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Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru 
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Posts Tagged ‘branding’Tips for Using Instragram to Grow Your Small BusinessMarch 04th, 2014Hi All! With social media ruling the roost in business promotion, it’s hard to ignore any social networking platform these days, and Instagram is no exception. What started as an iPhone only app has expanded into one of the fastest growing and most vibrant social media networks; Instagram for business is a great marketing tool, especially those targeting younger audiences. With over 150 million users already, Instagram is the ultimate visual marketing tool to showcase to your prospective customers your social and human side. Instagram is all about pictures and videos, and thus is a great marketing tool for your business. After all, pictures directly appeal to emotions, increase interaction rate, and strike a chord with prospects, thus making your brand visible to a larger audience. Here are a few tips for using Instagram for building your brand, increasing sales, and growing your small business: Introduce your employees You may not know but most of your followers are keen on knowing the people associated with your brand, especially those who keep your company going. By introducing your team through Instagram photos, you humanize your brand, thus building a connection with prospects and customers while enhancing their experience. Cultivate a following It’s easier than ever to increase your following on Instagram for business by linking it with your Facebook account. Connect specific brand images to your Facebook business page with a relevant, popular hashtag that aligns with your brand image or marketing campaign. This is a necessary step to show to your Facebook fans that you’re on Instagram. Use relevant hashtags (#yourbrandhere) to increase your brand exposure and reach out to a wider audience for leads while helping people find your account. Be polite to follow Do not forget to follow your followers on Instagram. It’s a good idea to follow other brands that relate to your specific brand so as to create strategic relationships on the platform. Give your followers a sneak peek into an upcoming event or a news feature often can help keep them hooked to your page. Not only this, make your loyal followers feel special by sending them updates about an upcoming product, the latest launch, or new releases. This is one of the easiest tips for using Instagram for business – helping build anticipation in prospects and keeping them coming back for more. Don’t be content with static As a multimedia platform, Instagram now allows you to upload 15 second video clips. So why remain static when you can use the visual feature to upload behind-the-scenes peeks at different business activities. A few businesses even use this video feature for customer testimonials and product demos, helping prospects see your human side. Further, you may wish to embed Instagram video in your website or blog to reach a larger community and boost your business exposure. Share positive emotion more often When using Instagram for business, carefully curate your photos considering the likes and dislikes of your target audience. Figure out what kind of photos they would be more interested in. It is human nature to like smiling faces more than sad ones. You may use a serious post occasionally to make an impact, but prefer to share positive emotion more often. Let the powerful imagery in the images evoke emotions that words often fail to express. Encourage followers to share their story with you to build a relationship and show them that you care, unlike most other businesses that merely focus on self promotion.  7 Tips to Create More Effective TweetsSeptember 16th, 2013Hi All! According to Brafton, a Content Marketing Agency, almost 80% of the B2B companies using Twitter are not driving business from it…but WHY? Many of them are not paying attention to the following tweet tips. Are you? Whether you own a small business or oversee the Marketing and Social Media department at a large company, and regardless of whether your business is B2B or B2C, these tips can help! Here are seven, basic yet effective, ways to compose tweets in order to build website traffic, business, and your brand:
Take the time to focus on these tweet tips, as well as be consistent & persistent in your Twitter efforts, and you’ll be one of the business’s that DOES benefit from Twitter by increasing your sales and leads! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Simple Strategies to Get More Business on FacebookJanuary 13th, 2013Hi All! Social Media is an area that I not only conduct workshops and seminars on for small business owners, speakers and authors, but one that I provide private consultation on with every single client who hires me. Now, I realize that to some of you Social Media may not be a mystery for building your brand, lead generation and increased sales, however I will tell you it IS a huge mystery to most anyone who contacts me. The common questions I hear are: How can I get more followers on Twitter and attract customers? I have a Facebook Business (Fan) Page but how do I use for marketing to get more clients? I have no idea how to use LinkedIn, Pinterest or YouTube for business, so what should I be doing? How can I use social media for book or product marketing? And on and on and on…I’m not exaggerating when I say those types of questions are posed to me several times a week. Obviously each one of those inquiries could each be the topic of its own book (and many have been!), so I’ll narrow this down to ONE of those topics and tackle the others in future posts I write. Today I’d like to share an excerpt from an informative article written by Angela Stringfellow, a Business Writer who just had this article published on American Express’s awesome website for Small Business Owners and entrepreneurs, OpenForum.com. Her article is entitled: “10 Tips for Using Facebook to Boost Business”. To avoid copyright issues, here are just the first three tips she shares and then you can click on the link to read the final seven: Here are some innovative ways small businesses can use Facebook and capitalize on the power of this social giant. 1. Integrate Facebook connect buttons into your company website. Website visitors can easily connect to Facebook with the click of a button, enabling small business owners to maintain contact with potential customers even if they never return to the website. 2. Be responsive. Josh Grossman of e-Coupon service SavingStar says his company uses Facebook to communicate with customers and makes a point to respond to every question and comment promptly. Small businesses often thrive on personal interaction, and Facebook is a useful tool. 3. Make it easy to share content. Grossman explains, “Every coupon we post on SavingStar has a Facebook like button. Each coupon gets dozens or even hundreds of likes, helping to spread the word with users’ Facebook friends. All of our blog posts also have Facebook like and send buttons, and we use the Facebook comments plugin to make it easy for users to comment and share those comments with their Facebook friends.” The tips that Angela shares in her article are dead on, so I highly recommend CLICKING HERE to read the other seven! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa How to Create Unique and Encouraging Facebook AdsJune 02nd, 2012Hi All! The following Guest Blog post is courtesy of Craig Robinson, Editor for Qwaya, a Facebook campaign tool that’s run through a web interface. If you’re a small business owner who currently runs ads on Facebook, or plan to, you do NOT want to miss the incredibly useful tips and strategies he, as a Facebook Advertising Expert, outlines to make your online ads much more effective! So…let’s jump in to Craig’s article! With so many different software options out there for you to choose from, you can realistically churn out ads by the hundreds every single day if you wanted to. You’re only limited by your imagination and the speed of your software. However, as most advertisers ultimately learn when dealing with Facebook, quantity never bests quality. One original, inspiring ad from one source can get 10 times the conversions of an entire army of shoddy ads. People left places like MySpace for Facebook because Facebook was of superior quality. No jumbled mess of advertising for porn and dating sites and other garbage. So, to make the most out of this social media giant, you need to post high-quality ads. Below, we will go over a few great ways in which you can hone your ad-making skills. A Five-Step Guide for Creative Ad-Making: 1: Emulation is Not Theft You can think of emulation like trend-watching in this context. The idea isn’t to steal ideas from anyone; and it’s definitely not to outright steal ads. But you need to keep up with trends. As you’re operating a business, it’s difficult to know what groups of people are liking on Facebook these days. You might decide a humorous Rage Comic ad would create a social context buzz, but you may be two years late for that if you’re not keeping up with the trends. So when we speak of emulation here, what we’re really speaking of is keeping an eye on the competition to make sure that you’re not missing the ball. 2: Text and Context are Different Things You can’t always type your way to social context and high conversions, so remember that leaning on text too heavily isn’t how you create an original ad. You want your text to be very specific to the purpose and to provide a call of action without making bold promises and guarantees that cannot be matched. But you don’t want to only rely on the text for a creative ad. For example, a press release style of ad is good, but it’s even better with an image(s). Trying to type your way to popularity isn’t nearly as efficient as going with a blended approach. 3: Target a Complete Niche A lot of advertisers make the mistake of not targeting a large enough niche. Did you know that women over 50 years of age click at higher rates than anyone? Yeah; it’s true. You don’t want to only cater to 18-35 or whatever popular demographic you read about. You want to cater to all inside of the niche. Expand on your main keyword (for instance: stereo equipment) and think of every instance in which it can be used, regardless of age and even of location. Expand, expand, expand! 4: Visualizing the Goal Optical illusions and humorous images and the like are all big draws for people. Remember, the Facebook expert advertises in the realm of social context. The amateur advertises dry business slogans to a narrow niche. Be very visual with your ads and entice attention by causing people to actually focus on what they’re looking at. Your main goal is conversion, but that’s not your only goal. Popular, enticing ads will catch on. 5: Always Test Your Ads The best part about advertising is that you’re never going to rely on one ad and you’re never going to leave an ad out there that doesn’t perform well. As long as you’re testing, you will know which areas of the ad to tweak and how to proceed with a successful campaign. You always need to test what you’re doing. It’s not a complicated thing to advertise with Facebook. Just make sure that you’re always adapting and are always looking to be creative. Thanks, Craig, for those helpful, quick-hit tips for improving your branding and sales using Facebook advertising! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Beyond a Press Release: Two More Strategies to Get Media InterviewsFebruary 05th, 2012Hi All! By writing and distributing Press Releases for myself, I have been interviewed by well-known media such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and many others. And when you give them a great interview or sound bite, they come back to you. I have one reporter who has contacted me 3 different times in the past 6 months for 3 different articles she was writing. That is FREE publicity to the world! Press Releases can also prompt the media to ask you to write an article for them. Why? They perceive you as an “expert”! In a short period of time I was asked by BNET.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and PersonalBrandingBlog.com to write articles for them – all because they received a Press Release from me and it put me on their radar as a “go to” expert in my niche. But once you’ve crafted a newsworthy Press Release, and deployed it through a distribution service like PRWeb.com, what else can you do as a small business owner on a budget to get media interviews? Here are 2 strategies to consider: Spoon Feeding the Media Segment Ideas In addition to sending out “mass news” Press Releases, there is another strategy for getting publicity. I call it “spoon feeding” the media. The media loves it when you approach them with specific story ideas. This can be along the lines of topics like: “Is Your Career Suffering? 5 Unique Tips for Success”, or “Do You Struggle With Money? 3 Surefire Tips for Finding Financial Bliss”, or “Is Stress Ruining Your Life? 4 Proven Ways to Overcome It”. The key here is you’re doing the “thinking” for the Reporters, Editors, Producers, etc. They are always looking for ideas, and appreciate when they get some! So focus on topics that fit within your niche as a Coach, develop compelling topics that would be great interview topics for print, online, radio or TV, find several media outlets that cover stories related to your expertise and that reach your target audience, and pitch them your idea(s). This strategy has worked very well for me, personally, and my clients! And you can approach the media contacts via phone or email. But, and here’s a key point, whether you send them a Press Release or contact them with a specific topic idea, you need to follow-up. Sending them one email or leaving one voicemail message is typically not enough. Try 3-5 follow up attempts before you give up. Most members of the media are approached with many news stories and topic ideas daily, so being the “squeaky wheel” is often necessary. And even if they don’t jump on the first one you present, continue to the send them new ones. Eventually you will get their attention! Sharing Your News Through Social Media Once you have uploaded and deployed your Press Release through PRWeb.com or another online distribution service, the services create a web page for it with a unique url. So not only post your Press Release on your website but also be sure share the link to it with all of your Social Media channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. You can also use the Press Release as a post for your blog. And, when you start to get media interviews, be sure to add the links to the articles or appearances on your website. Plus, share links to those, too, with your Social Media communities. Please note, it’s not only totally acceptable to toot your own horn by sharing these things, it is necessary for building your business and brand! OKAY! There is your crash course in how implementing effective PR strategies can benefit your business. Again, this is a key marketing tool for building brand awareness, positioning yourself as an expert (ie: personal branding), generating sales for events and products, attracting new clients, and landing speaking engagements. Being persistent and consistent with your PR efforts can bring you substantial returns…and prospects will be impressed by the media coverage you post on your website. It really will build your credibility as an expert in your field! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa
Experts Share Great Tips for Using Videos for MarketingAugust 08th, 2011Hi All! I came across this terrific article on SocialMediaExaminer.com, written by Cindy King, entitled: “29 tips to make Your Video Marketing Easy“. Basically, if you are a small business owner wondering how you can begin to use, or more effectively use, short videos in your marketing mix, and you’re on a limited budget, you don’t want to pass up these great tips! Cindy interviewed experts to share some helpful tips to improve your efforts and strategies. Here are a few of the tips shared, and you can read the entire list of 29 by CLICKING HERE! 5 out of the 29 tips:Chris Garrett @ChrisGarrett #1: Try video now My biggest tip is to try video out, see if it works for you. I resisted video for so long due to my shyness, but when I did put some videos out there my audience reacted so warmly (and forgiving of my goofs) that I wish I had tried sooner. You don’t need professional gear, expert editing skills and software, and you don’t need a fancy script. You don’t even need to be super-confident in front of the camera. Just make a good point and deliver content people can use and enjoy. There is no time like the present. Get started! Chris Garrett, author of the popular blog chrisg.com. Kristi Hines @kikolani #2: Use Google Search Stories if you’re shy If you’re shy about videos and not ready to put your face (or voice) on camera, there are still options! My particular favorite is using Google Search Stories to show viewers your best online properties by simply searching for them. You can see mine below that highlights my blog and guest posting contributions. If you’re having a hard time getting particular results to show up, use some more advanced search queries. For example, one of mine was Kristi Hines site: socialmediaexaminer.com, which showed results with just my posts here on Social Media Examiner. You can get really creative too, incorporating results from Google image, maps, news, blog, product and book search to feature photography, a business location, blog posts, stuff you sell and books you have written! Kristi Hines, author of the popular blog Kikolani. Stephanie Gehman @airport_girl
#3: Find your company’s best cheerleader Find your internal cheerleader to be the person you put in front of the camera. Your marketing and sales professionals are not always the most likely candidates to be the star of your company/brand’s videos. Consider the person in the office who encourages and has a smile for everyone, as his/her natural exuberance may be just the on-camera talent you’re looking for! Stephanie Gehman is marketing manager for Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania. Lewis Howes @LewisHowes #4: Start publishing regularly Video can seem like just another challenge to overcome, but I see a major increase in my business and brand awareness all from the power of video. There are a number of tips I could share, but the best one is easy. Simply put, it’s important to start publishing video on a consistent basis. Don’t worry about what camera to use (I use the reverse camera on my iPhone often) and don’t worry about editing it to make it look perfect (the “mess-ups” will make you look more genuine and real) as the most important thing is to simply get your message out there on video. Start with shorter 1- to 3-minute videos that educate your audience, then as you get more comfortable, you can make them longer or do more editing, but for now, the best thing you can do is take action and produce videos on a consistent basis. Lewis Howes, author of a popular blog and soon-to-be-launched Video Traffic Academy. Neal Rodriguez @notifyneal #5: Be transparent and authentic You want to be as transparent and authentic as you can be when expressing yourself on video; talk with a naked tongue. I have generated business through video by communicating passionately and honestly on the topic of social media marketing. I have touched on topics and tactics that other people with whom I operate don’t discuss, like the successful use of social bookmarking platforms like Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon. Success with such platforms is perceived as black magic by most social media marketers and strategists, but I have communicated how I have been successful in detail through video. The other critical component is the marketing of your videos. I have developed relationships by helping other bloggers and webmasters in my niche, who have allowed me to post guest contributions on their websites. This way, a proportion of people who visit another website will visit mine, and a proportion of people who visit my website linked from the guest post will subscribe to my email list, RSS feed, Twitter, YouTube, Digg and Facebook digital assets. Once you have built a community of engaged friends with whom you keep in touch through social channels, some of these people will help you promote your content by sharing it on social media, buying your products or services, or referring you to somebody who will buy your products or services. Neal Rodriguez is an online marketer who teaches companies how to use social media marketing. OKAY! There are 5 tips to get your head around using video in your marketing mix. But don’t forget to check out the other 24 ideas and strategies that Cindy compiled. Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Lisa Orrell Voted “Top 30 Brand Gurus in the World”June 01st, 2011Hi All! Okay, so I have some cool news to share, therefore this post is a bit self-serving…but I can occasionally share news about me, and not just helpful tips, on my own blog…right??? Here’s the news I wanted to tell you about…it’s the actual Press Release that was deployed on PRWeb.com: Lisa Orrell, Branding Expert and Marketing Consultant, Recently Voted “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” Voted on by over 22,000 industry peers and business professionals, Lisa Orrell makes BrandGurus.net’s prestigious Top 30 Brand Gurus List along with other globally known marketing experts, such as: Stephen Denny, Martin Roll, Sally Hogshead and Dan Schawbel. Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is a well-known 20-year Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Certified Success Coach who works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, entertainers, professional and aspiring speakers, and book authors. And, based on her track record, she was recently included on BrandGurus.net’s “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” List. According to BrandGurus.net, the winners who made their final Top 30 list were voted on by more than 22,000 industry and business professionals around the globe. “I didn’t even know I had been nominated to be considered for this list. Apparently they had a rather large list of candidates and then put it out to their industry database and social media networks for voting,” explains Lisa Orrell. “I wasn’t notified until the Top 30 List had been selected, so it was a total surprise! And, after looking at the experts who were on there with me, I realized I was in great company. I actually know some of them personally or I have read their popular business and branding books.” Aside from coaching and consulting with clients, Lisa is also the author of 3 business books: “Millennials Incorporated”, “Millennials into Leadership”, and of her highly anticipated new one coming out in August 2011, “Boomers into Business: How Anyone Over 50 Can Turn What They Know into Dough Before and After Retirement”. And, as a professional speaker herself, Lisa conducts popular workshops and seminars on Personal and Business Branding, Marketing, PR, Publicity, Social Media, Book Marketing and Publishing, and launching a Speaker Platform. “I think Lisa totally deserves to be on that list,” says one of Orrell’s clients, Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Coach, founder of the Timestyle Time Management Approach, aspiring author, and professional speaker. “She has been amazing at helping me create my branding and positioning, launching my coaching and consulting business, building my speaker platform, and helping me develop the concept for my first book. Lisa is so good at what she does…it’s what she’s done her entire professional life!” Because of her vast business experience and notoriety, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, U.S. News & World Report, Cosmo, China’s Her World Magazine, BNET.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and countless others. Plus, aside from being selected for The Top 30 Brand Guru’s List, Lisa is also the recipient of over 75 national and international awards for marketing, creative and strategic excellence. People follow Lisa’s business insights, tips and advice on Twitter @PromoteUGuru, through her Promote U Guru blog, and on her Facebook Fan Page: Facebook.com/PromoteUGuru. For media inquiries, to contact Lisa about her services, or to have her speak at your next Professional Association event, contact her at: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com, phone: 408-340-8789, website: PromoteUGuru.com OKAY! So that’s the cool news I wanted to share! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa How I’m Celebrating 2011 National Small Business WeekMay 16th, 2011Hi All! This week, May 16-May 20, is National Small Business Week! It’s an annual event, mandated by the President of the United States, and was started in 1963 to pay tribute to all the small businesses across America each year (now totaling 27.2 million in 2011!). Other quick factoids: More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and small businesses also create 60-80 percent of new jobs in the country…so we contribute to the economy big time! And, because I coach and consult with small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors, and I see how much they struggle with their branding, marketing, PR, sales, book marketing, and/or social media strategies (prior to hiring me, of course!), I wanted to celebrate this annual event by providing you with a special offer to help your business succeed. Special Offer Details: – Receive a 15% discount on ANY consulting package that I offer. I provide a wide variety of package options ranging in cost so you are sure to find one that fits your budget! – In addition to the special savings, I will also ADD one “bonus” consulting session to any package you choose! – This is limited to the first 5 people who contact me by the end of this national event (by Friday, May 20th). So if you are struggling with your branding, marketing, PR, social media, sales and/or book marketing efforts, contact me right away. I can also help you develop a “topic expert” personal brand platform to attract paid public speaking opportunities and media interviews…I help most of my clients with that! Again, this is limited to 5 people and you need to contact me by May 20th. Just send me an email or give me a call and I will email you my complete Services & Options Overview Package. Contact info: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com or call 408-340-8789. Let’s get your brand, business and bottom-line booming in 2011! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Business Building Tools for Coaches and ConsultantsFebruary 11th, 2011Hi All! Many of my clients are coaches or consultants, and they hire me because they are struggling with growing their practices and generating more income. And, some of them are also authors who have written a book to help increase their notoriety as an expert so they need my help with their branding and book marketing, too. If you can relate to any of that, and you are a coach or consultant, I recommend checking out these (2) FREE tools, created by my colleague, Kathleen Gage. Kathleen is an online marketing expert and has helped many coaches and consultants increase their income by becoming more savvy about using the internet as a key marketing and sales tool for growing their practices. Here are the 2 FREE Products she is offering: 1. SPECIAL REPORT: What You Need to Know to Start & Build Your Coaching or Consulting Business Again, it’s free and NO OPT-IN is required! Simply click here to receive this info-packed pdf! 2. 3-PART VIDEO SERIES: Build a Successful Coaching and Consulting Business This is ALSO FREE, and simply click here to access the videos! And, if you’re really serious about ramping your practice, be sure to check out the New Horizon’s Telesummit! 12 Experts (one is me!) will be conducting sessions loaded with advice and strategies all about how to grow your coaching and consulting business. Here is a snapshot of what you’ll learn by attending this event: – Attract higher-paying clients There are several different registration options, ranging in price, so you’re bound to find one that works with your budget! And the event is VIA PHONE, so you can attend from anywhere on your phone. The New Horizons Telesummit is February 23rd and 24th, so CLICK HERE for details! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Cool Online Tools to Reach Targeted Media Interested in Your NewsNovember 01st, 2010Hi All! I wanted to share some very cool tools that can help you reach TARGETED media and industry influencers; who are specifically interested in YOUR news and expertise. By using these tools, you can attract media interviews and get mass media coverage to build your personal or business branding platform, increase your income, and increase the sales of your products (i.e. your book if you wrote one!). AND, I don’t care whether you’re a one-person company, small business, self-published book author, etc. The media (print, broadcast and online) is on the hunt for interesting news and topics 24/7, 365-days a year. So you don’t have to be famous or have earth-shattering news to get their attention! They just want interesting news or segment ideas that will appeal to their audiences. I recently helped an author-client land a featured interview on a popular talk show on Lifetime! And she is a self-published author who just started working with me…getting media exposure rolling CAN happen fast if you make some effort! SO…go for it! 1.) PitchEngine.com Overview: Unlike traditional wire services, PitchEngine enabled users to openly create and share their own content, while including images, videos and attachments at no cost. In 2009, more than 70,000 pitches were shared by 27,000 organizations looking to get the word out to not just journalists, but to bloggers, consumers and other influencers as well. PitchEngine’s “Co-op SEO” concept enables brands big and small to experience exceptional indexing in major search engines. 2.) MediaSyncOnline.com (FREE!) Overview: MediaSync is a free Web-based service from mBLAST that allows Marketers to easily research and use detailed, up-to-date media intelligence on print and online publications, their staff and their areas of coverage. With MediaSync, you can find:
MediaSync allows users to search for the information they need (on their companies, clients OR the competition), refine the results, save their search and receive alerts when new information is available that matches their criteria. They can also upload existing media lists and/or create and maintain new ones, and export it all into a contact list or briefing book. Overview: Check-out my info-packed Learning Guide that outlines the PR & Publicity strategies I help my clients with, and the ones I personally use (which have landed me over 100 media interviews!). This special guide typically sales for $37, but for a limited time I’m offering it for $27. I charge a lot more than $37, let alone $27, for the seminars, workshops and webinars I conduct on this topic…and the info in this Learning Guide is the same as I share in those more expensive events. It covers everything you need to know about attracting the media, pitching the media, writing a killer Press Release, online tools and resources, and MUCH MORE. Simply CLICK HERE for the details of what you’ll learn…it’s on the Products Page of my website. So there you have it…3 very cool tools that can help you reach the media YOU want to reach, and who are interested in YOUR news. Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa
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