Groundswell is an overview of the real thing
June 7, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
My stack of reading remains at an all-time high in spite of the progress I’ve made during my recovery. (As a result of a broken humerus bone, and given the challenge of typing with one hand, I’ve added a number of fiction and non-fiction books to the completed list.) In the coming days I’ll review some of those resources for you.
I’m exploring social media strategies in preparation for a class I’m presenting as well as better usage for myself and my clients.. One of the first books I tackled was Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff.
An easy, fast read, Groundswell would be most helpful for someone in a corporate environment or dealing with corporate clients new to social media. Why? It’s structured, comprehensive, and offers statistics, graphs, and case studies from large companies. For those who are looking for a solid foundation/explanation of social media, Li and Bernoff, Forrester Research analysts, provide it.
As a prep or research text, Groundswell fits nicely. Its messages urge companies to become consumer-directed. (NOTE: Since when is this new?) What makes the strategy meaningful is the call for concentration on relationships, not technologies.
So when evaluating a new technology, ask yourself the following questions: Does it enable people to connect with each other in new ways? The groundswell is about making connections. If a tool makes those connections more interesting, more varied, or more frequent, it has good potential for adoption-because that’s what the groundswell is looking for. Furthermore, such technologies spread virally, as existing participants recruit new people to join them.
I was particularly intrigued by the discussion of branding from Ricardo Guimaraes, founder of Thymus Branding in San Paulo, Brazil.
After running a big Brazilian ad agency for a long time, Guimaraes started his consultancy to spread a new way of thinking. He says brands belong to customers, not companies. In his words:
The value of a brand belongs to the market, and not to the company. The company in this sense is a tool to create value for the brand … Brand in this sense lives outside the company, not in the company. When I say that the management is not prepared for dealing with the brand, it is because in their mind-set they are managing a closed structure that is the company. The brand is an open structure-they don’t know how to manage an open structure.
Li and Bernoff coined an acronym, POST, to describe the integration of social media: people, objectives, technologies and strategies. In spite of few small business examples in the book, it offers an overview of social media for someone who wants to study it.
Solve problems, exploit opportunities. Start small. Pick strategic battles. Tap into customers’ enthusiasm with ratings and reviews. Above all, join the conversation. Become part of the Groundswell and use it in a meaningful way to move your company forward.
Stories That Sell: Add the Case Study to Your Outreach Efforts
April 4, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Case study expert Casey Hibbard teaches her craft in Stories That Sell. The book, published early in 2009, offers readers a content-rich, seven-step ‘how-to’ spiced with examples, diagrams and advice.
Casey’s expertise shines through. From industry experts who endorse her to the clients she features, one thing is clear: she’s all about helping you turn satisfied customers into your most powerful sales and marketing asset.
Here are Casey’s seven steps:
- Strategic story planning
- Uncovering customer candidates
- Securing customer permission
- Intelligence gathering
- Creating compelling stories
- Story signoff
- Leveraging customer stories
Of the seven, step #7, leveraging customer stories, is my favorite not only because it’s most familiar to me, but it’s completely and masterfully presented.
Casey touches on blogs and social media, addresses other aspects of the web including search engine optimization and the part case studies can play in it and then turns her attention to more traditional media.
“Seven Ways to Slice a Customer Story” is a mini case study in the middle of a sub-chapter, “Leveraging Stories to the Media.” In this section she takes her own advice, letting her customer Tech Image, a Chicago-area PR firm, showcase seven ways of using success story and case study content:
Complete story
Quotes
Story highlights
Prep clients for it
Help reporters craft questions and stories
Contribute articles
Awards submissions
“It’s usually a three to one ratio, with one case generating at least three pieces of media coverage,” says Bob Dirkes, account manager at Tech Image.
Sub-chapter take-aways reinforce important points here and throughout the book. Quotes inspire and tease the reader to go on.
I’ve recommended Stories That Sell to clients and fellow consultants and used my copy as a personal textbook: highlights flags and comments across margins mark the copy. Stories That Sell is an asset for any bookshelf and I recommend adding it to your business books. In addition, bookmark Casey’s Stories That Sell blog or join her LinkedIn Group, Success Story Marketing.
Twitter Tiptoes
April 1, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
I resisted Twitter because I didn’t understand it. To me, Social Media meant LinkedIn and Facebook, period. Convienent. It was a stretch to include both simply because I barely found the time to maintain them. No longer.
I registered to preserve the ProfitMeister name. No profile. No links. Then, I received notice a media guru followed me. For days I vacillated. Should I acknowledge her? Or, could I ignore the tweet? Or, (and this was a little thrilling) I had my first follower! Then, I’d remind myself I was so yesterday to not be up and running.
For a time, it seemed every newspaper and magazine carried an article on Twitter. E-zines and blog postings commented on the popular medium. I read that twitiquette suggested I follow those who followed me. I signed in and began following Ms. Media Guru.
A few days later I posted my own profile. After all, I reasoned, if I was going to do this I had to make it right. I whipped out the 140 characters quickly. If there’s one big plus to Twitter, it’s that everything is limited.
I added a new ‘follow,’ friend, prolific tweeter and art business coach, Alyson Stanfield. She acknowledged me and shortly thereafter three other people I’d never met signed up to follow. Surely at least one of them found me through Alyson.
Alyson’s profile was embedded on wallpaper or background of her book. What a promoter, that one. I decided I’d do that – today! And, of course, I would add Twitter to my phone – today! In fact, my goal is 1,000 followers – today!
Oh, that’s right. It’s April Fool’s Day. Tweet me. April Fool! I’m all a-Twitter.
Reading Resources for Turbulent Times
March 26, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
My “to read” pile stacks high and usually leans to non-fiction although a good fiction blast lets me escape when life gets too rough. Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out by Marci Shimoff and contributor Carol Cline had been recommended to me sometime last year. After a particularly grueling day I peeked inside and finished it off by the end of the week.
What I liked about this book: little fluff. Marci offers solid research to back her theories and couches everything in an easy, story-like style. Each chapter includes a summary and action steps to help you practice your own happiness set point.
Marci uses the metaphor of a home, the foundation for your happiness, with its four pillars – the mind, heart, body and soul – as well as the roof which covers your purpose and your relationships. The Happy Ever After principle is the seventh piece.
Even if you’ve heard this information before (Marci was involved with The Secret as well as Chicken Soup for the Soul for Women) Happy for No Reason offers a persuasive list of reasons to take charge of your own perspective with chapter titles like:
Focus on the solution
Make peace with yourself
Question your thoughts
Focus on gratitude
Contribute to something greater than yourself
Stories from Happy 100 participants (she interviewed 100 people from all over the world who were happy for no reason) mix with quotes, folklore and best practices. I found the book entertaining, practical and interesting. See for yourself and then let me know what you think.
Shift Happens. Perspective Makes the Difference
March 13, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
“Spend or Die.” So headlined an opinion piece in AdweekMedia Magazine, February 23, 2009. This is a refreshing turn of commentary.
The Editors urged the marketing and media industries to initiate economic stimulus effects of their own. In their words,
This will take more than a little backbone and a ton of vision, but we feel that those firms that shore up their market positions will survive now and thrive later.
We’re not talking about throwing money down the rat hole of convention. This spending will have to be focused on insulating brands from the economic chaos that swirls around them. The padding will come in three forms: supporting smart brand extensions, embracing new technology platforms and retaining talented employees to make the first two work.
The article quoted from Editor & Publisher, reporting “unique traffic for the websites of the Top 30 newspapers has skyrocketed even as their traditional print platforms continue to spiral into deeper gloom.”
Moving out of fear may be the single biggest challenge any of us face. Without question, opportunities exist. Until and unless perception shifts, those opportunities may not be apparent. One of the fun pieces of marketing is identifying shifts, experimenting with them and telling others.
David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing and online media to reach buyers directly defied convention this week as he announced Kindle2 owners could download his new best seller “World Wide Rave: Creating triggers that get millions of people to spread your ideas and share your stories” at no charge from Amazon Kindle. The publisher, John Wiley & Sons is supportive of the idea; Scott maintains that free content sells content.
If you have a kindle, download World Wide Rave now and tell your friends. (This offer good through Sunday, March 15.) I encouraged one client to do this; she because so excited about possibilities for her business that she’s gone into an e-book writing retreat. Meanwhile, as proof positive that the viral idea works in many ways, I was motivated to buy a kindle and download the book myself.
Business as Unusual: Lose Control of Your Marketing
January 13, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Lose Control of Your Marketing, a new free e-book from bestselling author David Meerman Scott, should be required reading for every company owner. Scott ‘s last book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, continues to be a bestseller. It discusses reaching buyers directly.
Portions of this 33-page e-book taken from World Wide Rave, due for release in March, turn typical marketing think on its head. Scott suggests free access:
Make your information on the Web totally free for people to access, with absolutely no virtual strings attached: no electronic gates, no registration requirements, and no email address checking necessary.
Scott discusses companies and ideas now using these techniques in his conversational style. As a former media salesperson, I loved page 22, R.I.P. Sales Process.
If we’re totally honest, we must know that we no longer control the sales process. Such a thing no longer even exists. Instead, our potential customers control what has become a buying process.
We need to realize that today’s consumer skepticism means that to depend on million-dollar direct mail campaigns targeting the top sales prospects, big-budget advertisements that cast too wide a net, or message-drive PR campaigns directed at media insiders who reach fewer readers and viewers than they once did is to risk failure and irrelevancy.
If you don’t have your own copy of Lose Control of Your Marketing, download it now. Free. Learn Why marketing ROI measures LEAD TO FAILURE!
Marketing 2009: Five Questions to Sharpen Your Perspective
January 7, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
What one thing could make a significant difference for you and your business this year? I know, boring question. Dozens of e-zines, newsletters and articles scream for your inbox attention. Each one promises a quick fix to your problems and you’re already sick of it. Ok. I admit my view of the inbox could be a little tinged with sarcasm. After all, I subscribed to those items to see what was going on. Here are the five questions I suggest considering:
- Do you plan to do the same marketing things you did last year? If not, what will you do differently and why? Remember, the definition of crazy is doing the same thing you’ve always done and expecting different results.
One client, for example, has elected to do no print advertising. Instead, the budget from last year’s print is moving into search engine marketing for her website. The Internet will then become a stronger marketing channel and drive additional sales as a result. This same client is introducing a new product, a service innovation to upgrade current customers. In addition to web site promotion, the product will be promoted through signage and flyers at trade shows, and in ongoing e-newsletters to the database. - What is your theme for the year? A theme ties everything together and puts the power of synergy to work for you. Imagine how much more effective you can be with a multiplier on your side. The theme offers focus and can give you boundaries for considering activities and opportunities. If the theme is expansion, then the evaluation criteria become clearer: how can this project/expenditure/event expand my visibility?
- What books will you read to stimulate your thinking and expand your mental capacities? (NOTE: see the definition in question number one if you have no books on your list.) What do you want to learn? Are there areas in which additional knowledge could make you money? Three books I plan to review for this blog include: Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, by Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby; Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities that Lead to Business Breakthroughs, by Craig Stull, Phil Myers & David Meerman Scott; and Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales and Marketing Asset, by Casey Hibbard.
- How will your associations in 2009 differ from those you’ve had in the past? What organizations will you join and which meetings will you stop attending? Instead of signing up for everything and suffering overwhelm, how can you more effectively put the power of networking on your side?
- What were your 21 greatest accomplishments of 2008? When the times get tough it helps to remind one’s self of success. Review what worked. Know where you’ve been and then head confidently into the future.
Add your questions here or send them my way in an email to maryellen at profitmeister dot com. (Clever way to avoid the spammers, don’t you agree?)
Art Business: Marketing for Creatives
November 13, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
I’m meeting Art Business Coach Alyson Stanfield who wrote I’d Rather Be in the Studio this morning. I put her in the category of “Walk your talk.” We agreed to meet at Albuquerque’s Flying Star Downtown. Alyson plans to tour art galleries later today and there are dozens in the Downtown, Old Town and Nob Hill area.
Alyson’s book tour is in full swing – virtually and physically. She’ll be autographing copies of “I’d Rather Be in the Studio” this evening in Albuquerque. Meanwhile, she encourages bloggers to post reviews and questions and engage their own audience.
Check out the ArtBiz blog for marketing secrets, resources and motivation. Today is “Deep Thought Thursday” and Alyson’s challenge is about goals. This challenge combines a question with a six-minute podcast, part of Alyson’s action-oriented theme. While Alyson is all about artists, her info applies to any number of industries.
She’s a great model: boundless energy, new ideas, upbeat approach to life and the business of art. Kudos, Alyson!
Continue Walking. Marketing is a Process
October 14, 2008 by Mary Ellen · 1 Comment
Two weeks ago I reported walking my talk in the web arena. In spite of ongoing political strife, economic meltdown, and a host of client-driven deadlines, my migration from Blogger to WordPress continues and the commitment to rebuild my website remains intact. By the end of this week I anticipate a near-complete transition.
ProfitMeister 7.5 Blogged Rating
Meanwhile, my blog received a 7.5 recognition from Blogged.com. The ratings, according to the site are based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style. Needless to say, I was pleased with the honor and horrified to have it arrive mere days after my decision to stop posting during the transition. Isn’t that just the way life goes?
During the 16 days since my last post I’ve been hesitant to give out my URL; I’ve avoided commenting on other blogs. I’ve winced when I heard of an Internet-related problem because I understand recovery from an Internet injury is difficult at best. So, my current resolve is similar to an athlete’s: train consistently.
Continue doing the things that work. Blog smarter, not harder.
Ultimately, any remodel involves considerable work. In the web world, I’ve been asked for new pdf’s, additional copies of pictures and revised versions of products. Bear with me. It’s a process.
Guerrilla Marketing’s Jay Conrad Levinson, says: “Marketing is not an event, but a process . . . It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely.”
Welcome to my world, the world of applied Internet Marketing. Suffice it to say my WordPress migration is just part of the process.
How will I celebrate? Creative writing coach Cynthia Morris of Original Impulse lists Celebration as one of the five steps to Completion. She maintains celebrations contribute to future completions and judging from her list of accomplishments it must be so. She asked me the celebrate question this week. I confess, I can’t even imagine.
I know that Marketing Troubleshooter Mary Schmidt recommends martinis; I read that in her Friday Martini Musings. Any other recommendations?
Join us for a Branding and Marketing Roundtable
September 7, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
When several of my co-authors of our new book, A Guide to Getting It: Branding & Marketing Mastery, got together recently to talk about ways to get the message out, we decided the best way to introduce ourselves and the topics we have written about was to give people an opportunity to ask us their most challenging branding and marketing questions!
When we got to the part about what to charge, it was unanimous that the roundtable calls should be no-charge. So, for two information-packed hours, you can have an opportunity to ask questions and receive personalized answers from a group of professionals who make their living coaching business owners to excel at their branding and marketing efforts.
If you are interested in masterminding and brainstorming with a team of women marketing experts who can answer your most challenging, costly, and pressing questions, this is where you will want to be September 8th and 22nd, at 4 p.m. EST, 1 p.m. PST.
To register or read more about this remarkable opportunity to get your questions answered by a panel with over 100 years of combined marketing experience, go to www.clarityofvision.com/marketingroundtable.html
If you’d like to send us your questions, enter it in the comment space on the registration checkout form, or post your challenge here. We’ll cover it on the calls!
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