Technorati.com and BlogCatalog.com allow their online community members the opportunity to both follow their favorite blogs closely, all in one site, as well as see who else is reading the same blog and who else the various blog writers are connected to.  It's a community that is shown to be incredibly loyal and very active online… the perfect representation of a community we're all seeking to reach as we undertake our various online marketing initiatives in the years to come.

Lastly, they know how to "work it" in the more obvious locations we all surf online today, including Facebook and their Facebook Group, MySpace and LinkedIn.com… all very important "touch points" in the more current marketing trends we're all seeing today by companies seeking to stand out above the rest in this incredibly diverse online world of today.





Gay and Lesbian Social Networking
Advertising - Marketing - Community

For the full-color PDF version of this story, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/pdf/GMG2008-NewGayTravelGuide.pdf

To subscribe to the PBM Monthly Gay Business Report, go here:
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NOTE: This article is part of the Gay Market Report 2009 and is FREE TO USE as long as byline above, credit, logo and link are included with story. Credit Pink Banana Media,

Integrating Blog Content on your Website from an RSS Feed

Use DHTML or XML to integrate your blog, as well as photos and video on your website

One of the top questions I receive, after “should I do a blog” is “how do I best integrate the blog into my website?” This report is intended to fully answer that question.

Managing content properly on a website has been a challenge since the first websites came online in the mid-90s. Originally, if you wanted your website’s content updated or changed, you sent the changes to your web designer and waited until he or she was able to make the changes manually, in HTML format, for you. Then, along came content management systems, some expensive and customized and some simpler and off-the shelf. With content management, an administrator could set it up so that select writers could submit fully formatted articles online. The article information, along with photos, would be saved in a database format (MySQL, MS Access, etc.) and programmed to display on the web site, without the writer having to know any HTML. In addition, the writer could submit the article remotely from anywhere in the world where there was an Internet connection.

With content management came very in-depth content and community sites, sometimes with thousands of articles in the website’s database, categorized by theme, by region or some other means that best matched the website’s needs. The articles were searchable, indexable and made large websites much easier to manage.

Fast forward to 2008… with the advent of blogs a few years back, there is no shortage of writers using off-the-shelf software supplied by companies such as WordPress (www.typepad.com) and Google (www.blogger.com) to get their words out far and wide! Setting up a free account, anyone can begin blogging, and today we have thousands of bloggers out there, with some blogs receiving more monthly traffic than any other websites in their category (in the GLBT community, TowleRoad.com and OhLaLaMag.com are two of the top blogs online).

It is this blog software that is content management system of choice, working more efficiently than any other form of content management found today. Setting up a blog, whether it’s the centerpiece of your website’s content or simply the more interactive and fun side of your website’s content, is incredibly easy to do. Once set up, either one or multiple authors can contribute articles and keep this content fresh and up-to-date daily or weekly, depending on your website’s needs.

The attractiveness of using a blog for content management goes way beyond its ease of use and the ubiquity of its experienced user base of writers. Blogs are interactive! They allow your readers to interact and comment on any of the blog postings, and other readers can then interact and comment with each other as well. Blogs are also very structured in terms of how they store content and thus very easy for search engines to index and include in various search results. Since the blog will more than likely be pointing back to your company’s main website, the increased search engine exposure should result in increased traffic to your website.


The content of a blog is automatically exported using XML technology, into a format called RSS (Real Simple Syndication). RSS is what makes blogs so viral, taking the content and putting it automatically into an exportable format that online viewers can subscribe to using an RSS Reader (Google’s RSS Reader is quite popular) as well as integrate on their custom start pages (Yahoo, Google and NetVibes are leaders in this market). In addition, the RSS feeds can be integrated into a Facebook Group or Profile, a Plaxo.com profile and a FriendFeed.com profile, just to name a few. From these integrations, the blog’s information is allowed to spread far and wide, allowing online viewers to stay up to date on your website’s content in their viewing method of choice.

Lastly, blogs have tags, allowing the writer posting a blog to include a set of key words that best match the blog’s content in the form of a comma-delimited tag unique for each blog posting. Tags are also structured content and help increase search engine placement as well, serving as “key word metatags” that search engines have often used in the past when indexing your own website.

So how does this blog integrate quickly and easily into your current website, either as a separate blog or as the central part of your website’s content? There are many ways of doing this, and each one has its pros and cons, depending on your unique website needs.

Frames: this is probably the easiest way to integrate one website into another. Using framing technology, as well as iFrames, a blog can be integrated into your website in the most straightforward means possible. The downside to this is that the entire blog structure becomes part of your site, so if the blog has one design and your website has another, the two married together does not always look as smooth as it could be.

DHTML: using this more advanced style of HTML code, your programmer can integrate your blog more cleanly into your current website structure. For more information on various ways to accomplish this, go to: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex18/ . Using this style, even though the blog is more tightly integrated into your website, the links all go directly to your blog entries. If you want full control over what the content looks like when a user clicks on a blog link, then an alternative method will need to be used.

XML Programming: Although this style of integration will require you to work with a website programmer who is a bit more advanced than the rest, it is well worth your time to explore this option if the blog is to become tightly integrated and a fully functioning piece of your website’s content. Using the RSS feed, a programmer is able to pull in the blog’s content and work with it in much the same way that he or she would have done using an older content management system.

The example shown below is done in Cold Fusion, but described in detail in such a way that a programmer proficient in PHP or ASP coding should be able to adapt it to your needs.

The RSS feed’s XML structure appears as follows.

RSS Feed XML Sample
(see PDF download linked below for sample code)

You can see that all elements of the blog entry are available in a structured format, including the thumbnail photo and the blog’s tags (seen as categories in this example).

RSS feeds come in two primary formats, ATOM and RSS (and a 3rd, called RDF, which is less used). The first example shown below is for an ATOM feed in Cold Fusion, and the 2nd one, without comments, is for an RSS feed. They are both basically the same and simply two different XML language formats.

Example 1: Reading and Displaying an Atom Feed from a Google Blog
(see PDF download linked below for sample code)

Example 2: Reading and Displaying an RSS Feed from a Google Blog
(see PDF download linked below for sample code)

The other elements of the blog, including the tags, the link to the blog, as well as direct links to any blog comments, are all found in the RSS feed, as displayed in the RSS Feed XML Sample shown above.

Once mastered, your blog is now fully integrated into your website. You can format it exactly the same as any other content found on your site, as well as place your menu, your ads and any other website elements anywhere around these blog entries.

It is this same technology that would allow you to pull YouTube videos of your choice into your website, as well as Flickr and Picasa photos, Delicious and StumbleUpon bookmarks and Digg.com stories you’ve found of interest. All of these sites and others output your unique content (photos, videos, etc.) in an XML feed which is easily integrated into your website to best meet your company’s needs.

In addition, this technology can be used to pull relevant content for use in your website from other blog content sources. You can do a search in BlogCatalog.com, MyBlogLog.com, Technorati.com or Google’s Blog Search program and have an automatic RSS feed generated for that search that can be fully integrated into your website.

An example of all of this in action has been put together and is found at http://newmedia.pinkbananaworld.com.

Lastly, it is this technology that would also allow you to pull in your online member’s blog entries, photos, videos and more and both integrate into the member’s profile on your website, as well as allow you to feature select User-Generated Content that your online viewers will love.

In summary, blogs as content and blog software used as content management software for your website have become the preferred method of many companies seeking to both simplify their use of technology and make the adding and updating of content as efficient as possible. Adding to that the unique search engine placement that blogs command, as well as the interactive capabilities blogs bring to any website’s content layout, and one can easily see why integrating a blog directly into your company’s website could give you a unique advantage in your website’s success online.






Gay and Lesbian Social Networking
Advertising - Marketing - Community

For the full-color PDF version of this story, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/pdf/GMG2009_RSS_Prog.pdf

To subscribe to the PBM Monthly Gay Business Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/BusinessReport/

For the annual PBM Gay Market Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/


NOTE: This article is part of the Gay Market Report 2009 and is FREE TO USE as long as byline above, credit, logo and link are included with story. Credit Pink Banana Media, www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/, and please use the following logo linked below:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/images/pbmlogo_200.jpg



December 2008 Gay Business Report

In This Issue

Integrating Blog Content on your Site via an RSS Feed
Use DHTML or XML to integrate your blog, as well as photos and video on your website
...the attractiveness of using a blog for content management goes way beyond its ease of use and the ubiquity of its experienced user base of writers. Blogs are interactive! They allow your readers to interact and comment on any of the blog postings, and other readers can then interact and comment with each other as well. Blogs are also very structured in terms of how they store content and thus very easy for search engines to index and include in various search results. Since the blog will more than likely be pointing back to your company's main website, the increased search engine exposure should result in increased traffic to your website...

Spotlight on NewGayTravelGuide.com
Over the years, quite a few gay travel websites have come along, with some emerging as real leaders in this strong GLBT niche market. Very few, however, have managed to keep up by utilizing some of the latest technology online today including travel social networking, online video and blogs. NewGayTravelGuide.com, however, is one of those exceptions....

Seniors: Investing In The Next Big Boom- Ourselves!
With the aging of the baby boomers, the redefinition of family and the new concepts of aging mean that anyone at the advent of the changes and in the right place at the right time will be ready to serve a changing senior housing and residential care market.
RainbowVision Santa Fe, serving the GLBT population, is already ahead, and Joy Silver, President/CEO, wants to take the brand internationally. She says the RainbowVision model serves the mainstream boomers as well as the GLBT population- and for similar reasons....

Other Highlights

  • Online Ad Sales with Rivendell Media
  • Finances, The Recession and Generation Y
  • Making Sense Of Social Media

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Past Issues:

The gig is on, Steele!


I have no beef with Mike Duncan; he has in my opinion led the Republican National Committee (RNC) in dignity and with passion. His term is due to expire in January.

But time has come for change. We need new faces and a more visible face for our party. I believe the right person to lead our party is Michael S. Steele and am giving him an official themostsearched endorsement.

Michael is a new face in the GOP; he's a "rising star" and is just plain cool. He was the first African-American to hold state-wide position in Maryland and as Lt. Governor became the highest-ranking elected AA Repbulican (Wikipedia).

Michael has been a visible face appearing on a multifarious range of news media including Foxnews, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Newsbusted, The Washington Times, and Real Time with Bill Maher. He also was one of the speakers during the Repbulican National Convention in August.

themostsearched is asking you to join the cause by spreading the word and signing the petition at: www.draftmichaelsteele.com/. At this site you can also watch/listen to videos of some of his speeches. Another speech given at the Voter's Values Summit is available at Youtube.

Has Obama Committed Fraud?

If there is one thing that upsets me most about a politician, it is when he or she is involved in an illegal activity.

I mean, it's one thing for Clinton to have sex with Lewinsky, but another for him to lie under oath about it. Clinton should have been impeached then and would have if it hadn't been for his Democratic buddies in the Senate; that deeply angers me because I view the Presidency as a noble office for noble citizens NOT liars and cheats. I am not purporting to be self-righteous: we are all sinners and make mistakes, but we are also accountable for the wrongs we do.

I have been watching the likes of Jeremiah Wright and self-proclaimed bomber Bill Ayers come out of the woodwork now that their good friend Barack Obama is president-elect; hey, I rather expected that. It is frankly repulsive--for example to listen to Ayers' continued rhetoric that he was "demonized" for doing the right thing at a time when "thousands of our people were being murdered by our government every month." He then applied his "militant" philosophy to our day: "...just as today, I don't think we've done enough to stop these wars." So, would he bomb again today? Or, being older now, would he encourage others to do so? Yet in the end analysis there's no crime committed in Obama having radicals as friends and Obama has condemned Ayers' actions and left Wright.

Obama has committed a crime in the distant past: he admits he did illegal drugs including marijuana and cocaine. Pretty despicable, but at least he was honest about it and appears to have left those days long behind. For that I can forgive him.

There is a update on a very low-simmering story that has finally come to head concerning whether or not Obama registered for the draft as he was legally required to do so. Debbie Schlussel's recent blog on this subject highlights several extreme irregularities.

I am by nature cautious and skeptical of stories from new sources to me personally. I didn't and don't bite the hook on Obama's so-called forged birth certificate. But being an amateur genealogist I have general familiarity with US government documents and am very concerned that this document may likely be forged.

Schluessel's points are well-documented and easy to follow, but I also enjoyed the Breitbart video interview with Schluessel as well.

Briefly, some of the concerns supporting the forgery of the document are that:
(1) Document Locater Number appears to have been number issued this year rather that 1980
(2) The postmark seal appears to have been forged
(3) The document form (either Feb 1990) issue date is ten years after Obama signed it or altered (Feb 1980) in which case no such form exists

Here's the bottom line: if the document is a forgery, then who signed the form, housed in Obama's hometown of Chicago? Did Barack or a surrogate sign it? If so, then Obama is a fraud. If so, Obama has no noble choice but to resign. Nixon did the noble thing and resigned when he committed a crime.

I agree with Schlussel that an independent investigator be appointed. I am tired of electing government officials and either want my faith renewed in my president-elect that my suspicions are wrong and he is not a crook or I want him out of office.

No Crooks For President!

Spotlight on Clear Channel’s PrideRadio.com

Pop and Dance Hits with a Gay Sensibility
Over the past few years, we've had a variety of satellite and online radio stations appear with some incredible content ranging from dance music to talk radio. We've also recently had real world, terrestrial radio stations bring their music online including 92.7 Energy out of San Francisco and 103.9 Pride FM out of Toronto. Now, we have PrideRadio, brought to us by Clear Channel, with content ranging from online music streaming to Internet on-demand music videos and podcasts.

What sets this new station apart is not only its corporate support by one of the largest radio media companies in the world, but rather its focus on reaching gays & lesbians wherever they may be, whether that's online, in the car, in their homes or on their iTouch and iPhones. By having these multiple "touch points" to the gay & lesbian consumer, PrideRadio.com can better command a marketer's dream of remaining "top of mind" in this cluttered media world, which is worth its weight in gold!


It's not just this multimedia approach, however, which sets PrideRadio.com apart. By being able to tap into the company's vast experience in music programming, PrideRadio.com is able to bring gays & lesbians music they love best, along with fun and edgy personalities such as Ryan & Caroline, radio's "Will and Grace" and program director Harry Legg.

Their website brings this all home, integrating all aspects of the programming into one easy-to-use interface, including an up-to-date "Gayly" blog, photos and current gay & lesbian news clips from local content partners and from around the world. What's unique is that each market that PrideRadio is in features a customized version of the website, so geo-targeting to specific markets can now be activated.

From a marketer's point of view, this is a top-choice company to work with. Their experience in real world events has allowed them to do such promotions as their current "Win A Wedding in LA" contest, capitalizing on the excitement of gay marriage in California, and teaming up with the musical "Wicked" to offer winning couples the chance to be married on the Wicked stage, along with some of the Wicked cast members singing them the song "For Good" from Wicked. Incredible stuff!

PrideRadio just finished a major promotion with Swiss Toursim, giving away a trip to Switzerland on air. Personality Harrison travelled to Switzerland and created daily travelogue features that highlighted travel partner's destinations, and painted a picture in listener's minds that made them visit the site to register for the trip. Banner ads ran across Clear Channel radio stations nationally to help drive traffic to the site.

Of course, they also work with their clients in more traditional marketing opportunities in the world of radio, but offering cross-platform reach in HD radio, terrestrial radio and online radio. That's been enhanced by the release of the "iheartradio" application for the iPhone and iTouch. This puts PrideRadio and all of Clear Channel ahead of competitors in new distribution methods for its content.

In the first two weeks, hundreds of thousands of consumers downloaded the application and now have access to PrideRadio. Director Brad Fuhr sees a bright future for the brand: "We can now offer marketers an environment to get their message to the LBGT consumer via a variety of platforms and see the iPhone as a huge driver of online listening in the coming months."







Gay and Lesbian Social Networking
Advertising - Marketing - Community

For the full-color PDF version of this story, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/pdf/GMG2008-PrideRadio.pdf

To subscribe to the PBM Monthly Gay Business Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/BusinessReport/

For the annual PBM Gay Market Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/


NOTE: This article is part of the Gay Market Report 2009 and is FREE TO USE as long as byline above, credit, logo and link are included with story. Credit Pink Banana Media, www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/, and please use the following logo linked below:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/images/pbmlogo_200.jpg

Consulting Position Available - Hospitality Industry Individual Needed for Training

One of our clients, The Clubs, is looking for an individual with hospitality training experience who can travel to their various locations throughout the country to provide ongoing customer service training to their staff and management.

They are looking for someone with both hospitality industry experience (hotel experience preferred) and the ability and some experience at having done this kind of training in the past.

If interested, please e-mail Dennis Holding at dennis648@aol.com.

Hail to the new Commander-in-Chief!

What a marvelous thing we have done, partisanship aside here, that an African-American can be elected President of the United States of America! I was impressed with the dignity in which the leaders of the Republican Party gave respect and homage to Obama's victory and in turn Obama's gracious acceptance speech. These words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. seem to have been completely fulfilled: '"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."'

Yet it seems to me Rev. King had a bigger vision for our country: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." To me, the vindication of this latter part of the dream comes not on the excitement we share today that an African-American is elected president or tomorrow's dream of an Asian- Indian- or Hispanic-American being elected, but that we see past the color of the skin and it matters not to us what color they are.

Tears of joy are fine for today. It is good to release the pent-up emotion of our forefathers. But today let us begin to further Rev. King's dream by being the first day of beginning to be "color-blind". It is a task that I expect to take many years, perhaps a generation or two, but it ours to take.

November 2008 Gay Business Report

Monthly Gay Business Report
November 2008 Edition

A monthly companion piece to the annual Gay Market Report, this monthly publication features select new articles from the Gay Market Report, as well as Current GLBT Business News relevant to companies targeting the GLBT community. In addition, we're featuring a variety of company spotlights on unique companies in the GLBT space, as well as successful companies reaching the GLBT community.

In This Issue
5 Steps for Successful Social Media Marketing
Let's say you've gotten the approval to get your company involved in social media marketing and are ready to launch your efforts. How will you define success?

Spotlight on Clear Channel’s PrideRadio.com
Over the past few years, we've had a variety of satellite and online radio stations appear with some incredible content ranging from dance music to talk radio. We've also recently had real world, terrestrial radio stations bring their music online including 92.7 Energy out of San Francisco and 103.9 Pride FM out of Toronto. Now, we have PrideRadio, brought to us by Clear Channel, with content ranging from online music streaming to Internet on-demand music videos and podcasts....

Seniors: Invisible and Overlooked
RainbowVision's early motto was (and is) "Envisioning Our Future, Ourselves". The LGBT population has always been aware that if they did not look after themselves, no one else would. After hearing so many LGBT friends talk about buying a house together, and starting a community, Joy Silver took the lead and made the dream come true....

Other Highlights

  • GLAM Magazine Hits Hampton Roads
  • GayFranchise.com Launches New Web Site
  • Germany’s First Gay TV Channel Hits The Airwaves
  • The New Rules of Viral Marketing - eBook Download
  • The Biz Q&A:
    Leading PR Executives Talk About LGBT Marketing, Part 1 of 3

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Past Issues:

Obama and New Party

When I first saw this video about Barack Obama belonging the radical "New Party" I thought Jody Miller was joking: after all, she's pretty hilarious. And, I naively thought to myself 'Haven't I done all my research and found all the radical associations Obama has been a part of?' Apparently I was wrong.

There is a substantial amount of documentation linking Obama to New Party including these two documents from New Party's old website achived by non-partisan Internet Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/19990202063635/www.newparty.org/up9603.html
“We're also backing Danny Davis in a Congressional race, Barack Obama for state representative, and judicial candidate Patricia Martin.”
http://web.archive.org/web/19980203213956/http:/www.newparty.org/up9610.html
"Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary)"

...and this article from the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America demonstrating that Barack's New Party relationship was more than a simple organization that endorsed him, but rather a reciprocal contract:

http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng42.html
About 50 activists attended the Chicago New Party membership meeting in July. The purpose of the meeting was to update members on local activities and to hear appeals for NP support from four potential political candidates. The NP is being very active in organization building and politics. There are 300 members in Chicago. In order to build an organizational and financial base the NP is sponsoring house parties. Locally it has been successful both fiscally and in building a grassroots base. Nationwide it has resulted in 1000 people committed to monthly contributions. The NP's political strategy is to support progressive candidates in elections only if they have a concrete chance to "win". This has resulted in a winning ratio of 77 of 110 elections. Candidates must be approved via a NP political committee. Once approved, candidates must sign a contract with the NP. The contract mandates that they must have a visible and active relationship with the NP.
The political entourage included Alderman Michael Chandler, William Delgado, chief of staff for State Rep Miguel del Valle, and spokespersons for State Sen. Alice Palmer, Sonya Sanchez, chief of staff for State Sen. Jesse Garcia, who is running for State Rep in Garcia's District; and Barack Obama, chief of staff for State Sen. Alice Palmer. Obama is running for Palmer's vacant seat.

...or how about this from the Progressive Populist?

http://www.populist.com/11.96.Edit.html

"New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago."

Notice how all these sources are solidly left-wing media, not right-wingers trying to substantiate some false association. So why haven't we heard more about this? Well Barack sure hasn't been forthcoming about his past, but the distancing started early on:

http://web.archive.org/web/19991115093609/members.aol.com/NewPartyIL/natnews1.html

"NP member and State Senate candidate Barack Obama won uncontested. Interestingly, it appears that the local Democratic machine is trying to distance itself from our folks. At a "Democratic Unity" march on Chicago's West Side, a flyer invited community members to join with a host of local democratic candidates. The only two west-side Democrats not listed: NP members Danny Davis (U.S. House candidate) and Michael Chandler (Alderman and Ward Committeeman)."

So what did this radical New Party stand for? Well, I encourage you to sample some of their own words. Like most parties, they generalize with statements that seem incontrovertible that all would agree with and some "reading between the lines" is needed but I thought these highlights taken from the links below were worth reading:

http://web.archive.org/web/19990222062425/http://www.newparty.org/about_the_np.html and http://web.archive.org/web/19990128005940/www.newparty.org/npprogram.html

  • A reduction of national military spending to that necessary to the defense of the United States, and an end to unilateral military interventions [read: reduce military might; we don't defend our country unless we have UN support]
  • In all aspects of our economy and social life, an absolute bar to discrimination based on race, gender, age, country of origin, and sexual orientation, and absolute security in reproductive rights, fundamental liberties, and privacy. [read: pro-gay marriage; pro-late term abortion; perhaps pro-infanticide in the case of botched abortions?]
  • A progressive tax system based on the ability to pay. [read: increase taxes on the weathly; income redistribution]
  • Rebuilding our cities and metropolitan regions -- the cornerstones of a high-wage and ecologically sustainable economy -- through community-led programs of comprehensive, democratic, high-wage, and low-waste economic development. [read: We love groups like ACORN and AFL-CIO!]
  • Full public financing of elections, universal voter registration, proportional representation, free party competition. [read: pro-voter fusion; fund and require everyone to be registered to vote even if they don't want to vote; create "affirmative action" laws for the government representation by race, gender, etc.]
  • Full employment, a shorter work week, and a guaranteed minimum income for all adults; a universal "social wage" to include such basic benefits as health care, child care, vacation time, and lifelong access to education and training; a systematic phase-in of comparable worth and like programs to ensure gender equity. [read: SOCIALISM OR COMMUNISM; WE DONT CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT JUST BRING IT ON!!!!]

I am serious about this folks, this is the Barack Obama hidden agenda. Look at how it matches exactly with what we've already learned about Obama. I know I am being a bit of a johnny-come-lately but I am trying my best to let you know too before we get "Change" we will regret.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Obama continues to deny his Socialist agenda.

His latest attempt is to deflect the accusation through misleading analogy and humor. The problem is his analogy is grossly misleading: sharing your toys or your peanut butter and jelly sandwich is charitable and praiseworthy.

The problem is that he wants to take my money and your money and "spread it around". The correct analogy to what he wants to do is he wants to go take your peanut butter and jelly sandwich and give it to whomever he feels better deserves it.

Never mind that you worked hard for your sandwich; never mind that you were looking at the poor kind across the lunchroom yourself to share your own sandwich through charity. And never mind that in the process of giving your sandwich to someone else Obama (representing big government) will take a couple of bites out himself. This is the true analogy and this could be construed as Socialism, Marxism, or Communism depending on how your look at it. I personally use the least severe term "Socialism" because I believe the other two terms present a level of coercion Obama has yet to put forth.

The final point to all this is that Obama is a deciever: he is trying to deceive Americans into believing his agenda is charitable, not his true socialist colors.

Interpride - Vancouver - Oct 23-25, 2008

This was my first Interpride convention I'd attended thus far, and I can definitely say I'm looking forward to the 2009 Interpride Convention in St. Petersburg, Florida next year.

I had the opportunity to present a full hour of Web 2.0 and Social Network marketing tips to the conference attendees, and it went over very well. Getting that out of the way on a nice Thursday morning allowed me to relax for the rest of the conference and hang out with all of my new Interpride friends, where we had one of our first evening events at Celebrity's Nightclub in downtown Vancouver. Somehow the night just took us away, and the next thing I know we're off dancing with more new Interpride friends at the neighboring club, Odyssey. Good times!



The wine tasting event on Friday night was another winner, and on Saturday the Gala Dinner brought us all together for one final evening of great food and fun entertainment. Of course we all wandered off to Celebrity's again (after a pit stop for a hotel room party with 10 of our Interpride friends), where we had an incredible grande finale with both conference folks and the locals!!!!

Overall, well worth the time... great networking, educational workshops and people! And the presentations for Worldpride 2012 by Stockholm and London were over the top and well done by both teams... with the 2012 winning city being London!

Photo Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/mattskal/InterprideVancouverOct23252008?authkey=Xyr_vu3AO9c

Links:
- http://www.interpride.org
- http://www.pridelondon.org

NGLCC and their New York Team

We all had a great time in NYC this past week... I flew out for some meetings and to do a presentation to Justin Nelson, Chance Mitchell and the NGLCC board about social network marketing and Web 2.0... a lot of good questions were raised and it'll be exciting to see how this new form of marketing integrates nicely into the current success story that NGLCC is today!



Afterwards, of course, we all met for happy hour, where I got a chance to spend more quality time with Vince of Wells Fargo and Brady from the Guggenheim Museum, as well as Rob Shmalo and Matt Link. Also joining us were Richard Oceguera and Thomas Kovaleskie, the two guys heading up the NGLCC-NY team. It was the start of a GREAT evening!

Howard Bragman's New Book - Where's My Fifteen Minutes

As you may already know, PR Veteran Howard Bragman and Founder of Fifteen Minutes has a new book coming out the first part of 2009 titled, Where’s My Fifteen Minutes?So what can one find in this book? Well, for one, there really is a heterosexual guy on TV. And he's actually quiet about it! And he's even played a gay! We're talking about Doug Savant, who portrays Tom Scavo on Desperate Housewives, but who first rose to attention as the fagelah Matt on Melrose Place. This all comes up in Howard Bragman's upcoming book, Where's My Fifteen Minutes?, an exploration of the p.r. game and how to make it work for you.

Check it out at:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/archives/2008/10/shocker_hollywo.php

Community Marketing Conference in Vancouver was GREAT as usual!

It seems like this past week has been a whirlwind. We all arrived in Vancouver on Sunday night, October 5th, for the opening night cocktail reception at the Sheraton and as usual, this night proved to be a prelude to what turned into a fantastic week of workshops, panels, seminars and good old fashioned networking with some of the leaders in the GLBT travel industry.

Highlights include the party at Celebrity's on Tuesday night, hosted by Mya Lake Reyes of the Las Vegas CVA. But that was the closing night party... in between Sunday and Tuesday night, we were entertained by Travelocity at an incredible party at Oasis, as well as some over the top dinners with our friends at both PlanetOut.com (thanks to Gus Preston and Scott Furman) at Delilah's and Logo.com thanks to Matthew Habib.

At the workshops, some of the new information we learned included the Bear market thanks to Stevo of A Bear's Life Magazine (but Stevo, some of those video clips were just a tad over the top!) as well as the youth market thanks to Scott Marquardt of Chester + Company from Halifax. We also learned more about the concept of marketing to "personas" or types, helping everyone in the audience understand better about the wide variety of folks in the GLBT community, ranging from party boys to yuppie professionals to seniors to adventurers, just to name a few.
The travel expo, open to the public, was fun and included our famous Dallas Cowboys (no, not the football team) posing for us, as well as the hot Mr Gay Priape of Vancouver strutting his hot stuff! Yolaine of the Canadian Tourism Commission stopped on by with her beautiful 2-month old baby daughter... I thought Christian might have been the father, but alas, it wasn't to be the case!

As we wound down Wednesday morning, about half the crowd had already gone home, but for those that stayed, we had a really entertaining and educational panel on topics ranging from Web 2.0 and the GLBT market to the online lesbian market to advanced banner advertising concepts, and wrapped up with a very dynamic presentation on mobile marketing.

All in all, another incredible event put on by Tom Roth, David Paisley and the entire Community Marketing team! Looking forward to next year's events in London and Boston.

Photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/mattskal/CMIConferenceVancouverOct582008

Links:
- www.communitymarketing.com
- www.gaytravelexpo.com

October 2008 Gay Business Report

Monthly Gay Business Report
October 2008 Edition

A monthly companion piece to the annual Gay Market Report, this monthly publication features select new articles from the Gay Market Report, as well as Current GLBT Business News relevant to companies targeting the GLBT community. In addition, we're featuring a variety of company spotlights on unique companies in the GLBT space, as well as successful companies reaching the GLBT community.

In This Issue
Where Have All The Gay People Gone?
There is an interesting phenomenon sweeping the gay community these days. Although there is a lot of discussion and conjecture as to what is going on, to date no one has quite been able to put their finger on it. That phenomenon, quite simply is, "where have all the gay people gone?"....

Marketing Strategies for Staying Competitive in the Gay and Lesbian Market
An in-depth look at the success of VisitBritain and Visit London in the GLBT Marketplace
There are several marketing campaigns in the GLBT community that most everyone is familiar with - the Absolut campaign with their back cover ads on various GLBT print publications, the American Airlines campaigns ranging from event sponsorship to print and online advertising to extensive in-person networking with the infamous Rainbow Team, and the then there is the VisitBritain and Visit London advertising campaigns, consistently running for the past several years in a way that continually reminds us of the UK as a top GLBT travel destination....

Are politicians warming to LGBT media?
Politics, and getting access to politicians, were focus at annual LGBT Media Summit
With the nation’s capital as a backdrop on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, the topic of LGBT press accessibility – to candidates, campaigns, Congress, and the White House – was a major theme on Thursday, Aug. 21, at the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association's 5th annual LGBT Media Summit....

Other Highlights

  • Is a Social Media Friend Really a Friend?
  • Windy City Times publisher edits new book on gay Chicago
  • Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Earns Top Marks in 2009 Corporate Equality Index
  • Levi’s, Unbuttoned and Out of the Closet
  • Cambodia Opening up to Gay Tourists

Download PDF

Subscribe: Click Here
Advertise in future issues: Click Here

Past Issues:

VisitBritain and Visit London: Marketing Strategies for Staying Competitive in the Gay and Lesbian Market

There are several marketing campaigns in the GLBT community that most everyone is familiar with - the Absolut campaign with their back cover ads on various GLBT print publications, the American Airlines campaigns ranging from event sponsorship to print and online advertising to extensive in-person networking with the infamous Rainbow Team, and the then there is the VisitBritain and Visit London advertising campaigns, consistently running for the past several years in a way that continually reminds us of the UK as a top GLBT travel destination. It seems that everywhere we would turn we would run into some marketing effort of this campaign, ranging from a billboard on Santa Monica Boulevard to a large booth at Chicago’s North Halstead Market Days (with hot, kilt-wearing men recruiting passers-by to come on over), with all points online and in print covered in between.

So how did they do it? As a destination ahead of the curve and setting the path for other destinations to follow, what is their strategy and how are they set to take their successes from the past and integrate them with new strategies of the future, taking advantage of a variety of new mediums in the Web 2.0 and Social Networking world including Facebook, MySpace and more?

One major part of their success has been their GLBT marketing consultant, Serge Gojkovich of Gay Consultants, Inc. (GCI). Having a strong background in marketing and the world of gay travel, he has helped navigate this team to stay both relevant and cutting edge in a space that touts well over 100 other destinations worldwide vying for the GLBT traveler and his or her $60B in travel spending.

It all started by identifying the opportunities. VisitBritain and Visit London were able to segment the GLBT market demographic they were going after into three distinct groups, with special marketing techniques all of their own. These three groups and their subsequent opportunities were as follows:

1. Remind Potential New Visitors Why London and Britain Are So Unique
  • Create a contest to get community excited at the possibility of going to London/Britain.
  • Use of traditional imagery (i.e.. Big Ben) and gay/lesbian personalities
  • Introduce “gay-friendly” London/Britain.
  • Affordable Britain Message
  • Geo-Targeted Marketing
  • Local LGBT Newspaper Advertising
  • Maximise combined power of mass market advertising and LGBT tailored advertising
  • Public relations pitches that speak to first time London/Britain traveller.

2. Remind Past/frequent Visitors What Is New about London and Britain
  • Create a contest to get community excited at the possibility of going to London/Britain.
  • Use of unusual imagery
  • Going beyond the “gay-friendly” message of London/Britain. Involvement, Community and Trendsetting.
  • Geo-Targeted Marketing
  • National GLBT Magazine Advertising
  • Social Networking Sites
  • Community Involvement from Street fairs to high-end GLAAD events
  • Public relations pitches that speak to the experienced London/Britain traveler.

3. Remind LGBT market why London/Britain should be the #1 choice for LGBT-friendly travel.
  • London is Europe’s gay/lesbian capital
  • Britain has many gay /lesbian friendly destinations including Manchester, Cardiff and Brighton
  • Strong/Proud Local LGBT community
  • Gay/lesbian life is part of everyday life in Britain
  • Many things to do whether you are gay, lesbian or a couple
  • Production of gay guide
  • History of LGBT Britain
  • London - most visited international city for US and German gay and lesbians according to independent travel surveys

Upon identifying these three market segments, Visit London and VisitBritain included known research they had on the US market, which told them that this audience wanted to be shown a local’s perspective, but from a credible, authentic, and unique experience.

Which led them to their own unique GLBT marketing plan for the past year, which included:
  • Niche within Niche Messaging
  • LGBT Green
  • Active LGBT
  • Clubber
  • LGBT Couple
  • Social Networking
  • MySpace
  • Facebook groups and pages
  • Facebook targeted advertising
  • Community Involvement
  • Street Fairs
  • GLAAD Media Awards
  • PFLAG National Conference
  • Public Relations
  • Press Trips
  • Support Marketing Efforts
The results were:
  • Campaign ran on over 15 LGBT websites
  • Campaign Splash Pages
  • Major Publications including Advocate and Instinct Magazine
  • Local Papers in NYC, Chicago, LA, SFO and Boston
  • 6 Major Events
  • MySpace and Facebook group and pages
  • Major articles in main LGBT publications
  • 5 million eyeballs
  • 40,000 splash page visits
  • 15,000 names /emails captured

So what’s next for this “ahead of the curve” marketing campaign for GCI Consultants and his British clients? For one thing, more dynamic and interactice local perspectives, recruiting real people in various walks of life to give a more personal and first-hand experience for traveling to Britain and London. Expanding that same message into other parts of the UK, and opening up the frontier in Germany, a huge travel market with growth potential for London.

And whatever else this team is cooking up over the next few months, it should be exciting for all of us to see as this group shows us what being cutting edge in the world of GLBT marketing is all about!







Gay and Lesbian Social Networking
Advertising - Marketing - Community

For the full-color PDF version of this story, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/pdf/GMG2008-GCIConsultants.pdf

To subscribe to the PBM Monthly Gay Business Report, go here:
http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/BusinessReport/

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http://www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/


NOTE: This article is part of the Gay Market Report 2009 and is FREE TO USE as long as byline above, credit, logo and link are included with story. Credit Pink Banana Media, www.PinkBananaMedia.com/MarketReport/, and please use the following logo linked below:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/images/pbmlogo_200.jpg

Pink Banana Media Releases Essential 2009 Gay Market Report


Pink Banana Media Releases Essential 2009 Gay Market Report

Extensive Report Details Opportunities Available Within Gay & Lesbian Marketplace

LOS ANGELES [SEPT. 18 2008] Pink Banana Media, founded by President Matthew Skallerud, has just released its 2009 Gay Market Report, a comprehensive report detailing various opportunities and media sources for companies that wish to target the gay & lesbian community.

The 146-page report contains a summary of opportunities available to businesses, including web site links for those they wish to get in contact with. For media outlets that have chosen to participate by including their information in the guide, readers will find a more precise breakdown of information, including contact details that will allow readers to make better informed decisions as to which sources will best serve their marketing needs.

Every year, the book is updated accordingly with the most current information and will continue to grow along with the gay & lesbian media marketplace.

This report, currently the most comprehensive and complete snapshot of the GLBT marketplace, covers all aspects of the GLBT community including print publications, events, Internet sites, blogs and social networking sites, says Skallerud, a leading business expert for 15 years. The biggest changes over the past few years have been the importance and increasing relevance of GLBT blogs and the worlds of Social Networking and Web 2.0 in the lives of GLBT consumers around the world.

With large corporations and small businesses finally acknowledging the considerable buying power of the gay community ($712 billion in 2008, according to Witeck-Combs Communications), Pink Banana Media was founded with the mission to help them market their services directly to this powerful segment of the population through methods such as social networking, marketing and advertising, and by utilizing web sites such as Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, IGoUGo, TripAdvisor and blog creation.

Pink Banana Media has already worked with such major clients as NYC & Company (New York City's tourism department), Rivendell Media, Connexion.org, Interactive Male, Community Marketing, GLBTMovers.com, and the Las Vegas Gay Days and Nights event, among others.

For more information, or to purchase a copy of the 2009 Gay Market Report, please visit the official web site at www.pinkbananamedia.com or call (323) 908-3653.


ABOUT MATTHEW SKALLERUD

Matthew Skallerud, President of Pink Banana Media, began his career in the gay & lesbian marketplace when he founded GayWired.com in May of 1995. He successfully led GayWired.com into one of the premiere and dominant gay websites worldwide, translating that success to LesbiaNation.com and QTMagazine.com. In 2001, he expanded this online reach by launching a company focused on both developing niche-oriented websites for the gay & lesbian community and helping companies large and small reach these gay & lesbian consumers through this expanded network of websites, which included GayMonkey.com, GaySports.com, Navigaytion.com, PrideParenting.com and GayBusinessWorld.com, just to name a few. Having sold these sites, his focus is now on the latest in advertising and marketing utilizing social networks and tailoring their opportunities to the GLBT community.

# # #

Website: http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/marketreport/

IGLCC Summit in London, Sept 19-20, 2008

We had an incredible time at the IGLCC Summit in London this past week. With almost 100 registrants, this organization continues to grow and should be a must-attend GLBT business-to-business event in 2009 with the conference scheduled in July in Copenhagen, coinciding with the OutGames.


We had great networking opportunities and workshops focused on GLBT marketing as well as a detailed explanation about their upcoming corporate ratings index they're debuting this year.

Side events including a very pleasant reception at the Novotel hotel sponsored by VisitLondon and Accor Hotels, as well as a closing cocktail mixer at Simmons and Simmons law firm in London.

Whilst I was there in London (my English accent is now developing), I did arrive early so that I'd be wide awake during the conference and thus enjoyed London a bit on my own before the conference began. I attended the store relaunch of ROB London, a very cool and hip leather shop in Soho, as well as had a chance to really enjoy both Soho as well as some of the newer gay venues south of the Thames in Southwark and Vauxhall, including XXL, Bar Code and Fire, just to name a few. It's also really enjoyable to simply take in the social life of London, gay and straight, as everyone descends on the pubs after work and the crowd spills out onto the streets, beers in hand, just enjoying the Fall weather.

For more photos, check out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattskal/IGLCCSummitLondonSept19202008

Links:
www.iglcc.org

Online Gay Marketing and Web 2.0 - Las Vegas, LA and Miami

Marketing to the Gay Community on the Internet?
Looking for valuable insights? A competitive edge?

Attend This Gay Market Seminar
ONLINE Gay Marketing and Web 2.0

LOCATION
Las Vegas, NV
Thursday, October 9, 2008 - 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Paris Hotel (Loire Room)
Snacks included

Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Hilton LAX Hotel (in Carmel Room)
5711 W Century Blvd / Los Angeles, CA 90045
Breakfast included!

Miami, FL
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Wyndham Miami Airport Hotel
3900 NW 21st Street, Miami, FL 33142
Breakfast included!

COST: $75

Certainly, everyone is aware of the gay market. You're likely already involved. But how can you "think outside of the triangle" and advance your positioning in this increasingly competitive space?

MySpace FaceBook Friendster Plaxo LinkedIn Orkut WindowsLive

We will be showing you some of the current trends in making outreach to consumers using the latest Web 2.0 tools including MySpace, FaceBook, Blogs, YouTube, RSS/XML and more. Find out how and why other companies are utilizing these technologies to get the word out to consumers online, and learn more about some of the unique opportunities in the GLBT Web 2.0 space in targeting gays & lesbians online.

Some topic highlights to be covered will include:

  • Using Photos as a Marketing Tool on Facebook - the Amplifying Effect
  • Are you using Content related to your organization or business in order to increase your online exposure and search engine rankings?
    • Utilizing the power of photos, blogs and editorial to pump up your marketing efforts
    • How content can become part of your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts
  • Does your website utilize any of the viral, social networking opportunities for visitors to spread the word about your content far and wide?
  • Have you thought about some creative ways to use Online Video to your business advantage?
  • Have you thought about Entering the Conversation with blog and new postings relevant to your industry?
  • Are you using LinkedIn.com to its full potential?

Advanced Online Marketing

Our Speaker

Matthew Skallerud, President of Pink Banana Media, began his career in the gay & lesbian marketplace when he founded GayWired.com in May of 1995. He successfully led GayWired.com into one of the premiere and dominant gay websites worldwide, translating that success to LesbiaNation.com and QTMagazine.com (gay travel site). In 2001, he expanded this online reach by launching a company focused on both developing niche-oriented websites for the gay & lesbian community and helping companies large and small reach these gay & lesbian consumers through this expanded network of websites, which included GayMonkey.com, GaySports.com, Navigaytion.com, PrideParenting.com and GayBusinessWorld.com, just to name a few.

Having sold these sites, his focus is now on the latest in advertising and marketing utilizing social networks and tailoring their opportunities to the GLBT community. Skallerud starts with the basics of banner ads and e-mail, but expands into the more advanced world of blogs, social networking and online video, and how those components can tie into an overall online marketing campaign including banner ads for some of the best performance for his clients.

His goal is to work with companies wishing to increase the efficiency and performance of their online marketing endeavors, using some of the "tried and tested" of the past few years and merging with some of the new, since "new" is where the eyeballs are continually migrating to on a daily basis.

Seminar Link: http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/seminar/

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