Tag Archives: social media

Marketing , , , , Leave a comment

Managing Your Digital Image

by

Because the internet plays such a dominant role in life, it’s crucial that you take steps to ensure what’s posted about you is both accurate and positive. Information that appears online and is associated with you—your published content and information that identifies you—is collectively known as your digital identity. This information functions as a virtual introduction to you and tells your online story. Your digital identity is the foundation of your digital image and intended to be an asset. Because what appears online is basically immortal, it’s imperative that your digital image, defined by the published content and other information attached to you and your business entity, is presented in a flattering, trust and confidence-building manner.

It is assumed that prospective clients or employers will search your name and business online before making any meaningful contact to discuss your products or services, so it makes sense to periodically monitor and curate your digital identity to ensure that information is current and represents you well. Your primary objective when editing your info is to corroborate your digital narrative and the talking points you commonly share when meeting with prospective clients or employers. The core function of your digital image and the narrative it communicates is to confirm your credibility and build trust.

According to “Assessing Web3’s Building Blocks,” an article recently published by financial services giant J.P. Morgan that explores digital identity, four factors contribute to the digital identity (listed below). It is incumbent upon you to proactively examine the information included in your digital identity so that your online image and narrative will support your professional experience, education, achievements and, by extension, your personal and business brand.

In addition to ensuring that information is accurate, decide how you want prospects to see you. Remove text and images that don’t reflect your goals or brand. If a friend has posted a not-so-flattering image on a social media site and tagged you, ask him/her to kindly delete it.

  1. Identifiers: Your name, email, addresses and social media handles.
  2. Identity Attributes: Information about you, including educational degrees and employment history.
  3. Reputation: Your online persona, contributions, affiliations and followings.
  4. Digital Collectibles & Assets: Anything you own in digital form, commonly non-fungible tokens.

Always professional

Be mindful to consistently adhere to professional standards whenever communicating electronically, ever aware that text and images posted can remain forever, whether intended for public consumption or personal texts and emails. Be vigilant and safeguard your reputation; avoid committing to writing your uncensored thoughts about potentially sensitive political or religious topics. It may, as well, be wise to avoid expressing your positions on current events. You don’t want to worry about being compromised by a leak and ending up being canceled and in need of expensive and rarely completely effective crisis or reputation management services.

Social media listening and digital presence

It’s important to know what appears in an online search of yourself and it’s a smart idea to periodically consult the major search engines—Google, Bing, AOL, Yahoo and also Yelp, Yellow Pages, or other industry-specific ranking sites that would apply to your entity—and search your name and your business entity to examine the results and assess the quality and reach of your digital presence. To avoid or correct misinformation, take control by claiming and updating an existing listing and, if you like, create a listing for your entity if none appears. Furthermore, make it a practice to regularly conduct a social media audit on yourself, so you can remove problematic content before prospects and competitors see it.

You may also be well-served by investing in a social media listening campaign, a marketing strategy that refers to researching whether positive or negative conversations regarding you, your entity, products and/or services currently appear in social media and other online platforms. Social media listening monitors online channels to detect mentions of your brand, competitive brands and related keywords.

The use of (paid) social media listening tools enables you to gain an accurate understanding of how customers and prospects feel about your products, services and company by discovering what they say on social media channels. Through social listening, you can track all mentions of your brand on social media in real-time and get not only valuable insights into how customers feel about your products or services, but also verify what their pain points are and learn what they’d like to see from you in the future. Social media listening is also an excellent source of competitive intel, as it can monitor competitive brands, trending content and sentiment analysis on topics related to your industry to obtain a comprehensive understanding of what customers and prospects think about your competition.

Social media listening has become a major marketing strategy at national and global brands. It was originally thought that marketers at smaller businesses would not benefit from the practice, mostly because the cost wouldn’t justify the ROI. Yet over the past few years, social media listening is now considered essential and an increasing number of mid-size and small business owners and marketers recognize its value. The biggest motivators are likely greater affordability offered by marketing companies and the explosive growth of online customer engagement fueled by the pandemic shutdown. social media listening data can be used to inform everything from marketing and product strategy to customer service and support, helping you make smarter, data-driven decisions that will have a positive impact on your business’s bottom line. To learn more about social media listening services click: https://www.webfx.com/blog/social-media/social-listening-tools/#:~:text=7%20best%20social%20listening%20tools%20in%202024%201,5.%20Mention%206%206.%20BuzzSumo%207%207.%20Keyhole.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: ©The Bettman Archive. Gloria Swanson (center) as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950). Co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, the film received three Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay/Story.

Marketing , Leave a comment

10 Tips to Energize Email Marketing

by

Email marketing remains an effective and valuable practice that deserves a place in the marketing strategy of Freelancers and other small business owners. If you haven’t explored email marketing as a way to promote your venture, read on and learn why you will reap benefits from developing email marketing campaigns and how to maximize their success.

Data supplied by Statista, the Germany-based marketing info giant, reports that an estimated 4.3+ billion citizens of planet Earth use email. Maybe that’s why email marketing continues to be central to our business and personal lives? Email marketing campaigns will help you to promote your products and services, acquire new customers or retain current customers, increase your venture’s annual revenue and position yourself as a thought leader and expert in your field.

Email marketing remains one of the most effective forms of outbound marketing, whether you send email appeals and announcements to prospects and current customers or publish a company blog or newsletter. According to data from the e-commerce company Oberlo, 81% of small business owners use email marketing as their primary method of customer acquisition and 80% use email marketing outreach to support customer retention. Marketing researchers have calculated that email marketing campaigns generate an average ROI of $43 for every $1.00 spent. In 2022, B2B and B2C email marketing campaigns combined generated $9.62B in sales revenues.

  1. Update your list. Review your address list each month and follow-up on all emails that “bounce,” that is, are returned. Verify and update the address or delete the name.
  2. Personalize greeting. Your readers likely have little use for a emails that are addressed to no one in particular and reek of spam. Impersonal mailings are not endearing and are usually deleted. Your email marketing distribution service has the capability to personally address the communications you send.
  3. Opt-in, opt-out, sign-up. To grow your database, make it easy for those who’d like to follow you and/or subscribe to your emails by making your sign-up/ opt-in link visible. On the other hand, those who’d rather not receive your mailings should be able to easily decline them. The unsubscribe/ opt-out link is usually placed at the end of the email.
  4. Customize templates. Represent and promote the value of your brand by having a custom template designed for your marketing communications. The cost is modest and will give your campaigns a professional look that is immediately recognizable to your audience. Choose a template design that is uncluttered and visually cohesive. Also, since more than half of the audience will view your emails on a mobile device, confirm that your marketing service uses responsive design.
  5. Relevant content. Know the topics that will interest your readers. Stay current in your knowledge of national and local developments by regularly reading nationally focused business publications and the business section of your local newspaper. Furthermore, it’s helpful to create a marketing calendar, because some topics are seasonal and your information should be timely so that it will be useful. In other words, if your email will discuss taxes, keep in mind the filing dates for quarterly and annual taxes. As well, keep in mind the Pareto principle, best known as the 80/20 rule, to keep audience engagement high. Make about 80% of your content educational and no more than 20% self-promotional. In time, your audience will come to trust you as a source of helpful information, which will keep them opening your emails. Your emails are about the reading audience and not about you.
  6. Tempting subject line. Give readers an incentive to open your emails by creating subject lines that command attention. The subject line is the most important element of a marketing email. If it’s not compelling, your email will be swiftly deleted. A good subject line often arouses curiosity or surprise. It may even shock recipients, or make them laugh. A well-crafted subject line makes recipients want to go further and find out what you have to say.
  7. Interactive extras. Every so often, give readers something unexpected and interesting to see or do as they skim through your content. Devise a one or two question survey to let them tell you how they feel about an issue. Not only will you get to know them better, they’ll appreciate that you value their opinions. A 60-90 second audio and/ or video clip that showcases something they’ll find useful is another good tactic. Including an image that ties into the message and purpose of the email is yet another good idea. Limiting extras to a maximum of two is suggested, to avoid clutter or sensory overload.
  8. Social media teasers. Before emails are sent, post a line or two of content on social media as a way to cross promote and expand the audience for your mailings. Let social media visitors know that the content is exclusive to your email list and use this incentive to increase sign-ups.
  9. One irresistible call-to-action. The purpose of your emails is to convince readers to do something—-hire you, watch your webinar, read your case study, come out to meet you and hear you speak. If email recipients don’t know what you want them to do within 20 seconds of opening your email, whether that’s visiting a page, calling a phone number, or completing a form, they will most likely click and delete.
  10. Consistent schedule. Whether you send a newsletter, blog post, or marketing letters once a quarter, once a month, or once a week—-every Tuesday at 11:00 AM Eastern or the 15th of every month—-be consistent. Predictability breeds trust.

FYI, as of March 5, 2023, data supplied by the email marketing company Constant Contact reported on email open rates in various industries and a sampling is below. As of January 2023, the combined B2B and B2C sales conversion rate of email marketing campaigns was 8.17%.

  • Administrative support—billing, phone answering—29.1%
  • Business consulting—marketing, advertising, management–28.3%
  • Financial services—accounting, bookkeeping, insurance–27.1%
  • Technology services–19.3%
  • Health & wellness–home care, nutrition, dental, medical–35.3%
  • Cleaning, contractors, landscaping–38.6%

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Invented by Edward E. Kleinschmidt in 1914, the high speed teletype machine allowed users to both send and receive typed messages and was a major breakthrough in telecommunications technology. The picture shows teletype machines being used in England during WWII.

Marketing , , Leave a comment

Marketing Automation—Give It A Try

by

Can you afford to invest $50 or so each month in marketing for your business? Can you afford not to? Marketing is a hugely important business function—how else can your future customers know what you do and know where to find you? You may struggle to keep up with your marketing aspirations—it’s a common problem. Small businesses owners and Freelancers are often too busy to fully implement the marketing campaigns that they devise. Today, let’s talk about how marketing automation can create a great leap forward for your LeadGen strategy and deliver a nice increase to your sales revenue.

The most successful marketers know that automating routine marketing functions will enhance your ability to provide the most effective marketing campaign outreach and as well the best possible buyer’s journey experience for prospective customers. When marketing automation software is in place, all prospect requests for information about your products or services will receive timely follow-up. You, your team and your company will look good as a result —professional, responsive, trustworthy and reliable, all brand enhancing qualities.

As you know, marketing automation is the process of using technology and software to automate your company’s marketing activities across all of your digital channels—website and social media platforms. By using automation, you can target prospective customers easily and efficiently and launch special outreach campaigns by using automated email messaging that is peronalized to reflect the customer’s buying history or interest. BTW, according to a recent survey, 80% of prospects reported that they were more likely to do business with companies that offer a personalized buyer’s journey experience. Data from consulting giant McKinsey revealed that personalized emails sent to prospects can reduce customer acquisition costs by as much as 50 % and increase sales revenues by 5–15 %.

Consider trying these four digital marketing automation strategies. Doing so can potentially free up 10 hours/week of your valuable time and allow you to focus on other aspects of your business. Marketing automation service packages and pricing vary widely, but a basic plan offered by most companies is unlikely to take a big bite from an inflation impacted budget. Plugs, there is reason to be optimistic about adding to top line sales revenue. Spend a little money, make more back.

Build targeted email campaign lists

Despite the obituaries that have been written over the years, email marketing has shown us all that like a cat, it has nine lives. Email marketing automation is very useful for LeadGen, helping to generate sales from prospects in your sales funnel. Marketing is all about providing the right information at the right time in the buyer’s journey. Automating email outreach enables you to send that correct message to the right person at the right time and simultaneously save time and increase efficiency as you communicate with prospects.

Nurture warm leads

Encourage the process of converting prospects into clients by personalization—from correct names to accurate buying history data — and enhance prospect engagement. Help yourself and your team to respond quickly to contact forms that prospects submit when they’d like to schedule a call or meeting with you or someone from your team. Follow-up fast on calls-to-action from prospects who’d like to receive your newsletters or attend a talk that you’ll give. Marketing automation will guarantee that you’ll avoid the embarrassing occurrence of leads that get lost in the shuffle and drop off your radar screen.

Your goal is to move prospective customers through the buyer’s journey, AKA the sales funnel, to become a paying customer, Your marketing automation system can monitor consumer activity and assist you in determining where in the sales funnel your prospects are. You can select the info that your leads will receive and the frequency of emailing at each step of the buyer’s journey to help you execute an effective lead-generating strategy.

Automate social media posting

At the beginning of each month, help yourself and create a calendar by planning 30 days worth of social media content ideas. For example, every week, vary your content by type (i.e., educational, entertaining, inspiring, tips and tricks, behind-the-scenes, etc.). This will help keep your social media audiences engaged and interested in your posts while making it easier for you and your team to create the content.

Furthermore, when filming videos or taking photos for social media accounts, aim to capture a variety of content that can be reused and repurposed for various posts. This will cut down on the content creation time, as you’ll utilize one shoot for multiple pieces of content.

Analyze campaign performance

Measuring the success (or not-so-much) of marketing campaigns is often guess work. Especially for Freelancers, following the rate of client acquisition, that is, the bottom line represented by the clients you bring in or bring back, is what many of you do. More ambitious types, or those responsible for marketing in larger organizations, most likely work with spreadsheets to monitor the performance of marketing initiatives. I’ve done it before and I find spreadsheets to be very time-consuming. Plus, not everyone on the team who should regularly post updates will do that without prompting fom the team leader, which takes time.

The beauty of marketing automation is that when you program the software to perform certain functions, the results will always be accurately reported. Once you’ve categorized your leads and customers according to where they are in the buyer’s journey, you can email targeted content that’s specific to each lead, increasing your marketing and sales effectiveness. Next, the lead tracking function will automatically update the system if that lead becomes a customer or makes an important action that might signal a movement toward becoming a customer, such as downloading a price sheet or requesting a copy of a case study.

Once you customize your system, all you’ll have to do is log in, view the results and evaluate what the information tells you. Appropriate follow-up and other trust-building actions can take place every time. Potential customers do not get lost in the shuffle. You make more money!

See the best marketing automation options for 2023 here: https://www.g2.com/categories/marketing-automation

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Walter Nurnberg/Getty Images. 1960s computer technology

Marketing , , Leave a comment

Get Multi-Channel Marketing Right

by

Much has been written in recent years to extol the virtues of multi-channel marketing. Business owners and marketing department leaders are urged to create a consistent, unified message/ story for their company and its products and services and blast that message to a broad range of media outlets and platforms, the better to reach as many target customers and prospects as possible.

That’s excellent advice as I see it, but there’s more for marketers to consider. The noise level in the 21st century marketplace is so overwhelming and calls for clearly defined strategy and execution plans if you expect to achieve the ROI you want. A one-size-fits-all mindset isn’t going to work.

Because storytelling and messaging are the heart and soul of marketing, a more precise and effective method of using multi-channel marketing is needed to fully realize your marketing objectives when communicating with various audiences through multiple marketing channels. To get the most out of your marketing campaigns, define the purpose of the message/ story you’re putting out to your niche audiences and understand the reach of every outlet and platform you intend to use.

For example, recognize that the purpose, message and platforms that are most suitable for PR/ brand promotion will differ somewhat from the promotional strategy you’ll follow when the objective is to drive sales, announce that you’ll speak at the Rotary Club next month, or grow your blog audience. Read on to get useful ideas on how you might approach some typical marketing agendas.

The objective is PR/branding

So you’re trying to persuade a media outlet to mention you in an article? Start by reading few issues or posts, so you’ll get a feel for the topics covered and know who writes articles about your subject of interest. Next, call and email the business editor and pitch your proposed story. Articles must have a story theme that could be of interest to readers. Popular themes, I’ve noticed, are wellness initiatives, participation in a community event that’s sponsored by a popular local charity and green/ environmentally supportive business practices.

Your objective to receive earned media exposure is to build your brand through name recognition and enhance your company reputation by publicizing the good work that you do. I’m sure you understand that singing the praises of your products and services would be the wrong message for this agenda and requires a different emphasis for your marketing message/ story.

The objective is selling

When selling is your focus, the marketing message/ story will speak to decision-makers and key stakeholders, including end-users. Addressing the most common and dramatic pain points for the use of your product or service and emphasizing the most desirable outcomes is a must.

Marketing messages expressed by way of content marketing such as case studies, a workshop you’ve presented, an article you’ve written, or a webinar or podcast in which you appeared can build trust and confidence by letting you showcase your know- how.

The marketing message/ story will paint a picture that helps prospective customers envision how the features and benefits of your product or service can efficiently address their purpose for using what you sell. Testimonials and on- line reviews also speak convincingly to decision-makers in this instance.

The objective is repeat business and referrals

Customer retention and referrals can be enhanced and encouraged when customers feel valued and part of something bigger than themselves—-a community. Social media is tailor- made for this aspect of your multi-channel marketing strategy.

If your customers skew younger, Tik Tok and SnapChat are ideal platforms for posting videos that make a memorable point in just 60 seconds—- a one minute movie! Twitter is great for posting updates, the platform you use to remind your audience that tomorrow at 4:00 PM they should tune in to your webinar or podcast. Facebook and Instagram are great places to tell stories with photos and longer videos. That’s where you give brand fans a behind-the-scenes look at you and your team and let people get to know you a bit.

Your customer retention and referral marketing message/ story will be subtly different from the PR and selling scenarios. Brand enhancement will incorporate your values and social responsibility but will also subtly reinforce the results achieved with your (first-rate and reliable) product or service, after- sale support and customer service, The story presented will be a feel-good, but you’ll want to embed a purpose and a gentle call-to-action. Come back to see us again and tell your friends!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: An auctioneer in action at Sotheby’s in New York City.

Marketing , , , , Leave a comment

Eyes On the Competition

by

As was noted in three or four recent posts, business data and other forms of business information, which may consist of the observations and predictions of researchers, journalists and other experts, have always been an essential resource for business owners and leaders. As we move through the 21st century, data-driven decision-making, enabled by powerful software programs and artificial intelligence, has become the hallmark of responsible business management.

Chief among the market research that every successful business owner or leader must do is assess the competitive landscape in his/her marketplace. Questions you’ll want to find answers to include:

  • Who sells products and services similar to your own?
  • Who are their customers?
  • What is the estimated size of their market?
  • Who dominates, how and why?
  • How do the marketplace leaders attract and retain customers?
  • What is their price range?
  • How successful are they?
  • Can you launch your venture alongside these competitors and achieve sustainable success?

Mapping your competitive landscape also includes identifying direct competitors, meaning companies whose services and products closely resemble your own and indirect competitors, that is, those whose products and services present an alternative choice within a similar price range that can be sold as a potentially satisfactory solution. Understanding the difference between direct and indirect competitors can be simplified by comparing the process to shopping for a Valentine’s Day gift.

The chocolate shops are all direct competitors, with price as a potential differentiator, because chocolates are more or less interchangeable. The same can be said for florists. But chocolate shops and florists are as well one another’s indirect competitors within a similar price range because for $50.00, you can buy either a nice bouquet or a nice box of chocolates.

Start your investigation with a key word search using terms commonly chosen to describe your company’s products and/ or services to see who appears and how they rank. Whoever makes it into the top 10 are the most successful of your competitors. You can also check out member lists at the business and professional groups you’ve joined (yet another reason why business associations are a good investment). Visit the websites of the top 4 or 5 competitors in your search, along with their social media pages and Yelp reviews.

Make note of speaking engagements made by the principals—-host organization and topic, along with company participation in local charity events and business awards and nominations received. If successful competitors have done any of those things, don’t be ashamed to follow with a me, too.

Popular products and services

Knowing what sort of products and services are best-sellers for your top competitors is tremendously useful intel and will enable you to make smarter decisions about building your solutions and making your prospect’s hot buttons blink.

So try to figure out what competitors sell the most, what sells the least for them and what’s somewhere in the middle. Keep the best sellers in mind as you design your services, perhaps adding a differentiating something extra to create more value in a way that’s affordable for you, or that you can sell at a premium.

Finally, watch for what gets revised and what gets dropped. Notice how products and services are described and positioned and, if possible, priced. Learn from competitors’ mistakes.

Leadgen strategies

Absolutely, spend time analyzing the website landing pages and social media accounts of your major competitors. You want to know how they keep their pipelines filled and how they persuade prospects to remain on the buyer’s journey. What informational goodies and special offers have they sprinkled into their TOFU, MOFU and BOFU ( top, middle and bottom of the funnel)?

You may find the inevitable free-for-the-price-of-your-email-address e-book or highlights of a keynote speech delivered at a popular conference. You’re looking for inspired, desirable content choices that you hadn’t thought of, so you can offer something similar as a way to engage prospects and stimulate lead creation.

Blog and newsletter content

Pay attention to topics that are most often covered and those that are infrequently discussed. Notice also if certain topics are spotlighted during particular months. Observe which types of posts are often shared on social media and note which platforms are most often used (and which ones used the least). Your objective is to help yourself plan a content marketing strategy that features topics of interest to prospective readers and simultaneously support the premise that you are a reliable source of good information and a capable professional.

If you’re feeling more curious, use a traffic analysis tool to search for the blog-related URLs in the Top Pages list. Analyze their unique page views and visits, conversions, traffic sources ⁠— make note of all the data that’s presented. Publishing a respected blog or newsletter could become an integral building block of your success. .

Selling points

What objectives emerge as the core purpose, the main problem-solving motivation, that your competitors speak to when communicating to prospects—on their website and social media platforms, in case studies, and testimonials and in their newsletters and blog posts? What do they aim to help their customers achieve when making the case to do business with them? What descriptive language is used? Also, what benefits do they emphasize to persuade prospects to reach out to them?

Moreover, what competencies do your competitors trumpet as a valuable resource that their clients prize and prospects desire? Is it a specialized academic degree, skills certifications, prior work experience and/ or prestigious client list?

Call-to-Action

What you want to know is how competitors sell their CTA. “Buy now” and “click here” are phrases you can think up on your own. The purpose of this research is to see examples of (presumably effective) CTA pitches, both the give-away info and what is said to create an appetite for it. The information offered should be something that prospects are likely to find useful, or somehow interesting and for some items they’ll be willing to surrender their email address to obtain it.

A free 30-minute phone conversation with you or a team member that will allow serious prospects to get insight and answers about how your products and services might help them achieve a goal or solve a problem should make a tempting offer. Click the link to learn more about effective CTAs (gotcha!):

https://freelancetheconsultantsdiary.wordpress.com/2021/04/06/a-call-to-action/

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Krystle (L, Linda Evans) and Alexis (Joan Collins) were eternal rivals and fierce competitors on the prime time soap opera Dynasty (ABC-TV 1981-1989)

Marketing , , , , Leave a comment

Online Reputation Management and Your Brand

by

A business owner’s work is never done, it seems. Along with recruiting customers in an increasingly challenging business climate, fulfilling customer expectations, providing excellent customer experiences and instituting procedures that ensure pleasant and efficient after sale support when needed there is, as well, the responsibility to monitor and manage the online reputation of your brand, your business and you. Creating, enhancing and perhaps also defending the online reputation of your brand must be an ongoing component of your company’s PR and SEO marketing strategies.

Developing and nurturing an appealing and trustworthy brand for your enterprise has always been the cornerstone of comprehensive and effective marketing campaigns and strategies. The pandemic-induced acceleration of numerous online communication formats has compelled business owners and leaders to amplify the online presence of their brands in order to effectively compete.

As a result, it is more necessary than ever to carefully curate, align and script all marketing themes and messages used to promote your brands along with the associated image, audio or video content posted to an array of platforms. Business owners and leaders would be wise to actively shape and manage the online image and reputation of their brands to continually reinforce brand narratives and positive perceptions.

Online Reputation Management is now an ever more critical branding function, essential as you develop marketing and branding strategies that build name recognition with the power to attract customers. A trusted brand is a valuable resource and can create for your business a loyal troop of boots-on-the-ground influencers who are motivated to write positive reviews in online rating sites and dispense word-of-mouth endorsements that can make or brake your business. From the online content that communicates relatable brand stories that build trust and loyalty within your target market to search-friendly platforms and key words that promote your brand’s online visibility, you can create an electronic architecture that supports and sustains an appealing and confidence-inspiring brand.

To help your business overcome the multi-year impact of the coronavirus pandemic, do what you can to allocate resources to create and implement a robust Online Reputation Management strategy. For best results, assess the efficacy of your online branding strategies by employing the tactic of social listening.

The act of monitoring social media and other online platforms helps track mentions and notifications about your brands and facilitates quick responses to customer compliments or complaints, which are the building blocks of an effective engagement strategy. Social listening means discovering patterns and connecting the dots in the comments or questions heard in monitoring. Social listening reveals to you the big picture—not just the trees, but the forest—and encourages you to analyze the context and larger trends that surround those (online) conversations, so that you might discover opportunities to act that enable you to better speak to and serve your market.

The customer data and marketing platform Clutch.com recently reported the following:

  • 54% of digital marketers consider Online Reputation management necessary for the success of their company
  • Brands frequently utilize social listening, following the social media outlets favored by their customers, to gain insights into what is trending or waning in customer preferences and priorities
  • The primary benefit that companies gain from investing in Online Reputation management is growth in sales
  • 35% of businesses queried plan to allot more time and money to Online Reputation management

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Fredric March as Dr. Henry Jekyll in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) directed by Rouben Mamoulian

Marketing , , , Leave a comment

Self-Promotion that’s Savvy, Not Shameless

by

If you do not put the word out about your talents, achievements and (perhaps discreetly) your ambitions, or if you do so ineptly, you are leaving money (and also a satisfying life, I think) on the table. Despite what some people would have you believe, no one finds success on their own. The self-made man is a myth. You are going to need some help along the way and to rally influential people to your side, you must let them know what you can do.

Bill Gates’ mother held a job at IBM that gave her access to a powerful person in the company, who agreed to meet with her son and his friend Paul Allen so that the two could explain the special project they were working on. As we know, their project eventually became Microsoft.

How to deliver your self-promotion

Effective self-promotion is a subtle and powerful communication skill. I consider it an art. It can be learned. Maybe we should start with what to avoid?

It’s frightfully easy to come off as obnoxious when telling others about how fabulous you are and the riveting details of your long list of magnificent, truly enviable, accomplishments. Most of us know that outright bragging is not cool, but we have also heard more than enough hyper-ambitious people pretending to be modest as they trot out a humble brag act at every opportunity.

Witnessing either spectacle usually induces an eye roll, if not a headache. But how can you show finesse and talk yourself up in a way that doesn’t turn off friends and colleagues?

A good Karma method is to be generous and share credit for your successes with those who helped you achieve them. There is a huge benefit associated with this generous act—- you gain allies. Your allies, because you’ve made it clear that you value them and their work, will be inclined to do you the enormous favor of promoting your magnificent achievements for you, which gives you much more credibility and influence than if you say it all yourself. So as you climb the ladder, not only will your allies help you, they’ll recruit more allies for the cause.

When to self-promote

Choose the politically correct time to self-promote. There are situations when one is expected to do so, but be aware that there are only so many opportunities available. Employees are invited to discuss their accomplishments at their annual performance review, when campaigning for a raise, or when seeking to interview for a promotion. Freelance consultants, when speaking with prospective clients or writing proposals with the aim of winning projects, are expected to spell out and sell their competencies, relevant experience and achievements.

What to promote

Make it known that you’ve earned a new educational degree or professional certification, the date, time and place of an important presentation you’ll deliver, or should you be invited to join a prestigious board.

Other self-promoting without penalty opps include announcing your appearance on a podcast, webinar, or panel. Announcing that you’ve written and published, or edited, a book is also a self-promoting bow you’re expected to take. Launching a workshop (that you must sell!) is another self-promotion gateway.

Where to self-promote

Especially since face2face events remain limited, savvy people know that social media is an acceptable self-promotion tool. Update your profiles as you upgrade your skills and announce your showcase events as appropriate.

Again, bring in some good Karma and acknowledge the achievements of your connections and contacts as they appear in your feed, so that your communication is not all outbound. Self-promotion, no matter how skillfully delivered, still requires good relationships in order to capitalize on your good work.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Steve Martin in The Jerk (1979) directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin

Professional Development , , Leave a comment

Interns Go Virtual

by

As a result of the COVID-19 shutdown, organizations around the world quickly made changes to how business was done and in many companies, a support system for the usual summer internship program was part of the updates. Perhaps company leaders realized that virtual internships present a unique opportunity for their program to operate across geographical boundaries and greatly expand the pool of desirable candidates?

Academic institutions likewise pivoted to remote during the 2020 shutdown and readied to enable internship programs in the new normal work and education environment. In May 2020, the University of Wisconsin at Madison released a white paper that discussed virtual format internships, their benefits for both the student intern and the hiring company and how to make the experience successful and rewarding for both parties. http://ccwt.wceruw.org/documents/CCWT_Report%20%2310_Online_Internships_Lit_Review_May2020.pdf

Freelancers and small business owners and leaders will occasionally bring in an intern or two, typically as a way to gain a reasonably capable assistant who can be trained to handle uncomplicated professional level tasks for just a few hours per week, at a modest pay scale. Introducing to your business a young person who will bring fresh perspectives and a familiarity with recent technologies that you and your team may not possess stands to improve productivity, profitability and the customer experience at your organization. The internship experience that you initiate may become a way to move your company more decisively into the 21st century.

While the virtual format does have drawbacks—like the increased difficulty (or impossibility) of providing your intern with sufficient networking and relationship-building opportunities with colleagues, interns can still attain a variety of benefits in the remote workplace.

Finding interns

College career centers and academic departments are your source for obtaining information and resources about either hiring an intern or establishing a formal internship program at your organization. Share your business needs and expectations with school officials to determine whether undergraduate seniors or graduate students will be most appropriate. Because schools have a vested interest in workforce preparation and employment outcomes for their students, they can be trusted to help you make the right choice.

Choose the right projects

Social media is often a natural fit for interns because they grew up with social media and probably understands the subtle differences between SnapChat and TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest. Discuss the customer demographics and presumed social media strategy with your intern, who will be tasked with helping you realize objectives.

Your intern might also be asked to create a stock image library for posts, shoot videos on a cell phone and create text content as well, in accordance with the company brand story and target customers. You can also ask a social media intern to conduct a competitive audit to let you know what your 3-4 closest competitors are posting, specifically the platforms used and how they communicate with customers.

Bookkeeping interns could be asked to prepare quarterly taxes for customers. Web design interns can be asked to write code and assist with website updates. Graphic design interns can work on logos and draft marketing collaterals. IT interns can take help desk calls and set up the controls for videoconferences. Although it will be done virtually, always review your intern’s work and give praise where it is due and corrections with diplomacy.

Intern support system

Consider how you can create online support for your intern that will include your company needs, the school’s reporting and course credit requirements, plus intern guidance and mentoring. Your goal is to promote a successful and rewarding experience for the intern and yourself/ the business. 

Schedule daily videoconference 1:1s to discuss the intern’s projects and your expectations for performance milestones and completion dates. If you haven’t been using online communication tools beyond email and Skype, for example, encourage your intern to suggest his/her preferred messaging and workflow systems, such as Slack or Asana and give your intern professional validation when s/he gets to teach you something. Institute systems also to allow the intern to interact with other team members, if there are any and encourage relationship-building and networking.

On balance

So what does the Freelancer win when working with an intern? Useful work and good karma. You get some low level, but nevertheless professional grade, work done for not a lot of money. Plus, mentoring in the form of professional development that introduces a young person to the adult work environment, its expectations and responsibilities, is so nurturing and generous (although not everyone has the patience for it).

The downside is that interns need more supervision than working adults and they can be unavailable during final exams or spring break. But then again, who among us does not need occasional time off? Anyway, you never know— in a few years, your intern might flip the script and hire you for an assignment when s/he has gone on to a good corporate job.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © DanceParent101

Technology / Office , Leave a comment

Clubhouse: A Social Media Platform for the Beautiful People

by

Trending

The newest entry to the social media scene is Clubhouse, an invitation-only platform built around what is called “drop-in audio chat”. Call it an audio chat social network. Users download the platform app and are welcomed to drop into real time, voice only chat room conversations that they may participate in, or decide to just sit back and listen to. Or, one might request to “own” a room, choose a format and topic and invite folks to drop in and chat. Clubhouse conversations are ephemeral—when the chatting stops, what was said disappears forever. Nothing is recorded.

Created by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, reportedly seeded with $12 million by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and officially launched about when the coronavirus entered the U.S. in First Quarter 2020, Clubhouse has attracted a swath of high-profile member users that now number about two million. The app can only be downloaded on an iPhone, at least for now. Android downloads will be available soon. The service is not optimized for iPad.

The velvet rope

You have to know someone to get in. Clubhouse is a gated community. Access is available by personal invitation only. Members can invite just two people to join, but will earn more invitation credits as they use the app.

Any iPhone user can download the app and reserve a username, but will be placed on the waiting list. It is allegedly possible that a current member could be notified that someone s/he knows would like to join and would appreciate an invitation. Otherwise, aspiring members who lack the right connections will twist in the wind.

Clubhouse has quickly built up considerable social cachet, most likely the result of its exclusivity business model. Having the app on your phone is like getting into Studio 54, the 1970s Manhattan disco where everybody who was anybody went to party hard. The platform has become the darling of A-List entertainers and the tech entrepreneur crowd. Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, R & B superstar Drake, Chris Rock and Mark Cuban are members.

Another factor that may enhance its popularity is that Clubhouse users speak to each another in real time. People can talk and it all feels more intimate than other forms of online conversation. People tend to prefer the natural rhythms of speaking that we use when talking face2face, rather than typing back and forth on a keyboard.

Format

Members can follow their fellow members and also topics of interest, as they do on other social media platforms, and also join themed “clubs.” They have access to a selection of chat rooms that focus on different subjects, many of which are attuned to what is currently trending.

Some rooms will have just a few people chatting informally. Others might contain hundreds or even thousands of people listening to a panel of experts discuss a national or international issue, or a top-selling author, or a well-known entrepreneur. If someone in the room would like to contribute to the conversation or ask a question, a hand raise signal is given and the room’s “owner” can give speaking privileges.

Chat rooms visitors are identified by their profile photo, which is required for each user. Those in the room can browse the profiles of others in the room, which also includes a list of whom everyone follows. The Clubhouse algorithm takes all this into account when offering content choices to members.

Why you want in

Clubhouse members are able to hear, and even participate in, the often relaxed and sometimes very candid conversations of famous and powerful people. You may hear a political debate, a comedy routine, a book club discussion, or billionaires talking business. Uber-famous music producer and performer Kanye West is scheduled to appear in a Clubhouse chat room. Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have already done so.

But what will being there do for your business? It depends on the ecosystem in which you operate. If you feel that prospective clients will be impressed when you casually name-drop a celebrity or some other nationality known high roller, then consult your Rolodex and devise a strategy to get past the door man.

Voice is the future

It’s been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Clubhouse will soon face direct competitors. A powerful vote of confidence for the rising appeal of audio social networking platforms is coming from Facebook, who recently announced that the company is in the early stages of experimenting with social audio features. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Mark Cuban, a Clubhouse member, has announced that he is involved with building an audio-focused social platform called Fireside, which will compete with Clubhouse and he plans to launch this year.

Twitter added a voice feature for tweeting in June 2020 and is testing a separate audio chat-room product called Spaces, according to a company spokeswoman. LinkedIn was ahead of the curve on the chat trend when it added voice messaging in July 2018.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Kardashian (left) with a Sidekick and Paris Hilton checks her Blackberry circa 2003.

Marketing , , , Leave a comment

Build Your Email Contact List

by

Despite numerous predictions of its imminent demise that have splashed across the headlines of business publications for several years now email marketing, in various formats, continues to march forward in vigorous health because it works. If email marketing didn’t produce quantifiable ROI we would have abandoned it years ago. Nope. Email marketing remains an efficient communication pathway that allows companies to announce a product launch, register attendees for a podcast or webinar, deliver to subscribers this week’s installment of your blog, entice mailing list members with an invitation to your virtual book launch, or inspire potential students with news of the debut of your online course.

Despite the popularity of half a dozen social media platforms that are experiencing an upward trend that shows no sign of slowing down, email marketing continues to be accepted by those on the receiving end, so long as the number from any one source does not overwhelm. When email list members value the sender, they seem to like updates delivered to their inbox.

So building a quality email list that’s populated with prospects who are interested in you and your company is good business. Today, we can identify a few smart, simple tactics that are fast-acting, free and can potentially create for your organization a brand building, money making email list.

  1. Social media

An effective and obvious way to quickly and organically build a robust email contact list at no cost is to post content on social media platforms and the more platforms you post content to, the faster you’ll collect names and email addresses. How so, you ask? Because sooner or later, readers of your content will respond to what you’ve written and when they do, you’ll capture their name and email address. It’s likely that those willing to give a like to your posts or make a comment will also be willing to join your email contact list.

Another easy email capture tactic can be done on your Facebook page, by way of the Call to Action button. Hover your cursor on the CTA and select the “Edit Button” option, then change the text to read “sign up” or “join” so that you can invite Facebook Fans to your email contact list.

LinkedIn users are able to send emails to all of their primary connections but to quickly grow your email list, you’ll want to reach out to your second degree (the connections of primary connections) and third degree connections (secondary connections, once removed). There is a free service called Snovio that allows account holders to install an email finder extension which, by way of a gmail account, allows LinkedIn users to find the email addresses of those distant cousins. Click to learn more. https://app.snov.io/register?lang=en&signup_source=blog&signup_page=snov.io%2Fblog%2Fhow-to-get-the-contact-details-of-your-2nd-and-3rd-connections-on-linkedin-in-two-easy-steps&cta_type=link

2. Website sign-ups

Upload to your website reasons to collect names and email addresses. For some, that will be the “Contact us” form—website visitors who have questions or want more information about the company’s products or services are required to fill out a contact form and provide their name and email address. Other common website signup tactics are surveys, free telephone (video call) consultations, registrations for webinars and requests for free special publications—-your e-book, case studies, or white papers, for example. All are effective conduits for collecting names and email addresses that grow a viable email contact list.

3. Call to action

On your website landing page, on your white papers, blog, or newsletter, invite people to connect. You may be pleasantly surprised with the positive results of a straightforward appeal for email contact info. The share button and invitation to subscribe to or follow your blog and/ or newsletter will also bring in names and email addresses if your content is well- written and relevant.

Add a chat bot plug-in to your WordPress hosted website so that visitors can quickly obtain answers to basic questions about your products and services. Bot analytics will reveal the names and email addresses of your chat bot users, who are all set to join your growing email list.

Finally, get more mileage from your email signature block and invite recipients of your emails to opt-in and subscribe to your blog, newsletter and notices about other interesting things you’re doing.

4. YouTube videos

YouTube is the second- largest search engine in the world and about six billion videos are viewed on the site every day. People like visuals and videos are the favorite visual. Production value matters, so ask around to find out who you know with equipment that’s a level or two more advanced than your cell phone. Your public library may have equipment to use and a quiet room that will be all yours for an hour or two.

What story can you tell? You’ll have a few and you can make one or two of them sound appealing with a little thought and some rehearsal time. Providers of B2B services don’t have a product to show but we can do a convincing 5 minute promo on a course we’re set to teach, or a virtual talk we’ll give, or panel we’ll participate on.

If you’re rolling out a new service, pivoting your business, or embarking on a collaboration with colleagues that you and your partners can make sound exciting and useful to certain of your clients and prospects, include a video pitch in the launch campaign.

Remember to conclude your videos with both a verbal and text Call to Action. Ask for the business and direct viewers to click a button and be directed to your squeeze page, a landing page you can create that collects the names and email addresses of those who want to know more about your topic (i.e., what you’re selling). Learn to create a Wordstream squeeze page here. https://www.wordstream.com/features/cro-toolkithttps://www.wordstream.com/features/cro-toolkit

After posting your pithy little video promo to YouTube, also get it onto Instagram stories, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and your website. Write a short teaser sentence to accompany a link to your video and include them in your email signature block.

5. Join business groups

All meetings are virtual and will remain so for the time being, but by attending events hosted by the group you join—-the chamber of commerce, a neighborhood business group, the local alumni chapter of your school, or other professional development and networking associations—-the benefits of membership include access to the member directory.

I don’t recommend that you import the directory and spam fellow members by sending your content without permission, because that will do you no favors. But one easy way to obtain the names and email addresses of desirable contacts is to attend virtual programs and make a pitch through the chat function.

During the final 15 minutes or so of the program send an all-person chat message to briefly introduce yourself and offer to send your blog, newsletter, e-book, or other content to anyone who’ll (privately) provide their name and address.

Attend one or two virtual events each month and you’ll be almost guaranteed to add 4-5 worthwhile names each month from this one source. This type of ask was originally done during the face2face conversations that took place during pre- event meet & greets (remember those?), but they can migrate to a virtual format without feeling awkward.

Building a robust email marketing prospect list is one of the best growth strategies business owners and leaders can do. If you’re able to add 10-20 contacts each month, declare victory. List building is an ongoing process—- it never stops. I’ve personally witnessed Freelancers who have 5000+ names on their list politely, skillfully, relentlessly, invite every potentially good contact to join their email list.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Replica of a vintage mailbox