Facebook tip #413: Start with a question

September 17, 2010

Everyone and their brother has built a Facebook Fan page or has a Facebook account.  And the ultimate goal is to get more LIKES and more interaction.  

It makes sense — no one is going to buy from you until they know who you are.

Sadly, most people approach this "new" media with the same methodology as they've used in traditional media.  I call it the "Let me tell you all about me" method.

Imagine being at a party (because social media is a lot like a cocktail party) and a stranger or someone you barely know walks up to you and says…

"Hi, aren't you glad to see me?  I'm quite fascinating, aren't I?  Let me tell you a little about me.  I graduated from college in 1994 and began an illustrious career as a physician.  And I must tell you, my bedside manner is the buzz around around the hospital."

When you see it illustrated like that — it's clearly insane.  And yet, pay attention to what shows up in your Facebook NewsFeed and watch the businesses and business people tell you all about themselves.  Yuck. (If you're grimacing right now, it's because YOU do this!)

On the flip side, watch a master communicator like Scott Ginsberg (the nametag guy) demonstrate the way to begin to build relationships.  You ask questions.  Scott is constantly posing relevant, off the wall, sometimes just plan odd questions.  And boy does he get participation.  

Why?  Because people will fall over themselves to talk about… themselves.  How do you make a sale?  Get people to talk about themselves.  

Are you seeing the connection?

If you want to build an active community that knows who you are and what you do — know who they are and what they do.  Learn all about them by asking questions.

What would be a talk-generating question you could ask your online audience today?

Marketing tip #96: Be specific

September 15, 2010

One of the most frustrating "worries" that marketing types sometimes express is that they want to use weasel words in their marketing.  Words like "nearly," "over" or "almost all."

Typically, they're worried about someone calling them on the details so they want to hedge their bet.

Look at these two sentences:

We've served nearly 1,000 happy customers.

We've served 973 happy customers.

Which one feels more genuine and truthful?  Which one causes you to stop and think about the significance of the number?

Which one makes you think they really counted?  Exactly.  

In your sales and marketing copy — be specific.  Brian Clark at Copyblogger wrote about this topic and said "Non-specific copy is a red flag that signals puffery and a lack of substance, and yet it’s all too common."  Amen!

Go back and review your website, brochure, sales collateral and other marketing materials. If you aren't being specific — it's time for a re-write or an honest conversation about why you can't/won't.

Marketing tip #26: Be brave enough not to tell the whole story

September 13, 2010

When you are creating content — be it marketing copy for a brochure, an e-book, a radio script or even leaving a sales call voicemail — you need to know when to shut up.  We're so eager to tell the customers/prospects all about our widget, service or knowledge — we try to cram it all into one message.

Which is satisfying to us, but miserable for the audience.  Like a firehose — we've flooded them with facts, features and benefits.  And in the end, they can't remember any of it.

Next time — be brave.  Tell them the most important thing.  And then, shut up.  Too many words clog the brain and never allow you to connect with their heart.  And that's where the buying decision happens.  In their heart.

Nissan's new TV spot for their LEAF vehicle gets it.  Watch this spot and then identify the single most important fact about this car.  I will bet you a dozen donuts — you won't forget it. (e-mail subscribers, click here to view.)

Would someone react the same way (emotionally charged AND remembering the key point) if they looked at whatever you wrote last?

If not…how could you turn that around?

Social media training specific to the tourism industry

September 12, 2010

Whether you work at a Chamber, CVB, local attraction, hotel or an agency who does tourism and hospitality work — your world has changed.  Any marketing effort that does not include some elements of social media is missing out.

But you're smart enough to know that you just don't slap a Twitter account or Facebook Fan Page together and hope it works.  You need to integrate the SM tactics with the rest of your efforts.

Easier said than done, yes?  That's why I want to tell you about an online course that will help you get real results.  Real, measurable results.

You know I don't "pitch" or try to sell you stuff.  I only tell you about the things I truly believe in.  I'm not willing to risk your trust on anything less.

Becky McCray and Sheila Scarborough are some of my favorite people.  They're straight-shooting, pragmatic and hysterical.  I know you don't need hysterical to learn, but it sure helps!

There are often one of three problems with social media training:

• It is too basic and generic
• It is too advanced and nerdy
• Or it is well-balanced but not tailored to a specific industry

Not this course.  

They didn't create this course out of the blue — they created it from their own experiences as they work with tourism organizations and destinations around the globe.  You won't get fluff or puffery from them…you will get real world examples, real world metrics and real world war stories.  And when I say real world…I mean from your world.

Best of all — they teach you how to fish.  This isn't theory… this is "get your hands dirty" learning.  

Check out the course.  Read their bios.  Let them make you even smarter.

Click here to visit Tourism Currents. *

*Yup, this is an affiliate link.  I have no idea how much I get paid if you click on it or take the course because that's not why I am telling you about it.

Do you want your jerky naked or hot and smoky?

September 11, 2010

For the last decade, marketers have been talking about customization.  

We've acknowledged that the Baby Boomers had both the personality and disposable income to generate enough market pressure that companies big and small started adding options and choices to their offerings.  

Often, the options were window dressing. Sprinkles versus nuts.  Companies were trying to meet the demand without going out of business.

The challenge in the early days was finding enough customers to make the customization profitable. Somehow, you had to have enough demand for each version so you could still apply some principles of mass production to manage costs.

But today…the mass adoption of the web has answered that question.  How do you find enough customers?  Go online, of course.

The New York Times reports that the marriage of the worldwide customer base on the internet and customization hunger are a match made in heaven.  Check out these stats.

"Zazzle, CafePress and Scrapblog, a site that lets people create and print digital scrapbooks, have each reported 80 percent increases in sales this holiday season compared with last year. Orders at Spreadshirt, where people can customize shirts, bags, umbrellas and even underwear, have doubled. At Blurb, where people create their own photo or art books, sales are up 43 percent.

Meanwhile, overall e-commerce sales have grown only 4 percent this season, according to comScore, and offline retail sales have barely grown at all."

And now…even your beef jerky can be built to order. New Jersey's Slant Shack's jerky offers customers numerous choices.

• Traditional USDA choice or organic grass-fed beef?
• An original or a “hot & smoky” marinade?
• A rub of four tantalizing options or the “naked” approach.
• Finally, brown sugar or spicy pepper glaze.

(No doubt my friends David Armano and Connie Reece are going to order some today!)

Why am I telling you all this?  Because it matters to your business, whether you are a CPA firm or a bakery.  The Boomers created the demand.  But today's digital natives have grown up surrounded by it.  They don't know anything else.

So you can't go the sprinkles versus nuts routine.  You need to actually offer real choices that matter to your consumers.  Cookie cutter won't cut it anymore.

The good news is…you can build customization into many aspects of your business:

• Your products or services
• Delivery speeds/methods
• Packaging
• Billing options

So….how are you going to give your customers real choices that matter to them, feel significant but don't break your business model?

What can Google teach us about marketing?

September 9, 2010

That's exactly the question that Aaron Goldman asked…and the answers he discovered turned into the book, aptly titled, Everything I Know About Marketing, I learned from Google.

Aaron put together a video specific to you — the Marketing Minute audience.  (One of the lessons is about being very relevant to your audience and Aaron is walking his talk by speaking just to you….)  You'll love the Marketing Minute rap he does at the end!

This book is an excellent read — smart, great examples and lots of applicable, customer-centric ideas.

If you want to peek into the pages a bit before buying, check out the book's website or you can grab the free e-book that gives you a very good taste.  But don't be fooled by the smart content in the e-book.  You're still going to want to read the whole book!

Grab the book here (affiliate link) and steal the best of Google's marketing ideas.

Real time search engine for Facebook and Twitter

September 6, 2010

Late this spring a new search engine snuck onto the scene.  Kurrently (www.kurrently.com) allows you to search Facebook and Twitter in real time.

Put any search term or combination of terms into Kurrently, and instantly receive the scrolling results with Tweets and Facebook status updates organized by date stamp. The results automatically update as you watch.

I tried it with "drew mclellan" and found quite a few Twitter and Facebook mentions that I hadn't caught through the normal tracking methods.

It's been pretty tough to find a way to accurately gauge Facebook buzz but this should help considerably.

Interestingly, the developers have added an RSS option.  You'll see it on the search results page.  When you click on the Subscribe, a window pops open and invites you to pay as much as you would like, via PayPal, for the subscription.

An intriguing question – what's the convenience of the feed worth to you?

Regardless of the RSS subscription option — this is a very slick tool.  Check it out.

Why most companies will lose the search engine war

September 2, 2010

Everyone talks about being on that elusive first page of Google.

It's the pinnacle of success and companies spend thousands of dollars to try and outspend their competitors.

But in the end, it won't be your competitors who trump you.  It will be your consumers.

Today, if you Google one of the 20 largest brands, over 25% of the search results will be links to consumer generated content.

Why does that matter to you? Let's look at these truths:

1. Social media is in its infancy and the volume of content is just going to grow.
2. Websites that welcome consumer feedback and ratings are beginning to go mainstream, which means every Tom, Dick and Harry will be sharing their opinions about every product, service and store pretty soon.
3. Study after study shows that consumers are ranking the reviews, opinions and recommendations of the average Joe blogger or reviewer above those of "official sites."

Note:  The visual above is one of the slides from my "Small Business, I'd Like to Introduce You to Social Media" presentation.

Marketing tip #87: Don’t start in the middle

August 30, 2010

This past Thursday, I was a panelist for a MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) webinar with my cohorts on MENG's Social Media Council of Advisors — Mack Collier, Paul Dunay, Beth Harte, Amber Naslund and Joe Pulizzi.

During the Q&A portion of the webinar, someone asked:  "We have a small staff and a very finite budget.  Which would serve us better — Facebook or Twitter?"

I'm guessing that's one of the most common questions on the minds of marketers today.  I know I need to jump into the social media waters…so which end of the pool should I choose?

Unfortunately, it is the wrong question.  Actually, that's not quite accurate.  Sooner or later, it will be the right question.  But it's being asked in the wrong order.  It's not about the tools.  It's about the marketing strategy — just like it was long before any of us knew how to tweet.

Here's the right questions in the right order:

• What do I need to accomplish with my marketing efforts/dollars?  (Goals)
• How will I meet those goals? (Overarching strategies)
• What do I need to do to successfully execute those strategies? (Tactics)  This is where the "would Facebook or Twitter be better for us" question belongs.

Let me give you an example.  In the current marketing plan for my agency, McLellan Marketing Group, one of the goals is to generate more inbound leads/inquiries.  In other words…have the prospects come to us.

Under that goal, one of the strategies is for me to speak at 10-15 national conferences a year.

Some of the tactics to achieve those strategies are:

~ Engage speakers bureaus to represent me (off line)

~ Have a speaker's video that people can view (online)

~ Use Twitter and Facebook updates to let people know I am speaking somewhere…to encourage attendance at the conferences and to remind people that I am available for speaking opportunities (online)

~ Mostly accept speaking engagements where there are potential clients in the audience, not my marketing peers/colleagues (off line)

Etc. etc.  But can you see how much simpler it is to answer the question…when you know the answers to the questions that come before?

Don't start in the middle.  As Stephen Covey has taught us…start with the end in mind.  Know what you need to get done…then decide how to do it.

Media training tip #3: Make it quick and memorable

August 29, 2010

I've decided to cross pollinate my media interview tips by putting the third installment over at IowaBiz today. (click here to check it out).

If you aren't familiar with the earlier tips, you can find them here:

Media Training tip #1:  Have a single message

Media Training tip #2:  Superficial but true

Then, head over to IowaBiz to check out Media Training tip #3:  Make it quick and memorable.

After you've had a chance to check out the latest installment, come back over and tell me what I've missed or what else you'd like to know about how to successfully handle interviews.