The Marketing Message Blog

Does social media really make you more social?

If you've been online for any length of time, you've struggled with the question of how much time to spend on social platforms.  You weigh the pros and cons and perhaps miss the central point-- sharing information of any kind potentially adds to the value of the Web as a whole.

If your expertise is freely shared by posting something interesting you have made a contribution.  If you think of it that way, perhaps you'll waste less time on trivia.  Or you won't.  Either way consider it as your effort to teach something to others.

Strategy Questions Every Business Executive Should Ask

If you’re a leader whose business has an online component, you’d probably like to find some guidelines that make it easier to develop and sustain an online marketing strategy. There are lots of conflicting ideas swirling out there about what to do online to maintain a competitive advantage and increase value. If you followed many of them, you’d be spinning your wheels with no revenue in sight. 

As someone whose has worked online since 1994, I’ve watched the marketing “shiny object” change from Web site to newsletter to blog to social media network. And on it goes. I know that getting locked into a tactic with no clear strategy in sight is a common mistake.  It does nothing to increase your value.

If you’re uneasy around the topic of social media strategies, you’re not alone. Because you’re not down in the trenches tweeting and posting, you probably don’t have the “hands-on” feel you have for other areas of marketing. A competitive advantage seems unatainable.

If you attempt to delegate, employees suggest all manner of tactics to engage customers. You’ve heard that you need to engage with Twitter and Facebook, study ongoing analytics, present sparkling content, and co-develop with customers. Great advice. But without the strategy behind it, your campaigns are destined to fail. Like every other area of business, you need to create the strategy first and make sure it flows down to everyone in your organization. 

In formulating an online strategy, here are three questions to consider: 

Value.   Do your employees know the real value consumers place on your products and services?   If you don’t develop and constantly hone that message, your employees can’t communicate it in their social media efforts. In turn, all the ratings and comments that show up about your company will not engender the “word of mouth” referral power they could. If your customers aren’t selling for you, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful weapons you have today.

Intellectual property (IP).   Are you encouraging your employees to mine the intellectual property hidden inside your business to create information products and services?   I’m not referring to the patents or formulas your company owns. The Intellectual property in companies today can be found in their vast stores of information. The key is to evaluate that information based on enhancement of the customer’s life. Think broadly. Consumers today are hungry for quality information that solves problems. Can your staff take that information and create videos, e-books, and other downloadable properties with that in mind? 

Competitive advantage.   Do your employees understand who your real competitors are?   I’m often surprised when I work on a competitive advantage with my clients that they overlook several real online competitors. It’s a mistake to focus on only those who sell your exact product/service in exactly the way you do. The Web provides the opportunity for your customers to pick and choose from a variety of options. For example, if you sell sales training courses, your competitors are online video portals, coaches (both in-person and online), downloadable audio courses, etc. Make sure your staff has looked at all the possibilities.

One more note—there are many visual thinking tools (like mind mapping) that your team can use right now to gather ideas from all internal disciplines to enhance your competitive advantage. Consider using these techniques to get ideas from programmers and marketers alike. In today’s marketplace, you can’t afford to overlook a great idea. Your value depends on it.

 

Introducing the Savvy Executive Institute for Digital Strategy

I'm excited to announce that we are launching the "Savvy Executive Institute for Digital Strategy.  Its designed to help online business owners find the online training and guidance they need to grow a profitable business.  No fluff, no hype.

If you are looking for a powerful combination of learning and doing, then Institute membership is right for you. We offer a 12 month membership program that is structured to give you maximum value. 

Each month you receive a new module on your personal dashboard. The multimedia training is sequenced so that each module builds on the next.  You won’t suffer overwhelm because you can’t get ahead of yourself or get stuck.  New material is there when you need it.

We put our program together using the following 7 core principles:

1. Curriculum: Our multimedia curriculum is based on the Hidden Profit System developed by our founder Stephanie Diamond who has had a long and successful career helping online business owners succeed.Ten modules are delivered over a 12 month membership period. The modules contain all the action oriented materials you need to get your business growing.

2. Success Journaling: At the Institute we believe that keeping a business journal is a strong success indicator. The journal content will be collected by you over the membership year as we go through the curriculum and will then be published for you as a 6×9 perfect bound journal by our publishing partner Vervante. It can include up to 200 pages of your notes, maps, templates, details of campaigns and anything else you want to document. You’ll be able to look back over the year and see conclusively what progress you’ve made and where you can improve. If you can learn to write your own prescription for success, you’ll be a true leader.

3. Visual thinking: In the 21st century, visual thinking is key to working online. We use mind maps, charts, templates, images and anything that will help make the material easier to understand and implement. Stephanie Diamond has written the recently published “Prezi for Dummies” book from Wiley. It deals with the presentation software Prezi that is used as a digital story-telling tool. All of these techniques will be part of the learning platform.

4. Asking the right questions: Asking the right questions is critical to helping your business grow fast. As part of your membership you will be able to ask questions at our live monthly Q&A calls. You are encouraged to attend the calls live and perhaps volunteer for a ‘hot seat’ where we discuss and suggest solutions to your most pressing problems.

5. Tools to make it easier: We don’t hesitate to use every tool we can find to make your work easier. We would rather you start with a template then have to create anything from scratch. We believe this makes for a more rounded experience.

6. Expert advisors: Our hand-picked group of advisors will share what they know about growing a business online. Their experience brings an added depth to the curriculum in the form of interviews and articles.

7. Content: In addition to the articles, free tips and other materials we also have a Special Reports Library open only to members. Here you’ll find tactical information on all the most important subjects like social media, blogging, etc.

If all of this sounds right for you, jump over to our Membership page and see what we're offering. Hope we’ll see you on the inside.

A quick mind map look at Gap brand plan

By now I'm sure you've heard about the Gap Branding issue. In thinking about how to describe this to my clients I offered the following quick mind map which I want to share with you.  When you see it visually, it all becomes clear. It you are planning something, you may want to map it out first and take a hard look. (Click on map to enlarge.)

 

 

Does every online business owner need to write a book?

I know the common wisdom dictates that all online business owners should write a book to build their platform. But what if this really isn't right for you and your business?  Could you create something else that would accomplish the same purpose?  

The goal in writing a book is to share your ideas and help other people find you  and your company.  If you are a thought leader, this is tailor made for you.  If you are an owner of a manufacturing company that sells online this makes less sense. What could you do instead?  

One idea is to create something that you and staff can hand to people that they would find interesting and valuable. It's better than a business card. People are loathe to throw away a 'book' before at least taking a look--even in this online culture.

Consider these:

1. A self published pamphlet that talks about improvements in your industry and how your company supports them

2. Tips about how your products can enhance their lives taking a bigger picture look.

3. Quotes and ideas for CEOS or owners in your field.

These are just a few ideas.  If you publish something inexpensively, you will stand out and help your company grow. 

 

How simplicity can change you and the world

I've spent many years working online with people who have good ideas.  Some of their ideas come to fruition.  Some stagnate.  Stagnation is caused by:

• Fear of success: they aren't sure they can handle what comes next when an idea takes off
• Lack of vision: they don't see a way to reach a lot of people with their solution
• They don't feel they are a worthy leader

Notice those fears are all about them! Their fears, their imagined shortcomings, etc.

My solution to tackling all of these is SIMPLICITY. Can you break down your idea into it's parts and help one person succeed?  Can you take your idea to one street, one town, one city?  Can you see the simplest form of it?  Shake out all the complex ways you are thinking about attacking your goal. Pick one.  

My favorite quote on taking action?  "A year from now, you'll wish you started today." 

The Power Of "Positive Action"

There are lots of new findings about how the brain processes ideas and what we can do to affect a positive outcome.  There is less focus on positive thinking and more on positive action.  Taking small continuous steps to move forward helps you overcome the 'flight or fight' instinct that kicks up when you start making changes. 

If you want to watch your business really grow this year, stick to small positive actions and leave the visualizations to someone else.

How to start 2010 with momentum

I've learned over the years I've spent coaching online business owners that the key to growing your business is to generate momentum.  Staying in motion is a great way to gain confidence and reach important milestones. It prevents you from spending too much time over-thinking everything.

Here are some ways to get it going:

1. Figure out your business model(s)—Don't let these evolve in a de facto way.  Figure out how you are going to make money and commit to it. Add revenue streams as necessary, but be sure you understand how the money comes in. Then determine if it's profitable.

2. Create something to sell—If you are feeling insecure about what you have to sell, have it critiqued by colleagues you trust and then do it.  You will benefit from the customer feedback more than you will the worry.  Take the feedback and do better next time. 

3. Block out time large chunks time and devote them to big projects—Don't assume you don't have the time to do something important.  Make the time by committing to blocks of time spent in full concentration, not multi-tasking!

4. Figure out your metrics—Know what success looks like for everything you plan.  Don't skip over this because it's a hassle.  You need to assign measures of progress.  If you are afraid of analytics, get over it.

5. Get a mentor—Find a coach or other mentor to help you formalize your goals for the year and let them coach you to success.  Invest in yourself so that you understand what investing in your business is about.  Then you can sell value to your customers.

Can you create a road map for your online business?

When I ask an audience if they can create a map of their online business, the resounding answer is usually no— but they want to very much.  This is a situation you should quickly remedy if your answer is the same.

What do I mean by a map?  I use the term to apply to something like a mind map, but if you are unfamiliar with mindmaps, do you have a way to look at the big picture of your business and the details at the same time? 

I do this for each of my clients and I recommend you create one as soon as you can.  It will help you accelerate your cash flow, and here's why:

If you lay out all the major components of your business visually so that you can see what your leverage points, assets and resources are you can quickly see what to tackle first.

If you are able to look at the major revenue streams that make up your business, you are able to see where your weaknesses are and what needs to be added.

If you look at your assets and resources you can see how to shore them up and make them more powerful.

And, if you start with a map with the big picture, you can then drill down to the details. 

So, consider using a mind map tool like MindManager or one of the free online mindmapping tools or simply start by drawing a circle in the middle of a sheet of paper and put down circles radiating out of all your business components.

This is a deceptively powerful way to get a handle on what you need to do to accelerate business growth.  Try it. 

And if you want my help to develop a map of your own, drop me an email at info@digmediaworks.com and I'll help you create one.

Creating marketing order from Chaos in bad economic times

Great article in July's delivermagazine.com by Anne Stuart called Create Order from Chaos She interviews marketing guru Philip Kotler about his new book "Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the age of Turbulence."

In his book, he has a wealth of information about how to adjust your marketing in these uncertain times.  He believes that consumer behavior is affected in three ways by this economy listed below. I comment on how this effects you as an online marketer.

1. They are shifting to lower price offerings:

This is not a shock to you.  You're doing it yourself, so you know it's true.  In the case of your current offerings, don't be loathe to examine how you can re-work some of them to reach a lower price point.  Don't feel that you are 'cheating yourself.' Look at it as a nod to reality and make sure you have a host of price points for every audience.  Also add value to lower price points you currently offer.

2. They are postponing or eliminating discretionary purchases:

This is a signal for you to look at your marketing copy and remember to REVERSE the risk as much as possible.  If you can remove the fear, you can get movement.  (Here's where you should be glad you're an ethical marketer who eschews the hyperbole.)

3. They are cutting back on eating out and driving and staying at home:

Perhaps it's time to turn that conference into an online offering.  Also you should be using tools like GotoMeeting.com so no one is spending money they don't have on travel. (Webster's dictionary added 'staycation' as a new word in case you're interested.)

Check out the article in which Kotler gives you eight ways to flourish now.