Marketing

Marketing in the Round (is your marketing a 360° effort?)

July 13, 2012

You know those people who modify who they are, based on who’s around or where they are? They behave one way at work, one way on Friday nights and another way on Sunday mornings. I think it’s difficult to trust people who don’t live one, integrated life.

We react the same way to brands and companies. Part of what creates a sense of trust for us as consumers is consistent, integrated behavior.

That’s why I’m recommending you check out a book called Marketing in the Round by Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich. (click here to buy*)

It’s not about social media. Or new (or old) media. It’s media agnostic. No matter what media you use (and you should use several) it’s about weaving them together so they are all stronger.

I got a chance to ask author Geoff Livingston a few questions and think his answers will give you a good sense of what the book might offer you and why I think it’s a must read.

If you had to describe the content of your book in a single sentence (no run ons) what would it be?

GL: Somewhat conservative methods to approach integrated multichannel marketing in the digital era.

What one book that you’ve read do you wish you could claim as your own?

GL: Oh man, if I could only claim From Good to Great as my own!

In your opinion, what is the one trait that all uber successful business people possess?

GL: Tenacity. We all face trials and failure, but successful people in all walks of life get up and move forward. Successful business people usually find a new way or approach to make their original idea work.

What’s the biggest business mistake you’ve ever made and what did you learn from it?

GL: Naming my company after myself. I think Livingston Communications had the right premise – social media boutique – at the right time 2006-9, but was limited by its ties to me. I could not sell accounts and have other people service them very easily. Also, it was harder to attract top senior talent.

If I was smarter, I would have insisted on a different name that would have made scaling easier. I have learned this lesson in other ways since then, too. I’ll never build a multi-person business again that revolves solely around a singular personality.

Why did you have to write this book? What truth or insight was missing from the human consciousness — that you’ve now answered?

GL: I don’t know if my co-author Gini Dietrich and I made a difference in the human consciousness, but I do think we restored some basic integrated marketing values to the general conversation.

Social media dominates marketing publishing titles for past five years to the point that the sector has grown myopic. Ask most CMOs which tactics are driving ROI, and almost all of them will say direct marketing, not social media.

It’s not that social media is a bad thing. Fractured interactive media have produced these very important eddies of conversations for businesses. At the same time, no one person I know consumes only social media.

We need a more holistic picture. I think this book has redirected the conversation in some ways towards that comprehensive view.

After someone is done reading your book — what do you hope they do as a result?

Step back and think from the stakeholder’s perspective. And if they do, they may use the same marketing tactics, but they should be more inclined to make them work together to better serve people.

 

 

*Affiliate link

 

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Win a ticket to attend AdAge’s Invite Only event

July 7, 2012

AdAge is hosting their CMO Strategy Summit in a couple weeks (July 18th) in Chicago. (read more about it here)  The event is by invitation only and you have to be a:

• Brand Marketers
• CMOs
• VP/Marketing
• Agency Executives with Clients

They’ve got speakers (mostly CMOs) from companies like Build A Bear, Cabot Creamery and Virgin Mobile so you know the content will be pretty compelling.

Why am I telling you all this?  Because I have two complimentary tickets to give away.  

But the timing is tight — I need to give away these tickets on Wednesday the 11th, so you have time to make arrangements to get there.  So I am going to make it very simple.

Leave a comment, saying you are one of the four “types” listed above (agency folks — you do have to bring a client to get in) and that you will definitely attend.  I’ll use www.random.org to pick two winners.

Feel free to spread the word.  The more entries the better.  Also, if you end up not winning but want to track the live tweets — watch for hashtag #AACMO

Update:  Congrats to Roger and Joe – our lucky winners! I’ll be reaching out to both of you as soon as I get details from our friends at AdAge!

Thanks everyone who entered!

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The “how to” of business blogging

July 2, 2012

Blogs, once described as the vehicle for narcissistic over sharers and people who found cats amusing, have certainly come into their own.

Today, while there are still plenty of hobby bloggers out there, the tool is being embraced by businesses and thought leaders in record numbers.

The benefits a blog can bring to a business are multifold:

• Blogs, when built properly, can have a significant impact on search engine results and traffic to your site
• Blogs can establish expertise and credibility for a business
• Blogs can drive traffic to your web presence
• Blogs can shorten the sales cycle by establishing a relationship long before the first inquiry
• Blogs can encourage thought leadership within your organization
• Blogs can lead to other media interviews/opportunities
• And many more!

Sadly, most companies who launch a blog either do it badly or don’t sustain the blog for more than a couple months. If you’re thinking of launching a company blog, here are some basic best practices that will help assure you a solid start.

Build it on a platform optimized for blogging: I can’t imagine why anyone would build a blog today on anything but WordPress. It is relatively inexpensive to use, it is constantly being improved with new updates and plugins, the search engines love it and it has a very simple interface so that anyone who can work with Microsoft Word can add, modify or remove content.

There are other blogging specific platforms out there that are also good alternatives to consider. Whatever you do — don’t let anyone talk you into building your blog on proprietary software that doesn’t allow you to change hosts, servers and control your own site.

Have a strategic plan/editorial calendar: Don’t put your first finger on the keyboard until you have thought about why you’re doing this in the first place. Put some SMART goals in place, know what audiences matter to you and map out the logistics of writing/maintaining a blog. We literally invest most of a day with clients who want to map this out properly. Don’t short-change this critical step.

Write to/for your audience: A blog is not a place for you to put your press releases, talk about what’s on sale or push your products. You need to know who your audience is and you need to know what matters to them.

Unless other marketing tactics, a blog is permission based. People choose to read your content or not. If all you do is talk about yourself, they will not choose to keep reading.

Practice before you publish: For many companies – blogging sounds great in theory but when it comes to actually having both the discipline and the desire to sustain it over time – they fall short. To blog well and right – takes a significant time commitment. Not only do you need to create the content but you also need to respond to readers who ask questions or add to the conversation.

We have all of our clients actually blog for 30-45 days “behind the curtain” so we can help them find their voice, identify potential problems and they can get a taste for what blogging is all about. That way, if they decide it’s not something they can sustain – we haven’t publicly launched something new and then have to explain why it’s already going away. Or worse – is just left there, dormant.

For many businesses, a blog should be a no brainer. But, a blog is an organic, constantly evolving marketing tool that at best, you have some control over. But by it’s very nature – it’s going to grow and change in ways you can’t imagine. So it requires some forethought, careful planning and a watchful eye.

Make it work for you by doing the work to get it right.

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Find newsletter content in a flash

June 8, 2012

Drew’s note:  Here’s a guest post by Patrick Carver on a relevant topic — how do you create and sustain the creation of an enewsletter.

Don’t you just hate writing newsletters?  We all know the feeling. It’s Saturday afternoon and you realize the company newsletter is due to go out on Monday.  You can feel the blood start to boil when you remember how long it ACTUALLY takes to write all that content.  Don’t you just wish your newsletter would just write itself?

A great option is creating a ‘hybrid’ newsletter using a mix of original and curated content. Curation is a fancy name for finding relevant content (articles, videos, white papers, etc.), qualifying it, and then sharing it with your audience.

Using curated material is a great way to complement your own message and save a lot of time ‘thinking of what to say’.  You can use the outside content as a jumping-off point and establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche at the same time.

The first place to look for free content is through one of the these tools.  Google Reader let’s you add your favorite websites to a list and then view all their most recent posts in one place. A great way to monitor your sites without having to bounce around.  Google Alerts is another free tool that lets you add specific keywords to a list and then will email once a day with relevant links and stories.

There are a handful of social bookmarking sites out there like Delicious, Reddit, and Digg  that will help you find material but these aren’t always terribly useful.  Without a human curation element, there is way too much automated/aggregated content on there to really find what you’re looking for.

One of the best options for finding free content is using a ‘personal newspaper’ service.  The gist is that you add some topics that you’re interested in and then the software produces a personalized digest of the ‘best’ stories on that subject for you.  Some of the more popular products are paper.li , scoop.it , and Flipboard  but there are lots of these sites out there.  AllTop  is a great resource that will list all of the relevant blogs on a topic and display their latest 5 posts.

Now you just have to incorporate all that great content with your newsletter template. People often use an email marketing tool like Constant Contact, MailChimp or InfusionSoft for this. But, if you don’t like messing around with templates, you might consider trying FlashIssue  (it’s Free).

Newsletters can be a lot of work but it’s definitely worth the effort.  Don’t get deterred if your first try doesn’t come out amazing and go viral.  Stick with a core theme but experiment as much possible with different story-lines until you find something that really sticks.  If you can figure out how to speak to your customers in a way that makes them want to listen, you’re on to something big.

Patrick Carver is the Director of Marketing for FlashIssue, the newsletter solution.  You can follow him @FlashIssue or read more of his stuff on the FlashIssue Blog.

Related articles

• Zemanta – A Free Customizable Curation Tool(contentcurationdesktop.com)

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• Info Curation and Aggregation Services, Tools & Apps(speedofcreativity.org)

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50 top entrepreneurial blogs for your reader

May 27, 2012

Every year the team at Evan Carmichael round up some of the best blogs out there and put together a top 50 list.  This year’s list for the 50 best blogs for entrepreneurs is a doozy.

Here in the States, we have a long weekend for Memorial Day…so why not use a little of that extra time and load up your RSS feed reader with some of this great content?  I’m excited to be on the list again this year and discovered several new blogs that are now on my radar.

It’s quite a wide array of blog topics — from gift cards to marketing with some strategy and law stuff to boot.

You’ll be glad you checked these out…

TopRank

http://www.toprankblog.com  – TopRank Online Marketing is a digital marketing agency founded by Lee Odden and Susan Misukanis that helps companies increase sales, brand visibility online and develop better customer engagement. We specialize in content based customer acquisition and relationship programs that emphasize social media marketing, search engine optimization and email marketing.

Small Business Trends

http://smallbiztrends.com  – Small Business Trends was founded in 2003 by Anita Campbell, in Cleveland, Ohio. Small Business Trends is the premier source of information, news and advice covering issues of key importance to the small business market.  Small Business Trends appears repeatedly at the top of lists of small business websites.

The Small Business Newswire

http://www.sbwire.com  – SBWire is an online newswire specializing in the needs of small to medium-sized businesses. Thousands of businesses and organizations in over 150 different countries rely on SBWire for commercial news distribution, media contact management, online news room hosting and other public relations related tools and services.

KISSmetrics Marketing Blog

http://blog.kissmetrics.com  – KISSmetrics is different from other analytics platforms due to a combination of three key features. We focus on funnels and conversions and make them easy to track and interpret, use people as the basic unit of measure, and support custom tracking. KISSmetrics is run by a team of designers, developers and entrepreneurs that are passionate about helping online businesses measure, grow and monetize.

Thirty Six Months

http://www.thirtysixmonths.com  – Marissa – recent grad who has credit card debt. and student loans. Unfortunately, I learned my money lessons a bit later on in life.  Even though I worked all through university and grad school, I also spent a great deal of it, foolishly. This blog will document my efforts to have a positive networth and pay off my debt as soon as possible.  There might also be stories of my life and other goals in here as well.

I heard somewhere that it is advisable to be able to pay off all of your consumer debt within THIRTY SIX MONTHS, otherwise debt fatigue sets in. My goal to do it way before that.

The College Investor

http://thecollegeinvestor.com  – Robert – I’m a recent MBA graduate who has always had a passion for investing and personal finance. I’m not uber rich, I don’t run a hedge fund (yet!), and I’m not a millionaire. What I do have is a beautiful wife, a loving family, great friends, and a passion for helping others with their personal finance.

Brian Solis 

http://www.briansolis.com  – Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm. Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture.

Coyote Blog

http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/  – Coyote Blog is the work of Warren Meyer, a small business owner in Phoenix, Arizona. The name Coyote Blog came from two sources. First, it’s a reference to my adopted home of Arizona. Second, it’s a salute to my favorite all time cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, and, of course, that most famous of small businesses: ACME. The original mission was to cover some of the day-to-day travails and lessons learned in running a small business.

DollarVersity

http://www.dollarversity.com  – This blog is a service provided by GreenBridge Advisors, an accounting and consulting firm located in Coral Springs, Florida.  Taking that fact into consideration, you can expect to find articles on topics such as taxes, entrepreneurship, credit, debt management, personal and business finances, and a variety of other financial and business related issues.  More than that, the blog’s goal is to inform, teach, and hopefully entertain you as well.

Faith And Finance

http://www.faithandfinance.org  – Faith and Finance was founded by Tim in 2010.  Tim is a Christian, husband, MBA grad, and entrepreneur. After competing a full-time MBA in less than one year (crazy? yes) he and a fellow MBA grad started a marketing firm designed to help small businesses with their online presence. You’ll find his approach to personal finance to be straight forward and practical.  His love for learning and teaching others is what drives him to write such interesting articles and eBooks.

Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog  – John Jantsch has been called the World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies.  John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, award winning social media publisher and best selling author Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine .

Caribbean Media Vision

http://cmvlive.com  – Caribbean Media Vision is a contemporary graphic & website design studio located in St. Kitts. We here at CMV Specializes in helping companies to make their presence online and in the media by utilizing technology. Encompassing services that are geared towards giving companies a solid and comprehensive Internet presence, as well as services aimed at making the presentation of information much more professional and insightful, allowing companies to leverage competitive advantage off of the end results.

Inkling Media

http://inklingmedia.net/  – Inkling Media is an inbound marketing shop based in Lancaster, PA with an emphasis on social media. We provide consultation on utilizing social media as part of an overall marketing strategy. In addition to Social Media, we work with you to help implement a strong blogging plan, as well as organic search engine optimization.

Accounting and Small Business /Beverly Shares

http://www.bjconquest.com  – Beverly J Conquest, Owner and CEO Accounting and Small Business, LLC — Knowledge + Expertise + Experience = Solutions. Over 20 years experience providing accounting solutions for established and startup businesses.

Living Locurto

http://www.livinglocurto.com/  – Living Locurto is published by Amy Locurto, a designer, stylist and mom of two from Dallas, Texas. What started in July 2008 as a blog about creative things I did at home with my children, Living Locurto has since turned into a top craft and party blog with great resource for moms.

CloudTweaks

http://www.cloudtweaks.com  – With a team of content creators from around the globe, including CTOs, CEOs, CIOs, cloud bloggers, engineers and technology enthusiasts, delivers in‐depth articles, the latest news, interviews and other valuable content on cloud computing to a growing audience of technology professionals, including representatives government agencies, financial institutions, technology firms and Fortune 500 organizations.

Litigation and Trial

http://www.litigationandtrial.com  – Maxwell S. Kennerly – I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm. Founded in 1958, we have recovered over $2 billion for our clients through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million.

Sramana Mitra on Strategy

http://www.sramanamitra.com  – Sramana Mitra has been an entrepreneur and a strategy consultant in Silicon Valley since 1994. Her fields of experience span from hard core technology disciplines like semiconductors to sophisticated consumer marketing industries including fashion and education.

E-junkie Blog

http://www.e-junkie.info  – Since E-junkie’s inception, our mission has been to lower the barriers to online selling. As E-commerce has grown more diverse and competitive, it occurred to us that merely providing good technology, such as our copy-paste E-junkie shopping cart, along with good customer service and tech support aren’t by themselves sufficient to meet our mission fully. We started this blog to provide such information to anyone who is selling online or has ever considered doing so.

Intuit Small Business Blog

http://blog.intuit.com  – This blog is dedicated to a discussion of small business, including advice, resources, and insights we think will help you be more successful . We’ll talk about broad topics of lasting interest to small business owners, such as Money, Customers, and Employees. We’ll also share information on current Trends as well as stories about Local businesses. Authors include professional journalists, people who work at Intuit, our customers and research partners, and guest experts we invite to share their perspectives.

Marketing Trenches

http://www.marketingtrenches.com  – The Marketing Trenches Blog is designed to provide marketers and business executives concrete examples of successful marketing strategies and tactics.  The content is largely focused on internet marketing, but given that internet marketing should be integrated with traditional/offline marketing, the content is relevant for all marketers.

Inventor Spot

http://inventorspot.com  – InventorSpot.com is a fun and informative website focused on Inventions, Innovations and Interesting Ideas from around the world. We offer serious fun for the inventor in all of us. We believe we are the most popular and most referenced invention related website on the internet. We also support the largest community of independent inventors in the United States.

Jim’s Marketing Blog

http://jimsmarketingblog.com  – Jim Connolly – worked in marketing for 25 years, with my own successful marketing business since 1995.  I specialise in helping small and medium sized businesses to make massively more sales and boost their profits.  I achieve this by sharing my most effective marketing strategies with them and then coaching them on exactly what they need to do, to achieve ongoing, amazing results.

Smedio

http://smedio.com – Founded in January 2010, Smedio is the new media and social web guide for businesses and marketers. Our aim is to continuously define the business value of new media and the social web by equiping you with the needed insight and innovative ideas to help your business grow even more, using technology, new media, and the social web by bringing you useful breaking news, latest trends and techniques that you can use immediately.

Rewards Cards Canada

http://www.rewardscardscanada.com – Your complete source for finding and using the best rewards cards in Canada.  Rewards cards can be a great way to supplement your everyday spending and help you save for amazing products and experiences. Here you will find detailed reviews of every major rewards card in the country, including the major credit cards that offer rewards points.

Crafty Raffle

http://www.craftyraffle.net  – I started this site because I have serious craft envy.  I love handmade stuff.  Love it.  It is a minor joke in my family that half my gifts for anyone are bought on Etsy (it’s not untrue).  I used to make quilts as wedding presents before I was overrun by children, and I’m a photographer, so I am capable of pursuing creative outlets, but sometimes my efforts fall flat, and sometimes I don’t know where to start.  I also love entering giveaways.

Drew’s Marketing Minute

http://www.mclellanmarketing.com/  – Drew McLellan – a 25+ year marketing agency veteran who lives for creating “a ha” moments for his clients, clients’ customers, peers and audiences across the land. His blog is written in a pragmatic, “how to” focus.  He wants his readers to be able to learn, dicuss, challenge and implement the ideas they get from reading his content.

Recently he has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Week and Fortune’s Small Business. The Wall Street Journal calls him one of 10 bloggers that every entrepreneur should read.

Under30CEO

http://under30ceo.com  – Under30CEO is the leading media site covering news, advice, trends & events for the young entrepreneur. Under30CEO is dedicated to everything relevant to a young person starting a business or anyone looking to learn more about the space.  Now, nearly 1000 small business articles and over a million readers later, Under30CEO has developed into a thriving community for young entrepreneurs. Under30CEO is based in New York City.

Roundpeg

http://www.roundpeg.biz  – A full service marketing firm, serving the Indianapolis small business community, we create websites, press releases, newsletters and brochures to help you launch your ideas and most importantly, close sales!

Content Marketing Today

http://contentmarketingtoday.com  – By creating conversations with your customers we build your brand and your bottom-line. We bring more than 25 years of successful business experience to our content marketing strategist role.

Diversity

http://diversity.net.nz  – Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests  include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud.

I of the Consumer

http://www.zachhellermarketing.com  – Zach Heller – My goal is to create a place of open communication about marketing, advertising, small business, etc. I invite comments, emails, and connections of any kind.

Point Blank SEO

http://www.pointblankseo.com  – Jon Cooper – Here you’ll find all the information you need to start building high quality, white hat links in order to move up in the SERPs. This blog helps all link builders, both beginners and experts, in learning how to build quality links in a productive & time efficient manner.

Young Entrepreneur Blog

http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog  – YoungEntrepreneur.com was launched in 1999 and has grown to become one of the largest online forum communities for entrepreneurs worldwide. YoungEntrepreneur.com has become a “must visit” resource for start-up CEOs, founders, aspiring entrepreneurs, mentors and investors worldwide, reaching an audience that very few can match.

Indie Fixx

http://indiefixx.com  – Indie Fixx is a lifestyle blog with a very healthy mix of indie design love, crafting and diy, some gardening and cooking mixed in with plenty of commentary and a healthy dose of joie de vivre. Indie Fixx had its roots as just an indie design blog, but has morphed into more than just a review of independent art & design. Plenty of that still goes on, but man can’t live on design alone (although one can try) and so the focus has shifted to include more aspects of living a well-rounded life—cooking, eating, creating, gardening, playing, loving, discovering, learning, meeting, sharing & more.

Vandelay Design Blog

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog  – Vandelay Website Design exists to help businesses and organizations build a stronger presence online. By working directly with our clients to identify and address areas of need we are able to provide a customized experience and an end product that will produce results and lead to increased profitability.

ConverStations

Mike Sansone is an independent business consultant specializing in teaching professionals in various fields about using their voice (in-person or digitally) in ways to better reach their audiences. His experience in public speaking, sales and marketing, writing, and real-time online communication are strengths Mike relies upon in his role as a Conversation Conductor.

Rex Hammock’s RexBlog.com

http://www.rexblog.com  – The blog of Rex Hammock, founder/ceo of Hammock Inc., the content marketing, strategy and media company founded in 1991 in Nashville, Tenn. Rex is also founder/helper-in-chief of the wiki, SmallBusiness.com.

Jeff Korhan

http://www.jeffkorhan.com  – Jeff Korhan is an authentic, informative, and inspiring speaker who helps mainstream small businesses use social media and Internet marketing to increase their influence, enhance customer relationships, and accelerate growth. After 20 successful years he sold his business, and now applies three decades of marketing experience to helping clients develop sustainable marketing practices that capitalize on emerging business trends.

Business Pundit

http://BusinessPundit.com  – Drea Knufken – one of the writers at BusinessPundit.com. Before joining Business Pundit, I worked in a variety of business and content production positions. Most recently, I was a travel writer. My book, “The Backroads and Byways of Colorado,” covers the best road trips in the state, mile-by-mile. Before that, I helped create two major websites for the Los Angeles tourism bureau, worked for Google (specifically, AdWords and Blogger.com) for three years, and worked for several technology startups in Silicon Valley at the tail end of the .com boom.

Aweber Blog

http://www.aweber.com/blog  – Founded in 1998, we create email marketing software to help small businesses automate email follow up and email newsletter delivery. Our growing team shares a wealth of experience and knowledge about permission-based email marketing services with over 102,000+ current clients we work with daily.

Live and Love…Out Loud

http://liveandloveoutloud.com  – Kristin O’hea– Encouraging, empowering and celebrating the everyday woman is what this here blog is all about. I’m living it up, loving out loud and laughing it off as I navigate my way through the challenges and triumphs of motherhood. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll realize that you’re not alone.

Understanding Marketing

http://www.understandingmarketing.com – The majority of small businesses realize the importance of marketing and PR in today’s ultra-competitive environment. They know the key to success is driving awareness and engaging with their customers in a way that enhances their brand. But they also know that margins can be razor thin and they typically don’t have the budget to hire an expensive marketing/PR agency to create exciting campaigns that increase the bottom line

Ohio Environmental Law Blog

http://www.ohioenvironmentallawblog.com  – Joe Koncelik is an attorney with the law firm of Frantz Ward LLP which is based in Cleveland, Ohio. The focus of Joe’s practice is in all facets of environmental law as well providing counsel on issues relating to renewable energy and climate change. Joe has also fulfilled U.S. Green Builders Council’s requirements to qualify as a LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional.

SeanDaniel.com

http://sbs.seandaniel.com  – Technology Tips, Tricks & News – featuring WHS, SBS and other Microsoft and Related Technology.

Simply Business

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/ – The Simply Business team offers a range of business expertise which we are keen to share through articles, downloads, guides, news and more.
We can also answer questions about business insurance.

Small Business Mavericks

http://www.smallbusinessmavericks.com/internetmarketing – Founded by Caroline Melberg & Steve Melberg. Small Business Mavericks offers Website Marketing and Social Media Strategy for small and mid-size businesses.

Business901

http://business901.com/  – Joe Dager is president of Business901, a firm specializing in bringing the continuous improvement process to the sales and marketing arena.  He takes his process thinking of over thirty years in marketing within a wide variety of industries and applies it through Lean Marketing Concepts.

Apptivo

http://runapptivo.apptivo.com/small-business-university – Apptivo’s platform is a collection of 40+ cloud based Business Apps. All the generic Business Apps are free and have absolutely no limits on usage. All the Apps communicate with each other and share the data so Apptivo users never have to worry about syncing or duplicating the data manually.

Mind Your Business

http://blog.bizelo.us/  – Bizelo’s small business apps (“mini-apps”) are web-based applications that work simply, and simply work!

 

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The worst sales email ever

May 24, 2012

Maybe I’m wrong and you can top this…but check this out:

Hi folks,

Name Name here from InvestorGuide.com. Our network of sites reaches a business savvy audience of over 5 million people every month. We also have a million opt-in subscribers and 125,000 financial advisors ready to receive dedicated email blasts.

We’ve been in this business for over 10 years so we know what works. I’m trying to find out who handles media buys for your clients, and I’d really appreciate it if we could get an updated copy of your client roster. I think we can really make something work here.

Sincerely,

Ms. Name Name
Title
e-mail address

Hi Folks?  So who all got this and how did I get lumped in with them?  Send you an updated list of our client roster?  Are you kidding me?  Who writes these things and worse yet…who approves them to actually be sent to prospects?

This is why we have all the SPAM laws and why our email inboxes are so cluttered with junk that we can’t find the emails we want to receive/read.

If you are sending out emails like this — stop it.  Now.

 

Photo courtesy of BigStockPhoto.com

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What is the next step?

April 25, 2012

That’s the question you should ask yourself as you create any marketing piece.  “What is the next step I want the prospect to take?”

Whether it’s a Facebook fan page, an enewsletter, a TV spot or a blimp with your logo on it — you have earned their momentary attention.  What are you going to do with it?  Where do you want to take the conversation/connection from here?

• Do you want to give them the opportunity to contact you?
• Do you want them to share your content?
• Do you want them to ask you a question?
• Do you want them to laugh so hard that they have to tell someone about it?
• Do you want them to try a sample?
• Do you want them to redeem a coupon?
• Do you want them to click, text or call to give you a donation?
• Do you want them to sign up for your enewsletter or blog?
• Do you want them to stop by the store?
• Do you want them to recognize your name when you call?

There is no magic right answer other than — you should have an answer.  Sales is a series of tiny baby steps.  But you always have to be asking…what is the next step.

After you know what the next step should be — you need to help your audience know what the next step is.  And by help I mean — tell them.  Don’t be shy or subtle.  Tell them.

Last week, I was fortunate to speak at a conference held by the Oklahoma Restaurant Association*and as part of their event — they hosted a reception where many of their members got to show off their best entrees as guests mingled through a large ballroom — nibbling on snack sized portions of all these good eats.

One of the restaurants, The Rib Crib,  had clearly asked the question “what do we want them to do next” because as they gave you the sample-sized sandwich, they also handed each person a wooden coin that offered them a free entree at their next visit.  They were clearly telling us what to do next.  “Come experience our restaurant” is what they were saying to us.

Start looking at all of your marketing materials.  If you can’t clearly identify the next step — how do you expect your prospects to?

 

* Many thanks to my friend Scott Townsend for paving the way to the invitation to speak.

 

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When you set the bar — better keep your eye on it

March 20, 2012

In almost every category, there’s a champion.

Apple, Harley Davidson and of course…Disney. Each of these brands set the bar. They’ve defined excellence and their competitors struggle to catch up.

They are the gold standard.

An enviable position to be sure. Or is it?

Last week, we spent our Spring Break in Orlando.  If you’re a regular reader — you know this is not new territory for me.  In fact, I’ve been to Walt Disney World at least once a year since it opened in 1971.  It’s a magical place for me and no one is more pro Disney than me.

One of the elements of Disney that I love the most is their commitment to customer service.  They call it Disney friendly and it is something to behold.  (They even have an institute dedicated to teaching it to others)  We love catching Disney cast members creating what we’ve deemed “a Disney moment.”  A kid licks the ice cream right out of his cone.  A cast member runs and gets him a new cone.  A room is not ready when promised.  A cast member gives the entire party free passes to the parks.  A reservation is messed up.  Cast members send up a beautiful chocolate Mickey.

But lately — we’ve noticed fewer and fewer Disney moments.  In fact, we’ve noticed that Disney cast members are behaving more and more like ordinary employees.  I don’t know if it’s because they’re running leaner on staff or if they’ve cut back on the training — but somewhere along the way, some of the cast members have forgotten that while it’s a regular work day for them, it’s a dream of a lifetime day for the guest in front of them.

Seems like the bar is slipping a little.  At the same time, Disney’s competitors, chiefly Universal Studios and Sea World are stepping up their game.  We crossed over to the dark side and visited Universal Studios (we wanted to see the Harry Potter park) this trip.  I don’t know if they stole Disney’s best employees or just their best training program — but the Universal employees couldn’t have been more exceptional.  They were delivering “disney moments” left and right.  The theme parks were nothing extraordinary — Disney still has them beat there, but from an experience point of view — the little guys have been learning from the champ and are starting to clean their clock.

What’s the marketing lesson in all of this for us?

If you are the market leader and you’ve defined excellence — you have everything to lose.  You cannot sit on your laurels.  You need to find ways to keep the passion for delivering that excellence alive and well in your employees.  You have not only set the bar but you’ve set your customer’s expectations.

I’m no longer surprised by Disney moments… I expect them.  And while I still enjoy seeing them, they’re a given for me.  So when they are not there — it is a deficit that I notice.  And it is a deficit that gets talked about.  (Bad word of mouth)

If you’re not the market leader — the lesson is — keep pushing.  The guy in the front of the pack may grow weary or hit some sort of bump that will allow you to surge ahead of them.  Don’t assume you can’t have that lead position.  When you over-deliver, it is a surprise and delights your customers.  And it will get talked about.  (Good word of mouth)

If you set the bar — mind the bar.  It’s yours to keep or lose.  And how that plays out is completely up to you.

 

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Marketing tip #83: Less but better

February 29, 2012

I just wrapped up a 4-part webinar that focused on creating a marketing plan that you’ll actually use.  The final element we covered was marketing tactics.

Now that I know why I am doing this (goals), who I am talking to (best customers), what to say to them (key messaging), how much I can afford to spend (lifetime value of a customer) and the stories I can tell to generate interest, word of mouth and attraction — WHAT am I going to do?

Most people are looking for some secret answer.  The one marketing tactic that they hadn’t heard about or the trick to doing something in a way that no one else has heard of.  That’s actually not the secret.

The secret is — before you add more marketing tactics, take the time to examine what you’re already doing and ask yourself — could we do this better?

You’re far better off to do fewer things but do them better.  Less but better is greater than more.  Seriously – repeat after me.  Less but better is greater than more.

Look at the marketing tactics you’re already deploying.  Could you do it:

• Better?
• More often?
• More consistently?
• More fun/funny/memorable?
• More professional look/feel?
• Shift from being about us to being about them?
• More storytelling and less telling?
• Give up some control and let your audience drive the conversation?

Before you add a thing — add some quality, value and depth to what you’re already doing.  That may be exactly what needed to be added.

No small business has the resources (time or money) to be everywhere.  So be significant and memorable in the few places you choose to be.  Less but better really is greater than more.

 

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The 5 things that will derail your marketing in 2012

February 8, 2012

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade but the truth is — most organizations’ marketing efforts stink.  And they stink for reasons well within the marketing department’s control.

If you’re worried that your own efforts might fall short — beware of these five danger zones that can derail you in a blink!

Inconsistency:  Does your monthly newsletter go out 5 times a year?  Does your copy tone/style fluctuate between somber and casual?  Are your weekly sales calls happening every week?

Inconsistency not only waters down your results but it also waters down your brand. If you can’t get your newsletter out on time — why in the world would I, a prospective customer, think you can deliver what you want to sell me on time?

Not having a plan:  One contributing factor to inconsistency is the wishy washiness that comes from winging it.  Without a document that maps out where you are going…in the rush of the day, you end up on detours you never intended.  Or worse, you end up on the sidelines trying to figure out your next move, rather than moving forward.

A marketing plan doesn’t have to be a leather bound edition, but it does need to be in writing and it needs to be something you reference at your weekly/regular marketing meetings.

Trying to do too much:  I want to hear a collective sigh of relief as you read this.  You simply cannot do it all.  So stop trying.  You are far better off to do a few things consistently and well, than try to manage too many marketing tactics.

The average sized organization can only successfully produce and monitor a handful of initiatives at once.  So plan it out carefully so you can deliver consistency and quality.  Every time.  That will be far more impressive than doing more every once in awhile.

Not matching your budget with your appetite:  I see this happen all the time.  A big company is stingy with their marketing dollars and does so little, they don’t even show up on the radar screen.  Or the flip side — a small company saves up all their pennies and launches a huge splash but can only sustain it for 60 days and then goes quiet.

Marketing is for the long haul.  You need to know you can sustain your efforts or their effect will be fleeting.

You.  Yup, I said it.  You’re actually the biggest risk to the marketing efforts.  Why? Because you know when you’re doing something that isn’t going to work.  You know what you can and can’t pull off.  You know that you talk about yourself too and don’t talk with the audience  about the stuff they care about enough. You know you should spend/do more and be more consistent.  Maybe you even know you can’t do it by yourself but you’re too cheap to hire some help (either staff or an agency).

So what are you going to do to get out of your own way?

What do you think?  Would you have a different set of obstacles?  Want to add any to my list?

Stock photograph courtesy of Big Stock Photo

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