Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
As the Production Manager at G Media I spend most of my day working with young women, whether it is staff or models. As part of my induction I spent many weeks with Garion Hall discussing and learning about the many issues young women face in today’s society and how they take their toll on self confidence.
G Media takes its responsibility to women very seriously. We collaborate with our models and staff to create an environment which supports the development of individual self confidence so that they in turn can make good healthy decisions for themselves. Over the last 10 years Garion Hall, CEO, G Media, has worked extensively with social researchers, health workers and local women’s support groups to better understand what we can do every day at G Media to empower woman who value who they are, feel confident and believe in themselves.
We believe that once a woman recognises her-self worth and confirms that she is a marvelous achievement then her feelings and trust in her own self worth will soar. Confidence comes from a different place inside ourselves, we carry ourselves differently.
All of our experiences in life are opportunities to learn and connect more deeply with ourselves. The more we connect to ourselves, the more healing we do. When a situation makes us feel angry, sad, sick to our stomach, fearful or off centre in any way, our body expresses this discomfort by a physical contraction. This is a signal for us to reconnect with ourselves.
I love it when I see this reconnection in the young women we work with, and they love it too. When young women start believing in themselves and replacing negative thoughts with satisfaction and confidence, their whole life changes. They are no longer making decisions for the wrong reasons; the decisions they make are decisions that are good for them. I get to watch their appearance actually change too. They stand straighter, they walk with a sense of sureness, and they speak with confidence, because they are.
As a woman, there is nothing more inspiring to me than a young woman learning how to stand in her power or a woman standing strong in her power. I feel so lucky in my life to be able to witness these miraculous changes in the women I work with everyday. It reminds me how big love is.
Tags: confidence, G Media, Garion Hall, gmedia, self esteem
Posted in Blogs, Featured, General, Marketing, Production
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
G Media on Marketing Through Social Communities
Think Global but Act Micro-Local
In this age of online marketing and social networks, many marketing managers and indeed CEO’s consider social marketing to simply imply that online social networks are the key to a community strategy. Online networks are just one tool, not a community strategy. Online networks get lots of buzz, and given today’s enabling technologies it seems silly to pass up opportunities in the virtual world. According to Garion Hall, the CEO of G Media unfortunately, most well-crafted online networking communities can have limitations, and lest we forget,a huge chunk of life still takes place off-line in the real world of bricks and mortar. The reality is that social networks at the local grass roots level such as local community centers, the shopping mall, school, coffee shops often provide social and emotional support stronger than family ties and research has suggested there is a benefit from this grass roots buzz that delivers price premiums of up to 20%. This is nothing new, word off mouth marketing has always been a desired outcome of a good marketing or PR strategy.
Understanding the need to think global but act micro-local is more important today then ever before as consumers seek brands and products that they trust and deliver a perceived price value.
With countries as geographically dispersed as the United States and Australia where a large portion of the population live in smaller regional communities, there is an opportunity for marketers to get back to basics in building local social communities of advocates that will assist in growing market share. These local communities are strongest when everybody plays a role. Opinion leaders and evangelists play important roles in online social networks. They spread information, influence decisions, and help new ideas gain traction. While focusing on opinion leaders may be sage advice for online buzz campaigns, it is a misguided approach to local community building, as communities establish trust by enabling everyone to play a role as products are discussed and recommended in a one-one-one face to face engagement.
Managers can forget that consumers are actually people,with many different needs, interests and responsibilities. A community based brand can build loyalty that is not driven by sales transactions, but by trust and helping people meet their needs. In these type of local bricks and mortar communities, brand loyalty is the reward for meeting peoples needs in the community, not the impetus for the community to form as is the case in the virtual world.
Today marketers need to combine the on-line capability that can deliver a wide range of information and resources at the local community based level, and then ensure they are mapping the feedback that comes from these communities to provide goods and services that meet the needs of the various social networks within each community.
There are several good search engines and community based sites around that allow consumers to search out local service and product information for their own town, and then select products or services based on community feedback.
This micro approach can take a lot of work and requires developing a community engagement strategy that links your product or service to the needs of each community that wish to become a part of.
The end result however will be loyal consumers that tell their friends about your brand allowing you to grow market share, which is of course what G Media is striving for……not much different to 1960 when brands grew on on word of mouth and now we can be combining the best of the virtual world with the natural human need to help others.
Let the staff at G Media know what you think
Tags: blogging, G Media, Marketing, social media
Posted in IT, Marketing
