marketing strategy

Posts Tagged ‘marketing strategy’

How To Write A Facebook Update For Your Business

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

So, you know there’s this thing called Facebook, right?

Of course. You probably have a personal profile. And a fan page for your business. Lots (and lots) of people do.

But how are you using it?

That’s the real question. And it’s worth asking, because what most small businesses have done is gone right out and started a fan page with no idea about what to use it for.

Because they don’t ask, they use it for the same thing they use everything else for: shameless self promotion. Which is great, if Facebook were direct mail. Which it’s not.

So what is it, then?

Well, for starters, it’s the most popular social network in the world. But you already knew that. It’s more worthwhile to think about what that means. Social Network. It’s people sharing their lives, sometimes with passion, and staying connected with one another.

Staying connected. For a small business, that’s a tall order. Just because the tools exist doesn’t mean anyone wants to hear from you. Especially if all you’re going to do is talk about yourself.

In fact, it’s probably best to flip that idea around completely: Facebook is a way for your fans to talk about themselves. If you make it that. And that’s how to stay connected.

Here are some simple ways to make Facebook updates that help you stay connected to your fans:

-Post everyday, or almost everyday. A great way to make a connection is to be consistent. If you post at about the same time everyday, all the better. People will start to be able to trust that their time is being well spent connecting with you, because you’re there.

-Establish a tone. Remember that it’s social. Meaning, you need a voice. Be a person. Talk, don’t write. People are going to trust you a lot more if it’s you they’re trusting, and not just a logo.

-Be brief. Attention spans are short. Get to the point in a sentence. Two, tops. If you have more to say than that, write it in a note, then post the link to the note. Or better yet, blog. The people that trust you will follow your links. But shoving out big updates doesn’t do them any favors. Your big posts become a burden.

-Be interesting, and failing that, helpful. People want information, yes, but on Facebook, they want social information; what’s your business doing that makes them better informed socially? What kind of people do you cater to? (The answer better not be “everybody”). You know your business intimately, and there’s no one better prepared to answer that than you.

-Ask questions. Statements have endings; questions have openings. If the goal, as stated above, is to give your fans a way to talk about themselves, how better to do that than with a question?

-Follow up. If there’s a comment, or a long list of comments, on an update you posted, weigh in. Show people that you’re paying attention. Validate the fact that they’ve given you their time, the most precious resource any of us have. Yes, even on Facebook.

Some of that info is pretty elementary. But you also probably know just how many people are doing it wrong. And I really mean that. Spamming, pushing, shouting- that’s the wrong way to use Facebook.

If you want to give your fans something, that is.

Thoughts?

Tags: Ben Curnett, facebook, getting started in social media, how to, marketing strategy, writing
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

What Sesame Street Can Teach Us About World Domination

Friday, July 9th, 2010

I love Ernie. I’m not afraid to say so, either.

This morning I read Good Night Gorilla to my daughter. If you’re not familiar with the story, Mr. Zookeeper says goodnight to all the animals as Gorilla (and Mouse) quietly release all the animals from their cages.

Here’s the thing: Armadillo has an Ernie doll in his pen.

Ernie, and pretty much all of Sesame Street, is ubiquitous. They’re everywhere. And they got there by being symbols of good, reliable, interesting, helpful content.

Do you remember life before the internet? Well, there was this invention called television, and on this invention they showed shows. Every day, you could tune in to Sesame Street and get songs, games, goofs, and smarts. Every. Day. And here’s what happens when you create quality content every day for 40 years: You win.

Your brand becomes synonymous with quality. Here are the principles behind doing that:

Be Unique Sesame Street is known all over the world and is instantly recognizable because they do one thing: make Sesame Street. What are you making that instantly recognizable?

Be Consistent Sesame Street delivers great content every day. Whatever your schedule is, make sure you stick to it. Your fans are expecting you- if you’re only there for them sometimes, you’ll lose their trust.

Be Excellent It’s not enough just to stand out and do it regularly. It’s got to be good. Make worthwhile content that’s informative, passionate, beautiful, helpful, or personal. Don’t suck, don’t write just to write. Sesame Street was excellent when it launched, and still is.

Be Confident You can’t write for everyone, so don’t try. You know who you want to help, just like Sesame Street does. the difference between you and the others is the confidence to speak only to those people. It’s talked about on the writing blogs all the time, but cutting out a segment of the market to connect better with another segment takes bravery.

Sesame street would have failed if they tried to teach all kids from birth to 18 how to read. Luckily, they just talked to 3 year olds. And they dominated the world with good content.

You? You don’t have to dominate the world. Just your business. I think Sesame Street’s a pretty good model for doing that.

Tags: Ben Curnett, business relationships, content strategy, marketing strategy, sesame street
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

If Digital Marketing Were Lego…

Monday, June 21st, 2010

…what would you build?

It’s worth thinking about. One, because I write for digital marketing. Two, because I play with lego A LOT with my kids. There’s probably not a better toy out there to get our imaginations flowing than Lego stuff. BTW, you don’t need kids to play with Lego (but it’s a nice excuse).

Here’s the thing: I see most business building exactly the same things they built before digital marketing existed. It’s a terrible waste. All these beautiful, genius tools laying around, and what do people make? Billboards.

I have some ideas about the parts and pieces of digital marketing as they might relate to the world’s greatest toy.

First, take an inventory of what you’ve got. Every single Lego set you ever open starts with exactly the same instructions: separate pieces according to color. When you start to build, the organization you institute at the beginning of the day will help make something amazing. If you don’t organize, on the other had (this is coming from someone who willfully ignored the instructions once), you can look forward to spending all that creative energy searching instead of building.

Also, follow instructions. No need to reinvent the wheel when you just start building. There are tried and true steps to making something recognizable that people can appreciate and use.

As any Lego builder can tell you, having a prescribed set of steps allows for a rhythm, which can be incredibly helpful in some of the more tedious parts of the process (be honest: it’s not all lightning bolts of creative genius).

Once you’re there, and you’ve got some good models set up, experiment. Create. Try. Fail. Participate. Those legos won’t build themselves. They’re tools; you’re the maker. Make something that represents you. If you’ve got no idea how to start, ask a six year old. They’re pros.

And, if you’re not into reading between the lines, here’s how I’m imagining the pieces:

Strategy: Big, wide flat pieces. They’re the ones that form the foundations. In those huge models, this is usually what you see at the bottom. They tie everything together.

Content: Big, thick blocks. These are the ones that give structure to your shape. They’re bulky and they take up space. Use these to make what you’re building bigger. This is your blog, your photo stream, your video channels. Every piece that you add helps give you more substance.

Connections: Those stick-things. We didn’t really have them when I was growing up, but every model I’ve built with my kids has the Lego rod-and-nut connectors. We’ve started to build our own creations with them, too, and they’re a strong way to bring different elements together.

Ratings: Let’s call them greebles. These are the little odds and ends that you put on your creations to give them character. They’re not absolutely necessary, but they make things interesting. And they’re there whether you use them or not, so you might as well get creative and break up the surface a little.

So, what do you think? Is this a stretch? Or does it “click”? (sorry, couldn’t help myself)

Tags: Ben Curnett, Lego, marketing mindset, marketing strategy
Posted in Digital Marketing | 2 Comments »

What The Hell Are Location Based Services?

Monday, May 31st, 2010

For many small and travel/tourism businesses it can be a daunting task to keep up with emerging technology and social media platforms.

Things are not going to be getting any easier. Cue location based social networks or location based services (LBS). While they are not necessarily new, they are gaining users quickly.

The ubiquity of GPS enabled phones and our seemingly insatiable desire to stay connected has fueled a boom in social networks that allow you to share your whereabouts with friends.

In a nutshell, you create your user account, connect your phone to your account, and when visiting a location (everything from gas stations to hotels) you check in by using a few simple hand gestures to post to your account. While checking in you then notify friends, or those nearby, of your whereabouts and what you may be doing, or what you think of where you are. You can also do a variety of other tasks, depending on the platform. You can earn points and badges, you can share photos, post reviews, collect items, participate in a scavenger hunt or even earn rewards from businesses.

Many businesses are already finding ways to leverage these services. Here are two you can get started with, including a quick tip for each.

Foursquare
Combine location based check-ins with game mechanics and you have Foursquare. Check-in, earn points, earn badges, share to-do lists. This service is growing very quickly. Last week it was reported that nearly 1 million check-ins occur every day.

Tip: Create a company account, and sign up as the manager of your business. You can create a virtual customer loyalty program with rewards for check-ins and frequency.

Yelp
A stalwart in the review networks, Yelp now allows users to “check-in”. This is a powerful combination, that I think will serve as a model for others. It combines location based check-in with reviews. Users can also upload photos.

Tip: Be sure you have claimed your business on Yelp. Build out your profile with as much information as possible and monitor your page. If you are fortunate to receive your “people love us on Yelp!” decal, display it prominently! Also, don’t be “one of those guys” and review your own business. It is petty, and you’ll end up with pretty bad karma.

I’m interested to find out if you’re using any location-based services, personally or for your businesses. If so, what’s your take?

Tags: getting started in social media, marketing strategy, online reputation management, Pat Strader
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Buy In Or Fail

Friday, May 28th, 2010

I hate teambuilding.

Always have. I don’t like teambuilding exercises, ropes courses, or facilitated bonding. I’m not cynical about it (anymore); it’s just not for me. Call it a pet peeve.

A friend explained to me once why I had so much trouble with the concept: No buy in. I just didn’t accept it as something valuable. With that as a starting point, it never mattered where a teambuilding exercise went. I wasn’t going to get anything out of it. I hadn’t bought in to the premise. For me, teambuilding fails before the first trust fall.

The same thing is true with digital marketing.

You must put yourself in a position to buy in to the value with marketing online before you start. And if not, it’s never really going to pay off. In customers, connections, ROI, traction, and any other metric you throw at it. Without the buy-in, it doesn’t matter how many tools you set up; you’ll still fail.

There’s a fundamental change in thinking that has to take place. Digital marketing shifts the focus from product to personality. In fact, product is just a tiny part of it. Most of what digital marketing offers is a chance to interact and connect with people who are interested in the same things you’re doing. It’s only after an online audience buys in to your personality that your products matter at all.

So those interactions have to matter to you. For this to work, you have to care about what other people want when they’re online. Recognition. Respect. Consideration. All those things aren’t selling. Also, on their own, they’re not marketing.

They become selling, they become marketing, after a long period of buy in. That’s the only way to build up enough trust in others to sell to them. Without the buy in on your part, you’re just telemarketing with different media.

Tags: Ben Curnett, buy in, getting started in social media, marketing strategy
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

The Worst Sentence In Blogging (And How To Avoid Writing It)

Friday, May 21st, 2010

There’s one surefire way to turn off your readers and keep what’s on your blog from being spread around and taken seriously: don’t post regularly.

Posting “every once in a while” is the wrong thing to do on a whole bunch of different levels. Even if you have the best intentions in the world, an inconsistent blog is a sign (a billboard, actually) reading “I don’t care”. And if you don’t care, why should your readers?

The Worst Sentence

I’m going to tell you exactly what the worst sentence you can write in your blog is. It’s seven words long. You’ve read it a hundred times.

First, a word on timing. Timing doesn’t come naturally to most people, and others will never get it. It’s like the old Steve Martin joke: ”If there’s one thing that’s important in comedy, it’s… …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …timing.”

Some people have a natural gift for timing; those are the ones with the super-organized closet, socks arranged according to moon phase. They have their timing down to a science.

Most people aren’t like that, myself included. I need practice, and the only way to practice is to have a plan. Because timing isn’t natural (anymore; it’s why we need alarm clocks), it has to be developed. And the positively proven way to do that is to get a system and stick to it.

Oh, and the worst sentence in blogging is this:

“Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.”

Blog, Meet Calendar

An editorial calendar is a tool that’s been used since periodical tablets were sold on Babylonian street corners in 4 column 9 pt cuniform. In other words, way before the internet. The calendar is simple way to plan out out posts, so you’ll never miss one, and your content will always be fresh. It’s an alarm clock for your blog.

Here’s how to do it:

Have a whiteboard session.

A legal pad will work, too. Make 12 labels, one for each month.

Plan out subjects for each month.

Seeing your posts laid out on a calendar will allow you to plan for temporal topics, which can help with your SEO, as well as just being interesting to people at the time they happen to be interested.

Enter the subjects into an ecalendar.

Every electronic calendar available will allow you to set warnings via email for the due dates of each one. Do that.

Huge Step:

With each subject, write a title to go along with it. This is a deeply creative process, and there’s an art to it. It’ll take some time, but it’s going to be incredibly worth it to have your title done ahead of time.

A couple tips to go along with creating your editorial calendar:

Be flexible

Don’t get stuck with something you ultimately can’t write about. If something comes up on the calendar that you can’t create, keep going. The important part is to replace it with something else. No dead spots.

Don’t get bogged down.

You don’t have to have all of your subjects tied to a specific date or event (July 4th, say). It works for some subjects, but not for every single one. What I mean is, if you do tie all of your posts to a date, you end up with something that’s more like a newsletter than a blog.

Leave space.

One thing a blog has to be above everything else (except for being current) is to be interesting. So make sure that you have space in your calendar for things that come up.

Commit.

Once the calendar is in place, make a commitment to stick to it. At least, stick to most of it. If you don’t that’s a lot of hard work going down the drain.

An editorial calendar is not a cure all for everything. But it’s a good way to start planning ahead and being consistent.

And it’s a good way to never have to write the worst sentence in blogging.

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, editorial calendar, marketing strategy, motivation
Posted in Content Creation | No Comments »

No One Is Listening To You

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Except the people who want to hear.

That’s a tough nut for most small businesses to crack. It used to be that you could just send out your email blasts and your brochures and your mailers, and that was it. Wasn’t not knowing that people were ignoring you great?

No. No it was not.

If you actually measured how many people weren’t listening, it would be downright depressing. All that broadcasting you did, throwing your stuff out there to see what would stick? Sheesh. Who’d want to measure it?

Listen to the sounds of silence. Those are the people not listening to you, not interested in what you’re saying on Twitter. Not fans on your facebook fan page. Actually, facebook has made it even more plain: They don’t “like” you.

Which leaves just the people that do like you. The people that are listening.

Those are the same people that help you do things like spread your message, increase your credibility, talk about you to their friends. Yours are the words in their “word of mouth”.

How many people are listening to you depends on a lot. You have to ease their pain, to put it in Jonathan Fields terms. You should be doing for them, and making it clear and plain that that’s what you’re up to, because it is so easy to ignore someone online. So you need a very clear way of saying what it is you do, and how that can help those listeners. Proving it over and over (and over) is as much about marketing as it is about your actual business.

Here’s what won’t work: You cannot expect to put a couple of words out there in the information stream and get much attention. It’s just not that helpful.

And if you are being helpful? The amount of people still not listening to you will be staggering. But the number of people who do will grow. It’s a slow process. It takes patience. But it will happen.

That’s where you should start. No one is listening to you, except the people that are.

So talk to them.

Tags: Ben Curnett, business trust, content marketing, marketing strategy
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

Three Very Simple Fanpage Tips

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

The Facebook Fanpage. It’s everywhere!

After some time of groping in the dark, and some functionality changes to groups and pages, marketers have now turned in force toward the fanpage.

Why? It’s another platform for interacting with your audience and expanding brand recognition.

Need more? Here are some lovely statistics from Morpace, Inc…

Facebook has more than 400,000,000 registered users.
68% of consumers with Facebook accounts say a positive referral from a Facebook friend would make them more likely to buy from or visit a retailer.
36% say Facebook is a good tool for researching products.

Here are a few very simple tips, which can greatly improve the quality of your Facebook marketing…

Give your fans a voice
Interaction with your fans is a goal, so allow it to happen and allow it to be easily found.

I often see businesses that have made it hard for fans to be visible based upon the wall settings. Allow your fans to post to your wall, post photos, and post videos. Real people posting photos of themselves using your products, well, that’s gold, especially if you are in the travel and tourism business.

Within your admin section, under wall settings, ensure you are allowing your fans to interact.

Ask A Question
How many times have you carefully crafted a wall post, only to have no comments or response? When you make statements, you automatically preclude interaction.

Ask people questions. For example, if you were going to post about an event happening this coming weekend, don’t stop with just the basic “This weekend be sure to visit blah blah for event XYZ.” Finish with an open-ended question, “What are your plans for the weekend?”.

Try it. Yes, social media is about connections. But people really (really) want to talk about themselves. Are you inviting them to do that?

Post Photos in Threes
Many small businesses are digital asset-poor not having vast library’s of photos and videos. Because of this you have to maximize your assets and try to receive the greatest amount of interaction.

So, when posting photos to your fan page, post in groups of three. You can continue to add to existing albums, and maximize the opportunity for interaction.

Why three? Simply because three photos are all that will show on the page when you post. Post three, then when it is time to post again, the freshest three will display on the page.

A side benefit is that it will display any previous interaction with the album, allowing you to leverage social proof to keep fans posting and interacting with your content.

Those are just three simple tips for fanpage optimization. There are tons more. What are your favorites?

Tags: facebook, fanpage marketing, getting started in social media, marketing strategy, Pat Strader
Posted in Digital Marketing, Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »

I Laughed, I Cried, I SOBCon-ed

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Here is what I envisioned: I would post the definitive, penultimate, consummate recap blog post about SOBCon 2010.

After all, it was my first time attending the conference. Who doesn’t want to get a “totally new and fresh perspective” from someone as new and fresh (not to mention witty) as myself? It would be like looking at SOBCon with brand new eyes!

As the newbie often learns, there’s a better way to do it. One of my favorite SOBCon panelists, Steve Woodruff, posted the official-and-conclusive best SOBCon recap yesterday with “The Official Post-Conference Re-Cap Blog Post Template”.

I was disappointed that I only got the chance to briefly introduce myself to Steve during the conference. Now I’m crushed. Yes, the post is brilliant, but there’s more.

What he had to say on the panel about battling depression mirrored my own experience. I know that I’ve never heard anyone so open and honest about it, and neither have you (here’s his background post, “Clearing Clouds”). How refreshing. And BTW, this is the first I’ve ever said anything about my own battles with depression. Steve’s example showed me that I really have nothing to hide.

So, you want to turn “transparency” from buzzword to real life? Follow Steve Woodruff’s example.

Which is exactly what I intend to do with this post. He wrote a template; I love templates! And I know he meant it with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, but I’m running with it. So here goes, with Steve’s template as a point of reference…

I Laughed, I Cried, I SOBCon-ed

I had a wonderful time. That’s a blunt way to start, but if I’m summarizing the whole SOBCon experience, I can’t be any more plain than that. It was awesome. Fabulous. If I was a guy that used exclaimation points without irony, I’d use them, without reservation, about SOBCon 2010 (!).

Terry Starbucker and Liz Strauss started the whole thing off with the word “love”. And I have to say, never having been before, I thought that was setting the bar, um, kind of high. You know what I mean? I was thinking business. Community building. Learning. Not love. I was wrong. My thanks to them and the sponsors for hosting, sharing, and teaching some love.

Here’s what I learned: Action makes the difference. Nearly every speaker echoed this sentiment in some way, most by example. Sheila Scarborough and Becky McCray did it with a session on how they invented and launched their business Tourism Currents. Extreme Leadership author Steve Farber did it by diagramming his Greater Than Yourself program. Chris Brogan did it by being Chris Brogan. And reformed Master Of The Universe Hank Wasiak did it best for me by giving away these 4 beautiful, actionable words rooted in Asset Based Thinking: Tell The Truth Fast (it’s the “fast” part that makes all the difference).

One real shocker was the uber-prevalence of a totally new technology in the digital marketing world: paper and pen. It starts up every time (another @sheilaS-ism). Going to have to check it out when it’s out of beta. Other than that, not much to report, except that I got silly putty all over my iphone case and had to get a new one (long story).

(skipping optional paragraph 5, if you’re following along at home -Ben)

Oh, and one more Chris Brogan thing: You can’t eat a hug. Chris was pretty up front about his ramen-noodle, living-on-a-prayer past which I didn’t know about (I think I was the only one there that didn’t maybe? I don’t know), and I love the paradox in his work that’s central right here: the more you give, the more you get, even when you’re dirt poor.

I didn’t get to hang out with nearly the number of people I wanted to (I’m looking at you, Julie Roads). But rather than focus on the misses, I’m going to say that I was amazed that I got to spend time with a ton of brilliant folks (Shashi Bellamkonda, Lorelle Van Fossen, Dave Barger, Jay Jay French (!), Steve Sherlock, George Kruger, Mary-Lynn Foster, Estrella Rosenberg, Angel Djambazov) including the incredible Glenda Watson Hyatt. I walked back to the hotel with her from the party on night 1, and read through her I’ll Do It Myself blog later that night. Holy. Moly. If you don’t know her, you should. And SOBCon 2011 can’t come soon enough.

Anyway, there’s a community out there for everyone, and I’m pretty fortunate in that I think I found mine at SOBCon.

Remember, you can’t eat a hug. But you can come pretty close. Thanks, SOBCon.

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, business relationships, content marketing, Digital Marketing, Inspiration, leadership, marketing strategy
Posted in Thanks | 5 Comments »

5 Ways To Make Your Marketing Manager A Publisher

Monday, April 26th, 2010

If I were a small business owner, here’s what I’d do with my marketing department: Make them publishers.

This isn’t news to anyone who’s been looking at news from the digital marketing world. Social media marketing, content marketing, and digital marketing are increasingly losing their definition and melting together. The heat that’s melting them, to keep the metaphor going, is publishing.

So what does that mean to small business marketers? It means you’ve got to get yourself some content (preferably with some heavy content strategy on the front end).

Here are five tactics to do exactly that…

Create an editorial calendar If you’re using project management software, you should have one of these at your fingertips. You should have one even if you’re not using any PM software (google calendar, anyone?). Get organized from a publishing standpoint, and your efforts will be much more effective. Never write a “sorry we haven’t blogged in a while” post again.

Don’t Stop At Text Photos and videos, like publishing itself, has become so completely accessible that there are really no excuses not to start. Just like your text, you need a schedule to produce graphic content. A picture is worth some specific number of words. Video even more. You don’t have to be viral. You do have to be consistent.

Put Social Media First Never think that social media is a fad. It’s not. Invest in it. The tools of social media will change, but the premise won’t. So from now on, you can’t broadcast your message to everyone online (you never could, although most websites were written and designed that way). Not possible, unless your plan is to out-amazon Amazon. So drill down and connect with the people that you’re interested in. And remember this: if you’re not having a conversation with them, you’re spamming them.

Read Your Analytics Numbers are scary to me. I’m a writer. An English major, even. But that doesn’t mean you should be (afraid of numbers, that is, not an English major, though there’s an argument for not being one of those either). Read those reports. How else are you going to understand what content works and what doesn’t? I’ve even gotten better myself. Publishers know the numbers.

Own It By that, I mean put an emotional investment into your content. Don’t just publish because you have to. These tools, this framework, allows you to do what direct mail, what your brochure, never could. The connections are there to make, if you want to. If you publish content that’s personal, not just your mission statement or your sale. That requires your marketing to break away from traditional thinking.

It requires you to become a publisher.

Tags: Ben Curnett, blogs, content strategy, getting started in social media, marketing strategy, Social Media, writing
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

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