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Microsoft Innovations: Empowering the Mobile Experience

I am really excited to announce my newest book is NOW AVAILABLE –  Visual Social Media Marketing: Harnessing Images, Instagram, Infographics and Pinterest to Grow Your Business Online.

About 6 months ago I started writing about a trend that I saw emerging in digital marketing.  Images.  Across social networks, images were consistently trending.  The fastest growing social networks focused on images and visual content.  Images were driving traffic, leads and sales to websites.

The more I researched it and looked into it the more I realized that many marketers were missing the biggest trend in digital and social media marketing.

Social media marketers keep talking about content and content marketing.  Increasingly, the content that is connecting with people and breaking through the online clutter is visual.  The reason is simple.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  The truth is that our brains actually process images faster than text.  It is a quicker way for us to get information. This is why, in a cluttered world where we don’t have a lot of time or attention, images are breaking through and getting results.

If you aren’t poised to take advantage of this trend then you are missing out.

This book is a quick read that is jam-packed with examples, case studies and success stories to help you really understand how leading businesses are using this concept to get results.

After countless hours of writing, editing, researching and interviewing I am really excited that this book is finally published.  A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who supported me and my business over the years.  Without all of the support that I have this wouldn’t be possible.

What you’ll get in this book:

• LOTS of case studies and real world success stories for you to learn from
• A checklist to show you exactly how to get started
• A short read (only 115 pages)
• Lots of examples to give you creative ideas to build your plan
  

Why you should buy this book:

• You can start taking advantage of this trend before your competitors
• Generate traffic, leads and sales to your website
• Get quick results from small changes
• Take advantage of the hottest social networks
• It is less than $10

Get Your Copy now:

Print Edition

Kindle Edition

BIG THANKS to those who helped make this possible:

• Alex Webb editor
• Kim Quindlen for editing and actually getting the book done
• Joe Busam for visual design and being awesome
• My mother, who gave me life
• All of those who contributed examples and case studies

View the book trailer here!

The post My Third Book: Visual Social Media Marketing: Harnessing Images, Instagram, Infographics and Pinterest to Grow Your Business Online appeared first on The Marketess.

1. Achieve Likability

• Smile like you mean it
• Accept others for who they are
• Default to “yes” and think about how you can help the other person

2. Achieve Trustworthiness

If they like you but don’t trust you, you can influence them.

• Trust others before you expect them to trust you
• Give people a reason to trust you (for example the Zappos return policy)
• Bake don’t ea
• Eaters think that there is only so much food
• Bakers think that they can create more – there is enough for everyone
• The world isn’t a zero sum game
• Agree on Something
• Find commonalities and Build Common Ground
• Things that we agree on bonds us and builds trust

3. Perfect

• Have great stuff
• Make great products that are Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering, Elegant

4. Launch

• Tell a story – stop using stupid words that don’t mean anything – everyone does that
• People can remember the story
• Plant many seeds so that many people embrace your products
• Nobodys are the new somebodies
• Don’t focus only on A listers
• Use salient points – explain things in terms that people understand – for example 300 calories = running 3 miles
• Don’t talk about dollars, talk about what the dollars buy – focus on the things that people care about, the benefit

5. Overcome Resistance

• Create smart strategies to overcome resistance that people may have
• Provide social proof – knowing that our friends do something makes us more likely to do it
• Use a dataset to prove and change a mindset
• Enchant all of the influencers
• Build an ecosystem – customers, developers, resellers, user groups, websites, blogs, online special interest groups, conferences and more
• Invoke reciprocation – do something for someone and they will feel obligated to return the favor
• The best response when someone thanks you is “I know that you would do the same for me” – which puts the person on notice that you may ask for something in the future
• When someone owes you a favor, enable them to pay you back
• Don’t rely on money – passion doesn’t require $$ – it is more powerful if people believe in it

7. Present

• Customize the beginning of your presentation
• Be a great presenter and storyteller
• Create a custom introduction that makes you relatable
• Sell your dream – know how to sell your enchantment to people
• 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font

8. Use Technology

• Remove the speedbumps – make it easy for people to connect with you
• Provide value – especially in social media
• Information, insights and assistance make good content
• Great content opens the door
• Engage – fast, flat, frequent

9. Enchant Up

• Enchant your boss by dropping everything when they ask for something
• Prototype fast – try something quick to show that it is a priority and to get feedback
• Deliver bad news early

• Provide a MAP – Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose
• Empower employees to do what is right
• Suck it up – willingness to do dirty jobs is enchanting

RESULT: Resisting  You is Futile

The post The Art of Enchantment with Guy Kawasaki at #BoldFusion Cincinnati appeared first on The Marketess.

The good news for those living in Cincinnati is that there are a number of other airports nearby, and many travelers regularly drive an hour to an hour and a half to save hundreds of dollars by flying out of Dayton, Columbus, Lexington or Indiana.

I rarely fly out of CVG (the Cincinnati airport) any more because there are few direct flights and it is extremely expensive.

Think CVG First

When I saw this advertising campaign for CVG, I was floored.  The slogan is “think CVG first”.  Everyone does.  Who wouldn’t rather fly out of an airport that is nicer and closer?  Who wouldn’t want to reduce their overall travel time by flying from their home airport? Plus, the newly renovated airport is clean, beautiful, comfortable and has TONS of electrical outlets.

Everyone thinks of CVG first.

The reason that people don’t fly from CVG is because it is so expensive.

They start by searching for flights from CVG and then realize that they can save $200 – $500 by flying from somewhere that is only an hour away.

The high priced airfares have been in the local news for years.

To me, this campaign makes CVG airport seem out of touch.  I am a frequent business traveler, as are many of my friends, and very few travelers regularly fly from CVG.  Not because we don’t think of it, but because there are better schedules at lower prices at airports that aren’t much further away.

I laugh every time I see this campaign because it is so out of touch.

Show Don’t Tell: How CVG Could Address the Issue

If CVG really wanted to show people that they are actually in touch with why people choose other airports they could address the actual issue.  Sure, they don’t control pricing at an airport, and they are probably just as annoyed as we are about flight prices, since high fares means fewer travelers and less revenue for them.  That being said, I’m sure that it would be bad publicity for them to attack the airlines, who are also one of their stakeholders.

Here is what I would do.

Take my pointless advertising budget and say “Hey, we can’t control the price of flights out of the airport, but we share your frustration.  We are taking our ad budget and using it to give you $$ back.”  Give travelers money off of each flight, or a voucher for free food or something…….  Show that you understand the problem and care about it.

Rather than trying to broadcast messages to people, show them that you care about the issue.  Even if you can’t fix it.  Be a champion.

That would win tremendous goodwill in the community.

Think of the PepsiRefresh project – they took the millions that they would have spent on the SuperBowl and instead created a grant program for businesses and community organizations.  They said “rather than spending millions messaging at you, we’ll do something for you”.  They probably generated more media and more impressions from the Refresh project than they would have with a superbowl add.

What do You Think?

The post Show Don’t Tell: Good Marketing Isn’t about Irrelevant Messages appeared first on The Marketess.

The reasons?

• They can’t justify ROI
• They have “continuously failed” to prove marketing strategies and campaigns delivered business growth
• They live too much in the brand, creative and social media bubble
• 73% of CEO’s believe marketers lack credibility because they cannot prove the business impact of marketing

What they would like to see is more accountability for ROI, sales growth and profit.  I have also heard that marketers have the shortest tenure of any C-level executives, and it seems that accountability and measurability are the chief concerns.  As they should be.

The Problem Seems Clear

The “trust me, this stuff works” mentality of many traditional and social media marketers is eroding trust for the marketing profession.  While we may not always be able to precisely calculate the exact impact or ROI of a marketing campaign, there should be clear logic and a financially justifiable reason for any undertaking.

Social media ROI is something that we talk a lot about, the the challenge of attributing ROI to marketing is a much larger problem.

Client: How do we calculate ROI for social media?

Me: Let’s use the same principles that you use to calculate the ROI for the rest of your marketing.

Client: What do you mean?

Me: Well, what is the ROI on your magazine ads or billboards, and how do you calculate it.

Client: We don’t.

Me: Interesting.

The ROI problem isn’t a social media one.  It is a larger problem.

The challenge for marketers is to justify and prove the return of all of their marketing.   The issue is that marketing ROI is very difficult to measure.  If we look at a traditional purchase funnel, we can measure action (when someone buys) but many of our marketing efforts focus on the top of the funnel (awareness and interest) which may be harder to tie back to ROI.  Also, the very bottom of the funnel – loyalty and advocacy may also be hard to tie a number to.

The problem is that if we focus our marketing efforts only on the parts of the funnel that lead to a sale or action, we are missing the big picture of what has been scientifically proven to lead someone to purchase.

The top of the funnel is important, but it is also the hardest to measure.

What Can We Do?

I don’t know what the answer is (but would love to hear your thoughts in the comments).

My instincts would say:

• Educate ourselves more about the psychology of buying to better justify spending throughout the funnel
• Educate our executives with measuring social media training
• Create trackable campaigns
• Be strategic so that you can tie your activities back to strategic objectives
• Use multiple approaches to track ROI

Not everything that can be measured counts, and not everything that counts can be measured.

That doesn’t mean that all activities shouldn’t tie back to a marketing objective.  I recently interviewed HubSpot and they have lead generation goals for every channel they participate in.  While some social media sites don’t generate direct leads, they can justify strategically why they choose to participate anyways based on their objectives.

What do you think? How do we fix this problem?

The post 70% of CEOs Have Lost Trust In Marketers: What is the Problem and What do We Do About It? appeared first on The Marketess.

Now that the election is over, marketing and advertising pros as well as campaign marketers are sharing the “secret sauce” and evaluating the strategies, tactics and tools used during the election.  This post isn’t about the politics (I can’t even vote) or intended to support a candidate or party.

I’ve Been Talking for A While About VAM (Value Added Marketing)

In my Social Media Boot Camp and Online training I’ve been talking more and more about creating marketing and using digital (or real life) tools to actually add value through your marketing.  The idea here is that rather than just using channels to yell messages at people and broadcast your message, think about how your marketing could inherently be valuable.  How could you use your marketing to add value to your audience?

Show Don’t Tell

One of the key concepts of Value Added Marketing is what I call show don’t tell.  Rather than telling people what you want them to believe, find ways to show them.  Put your money where your mouth is.

For example, if I was a doctor and I want you to believe that I care about providing you with a great experience I might create a text message program to let you know when I am running behind schedule.

The idea is rather than yelling messages at people, show them what you really mean.

Value Added Marketing in Line Waiting to Vote

I can’t vote, but a friend of mine went to vote early last week, and waited in line for 3 hours to cast his vote.  Political campaigns were both present at the waiting line, possibly trying to pick up a few late undecided votes.

One party had their volunteers handing you more political info sheets (as though we didn’t all get enough of those in the mail).

The other party had volunteers thanking you for waiting in line to vote and offering free hot chocolate or water.  No political messages.  No trying to change your mind.  Just a friendly thank-you and an offer to make you more comfortable.

While I’m not sure that hot chocolate would change my mind, the point is that by doing something valuable and helpful to people they like you more.  We often think about marketing as opportunities to shout messages at people.  Instead, if we look at marketing as opportunities to add value and really give something to people we might notice that they actually like us more and are more likely to choose to do business with us.

How Do You Unexpectedly Delight People and Give them Value?

Part of what makes the efforts of the second political party so interesting is that they didn’t even bring up “and vote for X”.  You know why they are there and who they want you to vote for.  They don’t need to harass you any more.  They focused on being nice.

One question to ask yourself is how you can unexpectedly delight your customers (or future customers)?  What touch-points do you have with them that you can turn in to an extraordinary experience?

The post Value Added Marketing: An Election Example appeared first on The Marketess.

Who Cares How Many Fans, Followers, Likes or Friends You Have?

It really doesn’t matter.  If you are a business, you are on social media to support your business, not to be popular on the internet (unless that is in fact your goal, in which case you probably won’t make a lot of money).

In working with businesses it seems that sometimes we get caught up in the follower counts, and forget why we are there in the first place.  A business is using social media to grow and connect with customers.  If fans and followers are the most effective way to do this, then perhaps they count, but it is important not to lose sight of why you are there to begin with.

Reverse Your Thinking

The problem is that Facebook trains us to think that we need to focus on our page – what we post and who connects with us on it (or likes it).  That is the wrong thinking.  Stop thinking about your page, and evaluate Facebook as a TOOL and ask yourself – what is the best way to use it to achieve my marketing objectives?  It may be through you page, or through inspiring and encouraging behavior off your page.

Fact 1: Not Everyone Who Likes Your Product Wants to Like You On The Internet

Even if I love your product, I might not be interested in having a relationship with you on social media.

I love the Swiffer Sweep & Vac.  It is one of the most amazing products, and I recommend it to people all the time.  I don’t want to like them on Facebook, because I don’t really have an interest in hearing about the brand or cleaning tips or whatever they happen to post on their facebook page.

I may have no use for your updates and information (and personally I find the swiffer ones VERY annoying).  Who cares if I don’t want to like you on Facebook and apparently talk about how men can’t clean (that seems to be the theme on the Swiffer page)…. I still love your product.

Fact 2: Word of Mouth Off Your Page is Probably More Effective

Again, brands focus on getting every conversation about their brand on their Facebook page – who cares?  It is probably more effective if I tell my friends (who may not even know about your product) versus telling you on your page.  Plus, more people will see a comment that is posted as your own status update vs. a comment on a brand page.

It seems more likely that my friends, who know me and value my opinion would be interested in buying a Sweep and Vac after my recommendation when I post about it authentically as a status update.

Fact 3: Focusing on Your Page Really Only Reaches Your Current Customers

There are stats that will debate this, but when you really think about it, people don’t just scan around on Facebook looking for new things to like.  They usually like products that they like and use in real life.  So if all of your Facebook efforts are centered around your page, you are probably only reaching people who already know you and like you (which is why they have liked you on the internet after all).

Many brands want to acquire new customers through efforts on their page – this only works if what you do is so interesting that your customers or fans share it with their friends.  Otherwise it stays in the echo-chamber of your page.

Start With Your Marketing Goals/Objectives

Un-train yourself on Facebook, and start with the end in mind…. What do you actually want to get, and what is the best way to use the social network to get it.

The post Are You in the Business of Getting Likes on Facebook? appeared first on The Marketess.

I have said for a while in my training now that the biggest problem with social media is that it is free.  What I mean by this is that brands and businesses vomit content all over the internet, without stopping to think about the content that they post.

If we approached any other medium this way, we likely wouldn’t get results.  The key to success is a solid strategy and a brilliant creative execution of that strategy (this is why ad agencies get paid a lot of money).  The combination of strategy and execution is what leads to successful social media marketing, and successful marketing on every other channel.

The problem is that in social media, there is no cost to post an update, so we just post stuff….. with almost no thought.  The problem is that as social media channels have become more cluttered, breaking through the noise is getting harder, and just posting stuff isn’t good enough any more.

The Social Media 2 Minute Rule

I propose the social media 2 minute rule, like the 2 second rule (or whatever it is) for food to sit on the ground before you are allowed to eat it.

The 2 Minute Social Media Rule would state that a brand/business has to spend at least 2 minutes after initially writing a post/tweet/update improving the “interestingness” or creativity of the post.

One of the things that we know about social media and marketing overall is that good copywriting makes all the difference.  Finding interesting ways to reframe your content or using better words in the post can make all the difference on how people respond to you.  Spending just 2 minutes on each post can dramatically impact the results that you get from social media.

SAT: Stop and Think Before you Post

Respect your audience enough to value their time.  If you can’t spend 2 minutes improving your post (at a minimum) why should they invest the time in reading it?

The post The 2 Minute Social Media Post Rule appeared first on The Marketess.

These days it seems like every brand has a Facebook application…. and personally, I find very few of them at all interesting or engaging.  I came across the Dasani photosynthesis application (I think through an ad), and it was one of the better experiences that I’ve had with a brand on Facebook.  I wanted to share the cool app and also highlight some of the benefits from a marketing perspective.

I have had TONS of people ask me about my Facebook picture (which was generated from the app) so I wanted to share the app, plus some marketing insights on why this execution makes sense from a marketing perspective.

1. On-Brand Socially Relevant Concept

The photosynthesis application by Dasani takes your Facebook profile photos and turns them into a collage image of a photo that you select that can be used as your cover photo on Facebook (it generates an image in the right size for the cover image).

The theme of the app is very relevant to the brand strategy – you are recycling your Facebook photos to create a new cover image.  The concept is both on-brand (they are promoting recycling) and socially relevant (Facebook cover photos are shared online).  In addition, they actually donate to Keep America Beautiful for each image that is uploaded (extra bonus).

The brand is also integrated throughout the app experience.  For example, while it is creating your collage, the app asks you to wait while they recycle your photos.  The brand positioning message is clearly integrated into all aspects of the app.

2. Simple Execution

So many facebook apps start out as a great idea, but the actually user flow is clunky and difficult to execute.  Not the Dasani App.

You simply choose the image that you want to turn into a mosaic for your cover photo and the app with then use the rest of your profile photos to create it, thereby recycling your photos.

The app was surprisingly easy to use and clearly had a good user interface/user design team that created it.

3. Sharing is Built In

Sharing the concept is built right in.  First, the output is posted on your Facebook page, but also in the album it encourages you to share with your friends.  I can’t tell you how many people asked me how I got my profile photo…..

4. They Respect Your Privacy

You can approve the photos before they appear in your album…. so if you look terrible, don’t worry about it.

5. They Don’t Punch You In The Face With The Brand

PLUS, they resisted the urge to screw it up by putting their logo on your profile picture or the app.  The name of the app appears as the title of the album.  The branding is subtle but shows people where they can create their own.  Nice balance of branding vs. annoying.

6. If You Build It, They Probably Don’t Even Know

The old “If you build it they will come” doesn’t work well online.  As I searched for more information about the app, I found a number of brand sponsored blog posts, where the bloggers were paid to write about the application.

The quality of the posts ranged, from the one on the right, which looks like it was copied from a website and probably isn’t very effective, to other much more natural ones.

The one downside was that none of the bloggers had actually used or tried the app before posting…. it would have been a lot more powerful if the bloggers were encouraged to use their own experience as the premise for the post, especially since the app experience is so good.

Using bloggers, influencers and ads to spread the word is key.  This is often referred to as PAID, EARNED and OWNED media.  Dasani promoted it with paid media (blog posts and I think ads), earned media (people like me who love it and are talking about it) and owned media (on their channels).

After seeing all of these posts I thought that maybe Dasani should pay me for writing about them!  Also, note that the bloggers all used proper disclosures.

Have You Tried it Yet?  What do you Think?

The post Dasani Facebook App – “Recycle” your Photos and Get a Great Cover Image appeared first on The Marketess.

Stop Vomiting QR Codes at Me; Normal People Dont’ Use Them.

The mass adoption of QR Codes in marketing is a perfect example of this.  It seemed that everywhere you turn these days there is a QR code, typically with no compelling reason as to why I should scan it. Only 5% of consumers have actually scanned a QR code recently.  Marketers are flocking to QR codes, but their love of the new medium is not shared by consumers.

As marketers, it is important to consider the actual usage habits of the audiences we want to reach.  Most people don’t scan QR codes.  Why waste your limited print space with a call to action that few people know what to do with and even fewer will actually do.

Remember How Normal Humans Act.  They Are NOT Super Users.

Regular people don’t love to adopt new technologies or connect with brands because they do interesting things on the internet.  Regular people like brands on the internet because they like them in real life.  They don’t want to try every new social network (like Google+ or Spotify).  They watch TV on a TV.  They don’t want to follow brands on Twitter.

They want to discover what interests them, and sometimes that comes from a company.

Enjoy this Infographic – The Last Section is Hysterical.

The post Marketers: Don’t Forget How REAL, NORMAL People Act appeared first on The Marketess.