It takes too much time. There isn’t enough time. I’m running out of time. It’s time to make the donuts.
When I talk to companies or groups about implementing social media as part of their marketing efforts I am always hit with the objection that it takes too much time.
Yes, engaging in social media does take time. There is the time to research and figure out where to put your efforts. There is the time that it takes to set up accounts and profiles. There is time for the learning curve of how to use the sites. There is the time to building up content and time to find things of value to share. There is the time to find the people to engage with and then of course there is the time it takes to keep up the conversations.
Yes, it takes time. There is no denying that fact. So let’s talk about ROI. There are tons of tools out there that allow you to monitor, track, research and update all of your social media from a single point. These tools number in the thousands and while some are more popular and robust than others I will talk about a few of them in the next blog entry.
So let’s talk about ROI. Marketing, no matter how you do it, takes time. It used to be that you needed 3-5 touches before a buyer would engage. Then it dragged out to 5-7 touches. Now with the deafening noise of marketing both traditionally and digitally, it can take 9-12 touches. How many cold call phone calls do you have to make to get to actually speak to a qualified buyer? How many networking events do you have to attend and how many people do you have to meet to make a solid connection? All of this takes time.
So what is the point of social media? There are a couple of home runs with social media.
First is that in an unthreatening environment you can connect to people that you might never have had the chance to meet otherwise. In a more casual way you ‘connect’.
Second is that you become part of a community. Today, more than ever people look to their groups and connections first for resources and you stand a better chance of getting referred or having someone point an interested buyer your way.
Third it reaches further than other methods and is permanent. Think of throwing a stone in a pond. The ripple of water at the point of entry keeps going out further and further reaching beyond the point where the stone landed. And the stone is now a permanent piece of that pond. It will always be there to be found. What other forms of marketing can do that for you?
Another compelling reason to get involved is knowing that everyone is talking about everything and so that means you or your company is going to come up somewhere at sometime and shouldn’t you know about that?
Think about how much time you can save by cutting a problem off before it snowballs. Think about how much time you can save by responding to a need before your competitors catch wind. Think about it and then get started.
If you don’t know where or how to begin it might make sense to hire a professional in this field that can save you time up front to get you started and coach you and your team toward success. Trust me – you’ll be thrilled you did.
Entries tagged as marketing
Sunday, March 7. 2010
Time - Social Media Might Just Be Worth It
Monday, February 8. 2010
The Experience
When we engage with prospects and clients what it really comes down to is the experience. We pay so much attention to the marketing, the website design, the brochures and yet, what about the actual experience?
We hear and read stories about extraordinary, over the top customer service that explains how some companies grow to mega businesses. The amazing story of ZAPPOS or the over the top customer service and experience at Disney, and we nod our heads because we have either experienced it or we nod our heads as a barrier thinking that this doesn’t relate to our business.
Each business has a culture, a personality, a structure, a process, and a channel. How often do we review the interactions that any outsider would experience when encountering our companies? From initial contact to the collection call… every touch is an experience.
This came alive for me as I am still relishing the amazing meal I had last week while in Tampa on business. Part of my time away I was evaluating our price structure, our service offerings and other aspects of our company as we move forward in 2010. Taking an evening break, I went to the famed steak house Bern’s. I knew I would get a great meal and heard they had an outstanding wine collection so I was psyched to have a treat. What I had instead was a dining experience. A real dining experience that took nearly 5 hours.
Yes it was expensive and depending on the bottle of wine ordered or the country or origin for the caviar you might select you could control the amount of the total tab but once you are caught up in the experience, well reason might just go out the window. The waiter was more like a guide than a salesman or waiter, his attentiveness to answer questions and offer assistance guiding you through a wine list that reads like the novel War & Peace, was helpful. The wines ranged in price from $45 a bottle to $10,000 and up a bottle so there was plenty of room to satisfy anyone’s pallet and pocket. There was no selling, no up grading, no promoting of side dishes. Instead there was an engaging conversation that allowed the waiter to uncover our particular tastes, appetite and of course spend level comfort zone and then he made some recommendations accordingly. He got to know us and therefore tailored his suggestions to meet our desires.
Beyond the table experience, we were offered and we took part in a tour of the kitchen and of course the wine cellar. The wine cellar holds one of the largest collections of wine in the world ranging from some of the more familiar to some of the rarest. Row after row, floor to ceiling we were guided toward some of the more interesting bottles.
Once the tour ended and our after dinner stroll through the kitchen and wine cellar we built up the desire to experience even more. So we were escorted to their desert room upstairs. Here there is a maze of private alcoves built out of wine casks, to sip exotic coffees, ports, sherries while experiencing the most decadent of deserts.
Five hours later, a bill that could have paid for a weekend vacation including airfare, we did not have a moment’s regret. The experience had been well thought out, orchestrated, rehearsed and perfected from beginning to end and all designed to take you from a good meal, priced accordingly to an experience unlike any other you might have known and a price tag to match.
The receptionist, waiter, table staff, tour guides all of them knew the history and story of the restaurant and even after a long hard evening of work, each played their role with a sense of personal pride that conveyed that they knew that they were a part of something very special and wanted to share that with others.
I came to several conclusions after this experience. First no matter how creative our designs and marketing strategies are, if our client’s aren’t creating an amazing experience – well we might be able to get them in the door but it is up to them to keep them. If our client’s don’t have an amazing experience with us then will they contract us for more, rave and promote us to their colleagues? And of course, what makes an experience with us different from our competitors? How will prospects know that they have engaged with something very special and want our team to be a part of their team? What are we leaving to chance?
Time to think about the experience of doing business with your company. How do you make it so extraordinary that prospects can’t wait to engage and customers can’t think to negotiate price or shop elsewhere?
We’d love to hear from you about what you are doing in your company and how you have experienced ours.
We hear and read stories about extraordinary, over the top customer service that explains how some companies grow to mega businesses. The amazing story of ZAPPOS or the over the top customer service and experience at Disney, and we nod our heads because we have either experienced it or we nod our heads as a barrier thinking that this doesn’t relate to our business.
Each business has a culture, a personality, a structure, a process, and a channel. How often do we review the interactions that any outsider would experience when encountering our companies? From initial contact to the collection call… every touch is an experience.
This came alive for me as I am still relishing the amazing meal I had last week while in Tampa on business. Part of my time away I was evaluating our price structure, our service offerings and other aspects of our company as we move forward in 2010. Taking an evening break, I went to the famed steak house Bern’s. I knew I would get a great meal and heard they had an outstanding wine collection so I was psyched to have a treat. What I had instead was a dining experience. A real dining experience that took nearly 5 hours.
Yes it was expensive and depending on the bottle of wine ordered or the country or origin for the caviar you might select you could control the amount of the total tab but once you are caught up in the experience, well reason might just go out the window. The waiter was more like a guide than a salesman or waiter, his attentiveness to answer questions and offer assistance guiding you through a wine list that reads like the novel War & Peace, was helpful. The wines ranged in price from $45 a bottle to $10,000 and up a bottle so there was plenty of room to satisfy anyone’s pallet and pocket. There was no selling, no up grading, no promoting of side dishes. Instead there was an engaging conversation that allowed the waiter to uncover our particular tastes, appetite and of course spend level comfort zone and then he made some recommendations accordingly. He got to know us and therefore tailored his suggestions to meet our desires.
Beyond the table experience, we were offered and we took part in a tour of the kitchen and of course the wine cellar. The wine cellar holds one of the largest collections of wine in the world ranging from some of the more familiar to some of the rarest. Row after row, floor to ceiling we were guided toward some of the more interesting bottles.
Once the tour ended and our after dinner stroll through the kitchen and wine cellar we built up the desire to experience even more. So we were escorted to their desert room upstairs. Here there is a maze of private alcoves built out of wine casks, to sip exotic coffees, ports, sherries while experiencing the most decadent of deserts.
Five hours later, a bill that could have paid for a weekend vacation including airfare, we did not have a moment’s regret. The experience had been well thought out, orchestrated, rehearsed and perfected from beginning to end and all designed to take you from a good meal, priced accordingly to an experience unlike any other you might have known and a price tag to match.
The receptionist, waiter, table staff, tour guides all of them knew the history and story of the restaurant and even after a long hard evening of work, each played their role with a sense of personal pride that conveyed that they knew that they were a part of something very special and wanted to share that with others.
I came to several conclusions after this experience. First no matter how creative our designs and marketing strategies are, if our client’s aren’t creating an amazing experience – well we might be able to get them in the door but it is up to them to keep them. If our client’s don’t have an amazing experience with us then will they contract us for more, rave and promote us to their colleagues? And of course, what makes an experience with us different from our competitors? How will prospects know that they have engaged with something very special and want our team to be a part of their team? What are we leaving to chance?
Time to think about the experience of doing business with your company. How do you make it so extraordinary that prospects can’t wait to engage and customers can’t think to negotiate price or shop elsewhere?
We’d love to hear from you about what you are doing in your company and how you have experienced ours.
Friday, January 22. 2010
More Face time with Facebook
Let’s face it, when it comes to marketing don’t we want to be where the action is? If we want exposure then it only follows that we go where the eyeballs are. Given the finicky and fast changing trends today on the internet it pays to keep an eye on where the traffic is flowing.
Think back only a few short years ago. Twitter was not a well known property and yet seemingly overnight it became the hottest topic on everyone’s mind and the rush to join created a landslide of followers. Although Twitter has remained a hot property for connecting, research, search and creating awareness, many have become disillusioned with the volume of noise and the crowding of the space making it harder to sort the spamming riff raff from genuine folks to connect with. Twitter is still a valid arena but the attention and explosive growth now turns to Facebook.
Comscore recently released the December 2009 metrics. Comscore is best known as the industry barometer for the digital world and source of digital marketing intelligence. According to Comscore, Facebook more than doubled its U.S. audience from 54.5 million visitors in December 2008 to 111.9 million visitors in December 2009. It went from being the #11 ranked property to the #4 ranked property. It now accounts for 7% of all time spent online in the U.S. Read this report in its entirety.
Like Facebook or not, the appeal is that you have more control over your conversations and with who you connect on line. You are not limited to 140 characters and you can upload videos, pictures, have lists to manage personal and business separately and the opportunity to create group and fan pages to be a more interactive extension of your website. Facebook is not without flaws but it is growing in popularity. One aspect that I enjoy is having a closer look at how and with whom my friends are connecting and what they are sharing. With LinkedIn you can see who is connected to whom but you can’t really see how they are interacting. Twitter and LinkedIn lack the intimacy that Facebook affords.
Growing a friend following and a fan base may take a bit more time with Facebook, but given the trend it would only make sense that this is a marketing focus that you might want to pay attention to. Less formal than LinkedIn, your corporate culture and personality have an opportunity to take root and the opportunity to be more creative and experimental with how you reach out and connect and attract. With discussions, events, videos, photos, and a wealth of widgets you are now only limited by your imagination to making marketing fun. That’s right – fun!
One other enticement to get involved with Facebook – if you want to try your hand at advertising to specific people who are the most likely potential customers, well, Facebook's advertising is a smart system. Facebook collects an awful lot of information about members and they offer amazing controls and options to insure that your message is seen by those who are most likely to be a match. Sure beats search engine plans that in comparison could seem willy nilly. If you don’t have the marketing budget to pay for tire kickers and accidental clickers cruising through the digital divide then give Facebook a try.
Become a fan of Bumblebee Design & Marketing LLC and let’s explore the possibilities!
Think back only a few short years ago. Twitter was not a well known property and yet seemingly overnight it became the hottest topic on everyone’s mind and the rush to join created a landslide of followers. Although Twitter has remained a hot property for connecting, research, search and creating awareness, many have become disillusioned with the volume of noise and the crowding of the space making it harder to sort the spamming riff raff from genuine folks to connect with. Twitter is still a valid arena but the attention and explosive growth now turns to Facebook.
Comscore recently released the December 2009 metrics. Comscore is best known as the industry barometer for the digital world and source of digital marketing intelligence. According to Comscore, Facebook more than doubled its U.S. audience from 54.5 million visitors in December 2008 to 111.9 million visitors in December 2009. It went from being the #11 ranked property to the #4 ranked property. It now accounts for 7% of all time spent online in the U.S. Read this report in its entirety.
Like Facebook or not, the appeal is that you have more control over your conversations and with who you connect on line. You are not limited to 140 characters and you can upload videos, pictures, have lists to manage personal and business separately and the opportunity to create group and fan pages to be a more interactive extension of your website. Facebook is not without flaws but it is growing in popularity. One aspect that I enjoy is having a closer look at how and with whom my friends are connecting and what they are sharing. With LinkedIn you can see who is connected to whom but you can’t really see how they are interacting. Twitter and LinkedIn lack the intimacy that Facebook affords.
Growing a friend following and a fan base may take a bit more time with Facebook, but given the trend it would only make sense that this is a marketing focus that you might want to pay attention to. Less formal than LinkedIn, your corporate culture and personality have an opportunity to take root and the opportunity to be more creative and experimental with how you reach out and connect and attract. With discussions, events, videos, photos, and a wealth of widgets you are now only limited by your imagination to making marketing fun. That’s right – fun!
One other enticement to get involved with Facebook – if you want to try your hand at advertising to specific people who are the most likely potential customers, well, Facebook's advertising is a smart system. Facebook collects an awful lot of information about members and they offer amazing controls and options to insure that your message is seen by those who are most likely to be a match. Sure beats search engine plans that in comparison could seem willy nilly. If you don’t have the marketing budget to pay for tire kickers and accidental clickers cruising through the digital divide then give Facebook a try.
Become a fan of Bumblebee Design & Marketing LLC and let’s explore the possibilities!
Wednesday, January 20. 2010
Gary Vaynerchuk, SEO is Dead, Follow Your Passion: CRUSH IT
I spent last evening at an EONY event where Gary Vaynerchuk spoke. I really wanted to see Gary speak, as he is a marketing person that I respect, primarily because he is a trailblazer and mold breaker. Second reason I really wanted to go is because after reading his book CRUSH IT I knew his vision and wisdom were not to be missed.
Gary’s energy is a turbo boost of reality delivered in passionate and caring verbal smack downs. I absolutely love it! He has a get real attitude about understanding and verbalizing what is in play now and although it might be hard to hear, it is the bucket of ice water that we all need flying in our face.
I want to share some of the points that he made so that you can understand the brilliance of what he has to share. I know that you may not want to hear some of these and may not agree with some of his views but maybe it will sink in enough that you can begin to incorporate this into your marketing and businesses. Also please understand that I am paraphrasing but I am making an honest effort to share his message.
1. SEO is dead and a waste of time. I know that seems hard to believe and you might not just disagree but be bewildered by such a statement and yet if you look at what is going on in the SEO world, it is in complete turmoil. Read my blog post on Google Caffeine.
2. Customer expectations are increasing and customer service is the game changer. Gary speaks to the amazing story of ZAPPOS and how that model of creating a culture where customer service is first and foremost built a business of an unlikely solution – selling shoes on line – to a billion dollar business in less than 9 years.
3. Word of mouth converts 80% while traditional marketing converts at 12%. I have not personally researched those statistics but from my own business experience I know that I close sales faster and more often when it is a referral over any marketing efforts.
4. Small Town Rules is a phrase he used repeatedly. Get up close and personal with your customers and prospects. Treat them well; remember their name, respond, share, and CARE.
5. The Internet is dominating. If you are marketing then you want to be where the eyeballs are and they are on the Internet. He gave an example that if you buy ad space on bus stops; look at the people walking by or standing waiting for a bus. They aren’t even looking up – they are on their mobile phones either emailing, texting, tweeting or doing facebook updates.
6. Mobile marketing has started to take hold and he projects that this is the next big play. This comes as no surprise and yet designs and applications are only now just beginning to emerge to address this issue. Just as interesting, no one ever asks us ‘so how does my website look on a mobile device?’ And few if any folks are getting ready for mobile marketing and advertising in their planning. Yet, look around you and what do you see? That’s right – everyone is on his or her mobile phones.
7. Content – create content daily. He urges that you follow your passion and your brand DNA. If you are a good writer, write a blog daily and write anywhere and everywhere you can. If you are better at talking then it is time for you to start a podcast or video blog. He assures the audience that it is not about the polish it is about the passion.
He passionately urges everyone to start now building your content. He notes that this shift is being underestimated and that if you don’t go out and get it – someone else will!
8. He is driven by gratitude. Be grateful for everything, be open enough to share your gratitude and make it apart of your brand experience any way that you can and instill this into your corporate culture. Not insincere gratitude but genuine passion to care for the customer more than anything else.
And so I suggest you buy his book CRUSH IT and check out his blogs – he has several. Just Google his name, Gary Vaynerchuk and you will find them all. Let it sink in and then pull out your keyboard or your flip cam and get started right away.
Gary’s energy is a turbo boost of reality delivered in passionate and caring verbal smack downs. I absolutely love it! He has a get real attitude about understanding and verbalizing what is in play now and although it might be hard to hear, it is the bucket of ice water that we all need flying in our face.
I want to share some of the points that he made so that you can understand the brilliance of what he has to share. I know that you may not want to hear some of these and may not agree with some of his views but maybe it will sink in enough that you can begin to incorporate this into your marketing and businesses. Also please understand that I am paraphrasing but I am making an honest effort to share his message.
1. SEO is dead and a waste of time. I know that seems hard to believe and you might not just disagree but be bewildered by such a statement and yet if you look at what is going on in the SEO world, it is in complete turmoil. Read my blog post on Google Caffeine.
2. Customer expectations are increasing and customer service is the game changer. Gary speaks to the amazing story of ZAPPOS and how that model of creating a culture where customer service is first and foremost built a business of an unlikely solution – selling shoes on line – to a billion dollar business in less than 9 years.
3. Word of mouth converts 80% while traditional marketing converts at 12%. I have not personally researched those statistics but from my own business experience I know that I close sales faster and more often when it is a referral over any marketing efforts.
4. Small Town Rules is a phrase he used repeatedly. Get up close and personal with your customers and prospects. Treat them well; remember their name, respond, share, and CARE.
5. The Internet is dominating. If you are marketing then you want to be where the eyeballs are and they are on the Internet. He gave an example that if you buy ad space on bus stops; look at the people walking by or standing waiting for a bus. They aren’t even looking up – they are on their mobile phones either emailing, texting, tweeting or doing facebook updates.
6. Mobile marketing has started to take hold and he projects that this is the next big play. This comes as no surprise and yet designs and applications are only now just beginning to emerge to address this issue. Just as interesting, no one ever asks us ‘so how does my website look on a mobile device?’ And few if any folks are getting ready for mobile marketing and advertising in their planning. Yet, look around you and what do you see? That’s right – everyone is on his or her mobile phones.
7. Content – create content daily. He urges that you follow your passion and your brand DNA. If you are a good writer, write a blog daily and write anywhere and everywhere you can. If you are better at talking then it is time for you to start a podcast or video blog. He assures the audience that it is not about the polish it is about the passion.
He passionately urges everyone to start now building your content. He notes that this shift is being underestimated and that if you don’t go out and get it – someone else will!
8. He is driven by gratitude. Be grateful for everything, be open enough to share your gratitude and make it apart of your brand experience any way that you can and instill this into your corporate culture. Not insincere gratitude but genuine passion to care for the customer more than anything else.
And so I suggest you buy his book CRUSH IT and check out his blogs – he has several. Just Google his name, Gary Vaynerchuk and you will find them all. Let it sink in and then pull out your keyboard or your flip cam and get started right away.
Posted by Mardy Sitzer
in Marketing
at
22:53
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Defined tags for this entry: blog
, Crush It
, Gary Vaynerchuk
, marketing
, SEO
, social media
, video
, zappos
, Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk, marketing, SEO, social media, video, zapposSunday, August 23. 2009
SEO Basics Part IV
Link building is the third and final fundamental component we are covering in this SEO Basics series. Link building is referred to as off-page SEO and although I consider this SEM (search engine marketing); it is often times discussed as part of SEO.
There are two kinds of links, internal and external. Internal Links are important on a website to help SEO. Mentioning pages and linking to them creates a ‘spider web’ of relevantly linked pages on your site. An excellent example is Wikipedia. If a topic is mentioned on one of their pages, and that topic has a word or phrase underlined then it is a clickable link to its own page.
Linking is like electrical waves that connect back to your site. Google places a lot of weight on links back to your site – external links - as they place a higher value on what others say about you than what you say about yourself. Getting valuable links should be an on-going marketing pursuit but keep in mind that quality links are what counts and not quantity.
What makes up a quality link?
• One-way links coming in without you linking back.
• Anchor text: when the text is the link to your page. Best text links are your key terms!
• Contextual: links within the copy (they look the most natural). And the copy around it probably refers to your site as well.
• Use keywords in link text
• “click here” – no no no no! Use a widget or button or a relevant term
As you plan your site to rank for different key words or key word phrases, aim for your ranked pages not to always be your home page. Each of your main product or service pages and core pages should be getting you targeted traffic. Strive to have other websites link to those pages as that will give those pages more trust and put you on the road to higher ranking results.
You can search how many links are going to a site or page in a site from Google by conducting this query: link: www.SiteName.com. Google does not return every link to that page—that would open up their algorithm formula, which they don’t want to do. Google has said that the links they show are not necessarily the most valued links and don’t have anything to do with why you rank—so Google is not always the best place to look.
Another tool to find who is linking in to your site http://ericmiraglia.com/inlink and there are Link analysis and management tools such as Linkscape and BuzzStream.
Yahoo! and Yahoo! Site Explorer are pretty good – at least for now, as this may change soon with the MSN merger. Go to Yahoo! and type in the “link:” command (all search engines will recognize that command); Yahoo will show you almost all of your links and many times it will rank them in order of importance.
Yahoo and Google do not rank the importance of a link the same way but recently their methods have grown more aligned. Yahoo typically values the quantity of links; get a lot of links, even from unrelated places and they will help your rankings. Google is the opposite. You can have a page that is not very well optimized as far as content, title tags, etc., but if it has a lot of quality links with the proper anchor text, it will rank better with Google.
On your website you should install, at the very least, the free Google Analytics so that you can track and monitor keyword searches and links to your website. Google’s analytics is actually quite robust but if you feel you need more data to monitor specific campaigns, there are many fee based analytics programs that can be installed on your website.
CONCLUSION: Websites should be considered an ever evolving marketing asset. Continue to add content, nurture links, update coding when necessary and get involved in virtual social mediums.
How and Where to Get Links
Tips to get links that are based on your keywords, not just your brand:
• Start with trusted directories: Yahoo, BOTW.org, and Business.com.
o Don’t just submit your home page. If you have sub-pages on specific topics then also submit those to the directories.
• Get niche publications and organizations to link to you; search for industry related publications and see if you can sign up.
• Press: take advantage of online press releases that allow links. Again, link to sub-pages when possible.
• Link “bait”: content that is just so good it has to be linked to (breaking news, controversy, how-to, resource guides).
• Promote your content via distribution channels (email, RSS, social networks & media)
• Submit your content to social news sites.
• Sponsors or partners. When possible, request that they link to a relevant sub-page.
• Leverage social media and social news and use blogs to create word of-mouth influence and buzz.
• Create content that is viral in nature, (e.g. resources, lists, studies, how-to’s, videos, breaking news, etc.)
• People will link it to Digg and SumbleUpon. Millions of people use those sites, giving you the chance to dramatically increase views by being featured on them, so sign up.
• Make content sharable and easy to absorb. That has a lot to do with how you lay out your site.
• For content, use lists and break up paragraphs. Make it easy for someone to scan and digest quickly.
• Pay attention to social media (e.g. comments, feedback, reviews both on your site and the news site where it was shared). It’s important to look (or more importantly, be) legitimate and sincere and not look like it was purposefully meant to be a viral magnet—that turns people off.
The following is a list of other link building suggestions:
Profiles
Article Submissions
Widgets
Conference Sponsorships
Association Sponsorships
Research & Surveys
Blog Reviews
Job Listings
Testimonials
Letters to the Editor
Bookmarking
Social Media Pages
Build and Host Useful Tools
Awards (badge)
Contest (badge)
Cross link company-owned websites
Write reviews
Ads on Search Friendly Sites
Classified Ads
Post Ebook or Substantial Whitepaper
Exchange links with marketing/business partners
Post Surveys
Write Guest Posts on other Blogs
Speak at events, offer PPT with links embedded
Donate where a link of donors is published
Create a wiki
Create microsites for causes, events, specific purposes
Affiliate program
Become resource on Q/A websites like LinkedIn and Yahoo Answers
Slideshare and similar content hosting
Monitor 404 stats and ask link sources to fix broken links
Solicit links directly from sources
Provide ‘link to us’ content on blog and/or website
Leverage publicity and media relations for links
Digital asset submissions: images, audio, video
There are two kinds of links, internal and external. Internal Links are important on a website to help SEO. Mentioning pages and linking to them creates a ‘spider web’ of relevantly linked pages on your site. An excellent example is Wikipedia. If a topic is mentioned on one of their pages, and that topic has a word or phrase underlined then it is a clickable link to its own page.
Linking is like electrical waves that connect back to your site. Google places a lot of weight on links back to your site – external links - as they place a higher value on what others say about you than what you say about yourself. Getting valuable links should be an on-going marketing pursuit but keep in mind that quality links are what counts and not quantity.
What makes up a quality link?
• One-way links coming in without you linking back.
• Anchor text: when the text is the link to your page. Best text links are your key terms!
• Contextual: links within the copy (they look the most natural). And the copy around it probably refers to your site as well.
• Use keywords in link text
• “click here” – no no no no! Use a widget or button or a relevant term
As you plan your site to rank for different key words or key word phrases, aim for your ranked pages not to always be your home page. Each of your main product or service pages and core pages should be getting you targeted traffic. Strive to have other websites link to those pages as that will give those pages more trust and put you on the road to higher ranking results.
You can search how many links are going to a site or page in a site from Google by conducting this query: link: www.SiteName.com. Google does not return every link to that page—that would open up their algorithm formula, which they don’t want to do. Google has said that the links they show are not necessarily the most valued links and don’t have anything to do with why you rank—so Google is not always the best place to look.
Another tool to find who is linking in to your site http://ericmiraglia.com/inlink and there are Link analysis and management tools such as Linkscape and BuzzStream.
Yahoo! and Yahoo! Site Explorer are pretty good – at least for now, as this may change soon with the MSN merger. Go to Yahoo! and type in the “link:” command (all search engines will recognize that command); Yahoo will show you almost all of your links and many times it will rank them in order of importance.
Yahoo and Google do not rank the importance of a link the same way but recently their methods have grown more aligned. Yahoo typically values the quantity of links; get a lot of links, even from unrelated places and they will help your rankings. Google is the opposite. You can have a page that is not very well optimized as far as content, title tags, etc., but if it has a lot of quality links with the proper anchor text, it will rank better with Google.
On your website you should install, at the very least, the free Google Analytics so that you can track and monitor keyword searches and links to your website. Google’s analytics is actually quite robust but if you feel you need more data to monitor specific campaigns, there are many fee based analytics programs that can be installed on your website.
CONCLUSION: Websites should be considered an ever evolving marketing asset. Continue to add content, nurture links, update coding when necessary and get involved in virtual social mediums.
How and Where to Get Links
Tips to get links that are based on your keywords, not just your brand:
• Start with trusted directories: Yahoo, BOTW.org, and Business.com.
o Don’t just submit your home page. If you have sub-pages on specific topics then also submit those to the directories.
• Get niche publications and organizations to link to you; search for industry related publications and see if you can sign up.
• Press: take advantage of online press releases that allow links. Again, link to sub-pages when possible.
• Link “bait”: content that is just so good it has to be linked to (breaking news, controversy, how-to, resource guides).
• Promote your content via distribution channels (email, RSS, social networks & media)
• Submit your content to social news sites.
• Sponsors or partners. When possible, request that they link to a relevant sub-page.
• Leverage social media and social news and use blogs to create word of-mouth influence and buzz.
• Create content that is viral in nature, (e.g. resources, lists, studies, how-to’s, videos, breaking news, etc.)
• People will link it to Digg and SumbleUpon. Millions of people use those sites, giving you the chance to dramatically increase views by being featured on them, so sign up.
• Make content sharable and easy to absorb. That has a lot to do with how you lay out your site.
• For content, use lists and break up paragraphs. Make it easy for someone to scan and digest quickly.
• Pay attention to social media (e.g. comments, feedback, reviews both on your site and the news site where it was shared). It’s important to look (or more importantly, be) legitimate and sincere and not look like it was purposefully meant to be a viral magnet—that turns people off.
The following is a list of other link building suggestions:
Profiles
Article Submissions
Widgets
Conference Sponsorships
Association Sponsorships
Research & Surveys
Blog Reviews
Job Listings
Testimonials
Letters to the Editor
Bookmarking
Social Media Pages
Build and Host Useful Tools
Awards (badge)
Contest (badge)
Cross link company-owned websites
Write reviews
Ads on Search Friendly Sites
Classified Ads
Post Ebook or Substantial Whitepaper
Exchange links with marketing/business partners
Post Surveys
Write Guest Posts on other Blogs
Speak at events, offer PPT with links embedded
Donate where a link of donors is published
Create a wiki
Create microsites for causes, events, specific purposes
Affiliate program
Become resource on Q/A websites like LinkedIn and Yahoo Answers
Slideshare and similar content hosting
Monitor 404 stats and ask link sources to fix broken links
Solicit links directly from sources
Provide ‘link to us’ content on blog and/or website
Leverage publicity and media relations for links
Digital asset submissions: images, audio, video
Posted by Mardy Sitzer
in Marketing
at
06:06
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Friday, August 14. 2009
10 Words to Strike Out of Your Marketing Material
I wanted to post this article because I linked to a TechCrunch blog post on Twitter and it got a lot of attention. So in case you have not have been following me on Twitter, I am sharing the information here as well. Their article was focused on the 10 words to eliminate from Press Releases but really this applies to any marketing material you might be producing or email blasts you are preparing to launch.
Stay tuned, this post is merely a brief interruption. SEO Basics Part III will get released on Sunday - for those of you who are diligently following this series.
Robin Wauters cites that the over use of these words has rendered them meaningless. His list is as follows:
1 ) LEADING / LEADER
2 ) BEST / MOST / FASTEST / LARGEST / BIGGEST / etc.
3 ) INNOVATIVE / INNOVATION
4 ) REVOLUTIONARY
5 ) AWARD-WINNING
6 ) DISRUPTIVE / DISRUPTION
7 ) CUTTING / BLEEDING EDGE
8 ) NEXT-GENERATION
9 ) STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
10 ) SYNERGY
And he throws in the bonus words: enterprise-grade, world-class, turnkey, premier, unparalleled and unrivaled.
I am always sharing great blogs and resources on Twitter if you want to follow me just look for me at @MardySitzer, I promise to keep the good stuff coming, reply when you directly or indirectly get my attention and never never spam or sell you with anything.
Stay tuned, this post is merely a brief interruption. SEO Basics Part III will get released on Sunday - for those of you who are diligently following this series.
Robin Wauters cites that the over use of these words has rendered them meaningless. His list is as follows:
1 ) LEADING / LEADER
2 ) BEST / MOST / FASTEST / LARGEST / BIGGEST / etc.
3 ) INNOVATIVE / INNOVATION
4 ) REVOLUTIONARY
5 ) AWARD-WINNING
6 ) DISRUPTIVE / DISRUPTION
7 ) CUTTING / BLEEDING EDGE
8 ) NEXT-GENERATION
9 ) STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
10 ) SYNERGY
And he throws in the bonus words: enterprise-grade, world-class, turnkey, premier, unparalleled and unrivaled.
I am always sharing great blogs and resources on Twitter if you want to follow me just look for me at @MardySitzer, I promise to keep the good stuff coming, reply when you directly or indirectly get my attention and never never spam or sell you with anything.
Posted by Mardy Sitzer
in Marketing
at
16:28
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Defined tags for this entry: Marketing
Thursday, May 28. 2009
So What?
Why should I care? When you are preparing an advertisement, an email campaign, a newsletter or any material to get the attention of clients, prospects or expanded audience, first answer the question ‘so what?’
The answer is NOT because you are awesome, and it certainly isn’t because you offer a particular product or service as I am certain that thousands of others do as well. So, why should they care?
I have spoken to and coached my clients on understanding their USP (Unique Selling Point) and being able to brand consistently around what separates you from the pack as important, but is it enough? The truth is it just might not be. You can be the only one who does something or has something now, but what about tomorrow? It is only a matter of time before someone emulates if not improves on what you are doing, so staying ahead of the competition requires more than just saying you are unique.
Better offers are a great place to start if you are looking to drive in more new business or increase the share value of existing customers. Some terrific tips and examples on this topic are in a recent article from Chief Marketer and you can read this article by following this link.
What else? Well, there is an amazing marketing technique that we design firms and marketers never focus on because we are all about the written word, the visual, the buzz, the hype and well, all the fun stuff really. But there are some hard core business strategies that you can implement that can take your business not only to the next level but also build the iron gate that keeps out the competition. I affectionately refer to this as the Zen Business Tip: Look within to improve the customer experience.
Yes, today we have Social Network Marketing (SNM) but we also have the social networks or Word of Mouth (WOM) to consider. If you can wow your customers surprisingly and repeatedly, then I will lay an honest man’s (or in my case – woman’s) bet that you may have uncovered one of the best marketing tools. You can build an army of free sales and marketing folks who will promote you one friend and family member at a time. Everyone you come into contact with has the potential to introduce your company to 5 to 10 new prospects. Imagine that. So count up your current clients and multiply that by 5. Let’s do the math. You have 500 customers and an amazing plan of action to wow each one of them this year, they encourage 5 friends or colleagues to have the same amazing experience and you could have an opportunity to close 2,500 prospects.
Sign you up you say? Ok, well we are a marketing firm and not a customer service improvement company but here is a tip: Read one or both books from John DiJulius, What’s the Secret? and Secret Service, Hidden Systems that Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service.
In the meantime, don’t give up on marketing. It is an on-going and organic process to grow your business. Nurture what you have already accomplished and plant new seeds to continue the growth. Marketing is still a necessary component as it educates your current clients and prospects as to what you have to offer and introduces you to a wider audience.
If the influx of inquiries from your email and newsletter campaigns has slipped off then it is probably time to bring in a pro to revamp your efforts and help restart the buzz you might have experienced at one time.
If your emails and newsletters never generated much activity, then it is time to put your ego or your DIY mentality aside and bring in a pro.
If you aren’t active on any of the social networks and aren’t sure where to start, bring in a pro.
If you haven’t placed an ad in awhile, bring in a pro.
If your website is stagnating, traffic is low and pages viewed or time on your site has fallen, well, bring in a pro.
Refuse to participate in the recession, BRING IN A PRO AND GROW!
The answer is NOT because you are awesome, and it certainly isn’t because you offer a particular product or service as I am certain that thousands of others do as well. So, why should they care?
I have spoken to and coached my clients on understanding their USP (Unique Selling Point) and being able to brand consistently around what separates you from the pack as important, but is it enough? The truth is it just might not be. You can be the only one who does something or has something now, but what about tomorrow? It is only a matter of time before someone emulates if not improves on what you are doing, so staying ahead of the competition requires more than just saying you are unique.
Better offers are a great place to start if you are looking to drive in more new business or increase the share value of existing customers. Some terrific tips and examples on this topic are in a recent article from Chief Marketer and you can read this article by following this link.
What else? Well, there is an amazing marketing technique that we design firms and marketers never focus on because we are all about the written word, the visual, the buzz, the hype and well, all the fun stuff really. But there are some hard core business strategies that you can implement that can take your business not only to the next level but also build the iron gate that keeps out the competition. I affectionately refer to this as the Zen Business Tip: Look within to improve the customer experience.
Yes, today we have Social Network Marketing (SNM) but we also have the social networks or Word of Mouth (WOM) to consider. If you can wow your customers surprisingly and repeatedly, then I will lay an honest man’s (or in my case – woman’s) bet that you may have uncovered one of the best marketing tools. You can build an army of free sales and marketing folks who will promote you one friend and family member at a time. Everyone you come into contact with has the potential to introduce your company to 5 to 10 new prospects. Imagine that. So count up your current clients and multiply that by 5. Let’s do the math. You have 500 customers and an amazing plan of action to wow each one of them this year, they encourage 5 friends or colleagues to have the same amazing experience and you could have an opportunity to close 2,500 prospects.
Sign you up you say? Ok, well we are a marketing firm and not a customer service improvement company but here is a tip: Read one or both books from John DiJulius, What’s the Secret? and Secret Service, Hidden Systems that Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service.
In the meantime, don’t give up on marketing. It is an on-going and organic process to grow your business. Nurture what you have already accomplished and plant new seeds to continue the growth. Marketing is still a necessary component as it educates your current clients and prospects as to what you have to offer and introduces you to a wider audience.
If the influx of inquiries from your email and newsletter campaigns has slipped off then it is probably time to bring in a pro to revamp your efforts and help restart the buzz you might have experienced at one time.
If your emails and newsletters never generated much activity, then it is time to put your ego or your DIY mentality aside and bring in a pro.
If you aren’t active on any of the social networks and aren’t sure where to start, bring in a pro.
If you haven’t placed an ad in awhile, bring in a pro.
If your website is stagnating, traffic is low and pages viewed or time on your site has fallen, well, bring in a pro.
Refuse to participate in the recession, BRING IN A PRO AND GROW!
Posted by Mardy Sitzer
in Marketing
at
06:17
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Defined tags for this entry: Marketing
Thursday, May 7. 2009
Why Did We Name Our Company Bumblebee?
We are asked from time to time “why did you pick the name Bumblebee?” We found that bumblebees reflect the way we market today and the impact that they have is impressive. So we hope this answers the question and sheds some new light on the bumblebee.
Bumblebees are social insects and like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young.
Bumblebees generally visit flowers to extract nectar and gather pollen. Pollen is removed from flowers deliberately or incidentally by bumblebees. Incidental removal occurs when bumblebees come in contact with the anthers of a flower while collecting nectar. The bumblebee's body hairs receive a dusting of pollen from the anthers which is then groomed into the corbiculae (pollen baskets). Bumblebees are also capable of buzz pollination.
In at least a few species, once a bumblebee has visited a flower, it leaves a scent mark on the flower. This scent mark deters visitation of the flower by other bumblebees until the scent degrades. It has been shown that this scent mark is a general chemical bouquet that bumblebees leave behind in different locations (e.g. nest, neutral and food sites), and they learn to use this bouquet to identify both rewarding and unrewarding flowers. In addition, bumblebees rely on this chemical bouquet more when the flower has a high handling time (i.e. it takes a longer time for the bee to find the nectar.
Bumblebee species are non-aggressive, but will sting in defense of their nest, or if harmed.
Bumblebees are increasingly cultured for agricultural use as pollinators because they can pollinate plant species that other pollinators cannot by using a technique known as buzz pollination. For example, bumblebee colonies are often emplaced in greenhouse tomato production, because the frequency of buzzing that a bumblebee exhibits effectively releases tomato pollen.
Profit and loss
Bumblebees need energy to fly, so when they leave on a foraging trip they carry nectar in their stomach to fuel them. The amount of nectar needed is roughly about 10% by volume of the amount collected in one foraging trip. The average mass of pollen and nectar carried by bumblebees returning to the nest is around 25% of their body weight. However some bumblebees fly back carrying as much as 75% or more of their body weight! A bumblebee making about ten average foraging trips would expect to provide the nest with about 3 ml of honey a day. So to a bumblebee time is honey!
Bees are responsible for pollinating plants that provide much of our food; in North America it is believed that 30% of food for human consumption originates from plants pollinated by bees. Honeybees are generally thought of as the most common pollinator, and they are the most widely studied, but bumblebees are the chief pollinators of red clover, alfalfa, and in some areas cotton, raspberries, apple and plum blossom.
Endangered status
Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognized along with six species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, three have already become extinct, eight are in serious decline and only six remain widespread. A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale sweeping changes to the countryside, leading to inadequate pollination of certain plants.
Bumblebees are social insects and like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young.
Bumblebees generally visit flowers to extract nectar and gather pollen. Pollen is removed from flowers deliberately or incidentally by bumblebees. Incidental removal occurs when bumblebees come in contact with the anthers of a flower while collecting nectar. The bumblebee's body hairs receive a dusting of pollen from the anthers which is then groomed into the corbiculae (pollen baskets). Bumblebees are also capable of buzz pollination.
In at least a few species, once a bumblebee has visited a flower, it leaves a scent mark on the flower. This scent mark deters visitation of the flower by other bumblebees until the scent degrades. It has been shown that this scent mark is a general chemical bouquet that bumblebees leave behind in different locations (e.g. nest, neutral and food sites), and they learn to use this bouquet to identify both rewarding and unrewarding flowers. In addition, bumblebees rely on this chemical bouquet more when the flower has a high handling time (i.e. it takes a longer time for the bee to find the nectar.
Bumblebee species are non-aggressive, but will sting in defense of their nest, or if harmed.
Bumblebees are increasingly cultured for agricultural use as pollinators because they can pollinate plant species that other pollinators cannot by using a technique known as buzz pollination. For example, bumblebee colonies are often emplaced in greenhouse tomato production, because the frequency of buzzing that a bumblebee exhibits effectively releases tomato pollen.
Profit and loss
Bumblebees need energy to fly, so when they leave on a foraging trip they carry nectar in their stomach to fuel them. The amount of nectar needed is roughly about 10% by volume of the amount collected in one foraging trip. The average mass of pollen and nectar carried by bumblebees returning to the nest is around 25% of their body weight. However some bumblebees fly back carrying as much as 75% or more of their body weight! A bumblebee making about ten average foraging trips would expect to provide the nest with about 3 ml of honey a day. So to a bumblebee time is honey!
Bees are responsible for pollinating plants that provide much of our food; in North America it is believed that 30% of food for human consumption originates from plants pollinated by bees. Honeybees are generally thought of as the most common pollinator, and they are the most widely studied, but bumblebees are the chief pollinators of red clover, alfalfa, and in some areas cotton, raspberries, apple and plum blossom.
Endangered status
Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognized along with six species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, three have already become extinct, eight are in serious decline and only six remain widespread. A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale sweeping changes to the countryside, leading to inadequate pollination of certain plants.
Sunday, April 19. 2009
Sins Made In Email Campaigns
Maybe, just maybe, your e-letter, or e-zine isn’t driving in business because, well, how should I put this? Ugh, it is full of sin. Maybe out of laziness recipients haven’t unsubscribed, or it is flagged to go straight to their spam folder.
If you aren’t getting traffic back to your website and you aren’t getting orders or phone calls, then it is time to STOP what you are doing and rethink. Be proud of yourself for getting started and actually doing something, and we commend you for that, but STOP before you hurt yourself by numbing or worse, disengaging your list so that they just won’t ever see your message again.
STOP and REFOCUS. First, who are you emailing? Are these current or past customers? What and when did they last buy from you? Are they prospects? What are they interested in? What industry or market segment are they in? Where in the country are they or for that matter, where in the world are they? When are you sending these out? What are your statistics telling you?
If you can’t answer most or all of these questions then you are not going to be effective and you risk losing your audience all together. Here are some tips that might help.
The first golden rule is to segment your database and send relevant information. If you are just continuing to send self-promotional emails then you are doomed to fail with this marketing program. When your emails consistently sound like your narcissistic grandmother: I, Me, My, Our, We and other words and phrases that are self promotional, then you will be guaranteed to be tuned out. Your emails and e-letters should not sound like a sales pitch and if they do, then, you have just committed the first sin of email marketing.
Imagine yourself at a networking event or cocktail party. You don’t go up to a someone, even someone you know and say “hey, my company does this, so click here and buy today” and if you do, chances are you will quickly be left standing in a corner all alone. Email marketing is the same.
What else could be possibly wrong with your email? The message and content are critical and when effectively crafted with list segmentation can be brilliant. But if you are under the misconception that what you have to say is so important and interesting, that everyone is going to read every word you or your brilliant copywriter writes, you are dead wrong. The minute someone opens up an email and sees a long paragraph or that they have to scroll and scroll, well you have just created the second sin of email marketing.
Long paragraphs defy readability; no one sits on their computer and devours every word. Your email should have scanability and the option to skip over or click for more. Your best plan of action is to create a series of headlines with a powerful description and a click for more option. Let the readers choose what they want to spend their time reading. You don’t have their undivided attention, you have to earn it. If your article or story is more than three sentences then you need to give the reader the option to click for more and be directed to a landing page where the full content resides. This helps the recipient manage their time and interest and it gives you valuable data as to what they are interested in and you can craft better and better emails over time. This also drives traffic to your website that now offers more opportunities for exposure.
You might think your design is interesting while others might find it a visual assault. If your design and imagery are overdone, then you just threw out your chance to be heard and committed the third sin. When design is done poorly you risk not getting any attention. Color boxes make content hard to read, embedded images and large images are just a big mistake. You’ve seen the email where you open it and there is a large box that takes up your screen and you have to click to download the image or choose not to at all but you can’t see any text without having to scroll. Don’t make this the venue where you attempt to showcase your designer and if you are doing it yourself, don’t unless you are trained! The bottom line is that your design could be the barrier to actually getting read.
Don’t give up your email campaigns, just get better at them! Think like a customer, think like a prospect and then craft your story and your design to engage them, not enrage them. And my all time favorite words of advice: You can only change someone’s mind from their point of view.
If you aren’t getting traffic back to your website and you aren’t getting orders or phone calls, then it is time to STOP what you are doing and rethink. Be proud of yourself for getting started and actually doing something, and we commend you for that, but STOP before you hurt yourself by numbing or worse, disengaging your list so that they just won’t ever see your message again.
STOP and REFOCUS. First, who are you emailing? Are these current or past customers? What and when did they last buy from you? Are they prospects? What are they interested in? What industry or market segment are they in? Where in the country are they or for that matter, where in the world are they? When are you sending these out? What are your statistics telling you?
If you can’t answer most or all of these questions then you are not going to be effective and you risk losing your audience all together. Here are some tips that might help.
The first golden rule is to segment your database and send relevant information. If you are just continuing to send self-promotional emails then you are doomed to fail with this marketing program. When your emails consistently sound like your narcissistic grandmother: I, Me, My, Our, We and other words and phrases that are self promotional, then you will be guaranteed to be tuned out. Your emails and e-letters should not sound like a sales pitch and if they do, then, you have just committed the first sin of email marketing.
Imagine yourself at a networking event or cocktail party. You don’t go up to a someone, even someone you know and say “hey, my company does this, so click here and buy today” and if you do, chances are you will quickly be left standing in a corner all alone. Email marketing is the same.
What else could be possibly wrong with your email? The message and content are critical and when effectively crafted with list segmentation can be brilliant. But if you are under the misconception that what you have to say is so important and interesting, that everyone is going to read every word you or your brilliant copywriter writes, you are dead wrong. The minute someone opens up an email and sees a long paragraph or that they have to scroll and scroll, well you have just created the second sin of email marketing.
Long paragraphs defy readability; no one sits on their computer and devours every word. Your email should have scanability and the option to skip over or click for more. Your best plan of action is to create a series of headlines with a powerful description and a click for more option. Let the readers choose what they want to spend their time reading. You don’t have their undivided attention, you have to earn it. If your article or story is more than three sentences then you need to give the reader the option to click for more and be directed to a landing page where the full content resides. This helps the recipient manage their time and interest and it gives you valuable data as to what they are interested in and you can craft better and better emails over time. This also drives traffic to your website that now offers more opportunities for exposure.
You might think your design is interesting while others might find it a visual assault. If your design and imagery are overdone, then you just threw out your chance to be heard and committed the third sin. When design is done poorly you risk not getting any attention. Color boxes make content hard to read, embedded images and large images are just a big mistake. You’ve seen the email where you open it and there is a large box that takes up your screen and you have to click to download the image or choose not to at all but you can’t see any text without having to scroll. Don’t make this the venue where you attempt to showcase your designer and if you are doing it yourself, don’t unless you are trained! The bottom line is that your design could be the barrier to actually getting read.
Don’t give up your email campaigns, just get better at them! Think like a customer, think like a prospect and then craft your story and your design to engage them, not enrage them. And my all time favorite words of advice: You can only change someone’s mind from their point of view.
Tuesday, April 14. 2009
You Have To Get A Life On-Line
It was probably only a few years ago or less that you learned about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and witnessed companies cropping up all over the world as specialists. Consultants and experts of this new field grew like wild fire. Keywords, Metrics, Listings, Linking, Coding and more became the buzz to get your site to have better SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This then grew ever more dynamic with PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. So, what is the story now? Where is this all leading?
Programming is changing the landscape, not only with web design but also with SEO. Improvements in HTML and CSS (web page coding) have dictated new standards that improve the readability for search engines. Search engines have become a lot smarter in reading the pages and assessing the content for relevancy and recent updates. Another change comes from APIs (Application Programming Interface) that among other functions also allows for the sending and receiving of data enabling your website to have fresh content automatically as one of the benefits. Then there are the widgets that link your site to social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others.
Content updates and relevancy are critical components in SEO. Search engines are already taking into consideration microformats. An example of a microformat is the profile on a Twitter home page, and yes, Google is tracking Twitter. From time to time I get a message from Google Alerts that my name appears and checking that update, a tweet I made is displayed. Just as a side note, I use Google Alerts to track my name and my company name to see where and how we show up on the internet. I also use this feature to track other points of interest either for a client or a prospect or a particular topic that might be relevant. Twitter is not the only place these microformats show up. Ratings of your company or product on other sites, if you contribute to social networking or aggregate sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon and others your profile is a microformat that is indexed by Google.
The point to this blog entry is that if search engine rankings are important to grow your business then there is no time like the present to get comfortable with on-line marketing and social networking. If you just are not sure where to start, download our Buzztionary, produced last October, it is already out of date but still relevant. We will update it soon but for now, it might help you begin the exploration of what I always tell my clients “You have to get a life on line!”
Programming is changing the landscape, not only with web design but also with SEO. Improvements in HTML and CSS (web page coding) have dictated new standards that improve the readability for search engines. Search engines have become a lot smarter in reading the pages and assessing the content for relevancy and recent updates. Another change comes from APIs (Application Programming Interface) that among other functions also allows for the sending and receiving of data enabling your website to have fresh content automatically as one of the benefits. Then there are the widgets that link your site to social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others.
Content updates and relevancy are critical components in SEO. Search engines are already taking into consideration microformats. An example of a microformat is the profile on a Twitter home page, and yes, Google is tracking Twitter. From time to time I get a message from Google Alerts that my name appears and checking that update, a tweet I made is displayed. Just as a side note, I use Google Alerts to track my name and my company name to see where and how we show up on the internet. I also use this feature to track other points of interest either for a client or a prospect or a particular topic that might be relevant. Twitter is not the only place these microformats show up. Ratings of your company or product on other sites, if you contribute to social networking or aggregate sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon and others your profile is a microformat that is indexed by Google.
The point to this blog entry is that if search engine rankings are important to grow your business then there is no time like the present to get comfortable with on-line marketing and social networking. If you just are not sure where to start, download our Buzztionary, produced last October, it is already out of date but still relevant. We will update it soon but for now, it might help you begin the exploration of what I always tell my clients “You have to get a life on line!”
Thursday, February 12. 2009
Do This and You Will Succeed
Great headline right? Isn’t that the gist of everything being printed and bantered about today? You might be getting an overload of information and sales pitches about what you need to do to survive this economic crisis. The rose color glasses are off and the Obama administration is saying that this is going to last for at least a year before it begins to improve.
So cut, slash, burn? No. Be smart, don’t panic and think things through. This is a good time to sit with your accountant and get cozy with the numbers that constitute your fixed and variable costs. Real cozy! Then at least a couple of times per week walk through every inch of space of your operation and observe, chances are you will find waste. Involve every member of the company to identify waste and provide suggestions for savings. Where ever there is a fixed number – see where it can be moved back. After all, your clients are probably asking for discounts from you – shouldn’t you be asking for discounts from your vendors? Renegotiate everything you can. Phone, electric, trash removal – don’t miss an invoice without examining closely. Then decide what to cut and where. Business pundits warn that if you are going to make cuts that you don’t diminish the quality of your service or products and that is really good advice.
Other sound advice offered by experts is that having a panic attack and dropping your price can do more damage then good as raising prices later will drive customers away and shrinking your margins may leave you paying for the privilege of servicing an account. Some suggestions they offer, and keep in mind that these suggestions work both ways – with your customers and your suppliers and vendors!
Short term discounts for longer term contracts. You don’t want to drop prices as it will be difficult to raise them again, so offer a special short term discount if they commit to an exclusive and longer term agreement. If contracts or agreements are not apart of your business model, the same tactic can still apply. Ask for more share of their business and provide a lower short term price structure in exchange. It is okay to lower your prices, but it has to be a win/win scenario with either a larger piece of the pie or a commitment of loyalty for long-term business.
Now for the fun part. What is your plan to replace lost revenue? No one wants to watch revenues and margins shrink waiting in hope that it will all pass soon. As entrepreneurs we are born of challenge, made from creativity and passion, so it is time to tap in and think it through again. You may have had dozens of great ideas before but were too busy to implement. Now, it is a necessity to implement innovation. A new service or expansion of an existing? Another option in your product matrix?
And now for my favorite topic: MARKETING. Some specialists say market heavily and others say cut back. I think it would be helpful to have a better understanding of what marketing is today, especially since it is very different than it was years ago. Advertising was marketing. Sales people were marketing and the objective focused on driving in new business.
Today, we don’t ‘market’ we ‘relate’ and that requires having a conversation. These conversations take place face-to-face, over the phone, text messages, IMing, tweeting, linked-in’ing, facebooking and so on. Everyone in your company is involved in these conversations. Marketing today is an on-going dialogue between your team and your customers and prospects. It is less expensive to maintain and grow a current account, and quicker I might add, then it is to bring in new business. A sensible tactic then would be to pay attention to your existing customers first – think of them as trees that need tending and watering in order to bear more fruit season after season.
If you plan to red-line your marketing and sales budget, think about redirecting for greater return. Examine every touch point in your company to customers and prospects and look to improve each and every one. Take a look at your website and see if it can deliver ‘ka-ching’. If it isn’t generating revenue and opportunity then it isn’t doing its job. (see previous post).
These and other ideas were stimulated from podcasts and articles that I recommend from the Open Forum from American Express. I recommend Wharton’s Marketing Professor Eric Bradlow.
And video interviews with Owner/Chef Tom Colicchio and Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin.
So cut, slash, burn? No. Be smart, don’t panic and think things through. This is a good time to sit with your accountant and get cozy with the numbers that constitute your fixed and variable costs. Real cozy! Then at least a couple of times per week walk through every inch of space of your operation and observe, chances are you will find waste. Involve every member of the company to identify waste and provide suggestions for savings. Where ever there is a fixed number – see where it can be moved back. After all, your clients are probably asking for discounts from you – shouldn’t you be asking for discounts from your vendors? Renegotiate everything you can. Phone, electric, trash removal – don’t miss an invoice without examining closely. Then decide what to cut and where. Business pundits warn that if you are going to make cuts that you don’t diminish the quality of your service or products and that is really good advice.
Other sound advice offered by experts is that having a panic attack and dropping your price can do more damage then good as raising prices later will drive customers away and shrinking your margins may leave you paying for the privilege of servicing an account. Some suggestions they offer, and keep in mind that these suggestions work both ways – with your customers and your suppliers and vendors!
Short term discounts for longer term contracts. You don’t want to drop prices as it will be difficult to raise them again, so offer a special short term discount if they commit to an exclusive and longer term agreement. If contracts or agreements are not apart of your business model, the same tactic can still apply. Ask for more share of their business and provide a lower short term price structure in exchange. It is okay to lower your prices, but it has to be a win/win scenario with either a larger piece of the pie or a commitment of loyalty for long-term business.
Now for the fun part. What is your plan to replace lost revenue? No one wants to watch revenues and margins shrink waiting in hope that it will all pass soon. As entrepreneurs we are born of challenge, made from creativity and passion, so it is time to tap in and think it through again. You may have had dozens of great ideas before but were too busy to implement. Now, it is a necessity to implement innovation. A new service or expansion of an existing? Another option in your product matrix?
And now for my favorite topic: MARKETING. Some specialists say market heavily and others say cut back. I think it would be helpful to have a better understanding of what marketing is today, especially since it is very different than it was years ago. Advertising was marketing. Sales people were marketing and the objective focused on driving in new business.
Today, we don’t ‘market’ we ‘relate’ and that requires having a conversation. These conversations take place face-to-face, over the phone, text messages, IMing, tweeting, linked-in’ing, facebooking and so on. Everyone in your company is involved in these conversations. Marketing today is an on-going dialogue between your team and your customers and prospects. It is less expensive to maintain and grow a current account, and quicker I might add, then it is to bring in new business. A sensible tactic then would be to pay attention to your existing customers first – think of them as trees that need tending and watering in order to bear more fruit season after season.
If you plan to red-line your marketing and sales budget, think about redirecting for greater return. Examine every touch point in your company to customers and prospects and look to improve each and every one. Take a look at your website and see if it can deliver ‘ka-ching’. If it isn’t generating revenue and opportunity then it isn’t doing its job. (see previous post).
These and other ideas were stimulated from podcasts and articles that I recommend from the Open Forum from American Express. I recommend Wharton’s Marketing Professor Eric Bradlow.
And video interviews with Owner/Chef Tom Colicchio and Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin.
Thursday, January 8. 2009
That Personal Touch
What I am about to share with you might surprise you, especially coming from a design and marketing firm, and considering how much we all talk about digital campaigns.
I just got off the phone with one of our key clients. We talk often both as client-vendor, but more often as friends and as supportive business owners. We discuss all aspects of business and have touched on the topic from time to time before but in the last few weeks, we have discussed it a bit more – actually making a call to a client’s physical location. Yes, we do have an amazing drip campaign and a great touch campaign and more, but, what if, just what if you actually stopped in to say hello, shake a hand or two and said “just wanted to stop by to say thanks, and let you know we appreciate your business…” what would happen?
Would they sneer at you? Would they think less of you for doing it the old fashioned way – just send an email and move on? What? Or, would they thank you for caring enough, or even think – oh, you might want to give us a price on a new piece of business, or mention “I just got off the phone with ‘so and so’ and they need a company like yours – why don’t you give them a call”.
So, my friend/client braved the cold wind, the down pouring rain and did a bit of an experiment. Guess what? It worked more often than not. He actually closed more business in the two days he spent visiting than he would have had he spent those two days on the phone continuing to follow leads.
Filling the pipeline with prospects is critical to growth and we do not suggest you cease and desist. But keeping and growing the business you already have is doubly as rewarding, more exciting than you might imagine and you have a better chance of keeping what you have already worked so hard to gain.
Morale of the story: put on a pair of comfortable shoes, pull out your guide to good manners and business etiquette and get back on the road at least one, if not two days a week. Don’t fire your marketing and design team (please!) but do get back to the basics!
I just got off the phone with one of our key clients. We talk often both as client-vendor, but more often as friends and as supportive business owners. We discuss all aspects of business and have touched on the topic from time to time before but in the last few weeks, we have discussed it a bit more – actually making a call to a client’s physical location. Yes, we do have an amazing drip campaign and a great touch campaign and more, but, what if, just what if you actually stopped in to say hello, shake a hand or two and said “just wanted to stop by to say thanks, and let you know we appreciate your business…” what would happen?
Would they sneer at you? Would they think less of you for doing it the old fashioned way – just send an email and move on? What? Or, would they thank you for caring enough, or even think – oh, you might want to give us a price on a new piece of business, or mention “I just got off the phone with ‘so and so’ and they need a company like yours – why don’t you give them a call”.
So, my friend/client braved the cold wind, the down pouring rain and did a bit of an experiment. Guess what? It worked more often than not. He actually closed more business in the two days he spent visiting than he would have had he spent those two days on the phone continuing to follow leads.
Filling the pipeline with prospects is critical to growth and we do not suggest you cease and desist. But keeping and growing the business you already have is doubly as rewarding, more exciting than you might imagine and you have a better chance of keeping what you have already worked so hard to gain.
Morale of the story: put on a pair of comfortable shoes, pull out your guide to good manners and business etiquette and get back on the road at least one, if not two days a week. Don’t fire your marketing and design team (please!) but do get back to the basics!
Monday, December 8. 2008
THE BLOGGING NETWORKS YOU NEED TO KNOW!: A Journey into Social Network Marketing, Pt. 3
So you started your company blog, now what? You need to get your blog seen by more people, more often and get comments and start building a community. Check out these sites and register your blog. These are the communities in the blogosphere that have the most users and pack the biggest punch!
Technorati – www.technorati.com
Register your blog or blogs, including microblogs like Twitter. You can make friends, share blog articles, comment, etc. From there you add your tags (stay tuned for an upcoming post from the Hive about tags), start making connections with like minded bloggers. With an index containing 112.8 million blogs and 250 million pieces of tagged social media, Technorati is one of the big boys. That’s a whole lot of reach, so sign up for your piece of that massive blog pie!
Digg – www.digg.com
Digg is as large as Technorati but goes beyond the blog. It’s a more general news aggregator and social content site. While a blog’s visibility is increased using Digg they also pick up content from larger news, gossip and media sites. While that may dissuade you at first, Digg is set up with community and communication in mind. It may not always be about you or your company but with these other types of sites added to the network you can find even more specific groups with more specific interests. Great networking tool!
StumbleUpon – www.stumbleupon.com
eBay’s shot at the website ranking and discovery biz, StumbleUpon focuses on personal recommendations based on your interest, to the point they want your stumbling tools right on your web browser. Like Digg, StumbleUpon utilizes user voting, as well as being able to submit just about any article, blog or video on the internet. You may also want to check out a site that’s coming to be the ‘new’ StumbleUpon, Twine (www.twine.com).
Other sites definitely worth your attention are Del.icio.us (www.delicious.com) and Slashdot (www.slashdot.com) for various blog and media sharing communities. As you work on your blog you need to make sure your readers have access so they can recommend your blogs for these sites! AddThis (www.addthis.com) is a great tool for that! With one button on your blog, your readers can submit your blog everywhere from FaceBook, Propeller, LinkedIn, even Fark and of course all the sites mentioned above - 43 in total at the time of this post.
As we continue to assist you in the journey into social network marketing, we look forward to your leaving a comment or let us know if you would like us to expand on any of these topics. Next up we’ll have some fresh information for you on tags and Yammer.com - the business oriented microblog network. Stay tuned!
Technorati – www.technorati.com
Register your blog or blogs, including microblogs like Twitter. You can make friends, share blog articles, comment, etc. From there you add your tags (stay tuned for an upcoming post from the Hive about tags), start making connections with like minded bloggers. With an index containing 112.8 million blogs and 250 million pieces of tagged social media, Technorati is one of the big boys. That’s a whole lot of reach, so sign up for your piece of that massive blog pie!
Digg – www.digg.com
Digg is as large as Technorati but goes beyond the blog. It’s a more general news aggregator and social content site. While a blog’s visibility is increased using Digg they also pick up content from larger news, gossip and media sites. While that may dissuade you at first, Digg is set up with community and communication in mind. It may not always be about you or your company but with these other types of sites added to the network you can find even more specific groups with more specific interests. Great networking tool!
StumbleUpon – www.stumbleupon.com
eBay’s shot at the website ranking and discovery biz, StumbleUpon focuses on personal recommendations based on your interest, to the point they want your stumbling tools right on your web browser. Like Digg, StumbleUpon utilizes user voting, as well as being able to submit just about any article, blog or video on the internet. You may also want to check out a site that’s coming to be the ‘new’ StumbleUpon, Twine (www.twine.com).
Other sites definitely worth your attention are Del.icio.us (www.delicious.com) and Slashdot (www.slashdot.com) for various blog and media sharing communities. As you work on your blog you need to make sure your readers have access so they can recommend your blogs for these sites! AddThis (www.addthis.com) is a great tool for that! With one button on your blog, your readers can submit your blog everywhere from FaceBook, Propeller, LinkedIn, even Fark and of course all the sites mentioned above - 43 in total at the time of this post.
As we continue to assist you in the journey into social network marketing, we look forward to your leaving a comment or let us know if you would like us to expand on any of these topics. Next up we’ll have some fresh information for you on tags and Yammer.com - the business oriented microblog network. Stay tuned!
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, blog, blogging, blogosphere, del.icio.us, digg, facebook, fark, linkedin, marketing, propeller, slashdot, social networking, stumbleupon, technorati, yammerFriday, October 31. 2008
Mix and Match Up
Networking is sometimes a real challenge. Finding the right events to attend is a daunting task, and creating one can be doubly difficult to imagine. Our company has a mixed client base of businesses in a wide range of industries. Although most are b2b, we have worked with some b2c. I struggled with how to introduce our b2bs to our b2cs. Let’s face it, b2b customers are still people and as people with networks of their own, they use b2c products and services. Yes, in casual conversation I can mention these services and products in an effort to promote my other clients but it really doesn’t have the same impact. The question is: what environment is most conducive for bringing them face to face?
So, we organized a small soiree of our b2c clients to host a networking event that was casual and intimate. We invited all of our b2bs and well, surprisingly, those who often don’t network came because there was some fun involved and no pressure. It was a success on all accounts.
This got me to thinking. We all have a rolodex file that contain contacts that need to be ‘touched’ and getting them together to meet one another can be both fun and valuable to all involved. The costs are kept down since everyone ‘hosting’ pitches in to support the event. Now, translate that to your own rolodex files. With the holidays coming up and parties being scaled back or cancelled all together, you can be a standout by teaming up with vendors or other contacts to host smaller gatherings that people would love to attend. Be creative in designing the purpose of the event as pure celebration isn’t on most people’s minds right now. And ‘survival’ isn’t exactly the word that anyone wants to hear either, after all who wants to celebrate pain?
Pre-holiday, holiday and post-holiday cheer can still be had. Bring in some companies and products that maybe have nothing to do with your business but are of general interest to all. A shopping party with quality items at a discount, jewelry trunk shows, chocolate tastings, and how about a chef sampling from independent chefs who are anxious to get their names out there? Charity sharing is a good idea as well, but be careful – inviting folks to be guilted into giving money right now can be tricky. No one likes to say no to a worthy cause, yet with cash being tight, no one wants to loosen their grip right now either, so tread lightly, but don’t NOT consider bringing charities into the mix as they can really use the help now more than ever.
We were pleasantly reassured when we saw that even though our event might have had a somewhat ‘feminine’ appeal, business men were smart enough to recognize that women make business decisions too, so they had no problem attending as well.
Mix it up and make some matches. Not only is it good to help others, you get recognized for being fun and interesting, being proactive and optimistic and thinking out of the box. And who wouldn’t want to do business with someone like that? Make a party, have some fun, do some good and stay in the game!
So, we organized a small soiree of our b2c clients to host a networking event that was casual and intimate. We invited all of our b2bs and well, surprisingly, those who often don’t network came because there was some fun involved and no pressure. It was a success on all accounts.
This got me to thinking. We all have a rolodex file that contain contacts that need to be ‘touched’ and getting them together to meet one another can be both fun and valuable to all involved. The costs are kept down since everyone ‘hosting’ pitches in to support the event. Now, translate that to your own rolodex files. With the holidays coming up and parties being scaled back or cancelled all together, you can be a standout by teaming up with vendors or other contacts to host smaller gatherings that people would love to attend. Be creative in designing the purpose of the event as pure celebration isn’t on most people’s minds right now. And ‘survival’ isn’t exactly the word that anyone wants to hear either, after all who wants to celebrate pain?
Pre-holiday, holiday and post-holiday cheer can still be had. Bring in some companies and products that maybe have nothing to do with your business but are of general interest to all. A shopping party with quality items at a discount, jewelry trunk shows, chocolate tastings, and how about a chef sampling from independent chefs who are anxious to get their names out there? Charity sharing is a good idea as well, but be careful – inviting folks to be guilted into giving money right now can be tricky. No one likes to say no to a worthy cause, yet with cash being tight, no one wants to loosen their grip right now either, so tread lightly, but don’t NOT consider bringing charities into the mix as they can really use the help now more than ever.
We were pleasantly reassured when we saw that even though our event might have had a somewhat ‘feminine’ appeal, business men were smart enough to recognize that women make business decisions too, so they had no problem attending as well.
Mix it up and make some matches. Not only is it good to help others, you get recognized for being fun and interesting, being proactive and optimistic and thinking out of the box. And who wouldn’t want to do business with someone like that? Make a party, have some fun, do some good and stay in the game!
Tuesday, October 28. 2008
The Best Is Sometimes Free
Failing economy, tight budgets, shrinking cash flow and diminishing reserves all add up to businesses not spending money to promote their companies. This is akin to turning off the water to your crop’s irrigation system in a drought.
We are not suggesting that you foolishly go out and open the flood gates but we are saying that you need to continue to nurture your clients and prospects and keep your brand out in the open where it can be found. We also apologize if the title is misleading as not all marketing efforts are free, however, here are a few tips that might help you keep the momentum going.
After you finish reading the Sunday paper and are relaxing at home, or sitting around worrying at home, get on your computer and take care of a few pieces of business.
1. Get mapped. It is free and it increases your searchability. Google and Yahoo provide online users with the ability to ‘map’ their businesses with address, phone number and even a link to their website. This helps you to establish a presence and yes you heard the price – it’s free.
2. Start searching for relevant sites that pertain to either your business or community and see where you might fit in and which sites offer resources. You might be surprised to find opportunities to ‘match up’ and join in.
3. Join Linked-in and get involved with the communities that either interest you or are relevant to your business. Begin to build a community of contacts and create the activity that will keep your name popping up in the lives of those who matter, and yes, it is free.
4. Find other social networking mediums that suit your temperament and get involved. You don’t have to start your own blog if you aren’t ready, but you can become a reader and post comments – hey, when you read the paper everyday and murmur under your breath, no one hears, when you read a blog and comment, well you are getting your name and link to your website out there, and yes, the price is FREE.
5. Get seen in local and regional Press. Community press is always looking for stories and if you have a new product or service launch, just made a great new hire or have started an interesting campaign, oh like a cost saving or green campaign in your organization, write an effective press release and submit to local community and regional papers.
6. Volunteer. Take yourself or your entire company to volunteer somewhere in the area such as at a school, animal rescue center, at the park or at a charity event or community event – a big splash will get the eye of the press nearby and surely get your company called for comment and recognition can get you added exposure. And, just think, you’ll be doing something for the greater good as well.
So, no more cries of ‘we can’t afford it’ and get out there and just DO IT!
We are not suggesting that you foolishly go out and open the flood gates but we are saying that you need to continue to nurture your clients and prospects and keep your brand out in the open where it can be found. We also apologize if the title is misleading as not all marketing efforts are free, however, here are a few tips that might help you keep the momentum going.
After you finish reading the Sunday paper and are relaxing at home, or sitting around worrying at home, get on your computer and take care of a few pieces of business.
1. Get mapped. It is free and it increases your searchability. Google and Yahoo provide online users with the ability to ‘map’ their businesses with address, phone number and even a link to their website. This helps you to establish a presence and yes you heard the price – it’s free.
2. Start searching for relevant sites that pertain to either your business or community and see where you might fit in and which sites offer resources. You might be surprised to find opportunities to ‘match up’ and join in.
3. Join Linked-in and get involved with the communities that either interest you or are relevant to your business. Begin to build a community of contacts and create the activity that will keep your name popping up in the lives of those who matter, and yes, it is free.
4. Find other social networking mediums that suit your temperament and get involved. You don’t have to start your own blog if you aren’t ready, but you can become a reader and post comments – hey, when you read the paper everyday and murmur under your breath, no one hears, when you read a blog and comment, well you are getting your name and link to your website out there, and yes, the price is FREE.
5. Get seen in local and regional Press. Community press is always looking for stories and if you have a new product or service launch, just made a great new hire or have started an interesting campaign, oh like a cost saving or green campaign in your organization, write an effective press release and submit to local community and regional papers.
6. Volunteer. Take yourself or your entire company to volunteer somewhere in the area such as at a school, animal rescue center, at the park or at a charity event or community event – a big splash will get the eye of the press nearby and surely get your company called for comment and recognition can get you added exposure. And, just think, you’ll be doing something for the greater good as well.
So, no more cries of ‘we can’t afford it’ and get out there and just DO IT!
