It’s finally here, if you can believe it! How long have we been teasing you?
We’re ready to unleash Project Jack Bauer and, as we swallow our waves of panic and try to get some sleep through our excitement, we hope you’re as ready (if not more) for this as we are.
Introducing….Spin Sucks Pro!
What Is Spin Sucks Pro?
If you’ve ever heard me interviewed, the question about how we survived through the recession inevitably comes up. I’m not going to lie and pretend it was some easy task. There were many days (many more than not) that I wanted to curl up in the fetal position and not even get out of bed. But there was this exciting thing going on in our industry. An exciting thing that kept me motivated, all while figuring out we have something to offer, no to give back, to our PR and marketing colleagues.
And that’s what Spin Sucks Pro is: It’s us giving you our knowledge (and that of our friends), while helping you further your professional development.
As we look around, there are lots of organizations that could be considered competition. PRSA and BMA both provide professional development through events, webinars, and monthly lunches. MarketingProfs, Ragan, and MarketingSherpa all provide original and aggregated content for you to learn more about your jobs.
But no one offers curriculum, for lack of a better term, for your career development. No one takes you by the hand and says, “This is what you need to do next in order to get where you want to go.”
Spin Sucks Pro is courses through content. You start where you already have knowledge (level one in some cases and level six in others) and you build your expertise as you go. Many of us go to events and conferences and learn a ton, but then go back to the office completely overwhelmed about where to start first. Then our day-to-day lives take over and that conference was six months ago and we’ve not done anything with what we learned.
Now you have an easy way to learn: At your pace, when it’s convenient for you, and based on what you need to better do your job. If you already have strong knowledge of media relations, but have no clue about social bookmarking, great! We have a path for you. If you’ve already implemented mobile payments, but have no clue what to do in a crisis event, awesome! We have a path for you.
Is Spin Sucks Pro For Me?
We’re not going to pretend we’re all things to all people. If you’re a PR or marketing professional, no matter your level, Spin Sucks Pro is for you. I have a friend who said, “But I already know it all!” OK. If that’s true, then we’re not for you. But our thinking is that technology is changing our industry so quickly that you really don’t know it all. And it’s our job to stay on top of, or in some cases ahead of, the trends, try things out, and report back to you on what works and what doesn’t work. We do the heavy lifting; you implement.
What Are Some of the Features of Spin Sucks Pro?
There are four areas of the site: Traditional, digital, mobile, and trends. While we have some content in all four areas, we’re only launching with digital. You can expect the other three areas to be built every 60-90 days, with a launch of each when they’re ready.
If you subscribe to digital, you will have access to everything digital in the site. If we have a new course or a new webinar or a new eBook (think the Dear CEO book that we just released), it’s all included. You won’t have to pay for anything extra, once you’re a member. You will, however, pay for each area, with discounts and priority placement, based on your previous involvement with Spin Sucks Pro. So you’ll have one price for each of the four areas, one discounted price for all four (but that won’t happen until next year because all of the content won’t be ready until then), and you’ll have an annual discounted price. Think of it as a tiered approach and customized solely to your needs.
You’ll also have discussion boards and forums, ways to generate points for prizes and discounts, book of the month club (Joey Strawn and Christina Pappas, this is for you!), and access to experts on certain topics. If you’ve begun implementing a new program and run into a snag, there will be brainstorm areas within the site that you can get some help. If you don’t know how to sell a new trend or idea into your executive team, there will be experts who can help you think it through. If you need help with strategy, you can get one-on-one help inside the site.
How Do I Get Spin Sucks Pro?
Spin Sucks Pro isn’t available until May 1, BUT you can begin sharing the site with your friends.
If you click here, you’ll see our fancy landing page that Nick Harrison, and his team at Dashal, created for us. You can share this page with your friends by tweeting, Facebooking, emailing, or by using any other online tool.
It’s a contest right now! The more you share, the more discounts you get when the site launches. For every 20 people who sign-up from your referral, you’ll receive $10 off your monthly subscription.
If you’ve asked for more information and are already on our list, this morning you’ll be receiving an email with your own unique URL to share with your networks so no need to sign up again. You can use that unique URL to spread the word so we can track your referrals.
In the next week we’ll be releasing beta invitations which means a free month’s subscription in exchange for your feedback. For those of you who’ve been with us since the beginning, you have priority for a beta invitation. If you haven’t been, don’t worry! You can receive a beta invitation by sharing and referring people, by blogging about the site, or by sheer bribery (though we place priority for those of you who are helping us spread the word).
The floor is now yours. What questions have I not answered? What else do you want to know?!