Bonnie's thoughts

How to Handle Rejection

2013-02-14T12:14:00.001-05:00

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article comparing marketing to dating. As I sit her on Valentines Day, I think about relationships and rejection. In November, both my best friend and I went on journeys both evolving around one main purpose: building a relationship. While hers was joining match.com to find a boyfriend, mine was joining Boston Startup School to find a startup I'd like to work with. Whenever you put yourself in these situations, there's a lot of "It just wasn't a good fit", "It's not you, it's me." and the always awesome "I'll call you sometime." which really translates into "I'm never going to call you." If you find yourself in the rejection/relationship dilemma here are some tips to keeping sane.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. When you're searching to build a relationship, something that seems good in writing doesn't always work out once face to face. If you have more things going on at once, the rejection of one won't sting as bad.

Ask why. If you don't ask why, it's hard to learn from the experience. It's not an easy thing to do, but it will help you grow. Recently, I went on an interview where I didn't get the job. I replied to the email asking for some feedback, which turned into grabbing some coffee. He told me what I could do to improve and he gave me great advice and encouragement. Had I not asked for feedback, I would of never known what I needed to improve upon.

Lies will haunt you. My friend put on her match.com profile "No Way" where it asks if you smoke. This made me laugh. Why? Because I never see her without a cigarette in hand! Lies like this may get you initially where you want to be, but they will catch up with you down the road and it did for her. She was actually very stealth about not smoking before her dates, but made the mistake of keeping a pack of cigarettes in her purse. On a second date with a guy, she went to pull out her wallet and her pack of cigarettes came out of the purse. It was no shocker there was no third date!

Get by with a little help from your friends. If you have good friends, they will be there to encourage and see what they can do to help. Thanks to Boston Startup School, I've come to know the greatest support system. They don't just listen, they offer advice and help however they can. When dealing with some form of rejection, find a positive group of friends who will be there to share a beer with you, listen and help elevate you.

Dust yourself off and try again. Learn from the above and keep moving. Unless you're a complete wrong fit for what you're trying to achieve, take the lessons you learned and apply them to being a better you. My friend is now on her fourth date with a guy she likes and I'm in talks with 3 different companies. What does the future hold for us? I don't know, but if it's rejection I know I'll be just fine!

What are some positive ways you deal with rejection? Please feel free to share!

5 Networking Lessons I Learned from Bartending

2013-01-23T08:48:00.002-05:00

‪If you’re looking to take your career to the next level, networking is a must. To be honest, networking is something I found a bit uncomfortable but necessary. How I got over it was drawing upon the lessons I learned as a bartender.‬

‪1.) Figure out who’s paying the bill. While I treated everyone well, (that’s just how the hospitality industry rolls!) figuring out who’s paying the bill pays off. When you go to an industry event, try to find that “bill payer” or shall we say host, and be on their radar. This can open you up to vast opportunities. For example, Fresh Tilled Soil hosts many events; seeking out their team can lead to more opportunities than just sitting in the audience.‬

‪2.) Talk to everyone... In bar tending, I tended to talk to everyone. First, to figure out who the bill payer was, second I am not a fan of uncomfortable or awkward silence and lastly because I know a simple conversation can lead to opportunity. In fact, I landed my first “professional” job at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island by serving the HR recruiter lunch. Through conversations, he found out I’m not a hospitality major (as many tend to think about JWU alumni) and I ended up landing a marketing internship!‬

‪3.) ...and be a good listener. It’s been said that your bartender is cheaper than therapy. That’s because good bartenders know listening is more important than talking. Listening is also good strategy when you don’t have much to say. If you’re shy, start off by introducing yourself and asking am open question such as “What brings you here tonight?” or “What do you do for work?” Hopefully, you can sit back and coast!‬

‪4.) A good deed goes along way. The best experiences in the hospitality industry are the unexpected surprises. Helping a fellow employee or giving a customer something extra with no agenda builds trust and credibility. In Boston, “Pay it forward” has become a sign of the times. When networking, pay it forward and help when you can. Some my greatest connections are thanks to people who had no self serving interest and believe me, I have not forgotten any of those people and if they need anything I am there to help.‬

‪4.) Never discuss sports, politics or religion. I know it’s a hard thing to do when one of those topics is in the news, but just don’t do it. When you are meeting someone for the first time, you don’t know anything beside what you can see. Just remember, you are there to network and make connections so unless your business involves one of the three, just stay away from those conversations. Sometimes these conversations will come up, just be neutral and find a way to change the conversation. Once you’re in like flynn and you transfer from network to friend, then feel free!‬

‪Like bartending, it’s the little details that will help you succeed at networking. Do your research, listen, be appropriate, pay it forward and you’ll be just fine!‬

How to Start a Successful Blog

2013-01-07T15:56:00.001-05:00

There are many benefits to blogging: being a thought leader, increasing website traffic, engage your audience and more. Recently, one of my clients decided it was time to start benefitting from a blog and needed advice on how to get started on creating a successful blog. I set up some foundations with him and thought it might be beneficial to anyone freshly starting out in the blogosphere:

1. Know your audience. If you’re writing for your company’s blog, write for who you are trying to target. If you are trying reach a certain buyer persona, write to them. If you are looking to ramp up on hiring this year, create posts about company culture. Your blog should compliment your company's strategic goals. For example, if you have a product that you are looking to market towards Enterprise size companies, it would not be advantageous to create posts targeting a B2C audience.

2. Be Helpful. Why do most people read blogs? Some people read blogs for entertainment, but most are looking for an answer that solves their problems. When thinking of topics, think in the form of questions: How to, Why you Should, Top Tips. If you have pain points within your own company via customers inquiries; view this as an opportunity to address via a blog post.

3. Writers block? Find inspiration all around you! If you’re at a loss of what to write try to find inspiration via trending industry topics, news and seasonal events. Last May, I wrote a blog about Vidal Sassoon who had passed away that week. Am I in the salon industry? No, but I always thought Sassoon was as talented with branding and marketing as he was with hair. A good example of utilizing the season to create a blog post is MyEnergy’s post on energy conservation during the holidays.

4. Make a schedule. The one thing my client asked me, is how often, how will I remember to blog and what will I blog about? My advice to him was to make a schedule. I suggested this as a way to stay consistent as he is very busy and always on the go. We ended up setting up a spreadsheet via google drive and planning a month in advance.

5. Readability is key. As well as being relevant to your audience, your blog should be easy on the eyes. Long enough to be engaging and yet not too long that it takes too much of your readers time. I try to keep my blog within 350 to 500 words and break up the paragraphs enough that my posts are easy on the eyes.

If you can keep yourself organized and create engaging content that resonates to your buyer personas than you’re on the road to success!

Do you have any further tips on how to create an accomplished blog? Leave them in the comments!

How Vidal Sassoon turned his name into an International Brand

2012-05-16T09:58:00.002-04:00

On May 9th, hair legend Vidal Sassoon lost his battle against leukemia at age 84. Sassoon’s cutting techniques made him an industry leader, but his sharp business understanding took him from owning one salon in London to becoming an international brand. Like most industry giants, Sassoon knew the marketing formulas to create an empire.

Innovation. Innovation can be in many forms and is the key to a successful business. Sassoon’s take on innovation, “If I haven’t changed things in five years, I’ll quit.” He didn’t just “change” the industry, he revolutionized the way women styled their hair. His “wash and wear cuts” - most notably his five-point haircut, freed women from being a slave to the salon ritual. As Sassoon model Grace Coddington says it best, "The cut gave you a certain freedom. You weren’t chained to the salon and you certainly didn’t have to go and have it set with big rollers under a hair dryer for a couple of hours. He did it with a hand-held hair dryer so it wasn’t quite drip-dry, but it was remarkable."

Branding. When you hear the name Vidal Sassoon the first thing that comes to mind is hair products. Sassoon mastered creating his name into an international brand. He was able to use his name on products, beauty salons and hair academies. Having his name as his business, Sassoon took his branding seriously. In 2003, Vidal sued Proctor & Gamble for not promoting his products to his standards.

Diversifying. Sassoon started out as a hair stylist and turned into a ingenious businessman. Being an innovative stylist made him famous - famous enough that he could branch out and start building a portfolio of hair products and services. Sassoon also wrote a number of books including: Sorry I Kept You Waiting, Madam, A Year of Beauty and Health and Cutting Hair the Vidal Sassoon Way.

Iconic Slogan. Who doesn’t remember, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” The slogan was catchy and brilliant; Sassoon was telling you that how you looked mattered to him and his brand image. His slogan was his bond and promise to his customers. Image mattered to Vidal and he wanted the world to know.

Philanthropy. Sassoon was no stranger to giving back, before he was a stylist he served in the Arab-Israeli War and later in his life founded The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism and the Vidal Sassoon Foundation.

In Sassoon’s world image was everything, and it was Sassoon’s image and insight that built one of the most iconic brands in the hair industry. Thank you for Vidal, rest in peace.

How to create conversations with your customers.

2012-05-08T10:05:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is having a conversation at you and not with you? You know, the conversation were all you hear is about their job, their family, their pets, them, them, them, them, them. Here you are sitting there looking attentive while wondering ‘when they will shut the hell up?’ Well consider your advertising, are you only talking about you, you, you? If so, please realize that your customers and leads can and will tune this out. Here are some pointers on breaking out of the monologue and developing a dialogue with your audience.

Realize it’s all about them not about you. You’ve got to face it – no one cares about your products or services. Sounds odd I know, but what I’m saying is people will care about what your product or service is going to do for them. With that being said, try to make sure your all copy has the word “you” more than it has the words “I” or “we”.

Refrain from spamming other people’s social media. This goes along with tip #1 but needs to be pointed out separately. Once in a while, when you have a great achievement sure it’s fine to point it out. Placing your business all over your friends and your business pages you follow however is just plain tacky and annoying. Taking a picture
of your product and then tagging everyone you can think of will easily get you defriended!

Use your social media to ask questions. Questions are great conversation starters. Boston television show Phantom Gourmet does an excellent job using their Facebook page to ask their ‘Phans’ fun, yet relevant questions to create conversation. Bonus: When you ask relevant questions to your fans you get valuable marketing information.

Use your Internet marketing to show your customers love. If you’re a B2B company, using your customers as case studies is a great way to showcase how your product/service made their company more efficient and also it allows you to cross promote your customer and who doesn’t love a little free promotion! If you’re a B2C company, social media is a great place to run contests and thank your loyal customers.

Negative feedback is a great way to show your customer service skills. As hard as it is to see a bad review, view it as an opportunity. In fact, use it to your advantage! How you respond to a bad review can really speak volumes about your company. For example, if you’re a restaurant that received a bad review on Yelp or Google, post a reply apologizing for the reason behind a bad review and offer a solution. First off your acknowledging and taking responsibility for what happened publicly and secondly you didn’t just say “So sorry, too bad.” - you offered a solution. It shows you care about your customers and your public image. Yelp’s Support Center offers further reading.

When it comes to lead nurturing, building relationships with your customers will be the key to a successful long lasting relationship is to show you care by creating an open dialogue.

7 Elements of a Professional Website

2012-04-27T13:48:00.000-04:00

As a business professional, you are always trying to put your best foot forward. Nice business cards, smart phone to keep you organized, polished appearance – but what about your website? Your website is your first impression to your new visitors and potential leads. Here are some elements of successful websites:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, functionality is in the hand of the user. While a great looking design will attract your visitors, it’s the user experience that will keep your bounce rate down. Make sure your navigation is easy to read, your site has cross browser functionality, and your overall design is clean. Always run quality checks in order to ensure all your links and forms work.

Design does count for something though! Try to stay away from dark backgrounds as they are hard on the eye. A light simple background with an attention grabbing call-to-action will be your best bet in encouraging your visitors down the sales funnel. Use fonts that make sense with your industry and company image. Would you call a lawyer who uses Comic Sans Font on their website?

Loading, Loading. If a site takes to long to load, you are going to cause your customers to hit the back button and go to the next item in their search query. Using a free service such as Web Page Analyzer or W3C Markup Validator will clue you in on how your website is performing.

Consistency is the key to your branding. Keeping your website, blogs, online accounts and print material aligned will help create brand recognition. Try to use the same logo, color schemes and design elements as much as possible. If you view my blog, compared to my website, twitter and LinkedIn accounts there is consistency. I use the same image, color scheme, fonts and design elements.

Keep it fresh. An outdated website speaks volumes about how your customers perceive the way you run your business. Just think, if you have a website that was created or last updated in 2007 claiming you’ve been in business for 5 years – well you’re shortchanging yourself since now you’ve been in business for 10 years. I would suggest a redesign on anything from before 2010 and if your serious about your online presence use a CMS system such as Drupal or WordPress to keep your site current.

Blog. Blogging is a an excellent way to keep your website fresh and adding new content is always good for search engine results. Another bonus about blogging is that it opens up an avenue for your customers to get to know your brand and build trust. According to HubSpot, 57% of businesses acquire a new customer through their blog. I believe this, this is after all how I originally heard of HubSpot.

Hire a professional. Never cheap out on your website. Your high school cousin might know how HTML, but he or she probably doesn’t know marketing essentials needed to create traffic. Hire a professional or agency that know Web Design and SEO. You wouldn’t rely on WebMD to accurately diagnose that pain in your chest would you?

A well-rounded marketing plan means keeping your print and web promotions current. Since print material doesn’t need to be updated, it is the easier medium to keep up with. With 93% of online experiences beginning with a search, it’s important that your website is optimized, engaging and is easy on the eyes. If you need help with your online presence, contact me today for a free marketing consultation.

I certainly didn't cover every element - feel free to comment any tips and ideas not covered!

2012 Resolutions to maximize your personal brand

2012-01-03T16:06:00.001-05:00

2012 is already looking good! Time to start new, new goals for your business and old habits to break. Here are some resolutions to keep you on track for an awesome 2012.

1.) Network more. Get yourself offline and out there! Attend industry events as well as general events – you never know just who you will meet and how you can benefit. A good place to check out events in your area is on eventbrite.

2.) Learn a new skill. I really hate that statement Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I agree with making sure to master something in your industry really well. I also think knowing and learning as much as you can in all aspects makes you an asset. This is especially helpful if you’re feeling the burn of a stagnant career.

3.) Stop wasting time on social media. Notice that I didn’t say stop using just stop wasting time. Don’t get bogged down looking at crazy status updates or dramatic tweets of your friends, instead try to spend more time on your business page than your personal page. Keep your focus on being positive and leveraging social media to maximize your return on investment.

4.) Get rid of dead weight. This sounds a bit harsh but it can work wonders for your business and for your own health. I call dead weight “psychic vampires”. They drain your time, your energy and your funds. They can be in the form of that customer you bend over backwards for but can never please or that employee who feels like you are always out to get them and drags your team down. I say fire that customer and that employee – it’s a bold move but it will pay off in the end.

5.) Find or be a mentor. Mentors and mentoring are one the most valuable business relationships your brand can have. If you’re an industry leader, try mentoring and spreading your knowledge to help future founders succeed and grow. If you’re just starting out, find that industry leader and connect with him or her. A good place to find out more about finding or becoming a mentor is SCORE.

6.) Stay positive. Seems so obvious, right!? However it is hard to remain positive in a tight situation. Rely on your networks, family, and your mentor(s) to help get you through tough situations. Think about what is so great about you and your brand instead of thinking about how bad things are going.

Following the above, I see nothing but good things for 20102. I wish everyone the best of luck this year!

Holiday inbound marketing ideas to boost your end of year revenue

2011-12-06T08:39:00.001-05:00

Tis’ the season to drive in revenue! That year end sprint is a driving force for every business. If you own a business that sells products or services to consumers, here’s how to drive holiday traffic to your store with discounts, free gifts and contests using:

Check In Deals

Offer customers that “check in” to your store/restaurant via foursquare, Facebook or other location based social networks to enhance your special promotion. Not only will this drive traffic into your business; this will also increase your reach beyond your followers, as friends of your fans will see status updates at your location.
Bonus: Point out on your Facebook page and/or twitter account who took advantage of your offer, make sure to use the @ symbol, so your follower gets highlighted and the post will go on their page as well.

Facebook Landing Pages

That’s right, use Facebook as a Landing Page! Not only will you gain more “Likes”; you can offer a holiday gift and at the same time collect information from your customers, which will enable you to segment market better. The page will be a tab found on the right side, make it your main page when someone comes to your page and let the holiday cheer come in!
Bonus: By gathering information on your customers, you can find out who your buyer persona is and keep them engaged via email deals and newsletters that are more suited to their needs.

QR Codes

A fun way to fun ways to keep your customers interested in your products or services is using a QR Code. The possibilities for what you can place a QR Code on and what you can do offer with them are endless - Place them on your holiday signage as a “secret discount”, send your customers an email blast holiday card that has a QR code with your holiday promotion, create a business card size holiday tag with a code and place the card in your customers shopping bags with discounts on their next purchase.
Bonus: For more great QR code ideas check out Create and Tracks, “Top 5 things to do with QR Codes this Holiday Season”.

Send a Holiday Greeting

Use your email list to send out a Holiday Greeting to everyone on your email list. Make sure to send emails to you vendors as well as your customers. Since not every customer or vendor is the same, experiment with different offers based on information you have collected in your CRM software. Experiment with different subject lines as well based on to maximize the amount of customer who open your email.
Bonus: Give a discount for your customers Friends and Family.

Update your Google Place

Did you know you can update you Google place advertisement to offer special deals? Simply go to your Google places account and and click the offers tab an place your holiday deals!
Bonus: You can set an expiration date on your offer.

Hope these tips help you have a successful end of year!

Happy Holidays!

6 Companies every entrepreneur can be thankful for

2011-11-29T08:44:00.001-05:00

With the stress of Thanksgiving planning and cooking finally being over; I took the time to think about businesses that have made my life as a freelancer easier, with either their products or blogs and I hope sharing them can make yours as well!

Hubspot
Hubspot is a marketing software company based out of Cambridge, MA. With 3 different levels of their software, they can work seamlessly with any size company. What makes them so awesome is their commitment to their customers. They don’t just build an awesome product; they provide training and support via their passionate inbound marketers. Outside of their normal trainings, they offer hubspot.tv, webinars, an awesome blog full of top tips, quarterly meetups and their inbound marketing university. Hubspot offers a free 30 day trial of their software – why not test it out today and see why they are worth bragging over!

Grasshopper

Another Massachusetts company, Grasshopper is a company that offers virtual phone systems geared towards entrepreneurs. Some of Grasshopper’s features include: 800 numbers, call forwarding, call screening, unlimited extensions, email to voicemail, onhold music. What you can be thankful for is their low monthly price and their commitment to entrepreneurs. Point in case, Co-fouder Siamak Taghaddos is a Founding supporter of National Entrepreneurs' Day. Also worth checking out is Grasshopper's blog, which is a great resource for entrepreneurs.

BizLaunch

Canada’s, BizLaunch provides training and education to entrepreneurs. BizLaunch is excellent resource proving plenty of webinars, excellent advice and tools such as business plans, break even analysis reports, balance sheets and plenty more. The best part about BizLaunch is that all of their resources are free! Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or you’re just starting out and don’t know where to begin, BizLaunch has the resources for you.

Eventbrite

As an entrepreneur, you want to get name out there as much as possible, and that means networking and throwing your own events. Eventbrite is a website that you can place your own events in their database and search for events going. What’s great about Eventbright is the search feature, you can search in your local area, date of event, price (from free to expensive), category and you can further narrow down the events to which town they are in. Most of the networking events I go to, I have found on Eventbright. If you’re thiking about hosting an event, you can take secure payments through Eventbright via their own processing system, pay-pal, authorize.net or Google checkout.

Salesforce

The ultimate CRM Cloud software, Salesforce offers a variety of SaaS and PaaS solutions to help you reach out to your customers and analyze your customer’s behavoirs. Salesforce not only offers sales and marketing data software, it also offers great products and apps such as chatter, radian6, force.com, database.com and Heroku. Like Hubspot, Salesforce pricing ranges per how big your business is and salesforce also offers free trials.

Bonnie Gibson

Ok ok, I know this part is a bit of a stretch/shameless plug! However, I enjoy offering marketing advice and sharing knowledge of print/web design, content writing and SEO via my blog and twitter. Feel free to find me on linkedin, twitter or google+ and follow me. If you need some marketing advice, I offer a free marketing consultation, just drop me an email.

Enjoy the rest of your Holiday Season and 6 cheers to the companies mentioned above!

Why content is online marketing's best friend

2011-11-22T08:26:00.001-05:00

When it comes to driving traffic and creating leads, a nice design might be eye catching, but it’s your content and how your content engages your visitors that’s going to make your site a success. Consider your content to be your marketing budget’s best friend.

What makes content so important? I seriously cannot stress enough the importance of great content. Content is how your visitors will find out about your brand and what solutions you can offer to their lives easier. Content is what gives your company credibility and will set you apart from your competition. In this economy you need to transparency in your brand and gain trust in order to make it, and your content is just the thing that will help you do so.

What makes great content you ask? Great content is finding ways to reach out and engage your customers by offering ways to make their lives easier. Content isn’t only limited to images and text on a website, content can be blogs, podcasts, webinairs, white papers, ebook, etc. The point is to be as useful as you can to your visitor. Once you are useful to your visitor, you can start turning your visitor into a prospect.

How can you create content that engages your audience?
Compelling content is created when you take the time to understand your buyer’s persona. Who exactly are you trying to reach? Write for them first and then the search engines. Start by specifically thinking about who would buy your product or service. For me I am talking to you, the business owner who needs help with their online marketing. That’s why my blogs are filled with tips to help you become more marketing savvy. My website, my blog and my twitter account have you in mind. If you are having trouble thinking of what to write? Read this ebook by hubspot to give you some great content ideas.

But what about ranking in the search engines? Now that you’ve got your reader engaged, time to make sure you content is optimized for the search engines. The key to optimization is in long tail keywords. Creating a keyphrase will help you gather your leads attention in search engines and weed out the traffic you don’t want. The more specific your keyphrases are, the better chance you will have of driving the type of traffic you would want to your website. For example, when I moved back to New Hampshire from Rhode Island I was looking for a salon. Since my favorite hair color brand is Goldwell, I searched “Goldwell Color Salons in Southern New Hampshire”. Do you see how specific I got? I knew I needed a salon but I only wanted one that offered the Goldwell hair color line. The more specific you get in your keyphrases the more quality traffic you will drive to your site. Remember to use analytic tools such as Concentrate to track and measure your success.

While an esthetically pleasing website is great to look at as a visitor, what will make or break your business is your content. What will help you rank in the search engines is your content. What will create sales is your content. Consider your content your businesses best friend.

Life’s a beach – don’t let the sunset on your marketing

2011-09-19T22:51:00.001-04:00

Summer is always fleeting, so I tired to make the most of it. I went on an awesome family vacation at Lake Winnesquam in New Hampshire, picked up some new clients and got Inbound Marketing Certified. However there is something big and gaping that I left out as I basked in the summer sun - I stopped blogging. I can even remember the moment I stopped. I was sitting on the porch of my families vacation home, looking out onto the lake with my third blog post drafted on my laptop and instead of proofing and publishing I got caught up in the moments that made this summer so great. You might be thinking – this girl needs to relax; she took two months off not a big deal. Well, taking time off from any marketing efforts shouldn’t be treated lightly. Here are some reasons why:

Too much time off requires much more effort to come back. Seriously. I have thought about this writing this blog for at least a month. I kept saying to myself, “OK, here is the idea, now tomorrow I will execute it and then proof my other blog.” If you hear that voice ignore it, in fact tell it where to go! Instead, do what you can in that moment, even if you create a skeleton of what you want to do it’s better than nothing and might just get you doing more.

Loss of web traffic. Creating fresh and relevant content should be a key strategy in turning web traffic into leads. If your not creating targeted content for your buyer persona, how would you expect to found? The more keyword rich content you produce, will help you gain better results with the search engines and your audience. In my instance, I kept tweeting (less frequently of course) and made subtle updates to my site but my blog is where I really am creating my rich content so that should have been my main focus.

You disengage your audience. When I see the last time someone wrote a blog was months ago (shame on me!), hasn’t tweeted in weeks, or has a copywrite on their website from 2009 I start to think – this person either doesn’t know what they are doing, gave up or doesn’t care about their personal branding. Once you start to lose your audience it’s difficult to get them back and I hope for the most part my audience is ready to bear with me and pick up where we last left off.

This blog is as much as a lesson learned, as it is an apology and a begging for forgiveness! The summer was great, but when it comes to branding you need to keep up and keep ahead of the competition. If moments come up when you feel overwhelmed, too busy or having too much fun to keep up with your marketing efforts consider the above.

If your stuck on what to write try thinking of what is going on around you and how you can turn it into a story worth sharing with your audience, this should keep you blogging without an extended absence. Now that I have gotten through this blog I must say it’s good to be back!

How to choose your the right social media for your business

2011-07-13T09:48:00.000-04:00

In the wonderful world of social media marketing it is easy to get lost. You will hear from people, “You need to be on every social media platform.” Every social media platform? Good luck keeping up with that!It's better to use social media platforms you understand and that help you create conversations with your audience. I use Twitter, LinkedIn, Coroflot and this blog you are reading now to reach my professional network. I prefer to stay away from Facebook, as I have used the application since it was only available to college students and I view it as my personal networking that I like to keep to just friends. Marketing strategist and Public Speaker, David Meerman Scott gives an excellent reasoning himself as to why he doesn’t use LinkedIn.

What social media is right for your brand? Here are some considerations:

Know your audience and what social media they use. Is your audience on Facebook? Are they tweeting or checking in via foursquare? Do they like to read blogs full of industry tips? Do they watch how to videos or enjoy a good viral video in general? Find out where they are and speak to them. You’re using social media to engage your audience, so make sure you are choosing relevant places to make a connection.

Figure out how much time and effort you want to spend on social media. Are you prepared to commit to a blog if you start one? Will you keep up Facebook posting or answer to people writing on your wall? Social media is not a set it and forget it type of marketing solution. Creating a social media presence and not keeping up with it is just as disengaging as not having a presence at all. Scope out the time you will need to put into your social media, if it is too much consider hiring someone to work on and build your social media brand.

Don’t use social media as a channel to just talk about your products and services. Social Media Marketing is about reaching out to your audience and having conversations with your customers. By having constantly inundating your network with a one-way conversation about your products and services you will lose your audience. Smart marketers and business people know that no one cares about your products and services but you. Sounds harsh, but it is true. What consumers do care about is how your product or service is going to better them. Creating blogs that offer solutions to your customers’ problems, creating polls and/or contests via Facebook and offering specials via twitter to your loyal followers are some great ways to connect and create clientele.

Use social media to create networks. Engaging with customers and moving them along your sales process should be your number one priority, but networking via social media marketing should be another goal taken into consideration. Networking via LinkedIn, Corflot and Twitter has helped me connect with some great designers, marketers and companies that I probably wouldn’t have found on my own.

According to comScore, an average person spends 14% of their time online on social media sites and those number are rising. With that being said it's time to come up with a social media strategy. Where will your brand be found?

6 things every small business should consider before doing a daily deal

2011-06-23T22:17:00.000-04:00

Recently Groupon filed for IPO, this has opened up a whole slew of press while they are in their “quiet phase” especially on the hot topic of how Groupon does not benefit merchants. While taking much heat from bloggers, business owners and press, daily deals can benefit a merchant when used strategically. Here are some things to consider when deciding if a daily deal is right for your business:

Know what you can afford to lose. With any deal or coupon your objective is to take a short term hit to make a long-term profit and gain new clientele. Try to figure out how much you are willing to use as “FREE” advertising. Keep in mind that this “FREE” advertising comes with a commission fee. For example, Social Living requires a minimum of 50% off any deal you are about to offer. If they require 50% off and then split the profit with you in half it’s pretty much like you are offering a discount at 75% off – is your budget prepared for this?

The deal is on! Be prepared. If you’re offering a rock bottom deal on a service, make sure your prepared to handle the amount of business your about to get. Are you staffed properly and is your deal manageable without sacrificing customer service? Do you have enough product to service everyone who has bought a voucher? Consider a cap if you think you can’t handle the high spike in volume. Remember the focus should be on gaining new and loyal customers, but if you don’t prepare properly you will do the exact opposite.

Have a plan of action. Understanding what strategy you want to go for increases the success of your daily deal experience. Are you looking for new clientele or to spread your business name? Take for example a dentist offering tooth whitening, I would hope he or she is looking to spread his name as the chances for someone coming back after the service are rare. Chances are if you through a deal too cheap you will get an influx of one-time customers.

Be analytical. The great thing about social deals is you know the ROI better than you would with print advertising. In a recent TechCrunch article, Carey Friedman breaks down how he tracked the success of his Groupon campaign. Friedman used analytics to determine that 70% of his Groupons were new customers and over half of them turned into repeat customers. He reviewed the checks of each Groupon user to determine how they spent and how his staff was treated. Using analytics enables you to track the success or failure of your campaign.

Go the next level with your customers. Make sure to somehow sneak a call to action in your deal. You want your customers to continue to be interested in you. I suspect by doing a social deal, you participate in social media marketing. You can offer a satisfaction survey with customers, not only will you find out the success of your campaign but you can also implore your customers to sign up for a newsletter and follow you on a social platform such as facebook and twitter.

Know your local laws. Did you know in the state of Massachusetts gift certificates have a 7-year expiration date? Neither does Groupon merchants, who usually give a 6 month expiration date on Groupons. Most people don’t know this either, but a savvy consumer or business owner from another state will. Not being aware of consumer protection laws can hurt your business in the long run and make social deal sites offer refunds on deals.

There are many social deal successes and many social deal failures; like many forms in marketing it’s all in how you use it.

6 Ways Marketing is like Dating and how not to miss the mark!

2011-06-11T19:16:00.001-04:00

Flipping through a magazine on my Florida bound flight; I came across an advertisement for It’s Just Lunch, a dating service for busy singles. The headline immediately caught my eye: “Great guys and women don’t circle around your block waiting for you to come out of your house. You’ve got to market yourself.” The dating scene is much like marketing. Take a look at 6 ways marketing mirrors dating and how you can learn from it.

No one is looking for you if you don’t put yourself out there. Let’s face it – if you don’t promote yourself or your company, how will anyone know you’re out there? In dating you might try meeting someone through a friend, going to a party and/or using an online dating service. With marketing, you would use referrals, networking events and social media to help build up your brand.

Stand out in a crowd. The singles scene is tough. You have to go the extra mile to prove you’re worth a second date. Now picture your brand, you’re looking for that certain someone, whether they be a buyer, a job prospect or a new client; you’ve got to do something that sets you apart from your competition. Risk free trials, webinars, eBooks and relevant content are ways to set you apart from your competition.

First appearances mean everything. We’ve all heard the phrase, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Can you honestly say you follow that advice? I’ve had friends try to set me up on a date with their friends. They give me the name and I go instantly to facebook, if I don’t like what I see I’m all set. The same thing goes for when I am looking for a new product or service. I start by going to Google, entering a key phrase and looking at websites. If a website doesn’t look appealing content or design wise; I click back to Google and continue my search.

Clear communication is essential. Would you go on a second date with a person who gives you basic answers to your questions? Now think about your marketing materials. Is your marketing content generic or engaging? Do you clearly convey to your audience how your product or service can help them? If your marketing isn’t clear, your brand might tend to be staying in the singles scene.

Don’t lose yourself trying to please someone. You never want to come off being someone you’re not on a date, the truth will eventually find its way to the forefront. Same goes for your business, don’t lose site of your brand trying to appeal to a demographic; it will just come off as false and disingenuous.

Face your fears. Everyone fears rejection, whether it’s a first date or your first meeting. You must conquer your fears to be successful. Take your fears and use them as challenges to only make you and your business smarter.

Marketing is tough, but if you’ve lived the singles scene I’m sure you’ll be just fine!