Nicole Ashton asks on the Arment Dietrich Facebook wall, “How do we get on the first page of Google without paying an arm and a leg?” I have three resources for her, ranging from free to $500 per month. Which resources do you recommend??

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I am super excited to introduce you to Dan Hindin, the new community manager at Arment Dietrich! While Dan is with us for only three months while he finishes his master’s degree in integrated marketing communications at Northwestern University, we’re all hoping he decides to join us full-time after he graduates. In today’s vlog, I ask Dan the one thing he wants to accomplish by the end of August and what it’s really like to work here.

In true Gini fashion, I didn’t realize yesterday was the Arment Dietrich five year anniversary until, well, I wrote the blog post and realized how long I’ve been a Vistage member. Oy. Unless it’s my own birthday, that has been ingrained in my head for well more than 30 years, I tend to forget until a day or two later (Feb. 10, if you’re wondering).

Molli sent me an email and said, “We forgot our anniversary?! This deserves a blog post!” She’s right.

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When I started Arment Dietrich five years ago TODAY, I did so pretty blindly. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so I was blissfully unaware that I couldn’t just do client work and grow a business organically.

Well, that worked for about a year. And then things got complicated. FICA taxes? Benefits? Employee handbooks? No shared offices between sexes? Collecting on invoices? Not getting paid for work? Suddenly I was putting out fires constantly instead of doing my trade. And I needed help. Badly.

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Spending as much time as I do speaking, writing, and counseling clients on the shift in how we communicate, Twitter invariably comes up at least once a day (if not more). People don’t understand why they’d want to read about what someone had for lunch. Or, sometimes, someone will tell me they HAVE to get on Twitter because it’s all everyone talks about and they need to have a new way to sell their wares because the old ways are no longer working.

So rather than listen to me talk about how Twitter is not a sales tool or say that, yes, some people talk about what they had for lunch, I thought I’d pull some of my favorite case studies to show how you can use Twitter for your business. By now it’s pretty easy to understand the consumer implications so, instead, I’m going to show you how businesses that work with other businesses use Twitter to generate leads (and revenue).

Caution – this is  really long post, so scan through the case study that is closely aligned with what your business does.

1. Pitney Bowes – a company that helps businesses with it’s mail, workflow, and customer engagement challenges.

A lot of bloggers and reporters have interviewed Pitney Bowes because they are perceived as an old, stody postal meter company. But they’ve done a great job of embracing the social tools to help change their brand’s image, as well as create a dynamic user experience for their customers.

In an interview with Aneta Hall, the company’s emerging media manager, Shel Israel explores how Pitney Bowes use Twitter to engage their customers.

“First, it’s listening and understanding what’s on the minds of the community Pitney Bowes engages with. Second, being helpful to our customers as well as others who want to know more about us. Third, advancing community-based initiatives such as “Holiday Mail for Heroes” (in collaboration with the American Red Cross).

“Twitter is for individuals rather than brands. If you are willing to engage in conversation on a person-to-person basis, it does not matter if you are B2B or B2C – Twitter is the tool for you. Ultimately customer service and listening to customers is about people and not B2B or B2C.“

2. Vistage International is a CEO membership organization whose audience are business owners and leaders

Because Vistage is a client and because I also am a member, I advocated they use the platform to prospect for new members and Chairs, namely the up-and-coming entrepreneurs who are Gen X and (in some cases) Gen Y. But, because their audience was the Baby Boomer, there was some discussion about whether or not their audience is on Twitter. So we tested a few tiny campaigns and began to show some results.

During a two month period, we had some pretty good success:

* There are a few hundred Vistage members, Chairs, and speakers on Twitter and this was an easy way to build relationships with them very efficiently. We  empowered them to talk about their Vistage experiences (good and bad) as part of what they already discuss on Twitter.

* Every time the Twitter community talked about their Vistage experience, five to 10 people asked us about the organization, which led to warm leads.

* A lot of the traditional communication tools we use (news releases, Webinars, and white papers) began to feature some of the really smart members we met on Twitter. So, instead of always using the same experts, we were able to widen our reach through adding new experts and new topics.

* In a two month period, the Twitter campaign secured 36 member inquiries and six new members, which was attributed to our network of members, Chairs, and speakers.

3. I’m a big fan of OPEN Forum because of the excellent business content it delivers on a daily basis.

The reason OPEN Forum uses Twitter is to provide information, strike up conversation with small business owners, and to drive people to their conversational site (which is separate and apart from its corporate Web site).  Their goals are to: Build brand equity, acquire new customers, and build loyalty among existing customers.

OPEN is totally hands-off when it comes to the conversational element. They have had the guts to let the conversation happen … to let the conversation be directed by small business owners and entrepreneurs, and not try to control it. Because of that, they have created even more brand loyalty among existing customers. I just wish their corporate side of things were better because, as much as I love OPEN Forum, using them as a finance option (as a small business owner) just isn’t an option.

4. Intel, as most of us know, provide the processors inside the machines we use for work.

According to Intel employee, Michael Brito, the company doesn’t have an official “Twitter strategy” but it is a tool that many employees use to build relationships, listen, learn from others/each other, and get the latest in news.  Their tweets are not typically Intel related because:

* Pe0ple relate to people, not logos or brands

* Twitter is a place for conversations, not one-way marketing messages

* Twitter builds community, connects people, and fosters relationships; and in order to do so requires authenticity. It’s difficult to be authentic when hiding behind a company logo

5. Last, but not least, and certainly very self-serving, a case study on how we’ve used Twitter to grow Arment Dietrich, a B2B company and service business.

Last January (2009), I was going to the International Franchise Association show and wanted to see how this Twitter thing worked, in terms of creating an opportunity to meet people there, who also are on Twitter. I don’t think, at that point, I even knew the term TweetUp. I just wanted to have an informal happy hour to meet as many people as I could. And it worked! I met @rieva @kategroom @aaswartz and others in less than two hours.

But just meeting them was not the final goal. It ended up that Rieva asked me to write for AllBusiness.com and I was on BlogTalkRadio with she and Angie multiple times. So, an efficient way to use Twitter was to invite people to a happy hour. Then it resulted in various ways for me to build the firm’s reputation through contributed columns and guest appearances on the radio program.

From there, I realized there is certainly a way to use Twitter to network, to prospect for new business, and to convert leads into real revenue. Since then, (many of you know from following me on Twitter), I’ve become a huge advocate of the tool as part of our business growth strategy.

Lots of people say to me, “Well, Twitter makes sense for your business because you’re a communication company.” I don’t agree with that. We are a business. We have to market and sell, just like any other business. We use Twitter to network 24/7, which leads to new business prospects. It doesn’t matter what our company does…we’re finding people who would hire us, just by using Twitter to network. That strategy applies to any company.

A few lessons you can take away from these case studies:

* Twitter allows you to engage in conversation on a person-to-person basis

* Twitter provides information, strikes up conversation with potential customers, and to drives people to your Web site or blog

* Twitter is a way to network 24/7, to develop new relationships and to encourage brand loyalty among current customers

* Twitter is a place for conversations, not one-way marketing messages

* Twitter builds community, connects people, and fosters relationships

If you want even more B2B resources, my friend Scott Hepburn wrote a brilliant post that has a zillion links in it called B2B Social Media: A Resource Guide.

I’ve written, and rewritten, this blog post in my head the past two months and, now that the time is here to announce our news, I don’t have the perfect post yet.

So…I’m just going to write it.

Arment Dietrich is no longer a PR firm.

Yes, I’m serious. We are no longer a PR firm.

So what happened? Well, a few things (including the economy), but the two big game changers were:

1. We had nearly half of our clients tell me at some point that they missed working with me on very strategic projects; and

2. I wasn’t enjoying my job anymore – the reason I started my own business was to do PR the way I thought it should be done and, instead, I was sucked into running a business and no longer doing what I loved.

I did some soul searching. What is it I love to do? Why do I get out of bed and come to work every day? The answers surprised me.

I love to write. I love to speak. And I love working with clients. Other than blog writing, I wasn’t doing any of those things.

So, in September, I began to test the waters. The speaking and working with clients starting picking up and, almost overnight, I was doing what I loved to do. And, through my speaking came writing inspiration and the ability to work with clients every day. But I didn’t have a business that supported this model.

It won’t come as a surprise to you, if you read this blog, that I’ve been solely focused on social media for the past 18 months. And it’s turning into something we can build a business around

As of today, Arment Dietrich allows me to write (with the goal of being published in the next 12 months), but it also allows us to build a business around speaking and coaching. Our focus is a bit different than most – we understand how online communication affects growth to the bottom line and we’ve created a process around how to make that happen for our clients. We now work with executives to incorporate online communication (right now it’s social media, but that will evolve) into their companies in order to: Build their communities, generate leads, cultivate those leads, and then convert those leads into sales/customers/clients for business growth.

Will we do some traditional PR as part of a bigger, overall plan? Sure. But if the majority of your program isn’t focused on digital communication, we’re not the right company for you. In most cases, we won’t do your online communication for you; we’ll help you incorporate it into your business so you eventually fly on your own.

Courtney Lawrence and Molli Megasko are here to help build this new business model. And, of course, we couldn’t do any of it without Patti Knight. Everyone else, though, has moved on to PR positions where they don’t have to change careers.

We are communicators, innovators, and thought leaders. Now we can officially claim our expertise goes beyond PR. But how do we encompass that into one quick answer when someone asks “What do you do?”

How would you answer that question if you were us?

I have two PR groups I want to recognize today: My staff and PR firm leaders I’ve built relationships with through Counselors Academy.

First, the Arment Dietrich team:

@dblazek Diane is our business developer extraordinare. Never have I worked with someone so laid back, easy-going, and not resistant to change in the least. She is always willing to try new things, beats herself up appropriately when something doesn’t work, and is ALWAYS pleasant to work with. I’ve never seen her say a cross word or look or act grouchy. She always jumps in to help me when I have too much on my plate, and knows exactly when to say, “I know you need help.” She also is not afraid to pick up the phone and cold call someone. She rocks!

@ChristineHeim3 Christine came to us as an intern, jeez, more than a year ago. When she decided she wanted to work with us full-time, I had THREE people from other companies tell me they were sad to see her not choose them.  Off on the right foot, to say the least! She is a great writer and a thoughtful colleague. She has a sense of humor that is so silly it’s funny. She’s always willing to go the extra mile and do more than is expected.

@ThomasShort2334 Tom also started with as an intern two years ago. He was in a summer intern group that was highly competitive and we had a really hard time deciding which one of his group to hire full-time. We had each of them present the reasons they should get the job and Tom rose to the top. When you talk about a team player, Tom is who comes to mind. He’s always in a good mood. In fact just this morning he said, “Gini! Let’s get this day started! I’m ready.” He’s a great motivator, even to me.

@JenThomas1116 Jen is a Cincinnati native who came to us last fall. When she interviewed, I was out of the office and our managing director called me and said, “We cannot let this one walk out the door. Do you think it’s alright if I chain her to a desk now?” Needless to say, I agreed we had to have Jen when I interviewed her. Since then she has earned the respect of some of our longest-term clients…clients who typically wouldn’t work with anyone but me. Now they never call me, which is the biggest compliment a CEO can get about someone on their team.

@TanyaFlynn Tanya has such a great mix of experience: Both agency (big and small) and client side. Tanya is one of those people that you look at and think, “I wish I’d thought to do that.” She’s a verocious reader and uses what she reads for innovative ideas that help advance our client’s businesses. If we could pay her just to come up with ideas all day, that would be money well spent!

@AngelaLoiacono When Angela interviewed here more than two years ago, everyone started calling her Scoop because she had such great media relations experience before she even graduated from college. She is one of the most organized people I’ve ever met…she puts even me (I’m OCD) to shame. She is one of those people that you know you can ask to do something, even though she already has a ton on her plate, and she’ll get it finished…and on time.

@CourtLawrence We interviewed Courtney as a favor to a friend of mine…and fell in love with her. She comes from the non-profit world and can put on an event like no one’s business. In the time that she’s been here, I’ve watched her become a professional presenter and someone who has earned respect of colleagues and clients as being smart and effective.

@MolliMegasko Molli was one of my very first employees, who started as an intern. She’s quickly risen through the ranks because of her willingness to change. She’s not at all risk-adverse and she’s seen us go from four employees to a multi-million firm. She understands the vision and works every, single day to help us get there. She’s always thinking of ideas to create collaboration, she’s highly creative, and she loves graphs and charts almost more than I do. She’s extremely results-oriented and takes it personally when something doesn’t go the way she thought it would.

@PattiKnight Before I hired an assistant, I couldn’t imagine what one would do for me full-time. Now, a year later, I don’t know how I lived without Patti. She, literally, is my brain. People ask me all the time if I can meet with them and I honestly can’t tell them yes or no. She knows what I’m doing before I do. A business coach once told me, “You deserve an assistant.” I certainly don’t know what I did to deserve Patti, but now I know I would die without her.

And my Counselors Academy friends:

@tg123 Tom has a PR firm in Albuquerque, home to my favorite Mexican food. He is one of those guys you like immediately…and want to tease incessantly. It might be because, when I met him, @WhenGrowthStall was teasing him and it set the stage. He claims to be a bubblegum purveyor. I don’t know what that means, but maybe he’ll tell me now. Check out his firm’s site here.

@LisaGerber Lisa was a Counselors Academy “newbie” this year and immediately gained our love. She wasn’t afraid to jump in and talk to people she didn’t know, and was happy to join a big group of us for dinner on the first night. I love her because she’s a skier and a cyclist. Now if she just lived closer. Check our her firm’s site here.

@AbbieF I’ve recommended people follow Abbie before because I LOVE her! She is what public relations represents – smart, strategic, kind, without ego, and straight-forward. With Abbie you never get any spin. She’s in Phoenix at HMA. You can check out her firm’s site here.

@Scott_Farrell I’m lucky to be growing a communication business in Chicago, the land of the big agencies. Some would think that’s not so lucky, but I have access to the best and the brightest minds in the industry, without having to pay their huge salaries. That’s how it is with Scott. He and I have served on the PRSA Chicago board together for a couple of years now. We’ve become very good friends, mostly because we think the same and can bounce ideas, issues, and challenges off one another. Even though everyone probably already knows Golin-Harris, you can check out their site here.

@MartinWaxman Martin is, by far, my favorite Canadian PR person. He is one of the most funny people, online and in real life, people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. He’s an author, a comedian, and a wicked smart communciation strategist. He’s as down-to-earth as they come and someone everyone should know. See his firm’s site here.

@BenHWheatley Even though you might follow Ben from this, he may not follow you back, just because I convinced him to get on Twitter two weeks ago. We downloaded Tweetie to his iPhone so he’ll at least know you’re following him. Ben and I work on the Counselors Academy committee together; so much so that @JRHipple calls us Frick and Frack. Ben is in Houston and just launched his own PR firm (yes, in this economy). Check out his site here.

@JRHipple Speaking of J.R. … J.R. lives in Atlanta, he’s really tall, and very distinguished-looking. He’s one of those men that looks kind, but you’re intimidated to talk to because he has such a presence and charisma when he walks into the room. But he’s not intimidating at all. In fact, he is a Southern gentleman who is witty and smart and fun to hang around. Check out his site here.

@JayBaer Jay isn’t in the PR industry, but he helps PR firms develop social media strategies for their clients. He spoke at Counselors Academy this year and everything he said, I just kept nodding my head. He knows what he’s doing so if you ever need help, I suggest you look him up here. Plus, his business card is a bottle opener so it’s worth meeting him just for that.

@EliseMitch Elise was the Counselors Academy Chair this year and put together the entire conference. Her team says she’s a force to be reckoned with, and no truer statement has ever been made. I’ve never seen a conference come together so quickly and so well. And…she’s one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard. She can get up in front of a crowd with such ease and really motivate them. She’s a runner and loves her motorcycle. The only thing going against her is she lives in Arkansas (alright, alright…Bill Clinton is from there too). Check out her firm’s site here.

@ShelbyO Michelle and I hit it off because we’re both cyclists and there aren’t many women who run businesses AND ride at the levels we ride. We rode together at this year’s conference and it was the most fun ride I’ve had. I probably shouldn’t make this public, but we were having so much fun that we missed the breakfast we paid for and the first session, just so we could ride a bit longer. Michelle also has a really successful business in Phoenix. She made an acquisition last year and did it with such grace that it was never apparent the other firm was ever not a part of them. See her firm here.

@RAReed I met Bob in Naples last year…even though he has a PR firm in Chicago. And I only ever see him at Counselors Academy, but it’s as if we saw each other just yesterday. Maybe that’s because we talk online all the time.  See his firm here.

@sixstringsnc Roger is, by far, one of the nicest PR people in the world. He knows who is he is, he does what he loves, and he’s always excited to talk to you about anything under the sun. He has a PR firm in Raleigh, he is a music buff, and his blog quotes lyrics from a song before every post (which I love). Check it out here.