Are You Using Webinars To Build Sales Leads?

Webinars are a great tool for building sales leads in the new social media marketing world. The question is, are you using them to get closer to your customers?

I know you are getting inundated with webinar promotions and I know what you are probably saying, why in the world would anyone come to my webinar? Well, if you have Fans, Followers, email lists and the like, you have a bunch of people that like you and want to get to know you better. Webinars are another way to get your prospects down the funnel to become a buyer!

Webinars should be a consistent feature to your social media marking program. Use your distributed presence on all those web 2.0 sites and your blog to promote your webinars. You have a big presence now. Use it to drive people to get more involved with your business.

Tips for Success

1. Sign up for a Webex or GoToWebinar account. You will be able to do customization of various forms and email templates that participants will see when you invite them or when they are waiting for the webinar to start. Make sure you have logos and pictures available so you can customize the webinar software for your business. It’s a nice touch and you will look more professional than the others.
2. Create a presentation that your target prospects will want to hear. Go back to your research about the most burning questions that they have. Maybe use a topic from an article or whitepaper that you have for “link bait”. Get comfortable giving that presentation. Most webinar software has a practice webinar feature that your can work with so you get familiar with the mechanics or using the software.
3. Follow the instructions for creating and sending invitations for whatever webinar service you are using. Make sure you are also familiar with all the tools and ticks like polls, answering questions, how to switch presenters and most important, how to record. Promote the webinar to all the audience you think are interested in the subject. Use your owned vehicles (blog, web 2.0 sites) and also go into other forums and blogs and make comments and invite people (be careful that you do not come off too much like you are selling; this is an informative webinar)
4. Get your audience to participate. Use polls, ask questions, get them to take action on your website. The idea is to get them involved with you and your business in a deeper way.
5. Follow up! You need to get these folks onto one of your auto-responders on your main list…not just the webinar software. That is why you want to get them to take an action on your website (sign up for something) so you can get a double optin and continue a dialogue with them.

Now go do it! You will get closer to your customers and enjoy the opporutnity to talk about what you love most…serving the market you are in.

How To Create An Economic Advantage Using Social Media Marketing

As we discuss in Digital Forensics, listening to your customers and observing your competitors can give you a big edge when it comes to business marketing using social media and the distributed web. Done right, your will get to the point where you are learning a ton about how you can improve your product, delivery and messaging.

If your at the point where you have a good pulse on your customers from listening and participating in blog and forum discussions, then it may be time to consider embracing this information and taking action to further your brand objectives. By incorporating some of this rich customer information and  feedback into your marketing campaigns or product design or service offering, you can gain brand advocates and improve your brand/business positioning.

Getting started is simple:

1. Figure out the best way to solicit ideas from customers. Where appropriate, use the blogs you are following and participating in to propose ideas/solutions you would like to test and solicit comments. Another great way to do this is using Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn Answers and other sites like them to ask questions directly and get a read on who is asking questions similar to yours. Don’t be afraid that competitors will be getting this information as well. They key is acting on the information, and the next three steps will put you way ahead of them.

2. Vet feedback. Not all information you get back will be good information or necessarily reflect the underline idea you are testing. Spend time sorting through the feedback and continue to clarify and hone the ideas in the communities you are participating in until you feel comfortable that you have a solid idea.

3. Structure internal communication and process to best incorporate these customer ideas. Ideas without follow through will not get your new customers or market share. You now have the knowledge, the key is working this information into your internal workflow so that you incorporate these new ideas into your business.

4. Communicate the changes and improvements you will be making to your communities. Use the communities that your developed your new product or service ideas with to become brand advocates. They are already pre-sold on what your product strategy is…find ways to empower them to let others know.

Implementing this strategy will create huge economic advantages for your business. By identifying and executing new ideas that will expand your customer base, and have them purchase more products from you more frequently, your business can expand margins because capital investment to implement these ideas is not high (in most cases).

Go try it and tell us what you think.

Social Media Is Only Part Of The Story

Let’s not get confused about what the new marketing ecosystem is all about. Social media is a big part of the story but not the only part. If fact, I fear a huge backlash coming from overuse and over simplification of this “new marketing normal” that some are defining as just social media.

What really is happening on the web is an atomization process. We call it the “distributed web”. Social media plays a big role in that but so does the hundreds of niche ad networks, article directories, web 2.0 sites and communities, video portals…you get the point.

If your business marketing strategy is just focused on social media you will be missing a large part of the opporutnity for your business. Moreover, you marketing plan will be so much more powerful if it is put together in a cohesive strategy.

Don’t settle! Tell the company trying to sell you the Facebook Page for $300 no! That’s not the way you are going to succeed in this new marketing world. It’s not easy, but take the time to learn what is happening and build a comprehensive marketing plan for your company to dominate your market using all the tools that make sense for your objectives.

What to do next?

Start with researching your market. Find out where your target customers are going and hanging out. How and where is your competition meeting them in the distributed web? Don’t skip this step! You will need to prioritize where you focus because the opportunities are limitless. Once you have focus, you can develop a winning strategy and plan.

Check out our business marketing research book Digital Forensics. The cool thing about this new digital age is your customers and competitors leave a digital footprint that you can reverse engineer to better understand your market. We will show you how…and it’s FREE!

7 Steps For Commenting To Gain Attention

So you have your own blog up and going. Now it’s time to turn up the dial. You should be spending most of your time off your blog and on other leading blogs in your industry. It will have a multiplier effect on your own blog and get you positioned as a player in the industry.

To be clear, the idea is to not only to contribute to other blogs, but to listen to the dialogue. You will get rich information that will help you become a better blogger yourself and understand your target customers.

For commenting, here are 7 tips that will get your effort focused, and the positive attention you want:

1. Identify the top 25 blogs in your industry- Use blog directories and search engines to find the top blogs in your industry. Pick 25 of the most influential…with your target prospects. This is important because your are primarily playing to people who buy your products. Also, use tools like Compete.com to find blogs with the highest readership, and check the comments area to make sure they have an active community. You don’t have time for every blog, so targeting is very important.

2. Sign up for email alerts at targeted blogs- If you sign up for email alerts, you will be instantly notified once the blog is published so you can read it quickly and decide if you want to comment.

3. Make comments quickly- The most read comments are the fist few so you need to act fast. Key here is only comment on posts that you can add meaningful value to. Don’t comment on everything…remember to listen as well.

4. Don’t promote your blog or site with every post- You can find ways to use your URL to promote posts you made on a topic (that might add value), whitepapers that are related to the topic or other resources you may have on your site or blog. But be careful, selling does not work in social media.

5. Twitter your comments- Use the post authors Twitter handle so they know that you are promoting their post, and point to your comment with the link.

6. Start a conversation- Make a post on your blog about a great post you read and put your own spin on it. Use trackback and links so the author and other readers know.

7. Rinse and repeat- Do this 3 to 5 times per day and you will get noticed get attention by the major players in your industry.

We find commenting to be one of the most effective social media strategies for lead generation. Get started now!

What do you think?

Business Marketing In The Coming Decade: Frustration Or Opportunity

In between skiing the moguls last week I was thinking a lot about what this next decade will look like for business marketers. We wrote the “Disrupted” book to give you a road map of what to expect with the profound changes taking place right now because of technology and new applications. This is all happening faster than we could have ever expected…and you have a choice to make.

That’s right. The ball is in your court, but you need to decide if you’re business is going to look at this change as an opportunity, or become bogged down with anxiety and frustration. Seth Godin had a great post on this a few days ago. He framed this in big, drastic terms because the stakes are so high. “The revolution is in full swing and an entire generation is eager to change everything because of it”.

Let’s get started in this first week of the new decade. No better time than right now to get your business and team on-board for the marketing revolution!

Where to start?

1. Embrace change- Learn, experiment and test new things. This is not a one time thing…you will need to build this into your business process and culture because this change is happening over years and is not stopping.
2. Lead by example- Some of this new stuff is hard. Just mention blogging to your staff and watch them squirm. Participating in the community and becoming a trusted source takes time and a new kind of professionalism that needs to come from the top.
3. Measure everything- Huge economic advantage will go to the businesses that understand this revolution and know how to optimize it for their purposes. You can’t optimize unless you are measuring.

Get help if you need it. Things are moving very quickly and it is hard to keep up unless you are following technology and case studies very closely.

Here’s to the next decade!

What are you thinking?

How Well Is Your Business Adapting To Social Media: 4 Ways To Measure

How is your business marketing working for you right now?

If you are reading this blog you know that marketing as we know it has changed forever. New technology, new applications combined with a tough economy to completely change the game. This coming year will be the new beginning for many businesses…or the beginning of the end for some.

Why? Huge economic advantage awaits companies that can lower their average cost per lead and increase their average revenue per customer. New mareketing techniques in the distributed web, including social media marketing, will be a big driver.

The question is how is your business doing?

The begining of a new year is a great time to reflect on these areas of your business and set new goals for 2010:

1. Are you listening? Does your business have an active, pro-active strategy and plan to make sure you are observing all the relevant conversations occurring across the web? Winners in the new marketing paradigm will understand their customers and competitors better than anyone else.
2. Are you adding value? How well are is your business creating valuable content to educate and nurture your prospects so you can grab and hold their attention?
3. Are you participating? Being regularly involved in conversations makes you known, and if done well, liked in the community you are working within.
4. Measuring and monitoring! This ties it all together. Measuring key metrics like where your traffic is coming from and what are the conversion metrics. How is your list growing for various social networks as well as your overall database. If you are not growing, something is not working.

Gone are the days when you created a print or TV ad, agreed on a media plan, and ran it though the year. This requires and active, daily presence by your business. You need a strategy and plan to make it work.

What do you think?

Is Your Content Organized For Social Media Marketing?

Over the next year you are determined to get your business focused on social media marketing. That’s great. Now let’s spend a few weeks getting our content organized so we make it easy to become a content publishing machine.

At this point you should have done your research so you know the keywords and phrases that your businesses is looking to compete and win with. You should also have a Unique Selling Proposition that positions your product or service differently than the competing brands in the space. Now we need to translate that into attention getting, educational content that motivates your target customer to interact with you business and convert to a sale or a lead.

Don’t get stumped on content ideas you can use for “link bait”. So everyone is on the same page, “link bait” is content that is specially created to attract your best prospects and convert them to leads. It should have a high perceived value by the target customer because it gives them just the information they are looking for at the right time. It can be in the form of a whitepaper, video, ebook, webinar, special consultation…you get the idea.

Here are a few ways to think about developing solid content that will get your target customers attention and make them want to learn more about your business:

1. Answer your target prospects most burning questions. Whatever medium you use (Video, whitepaper, article, ebook), you want your content to be found when your prospects are looking for solutions to their problems. Answering questions you know they have is a great way to find yourself at the top of the search engine results page.
2. Create an innovative approach (a “system” or “formula”) and use various content to educate your target audience about this specially designed approach. Key in on why it  saves them money, time or get’s them more customers.
3. Tips and mini courses are another way to make interesting content and be able to educate your target customers.

Now you are going to have two types of content.

First, content on your “home base”, that’s your website and blog. For the most part, you want to have your “link bait” on your “home base”. Second, you will have content that gets published in your distributed network. That’s web 2.0 sites, social networks, article directories and other places in the distributed web that your target audience hangs out in. You will then use your distributed content and social media to engage with prospects and drive them to your “home base”.

Key in this example is you are not hard selling at any time. If you have “link bait” that answers questions or is helpful and additive to the discussion taking place in the various web communities you are involved with, this is a natural process and you are a helpful person.

Now, let’s get organized. When you go to publish your content and register for accounts around the web…you will need to register for just about everything (article directories, web 2.0 sites you build pages on). If you are just getting started, here is a list of content and other resources you should put into an easy to access folder so it makes publishing a breeze:

• 10-12 articles
• 250-350 word doc with your website/company mission
• Agree on passwords and usernames for all the accounts you will open up
• Have a short and long form bio for the “author” or your articles
• Have nice graphics of your “link bait” with a description of what it is and why it’s important
• Don’t be shy, create video either in screencast or headshot form. Do 5-10, 30 sec to 2:30 minute videos that you can use on social sites, your own website and on video channels like You Tube
• If you have a company/product PowerPoint, you can use that as well
• Put company contact info in the folder so it is handy
• Keyword worksheet so you know what your titles and anchor text should be

Now you, or someone you delegate this task to, can quickly build up your presence in social media presence. Add content to this folder on a regular basis and you will have a content publishing machine. Make sure you are monitoring what articles and “link bait” is getting picked up most and learn why so you can further hone your content to attract your best customers.

We have a complete step-by-step social media marketing program that walks through this process in much more detail at Surefire Social.

Now go do it!

Social Media Marketing On 45 Minutes A Day

Social media marketing takes time. From the business owner or CEO to staff at all levels, done right everyone has a role to play so your business can cover the most ground and have the largest impact. By the way, this routine will have a very positive effect on your business in many ways.

One of the biggest issues we hear from our larger clients, and the Surefire Social DYI customers alike, is the time they think it takes to do social media marketing. Let’s break this down and create a workflow that is manageable and sustainable for everyone. Here are 5 tips to a 45 minute per day routine that will pay off bigtime:

1. Set up workflow so you have all you need prepared in advance- Profiles, Pages, RSS Reader, URL shorteners, microblog distribution platform…all need to be set up and understood how to work them in advance. If you are a senior exec in the company, we also recommend that you have someone on your staff responsible for social media marketing keep track of all the content you are going to publish including articles, blog posts, videos , PR Releases etc in a Google Docs file that can be shared by all stakeholders. This provides stewardship and content that can be directly shared by you all in one place.
2. Develop a social media routine and put it on your calendar- You need to participate on a regular basis so put your routine on your calendar and stick to it.
3. Identify the pulse of the conversation and join in- You can’t be everywhere, but make sure you are where people are congregating and discussing topics relevant to your product or service. Make sure you understand the “pulse of the conversation” so you are posting comments and blog posts that are relevant and add to the discussion. Having the tools and workflow outlined in point 1 will help.
4. Spend and equal amount of time listening and posting- As business owners and executives we are naturally inclined to talk about our products and services and “sell”. Don’t do it. This is about education and nurturing potential customers. Even better, this is about a great opportunity to listen to the dialog among potential customers, competitors and partners so we better understand how to meet needs and sell more stuff!
5. Don’t get caught in the black hole of social media- It is easy to get caught up in the blogs, Tweets, forums and social networks because the opportunities and ideas can be endless. It’s important to stay structured and with purpose in your routine so you do not over invest time in social media. Having others in your organization also contribute will help your business cover more ground without over burdening any one individual.

If you follow these tips you should be able to invest 45 minutes every day to commenting on a few blogs that are highly visible, listening to the pulse of the conversations and posting a 250 to 450 word blog post. Even better, you will have a better feel for your market than you ever did. That is the key here. Social media mareketing makes you a better business person because it forces you to stop, listen and write down your thoughts.

No excuses…go do it!

Video Marketing: How To Get Jump Started For The New Year!

Let’s have a little me time shall we?

After all, you need to get yourself a Christmas present, right? Let’s make it something that will last throughout the New Year! Something that will help you grow your business and add another important layer of marketing to your social media marketing program.

I’m talking about video equipment and software so you can quickly produce and distribute video content across all your distributed platforms. And guess what, as much as businesses seem to talk about video marketing, not many are really doing it. If your businesses does it, you can really put yourself in a very strong competitive postion in several ways:

1. Search results- Search engines love video and it gives your business an opportunity to get a double listing if you are already ranking for your keywords
2. Authority in you market- In the attention economy you need to be able to get and hold attention with information and education marketing. Adding video to your mix gives you an entirely new dimension to engage your customers.
3. It’s cheap and easy- That’s right. Once you get the hang of making videos, and you have the right set up, doing new videos are a snap. All you need to do is create a quick script and you are off.

Equipment (your Christmas Present)

For simple video production capability you will need 5 basic pieces of equipment and two types of software for the complete package:

• An HD camera- if you can find it, get the Kodak Z
• A light weight camera tripod
• A green screen for background (Optional)
• Basic three stand lighting set (Optional but highly recommended)
• Lapel microphone (optional but recommended)
• Screencast software for your computer (Here’s a great post in Mashable with reviews and links)
• Video editing software (see reviews of top options here)

We recommend going to B&H Photo to buy your equipment as they seem to have the best prices and availability. The total cost for all this equipment can range from $600- $6,000 depending on what type of camera you buy, lights etc. But for $600 to $1,000 you can have a great quality video set up that will make you proud.

What to do with your new equipment?

Here is the first thing you should do to get your video marketing started. Launch a video campaign that drives people back to your site (to sign up for something so you get a lead). What should the videos be about? How about answering the 10 most frequently asked questions you know your top customers have when they are searching for solutions that you provide? Just make them 30 second to no more than 2:00 minute videos. After you do those, make another 10 that are questions your top prospects should be asking. This gives you a great opportunity to give your own perspective and differentiate your product or service. Then put some simple royalty free music in the background and your logo and web address on the video using the video editing software…and you are ready to publish.

We use both Traffic Geyser and Tube Mogul to distribute our videos…they make it easy to distribute videos to all the video distribution platforms including Your Tube.

That’s it. You have everything you need now to start 2010 off with a great new marketing tool that will generate more leads and more customers while making you an authority in your market. Have fun!

What do you think?

Secret Local Business SEO Strategy Using Google Maps

<meta name=”blogcatalog” content=”9BC9597322″ />

<a href=”http://topsites.blogflux.com/business/” title=”Business blogs”><img src=”http://topsites.blogflux.com/track_243683.gif” style=”height:15px;width:80px;border:0″ alt=”Business blogs”></a>

Google Maps is a great service, right up there with its competitors at Yahoo!®, Mapquest®  and others. However, one extra twist that’s going on at Google is that you can include your business address & information, and it gets integrated into the Google Maps search results via a tab near the top of the page.

Even more important, with the move to Universal Search, Google started integrating other types of search queries on their main web search, including local search results. The local listings are being driven by companies listed in maps.google.com…this was most commonly referred to as the 10-pack or 10-box. But here’s an update, as of November 2009, Google has removed 3 of the 10 box listings to make local search even more competitive – the 10- box is now the 7-box!  Here’s an example of a search for “Florists in Reston Va”

We’re going to briefly cover how to get your business website listed in Google Local Maps. But first I want to tell you why this is very important if you run a local business.

Very recently, and I mean very…as in April of 2009 Google started displaying local search results for NON-local search queries! So, knowing how to work Google local maps is very important to your local business ranking.

It’s most likely that these non-local search queries are pulling map results based on the searcher’s IP address. Example being if I’m looking for ‘florists’ on Google I’ll likely get a local search “7-box” listing. From an organic SEO marketers perspective this is not great news since it’s pushing their listings potentially off of page one (listed BELOW the 7- box)…however for a savvy SEO/SEM marketers, they’d have already taken advantage of this and be in the 7-box listing.

Ok, so now you’re ready to begin. You want to go to http://maps.google.com and then click on the link shown below (Put your business on Google Maps)…

If you don’t have a Google account you will need to sign up for one. Once you have a Google account you can then click the Add New Account button and then follow the steps.

For the Company/Organization section it is *VERY* useful to ensure you’re focused on your geo- targeted keyword phrase. Also keep this in mind when filling out the Description box. Make sure you work-in, naturally of course, the keyword phrases/terms you want to be pulled up for when someone does a search. This is one of the major criteria for getting pulled into the Local 7-box on Google queries.

One other thing to note. If you have a consulting or other type of service business, make sure to put in your local number as it may encourage potential customers to call. If you do not have a local number consider getting Vonage or Skype and requesting one. Do NOT use an 800 numbers as Google prefers you have a local number.

It’s also a good idea to have pictures, logos and even video if possible in your listing so that you take advantage of all the ways you can reach potential customers and differentiate your business.

One last thought, make sure to test the keywords you want to use to see if the Google 7 box appears for them before finalizing your keyword choices. You will have a better chance of appearing in the 7-box if your keywords already trigger the 7-box to show up.

Now go do it!

« Previous Page — Next Page »