Marketing Melodie in 2012: A Year in Review : Marketing Melodie

Posted by Marketing Melodie on Friday, December 28, 2012 ? Leave a Comment?

I can?t believe that I?m actually writing my 2012 year in review because it seems unreal that this year is really coming to an end. Two years ago I began a tradition of writing a year in review at the end of ?the year. I do this to express my sincere gratitude for everything the universe has brought my way. I still have a habit of discrediting my accomplishments. I often focus on what I haven?t yet achieved so this post is also an effort to combat my bad habit. I want to focus on ?my successes, not what I haven?t done.

First I want to I reflect back on the past few years since I turned Marketing Melodie into my full time career. I noticed some patterns throughout the year. In 2010 I made my transition from being an ?employee? to a full time ?entrepreneur?. This was a major break through. 2010 was filled with travel, speaking gigs and an abundance of break through opportunities including getting hired to teach Marketing at Platt College and so many new connections. I will call 2010 my break through year.

Marketing Melodie Speaking in Beirut, Lebanon 2010

2011 was a change of pace. I was traveling less and speaking less but spending more time organizing, creating systems and solidifying my services and offerings in order to have a strong foundation for monetizing my business. I hosted workshops, charity events and my first webinar. I now had a system for effective prospecting and client management. I also became a certified yoga instructor. Little did I know that my yoga certification would be another tool that would really hold as a strong foundation for my career. I will call 2011 my foundation building year.

Digital Media Now Workshop Novembmer 2011

With everything being so organized, I expected to hit the ground running with my marketing business in 2012. In some ways I did but I also realized that there was so much more that I wanted to learn before?systematizing?everything I do. After all, I left being a full time employee so I could embrace opportunities as they come my way. I?ve spent 2012 learning and exploring. ?I will call 2012 my learning year. I have mastered the art of learning something new everyday so this year is just a reflection of my desire to constantly stay educated to serve as a true resource for those around me.

January always comes as a surprise to me because I never expect it to come so soon. I started the year off with strategically branding my company as a strong force in the Social Media world. I did this in a fun way by jumping on the meme train. I saw a few ?Shit Says? videos that I found humorous. I decided to create one for Social Media titled Shit Social Media Experts say. With the help of my social media friends @jennyjenjen, @iPodschun, @RobotFaith, @ChrisKirkman we made it happen. Although I didn?t get a million YouTube views, the video did allow me to connect with many new people who either work in the social space or are interested in using social media themselves to grow their business.

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With my business growing, I decided that I would need some help to accelerate the growth. I took on a new Intern, Stephanie Trinh. I created a ?more structured internship program to ensure my interns are learning through hands on projects. If anyone reading this is interested or knows someone who is interested in a marketing and social media internship, please reach out to me.

I continued on the meme train to brand my company and created 2 occupation memes. To this day, they are some of the most viewed pages on MarketingMelodie.com. I created What Social Media Experts Actually Do?which fits my passion for marketing and I also created What Yogis Actually Do?which fits my passion for yoga.

What Social Media Experts Actually Do

What Yogis Actually Do

My travel bug never completely goes away. When I get the opportunity to travel for business, I embrace it to the fullest. I was hired by AT&T to be one of their brand ambassadors at SXSW which meant an adventure in Austin, Texas. I had an incredible time meeting so many industry leaders, running an awesome social media promotion where I was giving out free phones, enjoying interactive events and even a Third Eye Blind Concert. In general, there was just?so much winning for everyone in Austin. My cousin goes to UT and my mom lives in Dallas so I also got to see both of them while I was on my business trip.

When I left Austin, I took a little detour to my favorite city to visit, Chicago! I used the power of Social Media to explore the entire city of Chicago. My great friend Krissy moved back there so it was the perfect time to visit. I have another cousin who also goes to the Art Institute in Chicago so it was great getting to see her too. I brought the San Diego sunshine to Chicago. During my 4 day stay which happened to fall on St. Patrick?s Day weekend, the weather was amazing. It was 70s and sunny the entire time and go figure, it was raining in San Diego! I did a lot of sight seeing, ate great Chicago food and enjoyed great company. I definitely want to go back to Chicago soon and I already have a list of must sees the next time I?m there.

I connected with the lovely Jennifer Pastiloff on social media and I won her Facebook contest for a ticket to Tadasana Festival! I was able to make social media and yoga unite at Tadasana Festival. This was just the first of many opportunities to combine my two passions.

Earth day is also in April. I love to do whatever I can to create a more sustainable earth. This year I wrote a post where I shared 10 ways to go green at work.?After publishing my post, I received some nice PR coverage by NBC San Diego as they featured my post on their TV news segment.

Foursquare Day also falls in April (4/16- 4 squared is 16!). For the 3rd year in a row I hosted a fun social media meetup around Foursquare. I first hosted Foursquare Day Hong Kong in 2010 when I traveled there on business. In 2011 I hosted Foursquare Day in San Diego at R Gang Eatery and this year I hosted Foursquare Day San Diego again at Osetra. Everyone had fun mingling, checking in to win prizes, unlocking badges and meeting new friends.

Matching Foursquare Mayor Shirts with @DanLarsen

Foursquare Day Hosts @DowntownRob & @MyMelodie awarding @ty_frank his raffle prize.

Foursquare Day Crowd at Osetra

I?m always open to opportunities that allow me to enhance my skills. I have known for a few years that San Diego Continuing Education offers free classes on just about any subject you can imagine. I finally got around to signing up for a Photoshop class and am so happy I decided to do so. I wanted to learn Photoshop skills so I could easily crop, resize, edit images on a basic level and that?s exactly what I learned how to do. I even got a student ID that I was told I can use for student discounts. The discount is especially helpful if I want to buy software programs.

After meeting ?Jennifer Pastiloff in April at?Tadasana Festival she invited me up to LA to be a part of her Karaoke Yoga class that was being filmed for ABC. I make a brief appearance singing while practicing yoga on TV! Of course I had to connect it back to marketing and shared with you how to optimize your PR efforts on social media all while doing Karaoke Yoga.

Toward the end of June, I received my favorite Klout Perk ever which was an invite to stay at Terranea Resort for a weekend getaway. I took the Amtrak (for the first time in years) to Irvine, then carpooled up to Terranea to meet the rest of the Klout crew. I explored the entire resort and found so much stuff to do at Terranea but my favorite part was really relaxing at the pool and spa.

After my Terranea getaway I hopped on plane to Seattle, Washington. I visited friends, family, ran around the city like a silly tourist, celebrated my Grandpa?s 87th birthday, ?4th of July?and even set up some business meetings. I hit all the birds ?with one stone. I also took a little detour to my neighboring state Portland, Oregon. I visited many Portland must sees including the famous Powell?s Bookstore, which is definitely ?an amazing place for bookworms. I tried the ever popular Voodoo Doughnuts and a nice view of the city at Portland City Grill. I also attended the Portland Blues festival. I have a theory that I bring the San Diego sunshine wherever I go because the weather was so nice in both Seattle and Portland during my stay.

My two passions are marketing and yoga so I decided to combine them both into my career and teach yogis how to grow their business and make money through marketing and social media. I successfully hosted my first marketing workshop exclusively for yogis?at La Jolla Yoga Center.

I also got my CPR certification! I learned another skill that will help me save lives. I also got the song ?Staying Alive? stuck in my head.

It was time for me to lease a new car. In between my leases, I decided to do a ?No Car in San Diego Challenge?. No car meaning I?m not driving a car of my own. I wanted to see if it was possible to get around in San Diego without my own vehicle. I survived almost 1 month without my own car and the first week I was fortunate enough to be driving the Chevy Volt electric car thanks to the GM PR team, I also drove Car2Go, took Uber and took the bus (which surprisingly was very nice a clean the two times I took it to La Jolla). ?I learned that it is possible to get around San Diego without a car. ?Not having a car was?definitely challenging but there were so many positives that came out of it. I was more strategic about planning out my days, I was healthier and got a lot of exercise because I walked more and I was able to connect with old friends who were nice enough to offer me rides.

As I continued to integrate yoga into my career, I attracted more opportunities to do so. I began teaching regular yoga classes for the YMCA. My full yoga schedule can be found here.

To my absolute astonishment, I found myself on Mandatory.com?s ?20 Hottest Geek Girls of the Internet??list among many super smart, sexy and successful women like Jenna Marbles, my friend Jenn Hoffman (she was on the Apprentice!) and one of my favorite YouTubers,?Natalie Tran. I was extremely grateful for this feature and wrote a thank you post to demonstrate how to optimize PR features.

Professional speaking is something I love doing. I haven?t been speaking much this year, but in 2013 I plan to significantly grow my business through speaking. I really wanted to learn more skills to become a better speaker so I decided to take improv classes through National Comedy Theater. I completed Level 1 and Level 2. The classes were so much fun! I learned how to be quicker in responding to any situation and to have confidence in what I say. I just met so many awesome friends from all walks of life through taking classes here. I highly recommend that everyone take an improv class at some point. In fact, here are 10 reasons taking an improv class will make you happy.

After teaching yoga at the YMCA for a few months, more and more opportunities began to open up for me in the fitness world. I had the honor of teaching a yoga class to benefit breast health awareness for the YMCA La Jolla?s Workout in Pink event. The YMCA also sent me to a training for Bender Barre. I really enjoyed learning to teach a fitness class that?s different than yoga. I?m happy to say that I?m now certified to teach Bender Barre classes. Yep another tool to add on my belt.

I made some more headway with my mission to help Yogis and Fitness professionals grow their business. I hosted my second Digital Media Now for Yogis at the gorgeous Chula Vista Yoga Center. It was part of their Teacher Training and also open to the public. In 2013, my goal is to get my marketing curriculum to be standard for all Teacher Training programs.

Digital Media Now for Yogis Students November 2012

I launched my new yoga website and brand, Tao of Yoga. It?s a simple site, but it works. I?m happy to have a place where I can share my thoughts on all things yoga and fitness. I?m also grateful that I have a schedule that?s easy to update so I can invite everyone to my classes.

As you can see, a lot of my business focus shifted from marketing to yoga. I really wanted to create a foundation for my yoga business, which is what I was successfully able to do. I have a website that?s a resource, I teach ?4 consistent yoga classes each week and I?m constantly continuing my own education to become a better instructor. Now that I have my yoga business up and running, I really want to focus on the marketing side of my business again. I will book more speaking engagements, host more digital media now workshops and webinars, and I created a nice referral program for anyone who sends me business for a marketing client. If you know anyone interested in growing their business through effective marketing and social media, please send them my way. You?ll receive a check from me as a thank you!

I celebrated another year with my birthday on December 13th. I like to give out gifts on my birthday. This year I gave everyone 13 happy birthday promotions to enjoy?and had a San Diego themed get together with some friends.

There you have it, my 2012 year in review. If you have some favorite moments of 2012, please feel free to share them with me. Since 13 is my lucky number and we?re gearing up for the year 2013, I?m confident that it will be my lucky year! Thanks to every single person who has read my blog. Whether you read ?one post or read my blog regularly, I sincerely appreciate it. Here?s to a happy, healthy and prosperous new year everyone!

Filed under Blogs, Branding, Career Development, Cars, Digital Media Now, Education, Entrepreneurship, featured, Foursquare, Networking Events, Promotions, Public Relations, San Diego, Social Media, Social Media Public Relations, Speaking, Travel, Webinars, Yoga ? Tagged with Digital Media Now for Yogis, Foursquare Day, National Comedy Theatre, Occupation Memes, Shit Social Media Experts Say, SXSW, Tao of Yoga, Terranea Resort, YMCA

Source: http://marketingmelodie.com/marketing-melodie-in-2012-a-year-in-review/

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