easy marketing strategies by Maribeth Pelly

Is Facebook a waste of your time?

Struggling with the amount of time it takes to build relationships in the online social networks? Prepared to send 800 tweets before you can encourage one follower to visit your website and sign up for your newsletter? Tired of the deluge of useless status updates making them ready to un-follow many on their list?

Is it all worth it?

With the millions of people searching LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, for information, why shouldn’t your business be present in these online networks? And in most cases, your out-of-pocket-expense is zero.

The challenge is to know what to talk about in the networks.

Here’s some quick tips to avoid the feeling that you are wasting your time with your status updates: 

1. Develop a social networking style that supports your personality and aligns well with your business brand and service offerings. Know which networks are best for finding your ideal clients. Where are your clients hanging out? Spend more time building relationships in those networks.

2. Know what to share to improve the quality of your exchanges. 

3. Here is a helpful guideline to know what to share and how much:

        • 30 %: Tips that help make people's lives better
        • 10 %: Information that keeps them informed
        • 30 %: Anything that makes people laugh
(according to the source: http://www.Fark.com is a great site for humorous content)
        • 25%: Compliments and praise
        • 5 %: What you're doing

Source: Perry Belcher

Got a boring newslettter?

 

 

If putting your newsletter together has become your least enjoyable marketing task ...then rest assured your readers are having difficulty too.

How to freshen your copy? I picked up an easy tip from Constant Contact, the fast growing email marketing service, who offers the 2-2-2 Principle.

The summary is, your reader takes 2 seconds to decide if they want to read an email. The first two words in your subject line, are the most important . Ask yourself, of all the information you are sharing, which matters today?

The article offered clear examples and reminds us to see the newsletter from your reader's perspectives. Also note, that you don't need to make ALL your email messages urgent. Be wary of the 'Spam Filter No- No's',  such as using all caps in the subject line or excessive punctuation.

If you aren't using an email service, be alert to how your business emails are appearing.Will your subject line encourage someone to read NOW or hold for later? ('later' usually results in a direct swoosh, into the recycling bin.)

Read the full article  here.

ROI

The rate in which we will receive a return on an investment, is an obvious concern these days. Market conditions beg us to consider every campaign effort and spending decision. At new levels, consumers are pressured to cut back and slow spending. Most times, ROI's are not recognizable dollars.

To allow room for hope in an unusual, unfamiliar economic condition, look at your return to be a way to leverage growth, increase efficiency or maintain customer trust.

How can this be done easily?

Look to establish relationships with businesses outside your industry but who share the same market.

One Case Study: A travel agency builds upon an existing relationship with a local flower farm. Together they design special programs that will be attractive to their markets. They will explore co-marketing each other's services to circumvent having to take on the load of a new campaign alone. This relationship offers each business a chance to explore markets not yet established.

Together they make it easy for their customers to travel to unique locations to explore innovative garden designs that they can bring back to their homes.

ROI: Maintaining customer trust, growth and efficiency.

 

Signage: No Humor

Signage: Using humor

 

 

 

Read this with a sweet Savannah, Georgia accent.

You get the point? And maybe a laugh too?

Review the Audio

Have a webcast coming up? Tele-conference?

Next time you have an interview or hosting a tele-conference...hit the record button.

Have someone from your marketing department listen to the recording and take notes. Why? Your talk could hold nuggets of wisdom that can be woven into your next email campaign, blog post or article.  Repurpose the presentation to support other marketing campaigns. (saving $$ and time)

Use the recordings as tools to evaluate your presentation. Ask someone you trust to quantify your delivery so you can sharpen your next tele-conference. (constructive feedback = priceless)

And if you capture a good audio, share an excerpt (not the whole thing....zzzzz) of the recording on your website.

Blended and Retooled

What I learned on a rainy day with the NYTimes.

Murketing, a new coined phrase by Rob Walker .

It's how companies market to the generation that is impervious to  'in your face' advertising. A way to appeal to the non-mainstream, anit-capitalist consumer. Advertising without looking like your not.

Using my finance head...to have the ability to 'murk' one most definetly have funds in a marketing and advertising cost center.  The consumer that buys a product from a company because they appear to be a non-confomist...is actually buying into the company's marketing plan.

I like to learn from the retooled, blended vocabulary that pops up now and again. It's like when I heard mompreneur, for the first time.

In my mind, if you listen more to your clients.... you are murketing. Then you can apply what you learn to your marketing strategies.

What is murking around in your markets? Is it time to retool your service or blend something new into your product offering?

Reality Check: Your Customer Service is Marketing

How can this be? Again, I have experienced unexpected, poor service at an ice cream store.

Maybe I should just stay away from them...is that the underlying message? I hope not. Especially since I  enjoy supporting an independent biz that sells awesome, decadent treats.

The point is, when your lucky enough to own a business that historically brings people pleasure, why not coach your staff to enforce policies that support your company's value system. Especially when a situation begs for it.

The morning of my youngest daughter's birthday, I swooped into the just opened, shiny clean ice cream shop, to pick up a ready made cake. I asked if they could draw a dolphin with the message. That's it...maybe some waves around my daughter's favorite ocean creature.

In response, the manager told me, "no 'art work' on a 7" cake". No problem, what size can I buy that you can do art work on? Policy #2, "Custom cakes need to be ordered 48 hours in advance".

I was the only one in the shop, willing to prepay for a larger cake than I needed AND come back later to pick it up. (with gas at $3.72/gal., was I being too accommodating?)

You see where this is heading...and yes, policies are important.

Customer service is your marketing. If you deliver the best level possible, your going to get a high return. And we all know what happens with the converse...

I don't think my luck in ice cream shops has run out. In fact, I realized I'm pretty good at cake decorating, (let me know if you're ever in a pinch)!

As we position ourselves to succeed this summer, I suggest we try to make decisions that will be appreciated in our current economy and intrinsically add value to our customer's experience.

Happy Memorial Day!

Spring: Time to Market with Meaning

Imagine the book you wrote hits the NY Times best seller list. Your days are busy scheduling amazing media coverage. Your message is sticking...people are listening (or buying).

Imagine, while this great success is happening, you are fighting a hideous disease that threatens your life.

Each day you pray you'll wake up to be with your loved ones.

I couldn't imagine this.

But as a marketing strategist, it forces the question, are you marketing with meaning?

Is your marketing campaigns revealing what is important to your customers. Have you created a feedback loop that allows your customers to tell you how meaningful (or not) your business is to them?

It's an interesting thought to help distill which efforts are worth funding.

The end result is clarity (hopefully without the pressure of fighting to stay alive).

A clear plan of what is important. A chance to chose the marketing stategies that mean the most.

Happy Spring Cleaning!

Happy Entrepreneur Day!

Small Business Owners would argue that every day is Entrepreneurial Day.

I agree...

Why set aside a day for this hardworking breed?

(Most) entrepreneurs are passionate and willing.... There are no policies, boundaries or bureaucracy, to keep them from spreading their word. They can zig and zag with their market... and when their message sticks....it's like a work of art, watching the company grow.

Kris Carr, author of the new book, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, published by Skirt Magazine, is an unique entrepreneur you'll want to keep your eye on....and pray for.

Kris is not your usual entrepreneur. Kris has been diagnosed with a rare disorder of cancer. You may have seen her documentary on TLC. Now in her book, Kris continues to share her struggle to find support and acceptance of her new life.

Kris offers the non-cancer entrepreneur (knock-on-wood), a chance to see that now is the time to build your life, take hold of your ideas and make them BIG and REAL.

Kris is a bright, focused (very young), entrepreneur despite the slow growing, stage four cancer that lives in her liver and lungs.

If Entrepreneur Day was a hallmark holiday, I would send Kris Carr a card today. I would let her know I think she's doing a great job because,

1. Her book fulfills a need. She delivers real life tips for young women diagnosed with cancer to find the courage to create a web of support, amongst a world of strangers.
2. Kris's book is marketed with guts and glory. A message to anyone who 'sort-of' is marketing their business.
3. She's dealing with an incredible deadline and putting out an amazing product...

Visit Kris to see if you connect with her focused energy. See which projects you need to be marketing more with guts and glory. Send a card to your favorite entrepreneur.

Visit Kris Carr at: http://www.crazysexycancer.com/home.php.