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Category: Marketing

BtoB versus BtoC Social Media and Direct Marketing

Next up in my social media marketing video series is this one, about B2B versus B2C. Are they really that different? Maybe in terms of sales cycles and lifetime customer values. But, no matter whether your company is B2B, B2C or a mix of both, there’s one tactic that’s often overlooked.

With the rush into social, social, social, many companies are neglecting a century old standby: direct marketing. 

Going back to the days of when the mailbox was the only inbox, lessons about how to directly marketing to customers may be cast aside as outdated. 

Yet, the lessons and principles of direct marketing apply today and can be applied to technology – or letterhead! 

How Direct Marketing Connects Your Brand with Your Communities

Part 2 of 3 – 3 Simple Essentials You Absolutely Need To Know About 3D Marketing

Use these direct marketing principles to improve your lead generation:

  • Use a targeted list: Facebook ads make this easy
  • Personalize emails with name and special offers
  • Stay in touch with you customers – regularly
  • Include a call to action in every marketing promotion and news release

One of the most overlooked ways of contacting your prospects, journalists and the public is PR, or public relations. Check out this article about the PR PRIMER to get started. http://wiredprworks.com/2011/03/01/public-relations-campaigns/

For more information about 3D marketing, stay tuned.

Thanks so much to Gary Bohringer of Bohringer Creative for producing the series. Since its beginnings in 1993 Bohringer Creative has focused on personal service.

Happy Valentine’s Day How to Write Love Letters

redonwhiteheartsLove grants in a moment what toil can hardly achieve in an age. -Johann von Goethe

If you love someone,  let them know. Originally published in 2007, this post is updated for today. Happy Valentine’s Day!

One of our most successful PR campaigns was written by our client’s patrons. We asked them to write love letters. With the writing prompt: “Why I Love My Library” and red heart-shaped notes, patrons of all ages penned their own love story. Then, they were free to post their note anywhere. Walking into a library lit up with love attracted papers, photographers – and patrons. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day why not write your own love note?

Here’s how. . .

How to Write Testimonials as Love Letters

Whenever I think my experience can help someone make a better decision, learn something new or contract with an industry leader, I often email a quick testimonial, send off a video or step out in front of a video camera to give them a snapshot of my story they can use in their marketing.

Every day you come in contact with someone who can promote your business – for free. All you have to do is tell them a story about your experience with their product or service and they’ll be happy to relay it to others as a testimonial. Remember, it works both ways. When you give a testimonial, you may be asked back to talk about your experience and your results must match your testimonial.

Step One: Short and Sweet Review

All you need to do is write up a short and sweet review. Keep it quick and stick to one main point summarized in a few sentences. Mention your expertise in a quote like this:

“As a __________, I found your suggestion about __________ to be a key piece of information I needed to _____________________.”

Step Two: Record it

Video or audio testimonials leave a longer lasting impression than written words. Offer to record your testimonial or just hand it over.

Step Three: Power Signature

Whenever you send a testimonial, include a power signature. Go beyond your name and include any relevant information that supports your connection to the audience: your company name, appropriate title [for some you may be president, others a speaker or a consultant] and your website. Sending your photo along connects your name with your face. Add a link to your social networks.

Step Four: Send it

Sending the testimonial on your letterhead with a signature is the most formal approach and is the best when your letter will be displayed, or scanned in. Follow up with an email that includes an audio or video attachment. Give them approval to use your testimonial, image and media in their press releases, on their site, at their business and in any of their marketing materials.

Step Five: Take Action

Now that you know how to write and package testimonials, here are a few ways to take action today.

Send a follow up email to a speaker after a presentation summarizing your top takeaways or write a blog post with images.

Look in your inbox and find an ezine you like, choose to respond to an article with a comment and testimonial on how much you enjoy each issue.

Pick out a few products you enjoy using, look up the company’s contact information and let them know how their products make your life better.

Offer to be a spokesperson – either paid or unpaid.

Track the links from online mentions to your site[s] and blog[s] to measure your success.

Your Turn to Comment

Who’s on your love letter list?

The Power of Mastery

Mastery-Marketing-Social-Media“Do what you do so well – and so uniquely – that people can’t resist telling others about you.”  Walt Disney

Using Walt Disney as an inspiration, master marketer Dan Kennedy shares his take on the power of mastery in this article, which was selected as the February article for GKIC [Glazer Kennedy Insiders Circle] members,

The Power of Mastery by Dan S. Kennedy

I am about to tell you how to add $25,000.00, $50,000.00, maybe $100,00.00 a year to your yearly income – without spending even a penny more on advertising or marketing.

One of my featured guest speakers at a past SuperConference was Michael Vance. Michael worked side-by-side with Walt Disney for a number of years.  As I was listening to Mike, I made a mental note to start talking about a Walt Disney quote about marketing that I used to use a lot.

What Walt Disney said about Marketing is:

“Do what you do so well – and so uniquely – that people can’t resist telling others about you.”

In every field, there are “masters”.

People just so darned good at what they do that people are compelled to tell others about them.

Mike Vance is that kind of speaker, and there are darned few in that category.

Actors like Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro.

The salesman I used to buy my cars from, Bill Glazner, at Sanderson Ford in Phoenix – he puts every other car guy I’ve ever seen to shame.  There are a couple chiropractors I know who put on such a great “report of findings” (their equivalent of the Printing Audit) that they enjoy 100% conversions and can easily sell large dollar “pre-pays.”

There’s a shoe-shine guy at the Atlanta Airport who still rubs wax in by hand, snaps the towel with authority, slaps the leather, makes the brush sing.  And this is important: these people are “master performers.”  They are not just masters at whatever technical thing they do, they are masters at presentation.

So, here’s a very simple, very practical question:  after customer buys from you for the first time, do they – without any prodding from you – rush to the phone, call an associate, and tell them about the amazing buying experience they just had?  Are the first words out of their mouth to the next person they see about you?

If it is, here’s the economic impact:  your need to invest money in acquiring new customers will diminish over time as your business converts to being 100% referral driven.  This means you can take all the money you now spend on advertising, direct mail, telemarketing, etc. and put it into your pocket instead.  This means you will have more people calling and waiting in line for you than you have time, because each client will multiply.

“Mastery” can quite easily be worth an extra $50,000.00 to $200,000.00 or even more to you each year you remain in this business.  (Bank it all at even modest interest and in just five years you can retire a cash millionaire.)

To get that good, you must dedicate yourself to doing so:  I’ve always been impressed with the late Yul Brenner, who performed the “King and I” a record number of times on Broadway – and still rehearsed his lines, gestures and facial expressions everyday, before every performance, right up until his last one.  How many times have you written out your own, complete sales script word for word?  Recorded it and listened to it on tape?  Role-played it with family or mastermind group members?  Practiced in front of a mirror?  Ever?  This month?

Get this:  I can predict your future bank balances if I know what you read, what you listen to, what educational functions you attend, who you hang out with and what you work on (practice) regularly.  Oh, and years ago, Joe Karbo wrote this wonderful ad headline:  are you too busy making a living to make a fortune? Are you?

Discover how you can sneak into the closed door meeting and eavesdrop on the free-wheeling, no holds barred discussions of arguably the most elite and extraordinary group of marketing and moneymaking “masters” ever assembled in one place, at one time.

DAN S. KENNEDY is a serial, multi-millionaire entrepreneur; highly paid and sought after marketing and business strategist; advisor to countless first-generation, from-scratch multi-millionaire and 7-figure income entrepreneurs and professionals; and, in his personal practice, one of the very highest paid direct-response copywriters in America. As a speaker, he has delivered over 2,000 compensated presentations, appearing repeatedly on programs with the likes of Donald Trump, Gene Simmons (KISS), Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Cookies), and many other celebrity-entrepreneurs, for former U.S. Presidents and other world leaders, and other leading business speakers like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy and Tom Hopkins, often addressing audiences of 1,000 to 10,000 and up.  His popular books have been favorably recognized by Forbes, Business Week, Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazine. His NO B.S. MARKETING LETTER, one of the business newsletters published for Members of Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, is the largest paid subscription newsletter in its genre in the world. Click here to claim Dan Kennedy’s most incredible free gift offer.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that commissions are paid when sales are made. I only recommend products and services I believe in and use personally. I joined GKIC in July, met Bill Glazer in September and am delighted to discover so many other successful people credit Bill and Dan Kennedy as key contributors to their success.

Take it from here . . . how do you stay focused on your goals? 

Social Media Marketing in 3D Video Series

What is marketing in 3D? How does it work? Give me 62 seconds and I’ll answer that question.

Every day this week I’ll post a video from my new social media marketing video series. Here’s the first.

It’s no longer a question of whether or not your customers are online.

They are – and so are your competitors. Yet, having a website and social network connections is only the start. It’s kind of like having a smartphone. By the way, what kind of smartphone do you have?

Every smartphone has a charger that plugs into a wall, a computer or a car outlet. But, where the phone ends up going and how it performs is totally up to the owner.

Do your customers know how to plug into your company?

10 ways to use digital marketing to maximize your ability to generate traffic as you improve online visibility:

1. Google your town/industry and compare the competition
2. Complete your LinkedIn company profile; invite followers; check the search here as in number one; read The Top 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Quickly Become Recognized as a Subject Matter Expert
3. Optimize your local listing with all search engines using video and keywords
4. Switch from a site to a WordPress blog for easy updates & better search results
5. Activate your company’s Google+ profile
6. Ask your customers which search terms they used to find you
7. Monitor your competition’s Facebook presence – who wins here?
8. Add images everywhere and tag them with keywords
9. Take pictures of your customers, tag them
10. Feature your customers on your blog/site/networks and ask them to promote on theirs

For more information about 3D marketing, stay tuned.

Thanks so much to Gary Bohringer of Bohringer Creative for producing the series. Since its beginnings in 1993 Bohringer Creative has focused on personal service.

How about you – how do your customers find you online or on their phones?

7 Ways Pinterest Works for Business

pinterest pinboard for social media marketingTo pin or not to pin? That’s the question businesses are asking about Pinterest, a newer social network that’s stealing headlines from the usual suspects. Kind of a cross between digital scrapbooking, recipe swapping, link sharing and vision boarding, Pinterest started out as an image-rich sharing space for domestic divas, crafters and artists. Now businesses are taking notice and wondering if they, too, should start pinning.

My friend Duong Sheahan recommended Pinterest to me months ago. She loves this alternative, visual social network and encouraged everyone to jump in last summer. But, I waited. I needed to think through strategy and decide how spending time and creative energy on Pinterest would fit into my digital footprint, both personally and professionally. As I enter this new [to me] social network, I’m sharing seven ways I think Pinterest will contribute to a business and the people inside it. What would you add?

How Pinterest Works for Business

1. New Beats Now

Like many business owners, the number one reason I waited to sign up for Pinterest was: it would take up too much time. But the truth is, I’m looking for something new. Could this be why Pinterest is taking off so fast?  People get bored. Although we’re creatures of habit who type and shout in protest over Facebook’s Timeline design change, that doesn’t mean we aren’t ready to exit now to test drive new.

Wondering if your customers are on Pinterest? Ask them. You always want to be where people can find you and interact with the people inside your brand. Add the Pinterest icon to your marketing and see who shows up.

 2. Expands into the Consumer Come Back

As the economy starts to spring back, people are more willing to explore expanding their material acquisitions – and they need a place to look around and try things on. Pinterest is a perfect place for that.

Search to see how other companies, including your competition, is using Pinterest. How do they present their products and services? How do they interact with their community?

3. Takes You Home to the Comfort Zone

Even if you’re not homey, you may want to be. Personally, I love looking at arts and crafts projects I know I’ll never make. I can imagine how much fun a group of room moms would have searching Pinterest for class party projects over coffee on their iPads.

What kinds of comforts of home can you share?

4, Curates and Mutates Inspiration 

How cool to carve your own swatch of life for everyone to see. If your business isn’t on the visual side, let’s say you’re a service company, find people to follow and then share what appeals to you. You can comment and repin/share images and videos you like.

How about starting a Pinterest collaborative network with other businesses where you share and comment on each other’s boards and pins?

5. Self-actualizes with Digital Visualization

One of the best, and maybe most overlooked, purposes for Pinterest is as a vision board that serves as your big idea list. As you sort through images that appeal and resonate, you may find yourself going down unpaved paths that connect you with intriguing people as your world expands.

What categories of collections can you share now?

6. Perks up Your Personality

Excuse me for yawning, but do you think your business is boring? Being part of the latest social network adds to your cool factor – as long as you do it well. Sharing visually from different perspectives adds dimension to your company’s personality.

Need inspiration? Forget about your business for a few minutes and think about how you like to relax.

7. Opens the Door to Opportunity

Last on the list, but not least, is the opportunity to connect with customers. To get started, you’ll need an invitation to join Pinterest. Following Pinterest etiquette and social networking protocol, being overly self promotional will only turn people away. But, I know you know that. When you get started, find your friends, including your customers. Being part of a community that you already engage with makes it that much easier to make connections.

Are you on Pinterest? Whose boards do you like to follow?

In researching how Pinterest benefits businesses, I came across so many helpful articles that I wanted to group them together as a collection. Using list.ly, I came up with 50 Pinterest for business resources. Feel free to share, embed, add more resources and comment on those listed.