Make Your Marketing Work

Marketing that Misses is Minus a USP

2008-04-30T16:32:00.002-04:00

Want to set yourself up for lack of results, low sales, and reduced profits?

Interested in mindlessly blowing your marketing and advertising budget?

Simple.

Ignore your unique value. Don't incorporate a Unique Selling Proposition into your marketing thinking.

clipped from torontomarketing.blogspot.com

Every Successful Marketing Campaign Has One

Since I started my Toronto marketing firm several clients have asked me to help them revisit a marketing project that had previously gone awry.

I found a pattern.

Every one of these marketing projects was missing one single thing: a genuine and compelling difference that is not only unique but is valued for its uniqueness.

This difference has a name. It is called the Unique Selling Proposition.

Understanding and communicating your Unique Selling Proposition is the secret to delivering a customized marketing message that is meaningful to your clients.

A marketing campaign that influences people is not just about great graphics or clever copy. It is about great graphics and clever copy that are driven by your Unique Selling Proposition.

Why is it so challenging to create such a marketing campaign? Here are a few reasons from The Marketing Caddy:

Does the USP Still Work?

2008-04-24T10:51:00.004-04:00

As a small business, does it make sense to determine one Unique Selling Proposition?

Or...

Have Multiple Selling Propositions?

clipped from www.burkhardagency.com

Multiple Selling
Propositions
may work better for you than USP.

In the mid 1950's, Rosser Reeves, then the top account man at Ted Bates, NYC, coined
the phrase "Unique Selling Proposition."

The idea was that promoting one key
feature and benefit of any brand for years and years and years
would cut through the clutter of advertising and build an
unassailable position in the consumer's mind.

Those were the days when major advertisers such as
Anacin, Colgate, M&M's, Mobil, and Wonder Bread relied on massive network advertising to carve out unassailable Shares
of Market for their products.

USP did help Ted
Bates hold on to their clients for years and years and years. Today,
it's somewhat of a mantra among brand managers. But USP doesn't
really make much sense logically or empirically.

LOGICAL
DEBUNKMENT:

If a Unique Selling Proposition works then it
must lead to a Unique Buying Reason.

Do You USP?

2008-04-24T10:01:00.002-04:00

Without a Unique Selling Proposition, your business is dead in the water in today's competitive business world.

clipped from www.toolkit.com

Your Unique Selling Proposition

In order to successfully market itself, every business owner needs to focus on what's special and different about his or her business. The best way to do this is to try to express this uniqueness in a single statement.

Rosser Reeves was the author of the phrase, "unique selling proposition," or USP, which is a unique message about itself versus the competition that each business or brand should develop and use consistently in its advertising and promotion. By USP we don't necessarily mean a slogan or a phrase that will appear in your advertising, although that's one possible use for it. However, at this point we're focusing on its usefulness as a tool to help you focus on what your business is all about.

If you cannot concisely describe the uniqueness of your idea (and create some excitement in potential users), you may not have the basis for a successful business.

4 Steps to Your Unique Selling Proposition

2008-04-23T20:08:00.003-04:00

Here's a 4 step approach to determine your USP that's sure to jump start your small business marketing

clipped from www.mindtools.com

USP Analysis

The Unique Selling Proposition:
Crafting Your "Competitive
Edge"

For years, business
trainers have stressed the importance of "USPs" (Unique
Selling Propositions). Your USP is the unique thing that you
can offer that your competitors can't. It's your "Competitive
Edge". It’s the reason that customers buy from you
and you alone.

However,
USPs are often extremely difficult to find. And as soon as one
company establishes a successful USP in a market, competitors
rush to copy it.

This
tool helps you find your USP. And it then helps you think about how
you’ll defend it.

Download our free
worksheet to record your analysis, and then follow these
four steps:

1. Understand the Characteristics that Customers Value:

2.
Rank Yourself and Your Competitors By These Criteria:

3.
Identify Where You Rank Well:

4.
Preserve Your USP (and Use It!):

Create a Killer USP

2008-04-23T19:38:00.003-04:00

The first step in positioning your small business for growth and boost your marketing is to create a Unique Selling Proposition

clipped from www.interactivemarketinginc.com

How to Create Your "Unique Selling Proposition" (USP)
That Makes Your Marketing Generate More Results

Boost Your Sales And Profits By Positioning Your
Company As The Best Choice In The Market

What makes you more unique, more
valuable, and more visible in the market? You've heard
the old saying "Differentiate or Die" right? In our highly
competitive world, you have to be unique and fill a
special niche to be successful in the marketplace. Yet one of
the most harmful mistakes small businesses make is not being unique
and positioning themselves as the best choice in the market. How do
you show that your product or service is the best?

Use a Unique Selling Proposition or "USP". Having
a USP will dramatically improve the positioning and marketability of
your company and products by accomplishing 3 things for you:

Small Business Marketing: Advertising

2008-04-15T17:17:00.003-04:00

The next time some ad sales rep, gives you the old "get your name out there" and you gotta build your brand... Remember this reminder from Jonathan Fields in the clipped article below:

99% of your ads are ignored.

Stop wasting money on ads that don't work. Start leveraging your business assets and relationships and build a community of raving fans.

How?

Innovative products and services that zero in on exactly what your clients want.

clipped from jonathanfields.com

Why 99.9% of your ads will never be seen

5,000.

That’s the number of ads the average citygoer is exposed to on any given day, according to a study by Yankelovich.

So, before this day ends, I will have been asked to buy something, in some way shape or form, 5,000 times. And, of those, I’ll buy about five, including food.

I don’t have 30% of each day to give up to noticing and refusing ads and offers, so, instead, I learn to do what everyone does…

I simply tune them out.

Branding, oh please!

If it’s really that important to build a big brand, the vast majority of businesses would be far better served turning all their branding energy and expenditures to making their products and services a serious notch more kick-ass and giving their clients a reason to evangelize the hell out of them to everyone they know.

Spend your money blowing the minds of a small number of people who are on my brain’s whitelist…

Mixing Money and Social Marketing

2008-04-06T01:47:00.002-04:00

Sometimes cold, hard, cash puts a damper on social relationships.

clipped from www.spring.org.uk

Social Versus Financial Thinking - When Money Makes People Lazy and Selfish

Studies show that people inhabit two separate worlds - the social and the financial - and depending on which one is activated, their thoughts and behaviour can change dramatically.

This chasm between our social and financial worlds has been explored in two recent studies that uncover fascinating ways in which money affects our thoughts and behaviour. In the first, participants were subjected to one of social scientists' favourite ruses: the apparently pointless task. They were simply asked to drag a circle across a computer screen as many times as they could in five minutes (Heyman & Ariely, 2004).

Keep Tabs on Your Social Marketing

2008-04-06T01:21:00.002-04:00

Interesting interface with Yahoo Pipes and Salesforce.com.

Like Google Alerts for buzz about you, or keyword buzz in Social marketing networks where you play.

clipped from www.churchofthecustomer.com

Keeping up with the social media fire hose

A few days ago I marveled how Salesforce.com rapidly responded to my tweet on Twitter about one of the company's products.

I asked Kingsley Joseph of Salesforce how he saw my tweet so quickly. He sent me a link to his Yahoo Pipes setup that tracks Salesforce's online word of mouth.

Yahoo Pipes allows you to build a single feed that is made up of other
feeds and data). Kingsley's pipe tracks online mentions of Salesforce and other
company products across social media sites like Flickr, Technorati,
Bloglines, Digg, Techmeme, YouTube, Friendfeed and Quotably Tweetscan (for
Twitter.)

Small Business Marketing Tool: BLIF

2008-04-06T01:00:00.002-04:00

Blogging, LinkIn, Facebook...

3 No-Cost ways for the local and small business to market online and build a following.

Need help launching your BLIF for your small business?

clipped from business-blog-marketing.blogspot.com

BLIF Marketing for Small Businesses

Small businesses and hobby businesses that have little or no marketing budgets can now promote their businesses online. Blif marketing (Blogging + Linked In + Facebook) is a free way to promote and expand your business.

BLIF marketing is also known as zero cost marketing. It utilizes social media, which is free for businesses to access and use. Each of the three components of BLIF Marketing has a distinct purpose.

Blogging

LinkedIn

Facebook

Small Business Marketing Tool: Advertising

2008-04-05T23:29:00.002-04:00

Lots of small businesses miss the mark on their marketing, and especially get it wrong when it comes to advertising.

Ads a meant to Attract prospects that you then systematically communicate with and tell your story.

Don't sell. Get attention and tell. Get permission to tell your story in your ads.

clipped from www.marketingforsuccess.com

3
Steps to Small Business Marketing and Advertising That Works

Are you spending money on advertising that
doesn’t get results? Your marketing and advertising should be helping
you build your business, not cutting into your profits. Many small
business owners barely make a dime for each dollar spent.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re
saying to yourself, “aren’t ads supposed to sell?”

The answer is no!

Combining meaningful content with ads improves
the response to ads dramatically. Put two ads in a magazine,
one in the body and one in an editorial-style advertorial, and you’ll
generate more sales with the latter.

Step 3 – Don’t expect
your ads to do all the work by themselves. They won’t. You need
a marketing and advertising system, where your ads, other marketing materials and
follow-up strategies all work together to give your prospects the
information they need to become your clients.

New in the Neighborhood?

2008-03-28T21:42:00.002-04:00

If you run a local business that provides services that a new person in the neighborhood seeks, here are some ideas of marketing tactics to help your thinking.

clipped from wendy.kinesisinc.com

Are You Marketing to People Who Are New in the Neighborhood?

I received a lot of “Welcome to the Neighborhood” mail. And I thought this was a great way for many types of companies to get new business. And, it was also a great thing for me as a new person in the neighborhood since I had no idea about my local area services. You can purchase mailing lists each month with the names and addresses of the new people in a 3-mile radius from your office. This can be a useful strategy for plumbers, dentists, electricians, carpet cleaners, landscapers, and many other types of industries.

Do you have a business that can profit from marketing to people who are new in the neighborhood? Then develop your own package and start getting it out there!

How to Identify Your Ideal Client

2008-03-20T19:49:00.002-04:00

Your small business marketing strategy begins in identifying who you want to attract to your business. Identify your Ideal Clients and learn how to communicate with them.

clipped from blog.onecoach.com

How to identify your ideal client and generate more revenue

Let’s begin with the end in mind. As a small-business owner, you want more clients, which translates to more revenue.

However, the only way to attract more clients is through effective and compelling marketing. Unfortunately, marketing is expensive these days. So when you do it, you want to make sure you’re getting the right message out to the prospects who are most likely to buy what you sell. And if you get the right message to the “right” prospects, they’ll not only buy from you, they’ll keep coming back and buying from you forever. They’ll tell their family and friends to buy from you as well. And they’ll spend more money with you than your typical client.

Squidoo Lens and Link Exchange

2008-03-18T15:12:00.001-04:00

Can Direct Response Marketing and Social Media Work Together?

2008-03-17T01:25:00.003-04:00

Currently, all the buzz is social marketing. As a direct response marketing guy, how to you establish these social marketing relationships and use direct response techniques to drive leads and sales?

Here're a few ideas...

clipped from emersondirect.wordpress.com

Direct response marketing and social media have not evolved yet.

So my thoughts were, can there be a business model that ties in social media to direct marketing? I immediately went and Googled, “direct response marketing and social media”, and the results look like this:

1) Why can’t Youtube, Flickr, and any type of VOD(video on demand) be a vehicle for a DRTV type of marketing? There are already a ton of advertisers taking advantage of viral videos. What do you see in the first 10-20 seconds of a lot of the video you see? A quick spot. What about URL’s watermarked on the bottom of videos? Why or what is stopping a DR marketer from tryinig to piggyback or create a DR spot that is used only in a Youtube type format? has it been done? I’m not sure. But I’m going to venture to say yes it has. Perhaps because of the fear of a low ROI or the time it takes for some of these social media sites to evolve it has driven marketers into a position of paralysis by analysis?

Setting the Stage for an Ideal Client Relationship

2008-03-17T00:22:00.004-04:00

As a small business owner, when you position your marketing to attract ideal clients on purpose, your profits...and joy... in your business increase.

clipped from incublogger.com

Let Your Prospects KNOW You

Every experience is an energy exchange. If you are focused on only what you can get from a prospect, your fear of not signing on the prospect or being withholding about the amount of time you’re spending with this person, your energy will be resonating at a very low level. This makes all the difference in the world when you are interacting with someone (actually, even more than the words you say!).

You want to create a different energy when connecting with a prospect. You want it to be a co-creative experience. You and your prospect are coming to this meeting on equal ground. You don’t need to prove anything. You just need to meet together to connect.

Now also think about this…do YOU want to rush into a relationship with a new client or customer without getting a sense of if they are your ideal client or not. (Think about any not-so-great client or customer relationships you’ve had in the past…want tons of those? I didn’t think so.)

Social Marketing... Online and Offline

2008-03-17T00:14:00.003-04:00

Use both online and offline social marketing tools.

clipped from www.webdesignseo.com

Business Networking to get Results

Business networking is important to grow your business. Networking can range from virtual online networking using tools like LinkedIn or Facebook to face-to-face meetings. Which forms work the best? Actually, I find that a mix of real and virtual networking is best.

The age of your targeted customer should be an important determiner of which way is best. Match the preferences of your targeted customer with the networking strategies that you are comfortable with. Let’s look at generational preferences.

Virtual Networking: the best networking tools are those that get you in front of your targeted customer. LinkedIn seems to be the most accepted business networking tool. Other popular tools include Facebook, Plaxo, and Fastpitch.

Is Your Marketing Stuck in the "80s?

2008-03-17T00:11:00.003-04:00

clipped from larealestate.typepad.com

Seth Godin's new book, Meatball Sundae, should be required reading throughout the real estate industry. But first, some definitions. Meatballs are the average products and services that have been created to appeal to the largest number of people. Meatballs are not exceptional. Meatballs are not extraordinary. Meatballs will never offend. They can't because they are trying to offer some value to the greatest number of people.

As an industry, it's premature for real estate to consider tools and methods like social media unless we're prepared to alter the DNA of our companies. It will mean that broker-owners become uncomfortable as they trust the future direction of their business to methods and strategies that they never used as agents themselves. It will mean that we embrace permission-driven marketing initiatives and re-build the notion of respect for our clients. It will mean change at a fundamental level.

Viral Marketing Tactics for Small Business

2008-03-16T23:01:00.003-04:00

The days of cold calls and telemarketing are over. Use the power of the Internet and blogs to create a viral message that attracts prospects to your business.

clipped from www.workoninternet.com

Viral Marketing - The One Virus You Want Your Marketing to Get!
Published Date: 2008-03-15 18:07:05 WorkOnInternet.com

There are two questions that this will answer: What does viral marketing mean? How do you catch this virus?

First, let's discuss the concept of viral marketing. This is the process of creating a presence on the web in a number of different methods and in a number of different venues designed to create a significant number of places on the web for you to be found. When done consistently and properly you and your brand will spread like a virus.

So,how do you catch this bug? It is the system of constructing an internet presence with many strategies and tactics that dovetail together to create a sizeable amount of publicity. When these strategies are linked together properly potential prospects will begin to find you and resulting in a drive of traffic to your website that can be beyond your wildest dreams.

Small Business Marketing Tool: Viral Videos

2008-03-05T12:46:00.001-05:00

Maybe you don't sell(or...Rent???) high-end purses...

Perhaps you're not French...

You might be a guy and not really "get" the appeal of this clip...

But this is one "Killer" vid.

P.S.--- It does lack one thing... find out the one crucial element all your viral marketing must include

Marketing Lessons from Barack

2008-03-04T15:03:00.003-05:00

Take a look at how Barack Obama's Presidential campaign is tapping into social marketing and viral marketing.

It's not necessarily about "branding". It's good old word-of-mouth gone viral with communication tools on streroids.

clipped from www.marketingprofs.com

Web 2.0 Politics: What Brands Can Learn From the 2008 Presidential Campaigns

If the Internet community didn't know what its place in the world of politics was back in 2004, it most certainly does today.

Its "place" is to actively engage politicians and fellow citizens in conversations, promote candidates, help with campaign fundraising and educate other voters about particular candidates and issues—all through the use of new social-media tools that are vital to a candidate's overall marketing strategy.

Today, by contrast, campaigns don't just have a Web presence—they have a Web 2.0 presence. Campaign managers are taking advantage of the Web's recent evolution to a more social and participatory medium (dubbed "Web 2.0") and leveraging new social-media tools such as social networks, blogs, social video sites, embeddable widgets, and more to reach millions of voters and engage them in the political process.

Time to Get Social

2008-03-03T01:16:00.000-05:00

Find more videos like this on Social Marketing Central

The Law of Client Attraction

2008-02-28T00:17:00.001-05:00

Entrepreneurs understand the basic Law of Client Attraction.

It's not a marketing tactic or tool.

It's not some marketing or advertising gimmick.

Ideal Client Attraction is a marketing mindset that all top entrepreneurs adopt.

This article explains The Secret of client Attraction.

How are you thinking about attracting clients to your business?

I Wish I Could Share This Client Attraction Secret With You Personally

Many adults would love to quit their jobs and work for
themselves: to be our own boss, to set our own schedule, to
succeed on our own terms.

Keep in mind that anything you need from a practical
standpoint in order to start a business and consistently
attract local and global clients is available out there
somewhere. You can pick up all the guidance, and the wisdom
you need from the internet, from millionaire mentors, or a
library.

So, if money isn't necessary to attract clients, and
knowledge isn't necessary, then what is? What's absolutely
necessary is to develop the thinking pattern of the
entrepreneur, which is the individual who looks at life and
asks how he or she can improve things for others. Even in a
down economy, there are major cash-flow increases being
made using technology as the backbone of our systems, and
also in the world of providing services to people. In fact,
as the world becomes increasingly dependent on technology,
the human is becoming lonelier. The attention you give your
client is even more important, and even more highly prized.

The failure to create a consistent stream of cash-flow and
client attractive business while holding a corporate job
comes, therefore, not in terms of the time or money
resources necessary to start a business, but the mindset
necessary in order to make it succeed. So, here are the
secrets to building a entrepreneur mindset:

Look at everything and ask, "Where's the opportunity in
this?" You must constantly look for hidden assets and
opportunities, both tangible and intangible, in every area
of your life. Ask yourself, your friends, your family, "How
will this product/service solve a problem?"

Flexibility is the foundation of an entrepreneur's mindset.
It means you realize there are always many ways to get
where you're going, so you remain to discovering the ones
that fit you best, that you'll enjoy the most, and the ones
you don't mind handing off to a team member to take over.

The entrepreneur's concept is "Ready, fire, aim, FIRE,
FIRE, FIRE!" Once you understand your ideal client and how
only you can solve their problems in a unique way, go out
and apply it. Too many adults, who work a corporate job,
are just sitting there on top of a gold-mine of ideas to
increase their revenue. Why don't they implement their
ideas you ask? Because I have found that the corporate
adult mindset is "Ready, ready, aim, ready, ready, aim,
ready, ready, and so on." Many adults contemplate action,
but never actually do anything for fear of making a mistake
and losing money.

Entrepreneurs realize that Client Attraction Marketing is
the life force of all business achievement. You must make
attracting clients a priority. Stop wasting time on picking
out graphics for your business cards. Stop creating a
website that your friends like, but doesn't generate
consistent revenue. Your focus should be to continually
demonstrate the benefits people get from working with you.

Now, the final element of becoming a client attractive
entrepreneur without quitting your job is that there's a
logical order to things. Attracting a full practice of
clients is not coincidence. Making $10,000 a month is not
random. There's an immutable order in nature, and in
business. All you have to do is find the system that brings
you the most high-paying clients. Once that's done in
sequence, it becomes relatively simple to achieve what you
want in your small business. Remember, you don't want to
recreate the wheel. You want to ride a turbo charged Jet
Ski that someone else built.

----------------------------------------------------

Kim Schott, your Global Client Communication Expert, is the
author of the Keys to Client Communication System ,
the step-by-step, paint by numbers client attraction
program to attract more clients in less time. To receive
your weekly how-to articles on consistantly attracting more
local and global clients in less time, visit
http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com

Does Your Small Business Need a Marketing Coach?

2008-02-28T00:06:00.002-05:00

As a small business owner, in today's ever changing on-line marketing landscape, you need to clearly sort out marketing strategies from all the marketing tactics.

On-line marketing tactics and tools from blogs, to social media sites, to video present the local small business owner with a mind-numbing array of options.

Perhaps you need a marketing Coach to guide your decisions and keep you focused?

clipped from www.entrepreneur.com

Marketing Coach
One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is choosing the right marketing strategies and tactics to win sales. It can be difficult to go directly to a copy and design team unless you know exactly what you want produced and the types of messages that will resonate best with your target audience. That's where a marketing coach comes in. After 17 years in the coaching business (and nearly 30 in marketing, including 10 in agencies) I strongly advise finding a coach who can look at the big picture, beginning with your marketing budget and goals, then work with you to create a one-of-a-kind marketing program you can manage with the daily operations of your business. Avoid coaches that work strictly within a single profession, as they're more likely to propose a cookie-cutter approach. Beware of long-term commitments, and look for a coach with expertise in using a variety of tactics to reach target audiences similar to yours.

Viral Video Secrets

2008-02-27T23:51:00.002-05:00

Viral marketing videos aren't an accident.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com

The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos

Have you ever watched a video with 100,000 views on YouTube and thought to yourself: “How the hell did that video get so many views?” Chances are pretty good that this didn’t happen naturally, but rather that some company worked hard to make it happen – some company like mine.

Over the past year, I have run clandestine marketing campaigns meant to ensure that promotional videos become truly viral, as these examples have become in the extreme. In this post, I will share some of the techniques I use to do my job: to get at least 100,000 people to watch my clients’ “viral” videos.

Secret #1: Not all viral videos are what they seem

2. Content is NOT King

3. Core Strategy: Getting onto the “Most Viewed” page

4. Title Optimization

5. Thumbnail Optimization

6. Commenting: Having a conversation with yourself

7. Releasing all videos simultaneously

8. Strategic Tagging: Leading viewers down the rabbit hole

9. Metrics/Tracking: How we measure effectiveness

The Cart Whisperer: Viral Marketing?

2008-02-27T23:44:00.000-05:00

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Viral Marketing?

2008-02-27T23:42:00.002-05:00

It will be interesting to keep an eye on how this works out for Verisign.

clipped from www.foxbusiness.com

Internet Video Starring 'Cart Whisperer' Offers Light-Hearted Take on a Business Pain Point

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, Feb 26, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN: 36.97, -0.57, -1.51%), the leading provider of Internet
infrastructure for the networked world, today launched "The Cart
Whisperer," a creative viral marketing campaign that offers a
humorous take on a topic that is no laughing matter for online
businesses: abandoned shopping carts. Convincingly filmed with the
single-camera look of today's reality TV shows, The Cart Whisperer
serves to bring to light the motivations and behaviors behind
shopping cart abandonment.

Small Business Marketing Tool: Social Media

2008-02-27T20:50:00.002-05:00

Social media and social marketing are changing the landscape of small business marketing tools.

Through social media and social marketing you're able to spread the message through a community of people online talking about your business.

Small Business Marketing Tool: Postcards

2008-02-27T17:20:00.001-05:00

Postcard mail is an effective tool for lots of small business marketing campaigns.

It's inexpensive, easy to produce, quick to get going, you can test it quickly and easily... and you can target your market.

Check out these 55 Postcard Mailing Tips.

clipped from guruknowledge.org

55 Tips for Postcard Marketing Success

Direct mail postcard marketing is one of the most versatile forms of marketing available. With its versatility, postcard marketing can serve small businesses and large companies alike.

But as with any form of marketing, you only get out of it what you put into it. To help you get the most from your postcard marketing efforts, I've assembled 55 tips for success.

Obviously, some of these tips will not apply to your particular postcard marketing needs, but with 55 of them ... there's bound to be something in there for you!

Top Small Business Blogs

2008-02-26T15:18:00.001-05:00

Here's a top-10 of small business blogs for reference.

clipped from fnialdonzapsyche.wordpress.com

Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs

The Entrepreneurs section at About.com has named Small Business Trends to the Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs. That’s quite an honor — many thanks to Scott Allen, the About.com Guide The Entrepreneurs section at About.com has named Small Business Trends to the Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs. That’s quite an honor — many thanks to Scott Allen, the About.com Guide who developed the list.

Social Marketing Challenge

2008-02-26T14:06:00.001-05:00

Be authentic in all your communications and the experiences you deliver for your clients.

clipped from buzzcanuck.typepad.com

Authenticity - What Consumers Really Want

1) Authenticity is the Ultimate Way to Avoid Commoditization

2) 5 Types of Authenticity Exist

1) Natural Authenticity

2) Original Authenticity

3) Exceptional Authenticity

4) Referential Authenticity

5) Influential Authenticity

The book is pure gold with many evidentiary examples of what they are supporting as an argument. A must for any progressive marketer's bookshelf. My next post will get into some of the specific that ask marketers should look at in auditing and improving their own authenticity.

Authority Black Book 2008... Hang On...

2008-02-24T21:48:00.003-05:00

The Authority Black Book 2008 is the social marketing guide every marketer will want to absorb and master.

It's packed with the latest, up-to date social marketing tactics, tools, resources, links, and items you must do to market your site in today's social media climate.

clipped from www.web2center.com

Authority Black Book 2008 Almost Ready For the Public

Social marketing’s original ‘guide’, The Authority Black Book (ABB), is being re-released with loads of updates for 2008.

Jack Humphrey, of SocialPowerLinking.com and the author of the original ABB, has packed this new version with social marketing strategies, tactics and actionable lists that serve as a comprehensive reference for both beginner and experienced social marketing “mavens”.

What’s New in ABB 2008?

ABB 2008 Is Free But You Can’t Have It… Yet

For example, Authority Black Book 2008 includes a call-out which labels certain social marketing tasks as “Critical”. With all the info in this free eBook, it might be easy to overlook a fundamental, but this critical tag prevents that from happening.

Authority Black Book 2008... Coming Soon

2008-02-24T21:41:00.002-05:00

Jack Humphrey, social marketing expert, is putting the finishing touches on his updated and expanded version of Authority Black Book.

clipped from www.jackhumphrey.com

Authority Black Book 2008 Advance Peek

In early 2007 a free guide was released that started the conversation about social marketing. It set the standard for organized, professional marketing with social media.

The Authority Black Book was named the best free ebook for bloggers by Mashable.com, a social media community with over 5 million visitors per month (easily the largest community online dedicated to the latest news in social media and social marketing).

But I think we’ve done just that. In the next week we are going to be releasing Authority Black Book 2008 to the public.

This year’s Black Book has been drastically updated. Social marketing moves very fast and several adjustments and additions needed to be made in order to keep ahead of the pack and continue to provide the best free social marketing eduction on the web alive and strong.

It’s not just full of hardcore traffic driving tips and resources! This baby is even sexy!

7 Small Business Myths

2008-02-23T21:42:00.001-05:00

Marketing plays a critical role in your small business success

clipped from www.growthink.com

Top 7 Myths About Starting a Business

From our experience consulting to entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses over the past ten years, we've gained much exposure to the realities of starting and growing businesses. We thought it would be interesting -- and hopefully instructive -- to lay out some of the myths and assumptions of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Small Business Marketing: Local Search

2008-02-23T21:29:00.001-05:00

Every local small business marketing campaign must factor in local search as a marketing tool to attract prospects.

clipped from www.localbizbits.com

Brian Wool put it quite well in his article, Local Search: The Rodney Dangerfield of Online Marketing

“Local search receives very few mentions and little analysis from the mainstream media or analysts relative to the dollars it generates and its potential growth. So why does local search get so little respect?”

In his article, Brian goes through and gives some reasons why he believes this but concludes it with by saying the: “Consumers get local search, want local search, and are engaged. Now we just need the rest of the marketplace to catch up.”

So for the small business owner, the point is, even if local search does not get all of the hype and headlines others aspects of on-line marketing gets, be aware of the importance of local search and make sure you are active in it. Get your business profile on-line, optimize your web site better for local search results, look into geo-targeting your paid ads, etc.

Tell Your Story with a Marketing Kit

2008-02-23T21:20:00.001-05:00

here's a great small business marketing tool: a marketing kit.

Use your blog/website as your content management about your company, products and services. Customize and print kits as your need them,

clipped from www.smallbiztrends.com

What is a Marketing Kit and why do you need one?

Think of a marketing kit as a portfolio that showcases your company’s products or service.

A marketing kit is an enabler for attracting new customers, educating existing customers, forming new partnerships, educating suppliers, and informing media prospects. A good marketing kit is so powerful it stops and makes people think:

Marketing materials, no matter how colorful or creative are completely USELESS if you aren’t focusing on what matters to your target audience.

So here are a few how-to’s that will not only get you started in the right direction in creating your marketing kit, but will give you ideas on what to put in your marketing kit to make potential customers choose YOUR PRODUCT or SERVICE.

Reach Out and Reactivate

2008-02-23T20:39:00.001-05:00

A solid small business marketing strategy is to leverage assets you already have invested in. You've already spent the money to attract clients. Do you have a plan to make them pay off for you?

clipped from blog.spaclientele.com

How to bring back inactive clients

"It costs dollars to attract a new client; and pennies to keep them."
- Anonymous

As
the news media heats up doomsday stories about recession, and
decreased consumer spending and higher interest rates, it hard not to
start worrying about what to do new or differently to keep your
schedule full. Don't fall into the easy and dangerous trap of offering
cash discounts, this can only lead to lower profits and attracting the
wrong clientele.

If you don't already, this is an excellent time
to start communicating with inactive clients. These are clients that
you have not seen in two or more months...and do not have anything
booked in your schedule. Rather than a one time contact, plan on a
series of communications that will clearly demonstrate that you want
them back.

I have developed the four steps to re-activating inactive clients.

Are You "The Mayor of Your Zip Code"?

2008-02-23T10:11:00.002-05:00

New from Squidoo...

Why not pick your zip code and be The Expert in your business?

clipped from www.squidoo.com

SquidZipper

We want you to be the online Mayor of your zip code.

Build Your Local Small Business Blog

2008-02-22T20:57:00.002-05:00

What do you need to know to blog and build your local small business?

clipped from performancing.com

My experiences with a local niche blog

Follow-Up to Interview With Local Niche Blogger Terri Chadick

I am running a local blog myself and I can only say that it is monetizing very well. Loads of people told me that I should cover subjects 'nationwide' but I always reclined. 'All business is local' is still true and Google gives a lot of authority to good content on local blogs. Checking the incoming search engine traffic shows huge amounts of local keywords combined with general search topics.

It is a must to create a 'Google My Map'

Local Content

A local blog is easy to maintain because many events are repeating ones. Monetizing repeating content is an easy task.

Date driven repeating content also makes it easy to maintain an editorial calendar for your local blog.

More advantages of a local blog

Most Small Businesses Think Marketing is Advertising

2008-02-22T20:37:00.001-05:00

No...

That's the #1 mistake. Advertising is a marketing tactics... and they're many forms, advertising tactics, to choose from.

Marketing is a strategy delivery of your-on-purpose message to a tightly selected market.

clipped from arizonastartupcompany.com

What’s The Number One Marketing Mistake Made By Small Business?

This little is nugget gleaned from “The Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Made By Small Businesses And What to Do About Them” class I teach through Biznik.

So, what’s the number one marketing mistake made by small businesses?

Thinking that MARKETING and ADVERTISING are the exact same thing.

Glad you asked. All sorts of stuff. Stuff like blogging, newsletter writing, podcasting, word of mouth marketing, internet marketing (no, I don’t mean banner ads), Direct Response Marketing and, of course, hiring a guy in a banana suit to dance outside your shop.

Target Your Market

2008-02-22T01:05:00.001-05:00

Genius... $100 t-shirts for VCs, or buy the company fro $100,000..

clipped from experiencecurve.com

Buy the t-shirt or the company

The Secret to Viral Marketing... Small and Tight

2008-02-22T00:53:00.001-05:00

Wanna get to front page of Digg...

Find a hand-full, a couple dozen rabid fans and light the fuse... Seth calls them Mavens.

clipped from experiencecurve.com

Niche Marketing Is The Key To Viral Marketing

Bobby Hendersons post explaining his Fine Art Taco experiment should be required reading for all marketing, advertising, business people, and bloggers.

But his point about niches is important, tight niches are what enable something to go viral, they provide the kindling to get something going. They are not the fuel, that’s the sites like boing boing, tech crunch, digg, the mainstream media. Think about it, it really doesn’t require much more that 40 people to digg something until the rest of the site gets on it, so intially you just have to get 40 or 50 people excited enough about it to get on the front page of digg.

If it really is only about 50 to 100 people that are passionate about something it’s no wonder that a post titled the 50 most influential bloggers is some of the best linkbate this year… that and the leave brittney alone guy (dugg over 5000 times geez).

Social Market Advertising

2008-02-22T00:45:00.001-05:00

Is advertising as we know and understand it dying?

How will you enter into the conversation honestly, openly, and effectively with your prospects?

clipped from experiencecurve.com

The Clue Train 10 years on

The cluetrain manifesto, a book conceived 10 years ago, predicted and described many of the forces that have been most disruptive to business enabled through “web 2.0″.

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

Case in point advertising on social networks, take a read of this Business Week article on the effectiveness of advertising on social networks.

Marketers say as few as 4 in 10,000 people who see their ads on social networking sites click on them

Getting back to “markets are conversations” surely at it’s worst advertising is fake, inauthentic, monologue, because companies are scared to have a conversation, that’s the stuff people tune out? That’s probably the bulk of advertising, but surely at it’s best advertising can spark the conversation?

Know Your Ideal Client One Coach Free Teleconference

2008-02-21T22:11:00.001-05:00

Listen in on this One Coach Free Teleconference call on Know Your Ideal Client.

John Assaraff's One Coach provides leading-edge small business marketing and growth strategies.

clipped from www.onecoach.com

Know Your Ideal Client

     Available Call Times

     Thursday 5:00 p.m. (PST)
Saturday 10:00 a.m. (PST)

     Sunday 5:00 p.m. (PST)

Not sure what time this call is playing in
your timezone?
Check your timezone.

Regardless of the business you're in, there's a key factor that has a huge impact on your success. More than your location, or having a great idea, or working like a fool. Or even just being lucky.

This week's OneCoach Momentum call is going to focus on how to find more of your ideal clients by creating your ideal client profile. Led by OneCoach Regional Director Adrian Ulsh, this call will give you step-by-step takeaways that you can use now to gain the clarity you need to precisely target your ideal clients.

Tap Into LinkedIN for Authority Juice

2008-02-21T22:06:00.001-05:00

In crafting your blog posts and education-based marketing information, LinkedIN is a source to find the experts you need to back your story.

clipped from www.copyblogger.com

How to Use LinkedIn to
Create Authoritative Content

Looking for a credible source to strengthen your article, blog post or white paper? Need a quote from an expert to bolster your case?

There’s an excellent source you may not have considered—LinkedIn. Chances are you have received dozens of emails from friends, colleagues and total strangers asking you to join LinkedIn. Turns out more than 17 million business professionals are using the networking site.

Simply said there’s a goldmine of experts out there waiting to answer your questions. This article will reveal how to leverage LinkedIn to add expert proof to your written work.

Put On Your Idea Cap

2008-02-20T13:50:00.001-05:00

How innovative is your marketing?

As a small business owner, do you set aside time to work ON your business, to brainstorm ideas to innovate your marketing?

clipped from www.raintoday.com

3 Perspectives For Creating Innovative Ideas

Have you ventured "outside the box" today?

For instance, the "thinkers" at Burnkit, a Canadian "ideas studio," designed an ad campaign for a mutual funds company that had a 1,600-pound Grizzly Bear take up multiple banners on a web page. There was absolutely no text – just the big, hairy beast glaring at prospects.

Bold? The client, media companies and publishers initially resisted. Rewarding?

The client enjoyed three times the average click-through rates.

BE Your Client

2008-02-20T08:39:00.001-05:00

Get inside the head of your target client prospect.

To sell them, you gotta understand what motivates them.

clipped from theaccidentalsalesman.com

Standing in your prospect’s shoes

clipped from theaccidentalsalesman.com

One of the things I do with clients is to help them really understand their target audience and the potential motivations to want to buy my clients’ services. The next stage is then to communicate to the target audience and press the emotive buttons. This involves developing stories and case studies etc.

In helping my clients quickly gain clarity I go through an exercise I call Customer Archetypes™ and I thought I would share it with you here as I am sure it will help you better understand your target audience.

Here are the steps:

Step 1 - Identify your target audience
Step 2 - Break your audience down into types of people and name each one
Step 3 - For each one describe the person
Step 4 - Articulate their motivations and concerns
Step 5 - Think of specific people who fit each archetype
Step 6 - For each archetype develop stories of how these people have benefited

Raving Small Business Fans

2008-02-19T17:43:00.001-05:00

Lots of times as a small business blogger, I feel like I'm only talking to other bloggers.

Do you realize there are Spectators out their reading your blog?

clipped from www.littleengine.com

Six Ways to turn Spectators in to your Small Business Fans

When creating content for the web, we all strive as small business owners and marketers to target the creators (10-13% of the citizens on the net), with hope they react and create more content/buzz which will spread to the large group of spectators/bystanders who simply watch and read.

Spectators are the largest collection of active citizens on the net, 33% of the total (see image below); they read blogs, watch videos, listen to podcasts, download music, but they don't join networks, they simply consume.

Here are six ways to turn them in to your Small Business Fans

Stop Digging and Stumbling: Niche Your Bad Self

2008-02-19T16:50:00.001-05:00

No doubt one of the emerging trends in social marketing unfolding throughout 2008 will be niche social media sites.

Think quality vs. quantity in your social marketing efforts.

clipped from www.bloggingtips.com

Niche Social Bookmarking

Sure, it’s great to get a bunch of hits from Digg or StumbleUpon. There are a couple of catches, however. For one thing, those hits could be a temporary bump that goes away once you disappear from the front page or stop getting stumbled. Also, many theorize visitors from wildly popular social bookmarking sites just bounce right in and out of your site. That’s why it’s a good idea to target niche social bookmarking sites.

Andy Hagans of the Tropical SEO blog writes in his post, Top 38 Niche Social Media Sites that Actually Send Traffic:

Aaron Stannard of the Marketing Ninja blog writes in 7 Reasons Why Niche Social Media Outlets are Better Than Digg:

So you won’t get an onslaught of visitors this way, but you can get a steady light stream of visitors who might actually visit your site a second time.

More Than Referrals

2008-02-19T16:07:00.001-05:00

Word-of-mouth and referrals are rock-solid small business marketing tactics... but perhaps your business should explore other marketing ideas?

clipped from www.prefcapital.com

How do you market your small business?

Salesconx has recently released very interesting small business survey results http://www.salesconx.com/images/SBSMNR/sbsmnr.pdf stating that word-of-mouth and client referrals are the main driver of new client acquisition for small businesses. They also found that most of small businesses are reluctant to use new marketing techniques. Why is that? We suspect that most are concerned about the expense related and also fear unfimiliar methods. We agree that word-of-mouth and client referrals are a great way to get new business, but let's look at other opportunities that might be helpful to your small business:

Professional networking through local business organizations, related businesses and online

Affilite marketing

Online client prospecting

Postcard and letter mailings

Telemarketing

Participate in tradeshows

Become an expert

Attract media attention

Advertise in newspapers and magazines

Study Your Market Buzz

2008-02-19T10:21:00.001-05:00

Here's a great tip from John Jantsch.

Find a meet-up spot of your market. Study the topics they're talking about. This will give you a clue of what's on the mind of your market.

clipped from www.ducttapemarketing.com

Small business blog round-up

I wrote about a new blog aggregating service called AllTop last week and it seems they have added a small business category.

AllTop collects the last five posts from dozens of blogs and puts them all on one page, kind of like a feed reader all done for you. It’s a great place to start your day and find lots of new reads. Because it lists only the title of each post, until you hover over it, I find that it’s also a great study in the writing of blog post titles, which are much like headlines or ads for the post.

Direct Response "Rules": A Whole "New" Ballgame?

2008-02-18T19:41:00.002-05:00

With the advent of all the social marketing and internet-based communications available to the small business owner...

Have the Direct Response "Rules" Changed?

Nope. We're simply going back to the basics, before the Interruption Advertising Game played out on TV, Radio, and Magazines.

clipped from www.marketingprofs.com

eMarketing 101: The New Rules for Direct Marketing in the Internet Age

The phenomenon of eMarketing is, in essence, the age-old practice of direct marketing updated in modern dress. From the advent of the Sears catalog in 1893 to the blizzard of catalogs arriving in your mailbox today, direct marketing has proved to be a superior way to quickly and cost-effectively create a personal connection with customers, and garner immediate sales results. It also lends itself to greater measurability and testing in order to optimize results. Little wonder, then, that this tool has been universally regarded as one of the most effective forms of advertising.

clipped from www.marketingprofs.com

Respect The Customer. Messages and offers that go to unresponsive consumers week after week are no better than spam, so make it easy for readers to unsubscribe, access and change data.

Focus Your Productivity

2008-02-18T12:11:00.002-05:00

Increase your productivity when you schedule your tasks rather than keeping busy.

clipped from www.dumblittleman.com

Keep Your Day Super Productive

As a freelancer, entrepreneur, or everyday office worker, there is typically not enough time accomplish all of or tasks. As the business world kicks it into high gear and adapts forums, message boards, and social networking sites as ways to communicate, it's very difficult to remain productive.

Each of these new methods of communication have a heady siren song that can be difficult to resist. It is possible, however, to maintain productivity levels. Like most things, it's all about discipline. My simple tips will help you on your quest:

By studying your energy patterns, limiting distractions, and prioritizing your time, you too can ensure a productive 2008.

"I" Copywriting

2008-02-18T11:51:00.002-05:00

Tell the story from your readers perspective. Get them involved in the action.

clipped from davidtandet.com

The Greatest Sales Letter Ever

The greatest sales letter ever is “I.” That’s “I” from a “you” perspective.

Thinking about the benefits to a consumer of a product or service is a start in the right direction. But it doesn’t go far enough.

Stay in the persona of a sales writer who doesn’t have to make it to an office on time every day, and you’ll never really come up with the benefits of those delectable delights. But think from the perspective of the customer you’re selling to - actually become that person for a while - and you’ll be putting your writing skills to good use.

You’ll start wondering what ads, what taglines, would get you to pull over for a few seconds, and allow yourself the luxury of enjoying the best tasting donut and cup of coffee in the city before you get to work. Your “I” will be your target audience. Your “I” will be whom you’re writing for. Your “I” will be you. And that’s when you’re in the mode of writing with the greatest sales letter ever.

Local Small Business Marketing: Solve Problems

2008-02-18T11:37:00.002-05:00

How can your small business do the same as the luxury hotel, acting as a concierge for services and products related to your business?

clipped from searchenginewatch.com

Link Building Case Study for Luxury Hotels

Opportunities for creative link building solutions are plentiful. Just solve a user problem. Here's one example in the travel and hospitality industry.

Link building opportunities can be discovered by solving a customer's problem. Consider the concierge at luxury hotels. A common service is to make restaurant recommendation and provide directions.

Who would you trust for a recommendation on a Mediterranean restaurant? A Greek food lover or someone who may have never even dined at the restaurant they recommend?

You're asking, "What about current guest and printing?" The solution: from the interactive map provide an option to "print to the concierge," "print to front desk" or "print to lobby kiosk."

Integrate this new tool into your marketing promotions. Spread the word and create buzz. Get your PR department involved or hire a PR firm. Create a social media (define) promotion strategy. You've heard of SEO PR, I hope?

Your Clients' Fingers Are Now Clicking...

2008-02-18T11:30:00.002-05:00

... not walking through the Yellow Pages.

The Yellow Pages have been a "mixed bag" marketing tactic for many local small businesses. Now, with Google, Yellow Pagew effectiveness is decreasing.

clipped from contentmarketingtoday.com

Real World Experiment Explains Impending Demise of Yellow Pages

My looming dermatologist visit resurrected the directory issue. Since I had written so critically about the Yellow Pages in a recent post, I thought it only fair that I try a real-world experiment to test their usefulness. Checking out a doctor’s info was a great test. I am sorry to say that both the print and the online Yellow Pages did poorly.

Their old slogan, “Let your fingers do the walking,” was all about how easy it was to use the print directory compared to wandering around downtown looking for a store, a lawyer or a doctor. Unfortunately, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and all the rest of the search engines are letting our fingers do the walking today.

What also seems obvious is that an effective content marketing strategy will almost certainly produce better results dollar for dollar than a traditional Yellow Pages advertising campaign.

Are You a "Meatball Marketer"?

2008-02-18T11:12:00.002-05:00

The new social marketing tools provide lots of promise for small business owners. Yet, if you're a "Meatball" Marketer, you won't have a chance of making social marketing work.

clipped from contentmarketingtoday.com

The #1 Content Marketing Lesson from Seth Godin’s New Book

Believe it or not, it is all about the Meatball Sundae: marketers can’t add brand-new marketing methods that are a complete mismatch with all of the products and processes that have worked in a very different world. That is, if they really want to achieve measurable results, they will need to completely rethink what they are selling and how they sell it.

Most of us have seen this phenomenon in our own organizations or in client organizations. We take a look at what’s going on and see that a website has been created based primarily on the fact that everybody said that a website was important to have. Today, many companies are taking things a step further and deciding that they need to do Web 2.0 marketing–both before they’ve mastered Web 1.0 and before they have been able to align their entire organization behind a content marketing strategy.

Master Linking Marketing

2008-02-18T08:17:00.002-05:00

Get link juice, develop link love on your blog...

Attract your Ideal prospects and clients.

clipped from tiffanymonhollon.com

27 Secrets to Linking Like a Master Networker

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the best ways to build relationships online is using a combination of three strategies: 1) Comments 2) Links and 3) Contact. I’ve promised my readers I’d get more into this Personal PR strategy, and what better time than Brian’s recent Copyblogger headline remix challenge? So without further ado, we’ll dig right in.

Here are 27 secrets to linking that will help you build lasting relationships, increase your Personal PR, expand your network, and increase your presence online.

Turn Your Blog into a Best -Seller

2008-02-18T07:12:00.001-05:00

Mark Joyner's mind-blowing step-by-step blueprint ebook.

Wanna-Be A List Bloggers: You want this Now!

clipped from www.simpleology.com

There are many reasons for why almost everyone alive secretly wishes they were a best-selling author (prestige, satisfaction, money, free leads for your business, a massive pay raise …), but that is only one of the benefits of learning:

This 100+ page PDF (don’t worry, it includes a 60 second Executive Summary and Immediate Action Plan) is available for free download to anyone with a Simpleology ID. If you don’t already have a Simpleology ID, you can get one for free in seconds using the form below.

Include a Free Subscrption to Free Stuff That Changes Your Life

NOTE: We are a TRUSTe certified company, so your privacy is guaranteed. We hate spam with a passion, so we will never email you without your consent and will never share your information with anyone.

One of the Dumbest Marketing Statements Ever

2008-02-18T06:32:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, I really hate these "branding" school of thought guys...

"The real measure of success is the way it changes how audiences feel about your brand."

To me, the real measure of success of ALL small business marketing is simple:

Did it make you more money?

How people "feel" about your brand does not, and will not, put money in your pocket.

You can not force viral marketing. You must BE viral and have a message that people want to talk about and spread.

clipped from www.clickz.com

When the Medium Isn't the Message

Nevertheless, agencies all over the country are faced with these "gimme a viral" marching orders every day. The problem is too many of them are delivering, and we're potentially saturating the marketplace with attempts, desensitizing audiences to what we are actually trying to get them to notice -- the message.

As more advertisers add viral initiatives to their interactive marketing checklists, I suggest removing it. Viral shouldn't be a checkbox, but a quality that virtually all advertising (and the technologies that go with it) should satisfy. TV spots go viral. Amateur footage goes viral. Professionally created amateur-looking footage goes viral. But if a video with 5 million views goes viral with poor brand association metrics, did it actually make an impact?

The real measure of success is the way it changes how audiences feel about your brand.

Free "Must Have" Marketing eBook

2008-02-18T05:45:00.001-05:00

Understand the new social marketing and eduction-based marketing tactics and tools.

clipped from contentmarketingtoday.com

Click here to download Newt Barrett and Joe Pulizzi's complimentary e-book "Get Content Get Customers."

The Law of Social Marketing

2008-02-18T04:48:00.002-05:00

Before you dive into all the hype about social marketing, adopt a business and marketing fundamentals/strategies focus.

clipped from bokardo.com

The Problem with Social Media Marketing

I was reading a blog today and found this recommendation:

“leverage social tools to create buzz and demand for your product”.

I don’t know exactly what was meant by this, but it sounds like causation: that if you use social tools to talk to your customers then you’ll increase buzz and demand.

But people who are considering hiring social media marketers need to know that there is more to it than this.

Giving people a platform for expression doesn’t necessarily create buzz and demand. It only amplifies what the opinion was in the first place.

In other words, if you give people a platform for expression and:

If your product sucks, the resulting conversation will be about how much it sucks.

If your product is great, the resulting conversation will be about how great it is.

In other words, it’s better to think of social media tools as amplifying customer opinion rather than improving it.

When Stupid Teens Do Social Media

2008-02-18T04:07:00.001-05:00

Hey kids social marketing isn't for you.

clipped from www.searchengineguide.com

When Social Media Attacks the Wrong Person

It's no secret that the pack mentality that often powers social media success can also turn into an angry mob complete with virtual pitchforks at the drop of a hat. That's great when the mob is helping to bring social injustice to light, but it's a nightmare when the mob attacks the victim. Unfortunately, the murky waters of Internet gossip and the fuzzy ethics that seem to rule online behavior can make it difficult to know who the victim actually is. Enter the A&P grocery chain and The Fresh Beets.

It was the latter actions that caused each to receive a pink slip from A&P and has thrown them into a mess of legal hot water. According to MediaPost Publications, the two were fired with a notice that explained:

Marketing Tips to Attract Clients

2008-02-18T03:23:00.001-05:00

Discover a wealth of marketing, tools, tips and resources to attract more clients to your small business.

clipped from salesconx.blogspot.com

The top ten low-cost and low-risk ways to drive new clients for your business

All businesses share the challenge of finding new business. We recently conducted a survey of 700 small businesses. 43 % of them needed to add over 10 new clients a year. It should come as no surprise that $90 billion is being spent by businesses in the U.S. to grow (American Marketing Association). $20 billion is being spent in online marketing alone. The common marketing portfolio for a company includes advertising (online and offline), public relations, event marketing (tradeshows), client marketing (referrals) and telemarketing (cold calling). An effective marketing strategy will employ multiple initiatives under these areas targeting their customer/prospect segments. Each of these items is important (in different varying levels) to achieve marketing results. But, is there a way to achieve consistent marketing results without having the budget of a Cisco or a Microsoft?

Social Marketing Strategies

2008-02-17T21:36:00.001-05:00

Here are 5 basic social marketing strategies

clipped from www.24karatmarketer.com

Easy Web 2.0 Internet Marketing: Strategies For Quickly Building an Audience with Social Media

As an entrepreneur, how do you make your business website stand out amongst 435 million other websites and more than 1 million blogs competing for your audience’s attention?

Five Steps to Becoming a Social Media Maven

Social Media Maven Step 1: Get in the Game

Social Media Maven Step 2: Share your passion

Social Media Maven Step 3: Be Controversial

Social Media Maven Step 4: Create World Class Content

Social Media Maven Step 5: Engage in the Conversation

Visualize it like a big radio or television station or movie screen where you’re the star. You’re building a fan base so you need to entertain, inform, and deliver consistently for your audience.

Small Business Brief... Targeted Social Marketing

2008-02-17T20:25:00.001-05:00

Here's the "Fetch" Plug-In for Small Business Brief

clipped from blog.bluefur.com

Small Business Brief WordPress Plugin - Beta

I have been visiting a few niche Digg style sites and found one I think is appropriate for this blogs target audience. The site is called Small Business Brief and topics are all related to business. The problem was that they did not have WordPress plugin.

Download the Small Business Brief Plugin.
Unzip the file in your wp-content/plugins folder.
Activate the plugin in your WordPress admin.
Customize the Plugin on the Options page where you can choose the plugin position.

I have also posted the full script here.

Who Do the Top Internet Marketing Gurus Hire?

2008-02-16T14:21:00.001-05:00

To teach the the social marketing tips, tricks, and powerful marketing tactics?

Jack Humphrey,social marketing mastermind of Social Power Linking and Authority Black Book.

clipped from newsuccessonline.com

Mike Filsaime Hires Jack Humphrey for Social Marketing Campaign

So I was pleasantly surprised when I read an email from Mike today saying that he has hired Jack Humphrey to consult on a project he is working on.

Why did Mike hire Jack?

"I think what he can teach me is so powerful and so EXPLOSIVE
that I am going to spend $36,000 over the next year to have
him TEACH ME everything he knows about SOCIAL MARKETING."
- Mike Filsiame on Jack Humphrey

Jack is really the "go-to" guy when it comes to social media marketing.

When Rich Schefren wrote "The Attention Age Doctrine", he went to Jack for his opinion on how to use social media.

He was teaching social marketing tactics long before the recent hype began and wrote the definitive guide to web 2.0 marketing, "The Authority Black Book".

If you want to meet Jack and hang out with other social marketers, join "Social Marketing Central", a new (and free) community that Jack just launched.

Listen Up and Listen Faster

2008-02-16T11:02:00.001-05:00

Are you falling behind on keeping up with all those great business-building Mp3s you find online.

Here's a great hack for improving your personal productivity.

clipped from www.salesandmarketingcoach.com

Listen faster to audios and podcasts

In business, your two main resources are money and time. You may need to spend money to make more time (such as when you outsource work or hire out for certain tasks), or you may need to trade time for money (such as when you work with clients), or you sometimes may need to do both (when a problem shows up and it will take both money and time to fix.) With everything you have to do to keep your business running, it is useful to try and find points of leverage in your business: places where you can save time, money, or both.

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That Makes Your Marketing Generate More Results

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Company As The Best Choice In The Market

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