William James said, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”

 

As a marketing consultant, I’ve seen lots and lots of complicated stuff:

• Statistical graphs and papers explaining complicated consumer patterns
• Focus groups analyzing brain waves
• Case studies involving years of research
• 200-page business plans

Not to mention, just to keep up with technology, you have to know about the latest social networks, websites, marketing software, articles, fads, trends… through your Blackberry, email, twitter account, rss feeds, facebook, myspace page… It’s exhausting.

 

I have literally spent months training myself not to obsessively-compulsively check my emails every three minutes.

 

Of course, email is important. Keeping up with technology is important. Following industry trends is important. BUT there is so much that is unimportant or just gets in the way of progress.

 

Here’s an exercise that you can do with your company to vastly improve your marketing results and simplify your life:

 

Hold a meeting with the important top executives/marketing decision makers at your company. Let them know the meeting is going to last for 60 minutes and they are not allowed to have their cell phones or any kind of electronic device for the entire 60 minutes. Their assistants are also not allowed to come in with notes or outside messages (unless it’s a matter of life and death).

 

Then ask this question, “What are 5 things we could be doing as a company to bring in more sales?”

 

Then have everyone write down their answers. Tell them that all five of their answers should fit on less than one page. Give them 5 minutes to do this.

 

Then go around the room and have them all share their 5 ideas (give them each 3 minutes to do so). Don’t let anyone else give feedback at this point. If the group likes the idea (by raise of hand), put it on a whiteboard or ‘master paper’. Your “master idea list” should be limited to the top 3-5 ideas.

 

After everyone has given their ideas and the ‘master idea list’ has been composed, spend the rest of the time simply addressing these four points for each idea:

1. What is the step-by-step process and who is responsible? i.e. step 1: Julie researches online for companies that may be interested in our services; step 2: Julie puts the information in our CRM system; step 3: Julie sends them an email about our services; step 4: Brian calls the companies and sets up an appointment with those interested; step 5: John goes to the appointment and does a need analysis…. and so on
2. What goals do we expect to achieve? i.e. we expect to gain 50 new leads a day, set up 1 new appointment per day, and close 1 per week.
3. How are we going to track it?i.e. we are going to have a report that tells us the number of new leads, calls, appointments and sales that were achieved every day - and Joe is in charge of following up on it with the team.
4. What needs to be in place for this to work smoothly? i.e. we need to have an email template designed that Julie can send out; we need to have Brian set aside 4 hours per day to make calls; we need to have our CRM ready to run the right reports; etc.

 

Don’t get bogged down with detouring details. If the meeting goes off on a tangent, bring it back in line.

 

Everything you write down should be obvious common sense. And all steps should be easy to follow and explain to your team.

 

When you are finished - you should have a very simple plan outlining exactly how you are going to bring in more sales.

 

The tricky part then becomes ensuring that your team is following the plan… more on that in the next post…

What is the difference between and offline and an online brand?

 

 

Now that we are in the “age of the internet,” it is crucially important for companies to understand how to successfully launch a digital brand.

 

But before we cover digital brands, let’s look at branding in general.

 

According to Wikipedia, “A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artefact or entity.”

 

The idea of branding is to create certain emotions in the minds of your consumers. In other words, when people think “Nike,” ideas of quality, performance, living the dream (like Michael Jordan) and athletics enter your mind. This is not by accident. Nike has spent years building it’s brand of “authentic athletic performance.”

 

The purpose of a digital brand is no different than an offline brand. There are, however, some differences that you should be aware of.

 

Word travels much faster now:

It used to be that you could launch a company slowly. Start on a local level and then go regionally and then nationally and then even internationally. With the internet, that has all changed. The market is not nearly as forgiving. If you have a concept that becomes popular online, it can spread like wildfire. The pro to this is that you can build a brand VERY quickly. The con is that your brand can fail just as quickly. If you mess up, the whole world knows about it and won’t touch you with a ten foot pole.

 

The Online Experience:

Digital branding is very dependent upon existing technology to provide an “experience.” Many companies miss out on the idea that their website and online material must function in a way that supports their brand. For example, check out Wal-Mart’s website - the experience of browsing through it is much like perusing their store. It is to-the-point and functional, there are many categories of products you can choose from, and you can shop by price which is very important to the Wal-Mart brand.

 

Now check out Gucci’s website. It feels luxurious. It functions well and a lot of effort has been put into the way the site responds and transitions to new screens. When you click on a product category, the products are displayed beautifully as if each one is a treasure. This is all a part of their brand. If Wal-Mart tried to create a luxurious site, they would lose customers because that is not what Wal-Mart customers value. Gucci customers value luxury, feeling glamourous and buying “the best” (at a price). These companies are two polar opposites and their digital brands express that.

 

A Level Playing Field:

It used to be that the “big players” in the business world were those with lots of money. They were the businesses that could spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns. That is not the case anymore. The internet has made it so that even start-up businesses with a shoestring budget can make a large impression and attract many customers. Because of the internet, big companies have many small competitors that can establish just as much online credibilty. This means that your online brand and image matters more than ever.

A big challenge in the digital marketing / digital media world we live in now is a false assumption.  It’s the assumption that cool new ways to reach an audience have changed the rules of marketing and branding. The internet is the greatest message delivery mechanism yet invented. But it’s important the message being delivered be guided by age old, time tested marketing principles.

 

These marketing principles, at their core, boil down to branding through differentiation – through your position in the market, your brand message, and the way the message is “dramatized”.  It’s creating the perception in your customer’s mind that your product or service is the one to meet their needs.  It’s clearly stating the difference, the reason that your product is better than your competitors.  When your customer’s perceptions cause them to choose your product over the competition’s, you’re well on your way.  The key to all of this is perception.  It’s less a question of whether your product really is better, and more a question of whether it’s perceived that way in the marketplace.

 

Most companies are convinced that their products are the ‘best’.  The issue is whether or not your customers – potential and actual – perceive it that way.  That perception is affected by branding… how the message of your product’s differentiation is “dramatized”.  That can occur through advertising, public relations, word of mouth – and increasingly, the internet, in its various forms, is the best choice for all three of these methods. 

 

But it’s easy to get caught up in the medium – at the expense of the message.  The message needs to do its job, no matter what medium it’s carried over.  And the job of the message is to clearly differentiate your product.  To give the customer the reason, in short, that they should buy yours instead of theirs.

 

This may all seems obvious, but mistakes abound in following these simple rules of the road.  And on the information highway, it’s easy to get lost in all the clever things that can be done with the latest, greatest Web 2.0 delivery mechanisms.

 

Example of what doesn’t work:  Heinz comes out with mustard… in a bottle shaped like their catsup bottle.  (You haven’t seen it, it flopped.)  The reason it flopped is in the customer’s mind – their perception, in other words – Heinz equals catsup. 

 

Example of what works:  Toyota spends one billion dollars in R and D, and rolls out the Lexus.  Not the ‘premium Toyota’, but the Lexus.  It becomes one of the most successful products in history.  In the perception of the customer, Lexus is a separate product from a Toyota.  It has it’s own category (Premium Luxury Car – Japan.)  Toyotas are reliable.  Lexus is luxurious.    

    

 Currently these kinds of messages (brand messages) can be communicated to the marketplace in a nano-second through digital media. Digital media is fast, powerful, everywhere at once.  So it’s more important than ever that the customer’s perceptions – the ones that exist now, and, just as critically, the new ones - that you are influencing – are carefully taken in to account.  Digital media is powerful, but it amplifies everything.  So mistakes (Heinz mustard) and successes (Lexus premium luxury cars) are amplified.

 

The bottom line – use the powerful new digital tools, and follow the lessons of the wise old men of marketing and advertising.  Proper attention paid to both creates the perfect approach to building your brand.

 

A few days ago I told my younger brother to sign up for twitter so he could be my twitter friend. He first asked me what the heck twitter is and then after I explained it was a place to type little mini message updates - he told me it sounded a little too weird for him. “What do I have to update people about every day?” he asked.

 

It wasn’t until I told him that Joe Sugarman was following me (and I was following him) on twitter, that my brother got excited. You see my brother has been faithfully studying copywriting for the last couple of years and Sugarman is one of the greatest copywriters of all time and one of my brother’s personal heroes. 

 

Twitter is being used by the most innovative marketers to make a HUGE impact. Just to give you an example - at my company, we do a lot of work with online product launches and twitter has now become one of the best ways to announce a new product and quickly get it out there.

 

I know that when I first signed up for twitter (not too long ago), my first question was “How do I actually use this thing?” I had a lot of friends who were constantly updating me about everyday things - i.e. going out to lunch, coming back from a workout, hanging out at the airport… Although I didn’t get it at first, those little messages started to become addictive. Even though what they were doing was somewhat mundane, I still was interested because they were my friends.

 

Once I got into it a little more, I began following business gurus that I admire. I find it so cool that I can keep up with what Eben Pagan is reading or what seminar Joe Sugarman just returned from or see the CEO of Zappos warming up a pizza with his iron in his hotel room… all of this on twitter.

 

All of this is “cool,” but what is really amazing is how twitter can help you market your business.

 

The following are the top ten steps to successfully marketing your business on twitter:

 

1. Pay Attention To Your Name: Your username is very important. It is listed in each post and is a part of your business or personal brand. Be sure that it doesn’t contain too many letters or odd symbols (like underscores).

 

2. Be a Proactive Follower: Search for people to follow right when you sign up (you can follow me at http://twitter.com/lauraroser - that is - if you want). The more you follow, the more likely you are to be followed. The following links will get you started searching: 

• Twitter’s search engine: www.search.twitter.com 
• Twellow.com: more targeted searches by categories
• Twitterati.com: lists the top tweeters (for a list of the top click here)

 

3. Manage Your Replies: I recommend downloading a program called tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) - this will help you to organize who is on your list and your responses. It also makes it easier to send personal messages. TweetScan can also be great to manage your replies (I haven’t used this, but it’s gotten great reviews).

 

4. Advertise Yourself: Add your twitter account ID to your email signature so people you email can start following you. (your ID, by the way, is just www.twitter.com/YourUserName).

 

5. Say Something That Makes People Say “Wow!”: For example, if you are selling pizza ovens, you may say something like “did you know that president JFK ate 200 pizzas a year? http://tinyurl.com/blah.” The url at the end would direct them to your pizza oven site. (I just made up that stat, in case you were wondering).

 

6. Read The Bios Of People Who Follow You: See what interests them and send a personal message. This is a good way to form a relationship. For example, if someone who enjoys art just started following you, send them a personal message about an art blog they should check out. This gets the conversation going in a positive way.

 

7. Don’t SPAM: In other words, don’t send a personal message to a bunch of different people with the EXACT same question or content. And don’t just try to sell your products or services. Twitter is about providing useful information. It’s fine to mention what you do, you company, etc… but change your mindset from one of “sales” to one of “information giving.” Make it your mission to help others, give useful information and build relationships with no ulterior motives… If you find someone who can genuinely benefit from your company, offer your help in a very genuine way.

 

8. Say “Thank You”: I have to admit, I don’t do this one very well. But, it is an excellent idea to thank people for taking an interest and following you. The more interest you take in someone else, the more interest they will take in you. Also, if someone decides to follow you, it’s nice if you start following them. 

 

9. Keep the Conversation Going: Make sure to update your posts often. This keeps you in the minds of your fellow tweeters and increases the odds of people building a relationship with you. The more information rich your posts are, the better.

 

10. Direct People To Your Sites: If you have an interesting article you just posted on your blog, post a link for people to go check it out. If you just released a new product, post a direct link to it in your twitter post. Get people going to your website. Twitter has a limited number of characters, so you may need to use tinyurl.com or a similar service to shrink your url down.  

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at laura@virtualmg.com (follow me at twitter.com/lauraroser)

 

Happy Tweeting!

Online Product Launch Success

“I’m going to create an online 12-week program for stock traders,” said Norman Hallett to me about eight months ago. “It’s called ‘The Disciplined Trader.’ I’ve already bought the domain name…Now I need a logo, website, some sales pages and an online membership system. What’s your schedule for the next few weeks?”

 

This is how it all began.

 

Norman has been a client of VirtualMG for over three years. And has turned into a very dear friend. We helped him design and implement his “lifestyle hypnosis” membership program a couple of years ago (www.selfhelpexpress.com) and have been working with him throughout the years to maintain his websites, shopping cart, sales pages, set up emails, and so on.

 

Although Norman has always been a visionary, I could tell that this new endeavor was going to take things to a whole new level.

 

The first milestone was the “beta” launch. This is where the program had to be 100% functional so Norman could market it to his own list and fix all the bugs before marketing it through other affiliates or to the general public. The goal was to get at least 20 sign ups and a lot of feedback. We created a brand for The Disciplined Trader, as well as a sales website and backend area where members could pay and login to view their new ‘lessons’ each week. The backend consists of a forum, videos and interactive training materials that are posted each week and some bonus content (such as trading journals, tips, and bonus recordings from famous traders).

 

The beta launch went wonderfully. Through his emails and web sales page, Norman was able to get over 20 people to sign up for the beta program at $800 a piece within only a few days (and on a holiday weekend to boot!). He meticulously paid attention to what worked and what didn’t with the marketing and we adjusted the marketing materials to optimize their success.

 

Then we had the theta launch about eight weeks later – this was another test to ensure we had everything just right. At this point we (mostly Paul Galloway) added a more robust affiliate system.

 

Finally on November 6, Norman began his first official launch with his affiliate partners.

 

By November 12, Norman had over 100 people signed up for his program paying over $900 each. Incredible!

 

If you are interested in learning more about Norman’s program, please visit www.thedisciplinedtrader.com. 

On Friday we shot 24 videos about digital branding and online marketing. They are currently in the editing booth…

 

Here’s why we did it:

1. Video is a VERY good way to get high rankings on Google and other search engines.
2. Video is a very good way to promote your company… it’s interactive, it helps you connect with people on a personal level, it’s a better way to tell your story.
3. Video is hard to produce (or at least semi-difficult)… this means not EVERY company out there is going to have a bunch of videos - so, it’s a very good way to differentiate yourself.

Why 24 videos?

The first 20 videos will be distributed on various listing sites…i.e. youtube, podcast directories, vimeo, etc. They will be titled with different key words - so when someone looks for “digital branding” online, the appropriate video will come up and then direct them to our website. The 20 videos each highlights a caveat of our service so that people can learn more about what we do and more about online marketing in general.

 

The last 4 videos are for:

• Video 1: Goes on our landing page or squeeze page where we will be offering a free report about digital branding.
• Video 2: Is a “thank you” video that will pop up after they have signed up for our list.
• Video 3: Is a short video that asks them to go to our website to get the free report (this is tacked on to the end of each of the 20 videos).
• Video 4: Is a longer video that goes out in our email communications and is put on our site - detailing our story and how we can assist businesses with marketing.

 The whole point of all of this is to quickly build up our email list and to help people learn more about digital branding and online marketing.

 

We are going to launch the campaign in about a week - I’ll let you know how it goes!

 

Best,

 

Laura (laura@virtualmg.com)

Everyone knows that Web 2.0 is the Next Big Thing. Social web sites are growing at an explosive rate and they already impact the way we do many things – how we get our news, network, or do marketing and public relations. Everyone knows they need to get on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, ASAP.

 

But what does that mean? Where do you start? How do you make sense of all that’s going on out there? How do you pick the best options for you and your business? What are the pitfalls? How do you clear the fog of social media, and make Web 2.0 a significant part of your marketing mix?

 

What is Web 2.0?

 

Web 2.0 is a term coined by Tim O’Reilly to describe the latest trends in Internet technology. Web 2.0 applications are aimed at enhancing creativity, making it easier to share information and collaborate, and increase the overall functionality of the Web. Ross Mayfield observed that Web 1.0 was about commerce, while Web 2.0 is about people.

 

Web 2.0 includes blogs, mashups, podcasts, social bookmarking sites, wikis, social networking, and more. Some of these tools can prove useful to you in your business and networking activities. Not all of them are appropriate for every business; but they can, as part of an overall marketing mix, help businesses find and reach target markets, differentiate themselves from the competition, reach customers more quickly and share and collaborate with partners, vendors, customers, and others.

 

It’s a big world out there

Inside CRM (www.insidecrm.com) ran an article this year titled “50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence On.” Is summarizes sites in the categories of social media/social bookmarking, professional networking, niche social media, general social media and job sites. Some you’ve no doubt heard of, like LinkedIn and Twitter. Others might be new to you. There are no doubt many other sites that have come on line since the article was published.

 

Perhaps our initial response to this article is best summarized by a reader comment posted by a user named Martin: “Great list, but I need to move somewhere in the world where a day is 34 hours. Can you help?” Indeed, like any other activity in your marketing mix, you can spend hours and hours on social media web activities. Worse yet, you can spend a lot of time and produce very little return.

 

The best approach, if you don’t have several clones of yourself or a large corporate staff who can devote every waking hour to a social media campaign, is straightforward. Divide and conquer. Start small – perhaps with just one site. Then add other sites to your mix, if the payoff you are seeing from your initial efforts supports more investment in the social media world.

 

Join and participate in online communities that make sense for you and your business. Be sure to pick sites that you actually enjoy being a part of – or assign a staff member who enjoys regularly participating as a representative of your business (just be sure to lay down some ground rules about appropriate behavior – see below).

 

Take particular note of the “participate” part – if you just register and log in once in a blue moon, you won’t see results. No connections, no contribution, no impact on your business. However, if you contribute, the payoff is two-fold – you help others, and you establish yourself as an expert. Something is better than nothing, and consistency is your friend.

 

Opportunities, challenges and pitfalls

Web 2.0 gives individuals and businesses a great opportunity to connect to and target relevant audiences as never before. You can reach out to your area, your state, across the country and around the globe. You can improve your search engine ranking, and drive traffic to your site.

 

In the public relations arena, especially, the interactive nature of Web 2.0 in general and social media, in particular, has opened up a whole new dimension when it comes to public relations. The precise, targeted way that stories can be shared, relationships forged and awareness built has many PR agencies creating social media practices and small businesses embracing the grassroots power that this new landscape gives to them.

 

However, there are some dirty little secrets when it comes to the world of social media marketing. One, discussed above, is that you can easily get overwhelmed by trying to do too much. There are plenty of sites out there that are not relevant to you and your business, and it’s important to recognize that. Facebook or YouTube might be a fit, but they are not for everybody. By focusing on selected, high-value sites, communities and activities that stand to create a return on the time you invest, you create a strong foundation to build on and can expand from there.

 

Likewise, don’t set yourself up for extra work by trying to participate in multiple sites that provide the same functionality. A big challenge is sampling or auditing the sites available that hope to cater to a particular community or service. There is a lot of overlap and redundancy out there. You wouldn’t necessarily do two or three times the work to log all your networking contacts into multiple contact management packages –choose the one that works best for you.

 

We’ve all learned the lesson that websites come and go with the whims of the market and venture capital funding. It seems clear that as trends emerge and markets are created and fall out of favor, websites that speak to those concerned with those trends and markets will come and go, as well. The web presents the opportunity, though, to create new sites and new communities based on the issue of the moment. If you can’t find a site that speaks to your market or issue, you can start it yourself.

 

Whether it be support for a particular political candidate, the effort to reunite a dog in Iraq with a U.S. soldier that had returned stateside, or the creation of a marketplace to connect green vendors or trade carbon credits, the nature of the web allows us not just to participate in the communities of our choice, but in some cases create the community that we and others have been seeking.

 

Another thing no one likes to talk about is that for every high-traffic blog, or every YouTube video series that catches on like wildfire, there are many more that have few visitors or viewers, and maybe none. There might be eight million stories in the naked city, but there are millions more blogs on the Web, and there are countless blogs that have been abandoned due to lack of interest by their creator or a lack of readers.

 

Ghost blogs aside, the worst thing you can do is damage to your reputation by not following the guidelines, expectations or user agreement that covers a particular site, or violating ethical considerations when it comes to your online activities. A legitimate distance education school found itself in hot water in recent years because an employee of the company registered and posted to forums covering the industry while posing as a student. When you operated in an industry filled with fly-by-night operations, you already have an uphill battle, and shooting yourself in the foot is the last thing you want to do.

 

The assumption of anonymity on the web sometimes creates a false sense of protection when the temptation to do something like this arises. However, for those who understand the technology, it can be relatively simple to track back the source of misleading posts using simple tools. Whether done with the clear message that you are a staff member of your company, or while foolishly trying to hide your affiliation, any misstep can quickly undo all of your hard work, and do significant damage to your reputation.

 

Participation Guidelines

It’s important to think through the goals and objectives you want to accomplish by participating in social media. It’s even more important to observe some guidelines while doing so that may seem obvious or common sense; but don’t take the chance that someone representing your company might do your organization harm by engaging in rude or unethical behavior while representing the company online.

 

Some guidelines to start the discussion include:

1. Be honest and transparent – don’t hide your identity or affiliation.

2. Be respectful, courteous, professional and well-mannered – don’t engage in arguments, offer constructive feedback.

3. Establish your credibility by sharing your credentials and experience and contributing where you can be of assistance to others.

4. Recognize others’ expertise, and give them opportunities to contribute to the discussion.

5. Don’t overstep your bounds – if you don’t know, say so; if there’s a potential for conflict of interest, reveal it.

6. Leverage your efforts and be consistent – tie your participation to other online and offline efforts.

7. Remember where you come from – you did not always know all you now know.

8. Be a positive role model – remember, you are an ambassador for your organization.

 

Can you see clearly now?

So, now you should have an idea about how to find out what part of Web 2.0 is likely to give you the best bang for your buck. You should also be aware that if you don’t choose your area of focus carefully, you risk spinning you wheels and wasting a lot of time, effort and money.

 

Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Consider starting with just one site or community, and monitor the return on your investment into that one outlet. Add more if the effort is justified. Choose communities that make sense for your business, and actively participate on a consistent basis.

 

Pick unique sites based on what they offer, and preview sites that provide similar capabilities, choosing the one that is best for you. If no website exists to serve the community you wish to reach, consider starting one yourself.

 

Finally, follow the rules of the site(s) you decide to participate in, and behave yourself.