12bloggersin2012

Eight months into social something is becoming glaringly obvious.

Do you want to know what that special something is?

There are thought leaders and there are thought leaders.

Do you know what I mean?

When I first arrived on the scene I was enamored with the kings and queens in our bubble. A boy lost in the forest.

But royals are not exactly accessible and princes don’t talk to paupers.

And as I’ve progressed in my journey I found another noble group. People who practice what they preach.

They listen, they advise, and they inspire.

They are kingfish, but they are also mentors.

Sure they have 20,000 plus Twitter followers, but they’re not afraid to get their hands dirty and they often engage with the rabble.

Let’s call them model citizens.

Blogging for business is my goal (so stated), but so is helping people and here’s where we get to the heart of the matter. The focal point of this post and the fundamental practices that certain A-listers practice.

So, would you like to know what I’m getting at?

Okay, I’ll tell you.

It’s what inspires me and what I aspire to.

It’s simple, it’s effective and it should be like that pair you put on in the morning. A daily necessity.

A practical, no-nonsense one-two punch.

Drumroll, please … Generosity and Engagement.

Yep, that’s right. A basic formula that works like nothing else.

This I’ve learned. Oh, have I learned.

And you know what else I now realize? Even big names need a pat on the back every once in a while.

They have tens of thousands of Twitter fans, long lists of followers and they are indeed thought leaders, but guess what? They’re way more than that.

So here’s a shout out, a fist-bump and a toast to two fine A-listers I’ve met along the way.

Gini practices what she preaches and actually knows a thing or two about PR, marketing and social. Here is someone who gets her hands dirty, does the day to day work, acknowledges the people who help and supports the riffraff (read: me) And you want to know what she practices day in and day out? Yep. Generosity and engagement.

Oh and if you want to learn about the complexities of social media marketing and learn about making it all work, there’s no better head to turn to.

She really knows what the heck she’s doing, but you already knew that, right? I preach to the choir.

Danny taught me few things early. Well, two things. And guess what those two practices are? You got it. Generosity and engagement are important. He’s written about connecting with clients based on true wants and needs, not based on what you think they should be attracted to. But you know what? He’ll also connect with you, budding blogger. Yes. He. Will.

Danny isn’t afraid to acknowledge the little guy. To jump over and comment, offer a bit of sage advice or even give you a shout out. Marketing smart, social media savvy and a practitioner of the ever-important, you got it: generosity and engagement.

Some people say A-listers don’t need praise or someone considered a thought leader doesn’t need a link from a humble little blog, but I disagree.

I have many, many others to thank and I began > right here. Check it out it’s a great list.

But since I’m talking about two specific practices today, I thought I would mention two people who really are kinda up there, but they’re also down here, if you know what I mean?

So, big high-fives to these two, and to all who have helped and advised me along the way.

I might sound like a cornball but this is 100% honest: Blogging has changed my life and because of certain people, I’ve gained a greater understanding of what THIS is all about.

I’ve gone back to school, so to speak, but I like this school, so I will keep attending.

So, would you disclose your short A-list, please?

How important is engagement? Is generosity a must in social?

Are there other important traits I’ve missed?

The headline in today’s Wall Street Journal put me into a tailspin. It knocked me off the regularly scheduled program and prompted this emergency blog post.

“GM Says Facebook Ads Don’t Pay Off.”

Let me get my reaction immediately onto the table:

1. Is this sour grapes, or what?

2. Are you flippin’ kidding me? Since when do people buy a car by clicking on a Facebook ad? Really?

3. What kind of cover story is this just prior to the Facebook IPO when a publicly traded company attempts to downgrade stock price and pose ponderings about a $104 billion valuation by a start-up with a CEO under 30-years-old?

4. Do GM investors want to snap up more shares for less price per share?

Now let me read the story; hang on a minute.

K, I’m back…here is the gist of the article:

1. GM spent “only about $10 million in 2011 to advertise on Facebook; a fraction of GM’s total 2011 U.S. ad spending of $1.8 billion.”

Uhmm, if that paltry percentage is being spent on Facebook advertising, then naturally someone isn’t going to click on a car ad on Facebook and buy the vehicle from the website…right? I mean, don’t you buy your car direct from a website, sight unseen without the lovely dealer experience?

2. “General Motors plans to stop advertising with Facebook after deciding that paid ads on the site have little impact on consumers’ car purchases, according to a GM official.”

Love the timing of this; just before the Facebook IPO in a few days and it helps get GM some extra publicity. I wonder what GM will do with its $10 million not being spent on Facebook ads? Will it go to charity? Or, maybe they’ll use it on Pinterest where women can click on the picture of a car and go buy a car from a website!

3. “GM’s decision raises questions about the ability of Facebook to sustain the 88% revenue growth achieved in 2011. Facebook said last month its first-quarter ad revenue was down 7.5% from the previous three months.”

I have no idea how to respond to this; it’s got to be the reporters (three of them) playing both sides of the fence.  Should the timing of GM’s announcement affect Facebook’s IPO? Will it? Should it even matter? I seem to recall an auto industry bailout that put the U.S. economy into a downward spiral. I don’t recall reading that Facebook ever strayed from its growth goals, so why should it quake in its boots because GM is playing chess? (Although $10 million is likely not chump change to Facebook.)

So, a few disclaimers here – I’m not in advertising. I’m not a Facebook shareholder (but, I’d sure like to get my hands on a few of those on Friday). I’m not a financial analyst or investment adviser.

What I am is this:

A Business-to-Business Social Media Marketer with a Public Relations core (how’s that for key word attention?). I probably should be applauding the GM investor relations team for its smarts to push such a story on the cover of today’s national financial paper. But, it stinks putrid to me (I said to me) in my rantings above.

What do you think?

Words are important. In real life they’re super important and online they rule supreme. As the first thing someone sees on a website, the words you use can either entice someone to take action, or push them away. Many times the words we use are well meaning, however an easy misintepretaton can quickly turn readers off and send them to the competition.

Find out how to easily write powerful headlines and benefit bullets that spur action rather than pushing your potential clients away.

I was recently helping an entrepreneur with his website and immediately noticed the following copy directly under the headline:

Learning [removed] is easier than you think, anyone can learn to speak and hold a conversation.

What do you think the problem is with this sentence?

If you said it’s actually two sentences you’d be right, but that’s not it. If you said the second part of the sentence is incomplete, you’d also be correct however that’s not what I’m getting at.

The problem is this – by saying “easier than you think” you are presupposing that the person reading this sentence thinks it’s hard. But what about the people who have no idea if it’s hard or easy? If I landed on this site and had no idea of what I was getting to and saw that sentence, I would automatically assume it’s going to be hard. This makes me much less inclined to contact the service provider.

In short, this sentence, though well meaning, is turning potential clients away. Not good.

A Better Course Of Action

Writing landing pages is part art, part science, and an above average amount of testing. However, if you have testimonials from current clients it’s made much easier. Here’s what you do.

1. Gather up all of the testimonials from your clients.
2. Print them out and stick them up on a wall side by side
3. Read all of them out loud from start to finish
4. Go back and read them again with a highlighter, highlighting benefits mentioned
5. Write a list of all the benefits

Your most powerful benefit can be made into a headline followed by a list of the other benefits. Here’s the key: use the language your clients used. Don’t get fancy and start making up words. You have gold here! These testimonials come from people that definitely spent money on you.

Beats the hell out of guessing doesn’t it?

This past weekend my daughter Elizabeth graduated from college. She and her friends and roommates have gone their separate ways, but unlike my days as a college grad in the eighties, she has the ability to communicate with her friends every day. And she does. Between Facebook, Twitter, and texting, Elizabeth’s life is a near constant conversation with a group of friends that is scattered all over the place.

The other night she and a few of her friends went online and chatted via a Google + Hangout for awhile and I’m sure they had a great time. But the interesting thing about this group of friends is that the Hangouts are the only reason they are on Google+. They aren’t creating content, reacting to content, or sharing content there. That’s what they do on Facebook, not Google+. In fact, the picture of their hangout that I’m using was shared on Facebook. And my daughter? I just checked, and her last post on G+ was more than six months ago. Pretty much the same for her friends across the board.

In the Social Media Marketing class that I taught at Messiah College this past semester, I made sure my students were aware of, and using, various social platforms. Google + was the least interesting for them, and again, the main draw was the Hangouts. No sharing, no content creation, just hanging out on video with a group of friends.

Late last year, Google rolled out what seemed to be a brilliant campaign to draw users to Google +, with a commercial and video featuring the Muppets using Google Hangouts.

It was a great commercial, and it got people talking, and perhaps, signing up for G+. Google knew that the idea of multiple people conversing via video was a real draw. But I get the feeling that many have showed up for that feature, but haven’t waded into the deeper waters of the platform.

And much of this conjecture is bolstered a bit by the latest research from RJ Metrics as reported in the Fast Company article, New Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Weak User Engagement. While the platform is touting numbers in the 170-million range, many are questioning what those numbers really mean. Compared to other platforms, engagement and activity are on the decline. And if a large number of people, especially younger users, are there solely for the Hangout feature, then we need to reinterpret those numbers.

Google calls G+ a social network. Others say it really isn’t a social network, but that it’s real value lies in its integration with search and SEO. But if many users aren’t posting content, reacting to content, or sharing content, then that won’t be happening either. And while my daughter, and my students are only interested in the Hangouts, I know that some older folks feel the same way; they like the hangouts for business purposes, but aren’t using the other features of the platform.

Now I don’t want to make a bold comparison to MySpace, because I think G+ is very different, but with MySpace, the most important feature, the music interface, dominated the platform. Sadly, MySpace waited too long to realize this, and they became redundant because others could easily replicate and improve upon what they are doing. It wasn’t that unique.

Now, with Google +, one of the best features are the Google Hangouts. It can draw people in, but…it might also be the most easily replicated feature. While others can create similar video chat platforms, it’s the search capabilities of Google and G+ that are not so easily copied. This makes Google+ vulnerable.

If Skype or Facebook (or both, since they have already partnered up), were to come up with a similar product that allowed for multiple people in a video chat, they would slow the number of users migrating to G+ for the Hangouts. Plus, many of those users might prefer to hold their video chats on Facebook where there are already 900-million users, giving Facebook greater “time spent on site” numbers. I’m actually surprised this hasn’t been developed and launched yet.

Google + is vulnerable for a variety of other reasons, and so far, I’m still not seeing large SEO benefits from having my content on G+, and I’m getting far more traffic from most other platforms, including Pinterest. That’s just me. But if the Hangouts can be one-upped elsewhere, we may just see a lot fewer accounts, and a lot less time spent, on Google +.

What are your thoughts? Is this something that Google + should be worried about, and others should be looking at as a way of competing? Now that Google + has been around nearly a year, what are your thoughts on the platform?

Related articles

• How Will You Use Open Google+ Hangouts? (blogworld.com)
• How Can Non-Profit Organizations Use Google Hangouts Effectively? (donordreams.wordpress.com)
• Facebook’s Popularity Contest: Buying Visibility (v3im.com)
• Your Value (dannybrown.me)
• 6 SEO Changes To Make Now (v3im.com)

How Google + Hangouts Could Actually Hurt the Platform originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on May 16, 2012.

Back in the day, integrated marketing was a big trend. Everyone allegedly rushed to climb aboard to play nice in the sandbox. Soon it fizzled and silos crept back to the forefront of business models, and everyone stayed in their corners.

Then came social media (well, some umpteen years later), and marketing altered again. Companies had to tear down the silos and implement integrated marketing again; however, it’s not over. Business is only in the early stages of adoption of social marketing, and one way to be successful is “marketing in the round.”

Marketing In The Round, How to Develop an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Era by Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston, provides a in-depth look at multi-channel marketing without silos, without a champion, and with a balanced, cross-cultural team working in alignment toward attainment of business goals. Consider it akin to change management.

When you put marketing in the midst of all the communication disciplines, you get marketing in the round. No silos, no hierarchy, just an investment toward positive impact on the business.

At the helm of the marketing round is a leader with an understanding for as many disciplines as possible. This leader is also a strategist who can encourage the breakdown of barriers that exist between advertising and public relations, for example.

In a perfect marketing in the round scenario, there isn’t a chief marketing officer to report to; everyone communicates from one level and uses all communication methods to stay current.

Marketing rounds will succeed well with communication approaches from the top down, via a groundswell, and by two left and right flanks. I bet you money Geoff wrote that chapter (Chapter 4) about military tactics akin to a marketing round. Another tactic of engagement is direct marketing.

Throughout chapters five to eight, the authors detail each tactic in-depth and provide excellent examples of deployment of each of the aforementioned strategies of communication.

In the final chapters, the discussion surrounds integration and the incorporation of various of these tactics from the outside in, inside out, internal only, horizontally, vertically, and any other direction you can imagine.

The book wouldn’t be a Gini book without a chapter on measurement. When you read that chapter, the takeaway is that measurement doesn’t happen overnight. There are many trials to determine what to measure, especially in this era of big data and analytics reports numbering in the hundreds of pages. Along the way, you develop your benchmarks and the dashboard to plug in these figures.

When your marketing round is humming from all the inter-collusion, be prepared to get a flat tire and inflate it all up again. The marketing round has no stopping point, it’s a model to develop, test, fail, test, improve and enhance some more.  The “dramatically changing media landscape has moved faster with each new decade.”  What that means is companies need to adapt even faster.

When you pick up your copy of Marketing In The Round, you’ll find tips, charts, how-to graphs, examples of companies trying, and an approach that clearly comes from the experts. I encourage you to buy this book and reference it regularly. And, there’s a FREE webinar by Radian6 this week featuring our now-famous-er celebrity authors. Click here to register.

May I close with a hearty congratulations to my friends, Gini and Geoff, for their accomplishment. Gini and Geoff are coming to a theater near you; if you’d like to order bulk copies or invite them to autograph yours from a club setting or tweet up, please indicate such right below in comments. I’m sure either or both are paying attention today.

I remember growing up and having the phone ring during dinner. My Mom would run to get it, and a few second later I’d hear the familiar phrase: “We do not take solicitations over the phone.” That happened on a daily basis, sometimes a few times per day.

As with every industry cutbacks occur and what was a voice on the other line turned into a computer with a recorded message. I’d try sending the “do not call” signal to the computer by continuously hitting the “0″ button on the phone. That never worked.

Between do-not-call lists and consumer backlash I’m happy to report those days are almost at an end! But if annoying the hell out of people on the phone isn’t getting companies leads, what is?

Topping the charts is one of my favorites, SEO, followed by social media (another fav), email, blogging, and PPC.

Recent MarketingSherpa survey results are pretty interesting. PPC, trade shows, direct mail, and telemarketing are going down.

What does this mean for you? 3 things:

1. Continue attracting your ideal customers with SEO
2. Build those relationships on social media
3. Ensure you have email capture forms on your site. My favorites are the “subscribe to the blog” and “fill out my contact form” forms.

Download this ebook

Keep the leads flowing from SEO with help from this free ebook from Dempsey Marketing – Keywords That Convert. What’s it about? The title says it all my friend.

When we moved to our current neighborhood about three years ago, our daily walk route took us by a house on a corner that stood out. The very large house had a “For Sale” sign out front, but the yard also prominently featured a large cement lion statue. The first time we walked by, Shadow looked at it rather curiously. When it didn’t move or make a sound, he lost interest. I took a picture of it, and was always fascinated by the lion in front of the vacant house.

Fast forward to 2012. Just last month a “Sold” sign went up in front of the house. Shortly after that, the lion disappeared. I was shocked, because while it wasn’t in the best of condition, it added character to the place. I kept thinking that if I was the one who had bought the house, I would have not only kept the lion, but would have tried to clean it up a bit.

Interestingly enough, I wasn’t the only one who noticed the missing feline. A few days later, a sign appeared on the gate near where the lion had stood:

Big Lion R.I.P.

And in the days that followed, people began to place flowers, real and plastic, and other objects, to show that they missed the lion. The place where the lion once stood has become a shrine, similar to what you see family members and friends erect on a road side where someone has lost their life in an accident.

Yes, the shrine to the lion, complete with a “guardian angel” candle, is a bit silly. But obviously people have noticed, and some are upset by the change. They miss the lion, and they’ve spoken up.

Remember New Coke? Customers noticed, and they spoke up. Businesses have changed their logo, or updated/dropped a mascot, and people have noticed.

In a world dominated by smartphones and social media, people are noticing the things you do in real time, and they are reacting in real time. This doesn’t mean that you should operate in a culture of fear. But you do need to recognize that more than ever, your customers are an integral part of your brand. Many of them have a vested interest in what you do and how you do it. And whether this interest is real or perceived, you need to be ready.

Crowdsourcing can be a tricky thing, and  it certainly is an imperfect part of the equation, but you do need to listen.

Now I’m not suggesting that the new owners of the house around the corner should have polled the neighbors to see how they felt about the lion. That would have been just as silly as the shrine that has appeared. But, they might never have had a clue that some folks felt rather attached to the thing. In the same way, new management of a business, particularly if they are brought in from outside, might act and make changes out of ignorance. It happens.

Keep your eyes and ears open. Social media is an incredible resource for taking the pulse of your customers, both actively and passively. And understand how connected some people are to your brand. After all, that’s what we’re after, right? We want customers who are so loyal that they feel a sense of ownership in what we do. These are the people who will talk about you and tell others how wonderful you are. I would bet that those people who placed signs, flowers, and candles along the fence where the lion once stood, also pointed the lion out to their friends when they drove by:

Look! There’s the lion! Did you see it??

It was something that “belonged” to them, and they were eager to share it with others.

Just understand that that same sense of connectedness and ownership means that they will also tell you what they think. When you make changes and surprise them, they will notice, and they will speak up. Having strong brand ambassadors is a double edged sword.

We need to be ready to not only equip and tap into the power of word of mouth with our customers, but to also to listen to them. They may not be financial shareholders in your business, but they are shareholders with perhaps a more important form of equity.

*Note: since writing this post I’ve learned that the previous owner of the house took the lion with him.

How are you communicating change with your customers? Is there a constant flow of dialogue that you can tap into?

Related articles

• Improve Your Customer Experience: John DiJulius Interview, Part 3 (customersthatstick.com)
• Marketing in the Round: A New Way to Do Business (inklingmedia.net)
• If You’re Spending Money, You Better Be Tracking (thecontentcocktail.com)
• How does a small business move into social media marketing? (businessesgrow.com)
• Marketing Strategy: Channeling The Power Of Purpose (v3im.com)

Your Customers Will Notice, and They Will Speak Up originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on May 15, 2012.

Do people remember your blog posts? Does your content have staying power? If you evoke emotions in your readers, I can guarantee that your ideas will remain firmly planted in their brain.

How do you do that as a blogger? With the right photo, of course.

I’ll be writing a post soon to help you figure out exactly where to get good photos that won’t break the bank, but for now, just know that posts with engaging photos get read more and shared more—even on sites that you aren’t necessarily active on.

Why You Should Touch the Heart and the Head in Your Posts

One of the biggest factors in remembering something—an image, an experience— is how much emotion is attached to it. For all you science lovers, here is the reason: The amygdala, the center of emotion in the brain’s temporal lobe, lights up when emotional content is shown, which in turn boosts the activity in areas of the brain that form memory.

The non-geek explanation: The brain is hard-wired to remember things that evoked emotions. Either you want remember something to avoid it (if anger, pain or sadness was felt) or you want to keep it as a memory to return to the experience (if you felt joy, happiness or fun).

5 Emotions That Pack a Punch in Photos

If the content that is most remembered appeals to readers’ emotions as well as their intellect, then our blog post photo becomes an important way to make that connection. There are endless emotions we can evoke, depending on our post’s topic. Here are five examples:

Fear

In What’s Under Your Bed: 10 Monster Blogging Fears Worth Chasing Down, I tackled the fears bloggers have that keep us up at night—all the what-ifs. What better picture than a child sitting up in bed, afraid to go to sleep?

Vulnerability

I wrote Is Writing with Vulnerability a Sign of Low Self-Concept? to provoke a discussion about whether the best bloggers and writers take off their armor and allow themselves to be ‘hurt,’ whether being open and vulnerable enables them to connect with their readers on deeper levels. The photo? A cute baby expressing surprise and wonder.

Frustration

In Social Media Fail: 5 Reasons I Will Unfollow You, I shared my frustrations with following someone on Twitter, only to find out that their tweets are divisive, or too ‘me-centered,’ or one-way broadcasts. The photo evokes emotions of unhappiness and disappointment.

Compassion

In the lingering pain of 9-11, my post, September 11, 10 Years Later: Why Stories Still Matter, focused not on the anger and sadness surrounding the event, but on the acts of kindness and compassion, often between total strangers. The photo of the NYC firefighter holding the photo of the girl I mentored, the child who wanted an autograph from a firefighter, appeals to compassion and reconciliation.

And one to just make you laugh

They say that laughter is the shortest bridge between two people. In Why You Should Be a Copycat Blogger, I compared my crazy experiences as a nervous first-year teacher to the challenges of beginning bloggers as they make their way through those first months. The photo: a cat whose whole purpose is to make you smile.

Do you know what you want your readers to feel with each blog post?

Do you use photos to evoke emotions?

If you use photos to make your content more powerful, which types work best for you?

In this Soulati Media On The Street segment with Margie Clayman of Clayman Advertising coming to you from Social Slam 2012, Margie waxes poetic about Facebook. She’s one of the most prolific Facebook users I’ve seen, and she bridges personal with business for her firm.

I recommend a listen/watch, and I also recommend a follow. You’ll learn something from this woman because she knows which end is up on the Interwebz! Thanks for playing, Margie!

In baseball, a five-tool player is one who excels at hitting for average, hitting for power, baserunning skills and speed, throwing ability, and fielding abilities.^[1]

In essence, this player can do it all; he has absolutely ‘no’ holes in his game.

How about you; what are you bringing to the table? Are you a ‘five-tool player’ in your profession?

The reason I ask is because I see so many people in sales fall by the wayside in my profession; for whatever reason, they can’t put all the pieces together and maintain it for any length of time.

What are your tools?

I can tell you I’m ‘in’ insurance and that was even my degree: Risk Management-Insurance with a double major in Marketing. However, what I’m really in is ‘sales‘ as  nothing happens until I bring a new customer through the door.

How do you like that green booger combo; insurance and sales, talk about killing a party conversation……..:).

In my world, the five areas I better have some game in is: prospecting; underwriting; sales; leadership; and diplomacy.

Break it down

Our insurance agency is  NOT all things to everybody and neither am I. Just because we can write everything does not mean we chose to do so. We know what our ‘ideal’ customer looks like and we seek them out. I can count on one hand the successes we have had from random call-ins.

However, for our model to work means you need to have proficiency in networking and prospecting; ie – kissing a lot of frogs. And just because you know someone still does not mean you will be doing business together.

Underwriting -even though a business might be big and you know there will be lots of dollars involved, still does not make it an ‘ideal’ prospect. If they are just ‘shoppers’ and treat you no better than a vendor, then it’s probably best to ‘walk away.’ Also, if their management does not buy into a safe work place and what it takes to get there; keep walking on this one too. Finally, you have to know you will have a home for this once you drag this beast in the door. You can spend a lot of time getting it all pretty for the dance only to find out the dance was last Saturday; and you will be dancing with yourself.

Ahhh sales, the easy part, right? Well, once I determine this is ‘my‘ type of an account, I have to sell it to my marketing department. They have to believe we have a realistic chance of putting this on the books before we waste a lot of  resources. Then, our marketing department has to turn around and ‘sell’ it to the insurance company so they will even quote for us. Once the carrier likes it, then I get involved and tell them why it’s a good fit for them. Finally, once we get the finished product back out, we have to go sell it to the prospect. No problem, huh…….your price is too high……..

Leadership; I am the captain and coach of the team. I have to put together a team internally and make sure they are a fit with the customer and with the service plan that was established. I have to empower the team to a great extent, but if anything breaks down it is ultimately my responsibility because it is my account after all.

Diplomacy, and this is always in play. You certainly have to be diplomatic with your customer because as you can imagine, you will deal with many personalities AND positions within the company. Internally, you have the same dynamics going on with your team. And finally externally with the insurance company, you have to deal with underwriting, marketing, claims, accounting, loss control, etc and each one has a different role and personality.

Easy stuff, huh?

Well, it’s certainly not rocket science but you do have to be able to juggle several balls at a time.

And that is the core of this post; over my career at @LanierUpshaw, I’ll bet I’ve seen at least 25-30 people with us in sales who did not ‘make it.’ Coming in, they appeared personable, intelligent, connected, etc, but for some reason or another there was a breakdown in one or more of the key components.

Is it sales? Is it too hard to maintain the confidence and drive day in and day out to sustain yourself over any length of time? If you hit a dry spell, do you think lack of confidence will come into play?

Is it the people? Sales, like social, can be very fickle. Just about the time you have it all figured out, you will get ‘fired’ by a customer and it leaves you scratching your head. You want to think you have ‘earned‘ a certain amount of respect and stature, but you can always get knocked out by the greenest of green boogs and it’s never fun.

How do you make it fit?

I would say over my career there are about 2% of the people in sales who ‘get it;’ they can sell the proverbial ice to an Eskimo, and sell them year after year.

Then there is the majority who have found a way to ‘survive’ and stick around for awhile; not too flashy, consistent and predictable. These are the ones who are most apt not to be job hopping.

And finally, there’s the 25% or so who have no business in sales because they can’t figure out any of the parts. They don’t have the discipline to do the basics primarily. They typically bounce around from shop to shop hoping they might get ‘lucky’ at one of there stops.

Sales are easy, right?

Sometimes the hardest thing to do in the whole process is just making the ‘ask.’ You might be ‘afraid’ they won’t like you any more if they think you are a ‘salesman’ and ask them to do business with you.

But if you don’t make the ask or the sale, what work will the people in your office have to do; who’s going to pay them? You might feel you get to the point where you you’ve done your share, but if you aren’t ‘selling,’ then who is? Sometimes in sales it’s hard to be ‘on’ day in and day out, but that’s what you signed up for, right?

It can be very rewarding but it can be very scary at times; good thing I don’t know any better.

That’s my world and that’s all I will say about it; it just happens to work out pretty well for me.

Are you a 5-tool player; or just a tool?

The other day I was making some green tea and something struck me. After I filled the pot with water and turned on the heat, I kept checking it. I was checking it  every two minutes. And each time I checked it, it didn’t seem any closer to boiling. Finally after some amount of time, it boiled, I took it off the heat, added my tea leaves, and started to brew the tea.

How often does this happen to you with your business?

I’m as guilty as anyone of having a past project or two where I shut it down before it reached the boiling point. I dove in head first, worked like a mad man, and when I didn’t see the results I expected declared it a failure and moved on to the next.

What would those projects have become if I had worked on them a little longer?

I’ve seen this happen with a lot of entrepreneurs. They get into something with the best intentions but it never comes to fruition. So they move on to the next thing, and then the next, and then the next.

What does this really mean?

Jumping from project to project and idea to idea isn’t entrepreneurial ADD, it indicates lack of a clear definition of success. The desired outcome isn’t well defined if it’s defined at all.

Before you dive into your next project, ensure that you have a clear outcome in mind. Don’t get lost in the activities required to achieve that outcome, rather take the time to clearly define what the outcome will look like. Determine what metrics are needed to measure both the outcome and that you are maintaining the correct trajectory towards it.

If a current project has no defined outcome, stop and define it along with the metrics.

Keep your focus on the outcome, and the means to achieve it will become much easier to see.

The awesome frog photo  is by Holger Groschi (2003)

You’re gonna hate this book.

No, really, you are. Especially if you’re a marketer. It’s gonna drive you nuts.

Not because it’s a horrible book, or it’s boring. But because you’re gonna read it and realize not only that you’ve been doing it wrong, but that you’re going have to make some pretty big changes if you want to be successful in this digital age.

You’re going to read this and shake your head and say,

“Geez, now there’s something else I gotta do.”

Marketing in the Round by my friends Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston (her name comes first because of some legal wrangling and legislation that has been handed down from on high) isn’t just the latest book of, “Hey, look what’s new and trendy in marketing”.  On the contrary, this is a marketing and business book that is grounded in solid research and experience.

Once you read it, you’ll wanna stand up, and in your most presidential of voices, demand:

Mr. Marketer, tear down those walls!

No, you may not like this book, but you’ll love the results. And that’s the spoonful of sugar that will help this medicine go down, as you seek to create a new kind of internal business culture with long-lasting, positive results.

The premise behind Marketing in the Round is that our businesses are hindered by departments that function independently of one another, often with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. And it’s been that way by design with each department suffering from a bad case of #DontBeCreepingOnMyTerritoryosis. It’s only natural to get territorial when budgets and staffing are on the line, but we have to remember, we’re all in this together.

The good news is you’re not alone. The other good news is that Gini and Geoff have written a book that walks you through the process of breaking down those walls and silos in a very practical and actionable way. They will help you create an internal, interdepartmental group which they call a “marketing round”, and move you along to a means of measuring your results.

Think of it as carpooling. You have a group of people, all located in the same place, and all headed to the same final destination. But rather than each of them driving their own cars, they pool their resources and work together to achieve those goals more effectively.

Perhaps one of the most important contributions of this book is that it not only gets you asking questions, but asking the right questions, in order to make more informed decisions about your marketing efforts. You’ll walk away with the tools you  need to analyze your strengths and weaknesses, while taking into account factors like your available resources, and how to properly time and plan your messaging and activities.

The heart of the book draws from the work of 17th century military strategist Miyamoto Musashi and his The Book of Five Rings, and discusses four main approaches to engagement as applied to marketing: direct, groundswell, top down, and flanking. Each of these is examined in detail with specific attention paid to the benefits and risks of each approach. Each chapter also includes very practical exercises you and your team can work through, including forms and charts you can complete.

In the digital age we often have to act and react quickly. The tools and information in this book will help you make informed decisions quickly, without being reactionary and knee-jerk. In our fast-paced culture, it’s too easy to rush to market with a marketing program because it’s the cool thing to do, in a very real-time world.

Anyone who reads Spin Sucks and Geoff’s blog regularly will recognize a lot of the language. Geoff and Gini do a great job of defining the terms and practices within the overall communications realm, and righting many misconceptions based on terminology and how it translates to real world practice, all the while avoiding too many buzzwords (or at least reclaiming and properly defining them). And all of this is firmly rooted in creating and maintaining a “marketing round” that transcends departments and silos, and is part of a fully integrated system and business model.

As you read Marketing in the Round, you’ll have a lot of those “I wish I had written that!” or “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that?!” moments. This is because everything in here makes sense. You’ll love how the authors promote best practices, while also identifying and calling out some of the “worst” practices that have become ingrained in our business culture.

My favorite chapter in the book is the one on “The Groundswell Approach”, mostly because it deals with a lot of the work I do with my clients, but it’s important to remember that none of these approaches exists in a vacuum. The key to the marketing round is that everything is integrated: all approaches, online and offline, horizontally and vertically within the organization.

I really appreciate the work that Gini and Geoff have put into this book, and my positive review here has nothing to do with the fact that I consider them friends. Long before the book I have appreciated their knowledge and wisdom in the areas of marketing and communications. I’m just happy that they’ve worked together to write a book that makes our job easier.  They do a great job of defining some of those tired old industry terms, both for those who might be unfamiliar with them, and for those who absolutely need to be reminded of what they mean. We get into a lot of bad habits over time, and this book has plenty of reality checks for all of us.

This is definitely a book that every business owner or marketing/communications person should add to their library. Not just because I want to help my friends make some money, but because they have something important to say that could truly transform the way we do business.

Oh, and don’t take Shadow’s review of this too seriously. He’s a dog after all; he can’t read. And there was no kibble in the book to hold his attention.

Congrats, Geoff and Gini, on a job well done. And thank you for sharing it with us.

Related articles

• Putting CMOs In The Cross Hairs Of The Round (pr.typepad.com)
• How to start measuring social media (even if you hate math) (prdaily.com)
• Marketing Strategy: Channeling The Power Of Purpose (v3im.com)
• Public Relations is Everyone’s Business (waxingunlyrical.com)

Marketing in the Round: A New Way to Do Business originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on May 14, 2012.

You know what I’m talking about, right?

I’ll try and explain.

I started my business in 1995, but I’ve only broken free from my self-imposed shackles in the past 5-7 years, really.

Before that, I was uncommunicative, uninvolved, bitter and insecure.

I hate labels, but sometimes I have to use them to convey a story.

Can you relate?

Less than two years after my first son was born, my wife persuaded me to open my own business.

We had no money, but she had faith and I had determination.

Nothing in the world motivates you like a toddler in the house, a new business and a client list of zero.

And no job to fall back on.

Yet, no matter how much I progressed and how many clients I acquired, IT didn’t feel quite right and never has.

Know what I mean?

People often say you never change. I’ve heard them say this myself. Please save that load of crap for the hay wagon, because that’s what it is.

People do change. All. The. Time.

And that’s the beauty of it all, really.

Since 1995 I’ve been making a slow and steady climb, but it’s not until fairly recently that I finally got IT.

I always thought that hard work and determination were the keys to success. Work, then relax. Extended periods of drudgery followed by shorts burst of enjoyment.

We were taught this in school, by our parents. At least I was, but this certainly isn’t the key to an enriching life. I enjoy hard work but am no fan of a passionless struggle.

So I guess my question to you is how do you make your life enriching? How do you create an environment that is conducive to work and enjoyment at the same time? Is this possible?

In my youth I lived in a constant state of unease and only found solace on my own deserted island. A disconnected, lonely place where I perfected the art of dreaming on a daily basis.

This followed me into adulthood, where the dreams disappeared, but the isolation and unease remained.

I only started to make some real changes around the age of 40. For me, the keys were embracing discomfort, learning to deal with uncertainty and taming my active lizard brain. Getting out of my head was key, as I could no longer live with the torturous chatter.

And right now? I’m not slowing down. In fact I’m more excited about life than every before.

I guess I’ve kinda, sorta found my IT.

Enriching experiences come from taking on discomfort.

Breaking free of those self-imposed chains can be the most liberating feeling on earth.

And discovering that creativity that resides deep inside you can be like an exploding fireball of passion that renews your zest for life.

How about you?

Why do you do IT every day? And how does it make you feel?

Are you making up for lost time or have you been in this most excellent state for a while?

That tormenting mental noise? I kicked it to the curb. Have you?

Right now, I’m feeling IT big time. How about you?

If not, think long and hard about your limiting beliefs and negative self-talk. It can be deafening and potentially life-destroying.

Do you feel like you’ve arrived?

If not, what do you think is holding you back?

And, why do you do “it” every day?

It’s been another excellent week here at Dempsey Marketing full of client work, networking, writing and learning. I had more to share this week as I wrote a post every day of this week. I’m not sure if I’ll keep that up but definitely stay tuned to see.

I did have a few big epiphanies which I’ll get into in the coming section.

But hey, why wait? Let’s get into it.

Books Read And In-Progress

Late last week I started and finished The Power of Unpopular by Erika Napoletano. The biggest takeaway from the book was Erika’s advice on being a friend to your clients. This is a different paradigm than many marketers take. Think about it – how do you treat your friends? If you see something they might be interested in you send it to them. If you see them doing something that could be made more powerful you offer your advice. You get more personal, and you don’t have a profit motive behind it. It was in fully understanding this that exactly how to use Facebook, a network I haven’t spent much time on, really opened up to me, and is now getting as much of my attention as Twitter.

One book Erika recommended is now on my in-progress list: Winning the Customer: Turn Customers Into Fans And Get Them To Buy More by Lou Imbriano and Elizabeth King. Both Lou and Elizabeth are highly credentialed. Lou was formerly the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, so he knows a little something about connecting with fans. Elizabeth is an author, teacher, and President of her own coaching company. She work focuses on examining and cultivating personal development, critical thinking, quality culture, creativity, intelligence, and learning. This potent one-two combination is making for an excellent read.

Along with Winning The Customer I continue to read War Made New.

Most of my learning time this week however was spent watching a movie from someone you may have heard of – Tony Robbins.

To Master Business You Must Master Your Life

I know what your thinking…

You’re thinking, “OMG, he’s listening to Tony Robbins! He’s lost his mind.”

So let me preface with this – it is my person belief that people are born with a vast amount of potential, and along the journey of life experiences help to either bring out or suppress that potential. Case in point – many people I know feel about school today is geared more to turning people into robots (test after test after test) more so than free-thinking individuals. Regardless of how you feel about the state of education the point is that our experiences can limit our belief in what is possible in our own lives.

Now that might sound like rah rah fru fru crap but here’s the thing – I know that in my own life my run-ins with horrible, manipulative sales people caused me to not sell for a long time. This lack of selling limited my business potential. Selling isn’t bad. Selling snake oil that isn’t actually providing value to clients is bad. Snake oil is NOT what we are selling. So why limit ourselves?

One of the biggest takeaways I’ve received from Tony’s materials so far is this – focus on outcomes rather than activities. Rather than focusing on all the things you need to do each day to be successful, focus on becoming successful. Understand that you cannot do everything yourself and actively seek out others to partner with or subcontract that. And then take that focus on outcomes into every aspect of your life.

Change your mindset and you change your life. Stop limiting yourself and you’ll stop limiting your business.

Posts From This Past Week

In case you missed one of the posts this week here was the lineup:

1. All Marketing Is A Conversation
2. The Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Right Web Designer
3. To Get Ahead First Get Past Yourself
4. The We-I-Me Myth Of Small Business
5. Why Is Google Holding Our Keywords Hostage?
6. Quick Tip: Using Trackbacks For Relationship Building

On A Personal Note

We’re in the final two weeks of our time here in Chiang Mai. As our time in Thailand comes to a close, I’m reflecting on just how much has happened in our lives since we came in November of 2010. A heck of a lot. It’s been a wonderful time and we will definitely miss Thailand and the friends we’ve made.

It’s time to head back to the US and keep the momentum we’ve built going. I’m looking forward to meeting all of my clients in-person, and will be planning some exclusive events just for them.

Until we leave however, I’ll be enjoying as much Thai food as I can without gaining 100 pounds

That’s It For This Week!

Another busy week has come and gone. I hope you had a great week too, and are looking forward to the new one.

Written & Drawn by Jeff Burkholder.

See previous installments of The Social Life of Frank & Linh.

Related articles

• The Social Life of Frank & Linh: Happy Anniversary! (inklingmedia.net)
• Marketing Strategy: Channeling The Power Of Purpose (v3im.com)
• Gin and Topics: Man Named T-Rex and Dancing Harvard Boys (spinsucks.com)
• Failure to Communicate Really Stinks (marijeanjaggers.com)

The Social Life of Frank & Linh: Product Placement originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on May 13, 2012.

Trackbacks are a feature of WordPress that let you know someone has linked to a page or post on your WordPress site. You’ll see trackbacks if you link one post to another (good for SEO and time-on-site) or someone on another site links to you. You can use these trackbacks for both relationship building and lead generation. Let’s see how.

Relationship Building

If someone is linking to your content chances are they like it. This is a great opportunity to strike up a conversation and show thanks by commenting on their post.

As an example, recently Chuck Bartok – a regular visitor around these parts – read my All Marketing Is A Conversation post, and rather than leave a comment he wrote an entire article (read that here). That’s awesome! The way I found out about it – before he told me – was the trackback as seen below.

WordPress In-Post Trackback

Now Chuck and I have been connected for quite some time and he’s commented quite a bit (thanks Chuck you rock!) and asked questions. However this takes it to the next level. What it shows me is that he was inspired by my post and knew the message could be tailored to his audience. Never ignore these! This is gold.

When someone links to your content absolutely head on over to their website, leave a comment on their post, and don’t forget to thank them. And while you’re there, read their about page and find out more about they and their business. If you’re so inclined, send them a message and get them on Skype.

Chuck and I will be talking on Skype very soon.

Unsolicited Advice

Don’t ignore trackbacks. When it comes to blogging for business keep the following in mind: a vast majority of your visitors may never become customers or clients. However that doesn’t mean they aren’t highly valuable! Quite the opposite. It’s these folks that may or may not comment, however they share your content with their social media communities and help to spread your message. It behooves you to form relationships with these folks.

Leave the “how do I prioritize who to speak with” crap to the corporations. As a small business every relationship you form is important. And you never truly know who is on the other end, or who knows whom, until you talk with them.

Our lives are stories.

We are writing new pieces every day.

In my 50 years, my personal story has taken some pretty crazy twists and turns to bring me where I am now, and my story isn’t over yet.

Today,  my little girl Elizabeth graduates from Messiah College. She is finishing off an incredible part of her story, but moving on to yet another chapter which has yet to be written. I have no idea what that will look like, but I do know that she is an amazing young woman and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

While she doesn’t have a job yet, I know that she will be an amazing teacher, and that the lives of many young kids will be changed for the better because of her.

Elizabeth, I love you very much. I am so proud of you. Today is your day.

Welcome to the next chapter in your life!

Writing Stories in Our Lives originally appeared on Social Media, Inbound Marketing, & SEO Solutions for Small Business | Lancaster, PA | Inkling Media on May 12, 2012.

Before you read this post do me a small favor – open up your Google Analytics account, select your website profile, under Traffic Sources click the Overview link, and on the bottom right in the Keywords section click view full report.

Google Analytics Keyword Report

Do you see (not provided) on that list? Read on my friend…

What (not provided) Means

In October of 2011, Google announced that people signed in to any Google product will automatically use an SSL connection. On the surface this seems great – you have a secure connection to all of the Google services. However this was a huge blow for every website owner.

“Today, a web site accessed through organic search results on http://www.google.com (non-SSL) can see both that the user came from google.com and their search query. (Technically speaking, the user’s browser passes this information via the HTTP referrer field.) However, for organic search results on SSL search, a web site will only know that the user came from google.com.”

What that means is that if someone is signed in to any Google product and does a search on Google.com that leads them to your website, you won’t know what keywords they used to get there! It’s these folks coming to your website that produce the (not provided) keyword in Google Analytics.

This a major issue for any business using SEO, which is still the #1 method of client attraction being used online.

Google Said It Wouldn’t Have Much Impact

Matt Cutts is the head of Google’s web spam team. He’s the go-to-guy for the SEO community, explaining just what’s going on to the rest of us. When he was asked about the impact of this update by Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land, he said they estimated the impact would be in the single-digit percentages.

And They Were Very Wrong

Now I don’t know about you, but 44.58% deosn’t look like a “single-digit” percentage to me! And as of April 2012, (not provided) is my #1 keyword. Here’s a chart of its progression up the keyword food chain:

The red line is a trendline. Unlike a profitability chart, the upward direction of this line isn’t a good thing.

But is this just me, or is it happening to my clients as well? Let’s go to the charts!

Saltar Solutions - Not Provided Percentages

SagePresence - Not Provided Percentages

Communit - Not Provided Percentages

So no, it isn’t just me.

Is this happening to you too?

Why Google Is Doing This

Google makes a lot of awesome technology. Google itself is a modern marvel, along with Android, and most recently an autonomous car. How Google makes money however, is advertising.

Here is a typical page of results looks like on Google:

Google Ad Locations

I’ve outlined the ad areas in red and the content area in orange.

What’s wrong with this picture?

The Google page looks as it has for many years, with the one exception that I notice the ads are closer to the search results whereas before they were farther off to the side.

I’m so used to the ads being in these spots I no longer pay attention. The Law of Familiarity is now in effect – I no longer see the ads because I’m used to them being there. The marketing term for this is “banner blindness”, and is a problem for advertisers.

Now here’s what I see when I log into Facebook:

Facebook Ad Locations

That’s a very different picture. Notice how the ads are in the same area as important information such as the birthdays of my friends.

I will tell you from experience that for the price, Facebook ads are showing a much better return on investment for the campaigns I’m running. Google knows this. Google also knows that people spend more time on social networks than on Google, one reason for Google+!

But let’s get to brass tacks here. Google will show you the keywords people use to get to your site under two conditions:

1. The person is NOT logged in to any Google product
2. You are paying for AdWords

I’ll leave it to you to form your own opinion on whether or not you think that’s pretty heavy-handed.

How Awesome This Is For You

Now, you might be thinking that I as a marketer, am worried about this. Perhaps you’ve read to this point and have a few choice words to send to Google. But before you do let me tell you – this is an awesome opportunity for small businesses.

Just think about it for a second…

How many large companies do you absolutely hate dealing with? My list is fairly long with banks, credit card companies, phone and cable companies right there at the top, in bold. Now how many large businesses do you know that communicate well on Twitter, or Facebook, or Google+?

The best part about this for a small business is you can take advantage of this trend because you’re already equipped to! As an entrepreneur and small business owner you know how to talk with people. You get business based on relationships, both online and offline. And at the end of the day, how sure are you that keywords are the right metric of success for your website?

Hmmm…

My Advice Is This

Ramp up your relationship building efforts. Be proactive not reactive. It’s great to be able to listen for your clients, and that’s something you absolutely must do, but don’t wait for them to come to you. Go to them, talk with them, bond with them. Discover if you can provide for their needs. And then deliver like nobody else can.

Do that and keep doing that, and keywords begin to matter less and less.