We can expect additional mergers like this one in the near future. Where companies like SDL bring a strong Web Content Management, e-commerce and customer engagement capabilities throughout multiple media, to complement the campaign management, marketing analytics and Social Media Management of companies like Alterian.
It’s a perfect fit!
Anyone who provides content management services even for their own business quickly realizes the need to measure and manage this content throughout multiple key channels in order to strategically amplify its reach and justify further efforts in that direction.
The reverse is also true, you core skills may be strong in measuring metrics, analytics and content positioning, but you lack in creating and managing content, and closing the loop on the customer engagement side.
You help clients develop their marketing and branding strategy for their customers in 6 ways. This is how we do it at VenmarkMedia:
First – define the audience you are trying to reach. Their pain points, concerns, questions and needs. Without this it doesn’t matter how good you are at anything else, because you’ll be talking to the wrong market.
Second – define your position in the market place. What are you better at than everyone else? Convey that message clearly and as simple as possible.
Third – what’s the solution you offer? You know what they need, so provide them with an answer.
Fourth – develop a content marketing strategy that addresses their needs by offering insight and solutions via their web platform out to their Social Media Channels.
Fifth – promotion, if you don’t promote you won’t sell. Notice I said promote and not advertise. The Promotion you do is primarily via content marketing. Why? Cause this is the best way to deliver value constantly.
Sixth – [In our case and based on Venmark’s unique business model.] We teach our clients the concept of engagement ownership and digital marketing self-reliance, and in this way break the co-dependency cycle. The ultimate goal is to make sure they understand how to take ownership of their branding and marketing success and failure.
In addition to already offering an integrated marketing platform, Alterian will now be able to offer its customers further answers and solutions to their particular needs in the form of SDLs robust structured content solution.
What can small businesses and personal brands learn from this venture?
- Find out what your customers need, crave and desire.
- Take stock and figure out if you can deliver it. If yes, become the best at it.
- If not, Find who is and package a solution that makes you the go-to team in the industry.
You don’t have to merge, acquire or be bought out as SDL and Alterian did. The idea is to collaborate and know your audience, and that’s where everything begins.
If you are not asking yourself that question everyday then maybe … just maybe you are not doing what you were meant to do on this earth.
If some version of that question doesn’t come to mind everyday you are missing the boat.
You know you are doing what you love and were meant to do when:
- You realize you can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning to do it, and sometimes you never went to bed.
- You look at holidays as “another distraction that held you back!”
- You get fired up and frustrated at the sight of complacency and waste!
- You want to share it and show others how.
- You’d do it for free.
- Time loses meaning, but gains purpose.
- You never associate the word “work” with it.
- You think about it and you are overwhelmed with excitement, and “fun” comes to mind!
- You take a call during dinner time, and then you get hell for it!
- You can’t wait till your kids are old enough to understand so you can start transferring that feeling to them.
- Star Wars takes on new meaning :0)
- You are willing to sacrifice everything to play in that sandbox
- You know it hasn’t been easy, so that’s how you know it has Value!
- You know and accept you’ll be hated by many and loved by a few. Give that a 50/50!
- You instantly recognize this DNA in others and the rest is physics and chemistry
- You don’t force yourself to care, you just do
- Everyone else thinks you’ve absolutely lost it!
- When old friends disappear and new ones appear
- You are sad when to realize you can’t gift this cause the journey is individualized. Sorry … Not your rules!
For some strange reason I woke up this morning and this is what I spilled on my keyboard … If this makes sense to you I’d love to hear about it.
I think I'm gonna go for a swim now :-)
Many things can be a threat to healthy companies nowadays, especially in a wired world and with the lightining pace of digital disruption.
But I'm referring to one that affects every single one of them: LACK OF OWNERSHIP.
Ownership of their Social Media and Digital Marketing efforts.
The small business owner has the same threat, and as good a chance to make it right.
Complete top-buy in is required for large companies to succeed in adopting emerging technologies, particularly Social Technology. Is not that they don't get it, some of them do, but I believe it comes down to organization, education and prioritizing.
For many it's about "ok, got it ... now what?"
I believe that the agency model which is supposed to act as a guide is flawed at its core. It always has been, but now that small crack is starting to look more like the Grand Canyon. I think businesses intuitively feel this way, but they are just either too misguided or too lazy to prioritize.
It's a tough situation for agencies because if they do their job right, they should be pushing for independence and not co-dependence. They should be relentless as far as educating companies on how to do this right and how to own their social media marketing efforts.
Why would you want a stranger to manage your social graph?
The most important part of your day is when you connect with a potential customer or an existing one. Who's better qualified to do that, an insider or an outsider?
Believe me when I say that Social Media Management is not scalable for an agency. Look to agencies to help you strategize initially, but then take off the training wheels.
Also, try not to look at social media marketing as technology, but as communication channels that you need to learn to engage on. This might help ease the anxiety that having to learn something with the word "technology" in it creates.
So let me be blunt ...
- Regardless of what you sell, you have to think and act as a Media outlet and a publisher of relevant content to your particular audience.
- You have to prioritize content marketing as the most important way to create visceral connections and foster engagement.
- And you have own these efforts and skill sets internally. Hire and train your employees to think and act with a content driven mindset.
I don't know how big agencies work, I'm not one and I've never worked for one, I'm told by those that have that in a way I'm blessed by not having being exposed to that environment.
I also know many incredibly talented people that work for agencies that do terrific work. I'm not insinuating that agencies don't bring value to INC world, what I'm saying is that sometimes that value is misplaced.
I just can't figure out why I would tweet for someone when the right thing to do is to teach them how, and is frustrating to see good people and good businesses allowing others to drive one of the most, if not the important aspect of their branding efforts, their online engagement and communication.
So OWN it, OWN it big!
In case the prospect of producing content for branding and marketing purposes still not hitting home ... Here's Coca-Cola Content 20-20 marketing mission statement.
Overall, it’s the strategy that Coca-Cola’s marketing future rest on the ideals of content marketing.
- Coca-Cola needs to move from creative excellence to content excellence,
- They need to develop content that makes a commitment to making the world a better place and to develop value and significance in people’s lives…while at the same time driving business objectives for Coca-Cola, and
- Through the stories they tell, to provoke conversations and earn a disproportionate share of popular culture.
Specifically, check out the 3:30 mark of video two on the 70/20/10 model for content development. [read full article]
The videos are a bit long but trust me, totally worth your time!
No ask yourself, Coca Cola definitely has the budget to stay mainstream and dull as far as their marketing and advertising ... So why are they embracing content marketing as their main brand engagement strategy?
I'll leave you with that ...!
There is no way around failing if you are trying to do something special. Playing it safe won't get you there, cutting corners won't either.
You could do everything right and still not make the cut ... but there's something that could almost guarantee you success every time, and that is:
The Hustle!
This takes the form of discipline to ask for the sale, constantly poke the box, do something different with your CTAs (Calls to Action)... defy a common belief regardless of consequence.
Get up early, show up, and network with those that can ad value to your business and to your customers. Get in front of enough people and have a conversation about how you can help them.
Stay away from people that tell you:
- It can't be done
- That doesn't work
- I need quick results
- I don't have time
- Maybe later
What have you done lately that's different?
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement" ~Jim Horning
A common theme out there is that in order for you to have a successful online business, or have your current business thrive online you have to spend zillions you don't have.
Yes, there are some expenses but they are very manageable and get reduced over time as you get better at it.
Getting your business to thrive online means that you have figured out a way to generate leads and nurture them, and eventually make sales because of your Web Presence.
How do you do that?
Let me simplify the web for you … particularly internet marketing/inbound marketing and how you can leverage its power regardless of the business or industry sector you are in.
On the front end, it boils down to:
- Design
- Content, and
- Social
There is a forth tangent which is Metrics … but I don’t directly included because in order to measure something, you have to build it imperfectly first then go from there. Then closed loop marketing, and analytics lets’ you know which way to drive any future efforts.
...and I look at email marketing as part of a very effective and needed content strategy, but content nevertheless.
Everything else is tools in a toolbox!
On the back end, meaning internally (your organization), then we are talking about social collaboration tools and emerging technologies that makes the enterprise more lean and efficient! But you are still sticking to a same basic premise, create value for your employees in the same way you do so for your customers. Make the business a better customer value producing machine.
But today, we are talking about the front end … creating value for consumers and the way that doing so generates business opportunities with potential users and consumers of your value. In a way that doesn't cost you a fortune!
Design – Even though I don’t consider design to be the most important leg, it does need to be addressed first and with function in mind. If your house is not in order, how can you host a party?
Your design needs to be simple, clean and usability-wise make a visitor:
- bookmark the site
- comeback to the site
- subscribe
- call you
- download your content
- request information from you
- Buy something from you
Read as much as you can about design trends, but focus your reading on how design affects marketing.
As far as Content Management Systems –Word Press is by far the best way to go because it gives you total dummy proof control on the back end.
Hubspot (not an affiliate) –Pricey but totally worth it, it comes with a full CRM (customer relationship management) system and closed loop analytics suite plus an array of metric driven bells and whistles. I’m currently using both. They also put out an amazing amount of free-educational content.
For e-commerce sites, I would look at Magento and Zencart platforms. Here's a good comparison article.
Content – What you will hear referred to time and time again a, content marketing. The content on your site is going to take on two basic types and 3 different formats (pics, text and video):
- Static –your homepage, about, services, contact … or any other page where the content doesn’t change much overtime, except for updates.
- Then there is the content you are constantly producing for your readers, a.k.a potential clients that are looking for information that addresses their needs and pain points on a steady and consistent basis. This content takes place mostly on your blog and I refer to it as dynamic content.
If you are not blogging, you are losing an obscene amount of business opportunities and sales, not to mention authority in your particular line of work!
Social – Syndicating your content is what leverages your social graph in a way like we’ve never been able before. On this topic my takeaway will always be, the tools are just that. Is the integration that matters most and your ability or not to share the good stuff!
Integration with your business model, with your employees, with your customers. Without a strategy, Social Media becomes just media.
So when you kinda break down the Design-Content-Social trilogy:
Design is where your valuable content is housed for consumption, and Social is how you share and promote it to the Web.
The costs to get your business web ready can vary, but a solid start rarely costs you more than a few bucks and your willingness to learn!
I have to admit I have a dangerously carefree attitude when it comes to inbound marketing metrics.
I’m of the opinion that you should only learn about metrics when you actually have something to track, which usually means that you’ve have put something out there. You have to measure, no doubt, but it all should happen after you’ve built something.
Learning about metrics and KPIs for the sake of learning it’s a colossal waste of time (… pursuit of knowledge aside of course!). What I mean is that in this case you are better off learning by doing!
But if you’ve ventured into the digital unknown and have sailed away, in other words, you have active campaigns running throughout multiple channels, or just a single one, then there are a few things you should know about which metrics you should be tracking.
But first, why should you track any kind of metrics?
“So these explorers are chopping away and making their way through a very thick jungle, the trees are so huge you can barely see the sky. Then the expedition leader tells his local guide to climb up the highest tree and take a look over the forest canopy and make sure they are heading the right way, North that is.
The guide does this, takes a look and comes back down and reports … -“yes Sir we are heading in the right direction … But … - But what? Says the Expedition leader agitated … - We are in the wrong Jungle Sir!”
Without a way to measure your strategy, you are blind to what’s working and what’s not, and most importantly - Why it is or is not.
Let me start with top down approach and what I consider “must track metrics” or business model indicators:
Lead Gen (generation) - Where and how are you generating, quantifying and nurturing qualified potential leads for your business? This is the reason for everything you do online and offline that directly affects your bottom line.
Percentage of leads converted (Are you closing?) - Once you realize you are in the “wrong jungle” then you’ll be in a lot of pain, but pain it is! You need to go after the right audience/leads. In other words you have to go after leads that are qualified, or else you are wasting your precious resources.
Cost per customer acquisition (CPA) - Basic right! - How much does it cost you to gain one new customer or client? And what is the lifetime value of that customer? If you tie this figure with an internal value to your biz over time, then you can figure out what you are spending per new customer and you can work on lowering that cost over time.
Average dollar transaction per customer ( Is it a business?) - If you know how much your acquisition cost is compared to the average dollar transaction per customer then you in essence roughly calculated ROI per new customer acquired. But there is a much more important knowledge bit to this data than just ROI.
It’s easier and less expensive to increase your revenue by selling to existing customers than to go out and acquire new ones. The not so old concept of “retention is the new acquisition” comes into play here, coupled with the by now almost culture driven business strategy of “flipping the funnel” (not an affiliate)… a topic of another post and a must read book for every business owner in the Planet.
If you create two parallel baselines, one for “cost / new customer” and one for “cost / existing customer” in terms of revenue streams you are in essence segmenting your marketing strategy. This allows you to not only control your costs more efficiently, but to create a much more solid foundation with your existing client base, which is what will give your business true longevity in the marketplace.
In the next part of this series we’ll get a bit more granular on the topic and cover closed loop analytics in more detail:
- How to measure your Blogging strategy (For Corporate and Kitchen table businesses)
- Paid search campaigns, PPC
- Social Media Campaigns
- Landing pages
- Email marketing campaigns
Until then, stay focused and nimble!
This year has been by far the most productive when it came to writing about the topics I love most: Social Media, Content Marketing and Business and Lifestyle Design.
This coming year the plan is to continue expanding on these topics, write more frequently and get some guest posting going as well.
But anyway here are the posts that struck a nerve the most throughout all categories, and that I fancied the most as well ...
Enjoy!
The Client is Always Wrong – A contrarian view for sure, the focus was on customer-provider relationship (...and results ) mostly regarding service-driven businesses, but definitely applicable to product models as well.
Out Teach Your Competition – One of my favorites! This strategy or should I say culture, will make you more money over time than anything else you have done in the past!
Website Elements that Enhance Your Social Marketing – On the importance of designing with marketing in mind.
Be Dead Wrong – Again a bit against the grain, but for a very good reason … Read it, is short and sweet!
Only People Have Ethics – This post was inspired by one of Seth Godin’s articles on his blog. I took a bit of issue with it, but writing about it helped understand it much better!
How to Make Your Business a Utility Platform for Others – Again inspired by an interview between Mitch Joel (Six Pixels) and Derek Sivers, two guys that definitely got it right!
How to Engage Your Customers Around their Passions – If you keep it this simple the results will always be there!
Zen-Listen Your Way to a Better Business – It all starts here when you are little and learning your way through life, and in your Business Social Media Marketing as well!
Website Costs, and Other Pricing Questions – This post which was in essence a curated piece of content, got me the second biggest, both Design and Marketing Gig for this year! A testament to content marketing as a viable strategy for any business today. The bonus? My new clients are a couple of really cool guys to work with :-)
Keyword Research Makes You a Better Person – Why does it? Because it makes you care about what your potential clients care about!
Begin Your Internet Marketing Efforts with Design in Mind – If you don’t start with a design process (of any kind) it doesn’t much matter what else you do.
The Small Business of the Future, Why it’s Yours to Have – Another one of my faves, the world is changing fast and so must we and they way we do business.
How the Modern Entrepreneur Visualizes the Ideal Customer – The best in the business do this, and so must you!
What Does Content Marketing and Michael Jordan Have in Common? – Believe it or not a lot more than you think …
Fire Your Marketing Person and Hire a Digital Marketer – This post didn’t make me very popular with traditional marketers, but hey!
Google Loves Bloggers – A snappy overview of recent Google changes and what’s to come that will affect content marketing in general.
So Many Technologies So Little Time! – One of my best reads (The New Small) this year on emerging technologies and their effect on small businesses. Grab it, you’ll thank me later!
21 Riveting Social Media Stats – These are only getting larger folks, so be a player not a spectator.
… and with these I say see you on the other side and have a Happy New Year!
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We all have a chance during this time of the year to wind down, relax, spend it with our friends and families.
It is also a good time to take stock of our good fortune and our mishaps and turn them into life lessons no one can take away from us!
So let's cherish our kids faces as they open their presents, try to sneak up on Santa, and add last minute presents to their lists!
But If during this downtime you find yourself strategizing over your online business model, wondering how to optimize your approach and just do what you do better -why not reach out for our FREE Website and Blog Audit?
My gift to you, and my way of saying Thank You for a Great Year!
In the meantime here is a great tool that can get you started on making sure your website and blog will achieve your business marketing goals:
Marketing Grader
See you in 2012!
“When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable.” -Rework
I know it’s human nature, but sometimes we feel the world is just right when other people change their ways in order to make us happy.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking this way?
I’d be a lot happier if he/she weren’t such an ass -The only way for me to be truly happy is if the world actually became a better place - Why can’t my boss be nicer to me? - Why can’t Google make it easier for me to rank?
It’s always about change happening outside of us! The entire weight loss industry is based on this premise -a cookie -a pill -a gastric bypass! Never a -let me not eat a bucket of Ben and Jerry’s before going to bed.
Let me ask you something … Do you think we act and feel the same way when it comes to our businesses?
Do you think we do what we do regardless of what other people tell us they wish we did? -Do we bend to the needs of our community, to what our customers crave?
I understand why it’s easier to hope that what you are doing, regardless of results, it’s working. I realize it would be awesome if everyone eventually would come around and discover what a unique service or product you have without you ever having had to embark in any kind of deep user understanding. But that's BS and you know it!
The obvious flaw with thinking this way, is that you actually believe that your customers and clients are the ones that have to adapt to you. To your way of cooking. To your sales gimmicks. To your financing terms. To your legal and medical advice.
Any kind of meaningful change always starts from within. Corporations and Professionals are in dire need to understand this. They need to realize that unless they embrace the current change in technology and communication, they’ll be nothing more than dinosaurs staring at meteorites blast their way to a new beginning, a beginning many of them won’t be a part of.
What’s your take on this?
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