When I think about outstanding presenters in our modern era, I think instantly (and so do others) of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. When it comes to innovating and energizing an audience – be it customers, shareholders or employees – he’s the man!

So I did a quick Google search on Steve Jobs and his speaking skills. I quickly found the following “Present Like Steve Jobs” video on BNET. I’ll also review a BusinessWeek article titled “Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs” that I found by the same man, Carmine Gallo. He must be a really big fan of Jobs’ speaking capabilities.

Here’s the summary tips for your use in your next presentation and mine.

1. Make your theme clear and consistent
2. Create a headline that sets the direction for your meeting.
3. Provide the outline.
4. Open and close each section with a clear transition
5. Make it easy for your listeners to follow your story.
6. Demonstrate enthusiasm – wow them!
   - use action, positive  and powerful words like: exordinary, unbelievable, amazing, cool, fun, incredible
7. Sell an experience
   - Make statistics meaningful and significant
   - Analogies help connect the dots for your audience
8. Make your presentations visual
   - Allow your words and word choice to paint an image (imagery)
   - Paint a picture that doesn’t overwhelm
9. Give ‘em a show
10. Idenitify your memmorable moment and build up to it
11. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse.
    Committ and spend time rehearsing.
    It only looks smooth, confident and natural because of rehearsing.
12. “One more thing…”
    - give them a little more… a little more value or an encore.

Watch the video. It’s well worth it. Maybe I’ll have the courage to upload a video of my next presentation. Until then, I owe Communications Skills Coach and Author Carmine Gallo the credit for this Steve Jobs video and tips outline. More than 95% of it came from him.

- Jason Mudd, APR
AXIA CEO

According to the survey, 20% of 25-34-year-olds and 19% of those earning $75k-$100k said they follow companies on social networking websites. Younger adults and men are also more likely than average to say they find advertising on social networking sites useful.

News Elements
What makes your story newsworthy? Check all elements that apply to your individual announcement. Good news stories have more than one of these elements.

Just the facts, ma’m.
- Who?
- What?
- When?
- Where?
- Why?
- How?

• Cruisers – this group loves independence and connects best with ‘specialist’ brands
• Nesters – this group maintains a skepticism about marketing but connects with specific brands such as Ikea and Amazon
• Super-Breeders – this group is family and child-focused and actively seeks out organic , fresh and environmentally friendly products.

As Gen Xers move into their prime earning years, the study is an important reminder not to fashion marketing campaigns solely based on age demographics.

Greenberg, Karl. “Gen X is More Than the Sum of its Parts,” Media Post, 6.17.08

Road signs are common for politicians. They don’t work too well at night. Why not produce these signs so that the signs reflect and have impact in the dark of night? Even better, use ink technology that absorbs the sun’s rays during the day and glows at night. That sounds like the very innovation and “green” ideas that we need from our politicians to me.

I’ve researched this . The ink is actually not reflective or phosfluorescent, but there is a printable reflective vinyl which has an adhesive on the back. It could be laminated to sign faces easily. Reflective vinyls must be overlayed with a laminate as well not only for protection against UV and abrasion but for easily handling when applying. Check out the attached picture. This material is mainly used for police vehicles and other auto graphics, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be applied to a sign face.

A man wakes up in the morning after

sleeping on an advertised mattress,

under an advertised blanket,

in advertised pajamas.

He will bathe in an advertised shower,

wash with advertised soap,

shave with an advertised razor,

drink advertised coffee after

his advertised juice and

put on advertised clothes and accessories.

He will ride to work in an advertised car,

sit at an advertised workstation,

utilize an advertised computer and

write with an advertised pen.

Yet this man hesitates to advertise

Saying advertising doesn’t pay.

Finally,  when his unadvertised

business goes under,

he will then advertise it for sale.

In short, when times are good, you should advertise; when times are bad, you must advertise.

Consider these facts:

• Economic downturns hit tentative advertisers hard, while those who market aggressively are rewarded.
• Maintaining a strong advertising presence during a downturn, especially when your competition is cutting the ad budget, automatically increases your market share.
• Maintaining market share is much less expensive than having to rebuild it later. Failure to maintain market share risks current and future sales.
• Forward-looking competitors tend to gain market share against companies who fail to maintain or increase ad budget levels in a downturn.
• Brand recognition is maintained through advertising. Failure to advertise through a downturn can damage brand recognition. Advertising through boom and downturns sustains and builds brand recognition.
• Maintaining a company’s advertising through a downturn reinforces an image of corporate stability in a time of chaos. It also offers the opportunity to dominate the media where competitors have cut budgets.
• Companies should regard advertising during a downturn not as a profit drain, but as a profit boost.
  Further, check out these factoids from Advertising in a Recession, a 68-page pamphlet released by the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
• A study of 127 brands advertised on British TV found the brands that increased ad spending by 7% increased market share by 1.1%; those that reduced ad spending by a similar amount lost an average of 1.6% market share. (1993)
• Chevrolet increased its ad budget in the recession of the mid-1970s, while Ford cut back 14 percent. Chevy’s market share increased by 2 points.
• During the Great Depression, Kellogg brands maintained their advertising budget, while rival Post did not. Kellogg has dominated the dry-cereal market for the ensuing half-century. Consumer spending has traditionally increased during every recession in the post-World War II era. In 1960-61, personal consumer spending rose 0.84% from peak to bottom. In 1974-75, it rose 12.28%; and in 1990-91, it rose 11.04%.*

* American Business Media

So why are so many marketing execs retrenching instead of pushing forward aggressively? Beats the heck out of me. Actually, I understand why so many marketing budgets are the first to go in a downturn — it is because agencies are so poor at demonstrating return on investment. Marketing is often seen as an expenditure of questionable necessity and unverifiable results. If we get better at verifying the results of our efforts, we will be seen less as an expense and more essential to profitability. We need to be as good at the business part of advertising as we are at the creativity part.

Take steps to demonstrate more precisely the value of PR and marketing to your CEO and the board. Learn to measure results by tracking and testing your efforts and reporting to your executives how your work supports the business and raises their bottom line. Get better at identifying measurements that you can actually influence. Sales results and increased profits aren’t always immediately impacted by an ad campaign, so look for other measures of success. And take the above arguments to the CEO and make your case. With strong statistical support in hand, and a “Marketing can benefit our business” attitude, you can persuade your CEO to fight the good fight. Together you will emerge the stronger for your efforts when the economic pendulum swings in a new direction.