Aligned Marketing Blog

I figured I can’t be the only one asking questions about the winter in Santa Fe, NM, the cost of housing in Tulsa, OK, and healthcare in Laughlin, NV. Sure, I can take the time to research all my questions but why should I when social media tools such as LinkedIn allows me to ask questions from a knowledgeable person. That’s the beauty of social media.

Instead of sorting through a gabillion Google results and trying to sort the advertising lies from the on-the-ground facts, I can just ask a real life person. Sure, I’ll still have to keep my crap-detector on high because people may try to sell me something or worse, outright try to steal my money. So what? It’s not like all of us don’t have to guard against that in the real world all the time.

It will be nice to have a place to go where people who are in similar circumstances can ask questions, get a bunch of answers, and decide what to believe, what to verify (everything), and what to toss out.

Anyone can join. Who knows, maybe you live in a town, we’ll say, Savannah, GA, and someone has a question about that town, you’d be a great person to ask. You already know the good and bad of Savannah. By the way, since I’ve been there many times I can tell you, Savannah is an awesome place. Tons of history to explore and they have some fantastic restaurants.

I expect to attract a few sales-types once the group gets going but that’s fine. The group will decide who’s legit and who is not. To minimize the spam I wrote a simple “Solicitation Policy.”

RP has a flexible non-solicitation policy. This policy prohibits broadcast solicitations and spamming. Our members are expected to provide value to the Group through their questions, answers and opinions.

External links to blog posts and webinars that are relevant to RP Members are acceptable but will be monitored.

External links to blatant promotional and sales pages are unacceptable. If a Member of our RP Group violates this policy, he/she may be subject to membership termination.

That will slow the selling down some. In the end, I’m going to be the final judge and jury. It’s my responsibility to insure RP delivers value, which we will.

Let me know if you have any questions

Steve

800-707-9150

shartkopf@aligned-marketing.com

Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Social media is really nothing more than an online reflection of the offline world. The offline process that leads up to a sale; "know me, like me, trust me," also applies to the online world of social media. Sales happen at the end of that process in both worlds.

That sounds simple because it is. What’s striking is how many people get it terribly wrong. Instead of taking the time to get involved in an online community, much as any good business person would if they joined the local Chamber of Commerce, most people rush to the Close. They broadcast their sales pitch out randomly, hoping to hit a target. What a total waste of energy, not to mention the damage done to your brand.

When they don’t hit a target, they blame the medium, the technology. “I tried social media and it didn‘t work.” That’s a crock but it is easier than blaming themselves. It’s easier than doing the hard work involved and dedicating the time to do truly join a community and contribute real value. It’s easier than being a responsible citizen.

Responsibilities are serious business. Avoiding your responsibilities to build trust in the community, which is that you are doing if you just throw out your pitch randomly, means you are a spammer. Spammer is an ugly word in our wired-up world. So ugly that in it’s most literal sense, it’s illegal. Most of us have software installed on our computers to block these cretins.

Opening accounts on social sites such as LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter and the others for the single purpose of promoting yourself is a bad strategy. Get involved! Become an active member of the community. Provide value. Give good advice and engage with a servant’s heart. Keep the conversation going on the forum itself, don’t try to divert members to your site, your self-interest. Wait until you’re asked.

Take the time to comment and vote on other people’s content. Visit other people’s blogs and “RT” (retweet) good information, Friend those you know or who have similar interests as you and call-out the spammers. Finally, rather than quantity you should seek quality.

In other words focus your efforts on the social sites you are going to be involved in and sites that contain a group of people who can relate to your content and perspective. Don’t submit an article on postpartum depression to a social network convened around Fantasy Football.

As is always the case, to reap the rewards you must do the work. Everyone, as I taught my two boys, pays List Price for success.

Add value to the community and the community will reciprocate.

Steve

800-707-9150

Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Nichebot - http://www.nichebot.com

Shopping.com Searches – http://www2.shopping.com/top_searches

AOL Hot Searches - http://hot.aol.com/hot/hot

Google Groups - http://groups.google.com

Craig's List - http://www.craigslist.com

Delicious Popular - http://del.icio.us/popular

Digg - http://www.digg.com

Google Catalogs - http://catalogs.google.com

Google Suggest – http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Technorati - http://www.technorati.com

If you want to focus exclusively on what’s selling visit the Clickbank Marketplace (http://marketplace.clickbank.net).

The web is constantly changing so it requires effort to stay current, to remain relevant.

As a marketing consultant it’s my business to stay abreast of web-trends. Feel free to call me if you’re having trouble finding the information you need.

Steve Hartkopf

800-707-9150

Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

1. Grab your reader's attention. Begin with an interesting fact, important question, comment on a current event or something personal, such as congratulations for being named Person of the Year.
2. Then transition your reader into the purpose of your letter - introduce your company, request an appointment, or a free offer, for example. Be sure to connect your request with your grabber from (what will be) paragraph one. Your transition is key, it must be both smooth and brief, people are busy. See next bullet.
3. In today's hurry-up, get-to-the-point world, many people switch the first two bullets of their outline. they begin letters by coming right out and stating, "The purpose of this letter is to request a 30-minute appointment to..." and then write their grabber. I prefer a subtler approach but will use the direct approach if I know the reader well.
4. Insert numbers or testimonials that back up your claims next. A list of indented bullets works well for either. People like reading lists of tightly written facts - summaries.
5. Your fourth section/paragraph is your call-to-action. Tie your attention grabber or your reader's self-interest into the benefits of responding to your solicitation. I don't sell actual products so I often use mutual gain as my call-to-action: "I propose a 30-minute meeting to better understand your business objectives, review our capabilities and determine if we can help one another achieve our  goals..."
6. Your final outline point let's your reader know that your letter is one of a series of contacts, that there are more to come. Explain that you will be following up by voicemail, email or both. Basically, you're telling them "you're not going away, so let's have our conversation and see where it leads."

Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

1. Re-organize and prioritize my tasks. I'm always making lists and checking off completed items, which means sometimes my lists get messy. I find that taking a few minutes to clean them up and create clear priorities helps me stay relaxed and be more productive.
2. Investigate new social media sites. I have a list of social media sites that I keep meaning to investigate. 30-minutes is just about the right amount of time to really dig into a social media site, see what they're trying to do and then compare their value to some of the better known sites. Since a lot of people ask me about social media I feel an obligation to be well versed on the subject.
3. I like to take 30 minutes and focus on one client. I ask myself one question: What can I do or recommend that will improve their business? Sometimes this results in a proposal but most of the time I just call them, share the idea and let them know that I'm thinking about them. In my experience these types of phone calls are very well received.
4. Call a friend. Everyone is busy so it's hard to stay in touch with all the important people in our lives. Give me 30 minutes and I can leave voicemails, no one answers anymore, for 5-6 people and just say, "Hello, I was thinking about you and wanted to touch base.". (I need to do more of this.)
5. I subscribe to the online version of the Wall Street Journal but don't read it everyday. Sometimes, as a change of pace, I'll open it up and read whatever interests me. Typically, I tweet a link to the most interesting articles. It's my favorite source of Tweets.
6. I subscribe to several business journals and receive summaries regularly. It's a good way to keep current and has, on occasion, been the source of new business. It typically takes 5-10 minutes to get through one summary.
7. Promote my blog. Few blogs grow readership by themselves, you have to promote them. I use Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn (primarily) to let folks know a new post is up. In addition, I read several other blogs and leave comments, which is a good way to get people to read blog, in return, and you help grow an audience.
8. Speaking of blogs, 30 minutes is just enough time to brainstorm blog topics and write a short paragraph outline.
9. Take a walk or just look out the window. I have long days and seldom take a day off so every once in a while I just need to step away from the desk or whatever I'm working on to relax and regain my perspective.
10. Clean up my desktop. By the end of the week my computer screen is often cluttered. I don't like clutter so spending 10-15 minutes to get files organized and into a folder is time well spent. This is similar to #1 so here's an extra bonus.
11. Bonus: Check out the competition or one of my clients' competitors. Websites are being changed all the time. My arsenal of intelligence gathering and website analysis tools is constantly expanding so it pays for me to take the time to do a little competitor checking.

Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink