The Marketing Message Blog

Check out an excerpt of the new edition of "The Zen of Social Media Marketing" by Shama Kabani

Shama Kabani the very popular social media thought leader is out with a new edition of her best selling book, "The Zen of Social Media Marketing." 

She has provided us with an excerpt that I recommend you read if you want to boost your marketing power.

As anyone who follows Shama on her many social media accounts knows she makes things easy to understand and apply. 

Specifically, don't miss Chapter 13 Tools for Attracting Even More business and Burning Questions and Answers.

Check out her book excerpt Download The_Zen_of_Social_Media,_3rd_Edition_Excerpt.

Visual Marketing Revolution

I'm excited to announce that I'm writing a new book for Pearson/Que called The Visual Marketing Revolution: 26 Ways To Help Social Media Marketers Connect the Dots.  

I'm curating content for the book here. Please check it out when you have a free moment and let me know what kinds of content you'd like to see.

 

What you can learn from some of our greatest entrepreneurs

Do you think you know how some of our greatest entrepreneurs think? Maybe not. I just finished reading "The 12 Greatest Entrepreneurs And What You Can Learn From Them" written by John A. Byrne for the April 9th issue of Fortune. I was surprised at how diverse their "best advice" was.

To get you thinking about what each would say, I created the list below. See if you can match their name to their advice. Bet you can't. That should give you food for thought.

Here are the entrepreneurs:

1. Steve Jobs

2. Bill Gates

3. Fred Smith

4. Jeff Bezos

5. Larry Page and Sergey Brin

6. Howard Schultz

7. Mark Zuckerberg

8. John Mackey

9. Herb Kelleher

10. Narayana Murthy

11. Sam Walton

12. Muhammad Yunus

Here is their advice:

a. "Embrace paranoia". 

b. "Take regular mini-retreats"

c. "Find very smart people and create small teams"

d. "Make your customers No. 1"

e. "Rely on 'first-level' managers"

f. "Small gifts can equal big impacts"

g. "Say no to focus groups and market research"

h. "Sacrifice today, cash in tomorrow"

i. "Purpose inspires people"

j. "Spare no expense on innovation"

k. "Always challenge the old ways"

l. “Give the people what they want”

 

When you've finished guessing, here's the key:1g, 2c, 3e, 4b, 5j, 6k, 7a, 8i, 9d, 10h, 11l, 12 f.

Let me know how many you got right!

Idea execution depends on 'the middle'

Your Mind Is Your Best Tool-Use it to Work Out New Ideas^ - NARA - 534179 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Always start in the middle" - Anon

"Kanter's Law: Everything looks like a failure in the middle" - Rosabeth Moss Kanter

The two quotes above always inspire me when I begin a project. Am I obsessed with things that only happen in the middle of projects? Not exactly. What I'm referring to here is about how to get started and keep going until you execute your idea.

Let me unpack this a bit:

"Always start in the middle" : I've written four books (non fiction) and I know one thing for sure. When you begin writing, you should never start at the beginning! The beginning counts too much and should always be saved for a time when you really understand what your book is about. When you begin writing, you think you know, but your creative mind has a lot in store for you along the way.

I develop my ideas by starting with a mind map to make my ideas tangible. I let my creative mind do the heavy lifting. When I have enough content to show me where to go next, I create an outline. Then I pick a spot somewhere in the middle and start working.

This really applies to any project. When I work on marketing problems with my clients, we start our creative strategy by targeting the low hanging fruit. This means that somewhere in the middle of all the activity is a problem that, when tackled first will get everything moving quickly. The project will take shape and the creative strategy will become clear.

That's where the next quote comes in.

"Everything looks like a failure in the middle" : When you start a project, your spirits are high and your creative mind is at it's best. You know you will succeed and its full speed ahead. When you get to the middle of the project, the beginning is no longer in sight and the end seems like it will never come. Tensions run high and everyone you're working with seems lazy and spiteful. This is the time for the 'celebration of the middle.' Everyone needs to acknowledge that the ship is making progress, you just can't see land yet.

So what to do if you're stuck? Throw a middle celebration for yourself and or your colleagues. Thank everyone for all the effort they're putting in and remind them that you're in the dreaded middle. If you're working on a new web site or product, take a break and give yourself some credit for hanging on. Land can't be far away if you keep sailing.

 

Productivity: How online marketers can analyze their time

productivity (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Everyone worries about wasting time because we can't make more of it. We all get the same amount and its never enough. Productivity is on almost everyone's list of things to improve.

Wasting marketing time is especially worrisome. To completely butcher John Wanamaker's (famous clothing retailer at the turn of the century,) budget quote, "We know that half of our marketing time is wasted, we just don't know which half."

That's why when clients tell me they don't have time to do Social Media Marketing or some other key activity, I want to look at how they currently spend their time. If you own an online business, its likely that you should be spending some of your time on social media.

So here's what I usually find out. My client is envisioning adding social media activities to their already impossible schedule. That can't be right! Something has to be eliminated so that something of a higher priority can be added. Productivity doesn't mean just doing more things, it means doing the right things.

Don't continually think about adding tasks without removing some others. That's just common sense.

Ok, so I've stated the problem--you want to increase your productivity. So, what can you do? If you want a quick way to analyze your productivity, I find the following activity to be helpful.

Begin by categorizing all your marketing activities into one of these four buckets:

1. Planning or analyzing: This includes creating campaigns, analyzing personas, diving deeper into your niche(s)

2. Creating content: Writing, finding visuals, doing SEO, etc.

3. Presenting your content to your customer in some format: Putting it on a social platform, showing a video, selling an ebook.

4. Listening to feedback and revising your content.

If your marketing activity doesn't fall into one of these four categories you should strongly think about dropping if from your repertoire.

 

New! "Social Media Marketing for Dummies" published today

I'm happy to announce that our new version of "Social Media Marketing for Dummies" is on sale today. My co-author Shiv Singh and I are really excited. I hope you'll take a look and let me know what you think! It's chock full of tips, tricks and advice for the social media marketer.

Business Stories: Five tips to finding valuable gold nuggets

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine the excitement of the California Gold Rush in the 1850's -- the thrill of the hunt to find valuable gold just waiting for them. The same can be said of your online business. Clients come to me because they are struggling to find the valuable gold assets hidden in their businesses in the form of stories.

What most of these clients don't realize at the outset, is that they don't have to make-up these business stories! They are all around them in their business conversations, presentations and customer interactions -- just waiting to be found.

These business stories can be turned into valuable information products, videos, webinars and so much more. You just need to mine your content like the prospectors who found gold. It was easy to prospect once they got the hang of it. I'm sure you'll find that too, once you know how to recognize business stories.

Here are some tips on finding your valuable gold nuggets:

1. Listen to what you talk to your vendors about every day. What are you telling them you need from them? What do they need from you? Value can be found in combing this content.

2. Listen to customer service calls for success stories and ways to do better. Tell those stories and make sure your staff knows about them.

3. Interact with customers and listen for the metaphors they use about your business. Make sure to notice which metaphors your staff uses to tell your business stories.

4. Write down the story about how you started your business or got involved with the product or service. Tell it to your trusted colleagues and see if they feel inspired or bored.

5. Always frame your stories using your products or services as the solution to your customer's needs in the form of an inspiring story.

Once you start noticing stories and telling them, you'll find that they become a valuable part of your marketing.

How Visual Marketing Using Pinterest Can Increase Traffic and Revenue

Image via Wikipedia

When you hear about yet another social network it's possible that somewhere inside your head you will hear a screaming sound. Don't be alarmed. This time it's Pinterest and everything is going to be ok.

Why? Because you will 'get' Pinterest very quickly. In fact, the site just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors and they're still in beta. What does this tell us? It confirms what we know about the brain. The brain makes sense of the world through visual processing-- no great thought required, so we love pictures!

But what does this mean for your marketing -- a lot. Pinterest ties up all the things you like about social networking, the sharing, the display of your interests, the ability to find like-minded people, but without all the technical hassles.

Here are some things to consider when you think about marketing on Pinterest:

1. It's very easy to set up: No heavy lifting here. Set yourself up and create some boards ripe for pinning. Give them interesting names so people will seek them out.

2. It let's you link to something: The graphic you pin has a link along with it. If it's someone else's link it is automatically created. If it's from your site, you can put the URL you want. That's marketing 101-send them to content rich areas. Think about it, just like Twitter or Facebook, they can go to YOUR link. (Hint: This is where the traffic angle comes in.)

3. It shows your stuff off via your best graphics: If you have good looking products, this is a no-brainer.

4. You can put prices on things: If you put a dollar sign ($) in the description, a price banner will appear in the left corner of your graphic. It will then go into the "Gifts" section and be searchable by price.

5. People can get to know what you're about: This is the fun part. Just display what you love.

Try it! You'll find me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/diamondsf

If you need an invitation, put a comment below and I'll send you one.

How to Tell a Story like a Hollywood Pro -- courtesy of Robert Rose

Image via Wikipedia

If you're a marketer or online business owner, you know how hard it is to tell an engaging story about your brand or product. Not only do you need to provoke an emotion, but you need to educate and sell at the same time. If you want to understand this process, watch this wonderful video created by Robert Rose on how to do it well.

Hollywood Storytelling Video by Robert Rose

Does social media really make you more social?

If you've been online for any length of time, you've struggled with the question of how much time to spend on social platforms.  You weigh the pros and cons and perhaps miss the central point-- sharing information of any kind potentially adds to the value of the Web as a whole.

If your expertise is freely shared by posting something interesting you have made a contribution.  If you think of it that way, perhaps you'll waste less time on trivia.  Or you won't.  Either way consider it as your effort to teach something to others.

New Edition of Dragon Naturally Speaking for Dummies launches

If you use Dragon Naturally Speaking, check out the new edition of Dragon for Dummies

http://amzn.to/ndahFE

Speak up and master the latest version of Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking! Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a speech recognition program that lets users dictate into any Windows application, allowing you to access documents, write e-mails, and even update Facebook using only your voice.

 

Sept 15, 2011 Weekly Social Media Roundup http://bit.ly/q9nAwH

If you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking or are looking for great voice recognition for your mobile please check out my new book: http://amzn.to/ndahFE

Sept 1. 2011: Check out my latest roundup of great articles from around the Web. http://www.twylah.com/diamondsf

Strategy Questions Every Business Executive Should Ask

If you’re a leader whose business has an online component, you’d probably like to find some guidelines that make it easier to develop and sustain an online marketing strategy. There are lots of conflicting ideas swirling out there about what to do online to maintain a competitive advantage and increase value. If you followed many of them, you’d be spinning your wheels with no revenue in sight. 

As someone whose has worked online since 1994, I’ve watched the marketing “shiny object” change from Web site to newsletter to blog to social media network. And on it goes. I know that getting locked into a tactic with no clear strategy in sight is a common mistake.  It does nothing to increase your value.

If you’re uneasy around the topic of social media strategies, you’re not alone. Because you’re not down in the trenches tweeting and posting, you probably don’t have the “hands-on” feel you have for other areas of marketing. A competitive advantage seems unatainable.

If you attempt to delegate, employees suggest all manner of tactics to engage customers. You’ve heard that you need to engage with Twitter and Facebook, study ongoing analytics, present sparkling content, and co-develop with customers. Great advice. But without the strategy behind it, your campaigns are destined to fail. Like every other area of business, you need to create the strategy first and make sure it flows down to everyone in your organization. 

In formulating an online strategy, here are three questions to consider: 

Value.   Do your employees know the real value consumers place on your products and services?   If you don’t develop and constantly hone that message, your employees can’t communicate it in their social media efforts. In turn, all the ratings and comments that show up about your company will not engender the “word of mouth” referral power they could. If your customers aren’t selling for you, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful weapons you have today.

Intellectual property (IP).   Are you encouraging your employees to mine the intellectual property hidden inside your business to create information products and services?   I’m not referring to the patents or formulas your company owns. The Intellectual property in companies today can be found in their vast stores of information. The key is to evaluate that information based on enhancement of the customer’s life. Think broadly. Consumers today are hungry for quality information that solves problems. Can your staff take that information and create videos, e-books, and other downloadable properties with that in mind? 

Competitive advantage.   Do your employees understand who your real competitors are?   I’m often surprised when I work on a competitive advantage with my clients that they overlook several real online competitors. It’s a mistake to focus on only those who sell your exact product/service in exactly the way you do. The Web provides the opportunity for your customers to pick and choose from a variety of options. For example, if you sell sales training courses, your competitors are online video portals, coaches (both in-person and online), downloadable audio courses, etc. Make sure your staff has looked at all the possibilities.

One more note—there are many visual thinking tools (like mind mapping) that your team can use right now to gather ideas from all internal disciplines to enhance your competitive advantage. Consider using these techniques to get ideas from programmers and marketers alike. In today’s marketplace, you can’t afford to overlook a great idea. Your value depends on it.