Jan
07

10 Ways to Become a Better Marketer in 2011

It’s that time of year again when we’re all evaluating what our new years resolution will be this year, and wonderirng how long it will last this time. However, there is one resolution that should never fail to work: become better at your job. Social networks come and go, ‘best practices’ succeed and fail, and your company is constantly changing. What if there were some sure-fire ways to keep a resolution to always get better at your job, no matter what is going on around you?

Follow these ten tips to learn how to become a better online marketer in 2011:

1. Read. Determine which bloggers and experts in your industry you’d like to learn from. Chances are, they have a blog. Pick 2-5 expert bloggers and subscribe to them. Take time out of your day, even if it’s a half hour, to read what they have to say. By reading their posts, you’ll learn new perspectives and techniques. I take time to read Dharmesh Shah’s blog, Darren Rowe’s ProBlogger blog, and Chris Brogan’s blog. From all the other blogs I subscribe to, these provide the most value.

2. Use analytics to your advantage. With so many free analytics tools available today, from Google Analytics to Facebook Insights and free trials to many other tools, use them to your advantage. The more metrics-driven you are as a marketer, the greater the decisions you make will be. Metrics don’t lie, so if you are seeing a trend, act on it. If you need to make a case in your favor, use metrics to prove your point.

3. Use your valuable contacts. Each of your contacts, whether in your company or industry, has something to offer. Schedule a half hour coffee meetup, lunch meeting, or plan to attend an event where your contacts will be to talk with them. Find out what marketing projects they’re working on, what has led them to success and failure, and what some of their own marketing theories are. This will help you learn a wide array of marketing views which will allow you to create a customized marketing approach to your company using a variety of their ideas.

4. Keep an open mind. Never discount an idea until you can prove it won’t be beneficial. Many people become close-minded and stop innovating when they find a comfort zone in a company. Don’t fall victim to this. Instead, always keep an open mind. Whether you’re reading a blog post, attending a webinar, speaking with someone at an event or brainstorming yourself, consider every idea as valid. By not closing out an idea ‘just because’ will not help you grow as a marketer. Instead, explore new ways to market your business.

5. Take some time to evaluate your marketing tactics. Think back on what marketing campaigns and activities you’ve done in the past month. What worked? What didn’t work? What would you like to see done in the next month? With this, build upon your successes, learn from the failures and create new ways to improve your efforts.

6. Maintain your own personal brand. I’m guilty of ignoring some of my personal brand by using the excuse of being too busy at work to take time to write for this blog. I’ve realized that it’s always important to maintain your personal brand even though you’re busy building up the brand of your company. Whether it’s writing a weekly blog post, following up with people on Twitter, building out your connections on LinkedIn or making an appearance at a monthly event, do it. Your personal brand is something that can never be taken away from you and can make you more valuable at your job.

7. Pay attention to industry leading companies. Determine which companies are leading the industry and practicing cutting edge marketing and technological methods. Is there a company that’s doing an outstanding community management job? Follow them on social media and see what tactics they use and who they engage with. Do you admire a company for always staying innovative, using the latest technologies? Follow their blog, attend the events they do and do a weekly news scan to keep on top of what they are doing. This will give you a good sense of their work ethic and ways of finding ideas.

8. Never forget original marketing theories. Theories like “the customer is always right’, “test, test, test”, and the like are always important. Just because there are new theories and technologies to use doesn’t mean old ways don’t work anymore. Instead, the new ways, for the most part, build upon the old ideas. You also need to consider your target market. While there are iPads, Twitter and text messaging mediums, your target audience may prefer the traditional radio advertising method to learn about companies, products and services. While it’s great to know about a new technology and theory, take into consideration how your target marketing would respond. If you think they’re in their comfort zone with the traditional ways you contact them, stay that way. Eventually they will migrate to the new ways, and you can either nudge them that way or go there with them.

9. Always be a step ahead of the competition. Set up alerts, subscribe to their blogs, follow them on social media and go to the events they go to. It may even help to create a spreadsheet to track what major announcements they are making and any sneak peak insights you may have about what they are going to do. That way, you can either pre-empt what a competitor is going to do, follow along with it, or simply be aware of it. Never get caught blindsided by your competition or a surprise new competitor.

10. Keep it real. No matter the technology, medium, or method, always be real with your customers. This aligns well with point #8 as it means to never forget the voice of your company and keep it the same throughout all types of communications. If you’re company is known as a bubbly, conversational company on TV ads, magazine ads and through in-person meetings, keep that same tone and attitude while interacting with customers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. It’s also important to always be honest and upfront with a customer. The last thing I want a company telling me is that they will be more than happy to give me a month free trial because I was unhappy and then boost up my fee every consecutive month. That won’t make me happy. If I was used to them being very accommodating, I’d be even more taken aback by this approach. Just keep it real.

I could go on and on with ways to become a better marketer, as I’m learning them every day, but I know your time is valuable and I’m sure you have some ideas of your own to share. Please leave your resolution to become a better marketer this year in the comments section!

10.

Mar
30

Using the Internet of 2020 to Innovate Your Business Today

76%: The number of experts that believe that by 2020, “people’s use of the Internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information, they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid.”

I don’t think Google will make us stupid either. With the immense amount of data at our finger tips, I think we will become more motivated to find information now instead of having to thumb through a book or wait to hear back from a co-worker or professor about a piece of information.

So how can a business benefit?

Start putting your product/service information on the web today. This will allow your customers to surf the web and find your product. This is referred to as pull, not push, marketing. Consumers are searching for information, you provide it, so you both win.

Many businesses are just getting onto the web and creating websites, social media sites, video channels, ning communities, etc. Get on there now and get your presence known by your consumers, so that years from now people will know how and where to reach you for information. Be seen as a thought leader and expert in your field or industry so that people will come back for more and share the word. If Google only will make us smarter, then it will help people find more and more info, meaning more competition. Therefore, get on there now while people are still just realizing this, so you get a head start.

I do not see writing and grammar skills enhancing too much due to the Internet, but 65% say that “By 2020, it will be clear that the Internet has enhanced and improved reading, writing, and the rendering of knowledge.”

I do think that shorter forms of writing, such as SMS, tweets, and other social updates will increase since we will be so used to sending out real-time, quick messages to employers, colleagues, friends, family, etc. However, I think longer writing and reading may suffer. Writing will suffer because we are used to writing small blurbs of info quickly, so when it comes to writing a long article or e-mail, we may get bored, sloppy, or careless. Reading longer length articles will lose the attention of the reader faster since we have become so accustomed to reading small, instant messages to get our information. We do not want to read your 1,000 word blog post or four page article anymore, we’d rather the intro and conclusion, or an executive summary.

So what is a business to do?

Keep your info quick, to the point, and very interesting. This will keep the writer engaged in the content for a shorter but more important time period, and the reader will get the information that they need and in the short time that they have to receive it. This is not to say that readers and writers will become dumbed down, but with the amount of information shared on the web daily, we need short, to the point messages. By starting to write these types of blogs, emails, articles, etc. you will be better received by the public as a whole as they become accustomed to this habit.

Will security be breached with the explosion of information sharing?

55% say that “By 2020, Internet users can do a lot of normal online activities anonymously even though the identification systems used on the Internet have been applied to a wider range of activities. It is still relatively easy for Internet users to create content, communicate, and browse without publicly disclosing who they are.”

Many do worry that with the emergence of social media, location-based applications, extreme content sharing, and viral videos, people are now more unsafe on the Internet. However, it is how you send out and protect your information and identity that will determine how safe you are. Systems are not becoming less safe, people are. To be a smart business, protect your identity when it needs to be protected, but don’t shy away from sharing and communicating via the Internet, as that will lose you significant business and relationships.

So what is a business to do?

You should verify your identity and those of your clients/customers online (this will add value in the transaction process online). Continue to converse with people, make sales, and share incredible content, but make sure it is protected, you are not giving out too much personal, location-based, or financial information, and engage intelligently with people.

Takeaway…

It’s not what you use, but how you use it. Realize the major changes going on in the Internet environment today and capitalize on them so you are best prepared when the time comes. Don’t be a follower, get the first mover advantage by planning today. You can never go wrong by looking to the future for opportunities and innovative capabilities.

One of the most inspirational business quotes I have read to close this post is, “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination… they think ahead and create their mental picture in all it details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.” (Robert Collier).

Mar
26

My Library Card Expired, Why I am Okay With It

This is an opinion-based guest post by Mike Danielczyk. Mike is a college business graduate, creative writer, sports enthusiast, entrepreneur at heart, and a fun-loving guy who writes on various trending topics of interest. You can follow him on Twitter @Dzick508.

Big, small, quiet or smelly, every town has one; and you more than likely owe them money. I’m talking about libraries. With ‘est. 1789’ signs posted at the entrance, quiet signs lining the hallways and confused faces at the Dewey decimal system station, libraries are quite unremarkable establishments today. As a Generation Y member I did frequent libraries as a child. I remember getting my library card, the endless searching of the shelves, the struggle to stay awake trying to complete my book report and the nickel it costs to make a copy ( I heard copies cost $0.25 now!). Today my library card is at the bottom of some junk drawer and it would not surprise me if libraries were on the verge of extinction.

Library, meet 2010 and this thing called a computer, be envious

Adios Dewey Decimal thing, bonjour silence, hello information highway and konnichiwa iTunes. Today we have something I like to call a ‘desktop library’ at our fingertips. A desktop library has infinite pages of information, search optimization tools, it’s quick, it’s easy and portable; some refer to it as the Internet. Grab a drink, a bag of chips, turn on Aerosmith’s greatest hits and do some research, even glance back at Judge Judy if you so choose. Want to research the production process of Almonds? Well Google, Wikipedia, Wikianswers, Yahoo, and countless other search engines will bring this information to you, and very quickly. In a traditional library I would suggest you ask the secretary and begin what would turn into a wild goose chase of shelf navigating, book searching and page flipping. 

In middle school we were given 3 weeks to do a 3 page book report on a subject of our choosing, and this workload seemed immense. This entailed trips to the library, creating outlines, referencing countless books and undoubtably having late fees. Today we can get assigned these same projects and conduct an information search within minutes, even seconds with a plethora of data on the Internet.

Translation: people in the library business are in trouble.

I cannot guarantee this, but I will say it anyways: As computer sales rose and Google’s visits increased, I guarantee foot traffic in libraries declined. With fewer visitors, less books being check out, and inflation of printing prices, libraries today cannot compete with our ‘desktop libraries’; It is a grim realization for those still attached to that industry.

Libraries, like Eureka’s Castle, are another piece of the Generation Y childhood that is disappearing. Library cards are going to end up on Ebay and Pawn Stars 50 years from now, and our grandchildren will probably question us about their very existence. It is not a ‘story book’ ending for such a traditional information outlet, however barring they knock on my door collecting late fees, I am completely okay with this chapter of my childhood ending.

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