July 29, 2009
72HourBrainstorm is revamping its order process.
Translation – we’re not taking orders at this time.
We will be back up and running in mid-August. At that time, we will be running a special…because guess what? The price will be going up!! Yep, you’ll get a chance to get professional writing for $72 a pop. But only for a limited time!
Updates to follow….
July 23, 2009
If you aren’t on Twitter, you should be! Twitter has fast become a social media sensation, allowing you to connect with colleagues and prospects and promote your business…all via micro-blogs of 140 characters or less. Used correctly, it can be a great way to network with others, gain visibility, establish credibility and encourage more traffic to your site.
But are you doing what you can to make sure your Twitter experience helps market your biz?
1 – Make it easy for your twitter profile to be found. Place your twitter username on all your marketing materials! Business cards, brochures, post cards…all of them should have your twitter url. You should also have a badge on your blog or website. You can find some free Twitter badges here or at Twitterbuttons.
2 – Have a new sales letter? Released a press release? Designed a new logo? Tweet about all these marketing “events.” Everything that you do, you can tweet about. Link to that sales letter. Point tweeps (people) in the direction of your press release. Ask for feedback on your new logo design.
3 – Not sure what direction to take your marketing materials? Create a poll and ask for feedback from Twitter followers. You can link to surveys using Survey Monkey or Easy Internet Survey. Or you can take a quick poll. And there are applications that make it easy! Check out TwtPoll, PollDaddy or Poll Your Followers.
4 – Always on the go and no time to tweet? As long as you have a phone handy, you’re in luck! You can call in short tweets (10 seconds or less) that will post to your account using TwitSay or TwitterFone.
5 – Spam and blatant promotional tweets 24/7 -> bad. Interaction -> good. Make sure you interact with others. Yes, there are cool applications like Tweetlater and FutureTweets and Twuffer…all allowing you to schedule tweets into the future…but you still need to log in and connect with other tweeps in order to truly make Twitter the social networking experience that will work for your business.
July 14, 2009
To quote Mark Twain – “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.”
Funny, but true. Most of us know that statistics can be misleading. They can bring about faulty thinking and conclusions. But they can also be really helpful in getting our point across.
Using statistics in your marketing material can be useful in bolstering a point or even touching a funny bone. But they should be used wisely and sparingly.
A few do’s and don’t when using stats:
- DO mention where you got your statistical information from
- DO use your own marketing research to create statistics (if financially feasible)
- DO clearly state the statistic in terms of percentages or a number (something like “Most people prefer our process” is NOT a statistic)
- DO use simple surveys of your own to create your own statistics
- DON’T make up a statistic (unless it’s ultra funny, meant as a joke and clearly labeled as such)
- DON’T overuse stats; too many numbers will only lead to confusion or annoyance
- DON’T use outdated stats; something that was relevant 5 years ago may hold little water today…and using an old stat can turn off your target market
July 5, 2009
They shouldn’t be.
Yes, you are selling something. It doesn’t matter what it is. Product or service. The whole point of autoresponders is to make a connection with your target market.
Ideally, your prospects have opted in (as opposed to you buying a list). So you know that your prospects are at least somewhat interested in what you have to sell. But are your autoresponders just one sales pitch after another? They shouldn’t be!
Autoresponders are a great way to build credibility with your prospects, to gain their trust and make a connection. And you aren’t going to do any of those things if every single one of your emails is all about you, your product or service and how smart your prospect would be if she bought in.
Here are some ideas on how to make autoresponders work FOR you in terms of building that trust and exhibiting the authority and knowledge you have:
- provide tips…anything that helps your audience with something in their lives. If you have a time management coach, then a tip on how to manage time (something that isn’t already widely known or used) is nifty.
- provide links…YES, links to OTHER sites. There are other resources out there and you should not only acknowledge them, but embrace them. If you read a blog post that you think is well-written and will resonate with your target market, then shoot out an email to your list with the link and why you think they should read it. People love to be pointed in the direction of good information online.
- Ask a question. A REAL question. Ask something and encourage your readers to respond back, via email, via a comment on a blog post. Something. But encourage interaction by engaging them with a thoughtful question. You may want to make a poll out of it so that you can have an “in” later to email your audience the results of your question(s).
- Tell a funny story. Okay, it SHOULD tie into what you do for a living, your product, service, something. It shouldn’t come from way out in left field, leaving your readers scratching their heads and wondering what fell on your head. But if you had something funny happen when you shipped your last product, if your kid said something hilarious while you were putting the finishing touches on your podcast…you know, something silly…relay the story to your audience. It shows that you are a real person, with real-life stuff cropping up all the time. Very relatable!
June 25, 2009
You already know that using trivia in your marketing materials is a nifty way to get prospects to take in your message for a longer period of time. It gets them to think. To laugh. To ponder.
Trivia in marketing = good
But if you’re stumped for where find the trivia goodness – here are some sites and resources you can use to help add it to your marketing efforts:
- Superstition trivia (great for Halloween!)
- Averages (common numbers/generalities re: people, things, places)
- Historical Events (indexed by month & day)
- Bizarre/Unique Holidays (indexed by month & day)
Don’t just use websites for your trivia. Take a look and see what books might be used as well. And you may be able to save a few dollars by using Half.com. For example, here is an ultra cheap book on Bible Trivia at Half.com. Here’s another cheapo book on head-scratching trivia that will get your prospects thinking.
It should be easy enough to locate trivia that would work for your audience and be entertaining and informative. Prospects will enjoy reading your materials, and probably even pass it along!
June 14, 2009
When you submit a press release to the newswire you want it to get picked up by the most (and hopefully on-target) publications as possible. You want to spread the news, right? Isn’t that what a press release is all about? You want to spread the news to as many people as possible in a short amount of time. You want them to know about your new product or service. You want them to know about the cool award you garnered from some website or organization. Time and again you hear that you need a press release to be “newsworthy.” Why would anyone pick up your story if it’s really not new anyone wants to read about? And one of the best ways to make your release newsworthy is to make it controversial!
If you have a controversial press release, you’re taking a chance at offending a segment of the population. Ideally, the offended parties are 1) not mortally wounded emotionally or mentally and 2) not your target market. Here are some tips to create a controversial press release that walks the fine line of being newsworthy and debatable enough to be picked up by the various publications and sites, but not to the point of disgusting the larger population of the world wide web.
1 – Look at current news topics. What is going on in the news currently that you can take and apply to your press release? If so, don’t go with the popular opinion. Go against the flow and position your press release in a way that it challenges the current stance. Trying to sell your step by step guide to becoming a loan officer? State your case for why NOW is the best time to become a mortgage broker.
2 – Create a controversy when there isn’t one. Say you are promoting your “Doggie DNA” service. Maybe you don’t have any good stories to tell. But what would be a controversial reason that a person would use your service? The title “Did Your Dog Breeder Sell You A Lie?” comes to mind…with the slant that a dog owner should double-check their pedigreed pooches.
3 – Listen to the boneheads in your life. You know, those people who talk and you wonder how few brain cells they actually have? Or, maybe they’re smart but just really, really quirky? Well, sometimes their logic is just off-kilter enough to make a great twist to your press release. Because sometimes even wacky people have some good thoughts…
4 – Use pop culture. Was Britney the inspiration behind your fatbusting exercise ebook? Did the ol’ Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson debacle at that Superbowl a few years back spark your invention of a heavy-duty fabric fastener? Make it relevant to today (that means no references to people or television shows so old that your target market will be scratching their heads in wonder) and then have at it.
5 – Don’t be offensive. Obviously, the number one rule with controversial press releases is to be interesting/controversial, not offensive/controversial. You don’t want to anger the ACLU or get people staking out your home and picketing. But then again, maybe the publicity is worth it…
June 10, 2009
In the real estate industry, on those bus trips with a dozen or more agents going from home to home, the sponsor (typically a title agency rep) would break out some trivia questions and see who knew the answers. It always got the conversation flowing.
Why?
1 – People like to think. Not too hard. Not too much. But they DO like to think.
2 – Answering usually resulted in a prize of some sort.
3 – Some of the trivia was obscure or just plain funny. So the question would stump everyone or the answer would make them laugh.
Using trivia in your marketing materials can work in the same way. It gets your prospects to think. It stumps them and leaves them wanting more. Or it makes them laugh and appreciate the trivia…and likely leading them to pass it along.
The trivia does not have to relate to your actual business. If you create semi-conductors, few people will want to really know trivia about semi-conductors. You can use jokes, trivia involving famous people, a quiz, random facts, a “who said this quote”…
It doesn’t matter if your marketing material is print or electronic based. It could be an email autoresponder or it could be a direct mail postcard. That bit of trivia used within the piece will get your prospects to think rather than hitting the delete button or tossing the postcard in the trash. It gives you more time to have your marketing message in front of them.
June 8, 2009
So…we told you that viral marketing wasn’t some sort of disease. It can be used to spread your brand like wildfire and get people a’talkin’.
But it can also go very, very bad. Like shutting down a school bad.
Now, in the case of shut down school, the viral video makers still get publicity out of the whole thing. And many of their target market probably think their product is dead on funny. So, in the end, was the video that caused the whole stir a good or a bad thing?
Depends on who you ask.
And, can viral marketing turn on your business and turn your prospects off?
Sure.
When you develop your viral marketing messages you have to weigh the good against the bad. Weigh the risk of offending some members of the public. Ideally, BEFORE you send it out there in the free world.
But maybe controversy is what you want. Evaluate your product or service. Evaluate your target market. A life coach cannot get away with viral marketing controversy like a maker of fake vomit. Gross, but absolutely true!
So think before you go viral and remember your target audience! They are the people you are aiming to get the good response from!
June 4, 2009
Viral marketing sounds kind of icky, like some sort of sickness…but it’s not! The basic idea is that you develop a message that is so funny or controversial or savvy that it gets passed on and on. Word spreads. In a good way. Hopefully.
An impassioned email. A hilarious video. A contentious print ad.
All can be talked about, passed along…furthering your brand.
Are you doing anything that would be worthy of passing along? It’s time to start thinking about what you can do to get the word out via an email campaign, a funny video posted to your site, an over the top press release shot out to the world at large. It’s doable, regardless of the size of your business.
Even evil super powers know the importance of going viral:
May 21, 2009
Sometimes people have a hard time letting go. I saw a man the other week…and it was obvious he was having this problem. He was trying to recapture his youth – and doing a horrible job at it. The outfit was bad enough (cream-colored linen pants, black tennis shoes, bright color print spandex shirt that was at least one size too small) and then there was the hair. Obviously a bad, bad hair piece that was dyed much too dark for his age. Honestly, it was clear that he was a fit and decent-looking man…and he would have been WAY better off dressing for his age in matching clothing and ripping that hair piece off the top of his head and burning it in the nearest trash bin.
Seriously.
What does this have to do with marketing? A lot.
How we look is sort of how we market ourselves to others. And this guy was doing pretty horrendous in the marketing self department. I just wanted to go up and give him a hug and a quick makeover. But since he’d be horrified and then I’d feel guilty, I decided against it.
So instead, I’m here to spread the word that as a business owner, sometimes you need to take stock of how things look. Give your website the once-over. Check out your business card, your direct mail pieces, your tagline. Over time, the look, the feel, the perception of your marketing pieces by the people who matter (your target market) can fall victim to “old age” and this isn’t a good thing, unless you’re an antiques dealer or something.
It’s important to stay consistent with your brand, but you also want to stay connected with what your target market wants and likes. And if you’re not giving it to them, someone else will.
Look at your marketing pieces with a discerning eye. And then get some other people to do the same. And it shouldn’t be the people who designed the pieces to begin with. They are too close to their work and will have a hard time letting go. Hold a survey. Develop some focus group sessions. Do what you need to do in order to get true stock on current marketing pieces and whether they need a refresher or complete overhaul.
Your business will be the better for it!