130 Million Are Being Influenced Online

I was reading the new Razorfish FEED Digital Brand Experience Report for 2009. This report is unbelievable and has some amazing statistics to help further the goal of increased use of digital marketing. I am going to be devoting the rest of this week to breaking down the Razorfish report.

At the beginning of the report Razorfish states:

65% of consumers report having had a digital experience that either positively or negatively changed their opinion about a brand. 97% say that their digital experience influenced whether or not they eventually purchased a product of service from that brand.

Razorfish surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers (50.5% female, 49.5% male) in four major age groups. The consumers that were surveyed have spent $150 online in the past six months and have broadband access to the Internet. According to the PEW Internet & American Life Project, about 63% of all Americans today have a high-speed Internet. The use of broadband stat stat roughly translates to 200 million people.

With 65% of broadband users being influenced by brands online (130 million) it may be important to start debating importance of digital marketing. The use of the Internet is only going to increase over the next 5 to 10 years. It is important for brands to start learning and educating their employees and consumers on the values of digital marketing.

What is even more important than the 65% statistic is the fact that almost ALL of the 130 million people influenced by a brand made the decision to purchase (or not purchase a product) based on their digital experience.

Decisions are being made online. Are you putting enough emphasis on your digital brand… or are you wasting that money on a stationary billboard that individuals can not interact with?

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Think Big and then Think Small

I’m not going to lie to you. This blog post is completely… and utterly… inspired by Jay Baer over at Convince and Convert. His blog post titled Get More Bait in the Water has a great thought that pushed me to write this blog.

“Thought leadership via social media content is about thinking big. And then thinking small.”

I believe that we are so focused on thinking big that we deny the concept of thinking small when deciding on strategy and implementation. It can lead to inconsistent messaging and promotion. We are talking about the death of many small to mid sized companies.

The overall strategy of a specific marketing initiative is the concept of thinking big. How are we (as a company) going to achieve our goals? How are we going to move from point A to point B and dominate the market? The overall goal of strategy planning is to think big! But creativity can only take you so far. I can use my own social media and design company as an example.

We do a ton of creative brainstorming. My role as head of business development allows me the luxury of thinking big.. 24/7. Early on we ran into the problem of implementation. We had some huge ideas both internally and externally but they were not implemented properly (for our clients or our company). My business partner, Brandon Coon, took it upon himself to be the implementation guru.  We hired an awesome company ran by Nicole Bickett to help us with process and we acquired an excellent project manager named Amy Rowe.

It is so important to remember the small things that make a BIG IDEA work. The same concept applies to your social media strategy and implementation. You have big goals but how are you going to accomplish the social media goals?

A top ranked blog or seach engine ranking takes small posts and careful planning to reach that coveted spot. Great lead generation tools for your sales team takes little ideas implemented over.. and over.. and over to work. In the words of the great Chet Holmes, “Pig headed discipline and determination is key to business success.”

Be pig headed and stubborn… but remember planning and implementaxtion.

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Sell by Educating Through Social Media

Seth Godin had a great blog post yesterday talking about the fear of apples and the top two reasons people are not buying your product:

1. They don’t know about it.

2. They’re afraid of it.

Haven’t we been dealing with fear quite a bit this year? If you are a sales person (which most small business owners are) you may have seen the effects of this fear on your bottom line. The down economy has been killing the “risk-taking” gene of many professionals from corporate level employee to small business owner. The “risk-taking” gene is that diamond in the rough that allows for business to exist… to flourish. It reminds me on the William Shedd quote: A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.

Are your clients clamming up? Are potential customers not buying because they do not know about your product or service…. or they are just… afraid?

Companies that use social media for lead generation and product information have a huge advantage over the companies that do not use the tools. Social media gives you the ability to inform your potential clients on products with stories! What better way to inform?

Be honest with me… would you rather read a story or boring product/service information?

I would rather read a story… every… single… time.

What stories are you telling your clients?What about your potential clients? Do you have a blog where you are writing your business stories? The marketing for your business should read like a book… a book of stories… a book where your potential leads learn about your company.

When the time comes to buy on a product or service… who do you think they are going to call? You or the business who doesn’t care about educating through stories?

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Diamond Marketing and Selling the Experience

This morning I was listening to a local radio station when a diamond store’s advertisement played across the speakers… I sat there at the stoplight listening to the words…

“We are the ONLY diamond store that buys direct from the manufacturer… cutting out middleman pricing… best quality diamonds… friendly service…”

Truthfully… the ad was lame. There was no story telling… there was no emotional buy. There was nothing that invited me to continue the conversation. I decided to look into the other diamond sellers and manufacturers in the city. You guessed it… they were all the same. They all said the exact same thing.

Frankly, I do not care that you had to fly to Hong Kong to buy your diamonds. I don’t care that you are cutting out the middleman pricing. I care that you treat me the right way when I walk in the door. I care about the experience of the purchase not the purchase itself.

When we are selling a professional product or service it is important to DIFFERENTIATE. It is a lost art. How do you differentiate in a world where everything is starting to sound similar… sound bland?   It is essential that you gain the trust of the individual before they buy. It is essential to encourage your customers to tell the story.

You can buy as many radio, yellow pages, or newspaper ads as your budget allows… it only breaks the surface. The experience sells the product. How are you using your website, social media, traditional marketing, and networking to tell your story.

Do not bore the world with details… tell them the story!

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5 Ways To Help Face the Fear of Social Media

“It’s easy to be against something that you are afraid of. And it’s easy to be afraid of something that you don’t understand.”-Seth Godin

As social media evangelists, many of us run into road blocks when it comes to usage of social media with coworkers or clients.

Fear has kept many people away from this wonderful tool because of a misunderstanding… or better yet… a lack of understanding. Every person on the planet has had to deal with fear in at least one point of their lives.  Well, minus my social media acquaintance Duncan Riley, who seems to have no fear. Period.

Kyle. We get the point. People have fear of something they don’t understand. This fear keeps them from opening up and becoming involved in something that could help them in the long run. So what? Why do we care? Should we care?

Absolutely we should care! It is our job as social media users to convince the fearful among us to embrace this medium. Shouldn’t we tout and spread the word on something we love so much? How do we help the non-believers face their fear of Social Media? I have 3 points to help you along your way. Please Pass GO and give me your $200.

1. Put It Into Their Context

We (Brandswag) were recently on a conference call discussing the concepts of membership websites. We were trying to explain to them the concept of a NING Network to help with the facilitation of training for new and current employees. Needless to say, there was some push back. No one was at fault for this. It was new territory and it was our job to explain it to them.

One of the conference call attendees decided to explain the community network in terms of the conference call the pastors were currently on. He proceeded to liken an online community dialogue with that of the conference call. The sharing of ideas between people to create one solid idea that care be shared by a community of “believers.” Needless to say… they got it.

2. Throw Them Into The Water

There is no better way to experience something than to throw yourself into it head first and learn on the way down. It may not be the easiest way to face fears and shift paradigms but it will work all the same. There are times when I am consulting with a client and I will tell them, “Maybe you should take a couple of weeks and just try your hand at LinkedIN and Plaxo? I want you to write 5 blog posts and link them. When you are done with that… email me.”

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. You have to judge the person you are helping and plan accordingly.

3. Hold Their Hand (In Public)

Sometimes the only thing a person needs is to be taught how to use a platform. I’m not talking a word document that has the necessary step by step actions to add a picture to Facebook. I’m talking about sitting down with someone and physically walking them through the steps of a social network.

I have found that once you teach someone a social network it doesn’t take long for them to grasp the other networks. It only takes one network to get rid of the fear and head-trash. After that one thing, you have created another evangelist.

4. Use Case Studies. Your Case Studies.

Many times a case study can help calm the fear in all of us. People are looking to qualify every marketing vehicle on the face of the planet. If you have the ability to show proven results it is extremely important to do so… and do it first.

If you do not have the proven case studies and you are talking about other success stories… quit. You are making it hard on all of us.

5. After Everything. Create A Strategy.

It is easier to sell social media to your boss, a potential client, or a business partner if a strategy is in place to create success. It is about writing out goals and processes over the next 6-12 months. It is about creating financial data for the return-on-investment when using the tool (both in financial and human capital).

I am convinced we should all be using social media for some type of brand awareness campaign or lead generation tool. It is about creating a worthwhile plan and communicating the process effectively to winning overwhelming support for your cause.

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5 Steps to Using Social Media for Lead Generation

Why is it advantageous to use social media as a lead generation tool?

Yesterday we talked about a new way of thinking for the marketing professional… thinking of your customers as people first. So why does this matter? Why is it beneficial to start communicating directly to your consumer base in a peer-to-peer environment instead of mass marketing?

In my opinion… the sell can be made easier.

We (business professionals) are all searching for ways to better market to our consumer base. How can you be creative and produce advertising that will catch the attention of a passerby? How can you create a brochure that will pull people into the folds and sell them on a product? Using social media can help bring the guard down of a consumer. We all exist in walled gardens… holding our purse strings tight to our chest. It is very rare that anyone or anything will ever get into our mind to sell us on a process. We tend to listen to our peers more than anything else.

Social media (especially blogs) can help in building trust between an individual and a brand. Let’s use social media to build that trust.

1. Tell customer and personal stories on your blog. If you currently have a blog for your company be very sure that you are telling stories and not regurgitating industry information. How are you setting yourself apart from your competition? You are more likely to garner leads (in the long term) if you are telling stories with personality and flair. People will latch on and relate with stories about other customers.

2. Utilize LinkedIN now and forever. LinkedIN is a powerful tool. If used correctly it can open up huge potential for networking with like minded individuals. Your current customers and likely to be connect to other individuals that could be powerful referral sources for you. Do not underestimate the power of your current customers.

For more tips on using LinkedIN: 10 Ways to Use LinkedIN,

3. Connect to a Local Social Network. In Indiana we are extremely blessed to have the local networking site of Smaller Indiana. Smaller Indiana has over 7000 professionals across the state who are willing to talk, debate, and share information among each other. We have used SI to connect to hundreds of individuals and business owners. By sharing in experience and then connecting offline you have a great opportunity to build trust.

4. Track local users on Twitter. If you are currently using Twitter to share information it is extremely important to connect with potential customers in your area of influence (Do you see a trend forming here?) You have the ability to search over different keywords while using Twitter. If a user is talking about a topic that is central to your business… communicate with them!

5. Encourage Your Peers to Share. One of the more powerful parts of social media is the ability to share content over a wide-spread group of people. Encourage your connections, customers, and friends to spread your story out across the masses.

You should always keep traditional marketing in the mix whenever possible. Social media is not the end all of the marketing kingdom. However, the tool will give you the ability to connect with individuals on a completely different level… building trust… and eventually the sale… in the process.

Cold Calling On LinkedIN Rant

I’ve got a bone to pick and it is with you… YOU! The guy/girl who decides to send me random LinkedIN and Twitter messages telling me about his new social media project that I should try out. You are really excited to tell hundreds of random people about a new product or service. This is cold calling and it needs to stop. You are screwing up my day. Period.

Here is what a LinkedIN cold call looks like:

Hey [ insert email/linkedin name]

Hello, we’ve not met before, but the reason for the message is that you mentioned you were open to new ventures and business deals. I am from the Indianapolis area, working with a business mentorship and development group out of Charlotte, NC doing some things online. We are working with over 1300 companies – blah blah blah – to name a few. We are expanding now and your profile fits what we’re looking for. I know this is kind of a shot in the dark, but I was checking to see if you (or someone you know with a profile similar to yourself) are currently looking for a secondary income or open-minded to some new business ideas? If so, what we’d need to do is schedule a 10 minute phone interview to give a brief overview of what we’re putting together. I’d need you to have internet access at that time. If interested, please respond with several available dates/times and a way to reach you by phone.

[spammer name]

Do I really have to say anything more? Why do you feel the need to email me on LinkedIN? How do you know I have any interest in your product or service? Did you communicate with me first? Do you care about what I think or what I have to say? How do you know I am a good pick for what you are doing? Did you just minimize me to a profile?

Next time you decide to direct market on LinkedIN maybe you should pick out a couple of people to start COMMUNICATING with instead of spamming thousands.

I do not care about your product and if you ever message me again… I will get Kayne to interrupt your typing and life.

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Digital is Killing Traditional

If you are familiar with the Did You Know 3.0 video… you can appreciate the importance of videos that portray the fundamental belief that social media/online communication is taking the forefront in the business mind.  Okay that was a wordy sentence.. I apologize. The creators of the excellent Did You Know 3.0 video have now released a new video that details the growth and expansion of digital distribution compared to traditional media.

You will enjoy it. Believe me.

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25 Tips to Choosing a Social Media Consultant

I wrote this blog originally at the beginning of the year and I thought it needed rehashing.

I have been discovering many people starting to enter the world of social media marketing in Indianapolis. It can be anything from an advertising firm to a small business coach. It is probably pretty confusing for business owners trying to learn about the amazing new tools available on the web. I wanted to help you out with your first steps in choosing a social media educator or consultant.

1. They need to use the tools they are teaching.

It is extremely important that the teacher is using the tools. Before you decide to use a social media consultant… investigate! Make sure they are using tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Plaxo. If they do not use the tools on a regular basis, they are just riding a wave.

2. They communicate with their audience.

The last person you will want to hire is someone who throws content out on the bed and doesn’t allow for two way communication. The best way to test this? Go to their Twitter account and make sure they are actually sending “RT” and replies to people. 2-way communication is key.

3. Do they call themselves a Social Media Expert? Ask about the 10,000 hours rule.

The person that calls themselves a “social media expert” is the last person you want to hire. Read Shikow”s post about 10,000 hours to become an expert.

4. Ask them their definition of social media.

If they give you a list of tools. Fail them.

5. They will run your Twitter account for you.

It is impossible to ghost a Twitter account. YOU either use it or you don’t. Ghostwriting for a blog is a different story and NOT for this post.

6. Their blog is less than six months old with no comments. (thanks Beth)

7. Ask them about social bookmarking. Do they know what it is? Do they use it?

8. Have they taught a class before on social media? Even a webinar?

It is important that your consultant or educator has experience in teaching or presenting on social media. The last thing you want to do is spend money for something that is going to be a DRAG. You want to know that you are not wasting your money.

9. Are they a Just-add-water expert?

10. They actually have a personality and GET people.

It is important that your social media consultant have a personality. What do I mean by personality? They are not stuck in an office all day pecking away at Twitter and have no sense of humor. ALSO, they are not overly bubbly and excited about everything under the sun. Sanity is key.

11. They blog more than once a week.

It is important that the investigation goes deeper into the blogging world. Your social media consultant should be learning on a daily basis and expounding upon what they are learning by blogging. This does not have to be catered specifically to a BLOG (WordPress or blogger). You can always check Twitter on how they are communicating and learning.

12. They are linking and being linked.

Complete a Google link search and make sure your social media consultant actually has people and blogs linking back to their site. It is extremely important

13. Ask their opinion on viral marketing.

It is extremely important that your social media consultant and educator understand the concepts behind word-or-mouth marketing and viral marketing. Social media marketing is a relationship driven model. The evangelists and lovers of your product or service need to have the means to shout to the world… WE LOVE YOU!

14. Check out their website.

The first step to any Internet or social media strategy is the website. Do they have a communication driven website or is it a web 1.0 brochure driven site? Are they interacting with people? Are they talking about social media? Are they talking to YOU and not about their services.

15. What do other people think about them?

Mentors are one of the greatest asset to any small business owner. Who would they choose? Maybe they think social media is a waste of time. You need to take that into account. Maybe they were burned in the past? It is extremely important to get another perspective when entering into a relationship with any type of consultant or marketing professional.

16. They advise you to start a Facebook page as the first step.

It isn’t about starting in one spot. If you are new to the world of social media it may be smart to start USING Facebook other than trying to manage all 5 but the last thing you need to do is just start a Facebook fan page. SM strategy should be surrounding an integrated marketing approach. Period.

17. The instant success test.

It takes time and knowledge to be successful at using social media as a small business strategy. If they promise instant results.. You should probably find another consultant.

18. What do they think about traditional marketing and advertising?

Ask them. If they come back to you and say that the traditional approach to marketing is dead. They are just riding the wave of no return. They will never understand the concepts of combining traditional and new media into an overall strategy. You will slowly drown them.

19. Ask them about Radian6.

Radian6 is one of the better brand monitoring companies out there. If they have no idea about Radian6. FAIL.

20. How long have they been using Twitter?

I have come across plenty of consultant who have been using Twitter for a matter of months. It is important for the consultant to know more than YOU… the client. Check up on their usage of the different tools on the web.

21. They believe in actually listening to your problems instead of convincing you about the world of social media.

22. If they are still using an @aol.com, @aim.com, @comcast.net, or @att.net email. Fail them.

23. Listen for new approaches to strategy.

Everyone is offering to be a “social” consultant. Do they talk and think differently than anyone else you have listened to? If they do… You have a gem on your hands. Creative thinkers are the best social media consultants.

24. Are they a used car salesman? Do they seem genuine?

For the sake of argument I am going to list this. Do not work with someone you do not trust. Period.

25.Do they have any success stories?

Ask them about their history in using social media. The space is extremely new but there are people who are succeeding in using the tool. If they do not have case studies. Ask. If they cannot present you with a valuable case study… find someone else.

There are plenty more but this is just the beginning. Add to the list if you would like!

Creating A Strategic Communication Plan

Today’s guest about is by Manunya Nookong. I met Manunya through the social networking site, Smaller Indiana. I had an excellent conversation with her about strategic planning and I asked her to write a guest post.

When people hear the term “strategic planning,” they think of something rather complicated, intimidating or time-consuming, and it makes them lose interest. I am a big fan of strategic planning. I use it because it really works and is highly effective, I just want to see if there’s a way to make people think that it is not that hard to do. All it needs are strong attention to details and determination to improve business.

Of course, strategic planning takes time, but think of what a business can gain after it’s done: a new way to do things around the organization that helps employees to perform better. The result of their planning effort is invaluable. Employees will learn more about their business environment and what impact the business’ productivity.

A strategic plan brings business a clear direction and strong sense of purpose. Employees get to be creatively and effectively involved. They will learn what they need to do, how exactly they can contribute, and when their tasks need to be done. At the end of each strategic plan, employees will be able to see and evaluate the result of their effort.

Now, what is strategic planning? Strategic planning is a management process that includes direction and a series of steps that helps a business do things to achieve their goals.

A strategic planning model can be broken down into four different phases.

Research and Analysis

-Analyze business situation: Understand what goes on in the situation. Find out what the issue is.

-Analyze organization: Find out where the issue started, internally or externally, and who is responsible for it.

-Analyze key audiences: Key audiences are people who closely interact with the business’ issue. Find out who they are, define them in the plan and see what they want or expect according to the issue, what their relationship with the organization is, and what their communication involvement with media and society look like.

Strategy

-Establish business goals and objectives and a position of the organization (or its products or services): Develop realistic, specific and measurable objectives that identify business’ expectations. For example, in company A, its use of corporate blogs increases the number of visitors 25% during the first two quarter of 2009. An objective can be to increase (change in behavior) Web visitors (audience) 15% (level of change) through the use of corporate blogs by the end of 2009 (timeline).

-Create action and response strategies: Create action plans and direction for the organization activity and key messages.

-Use effective communication: Find key points about the organization and communicate those through new key messages.

Tactics

-Choose communication tactics: Consider all communication channels (face-to-face, internal media, advertising media, news media, etc.) and find the most appropriate channel to use with each key audience for the organization’s current issue

-Implement strategic plan: Develop time-line and budget to implement the strategic plan.

Evaluation

-Evaluate strategic plan: Assess whether business objectives have been met, and see if they need to be modified/revised, or can continue with the current plan and activities. Measure the effectiveness of each chosen tactic according to the business objectives.

These nine steps will help strategic planners and employees become more organized in their planning and execution. A strategic plan does not have to be complicated. Start with a simple one and get familiar with the idea. Before long, it will become second nature. Employees will start to think and work strategically and they will certainly see improvement in their organization.

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