Archives for July 2009

Time is The New Marketing Collateral: How are You Spending It?

Traditional marketing materials – what we sometimes called marketing collateral, were expensive.  I'm talking about brochures, folders with colorful inserts, and postcards.  And indeed the cost of those 4 color brochures and die-cut folders was some serious coin.  We called these pieces marketing collateral because that's what they were – evidence that you had made a financial investment to be in the game.  You were a player. 

Today your marketing collateral is predominantly an investment not of money, but of your time.  As entrepreneurs, you have flexibility with your time.  And it is potentially more renewable than money in this economy.  You have to make an investment of your time in online marketing if you expect to be a contender.  Thanks to the red-hot trend toward interactivity and greater user control with the social marketing networks, time is the primary resource you should be investing into your marketing. 

Let's consider three ways the marketing game is changing and how you can adjust your business to that for success in the new economy.

Be a Interactive Player

When it comes to online, interactive marketing, a website is your business card.  You still need a website to demonstrate to your market that you are indeed in the game.  However, a website no more validates your commitment to a market than a business card.  When are most websites created?   Exactly, the same time as most business cards – before the business is a serious player. 

You can't fake it on social media, although many people try.  If you are blogging about your expertise and what you do for your customers, it comes through loud and clear.  Customers today are savvy and they can quickly determine whether or not you have a valid process for serving them.  Your interactive marketing needs to communicate this, and that is what it is ideally suited for.  Your prospects and customers want to learn how you do what you do that makes you the best choice. Like the old Wendy's TV commercials, they want to know "Where's the Beef!" Show them.  Be an interactive player.

Spend Like Your Market

If you are selling a luxury product, it may be appropriate to spend heavily on your selective target market.  Remember, we're spending time here.  However, even today people with money have social concerns that should be reflected in your marketing.  Keep it green.  By that I mean keep in tune with your market.  Green is as much about social consciousness as it is about conserving natural resources.  Know where they are and how to communicate with them.  Spend wisely.

If your market is youthful, then you know they spend for today.  They aren't making long-term buying decisions.  Their spending is not an investment.  This will suggest you can get a little crazy, be playful in how you use the social media networks, and otherwise mirror the habits of your consumers.  Let's face it, people associate with others that they see as being like them.  If you are too conservative with a youthful market, your message is less likely to resonate.

Invoke the "Need to Know" Rule

The need to know rule balances out my first two suggestions.  Your strategy may change over time and what you put out on the Web has staying power.  You can't easily change gears.  For this reason, I suggest something I learned early in my marketing career from my first mentor.  Invoke the need to know rule – it gives you flexibility. 

Here's an example of what I mean.  When you are setting up your Facebook profile you can express your political and religious views – or not.  In some respects this is your brand, so maybe you should make your views known.  I prefer to avoid labels that can polarize my market and distract them from my core message – which is how I help some of the millions of entrepreneurs out there with this social media platform, as well as the organizations that support them.   

Look at it his way, business can be a poker game -  how you act, spend, and what you share are all choices that you have complete control over.   You can play the game any way you wish, but there are consequences.  So spend wisely and build your interactive marketing collateral well.  I can assure you of this much, just thinking of your marketing in new ways like this is an enormous investment in your future.

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Photo Credit: Abador

Why You Need A Social Media Ritual

Rituals have been used for centuries to for a variety of purposes.  They have been used to celebrate new beginnings, such as a marriage, to mark an auspicious occasion and bring good luck, such as a ribbon cutting that commemorates the grand opening of a new business, and also to remember a passing, such as a funeral.  It was while attending an event this week at Arlington National Cemetery, a place where there are far too many funerals, that I got to thinking about rituals and how they change our thinking for the better.

The event is called Renewal and Remembrance and is sponsored by PLANET – The Professional Landcare Network, an association of green industry professionals.   It is an honor to participate in this event, which is a convergence of a hundred or so people who have taken time away from their businesses and summer vacations to enhance the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery with with new plantings, while also caring for the existing trees and turf. By the way, you can learn more about the PLANET event from a post I made a couple days ago on the PLANET blog.

This PLANET event itself has become an annual ritual which is surrounded by other rituals such as wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  These rituals universally serve the purpose of capturing your attention.  As a result, you achieve greater clarity of thought, and that is followed by the capacity for executing an activity with precision.  Our fast-paced society has mostly done away with rituals, which may explain why some of us get stressed out in our effort to achieve higher quality results in our work.  Here are some considerations for using rituals in one aspect of your work -your social media efforts.  Yet, they can be used to boost your results in any number of disciplines. 

Step 1:  Take the Time to Take the Focus Off Yourself

Do you celebrate every day when you wake up?  You should – and while you are at it take the time to mentally thank one person for the contribution they make to your life.  This is a simple ritual that demonstrates the power of rituals lies in taking your focus off the person you spend most of your time thinking about – you!  When you do this, you free your mind of all those things that get in the way of ability to focus on what matters most – serving others with your talents and abilities.

Step 2:  Implement Your Intended Purpose with Authority

Golfers are known to have a pre-shot routine they follow with precision before every shot.  They execute this routine with authority and the precision of a drill sergeant to achieve a perfect result.  If anything distracts them from that routine, they simply start over at the beginning.  That routine is everything because it sets up the result.  It also sets up the body to achieve success when it is followed by a focused mind.

Step 3:  Engage with Liked Minded People

One of the secrets of getting things done well is to engage with people that believe in themselves, in you, and in your combined efforts.  Have you ever wondered why the most talented teams are not always the most successful?  Emotional feelings engage the minds and the bodies of the group so that they can cohesively achieve a desired result.  You can call this teamwork, camaraderie, or culture.  It doesn't matter what you call it, it works. 

2009June 008

When you engage in a positive routine or ritual it literally changes your thought patterns. Here's an example from the social media networks.  The #followfriday ritual on Twitter is one example of taking the time to take the focus off you to appreciate the contribution of just one member of your networks.  It takes a moment of thought and involves a few simple keystrokes of execution, which in turn engages with the networks to connect like-minded friends, fans, and customers.

Scientists have conclusively explained how this works.  There is something called brain-wave coherence that raises human potential to a new level.  First, there is coherence between your left and right brain hemispheres that allows you to function at your best.  The extension of that is the coherence between the brains of a group of people through those electromagnetic brain waves.   Pretty cool stuff when you think about it, and how it can help you in many aspects of your life, including your business.  And all you have to do is take a little extra time to get out of your own way, be clear of your intended purpose and execute it well, and whenever possible, do it in a spirit of cooperation with others.

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2009June 018  

How to Know if Your Social Media Friends are Fake

“Fake friend” is just a phrase I borrowed from the film Almost Famous.  I use it to remind you that we all share the same challenge of building relationships with the people we meet through the social media networks.  The networks are committed to a purpose, and that purpose is to get you more friends.  […]

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