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Kathryn Janicek

Producing the Best You

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You’re an expert in your industry.

You’re smart and you worked hard to get where you are right now.

You’ve seen other people in your industry used as an expert in the media.

You’ve seen the interviews on TV. You know, with the right training – you could be on TV or quoted in a magazine article.

 Portrait Session

You have a story to tell – but you don’t know how to get the attention from the media.

You want to learn how to present better in public – how to tell your company’s story – and keep the interest of your audience.

You need someone to show you what to wear, how to speak more passionately and how to deliver your message in a way that will stay with your audience. Maybe even call a few TV stations to land you appearances.

That’s exactly what I do.

Kathryn interviewing World War II veteran, Delton “Wally” Walling, at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii (2015)

Kathryn interviewing a World War II veteran at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii (2015)

 I’m Kathryn Janicek. I’m the media coach and public speaking trainer people reach out to when they want help presenting at a higher level, telling their story to attract dream clients – or to gain media attention.

I spent 18 years in media across the United States, coaching talent, producers and writers before switching my focus to helping entrepreneurs and corporate executives move up in their careers – and how to sound and look like the expert that’s inside of them.

HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

63ddb859-0af7-4a51-98d0-ceb078536384 I use my experience in media, coaching talent and writing stories that make people take action — and use it all to produce the best YOU.

I interview you to dig up your story, find out what about you will turn on the media – and give you a strategy on how to achieve your media and public speaking goals.
LET ME PRODUCE THE BEST YOU.

Email me, tweet me, Facebook me… let’s start working together.

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Here’s a look at practices that your business can put in place to prevent these incidents, plus tips to diffuse them, should you be caught in the crosshairs.

Prevention means training

Justine Sacco, Adria Richards, Gene Morphis and their employers were forced to deal with the aftermath of their tweets. For Sacco, Richards and Morphis, that meant finding new jobs. For their companies, it meant healing their bruised reputations. But in fact, according to Rob Begg, VP of enterprise strategy at Hootsuite, a popular social media management tool, both situations were preventable.

Most businesses lean on social media policies to detail rules and acceptable use, but that alone isn’t enough, Begg says.

“Most companies are pretty good about having social media policies in place, but what most lack is social media training,” he says. “Not everyone understands what’s private and public or what you can and can’t share. Not many employees understand why all of this is so important.”

In addition to tactical training on how to use social media, corporate training should also cover the strategic side, Begg says. For example, employees should learn how to curate and share content that reflects their personal and professional brand.

Businesses can easily cover both in an hour-long session, he adds. “You don’t need to make this arduous. When you’re onboarded at Hootsuite, for example, a social media coach shows up and says, ‘This is how we look at social media, here are the things you should think about before you share something.'”

Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, says that, in his 30-plus years in crisis management, 90% of incidents have been entirely preventable through training.

“Crises that originate online like viral tweets are easily preventable, which is why it reflects so poorly on your whole organization when something like this happens,” he says. “It makes people question your training, hiring and supervision.”

Training employees on social media best-practices has other advantages, too: “Not only do companies that train employees have a better chance at avoiding embarrassing or destructive situations,” Begg says, “they benefit because well-trained employees feel more comfortable sharing the things that companies actually want them to share.”

5 steps to defusing a social media crisis

https://kathrynjanicek.com/714-2/

Reaching Your Audience with VIDEO

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The internet is overloaded with information, and the growing number of social platforms only means that information will keep coming—at an even faster rate than it already is.

 

How do you make sure your messaging doesn’t get lost in the storm of internet information and algorithms? You already have a strong social presence, you are consistent with email marketing and blogging, and you focus on creating strong and quality content.

 

So, what could you possibly be missing from your marketing strategy?

 

If you’re asking yourself this, then you are missing something very important: video.

 

Video is powerful: it maximizes your reach and the impact on your audience, and when it is executed well, it is efficient and incredibly effective.

 

If you’re not using video as a part of your marketing plan, then you should reconsider—and quickly!

 

Video will make up 82 percent of all internet traffic in 2021. What does that tell us? People are consuming a majority of their entertainment and information through video, and that’s not stopping anytime soon.

 

So, yes — video production is crucial if you want to stay in the forefront of the internet storm, especially if you are looking for new ways to reach and impact your audience. Plus, video allows you to tell a compelling story and captures the raw emotions of your audience.

 

Let’s not forget that quality video content and production is the secret weapon to making the most out of this powerful marketing tool. This means that DIY videos won’t always make the cut.

 

I have 20 years of media experience and have seen first-hand how powerful and effective video is for organizations and individuals growing their brand. I can teach you, and I can help you produce quality, professional, and polished videos that will put you at the top of your marketing game and bring you closer to your audience than ever before.

 

Here’s a look at what strong and professionally produced video will do for you:

 

 

  • Boost your website traffic and rank in search engines.
    We all know the power of Google: it’s the largest search engine in the world. Did you know that the second most-used search engine is YouTube? And, did you know that Google owns YouTube? It’s easy to see then, why adding video to your website can increase your search rankings on Google significantly. You’re much more likely show up first on Google if you have a video embedded on your website. Once your site is found through the search engine, those doing the searching are likely to spend more time on your site.  exposure builds trust and signals search engines that your site has good content, driving it closer to the top of Google searches.      
  • Reach every demographic, even on the go.
    From the youngest millennials to some of the oldest internet users, everyone loves video. The unique part about video is that it is one of the few tactics that doesn’t have to change for each demographic of your audience. If you’re not using video, you probably spend a lot of time tailoring strategy and messaging depending on the demographic: the younger part of your audience consumes information on Snapchat and Instagram, while other parts of your audience, like women in their 50’s, turn to Pinterest and Facebook for their content. Marketing through video means you no longer have to spend time shifting your message medium to ensure you are reaching your audience.

    We also know that video appeals to mobile users, which is nearly everyone. It is reported that 90 percent of consumers watch videos on their mobile devices, and YouTube reports mobile video consumption rises 100 percent every single year. This is good news for you! Since it’s clear people like to watch videos on the go and the number of smartphone users is rising, you will gain a bigger audience.  
  • Build trust with your consumers.
    Trust is your number one priority with your consumers. If they don’t trust what you are saying or doing, then they won’t trust what you are selling. Period. Video helps ease skepticism because it puts a face and brand behind what they’re buying into.

    Promotional videos can build trust because they present your product/services in a conversational approach, making consumers much more open to hearing what you have to say. Show your face to your consumers, be the one who explains to them what you offer. Tell a story, because people like to listen to stories. Scientifically, this approach builds trust— 57 percent of consumers say that watching a video made them more confident in purchasing a product or service online. 
  • Make information quick, easy to consume, and entertaining.
    Let’s face it: people today are moving at a faster speed than ever before. This means they are taking less time to read, and want their information quickly and in a way that is easy to consume. Not only is video a great tool for learning, but it’s also super easy to consume—that’s why we love it!

 

Sure, people can read a list of facts, or dig through a pamphlet of instructions. But, why would they waste their time doing that when they could watch a 2-minute video? Simply put, you’re losing your audience by making them work too hard for their information. Studies show that 79 percent of consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read text on a page. Videos take complex information and condenses it, making it easy to understand, visually appealing, and entertaining.

 

  • Increase the understanding of your services or product.
    Sometimes products and services can be complex, especially when you try and describe them in just a few sentences. That’s where video comes in: 91 percent of consumers say they have watched an explainer video to learn about a product or service, and 84 percent have been convinced to buy into the product or service after watching a brand’s video. Animated videos can be very effective when trying to explain complex information because it brings concepts to life. Animation also helps break up the boring clutter of text and stats, creating a more entertaining way of consuming information.      
  • Increase social presence and engagement.
    The use of video on social media is exploding, with more and more videos flooding our feeds each day. Research shows that views of branded video content have increased 99 percent on YouTube and 258 percent on Facebook between 2016 and 2017. On Twitter, a video Tweet is 6x more likely to be retweeted than a photo Tweet.

    In fact, 76 percent of social media users say they would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining. Fun, entertaining videos to encourage social shares can increase traffic to your site (remember, SEO power!).

 

 

The use of video in marketing is booming in the industry, but many entrepreneurs and small businesses seem to be convinced that they don’t need this powerful tool.

Those who don’t use video in their marketing strategy often chalk it up to not having enough ideas for compelling videos, or the lack of equipment and video production knowledge. That’s how many of my clients felt when they began to explore the world of video production.

They knew they needed a professional—that’s why they called me.

Sure, anyone can make a DIY video on their iPhone, but that won’t make the cut if you are looking to build trust with consumers, gain business, and drive web traffic to be an SEO powerhouse.

As a three-time Emmy-award winning television producer, I know what quality video is and how to produce it. When you work with a me, you have access to the best coaching, equipment, and storytelling tactics. We work through every fine detail to ensure each video has strong messaging that is on-brand and professionally polished. Better video production quality is correlated with more trust, and you need your consumers to trust you.

Simply put: incorporating beautiful, entertaining, and professional video to your marketing strategy is a no-brainer if you are looking to gain more customers, grow across media platforms, and make more money.

 

Storytelling on Twitter – Dig Beneath the Surface of Twitter (Part Three)

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Dig beneath the surface of Twitter

Know your readers, increase your following and develop content with a few simple tools

If you’re Tweeting for your newspaper’s account, promoting the newspaper on your own personal account or just want to advance your skills in driving people to your stories, Twitter offers simple tools to help you grow your readership.

Twitter Analytics

Access your account’s metrics by logging into analytics.twitter.com with your Twitter username and password. This is where you can see your impressions, profile visits and the number of followers you’ve gained. Look at highlights and review summaries from previous months. This is where you see the big picture of what’s working and what isn’t.

To know more about who is following you, from your Analytics home page, click on Audience. Here, you’ll learn about your followers – where they’re from and what they’re interests are. This is valuable information to help make sure your following on Twitter isn’t just growing in numbers. You’ll be able to evaluate if you’re reaching your target audience, the readers who need to know your news.

If you want to dig even deeper, compare your following with others. Click on “+Add comparison audience”, which is below the drop down menu for “Your followers.” This will give you the ability to see how your following compares with different age groups, demographics, lifestyles, consumer behaviors and mobile platforms.

Also from your Analytics home, you can see how your Tweets faired, and how much people are engaging with your content. Evaluate what’s been getting some pick up. And, if something you cherished wasn’t engaged, could a photo or video have helped to boost interest?

Speaking of, pull down the menu for “More”, and open “Videos” to track how many views your videos earned and how long people watched them.

Sometimes it may surprise you which stories go viral and which just don’t connect with an audience, but the more you become familiar with your audience and its behaviors, the more you can tailor your Tweets to raise engagement and readers.

Lists

Create Twitter lists to compile a resource for followers to find other members of your news team.

  •      From your main Twitter account, open your Profile and Settings, and then point to Lists. On the right, you can “Create a new list.”
  •      Name it, describe it and choose to make it public.
  •      Then, from the Lists page, you’ll be prompted to find people to add to your list. Enter your colleagues’ names.
  •      Once you find their account, click on their home page. Next to the “Follow” button, you’ll see three dots.
  •      Click on those, and choose Add or remove from lists.
  •      This will bring up a menu of your list or lists. Check the box for the list you want your followers to use.

There you go. Your list has begun. Now, you can link to it and point your readers to your entire organization’s coverage. This in turn helps you to gain more followers and readers when your colleagues create lists that link to you.

Some journalists also use lists to create community specific information. This helps to filter content and makes your account more valuable to your readers looking for local information.

Advanced search function (digging up information for a story)

This last quick tip on the Advanced search function on Twitter taps into your drive to dig and uncover information by using your research skills and instinctive curiosity. By using this, you’ll pull up much more information than you would if you punch in key words into the main search tool.

 

In this tool, you have a dozen fields where you can plug in key words, phrases, people, places and dates to find trends, mentions and to see how your name and your organization’s name surface in other accounts. This can also help you to find people to follow and come up with story ideas by surfacing what questions people in your community are asking, such as “Anyone know what happened at the Circle K on 101st Street?”

The advanced search not only provides you with insight on how people are talking about your reporting and your organization’s reputation, but it also puts your finger on your community’s pulse, helping you to create better content and stay ahead of your competitors.

Looking ahead

The reality is there are many ways people find their information, but it is more important than ever that the public is driven back to your professional reporting and valuable information.

Twitter is a vast cybersphere, where just like in print, on your website and the rest of your life for that matter, it is up to you as to how far you will take it.

But this platform is one powerful way to help you tap into a readership already looking for breaking and credible news. You have the ability to refine it and help your readership grow!

As it was from the beginning of your journalism career, the mission remains the same: deliver crucial and timely information and spark important conversations.

 

Help for busy businessowners

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I need help.

A lot of help.

And I get it.

I’m not afraid of asking for help anymore.

My time is worth too much money. I finally realized how to delegate when it’s not worth it for me to do it.

With the onslaught of apps offering the services of freelancers — it’s a helluva lot easier now to get the help I need.

There are apps for masseuses to come to your house, you don’t have to leave your house for a spray tan, manicure… you name it. I can’t remember the last time I did a big grocery shop. They come right to my door now. Which is good when you live on the third floor.

Have a business plan to write? Need help with chores? I love TaskRabbit. I just booked help from a few people to help us move (packing), I use it for yard work when I’m swamped at work — and I’ve asked TaskRabbit’s for help picking up prescriptions when I’ve been sick. It’s too easy. 

 

How to get someone to know, like and trust you

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Your content is good. You know your material. You know how to put words together in a way people want to read.

You’re nearly there.

But the game isn’t won yet.

No matter how strong a writer you are, you won’t grow the vibrant audience that supports your business until you fit one more piece into place.

Let’s take a look at what that might be …

The reality is, your audience won’t pick up real momentum until you’ve mastered the “know, like, trust” factor.

Face to face salespeople have known this for decades, but some content marketers are still struggling to get it right. Unlock this reader response for more comments, social shares, and followers. For invitations to guest post. And for a transformation in your blog, your business, and your reputation.

Interested?

I hope so, because I’ve got 30 ideas for you …

10 ways to get known online

If you’re a Copyblogger reader, you know that high-quality content marketing attracts attention and builds your reputation — it lets people see who you are and why you’re worth listening to.

Your audience grows in proportion to the quality of content that you create and deliver.

How do you “become known?”

 

  1. Get clear on who you’re talking to: Don’t talk to “everybody”. Identify your buyer persona and tightly position your content for that buyer.
  2. Assert expertise in your niche: Use content to position and prove yourself as an authority. Give your ideas names and labels, and present formulas alongside empirical evidence. This approach has far more impact than simply spouting your opinion.
  3. Create the right content: Research, ask questions, and dig deep to ensure you create content your target niche wants to consume.
  4. Develop a valuable free product: Use it as an incentive to build your email list. Jon Morrow’s Headline Hacks is an excellent example. First discover what’s keeping your audience up at night, then offer a detailed solution packaged in an eBook, special report, or white paper.
  5. Encourage sharing to a wider audience: This expands your network and helps more people get to know you. Social media simplifies the mechanics of sharing, but to leverage its power you must be remarkable in some way … thought-provoking, engaging, stimulating, entertaining, etc.
  6. Build relationships with key influencers: In the authority stakes (as in all of professional life), who you know is almost as important as what you know. Use social networking and blog post commenting to attract the attention of influencers in your topic. Don’t be a suck-up, but do be smart and tactical. After all, you won’t be the only one vying for attention!
  7. Create a popular blog: Focus on your topic, express your personality, and use it as a base to express your unique perspective. Some great advice sites are out there to help you get better at this. I like Pushing Social and Boost Blog Traffic.
  8. Interview the experts. This proven technique lets you tap into the audience of an influencer (and cheekily position yourself with them).
  9. Guest blog: If you write articulate, interesting, and unique guest posts for relevant blogs, you can tap into a whole new audience. It’s the quickest way to get known by more people.
  10. Get creative: Content marketing isn’t all about the written word. You can explore webinars, product reviews, podcasts, infographics, white papers, ebooks, and video to name a few. What would appeal to your audience?

10 actions to build likeability online

Imagine two people with an identical product and an identical price.

One person comes across as boring and impersonal. The other is charming, interesting, and makes you feel good. Which one would you rather do business with?

A high profile alone is not enough to convert prospects into customers. You must also build relationships to nurture your likeability.

Here are ten ways to become better-liked online …

  1. Be authentic and express your unique voice through your content.
  2. Be real: If you come across as a dull, faceless company you’ll simply turn people off. Instead boost your popularity by writing with passion, sharing your stories, and getting personal.
  3. Be nice! It sounds obvious but unfortunately it isn’t. Don’t annoy or badmouth people. Be helpful, responsive, and generous with your time and your attention. Your audience will love you the more for it.
  4. Initiate a two-way conversation: Invite your audience to engage and interact with you. Invite comments on your blog posts and ask questions in your autoresponder sequence.
  5. Be relevant: Listen, research, and ask questions to discover your audience’s pinch points. Package your ideas into thought-provoking blog posts, share solutions on a webinar, or drip ideas through an autoresponder.
  6. Be visible: While the written word is powerful, it’s not the whole package. Incorporate video interviews, Google+ hangouts, and podcasts into your content marketing strategy. Allow your audience to hear you speak and see your body language.
  7. Put your face to your name: Remove the egg from your social media profile, display an engaging picture on your website, and tell your business story in a captivating way on your About page.
  8. Get your social media ratio right. Remember the 95% relationship building, 5% selling formula.
  9. Be generous: Share content and promote other people. Don’t expect people to share your stuff if you don’t demonstrate a commitment to do the same.
  10. Deliver social proof: If your numbers are good, show the tweets and shares of your articles or publicly state your subscriber numbers. Content that has attracted a lot of attention will attract even more.

10 factors that build trust with your audience

While you’re delivering your truly valuable content, you’re not selling, but you are paving the road to eventually selling a product that’s related to your content down the line. When it comes to selling online, authority and likeability alone are rarely enough — you need to become truly trusted.

Here’s ten ways to gain trust online …

  1. Give away (some of) your best stuff: The web is swamped with free content. If you want to stand out, even your free offers must be remarkable.
  2. Don’t disappoint: If you say you’ll post an article every day, post an article every day. Break your promises and your credibility evaporates.
  3. Be consistently good: Train your audience to expect a certain level of quality from you and constantly deliver. When you do, they’ll come to you first rather than going elsewhere.
  4. Incorporate testimonials: Let a third party vouch for you by sharing their experience of your work in their own words. It’s a great way to demonstrate how you deliver a positive experience.
  5. Use case studies: Real-world stories give examples (and proof) of your work and demonstrate your capability.
  6. Don’t steal: While it’s wise to be open to ideas that you tweak to make your own, never plagiarize. It’s wrong. (It’s also stupid and counterproductive.)
  7. Avoid jargon and pompous language: Keep it simple, be approachable, and cut the rubbish. We have inbuilt BS detectors and are adept at sniffing out the bad eggs.
  8. Apologize when you need to: You’re not always going to get it right. When you make a mistake, put your hand up, acknowledge the error, and state plainly that you’re sorry. Your audience will respect you far more than that futile attempt to hide it away.
  9. Give your audience space: Use content to allow your audience to choose you — in their own time. Whether they come to you in a day, a week, or a decade, you’ll get far more respect than that sleazy salesman who just won’t go away.
  10. Offer guarantees. When your audience is ready to buy, reduce their risk. For example, offer a 30-day trial, or money back guarantee. Your sales will benefit.

Over to you …

When you combine the elements of know, like, and trust to your content and actions, magic ignites. You become an authority on your subject, and you build a tribe of fiercely loyal followers who can ultimately become loyal customers.

But results like these take time and effort. You need to put the work in — to fight hard for your space. And you can never give up.

I’m game.

How about you?

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