If you could invest just a few hours to dramatically improve the results of your sales efforts, would you?

“Of course!” you’re probably thinking. “What’s the catch?” There isn’t one. All it takes is a little focus and discipline. So what’s the secret?

Understanding Your Ideal Customer Profile

I’m not talking about your target markets or who the typical buyers are, but the person who is your ideal customer. The one who is most likely to buy when you get in front of them because your message resonates so well.

This is the person who’s head starts nodding in approval when your sales team tells their story, because it aligns so elegantly with their own issues, concerns and objectives. The person who is ready to sign as soon as you prove you can do the job.

They’re not a pushover, not gullible. But they are perfectly aligned with your business model, a match made in prospecting heaven.

How do you find this mythical creature?

There are a number of ways to build an ideal customer profile, and they all start with a little research and analysis. Set aside preconceived notions of who you sell to, and spend some time to really understand who buys from you and why. Explore past deals that have gone well, and find patterns in projects that have gone awry. What can you learn from them?

Here’s an example:

Mary sells IP phone systems. She thinks every business in her area with a budget above $15,000 and at least 10 employees is a candidate for her solutions, so she spends all her time prospecting and pitching, with a very low close rate.

Frustrated, Mary sits down and review her sales activity over the past year, and discovers some patterns. What she finds in this:

1. The deals that closed most quickly were ones where she met with an educated buyer, who had already done some research on IP vs. traditional phone systems.
2. She spent a lot of time on prospects that weren’t well informed, educating them about benefits only to be told they weren’y ready to make a change, or that they had gone with a competitor.
3. Her best buyers were not IT managers or CIOs, but small business owners who understood the bottom line value of the enhanced feature set her phone system offered and how it could impact productivity.
4. She also learned that clients who were most decisive were those that were in growth mode and needed to leverage productivity improvements for improved profitability.
5. Finally, she realized that a predefined budget was less important than an empowered client who understood her value proposition and had the authority to spend what was needed to get significant return on their investments in communications technology.

As a result of this exercise, Mary developed a short checklist to benchmark prospects against her “Ideal Client Profile.” She established 5 key criteria, and began rating every prospect using her formula.

• Almost immediately, Mary learned that prospects who met 4 or 5 of the criteria were worth pursuing, because her close rate was much higher.
• She also discovered that if a prospect scored a 3 on her scale, they could potentially be a good client, but the path would be much longer and the odds of success were lower.
• Finally, Mary understood that those prospects meeting just one or two of her key filters simply were not a good match for her business. They might buy eventually, but even then, she would have a hard time fully satisfying their needs, and they would be unlikely to provide referrals to other solid prospects.

Using this knowledge, Mary adjusted her sales approach. When she met a prospect who was not a good fit, she referred them to another firm would could better meet their needs. She focused her efforts on finding the four- and five-star prospects, spending less time on meetings and proposals, but closing a much higher percentage of the deals she bid on.

Putting it to Work

The beauty of this approach is that it can work for any organization that invests the time to understand their ideal client. But knowing who they are is one thing, adjusting your efforts to focus solely of these ideal prospects is another. Once you understand who your best prospects are, it is essential to walk away from those that don’t fit the model.

This is difficult for many sales people who are measured on number of prospects in the funnel or those who are expected to have a certain dollar volume in the pipeline at any given time.

To successfully implement the ideal client profile as part of your sales process, you must accept that your funnel will be narrower at the top. Because you’re being more selective, not everyone will make it into the funnel. But once they do, you can expect a much higher close rate.

Has an Ideal Client Profile Helped You?

Several of my clients have benefited from this approach, using their Ideal Client Profile to tailor not only their sales process, but also to focus marketing messages and educate referral sources.

In fact, building an Ideal Client Profile is a great place to start when you are repositioning a business or trying to reinvigorate growth. If you’re not comfortable with the process, or feel as if you’re too close to be objective, engaging a consultant to walk you through the exercise can be a worthwhile investment.

If you’ve tried a similar approach, please share a comment about what you learned, I’d enjoy hearing from you.

Image by Carl Dwyer.

A Stunningly Simple Secret to Improve Sales Success is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

One of the great frustrations of CMO’s and executives express about social media is the ability to track its impact on the bottom line. Sure, you can easily measure your Facebook “Likes,” Twitter “follows” and LinkedIn connections. You can monitor your Google + Circles and even Pinterest activity. But what does all that matter if it’s not moving the needle on your business growth?

Many companies set random measurements, such as growth in Likes, Follows, and Connections to see how they are doing. Unfortunately, arbitrary metrics like a “25% increase” in Twitter followers don’t really tell you whether you are achieving your strategic goals.

Growth metrics also don’t capture the fact that the much of the social media audience is transient. They friends and followers come and go depending on where they are in the buying cycle. For example, if you’re a recruiting firm, people will follow when they are looking for a job, then unfollow you later, once they find one. This means your net gains in followers will be slower that you might expect.

How’s Your Temperature?

Think of metrics like the number of friends or followers as indicators of trends in your social media performance. Use them to get a quick pulse on how you’re doing, just like your doctor checks your pulse and blood pressure when you go for a checkup. These metrics won’t give you a clear diagnosis of any issues, but if there’s a big change from one month to the next (up or down) you’ll want to know why.

Maybe a superstar in your industry retweeted on of your tweets or commented on a blog post, bringing you a big jump in traffic. Or perhaps an employee shared something that didn’t sit well with your audience, and you lost a few fans. A regular social media temperature check will let you spot these things quickly, and respond appropriately.

What Counts? Results.

Results are what matters the most when it comes to making social media work for business. While more difficult to measure than follower counts, the payoff from the hard work is a more accurate view of the impact of your efforts.

To understand the performance of your social media programs, it’s much better to monitor things like overall engagement and leads generated through social media. This can be a little harder to track, but gives you a much better picture of how your efforts are contributing to the business.

When you’re ready to take you social media measurement to the next level, look at measurements like these:

Engagement – how much interaction happens between your company and its followers? Do people comment on your blog posts, share articles you post on LinkedIn and respond to questions you pose on Twitter?

Reach – look beyond your audience to your audience’s audience. If you have influential followers, you’ll gain more visibility when they comment and share your content with their audience..

Conversions – How do your online connections translate into measurable business opportunities? Does social media generate leads, website visits, product subscriptions or downloads?  Define conversion on your own terms, as long as the focus is on taking action towards a sale.

Sentiment – A reflection of your online reputation, sentiment will tell you if the buzz about your business is positive, neutral or negative. It doesn’t all need to be rosy, but neutral to favorable should be the baseline.

While you might be tempted to try to get this data manually, it can take several hours a moth to do manual social media reporting. Instead, try the reports available in your social media management platform. Services like Roost, HootSuite and SproutSocial offer affordable and easy to use reporting. For more intensive reporting needs, check out Radian 6, Sysomos or UberVU.

Image by Louise Docker.

Which Social Media Metrics Really Matter? is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Customers don’t have all the answers, especially when it comes to product innovation.

Surprised? It’s true.

Customers can do a great job of helping you iterate products. They know that “This button would work better over here,” or “That knob always gets in the way.” Customers are happy to share new feature requests, like “We’d love it if you could add custom reports to your software,” but their insights usually stop right about there.

Customers know how to improve your products because they use your products. They understand what works, what doesn’t, what makes them crazy and what is missing. But when it comes to breakthrough solutions, they’re lost.

Think about it. If your customers REALLY knew how to solve their problems, they wouldn’t need you or your solutions. They would go start their own business addressing that need and make loads of money in the process.

Customers typically have a good understanding of their issues. But they need you to solve them.

How does this subtle difference between iteration and innovation impact your business? If you want to be the runaway leader in your space, it’s imperative to move beyond the norm. Stop thinking about different flavors of the same solution, and think about a different recipe altogether.

One way to approach this is to explore about the goal of the task at hand. What are your customers tying to do? The objective may range from something as simple as listening to music to something as complex as processing a payment.

Sony and Apple both took a radical approach to delivering music to individuals, first with the Walkman and then with the iPod. Not a single customer knew they needed these devices before they entered the market.  Customers simply could not envision the solution to their music listening task.

While these two companies are modern examples of radical innovation, search history and you’ll find a host of similar stories. Did we know we needed the light bulb before Edison came along? What about cars, TVs and skateboards? The public was not clamoring for these products, but they sure were happy to buy them when someone else thought them up.

Innovation is not limited to consumer products. Creative solutions to industrial problems can transform manufacturing, production and delivery of products. Software can change the way people work. Look around and you’ll see all kinds of innovation opportunities masked as unsolved – or inadequately solved – problems.

Challenge your team to think differently about these problems, and you just may find a radically different solution. One that’s moe elegant, streamlined and efficient than what you offer today.

Your customers will thank you.

Image courtesy of the Jordanhill School D&T Dept.

Your Customers Don’t Know What They Want is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

When was the last time you let a customer go?

It sounds counterintuitive, but sometimes, saying goodbye is the right thing to do.

There was recently an interesting case study in the Harvard Business Review about a company that had started using activity based costing to assess customer profitability.  The case raised the intriguing dilemma of whether the company in question should fire one of it oldest and “best” customers because they had become a loser in the past few quarters.

While we would all hope that every customer yields positive returns (unless you’re running a charity), the fact of the matter is that sometimes customers cost more than they spend. When this is the case, it can be hard to decide if you should cut your losses and move on or keep the relationship alive in anticipation of better days ahead.

Any decision made without all the facts – or at least as much information as you can get –  is likely to be the wrong one. Knee-jerk decisions to dump a client in the face of a bad quarter, unusually high support costs or other potentially temporary issues may be more expensive in the long run. Investing the time to follow  an intentional, carefully considered process to assess the true worth of the customer is a smarter course of action.

Customer value comes in many forms. Of course, there is the back and white, dollars and cents P&L. This seemingly simple measure of customer ROI can be deceptive because if does not factor in intangibles. Even with activity based costing. which allocates operational costs to customers relative to order volume, numbers can be deceiving.

What additional factors should you consider when weighing when to fire a customer? Here are a few questions to ask before making this important decision:

• If this is a marquee client, what are they worth in terms of the visibility and cache the relationships brings to your firm? Can you put a number on that?
• How valuable are relationships with executives of the customer in question? Are they leaders in your industry who influence others in the space? Will damaging those relationships hurt your business in the larger context of your industry?
• Is this customer the one who agrees, without fail, to beta test new offerings? To serve as a referral or provide endorsements and testimonials? These are important contributions to your future business, and may be hard to replace.
• Is this company more innovative than others in your portfolio? Do they alway say “yes” to the newest offerings, helping ou sign other, more reluctant accounts?
• What is the customer’s potential lifetime value? Is there upside that you can see with more sales over the long-term? If  they struggling with a temporary setback it might be worth waiting a while, or even helping them out if there’s something you can do to preserve the relationship.

All of these items should be taken into account when assessing who to keep and who to let go. There’s no clear scorecard to tell you when part ways with a customer, but if you take the time to look at the big picture, you’ll be in a much better position to make a sound decision.

Finally, I’d suggest making the customer evaluation process as consistent a part of your business as annual employee performance reviews or strategic planning sessions. A disciplined approach to evaluating your customer base will enable you to regularly prune underperforming customers that are not strategic assets, creating room to do more for those that are the ideal fit for your business.

Is it Time to Fire that Customer? is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

I was browsing my weekly issue of the Atlanta Business Chronicle the other day and came across an article that fascinated me. The article discussed a recent decline in startup activity, but that’s not what surprised me. I was intrigued by the data quoted regarding just who’s starting those startups, based on a study by the Kauffman Foundation.

While the stereotypical entrepreneur is a twenty-something college kid (think Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook), the reality is that less than a third of startups – in fact, only 29%  - were headed by someone under the age of 35.  Surprisingly, nearly 21 percent of entrepreneurs in 2011 were in the 55-64 year age group and another 29 percent were ages 45-54.

For the 55-64 years olds, this represents a significant increase. The author of the study, Robert W. Fairlie, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, explained that, “Despite a slight decline in entrepreneurial activity rates this year, the share of new 55- to 64-year-old entrepreneurs has risen from 14.3 percent in 1996 to 20.9 percent in 2011.”

Why the sudden boom in older entrepreneurs? Both economic and demographic factors are at work. This age group was among hardest hit by layoffs during the great recession, and they have had some of the greatest challenges in getting back to work. Many opted out of the search, choosing instead to strike out on their own.

At the same time, more fortunate boomers are seeking second acts, looking for opportunities to pursue dreams and challenges they hadn’t enjoyed during prior employment. Given an opportunity to retire early or simply change gears, lots of older entrepreneurs are seizing the day and starting anew.

These trends could also be part of the reason that entrepreneurial growth was highest among 45- to 54-year-olds, increasing from .35% of that age group in 2010 to .37% in 2011.

Overall, new business starts declined nearly 6% from 2010 to 2011, possibly a reflection of the nascent recovery and more people going back to work. On average, .32% of the adult population started a business in 2011, creating 543,000 new enterprises each month in the U.S. last year.

Some more interesting facts from the study include:

• Immigrants are more than twice as likely to start new businesses as native-born Americans.
• Men outpace women significantly, with men starting businesses at a rate of 0.42% versus just 0.23% of women.
• Entrepreneurial activity among high school dropouts decreased to 0.57% percent in 2011 but is still much higher than groups at other educational levels.
• The largest decrease in entrepreneurial activity occurred for college graduates.
• More startups are soloprenuers, individuals who work on their own rather than employing others.

To read more about the study or to download the infographic, visit the Kauffman Foundation at www.Kauffman.org.

Who’s Got the Entrepreneurial Spirit? You Might be Surprised is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

I recently attended a great panel discussion at Atlanta’s StartupChicks. The topic was advisory boards, including when and why you need one and how to get the most from having one.

The panel covered a lot of ground in the hour-long discussion, and it occurred to me that even if you’re not a start-up – or a chick – there were many valuable kernels of information. Before I hit the high points, let me introduce the panelists:

Mary Madden, Chair and Executive Director at the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors

Karen Robinson Cope, SVP Sales & Marketing at NanoLumens and Founder of Atlanta Council of Directors

Laurie Baird, Strategic Consultant – Media and Entertainment at Georgia Tech – Institute for People and Technology

The panel was moderated by Cindy Cheatham of the Georgia Center for Non-Profits and formerly Venture Catalyst at the Advanced Technology Development Center.

Do You Need an Advisory board?

Surprisingly, the panel’s consensus was that regardless of whether you have an early stage startup or have been in business for several years, most companies can benefit from an advisory board. Even a board of just two or three people can be helpful to a very small company.

Is your start-up pre-revenue? The panel suggested that early stage companies should consider assembling an advisory board at the point when your business plan is coming together. The advisory board can help guide you through critical decisions in these early days, avoiding costly mistakes that may hurt your business later.

Another advantage to having an advisory board is that “your board can be a great marketing tool,” says Laurie Baird, spreading the word about your business to their friends and colleagues.

If this all sounds good to you, there’s one more essential step before proceeding. Ask yourself if you are really open to the input advisory board members will provide. To be successful, you should be open minded and willing to consider advice from other professionals. Otherwise, you will just be wasting everyone’s time.

Pick the Right Advisors

Once you’ve decided that it’s time to form a board of advisors, where do you turn to find the right people to join it? Who makes a good advisor, and who would be better to bypass?

Cindy Cheatham recommends finding someone with a successful track record of building companies to serve as a generalist advisor. Add skill-based advisors to augment your professional financial and legal team.

Look for passionate people who “have your back” and will be straight with you. These people don’t need to be friends or even current business associates. In fact, people who know you too well might not be the most objective advisors.

Fill the Voids

“Think about deficiencies on your team, and fill them with advisors,” said Karen Robinson Cope. “Strategy, markets, business model…you need a 30,000 foot view. This forces you to think about the business at a high level so you don’t get stuck in the weeds.”

At executive levels, many key skills are highly transferrable. Sometimes an advisor from a different industry can provide a fresh perspective on a particularly troubling issue.

Laurie Baird advises finding people who know your market well, even if they are in a different industry.

Seek out specific skills, knowledge and talents. Do you need insights on marketing, finance or product decisions? Identify people with expertise in these areas without limiting your search to those within your industry.

Recruit the Best

To build the best advisory board for your business, don’t be afraid to seek out someone who you believe would make a good advisor for your company even if you don’t know them personally. Ask people in your network or professional advisors like your accountant or attorney for recommendations to address specific needs.

Once you get an introduction, schedule a meeting or coffee to get to know this person. Tell them what you need and why you would like them to work with you.

As you talk with prospects about joining your advisory board, let them know about the expected time commitment. For a potential advisor it can be very helpful to know, “We have quarterly meetings with diner the night before, and then meet from 9am – 1pm.”

Don’t worry if you get turned down a few times. Many executives are looking for board experience and are open to helping developing companies, so you should not have much trouble building a solid advisory team.

Making it Work

Once you have your advisory board in place, you want to get the most from this valuable asset. Be intentional in your approach to utilizing your advisory board, and be respectful of their time and contributions.

Think about what you need help with before scheduling a meeting. What are your challenges, and what kind of input do you need?

Cindy Cheatham says it’s vital to “Use people’s time wisely, be grateful, communicate successes and challenges,” so that your advisory board members feel valued and connected to your business.

Use your advisory board to address your business needs, not the advisor’s wish list. If advisors have their own agenda, you can easily get sidetracked and lose focus on your strategy.

Keep in mind that unlike a board of directors, “the board of advisors works for you. You can fire them,” if things aren’t working out, says Mary Madden.

It’s Your Decision

Don’t feel obligated to do everything your advisors suggest. It’s your business, and you bear the responsibility to evaluate the advice you are given. Ultimately, you decide what advice to act on, and what to disregard.

If you’re not prudent about which advice to follow, you may end up a victim of what Jen Bonnett, founder of Start-Up Chicks, calls “Mentor Whiplash.” That’s the painful byproduct of listening to too many opinions, and trying to follow them all.

Jen says she once knew an entrepreneur who changed her business model every time she met with a different advisor – hardly a productive way to manage a company.

Treat Them Right

When you meet with an advisor, put specific parameters around your demands on their time. Let them know, “I need an hour (or a lunch, a short call, etc.) to discuss ____ topic.” That way they know what the time commitment is, and what you need and expect from them.

It’s also helpful to create an environment where your advisors can get to know each other. This helps build rapport and facilitate them working well together.

At the same time, remember that advisory board members are not your employees. Don’t ask them to do things like build your website or research a market for you. Remember, your relationship is about getting guidance, not free work.

Structure is a Good Thing

The panel agreed that a little formality is a god thing. Putting a framework around meetings and creating a structure for your board of advisors with things like a time limit on board service can be beneficial. This way you can set expectations, and bring on fresh talent and gain new perspectives when you need them.

A more structured approach forces you to be organized and intentional. You will need to prepare for board meetings, getting materials out in advance as you would for a meeting with your board of directors. This makes you more prepared and helps your advisory your board be more productive.

While structure can help your board function more smoothly, there’s no need to be rigid. You may choose to have occasional one on one meetings with advisors to address specific needs or concerns, especially if you need to “go deep” into an issue, explained Karen.

Show Your Appreciation

Your advisors are voluntarily contributing time to your company, so it is important to show your appreciation. Compensation isn’t necessary, but recognition of your advisors’ contributions is considerate.

In fact, Laurie advises steering away from monetary compensation or equity for advisors who are already successful in their own right. “What is a big amount for you is nothing to them,” she explained. “People are doing it because they’re passionate, not for the money.” If you are considering offering advisors equity in your company, remember that you can’t get it back later.

A better way to show appreciation is to make a donation to a favored charity or host a nice event or outing for your advisors once a year, suggested Karen.

Does Your Company have an Advisory Board?

If you already have an advisory board, please share you success and lessons learned from the experience. What tips would you share?

Build a Better Advisory Board is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

“Help, I built a website and no one came!”

So you have a new website, and you’re waiting for business to roll in…and waiting.

Still waiting?

Stop.

It’s time to act.

No matter how wonderful your new website is, traffic won’t come just because you built it.
Sure, Google and Bing will find your site eventually, but can you afford to twiddle your thumbs until then?

A website is just the beginning of a solid digital marketing effort. It can serve as the anchor for your campaigns, a place where visitors come to learn about your business and engage with your company.

But people have to find it first.

Getting found online is not hard, but it does take some consistent effort to rank well for the targeted search terms that your customers use to shop for what you sell.

Start Here

When you build a new website, there are a couple of things to consider right from the start. First, your design and copy should be search-friendly. Often, the terms that rank well for SEO are not the ones you use to describe your product. Spend a little time checking keywords with Google’s Keyword Tool so you can optimize your web copy for high search rankings.

Code matters and speed counts. Your web developer should provide clean code that includes the proper meta tags (such as page titles and descriptions), correctly formated images and links with anchor text.

Your site should load quickly without lots of extra code to slow things down. You can check your web page speed with Google’s Page Speed utility, which will also provide tips on how to speed things up.

Hopefully, you hired a web designer that understands SEO so these on site factors are already incorporated into your new design. If not, address these onsite factors right away so you don’t lose hard earned traffic as soon as it arrives.

If your site is small, say just 10-15 pages of content, it will be harder to rank highly because you have less onsite content to index. Regularly adding new content keeps your site fresh and encourages the search bots to stop by often, which can translate to higher rankings. Try posting customer reviews, photos of products and articles about your business.

Adding a blog gives you an opportunity to post fresh content regularly, inviting more people to visit and interact, which Google applauds. Videos are also a good magnet for traffic, if they are properly tagged and relevant to the content of your site.

Step 2 – Expand Your Reach

On site SEO is only half the equation. What you do to drive traffic to your site is also important. Cast a wide net by moving beyond your website to other channels, such as blogs and social media, to generate inbound links and build interest in your site.

To help you generate traffic, here are a few suggestions that can help:

1. Ask you business partners to add links to your site from theirs.
2. Add your website URL to your bio and all your online profiles.
3. Encourage employees to link to your company site from their social media profiles on places like LinkedIn.
4. Include your website address when you comment on blogs or post on forums related to your business.
5. Try online advertising with Google AdWords or other ad partners to drive traffic to your site.
6. Include your website URL in offline advertising.

Get Listed

Be sure your company listings are accurate on sites like Manta and Jigsaw. Claim your profiles and add your URLs.

Don’t forget your industry associations and their online member directories for business profiles that link to your site.

More SEO Tips

These final tips may seem basic, but they are overlooked with surprising frequency. As you roll out your new site, be sure that:

• If you redesigned an existing site, any pages that have been moved need to have 301 redirects set up so search engines will know where they went. You webmaster should be able to handle this for you.
• Create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google through Webmaster Tools. This will tell Google what is on your site and what pages it should not index. (Note: This is not the same as the sitemap for users on your site. You need both.)

For more best practices to improve your search rankings, check out my post on .

Patience Pays

While it is tempting to expect instant results from your SEO efforts, patience and consistency are critical. It can take weeks or even months for changes on you site to have an impact on your search rankings.

Don’t give up too quickly. Monitor your site traffic with Google Analytics to see where visitors are coming from, what they like (the pages they spend the most time on), and what they don’t. (Pages with high “bounce rates” mean visitors are leaving before they get through the door).

Keep adding content, posting, linking and sharing, and your hard work will pay off.

Image by Michal Zacharzewski on sxc.hu.

Dude, Where’s My Traffic? is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Several years ago I worked in corporate marketing for UPS, a remarkably well-oiled organization. To improve our Preferred Customer Program, we decided to benchmark best-in-class performance of other companies.

Our team members wrote personal letters to several companies about real-life experiences to see how they addressed concerns, compliments and complaints. The results were eye-opening. Some companies went above and beyond to address issues and concerns, while others never even acknowledged our letters.

Customer service, it seems, was more of a priority to some businesses than others. For those that valued customer relationships, the payoff was a loyal customer base, increased referrals, and repeat business.

Fast forward to today. Social media provides a new way to check the barometer of a company’s customer focus.

The Twitter Test

The 21st century version of our letter writing campaign is what I call “the Twitter Test.” It only takes a few seconds, and the results speak volumes.

Try it yourself by looking up the Twitter handle of a company you do business with. Tweet them about a recent experience (good or bad). Express a desire for a new feature or function.

Then wait.

Truly customer-focused companies will respond quickly, even if they don’t have an immediate solution or definitive answer. They will acknowledge your request, thank you for your feedback, and possibly suggest moving your conversation to another venue.

The others? Well, don’t hold your breath.

How would your company do on this simple pass/fail test? Do you have the systems in place to respond to customers who engage your company through social media? Do you have an unmonitored social presence?

If you’re not sure how your company would perform, ask a few friends to try the tes, and report back to you on the outcomes. Extend it to Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ for a broader view.

Improve Your Grade

You can improve your score on the Twitter Test by establishing a social monitoring program to ensure someone is listening. This can be as simple as daily monitoring of your accounts or setting up a Google alert to let you know when someone mentions your company online. Or you can try a more sophisticated social listening solution to capture and respond to customer comments.

Either way, be sure a live person is paying attention to your social accounts. If you simply can’t manage that level of attention, your business really should not be on social media. (Ignoring people isn’t very social, after all.)

What’s Your Experience?

I use this test routinely with my vendors and suppliers, with interesting results. Some companies respond almost instantly, others not so much.

In fact, one company responded 10 months after my initial message! Even then, their response was a waste, something like, “We’re not sure what you want.” Not responding at all would have been a better option.

Have you used the Twitter Test to request support or service? If so, please share your experience and suggestions in the comments below.

Image by Dominik Gwarek

Can Your Business Pass The Twitter Test? is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Not sure if your company should be blogging?
Take this quick, 5-Step Blog Readiness Test to find out.

I hear this question all the time from business owners, “Do I need a blog?“

My answer is usually, “It depends.” Every company is different, so answering the question about whether your business needs a blog requires a quick assessment. Answer these questions to see if your organization is ready to take on the blogging challenge:

1. Are you genuinely interested in writing a blog? Do you really want to blog, or would you just be doing it because you’ve heard that you should? If you don’t want to write yourself, are you willing to allocate resources from you team (or hire someone) who can bring passion to your blog?
2. Are you committed to blogging consistently? Whether your posts come monthly, weekly or daily, you need a consistent blogging schedule. You can plan ahead and post later, as long as you establish a pattern your readers can depend on. Adding fresh posts on a regular basis will help build a loyal following of readers for your blog.
3. Do you have something to say? You don’t need to have earth-shattering insights, but a unique point of view and interesting perspectives are important to the success of your blog. Repeating the same old information that can be found anywhere online only adds to the noise in the blogosphere. Add value instead.
4. Do you have the skills or resources required to optimize your blog? Maximizing the reach and impact of your blog takes some know-how. From keywords to design to SEO, getting the most from your blogging efforts may require you to gain some additional skills – either by learning them yourself or getting outside help.
5. Do you know who your audience is and what they want to read? Blogging isn’t about you, it’s about giving your readers what they want. What kind of information and ideas can you share with your readers to make them happy they took the time to read your blog? If you don’t know who your readers are or what they are interested in, find out before you start blogging.

What’s Your Score?

How many questions did you answer “Yes” to?

1-2: Baby steps. A blog might not be for you – at least not yet. Work on adding a few more “Yeses” to your list first.

3-4: Toddler time. You’re walking now, but you may want a hand now and then.

5: Run and Play. Go for it! You’re ready to blog, so why not start now?

Tell me what you think….Was this little quiz helpful? Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments below.

Is Your Business Ready to Blog? is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

For years we’ve heard that “Content is King,” and businesses around the world have been listening. The growth of social media has provided a platform for distribution of content like never before, and companies are churning out articles, blogs, white papers and other content at a record pace.

So what’s the problem?

Not too many years ago, content was produced by analysts, researchers, writers and journalists who spent a great deal of time developing well-written, thoughtful and provocative material. This material was published for readers who had a deep and genuine interest in the topic at hand.

Whether it was exploring new vendors and service offerings or researching competitors and market opportunities, consumers of this content could be reasonably confident that what they downloaded would be worth their time – and the price of their email address or contact information.

Not so much these days.

Cranking out content has become an end in itself.

For many content marketers, content is simply a sales hook designed to capture email addresses (aka leads). There is less concern about offering a quality product, as long as the goal of building that email list is achieved.

The result is a whole lot of noise.

It’s becoming more and more difficult to find quality content within the cacophony of the web.

People who are legitimately researching a topic must wade through mountains of low quality, bait-and-switch content in order to find a few gems of information. Even then, stats can be suspect and must be verified through multiple sources (and not just those that blindly quote the same data or “facts”).

I’m not saying there is no great content out there.

There is plenty of good content. The problem is finding it.

Short of paying big-ticket prices for analyst reports or subscribing to established media outlets, the average person doesn’t have a lot of options. Finding quality content can be a huge task. Wade through the web, find resources you trust, and spend more and more time filtering to find the needle in the haystack.

The wave of mediocrity sweeping the web will eventually kill the intense demand for content that made content marketing so popular in the beginning.

It’s kind of like the kid that loves chocolate until he has the chance to eat all his Halloween candy at once. He soon discovers that getting too much of what you want can be worse than not enough.

Are you part of the problem?

As a marketing consultant, I often advise clients to publish content as part of their thought leadership efforts. I tell them to write white papers and press releases that attract links and SEO karma.

The difference is that what I suggest is publishing valuable content. Items of interest that can’t easily be found elsewhere. If you don’t follow this advice and randomly push out materials without thinking twice about what value they add, you could be part of the problem.

What’s a content marketer to do?

As you develop content for your business, make sure you are adding something of value to the universe of existing materials. Think about your audience, and what they need.

What will your reader get in return for the time they spend with your content? Provide a unique perspective, some fresh insights or real data. Think about what information will help your audience improve their situation, be more informed or better educated.

If you’re just regurgitating something you read elsewhere, stop. Instead, use items you like as inspiration to offer your own unique spin or position.

Avoid contributing to the clutter.

Blindly sharing can be dangerous to your reputation, as Jordan Kasteler points out in this post on Social Sharing and Personal Credibility.

Before you retweet, share or post content from other sources, review it. Yes, that means take the time to actually click that link, read it and think: Is it really good? Would you recommend it to a friend or client you were meeting with face-to-face? If not, hold off for something better.

A little restraint in curating the content you share will not only slow the spread of mindless stuff, if will also reflect positively on you. Carefully picking what to share – whether you write it yourself or promote content from other sources – will establish your position as an intelligent thought leader, a “go to” person who knows what’s of value, and what’s not.

What do you think?

If you’re a marketer, especially one who uses content marketing in your own business, I bet you have your own thoughts on the issue of content overload. Where do you stand?

Is Content Killing Content Marketing? is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Social Media is all about engagement. But unfortunately, lots of people – and the companies they represent – still don’t understand that a one-way conversation isn’t a conversation at all. It’s a broadcast.

In the interest of helping you see if your business has a problem, here are a few questions to ask yourself. Check for these thirteen signs your social media program may be falling short of the mark:

1. It takes 9 months to respond to a tweet. This really happened to me. The response was something like, “Thanks for tweeting, we didn’t understand your message…” Why bother? Really.
2. You never respond to or acknowledge social media mentions of your company name. After all, you’re just listening.
3. You proudly say things like, “I don’t follow anyone…“
4. All of your posts are about you or your products, because social media is all about leads.
5. Your auto-DM welcome message is a sales pitch, “Thanks for following, check out my…(blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, special deal)“. (Whether you should even have an auto-reply is a topic for different post.)
6. You automatically follow-back everyone who follows you, without checking out their profiles.
7. Or you are a finicky follower, looking for high Klout scores and automatically unfollowing anyone who doesn’t follow you.
8. Your favorite way to engage others is, “Please ‘Like’ us on (Facebook, LinkedIn).”
9. You put social media icons on your website and called it a day thinking, “Our social media program is off to a great start.”
10. You’re still worried what will happen when someone says something bad about your company online.
11. You have no idea what that college intern you hired is saying on your social media sites. If they’re posting, it must be good.
12. The legal department controls your social media presence.
13. Company policy prohibits employees from mentioning the company on social media.

Did you answer “Yes” to more than a few of these? Don’t worry, there’s help. Start by checking out these posts for some great tips:

A CEO’s Social Media Checklist
Getting Started with Social Media
Don’t Be Afraid of Social Media

13 Signs You’re Heading for Social Media Obscurity is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Every now and then unusual parallels pop into my mind. I don’t know why, but this morning it was the interesting similarities between social media and pregnancy.

If you’re a parent, I bet you’ll be able to relate to at least a few of these:

1. It’s Hard to Know What to Expect

No matter how much you’ve heard about becoming a parent, or doing social media, you just can’t know what to expect until you start down the road. Pregnancy begins with affirmation from the doctor or a drug-store test that “Yes, it’s real!” In social media, your welcome message does the trick: “Thanks for joining, you’re on your way!“

2. You Might Feel a Little Queasy at the Beginning

Often early pregnancy is marketed by morning sickness – which can really happen any time of day. Social media, with its overwhelming choices, unwritten rules and unique terminology can have the same effect. But if you’re social media efforts are leaving your stomach a little unsettled, take heart. It gets better as time goes by and you get more comfortable with the day-to-day life of a social media user.

3. Suddenly, Everyone’s a Expert

When you are an expectant parent, nearly everyone you meet has an opinion on parenthood. As time goes by, you learn that some opinions are better than others. You seek out the experts and listen hard to their insights. Social media is much the same. But in spite of their willingness to share, not everyone has the knowledge and experience to deliver solid advice.

4. Some People will Try to Scare You

It’s unfortunate that some people love to share horror stories. “Delivery was awful,” “We didn’t sleep for a months,” “You can’t eat THAT!” Don’t listen. Of course, this can be a scary time, but you’ll be alright. Just remain positive and stay engaged. Even the problems turn into valuable lessons that make you a better parents – or a stronger social media user.

5. Complete Strangers will Reach Out and Touch You

It’s amazing how total strangers will reach out to rub a pregnant belly. This can be really disconcerting, as can unexpected connections with social media fans and followers. It’s wonderful that people want to share in your experience, but it’s OK to say “No” if you’re uncomfortable.

6. Regular Check-Ups are Important

Good prenatal care is vital for moms-to-be and their babies. Just as the doctor is checking the growth and health of the baby, you should be keeping up with your social media programs. Track results and feedback, and make adjustments as needed.

7. The End Result Makes it all Worth While

When you’ve made it through the journey, there are big rewards at the end. Maternity ends with a beautiful baby to love on. With social media, you’ll discover a new community of peers, friends, prospects and business associates. Both will provide joy, humor, frustration and excitement as they grow and develop of the years.

Image by Simona Balint.

7 Ways Social Media is Like Pregnancy is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Sponsorship Can Pay Off, If You’re Smart About It

Are you thinking about sponsoring an event, conference, trade show or community fundraiser? Read this first, so you can turn a potential money pit into a real opportunity to build your business.

If I sound harsh, it’s because I know all too well that sponsorships CAN be money pits if not handled properly. Just like any other marketing investment, the decision to be a sponsor deserves careful consideration before you commit.

What’s in it for You?

First and foremost, know what your goals are for the sponsorship.

There are three main reasons to sign on for a sponsorship opportunity:

1. You are focused on “soft” objectives like increased visibility or building awareness within a targeted market, like a local community of interest or executives in your industry.
2. You have clearly measurable goals like launching a new product or generating demand (and leads) for a service offering.
3. You want to create goodwill within the community so you can be seen as a good corporate citizen or to make it easier to recruit great employees.

Determining which of these goals is most important to you is your first and most important decision. You can’t effectively evaluate a sponsorship opportunity without understanding how it fits your goals, so start with what you need, and not what the organizer wants. (Even if it’s a cause that is dear to you!)

Are You Hanging with the Right Crowd?

Second, does the audience provided by the sponsorship align with your target prospects? If it’s a community event, what percentage of the attendees will be interested in your business? For industry-sponsorships and trade groups, are the people participating the real decision markers or influencers? You must reach the right people to get any financial return from the sponsorship.

Don’t hesitate to ask organizers about the job functions or titles of attendees. Before committing, find out how many people are expected to participate (attendees, members, website visitors, etc.) and get demographic information to be sure it matches your target prospects.

If the event is not brand new, this information should be available. For trade shows, you may even be able to get an audited report on prior year participation.

Next, look closely at how the sponsorship will help you meet your objectives. For example, if you want to build awareness for your business, consider how your company be represented, and how much visibility you will get.

Is your company listed on event signage or will you have a website link? Will your sponsorship be mentioned in presentations or printed programs? Can you distribute coupons and flyers to participants? If there are not enough impressions (views of your brand name) then either pass up the opportunity or ask for more.

Document Sponsorship Agreements

Get ALL commitments in writing as part of your sponsorship agreement, especially if you’ve negotiated something that is not part of the standard package.

Sometimes the sales pitch includes verbal offers like, “We’ll give you top billing on the signage,” or “You’ll be including in at least 3 press releases.” Make sure those promises are documented, so you have something to fall back on if those promises are not fulfilled.

You also need to know what will happen if the event is cancelled. Ask these questions in advance to avoid potential problems later. As they say, “Get it writing.”

Get Involved

Don’t forget about what is required of you to get the most from the sponsorship. If it is an event, are you expected to provide a presence with a table, display or speaker? Can your small business support that? Do you need to submit graphics or other marketing materials that you have not yet created?

You can’t just write a check and expect a big payoff from sponsorships, it takes work to leverage the opportunity for maximum return. This work extends beyond the event itself, to follow-up and connect with people who are interested in your business.

Time for a Payoff

Finally, how quickly do you need to see a return from this investment? Building brand awareness is a long process, requiring consistent effort over time.

If you are sponsoring an event with the hope of immediately increasing sales, you need to have a specific offer with a compelling call to action. Define (in advance) how you will track sales back to the event so you can evaluate the ROI. Use QR codes on coupons or flyers to help link inquiries to the sponsorship, or provide a unique web address and landing page for prospects.

Keep it Going

After the event, evaluate the sponsorship and decide if you would do it again. You may get a discount for signing on early for the next year. You may also be able to take advantage of year-round promotions that latecomers won’t get.

Continue to leverage the contacts you made from the sponsorship through email marketing and other engagement tools like social media. Use your contact list to reach out to attendees for the next event – even if they haven’t bought from you, they can generate referrals or become future customers. Don’t let the seeds of the relationship you’ve planted dry up. Keep nurturing them and your sponsorship investment will grow.

How to Get the Most from Corporate Sponsorships is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

It’s official. I’m mustering all my authority (however much that is) and declaring that the
Era of the Elevator Pitch is over. Done with. Kaput. So last century.

Why?

Because the whole concept of the elevator pitch is slightly flawed. Sure, you need a concise way to answer the question, “What do you do?” but is every response a “pitch”? There’s Flaw 1.

Flaw 2: we haven’t stopped riding in elevators, but we’re just as likely to meet a potential prospect somewhere else, like in line at the grocery store, while watching our kids softball (or lacrosse or soccer) game, or doing volunteer work.

Every situation is different, and heaven help you if you trot out the old, “We’re the leading provider of high-end widgets to discerning widget buyers the world over” speech.

What happens after the pitch? Do you expect someone to hold the door while you trade cards? Have you generated enough interest with your little speech to make that happen? That’s
Flaw 3.

Kiss it Good-Bye

We need something better. A situational response that lets you adapt the message to your audience and the time you have available to talk.

You need a hook, but not a corny one.

You need to catch interest, not yawns.

You need to open the discussion, and invite further conversation.

How do you do it?

Start with your message matrix. If you just said, “My what…?” we’ve got some work to do.

Your message matrix should include all your key audiences: decision makers, influencers, customers, investors and potential referral partners.

Anyone who asks you that “What do you do?” question could fall in one of these categories. It’s your job to quickly figure out where they fit, and how to give them what they need.

You might start with a broad statement, like “I’m in the IT industry,” but that won’t invite much follow-up, will it?

So how do you say what you do at a high-level, without a long drawn out explanation?

Keep the core, with a twist.

Try something like, “We help companies use their IT investments to increase profitability.”

If you’re lucky, the next question will be, “How?”

If not, it’s time for some questions of your own. Probe just a little and you’re likely to discover a kernel of information that will help your better position your message.

Say you’re talking to the woman next you on the bus. “Oh, I work at a dentist’s office, I’m a hygienist.”

End of conversation?

Hardly.

Think quick, what’s it like to work there?

Ask a good follow-up question and you’re off…

“I’ve noticed that in some dental offices, the computer system really slows down patient appointments while the hygienist enters information, is that a problem in your office?”

“Why yes, sometimes it is…”

“Well, we work with dentists and other medical professionals to improve the patient work flow so technology works for you, not against you. Maybe I could meet with someone in your office to see if we could help you.”

See that? Pretty cool huh?

OK, so she’s not a decision maker, but I bet she’s influential enough to get you a contact in her office, and maybe even an appointment with the person who does make the decisions.

Your Message Framework

To make this approach work, you need a matrix of top level messages and supporting points you can pull out on a moment’s notice. It’s easy to create, and it gives everyone on your team the flexibility to have naturally-flowing conversations instead of feeling like a bad actor bombing in front of a hostile audience.

Forget memorizing that old elevator pitch word for word. It’s the concepts and framework that matter. Build your matrix, then run through some role-playing scenarios with your team to practice using those messages in real-life scenarios.

After that, give your team a week to try out this new approach on everyone they meet.

Then get your your team together again, and gather their feedback. Did the messages work? Were some of them suspect? Too stilted or not believable?

Feel free to rework your message matrix with the phases and keywords that work best. Eventually, you’ll have a finely tuned collection of messages for the various audiences you meet.

Kiss Your Elevator Pitch Good-Bye is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

Sorry to break up with you this way, but a tweet was just too short

I tried, I really did. You looked so fun, and I thought it would last.

But the promise was better than the reality of living with you.

You may not miss me at all, but I’ve got to get this off my chest.

You let me down….

You don’t even know what I like

After all this time, you still don’t remember that I shop at Publix and hang out at Panera.

Is it really that hard?

I go there all the time, so why do you keep showing me a list of places that have nothing to do with my preferences? If you really knew me, you’d know what I like and make it easy for me to check in there.

Your data is a mess

I’m not a neat freak, but really. Every time I come to your house, there are broken locations laying around everywhere.

How am I supposed to decide if I should check in at “Bank if North Georgia” or “Bank of North Georgia”?

Should try both? Can I be Mayor of both? Does anyone care?

I’m tired of TMI

I don’t want to check in to at your friend’s house. Sure, maybe hanging at “Suzi’s Pad” is fun for you, but I don’t know her, and I’m kind of the jealous type.

Can’t you just keep whatever’s going on with the two of you under wraps and let me think I’m special?

My friends don’t really like you

I thought you were cool at first, but it’s hard to love you when my friends don’t want anything to do with you.

Maybe it’s because they don’t know you well enough, but you could try a little harder to win them over.

It’s not all about you

I have needs, too, and I’m not getting much from this relationship. Oh, sure at the start, you were full of romantic promises. “Come get great deals and discounts,” you said.

Ha! I should have known!

You only gave me one special worth using, and I’ve given you hundreds – yes, hundreds – of check-ins.

Is that the best you can do?

No, don’t go talking about your tips again! One in a hundred is OK, but mostly they’re just rants from people who are not so happy. That’s not what I want to see.

I’m an optimist. I want tips that help, not hate.

I don’t like to fight dirty

There were a few times when the thrill of the hunt was fun. Battling it out for Mayor of St. Aidan’s with Amy and Jonathan was a challenge, and I kept thinking I’d unseat that guy at Roam…at least until I discovered that people could cheat.

Yes, people cheat!

Letting someone check in somewhere when they are miles away? No wonder they’ve been mayor for months. That’s just not fair.

So it’s over now

I’ve decided it’s time to end our relationship, and open myself up to something new. I can only handle so many apps at a time, and you’re weighing me down. Holding me back from all the exciting possibilities the world has to offer.

I’m checking out, moving on, playing the field.

You can have my mayorships back.

I know it’s hard for you to change. That’s ok, I understand.

Really I do.

I’ll always remember the good times.

Wait, what was that? A new app?

“Hi, I’m Joey…”

Image by Lusi

Dear foursquare, We’re Through is a post from: Fresh Sprouts - Marketing Insights for a Social World. Copyright 2011.

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