Last year my oldest son Aaron managed to somehow squeeze into 2nd place at an Art exhibit at the Dade County Youth Fair.
So he got exposure, bragging rights and a whooping $3 check!
This will not pay for his next DS or trip to the nearest GameStop, but this is what it will do for him:
It will create in him the belief and conviction that any creative process that others appreciate and enjoy, they will also pay for.
He will also realize that making a living and doing so via something you love to do, are not mutually exclusive. In fact they should be one and the same.
Unfortunately we all know many people making a living, but not making a life while doing so. I don't want him to grow up believing that "work" and "love for work" is something to compromise on.
From a photography standpoint... Not a bad pic considering he took it with an iphone, right?
But I'm not sure is the tool that got it done :-)
I recently got one of those corny email blasts messages from a dear friend of mine regarding how individuals can make a difference ...
it went something along these lines:
"A basketball in my hands is worth $16, but the same basketball in Michael Jordan's hands is worth 34 Million."
True... and the same goes for a golf club, or a piano by the way!
We place so much importance on the gadgets, the toys and the shiny objects... but they don't make us or break us!
Hugh MacLeod started drawing cartoons on the back of business cards.
Pele, played soccer barefoot and with a coconut for most of his childhood.
Dan Kennedy still doesn't use email or has access to the internet. He's one of the most sought out copywriters in the world.
Warren Buffet didn't wait to have 10 million dollars to open Berkshire. He borrowed 100K from firends and family. Today he's worth close to 50 Billion.
Blake Mycoskie only wanted to help 250 kids get shoes to go to school. Today TOM shoes is carried by over 500 retailers and has given away over 1 Million shoes to kids all over.
I'll stop here!
My point is... You don't need the latest technology or playtoy to start doing your thing.
Your website doesn't not have to be perfect. Your content doesn't have to be Pullitzer material, your videos don't have to hit 100 Million views on YouTube. Your product doesn't have to be the best or the cheapest!
Just think about what you have or know what others need or want, and start sharing it. Start doing your craft!
The rest as I like to say, are tools in a toolbox!
Back in May of this year Facebook bought Instagram for a Cool Billion, Pinterest is not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon and other Social Networks are enhancing their visual functionalities!
Being a content marketing guy that tells me only one thing ... People are responding pretty well to visual content!
Here's a nifty thrifty Instagram Infographic from Marketo for you ... Enjoy!
Effectively syncing content marketing with your sales process is probably the one internet
marketing skill where some business are crushing it in sales and profits, and others are just giving up in despair!
I’ve been salivating to write this post for a while, for two main reasons:
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Combining content marketing with my sales process has worked in an awesome way for me, and …
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It confirmed a belief that I’ve always had but could only prove by doing it.
Here it is!
Before your Content Marketing via your website or blog starts producing traffic, noise, going viral and pulling massive attention for you (all that glamorous stuff you hear about!), It will start to silently and very ninja-like make a killing selling and pre-selling your services and products for you!
I don’t care if you do your stuff online, on the counter, on the street, on a coffee shop. It doesn’t matter!
I don’t care if you sell cement, pool services, legal services, airplane parts, or auto parts!
If you produce the right content at the right time for the right people, YOU WILL SELL MORE AND DO IT BETTER!
You will do so because you are committed to offering value by educating your prospects on the process of being a smarter consumer of your widget.
You are addressing their needs and pains and you are saying:
"Whether you buy from me or not … Here’s something you can do about it right now!"
And Smart people make smart choices!
Let me put it in perspective for you:
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Not once, has anything I’ve produced gone viral! Not on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon or any other platform.
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I’ve yet to get that long awaited and coveted backlink that makes you famous for 15 minutes from an A-lister or major traffic site.
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I don’t get double digit traffic numbers on my site. I’d like to! But my point is I don’t, yet my content still helps me sell what I do -Better!
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If I were to despair because I’m not crashing my server with traffic tsunamis every week then I would’ve stop doing content marketing a long time ago. Unfortunately many have.
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The quality of my content could be a lot better! Like my Golf game, it’s a matter of practice. My point is I’m no Malcolm Gladwell.
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I get some but not a lot of shares, likes and comments on my Facebook Page, but I’ve gotten some email subscribers through it, and I’m slowly increasing my Fan base! –Remember you shouldn’t ignore a Billion people :-)
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Twitter helps me syndicate and curate content, and just be generally social, but I’m not a power user. It has been a phenomenal networking tool for me though!
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LinkedIn has been way more effective because my audience is mostly business owners and professionals and I put in a bit more time to nurture relationship and conversations in there.
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I hardly get comments on Venmark Media, and I haven’t gotten to guest-post for anyone yet. Working on that though. Time is a big factor when producing content for someone else. For one it has to be you’re A++ work. That takes time, set aside no less than 6-10 hours to produce a killer guest-post for a popular site. The results are totally worth it!
I do fight for the above, and I work very hard toward reaching critical mass on all those areas. But I also know that if I stay the course, focus on “YOU” and the content I put out and follow best practices regarding inbound marketing as it relates to content marketing … it’ll happen.
In the meantime, here are my less glamorous benefits and results of getting on a Content Marketing mindset early on:
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My email subscriber base has been slowly but steadily increasing. Your opted-in email list is the lifeblood of your business. If you are not working on that, you are not doing much!
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Almost every person that’s been referred to me by a client, friend or by Google and Social Networks has been to my site and read and viewed an avg of 4-10 pages/posts. The selling by teaching process has already started at this point!
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Two of my best clients/projects $ wise came from Posts on my site that were shared on LinkedIn via Groups.
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I’ve been asked to speak at Association Conferences on Web Design and Social Media Marketing.
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I get an average of 1-2 consulting calls per week originating from the web only.
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My personal referral network has tripled since I started to develop my Social Graph.
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I rank on Google’s 1st page results for the Localized version of my targeted keywords and keyword phrases, and rank on first page for a few long tails. Most of my traffic actually comes from long tail keywords.
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The branded versions of both my name and my Company’s name populate 4-5 pages deep on Google Search for relevant results. Developing a solid Social Graph is essential in getting your name out there.
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The content on my blog has been the catalyst to start conversations that have resulted in leads and sales, and continues to be a huge part of my sales/educational process.
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I’m asked at least twice a month to JV on projects where my team and I can be instrumental to their success. I turn most of these down, not enough time and these commitments can’t be taken lightly. However at the present I’m involved in one very cool project, and about to start a second one.
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My business has pretty much doubled in revenue every year since taking on design and Social Media Marketing project-work for others. But guess what … Content Marketing has been the cornerstone of that humble growth.
But I have so much more to do and learn! … It just boggles the content marketing mind, Seriously!
So let me ask you this.
Do you think if I had gotten discouraged and bummed out about the first stuff I mentioned, I would’ve given myself a chance to accomplish everything else?
I think you know the answer.
Don’t worry about getting the attention you think you deserve when you start, or even if you've been at it a while!
All right, I'll tell you why you don't have your ten million dollars. Right now, you are a paycheck player. You play with your head, not your heart. In your personal life, heart. But when you get on the field it's all about what you didn't get. Who's to blame. Who underthrew the pass. Who's got the contract you don't. Who's not giving you your love. You know what, that is not what inspires people. That is not what inspires people! Shut up! Play the game, play it from your heart. And you know what, I will show you the kwan. And that's the truth, man! …That's the truth. Can you handle it?
-Jerry Maguire
I wanted this post to be an intro from personal experience and I’m hoping the message came across as to:
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Keep at it even if you are not getting stellar results. Find a way. No one does it alone.
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Start Now! Start producing content that educates and helps your prospects and clients. It will Pay Off in Spades!
I’ve started to write Part 2 which I’ll post mid-late next week. I’ll cover specific strategies for both camps:
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Those who are already doing it but need strategy and perks on “how to” as far as syncing content marketing with the sales process.
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Those who need a starting point in the sales/content marketing process.
I’ll also cover examples and case studies on average companies and businesses that have gotten above average results and are just absolutely Killing It with content marketing.
I’ll also mention a few peeps and companies that you need to be listening and learning from regarding inbound marketing in general… In addition to moi of course! :-)
Cheers!
You might have heard that last week Google had another update to its code. This one goes
after low-quality EMDs [Exact Match Domains].
This caused a massive uproar of disgust and anger from webmasters all over. Some sites have gotten hit really bad while others actually upticked.
What is an exact match domain?
leads.com
seo.com
insurance.com
Here are 5 examples of domains that lost ranking as of (9/29) – all had previously ranked for at least the past 7 days:
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www.bmicalculatormale.com (#4)
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www.charterschools.org (#7)
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playscrabble.net (#3)
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www.purses.org (#3)
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www.teethwhitening.com (#4)
Read the rest of this here.
It's not really obvious why some sites that promote content got hit and others didn't. We would have to look at each case a bit more in detail. These updates are swift and massive and are shot from a cannon, not a sniper rifle, so there will be some sites that will get slammed unfairly.
Having said that ...
What's the big picture here ... What's the take away from all this?
Guys ... Google is focusing on Relevant - Quality - Content when it comes to their search query results!
The trend it's obvious and this will not be the last update Matt Cutts and his Search crusaders will implement. Google wants to do away with anything that even remotely resembles black hat SEO and focus on the one strategy that guarantees people to keep paying them for advertising and frankly for producing the best results per search query:
Content Marketing
From a day to day business-grind perspective this is a phenomenal opportunity -I don't want you to miss it!
Google has been priming its pump and tweaking their code to make it even more imperative for us to use Content Marketing as a way to attract qualified and genuinely interested people to our websites and blogs!
Let me put it this way!
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If you are not packaging your good content for easy-practical consumption - You are missing out!
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If you are not looking at your sites navigation structure and following a Sales Funnel approach - Your are missing out!
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If you are not doing the kind of keyword research that allows you to refine what your ideal prospect is looking for - You are missing out!
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If you are not Optimizing every Page on your site with targeted keyword terms - You are missing out!
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If you are not blogging and creating content that speaks to your ideal prospects and clients needs and pains - You are not going to make it!
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If you are not including Content Marketing in your sales process - Guess what? ... your competition will start doing that pretty soon!
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If your are not leveraging social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc, in order to connect and be Social about your business - What else can I say? You get the drift.
Take care of your business so that your business can take care of you. Stay close to the action by reading and educating yourself about Content Marketing and Social Media Marketing.
This site will definitely get you started but there are so many others out there that I've written about over past posts.
In the next few weeks I'll be writing a post similar to our Resources Page, where I break down the who's who in this space and why I listen to them. Stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, if you are not doing so already, take a good look at your business model and how you can increase your bottom line by thinking about your Website's Design - Content Marketing and Social Media in a different way.
Don't waste a single day without thinking about this and taking small steps to integrate your website and your business model for better results.
CREATING EFFECTIVE FACEBOOK MARKETING CAMPAIGNS MIGHT BE EASIER THAN YOU THINK!
What constitutes a good marketing campaign?
This is a big question, and one that can open the doors to tremendous business opportunities regardless of the industry you are in.
So let’s take a shot at answering this question in a quick and practical way in the next few paragraphs.
First, let’s take a look at some indisputable characteristics of effective and well-regarded campaigns.
Be Educational and Helpful
If you are not educating people, providing answers to questions, needs or concerns your prospective customers might have … Stop!
Because than means all you are doing is asking people to buy your widget. This is harming your brand and your chances to genuinely connect with them.
Provide insight, help, and hands on educational or informative content. This is the marketing that is most useful when a prospect is in a research mode and trying to obtain specific information to get closer to a purchasing decision.
Timely Customization
In order for marketing to be truly helpful, it needs to be available to you at the right time and sometimes in the right place. But since there’s really only a handful of networks where the majority of people hang out these days, socially that is, then the right place really becomes “the right audience at the right place”.
Hence the importance of understanding how to find and target hidden Fan Page gems and tap into their huge Fan base.
The fact of the matter is that people look for information at the time the need it the most, so you need to make it worth their while and have it readily available. The entire mobile experience is based on the timely customization of search results.
Visual Content that supports the message
This seems like a no-brainer but so many people get it wrong. You don’t have to be a Michelangelo regarding your design, but you do need to make sure your design is functional from a marketing perspective.
How to Start Making Effective Facebook Campaigns and Growing your Fan Base
In case you are wondering, let me put this one away right now!
I don’t think any social platform should replace your website and blogging strategy. Your site is the hub and the wholly grail, everything you do on the web is for one reason only: To have prospective customers come to your site and sign up to your awesome content!
So before you spend time and effort on any third party platform, make sure your house is in order. No point in creating value somewhere or for someone else. Beside you don’t know when Mark Zuckerberg will wake up in a bad mood one day and start charging people to access their Facebook Pages.
Having said that … you can’t ignore a network-platform with a billion people. That would be stupid!
So your campaigns should always start on your website and extend out to your social networks. The attention is then channeled from your social outposts back to the Landing pages on your website.
Here are some key components of a successful marketing campaign:
Now specific to Facebook Pages ... Let’s go over some strategies that you should be implementing right right now on your Business Page.
1. The first thing you need to do is create a basic level of custom graphics
Create a relevant timeline cover design that encapsulates who you are and what you do. Then create apps that bring in certain pages and areas of your website right into Facebook.
Include videos and high impact images that attract visitors visually first, then have strong content as anchor throughout the feed.
Upon clicking the custom apps you will then land on uniquely designed Landing pages that invite action taking on behalf of the visitor. In this case the Real Estate Tips tab it's pretty much a Sign up Page.
Have a well designed and inviting Page, where people can perceive almost involuntarily that you are unique. If they feel they know you, they’ll like you, and if they like you they’ll trust you. Now all you need to do is DELIVER!
2. Start actively engaging by Using Facebook as your Page
In this example, I'm switching from my personal profile to my Page in order to start engaging on FB as My Page instead of my personal profile.
This will allow you start posting, liking, sharing and commenting as your Page. As you see, this is extremely powerful because as you create value in the form of social engagement for others, whether targeted or not, you are driving eyeballs back to your own brand.
Then depending on the value of your content curation and conversation on your own Page, people will start liking your page and clicking on your Apps where you have all kinds of content packed CTAs (call to action) and other goodies!
Here's an example of what I call digital goodies.
3. Identify key influencers and the most active fans of others Pages in order to get genuine interesting commenting streaks going with them.
When combined with number 2, now you are influencing (in a genuine way) the influencers. Remember than when you switched to your Page, everything you do on Facebook from that point on is reflected and coming back to you, which is exactly what you want!
Just keep in mind to be genuine, add value and be helpful.
4. Share content from other Pages on your Page
This creates an incredible amount of goodwill and reciprocity-based behavior from most people, especially influencers.
I'll say this again, always be genuine. If you don’t like something don’t share because you want to start a conversation. Eventually all fake behavior comes right back to bite you in the ass.
Popular pages are popular because they are a hub for engagement and conversation. When you engage you'll increase visibility to yourself.
So the Key to sharing content on cool pages is to find those interesting and popular pages.
But how do you do that?
Here are the top 30 Facebook pages by likes as of this writing. Some of these are global and personal brands. Pagedata is a pretty good tool for a quick glance at the who's who and stats.
Here are some other pretty useful tools to finding good Pages on Facebook:
Fan Page List: This site aggregates Pages under different categories making the search easier and more efficient. Great tool for researching products, services, brands and people on Facebook.
Page Finder: This site is pretty much an index of Facebook Fan pages. Pages are organized by tags and locations, then sorted by popularity and alphabetically.
Discover Facebook Pages: This is an official Facebook Fan Page browser that will show pages organized by All, Music, Movies, Television, People, Brands & Products according to your geographic location.
This tool is essential for you to find interesting pages in your geographic area for the purpose of interactive engagement.
Directory of Facebook Pages: Facebook also provides a directory of People, Apps, Groups and of course, Pages. You need to be logged in to Facebook to use the search engine within the directory and get Fan pages in the search results.
... and all of this leads nicely to our last point.
5. Connect with other Fan Page Owners and create Joint Venture projects and value-based scalable productions
This one’s huge for true and relationship-based networkers and marketers, and it works in just about any industry you can think of.
Are you starting to get the picture?
If you believe in creating win-win and human-driven business ventures this approach is elementary and very effective, and you can use Facebook as your Research and Intel gathering center.
So get in gear and start customizing your Facebook Page and creating effective Marketing campaigns. It will be one of the best investments you make this year in your business.
Cheers :-)
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who
cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” –Alvin Toffler
[Small Business Owner’s number one voiced concern about Social Media and Digital Marketing is the time and work that it takes to get results.]
How do you think of time?
Do you take a linear approach to it?
Is it a matter of productivity and efficiency?
Do you base time value mostly on quality or quantity?
When it comes to your business, what do you consider time well spent?
Regarding Quantity and Quality… I’m one of those people that believe that quantity leads to quality. The more you practice, fail and practice again the better you get!
Developing a social graph and identity is a process and it doesn't happen overnight. Be patient, think fast but do things at a confortable pace and very important, DO NOT compare yourself with anyone else!
I’ve had the privilege in the past few months to sit down on discovery and pre-consulting sessions with some pretty successful local folks.
The reason for the meetings was to consider digital marketing strategies as a means to better communicate and in essence create valued-based awareness and as a consequence increase sales. This in addition to auditing what’s already working for them, and what is not.
So the topics of Social Media Marketing and Management, Content marketing, email marketing, blogging, functional design, and creating media platforms were at hand.
Eight times out of ten, the main frustration and concern was not the technology, or the learning curve, or Facebook and Twitter, or I’m not a good writer… The main concern was:
Where am I going to find the time to do all this?
'I’m maxed out as it is, imagine if I take on the internet and social technology in addition to my current responsibilities!'
Their concerns are not only valid, they are REAL!
My contention is that confronting this reality head-on is futile… But repositioning priorities and reframing old thinking models and mental images with new ones is not!
So first on my Jedi mind trick agenda is:
Don’t look at it as technology, look at it as: a more efficient and better way to communicate!
Social Media allows for any person or any business to create multiple access points and encounters throughout specific areas of the consumer cycle. But that’s not where its true value lies!
It lies in the way that it extends the conversation along a particular topic or insight to include not only the source but intended recipients and current consumers in real-time!… That’s priceless!
So yeah! I think you should consider devoting time, effort, and budget to creating a digital platform that can better augment and communicate your core values to the rest of us!
The better you communicate the more efficient the transfer of thoughts and ideas, therefore the better your ability to aid in the purchasing decision cycle.
And please don’t ask me to prove it. I don’t have to any more than I have to prove gravity.
Second:
Because you are now communicating better, you begin to actually educate and provide relevant and remarkable insight in the form of content. You now have an educated and agile consumer in your hands. The best kind of consumer!
If you still doubt this do a little experiment. Compare the sales cycle time between an educated buyer and one that is not. Email me your results!
Third:
This one is at best an excuse and at worse a blatant lie that we tell ourselves.
Not all the time but many times when someone says “I don’t have time” they really mean, “I don’t have the patience” or the will to change or learn something new. That’s has nothing to do with your business or the industry you are in and everything to do with you!
Very few habits will be as hard to break as those having to do with what you think are productive!
Here’s what I know guys!
The small businesses owner and armies-of-one consulting shops and unique product makers and producers are leveraging social technology to better communicate.
They are doing this by providing provide value in the form of applicable insight to their potential and current clients and customers in the form of relevant and targeted content.
As an inevitable result, they are smoking the competition and reaping the profits!
The large and well known brands that are leveraging Social Media as a means to provide better experiences, value and insight into how their product can help, are the ones dominating the market place and the attention space.
Yet when I show examples and case studies of these for both small businesses and larger businesses I get mixed reactions (aristotelian excuses actually):
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Circumstances are different for everyone. They are in a different industry than I am
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They are obviously doing well, so they can afford the time input
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They are natural writers, and understand technology
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They have a background in marketing
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They have a unique brand or business model
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Google likes them better!
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Can I pay someone to do it for me?
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What’s the ROI?
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My favorite! -What if it doesn't work?
You have to put in the time!
Realize that the linear and polarizing way that brands (big and small) used to communicate their message to us is decaying.
There was a time when you could get away with interrupting people with average ads about your average product. No more!
We are in a get rich slowly, put in the work and shortcuts-will-damage-not-only-your-long-term viability-but reputation-environment!
Fail fast and iterate faster. Get a minimum viable product out the door and test whether you should invest more time and resources into it.
What’s the ROI on Social Media?
According to Socialnomics –That you’ll have a business in 5 years
My advice is to take a long hard look at how your business model gets in the way of the lifestyle you'd like to design or have for yourself and your family.
Then start prioritizing what's productive vs. what's pseudo-productive.
We are in search of time right? Well then get down to the heart of it and see what's taking what out of your day when it comes to your business.
Remember this though when you feel headstrong about your process:
Very few habits will be as hard to break as those having to do with what you think are productive!
Good luck, and shoot me an email if you get stuck :-)
When you really think about it, the mere concept of managers is a contradiction in terms, especially in
organizations whose culture is based on choice and responsibility.
The concept of a manager is not necessarily absolete but it certainly needs reframing.
It needs to go from a "I want you to do this!" to "here's what I'm going to do to help you be better and reach your potential"
So then a manager is simply a facilitator... an enabler of the best in people in a business setting, not a dictator.
Unfortunately we see a comand and control structure even throughout good organizations. Sometimes is habitual and cultural and sometimes is just misguided intent.
If you need to whip an employee or a team member into doing something they should be doing, or you want them to do then you've got 2 major issues:
- you have to reassess what kind of employee you are hiring and/or,
- what kind of manager you have leading your teams.
Either way is a lose-lose for the organization.
You shouldn't be building networks of people who obey, but of people who care about the values that your organization stands for.
People who care are people who think based on value vs. revenue. Give them the freedom to have input and the right to be wrong without fear of it showing up in a yearly evaluation that's tied to a raise in salary. Can you think of a bigger conflict of interest to innovation, taking chances and critical thinking?
If democracy works for nations, why aren't large and midsize organizations empowering their citizens to have more say and initiative without the threat of failure and professional retribution?
But what does this have to do with a connected economy?
I believe that just as the family is the nucleus of society, corporate departments and the managers that lead them are the backbone of commercial institutions and the business world as a whole... which in essence also affect society.
Social technology has changed the game and the way we communicate with each other. This fact is that much more prevalent in the corporate world, yet less embedded and internalized.
- A manager that doesn't know how to leverage the collective knowledge of his/her team,
- who doesn't understand that the learning process is not hierarchical but about informed exchange of ideas and conversation at the peer to peer level,
- who thinks that the role of any corporation is about maintaining brand image instead of educating and helping its customers,
...it's simply out of touch with today's connected economy.
I think real leaders know and understand they are there to facilitate a certain task, they work and bleed for their team. They lead by example and as a result earn their peer's trust, respect and love.
Have you seen examples at the workplace where manager's are a positive vs. a negative influence on the team?
Please share your thoughts!
I believe the reasons we sabotage our marketing efforts stem from pre-wired belief systems and inefficient habit building.
Blogging successfully as a business model is no different. If you do it over and over, without testing, and without strategy and clear intent, you will fail.
Then you'll despair when you don’t get the expected results and eventually give up.
I don't blame you, blogging is hard work. If you want to do it right you can’t fake it, and most importantly and taxing is the fact that it requires a bit of discipline, imagination and creativity to put decent content week in and week out.
So I said to myself, let me put together a list of myths about blogging for business and profit and see where it takes me… I came up with 9 so far.
Here they are:
1. I need a large subscriber list to have a successful and profitable blog.
You should always be growing your list, but you don’t need thousands of subscribers to make blogging profitable.
2. There is no point in blogging if I’m not selling a product or service online.
Blasphemous! Just pick a topic that resonates with a group of people’s challenges and needs and watch that community grow around you!
3. Blogging takes too much time out of my working day.
When I hear someone tells me “I don’t have time” … That usually means, “I don’t have the patience”. Make the time!
4. I need to be a good writer to blog for business.
No you don’t… writing is a learned skill, yes you need to practice at it, but being good is not a prerequisite for blogging.
5. There are millions of blogs on millions of subjects, how can I make a difference?
Write in your own voice, about a popular subject and do it often!
6. I need to understand computers and the internet to be a successful blogger.
Ever heard of WordPress?
7. As soon as I start blogging I’m going to start making lots of money!
Good luck with that…! A lot has to happen before that occurs, but you have to start somewhere, so what are you waiting for?
8. Everyone will be interested in what I have to write about.
No one gives a S#*t! Start with a topic of need or interest and create value for anyone who comes along. That's how they'll get interested!
9. Blogging by itself is the ultimate marketing weapon.
Untrue, the best marketing plans are a combination of multiple things. But blogging does help integrate and bring together ideas and concepts that can then be leveraged and shared.
So what’s your take on blogging?
We are in the “Attention Age” make no mistake. The most coveted asset everyone is
vying for is:
“Your Attention”
It seems ironic that at a time where everyone wants to influence everyone else, the Attention Deficit Disorder Index is through the roof!
But that got me thinking …!
How do kids get our perennial attention?
Not a difficult question to answer since they must be paid attention to constantly. But in their normal and never ending struggle to get it … What do THEY do?
- They scream and cry.
- They put up an elaborate show of creativity and cuteness or
- Attention grabbing and heart stopping pirouettes …
Most importantly they get our attention because of what they mean to us!
There is nothing more relevant and precious than our children! Sure they can drive us to drink more often than not... I got 3 boys under 9 and every day I have to establish alpha male dominance, its exhausting!
But nothing that says more about you!
What if …
In our day to day business dealings we were looked upon as children?
I don’t mean the part where we don’t share, throw tantrums when we don’t get our way, or catapult food at those “close talkers” …!
I mean what if you found a way to become ultra-relevant and precious to those we mean to help and do business with!
Relevant, in a way that they are constantly thinking about you and what you mean to their lives and business!
I know you are probably thinking:
Claudio, I run a restaurant! How can I get people to think about me all the time?
Well you know this … they may not think about you "all the time", but they think about your product three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner!
You know what? … That’s an average of 90 times per month that each local person thinks about what you have to sell in the context of food, fun and social!
What are you doing to associate their needs with your product?
You read this blog often, so you know that relevant and valuable content marketing is the answer ;-)
When you provide content marketing in the right context you are basically aligning needs with wants and solutions, in addition to estalishing yourself as a respected authority they like, know and trust!
If you sell wealth management and financial products for example:
You know people think about your product every time they open a bank statement, or when looking at their paystubs and seeing how much went to their 401k’s or SEPs.
They think about your product every time they turn to watch SQUAW BOX on CNBC, or they hear that the DOW was up or down!
They think about you and your solutions regarding their mortality and realize they are underinsured and it’s been 10 years since addressing their estate planning needs… I can go on and on!
How are you associating their needs OR interest with your product or service?
When you provide highly relevant content on a continuous basis at the time they need it the most, that's when you become unique and precious in their lives... Like Children are!
If you sell Real Estate or you are an Attorney, is the same story!
Yelling and Interrupting doesn't work anymore!
Become a valued resource first, have a conversation about their needs and concerns and then create a utility platform where they can get information, confidence and support from.
If you feel you can help them, move in for the sale … if you can’t help them, refer someone who can. But don’t walk away without contributing something to that encounter!
So there you have it! ... and like a good friend and mentor of mine told me once:
“…at the end of the day I’m convinced we learn as much from our children as what we teach them.”
Rock on my friends!
Great visual from OpenView Labs on what it takes to put together a Lead Gen Team. Cover these 6 questions before you do and be on your way to profitable marketing!
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