The Marketing Message Blog

The Message Is The Thing

I'm often asked, 'What's the most important thing for an online business owner to do?'  I'm sure people are expecting to hear me say SEO or a good shopping cart mechanism.  That's definitely important. But, the single thing that will get your business to accelerate is to create what I call a messaging page.

A messaging page is a single sheet that has all your most important customer messages detailed with an understanding of how they fit into your marketing plan.  Do you know what your main value messages are?  Is your 'how I got started' business story clear to employees so they can tell it?  What about your 'how am I different?' message.

I know you're thinking that all those messages exist somewhere on your website, but can you articulate them when you are developing sales pages and marketing copy?  Do they resonate with you?  Do they really meet the needs of your customers?

You'd be surprised how helpful it is to actually focus on this and have it clearly in hand when new opportunities arise.  You can look at your sheet and see how this new opportunity fits into your messaging.  It also helps you say 'no' to opps that don't carry your real true message forward. 

Try it.

5 Reasons Why Online Businesses Are Different Now

With some perspective about Web marketing since '94 when I started at AOL, I began thinking about why online businesses are really different now.  Everyone is feeling and declaring a change, but why?

 

Here's my take on 5 things that are influencing it:

 

1. Things always change when fear enters the room

With the economy negatively affecting everyone, it's hard not to want to re-think everything you believed about your business, your bank account and your life.  So everyone is rethinking something.  It's axiomatic.

 

2. Boomers are taking the time to re-assess retirement

As the largest generational cohort heads toward retirement, Boomers are looking back to a time when 'giving back' had some meaning for them.  The 40th anniversary of Woodstock is causing them take a look at what they've been doing these last 40 years.  Some feel that pull towards "making a difference" again. 

 

3. With information so readily available, it’s easy for Gen X and Y to see what they don’t want to do

With the internet flattening the world, it's much easier for people to see how they fit into the bigger picture.  When you have a sense that your world isn't 'one block long,' you think differently.

 

4. Social Media gives you the tools to talk back

Social Networking allows people to exert "personal influence."  That's a responsibility as well as a gift.

 

5. Why couldn't my business be a positive force in my customer's life?

Online business owners are realizing that no matter what they are selling or who they are serving, they can provide a tangible value.

 

These are by no means the only reasons for a shift in thinking, but are influencing factors. What do you think?

Can you spend 10 minutes a day thinking about your customers?

I'm sure you think my asking whether you can spend 10 minutes a day thinking about your customers is an odd question.  You probably spend hours thinking and worrying about them or the lack thereof.  But how productive is that time? 

Here's a tip that might help.  Each day when you sit down at your computer begin by spending 10 minutes asking yourself:

"What is the one thing that I can communicate today, that if my customers hear it, they will be one step closer to increasing their revenue."

Does it sound too simple? Write the answer down and then work it into a blog post, an email or a presentation and watch the quality of your content improve and your subscriber list grow.  Try it and let me know how it works for you.

Can you match your personality to your choice of social media network?

As I watch the evolution of social media and talk to my clients, I think there's a link between your personality type and the social media networking site you choose to promote your business most often. 

Introverts: If you're an introvert you will feel most comfortable on Twitter. Of course the millions on Twitter are not all introverts.  It is just a great medium for saying what you want and getting the heck out of there. No time wasted trying to chat anyone up, you know who your followers are.

Extroverts: For extroverts it's Facebook. You can ask people to become your FANs and talk about the great event you're holding next. It's a big party and you're the lucky host.

Something to think about if you still haven't decided which to start with. It's just my theory, let me know what you think.

How microsites fit in with your other marketing tactics and why you should use them

Microsites make sense for all kinds of online businesses because they can be used to create a showcase for one product or service.  First came the landing page. Now with the popularity of "information product" marketing systems, everyone is exposed to the ease with which you can create specialized microsites.  That's all to the good.

But since I work with businesses who also use a lot of different tactics—blogs, websites, newsletters, facebook pages, etc. I see a bit of confusion. So, I thought it would be good to look at where microsites fit in to the equation for small businesses. 

First a working definition. 

A microsite is a 1 to several page site that most often:

• has it's own domain (or perhaps subdomain) separate from a main website
• is time limited
• has a tight focus on one product or service with buying information
• can be used to provide additional instructions, links to multimedia and editorial content
• can help to strenghten keyword value

Ok, so how do you know when to create a microsite for your product or service?  Focus on the distribution. Ask yourself whether this format will get this 'capsule' of information to a wider distribution than your website, blog, etc.   If you can find a way to take some 'nugget' and open it to a wider distribution, you'll have a great traffic builder (and money maker). 

You should also use it as a compliment to your other tactics by providing links to it.  But the main reason for creating it, is that it will drive new traffic.

Innovation "The Contrarian Effect" Way!

Innovation, Goodies, Gifts and Giveaways Galore (including one from me)

and its never been done before, so I love it all the more! 

Here's the scoop...starting today, you have a chance to grab a
Canon PowerShot SD850 Digital Camera and a MindMapping Strategy Session
with me (worth $815)!  Here's how...

I've offered this special product for a very worthy cause:

http://www.contrarianeffect.com/auction <-- CHECK IT OUT

It's one of a huge collection of products and programs being
offered as part of Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall's
never-been-done-before book launch for The Contrarian Effect: Why
it Pays (BIG) to Take the Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite.

In addition to my special giveaway, be sure to look at all
the good stuff that's yours for the taking, including:

* two tickets to the Inc. 500 Conference in Washington, D.C.

* a seat for Michael Gerber's Dreaming Room Workshop (worth $3000)

* premium business software from Mindjet, Daylite and iThemes

That's just a taste of all the cool items available, so visit the
link above for the full scoop.

This book is important.  It's all about how you can sell more
effectively without selling out.  And, how you can ditch the
typical sales tactics you didn't like anyways and start selling
the contrarian way.

Not interested in my giveaway or any of the other cool business
products?  That's ok.  Grab a copy of the book ($13 at Amazon) to
learn how to sell more than ever before:

    http://snipurl.com/contrarianeffect-866 <-- GET THE BOOK HERE

Because the Contrarian Effect is a must-read for every
entrepreneur, I'm doing a special teleseminar with Elizabeth and
Michael later this month.  On the call, I'll share the specific
strategies I've used to be a contrarian and sell by doing the
opposite.  You can register here:

http://www.contrarianeffectbooktour.com <-- SAVE YOUR SEAT

So, go ahead and check out the auction and
see what other great products are being offered.  Then, be sure
to buy a copy of the book and save your seat for the upcoming
teleseminar.

Check this out! Mindjet Connect Service Launches Today

Having been a beta tester, I can assure you that the new Mindjet Connect  service is worth checking out.  It's definitely a life-changer when it comes to productivity.

What is Mindjet Connect you ask?  It's a new service from Mindjet.com that allows you to collaborate online and share MindManager software and workspaces with everyone you invite into your space. 

It's incredibly powerful AND easy to use.  If you care about better communication, collaboration and creative thinking then check this out.

Get Content. Get Customers. Get this book

Content marketing is a topic on everyone's lips right now, with good reason. Unless you create the compelling content your visitors deserve, your online business will be a lonely place. "Get Content. Get Customers." by Newt Barrett and Joe Pulizzi is the first book of its kind to tackle the issue of content marketing head on. If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you need this book today!

You'll get powerful lessons from the `Best Practice Success Stories' and ways to implement them from the final section on `Putting the Lessons Into Action.'

You can become the change agent in your business. The key secret they reveal in this book revolves around the fact that people will no longer be seeking out your content. You have to find ways to get to them.

The Table of Contents is divided into four sections:
Section One: Coping With the Content Marketing Revolution
Section Two: How to Put Content Marketing to Work
Section Three: Learning from Smart Marketers--Best Practice Success Stories
Section Four: Putting the Lessons Into Action

Each section builds on the previous one. You'll learn a way to develop a set of processes that will help you put theories into real action that gets results. Both Joe and Newt walk the talk. Their blogs demonstrate the value you derive from providing readers with content they can't find anywhere else. I highly recommend this book.

Your top 2 questions about growing your online business

I'm starting a new feature for my readers called "You Asked."  The impetus for this came from the great responses I got from a survey of the readers of my free ebook "Small Business 2.0."

The people who responded to this survey will be getting a special bonus from me when I launch my upcoming book in May, Web Marketing for Small Businesses: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth. 

If you'd like to participate in the survey and receive the bonus then submit a comment to this blog that tells me your top two questions about growing your online business.  I really want to hear from you!

Web Marketing for Small Businesses is almost here

I'm excited to report that my new book "Web Marketing for Small Businesses: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth"  published by Sourcebooks, Inc. is almost ready to launch. 

More upcoming in future weeks on what's in the book and how it can help you.  I've taken everything I know about growing businesses online and turned it into 7 easy steps to get your business moving.  It's got lots of worksheets and tools to make it happen.

You can:

pre-order on Amazon

preorder on Borders

preorder on Barnes and Noble