Modern Media: How to Build Your Business Reputation

January 19, 2015 by

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This is Episode 26 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.

Modern Media: How to Build Your Business Reputation

Gini Dietrich and I had a great conversation about the evolution of modern media in this episode, from the days when it was predominantly self-serving to where we are today.

Being truthful, most of us will admit we’re still getting comfortable with learning to tell better stories and how to help our target audience, while of course concurrently building our business reputation.

You will learn the practical methods Gini uses to help her clients. So, whether you are just getting started or are doing the work but not getting results from your media, well then, this episode is for you.

Our Featured Guest: Gini Dietrich

Modern Media: Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, an integrated marketing communications firm. She is the author of Spin Sucks, co-author of Marketing in the Round, and co-host of Inside PR. She also is the lead blogger at Spin Sucks and the founder of Spin Sucks Pro.

The Evolution of Modern Media

It turns there are as many challenges with creating quality media as there are for being effective in so many other endeavors. Gini assures us that it doesn’t have to be that way.

She helps small businesses use the modern media channels more effectively by starting with what they know best – their business and the customers it serves.

For example, when Gini’s company starts working with new clients, it asks a simple question: What kinds of things happen every day? 

Instead of promoting the business, as most of us have been taught, we only need to learn how to tell better stories about the things that happen to us every day. People are naturally curious and that makes true stories about everyday activities a form of marketing, because embedded within those stories are clues to its values, culture, and true capabilities.

Media traditionally promoted a conceived business reputation. These days media simply delivers honest information that allows the audience to decide for themselves.

It’s Better to Show Than Tell

When it comes to building your business reputation it’s always better to show than tell, and the social media platforms are ideally suited for this.

For example, if you do not enjoy blogging it’s not likely you will do it consistently, and that alone sends a message. Whereas, if you enjoy making short videos to help your customers that authenticity will naturally come through.

For this reason, Gini suggests finding the type of media you enjoy creating and get started to build the habit and gain the experience that will make it better. Also, carefully choose your social media channels to meet your audience where they are now.

It may seem counterintuitive to use your media to share your ideas and hard-earned best practices, but bringing that to a community that values it is a surefire way to build an enviable business reputation that attract and retains customers.

Lighting Round Tips and Advice

Gini’s Top Sales or Marketing Advice – Make the commitment to create media that favorably influences your audience. Soon people will expect it and you will hold yourself accountable to them.

Her Favorite Productivity Tip – Try the Moleskine for Evernote Notebooks. It allows your handwriting and drawings to be instantly digitized with the camera app.

A Quote that has Inspired Gini’s Success – “It doesn’t matter how often you fail. It’s how you get up and redo it that matters.” Anonymous

Key Take-Aways

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About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

Single Serve Content for Mobile Consumers

August 18, 2014 by

Single Serving Content for Mobile Audiences

We have previously discussed the importance of planning both the construction and deconstruction of your content.

The idea is that creating great content takes time, so while you are doing that put in a little extra effort to also plan which pieces of it will be shared on, let’s say, Instagram.

Content often brings to mind a blog post or an article, but as content consumption with mobile devices becomes the norm, you will need to redesign your content strategy to adapt.

The good news is that if your business is not yet creating much content, you may find these newer methods easier to sustain than traditional ones. Read further to learn why they work so well.

Create Bite-Sized Content Snacks

I recently co-authored a yet to be published article with my colleague Jay Baer. One of his suggestions for that audience was: Give your expertise away one bite at a time. This whets the appetite for what follows, which ultimately are the products and services your company offers.

Content marketing doesn’t make sense to some folks, but I think this snack metaphor nicely captures the essence of how it works.

Jay gives away content snacks with his daily video podcast entitled Jay Today. Top podcaster Pat Flynn used to answer audience questions on his weekly Smart Passive Income show. He accumulated so many that he now answers them every day at his new podcast, Ask Pat.

I’m planning a similar one myself, so if you have a question, leave a comment or send a private message and I’ll add it to the list.

Expand Your Audience and Boost SEO

There are plenty of people in your communities that will not always tune in to the your primary content marketing channel, which most likely is some form of a digital magazine (a blog). So, the choice is missed opportunities, or serving the bite-sized snacks some folks especially desire.

Do you still watch the evening news on television? Me neither. While they still attract an audience, many of us prefer to get our news in quick nuggets on our smartphones. Your customers are no different.

Can you come up with 365 tips or questions to answer for your community over the course of a year? All you need is a smartphone and 30 minutes a day to pull this off like my friend Ryan did.

You will learn in that article that Ryan realized significant SEO benefits from his micro-content strategy. When you consider the minimal time commitment, that you are serving a segment of your audience better, and the impact on your SEO, this is a no-brainer.

In addition to all of that, the increased connectivity with your audience will build greater familiarity and trust, which of course is vital for consummating new deals.

To get your single-serving content creation process going, all you have to do is choose a format and create templates to make everything repeatable. Then, it’s a simple matter of setting aside one morning or afternoon every week to knock out 7 pieces of content to serve up daily.

You can do it. Just take it one bite at a time.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

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