Tag: Business

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via chrisbrogan.com

I love Chris Brogan! Here’s an excerpt from his latest post:

“STACKING WOOD: A LIST

  • Blogging is stacking wood. More content means more readers, more search terms, more opportunities to sell.
  • Email marketing is stacking wood. Reaching out to people with useful information that maintains your relationship lures in more sales.
  • Connecting on LinkedIn is stacking wood. The larger your network, the more potential you have to help others, or find help for yourself.
  • Getting coffee with a friend is stacking wood. I owe Jon Swanson another long phone call soon.
  • Reading is stacking wood. The more I learn, the more I can improve on my execution and my abilities.
  • Fitness and nutrition are stacking wood. The more fuel you have in your body for the fire, the better your chances at success become.

You could add to this list, couldn’t you?
And how are you doing at stacking wood these days? Are you preparing and doing the chores that keep the fire tended? Or are you burning and enjoying the warmth?”

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via youtube.com

One of my ‘students’ in the NWTC social media certification course is Ernie Stevens III. Take a moment to watch this video he put together on an upcoming film he’s producing. What an amazing talent — looks like the student is a master… :-D

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Thinking about a business blog? I think about it all the time…

“Search Engine Land blogger Ciarán Norris says there is no right way to blog.

He cites Forrester’s recent policy decision to require its analysts to blog at Forrester.com, which seems like the wrong path to take but, given the recent exodus of a number of analysts – Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang to name two of the more prominent – perhaps they’re skittish about allowing analysts to build up too much of a personal brand at the expense of the corporate. (But, that’s a topic for another post, one that I do plan to address.)

Back to the question at hand, is there a right or wrong way to blog? And, what makes a blog a blog anyway?

I can think of a number of wrong approaches to blogging – simply using a blog to repost press releases, for example. Ghost-blogging for another. Not a big fan of that.

Aside from those rather obvious fails, here are some ways to make sure you get blogging right” Source: Social Media Today | Business Blogging: Is There a Right or Wrong Way?

Author Paul Chaney lists these five objectives:

  • Make it personal
  • Make it practical
  • Make it topical
  • Make it fit the platform
  • Make it happen

You’ll want to go to the source to get the rest of Paul’s perspective. Questions? Feedback? You know the drill! Comment, call or contact…

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via marketingsavant.com

I came across a mention of this today and thought it appropriate to share.  This is dated advice. Dated from 1885 to be more specific!

Thomas Smith, a London Businessman, wrote a guide called Successful Advertising in 1885. The sayings he used are still being used today and form the foundation for the Theory of Frequency in advertising and marketing.

  1. The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.
  2. The second time, they don’t notice it.
  3. The third time, they are aware that it is there.
  4. The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.
  5. The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
  6. The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.
  7. The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
  8. The eighth time, they start to think, “Here’s that confounded ad again.”
  9. The ninth time, they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something.
  10. The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.
  11. The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
  12. The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
  13. The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
  14. The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
  15. The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
  16. The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
  17. The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
  18. The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
  19. The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
  20. The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.

What do you think? How much of this do you think is still applicable?

via marketingsavant.com

I was just corresponding with Dana VanDen Heuvel and thanks to Gist and the Gist gadget for Google Apps, I noticed that Dana had just posted some really good content, so I swiped it [with proper attribution of course] and I’m sharing it with you here now. It looks like King Solomon was right — there is nothing new under the sun…

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“There’s never been a better time to take advantage of the expansive opportunities for online business development and growth that the internet affords. According to a Juniper Research study, the number of U.S. internet shoppers will grow at an average rate of 12 percent per year through 2010, resulting in more than $144 billion in online sales.” Click here to read more…

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Luxrealty

…but when your client is ‘Luxemburg Linda’ who loves the color, you make an exception! Linda just launched luxemburgrealty.com this week and after attending one of executive briefings on business blogging, she decided to add a simple Posterous blog to her site to drive search engine optimization and social media. Click the image above to visit the Luxemburg Realty blog…

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…on the Top 10 Tactics and Tools for Social Media. Here’s my mindmap. What’s missing? You can grab the map and move it around or make it full screen if that helps by using the menu bar at the bottom of the map…

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Image representing IBM as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

Back in the day, if you wanted support from a business, you had to go to where the business’s reps were. Be it via an 800 number, support forums, e-mail or chat, the business would set the rules about how quickly your inquiry was addressed.

But with social media growing as a real-time support channel, the picture looks quite different these days. Customers are taking back control, and businesses increasingly have to assist on consumers’ terms.

I chatted with a colleague of mine, Brian House of IBM, about the different types of people searching for social support, and we discovered that most can be put in one of two categories. The first is the “social media native.” These are people who use social media, specifically Twitter (Twitter), as their main point of contact with companies and brands. These types are social media-savvy and reach for Twitter to share their everyday thoughts and opinions, which often overlap with their use of products and sentiment about brands.

The second type is the “last resort social media user.” This type of customer is more dangerous to a business because she is likely frustrated with the brand’s traditional support channels and has resorted to the public forum of social media to voice negative sentiment. She is not happy and won’t hesitate to share her opinion with friends.

Social support is no longer a luxury, but a necessity in today’s business climate. It’s an opportunity to maintain engagement with the savvy users in category one and stay on top of potentially damaging chatter from those in category two. To ensure that you are successful, here are five tips and considerations that you need to think through before engaging in social support.

via mashable.com

You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the 5 tips…

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Groupon logo.
Image via Wikipedia

In order to stimulate interest, businesses are told they have to discount goods and services by at least 50 percent. Even deeper discounts of up to 80 percent are encouraged. On top of that, the group buying site keeps as much as 50 percent (more perhaps?) of the amount the merchant brings in.

You do the math. If you offer a deal of $20 for $40 worth of goods or services, then the group site keeps as much as 50 percent of the amount sold, does that make sense?

Oh, but it’s advertising. Right, I get that. And if you’re advertising budget is big enough, or the margins on your products are high enough, it makes sense. You don’t lose your shirt with every sale. But, not every small business is the Gap. Quite to the contrary, most of us work on minimal ad budgets and thin margins.

One small business, Poises Cafe, lost so much money the owners had to dip into their personal savings to cover what they claim was an $8,000 loss! The owner called it a “terrible decision,” one that was made at the objection of her husband. Consider not only the strain this placed on their business, but their personal lives as well.

via thesocialmediahandyman.com

Paul Chaney has done a good job addressing the Groupon dilemma here. Personally, as a consumer I love Groupon, but as a small business owner I have a lot of other options that are free or much cheaper. You can follow the ‘via’ link above to read the rest of Paul’s article — comment below or ‘connect’ above to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…

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I was drawn in by the title of this compelling YouTube video. It’s a thoughtful piece on why it may not be as easy as you’d like to introduce new strategies…

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…according to John Jantsch…

One of the most common questions I receive is “how do I get started blogging?” Some might find it a bit odd that I suggest a three step approach and the first two steps don’t have much to do with directly working on your own blog. No, I think you get started blogging by working on your blogging mindset and blogging presence. So, here’s my 3-step blogging start-up plan.”

Click here to read more…

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Aliza Sherman has a great post over at Web Worker Daily…

“How many times are you hearing the question, “Why should I engage in social media?” during your work week? I’m hearing it often, and it’s reminding me of 1995 and 1996, when clients — and colleagues — were asking “Why should I have a web site?” And who remembers when the question was “Why should I have email/a cellphone/a computer/a typewriter/a telephone?” OK, maybe none of you remember the old telephone question, but I heard that when the telephone was first introduced as a consumer product, most families were appalled with the concept of putting a phone into their homes and saw it as an invasion of their privacy. Yes, the telephone.

Here is how I try to explain to people who may not be convinced that they — or their company — should be using social media for business. Hopefully, this proves helpful to those of you in the position of reaching the decision makers who are ignoring social media outright and consider it a fad.” Source: Why Should I Engage in Social Media?

The diagram she refers to is a useful, thought provoking tool…

Personally, I’ve benefited a great deal from applying social media to my internet marketing strategy and I’m happy to share my ‘home bases and outposts’ strategy with my clients. When a customer’s needs are greater than what I can handle myself, I include my virtual team members Dana VanDen Heuvel, the thought leadership guru at MarketingSavant.com and the brilliant folks at Envano led by David Sauter. Whether your needs are great our small, one of us can help you figure it out…

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…from a reputable source…

“Want to be sure that you are a valuable member of the team? Well, then don’t annoy your coworkers with your email habits. Or worse, don’t annoy your superiors.

“Since email is now the number one business communication tool it’s become the best way to trumpet your value and save your job,” says Mike Song, a top email efficiency and etiquette expert and lead author of the bestselling book, The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You.” Source: IT Management » Blog Archive » Be A Good Emailer

Go to the source to read the whole article — it’s worth it!

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It’s always easier to just buy an ad.  There are people that will take your money and use it to produce a commercial, tv spot or print ad.  People will see your ad and a few of them may even come into your store if your ad has a good call to action or a coupon.  There is a problem with that strategy.  There’s an easier way that takes more work.  How can something be easier and take more work?

It’s more work to…

…gather contact information for all of your current clients or members.

…communicate with them about things other than your organization, store or “sale of the century”.

…talk to individuals instead of buying an ad for the masses.

But it’s easier to…

…get information of your current clients than to get information from strangers.

…talk about what’s important to their lives if you’re listening  on their terms (Facebook or Twitter come to mind).

…talk to individuals and get a response than to buy an ad and get the attention of the masses.

As with all things worth while it’s easier in the long run if you do more work in the beginning.

Stop throwing money at the masses and start talking to individuals.

via andytraub.com

Nice post by Andy Traub. For me, it’s like Guy Kawasaki says ““If you have more Money than brains, you should focus on Outbound Marketing. If you have more Brains than money, you should focus on Inbound Marketing.” [Just in case you’re not sure, ads are outbound, social media is inbound.] One of the things I love about social media marketing is that it takes more time than money! All of us are working hard in the current economy but imho, the smart ones are channeling that effort into inbound marketing in the form of social media. Questions? Feedback?

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I’ve heard it all before… “my company just needs a good website to get my product out. Trust me they will come”… or another good one, “I have a facebook profile and now I can send out product updates and people will just get them.” Er, no. For years Business to Business companies have been trying to match the success, and sometime failures, of traditional media that Business to Consumer companies have had. Then the internet seemed to even the playing field. Only problem was, B2B companies didn’t have the budgets B2C companies had to market that cool website. Plus, the market for their products is much smaller. When I mean smaller, I mean I know a few companies that only have about a dozen or so potential customers. You could technically buy a dozen donuts and email each prospect one. As long as it’s not jelly filled, because that could get messy.

So back to facebook.com and can it work for B2B? The answer is yes. But it does come with a few caveats. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will work without a sound marketing strategy. Also, one of the main reason’s any tactic will fail is lack of follow through. Let’s face it, nobody has any time to do any marketing things during our busy work day right? Wrong. How may of us check our facebook account as often as we check our email? Lots, ok, we also check on our farms, but that’s totally different. So just by checking your facebook account, you have time to add a update that can make your business more relevent to prospects and current customers. So I have written five steps that can help any B2B company get more out of facebook.

via macdesign13.wordpress.com

I’m so glad I know Kiar Olson and I love his perspective on this topic — you can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’d like to read his ‘5 step’ program…

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The beautiful view from my deck in rural northeast Wisconsin is a great reminder of the power I have to publish and promote; from anywhere to the ends of the internet!

I’ve worked hard to develop a simple blogging workflow that can empower even the most basic computer user. I don’t care if you’re Mac, Windows, Linux, or even Smartphone or iPad — my practical, tactical approach to social media can help  you publish and promote your passion whatever it might be. But “Wah!”, you might say, “I don’t want to learn anything new!” Can you send an email? Can you save a bookmark? Then I can teach you how you can leverage social media to help establish your thought leadership position…

We’re now in an unparalleled time in history where everyone has the power to publish — the question is, will you take advantage of it? I post here every day, day after day, the best of the insight God has given me into leveraging these new media tools. If it makes sense to you, use it, great! If not you know the drill — comment, call or contact me and I’ll be happy to net it out for you!

Posted via web from e1evation, llc

 

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A little while ago I wrote a post about 20 great Facebook Fan Pages. Most of the HubSpot blog readers found the examples eye-catching and inspiring, but many of the comments contained a similar yearning to see if these same concepts could be applied to B2B businesses.

Like the general idea of Inbound Marketing can be applied to both B2C and B2B companies, so too can the Facebook marketing techniques portrayed in the previous examples. In order to understand how to incorporate these principles into a B2B Facebook Fan Page we must first make sure that we understand the objective of these pages.

Engage Your Audience

One of the main reasons that people “Like” a page is because they want to stay up to date with the latest happenings at a particular company. Just like a company blog, if your Facebook Fan Page is rarely updated then people aren’t going to have much incentive to “Like” your page. It’s not only important to update your page with relevant company info, but also interesting goings-ons in your industry.

Encourage Sharing with Others

Other ways to engage your audience include holding contests or offering specials to fans. People love free stuff, and contests and specials are a great way to encourage fans to share your page with others. It is very common for friend’s on social networks to have similar interests and likely that they work in the same industry. Creating events that encourage current fans to share with others is an excellent way to extend your reach to those who are likely a good fit for your business.

Create a Conversation

This is similar to engaging your audience but takes it one step further. If you are regularly creating great content and sharing it, people will be more inclined to keep coming back to visit your Fan Page. If you’re actively participating in conversations with visitors in the comments and on your page’s wall then you will see an even better response. Showing your fans that behind your company logo is an actual person with whom they can interact is a great way to create happy customers who might even tell their friends about you :)

via blog.hubspot.com

You’ll have to follow the ‘via’ link if you want a peek at the 7 awesome pages. Comment below or ‘connect’ above so we can talk about how this applies to your business…

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…or doing it for the first time? In either case Seth Godin has an interesting perspective to share:

“The most common question people ask me when they want a new website is, “If you were in charge of this, who are the 2 or 3 people you’d want to be sure to talk to – to help think through the issues, help us figure out who should do the work, etc.?”

The second most common question people ask me, “In addition to Apple’s site, are there 2 or 3 that you think are really appealing and work well for their business?”

I think these are perhaps the tenth and eleventh questions you should ask, not the first two. Here’s my list of difficult and important questions you have to answer before you spend a nickel” Seth’s Blog: Things to ask before you redo your website

Go to the source for the questions that Seth thinks you need to answer before you begin — it’s always good to ‘measure twice and cut once’!

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A couple of days ago I filled in for Dana VanDen Heuvel in a class he was teaching at NWTC on social media. As luck would have it, I taught on the topic of Facebook pages — here are two hot posts that popped up today that I wish I had shared with the class. Although the first targets non-profits, much of it is applicable to small businesses and other organizations as well…

“Facebook Pages are where most nonprofits establish a home-base on Facebook. You can send targeted updates to fans, engage supporters on a wall, and give visitors a customized experience by using a variety of applications.

Your Page comes standard with a few applications developed by Facebook like Discussions and Events. But you can also add third-party applications to your Page.” Source: Eleven Killer Facebook Page Applications For Your Nonprofit — SocialFish

Item #6 on the list is ‘Static FBML’. Mari Smith has some good stuff here for those interested in creating a web page within a Facebook page…

“Let’s assume you have your Facebook Fan Page up and running now. (If not, see FANtastic Fan Pages for ideas and help). Some of the basics include adding a custom graphic, installing apps – particularly Static FBML, adding custom content including a landing tab, and ensuring you’re adding relevant, quality content on a regular basis. I’ll be covering all of these subjects and more on this blog and also on SocialMediaExaminer.com.

If you have visitors to your Fan page and they are not yet fans, I call them non-fans, you ideally want those visitors to be directed to your custom Welcome Tab rather than your Wall.

The idea behind this is you want to have a clear and inviting page that provides these visitors with an immediate sense of who you are, what you do, why they should become a fan, AND you want to provide a call to action with a nice visual to your Become a Fan button.” Source: How To Add A Custom Landing Tab To Your Facebook Fan Page | MariSmith.com

You’ll have to go to the sources to get more, but they’re both great articles. If you want to leverage Facebook pages, but don’t know where to start, I can help! Comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…

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I love it when I find a quote to support my preconceived notions because if I say it, it’s just opinion, but if an ‘expert’ says it, well, it must be true. In this case a designer talks about web design…

“This one will probably get me into trouble.

I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades and I’m not supposed to say this stuff. After all, it’s my job to make miracles. To wave my magic design wand and make a business look stronger, smarter, and more powerful than it really is.

Before I start dodging rotten tomatoes, though, I’m going to go ahead and say it out loud.

It’s a smart business move to have a well-designed website.

But good design — even great design — won’t solve all your business problems. Not even close.” Source: The Myth of Beautiful Website Design | Copyblogger

Although I do design websites, I think of myself less as a web designer than I do a social media technologist. In my methodology, a blog enabled website is a homebase or hub for a social media publishing network. My goal in design is simply to have the site load fast, connect to social media outposts and not be so ugly that a user won’t roll around on the floor clawing her eyes out. That’s it. As Pamela says in the quoted article “Don’t expect miracles from your graphic design. It’s definitely a valuable part of creating your business’s image, but it’s not a substitute for a sound marketing strategy.”

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“As a lead generation tool, your website provides a virtual wonderland of sales and marketing opportunities. It’s easily accessible, available 24/7, highly visible, and gives you the ability to present your company and services in your most positive light.

Plus, your site gives prospects the ability to find you whenever they need to. All this makes it one of the most powerful lead generators at your disposal.

So… is your website, this powerful lead generating machine, doing all it can to bring new clients to your doorstep?” Click here to read more…

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