Aligned Marketing Blog

1. Movies and Books. The formula for a good movie or book is the same. They introduce a likable or sympathetic lead character, introduce danger or threat, which can be in the form of a person, a situation, or both, and then resolve the conflict just when you think all is lost. Use books and movies as an inspiration to write and shoot your own video. What would you do different if you were the lead character? What did you learn about management from watching The Godfather?
2. Traveling is one of the best ways to find your muse. Changing your location changes your thought patterns. New places and new people can alter and refresh the way you see the world.
3. YouTube and Flickr are both loaded with visual stimulation. You can quickly find amazing images of people doing extraordinary things, or just dumb stuff, to tickle your imagination into producing your next great video or blog.
4. If you like technology visit websites like CNET's, Fast Company's, Wired Magazine's or the TechCrunch blog and write or create a video about what you found interesting. If you like current events, visit The Wall Street Journal, CNN or USA Today's websites. Every subject has a few sites that do a great job of compiling and reporting current trends and noteworthy topics.
5. Speaking of trends: Trends are posted automatically on Yahoo and Twitter. See what all the hubbub is about, do a little research and then shoot a video or write a blog post adding your (informed) two-cents to the conversation.
6. Look in the mirror. I know, it sounds strange. It works. Sit in front of the mirror for a few minutes and let the self-reflection bring you to deeper thoughts than most of us have as we sit in front of our computers or ramble through our days. Then write about those thoughts.

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1. How do you find anything? If you’re like a billion other people, you “Google” it. Do the same thing for topics you want to shoot a video about or blog about. You can type anything into Google and get more than 1,000,000 results, all pertaining to your topic. Scan through the results until you find something that sparks your imagination.
2. Delicious is one of the post popular sites on the web. Delicious describes itself as the “world’s leading social bookmarking service.” It’s packed full of the most popular bookmarks and blogs on the web as selected by its members. If you want to know what people are talking about, what they’re interested in, then visit Delicious the next time you’re looking for video or blog ideas.
3. Blogs. There are blogs about seemingly everything. I particularly like to read about video production and blogging. I incorporate the tips I pick up into the work I do and, then, if it works well, shoot a short video or write a blog post about my experience.
4. People. I’ve always been a people watcher. At Starbucks, at the mall, at the airport, it doesn’t matter, I watch people because they fascinate me. Observe parents, waiters, firemen practicing their craft long enough and I guarantee you an idea for a video or a blog will pop into your head.
5. Exercise. When I feel like something is brewing inside my head but just doesn’t seem to want to come out, or I find myself not taking decisive action, I take my dog for a long walk. You’ll be surprised how 30-45 minutes of exercise will relax your mind and release your creativity.
6. I have a couple books that list Quotes by topic and by author, there’s also several websites that do the same. Read through the quotes by topic or author and soon you’ll have all the inspiration you need to produce a new video or write an insightful blog post.

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1. Buy yourself an inexpensive camcorder. I use the Flip Ultra HD. I paid $179.00 for it at WalMart. The picture quality is very good and it is super easy to use. Just plug it into the built-in USB on your computer and then watch, edit, or upload your videos. It really is that easy.
2. If you don't have a new product or a dozen video ideas banging around in your head, record your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).  That way the most common questions you're asked by customer and prospects will have an entertaining way of being answered and your customers won't have to scroll through screen after screen of online text searching for answers.  
3. Another idea is to create a list of your 10 best tips for solving customer problems. Shoot a short video for each one, put them up on your site and be sure to share them through various video platforms such as YouTube and TubeMogul, and others.
4. Interviews make great videos. Interview industry experts, your senior executives, and your customers and then post them as outlined in the previous bullet. Note, you'll want to keep the interviews short so I suggest asking only one or two very specific questions to whomever you interview. Ideally videos should be under 5 minutes and many would argue they need to be under three.
5. Video your newest product being used or any of your product application scenes. Demonstrate why your solution is the best solution. You may even want to do comparisons between your product and your competitor's products.
6. Use several Social Media sites, not just YouTube, to promote your video. Tubemogul, which I covered in another blog post, is easy to use and an effective way to promote your video to a wide audience and measure the results.
7. Online videos don't have to have Hollywood level production value but you'll want to make a reasonable good impression. My suggestion is you hire someone to help you with editing if you're not comfortable with video editing software.
8. Record yourself reading your favorite blog posts and then promote the videos.
9. Have a good idea of what you're going to say before pressing the Record button on your camera. I like to use an outline but some people prefer a script, more of a teleprompter approach. The point is; be prepared.
10. Add some text when posting your video on your website so you can attract the search engines and be sure to write a description of your video when posting it on video sharing sites.
11. Include a clear call-to-action. Ask people to visit your site, call or email for more information, subscribe to your newsletter, or "click here" to buy your product (and "Get 10% off").
12. The most powerful videos are customer testimonials. If you can get a customer to tell the world how great you are then you will have one of the most powerful marketing tools available. If they don't have a camera, send them yours.

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Web entrepreneurs consider this the point where the rubber meets the road but, too often, it’s where the runner meets the pothole. Here are four of the most common mistakes and what you can do to correct them:

Every page of your site should have a clear focal point, a place where the eye is naturally drawn to, and a clear call-to-action.

That call-to-action can be to actually buy something from you but it can also be a request to have your visitors register (call, click here, etc.) to receive more information, such as a free whitepaper. Different pages may have different calls-to-action.

The good news about this problem is it’s the easiest to fix. You may be able to do this yourself but contact me (800-707-9150 or shartkopf@aligned-marketing.com) if you need help.

(Yes, that was a call-to-action in my blog)

One of the first laws of selling is a confused mind says “No.”

If your website has lots of motion graphics, four or more fonts, poorly contrasted or unappealing colors, clutter, too many choices, unclear copy or 100 other things that distract and confuse the mind, you’re not going to sell anything.

The KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach works best. Again, a clear focal point, call-to-action and lots of whitespace are all that’s needed.

Video and customer testimonials are great for SEO and to help build credibility, see next bullet, but they are more icing than cake.

Your copy, call-to-action and value proposition, your business message, needs to be clear, concise, compelling and written in simple language. It also needs to be believable.

Talk to your visitors in terms of benefits to them, which are usually very different than the way your internal team talks about your product. Internal audiences tend to get wrapped up in features and function. Customers care about benefits. How will your product make them money, healthier, more attractive, save them time, etc.

Similarly, people are skeptical. They know advertising lies, marketing manipulates and even Tiger can’t be trusted anymore. No one can afford to waste money and no one wants to feel foolish.

Talk to your audience in simple believable words.

This one hurts a bit so brace yourself; they just don’t want what you’re selling.

A lot of webpreneurs are so passionate about their product or service they just can’t understand why people aren’t beating a path to their door. Well, I’m sorry, but if you’ve done everything else right, or mostly right, then the market has spoken and you lose.

As one prominent Democrat recently said when they were struggling to sell the Healthcare Bill to the American people, “The problem is the dog doesn’t like the dogfood.” You can fix the message, the packaging, but if the dog won’t eat the dogfood you’re not going to be selling any.

The fix here isn’t redesigning your website or more creative copy, the fix is transitioning your product from something you think people need into something people actually want.

Steve

800-707-9150

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The challenges, however, are twofold:

1. Very few of those potential customers realize they need SEO. I heard a speaker claim that 85% of the websites in existence get fewer than 5 visits a month. I don’t know if that’s true but the point is there’s a lot of wasted investment in the online world. Why would anyone invest in a website and then not invest in driving traffic to that site? “Build it and they will come” is a horrible strategy.
2. The reason people are reluctant to invest in SEO is because it’s an inexact science. Google and the other search engine tell you a little about their search algorithms and we learn a lot through trial and error but, in the end, SEO is part guesswork and there is no perfectly optimized site. There’s always more than can be done and there’s nothing you can do that your competitor can’t do as well. In theory it’s a level playing field (see below). SEO is a necessary investment but not a sure investment; more stock than bond.

To overcome these difficulties I use blogs, emails and social media to educate my target audience on both the importance of SEO and the basic tactics they can employ to improve their search ranking. For example,

1. When you perform a Google search you get a page with 10 results. Those 10 results drive approximately 42% of the search traffic. If, however, you’re on page two, search results 11-20, you can be expected to get 21% of traffic. That’s a big difference! You could double your traffic by moving up to page one.
2. The difference between page one and page two on Google is often something very minor, perhaps something as small as a Header. The lesson is small differences can result in big results and, depending on your business, huge increases in visits or even revenue.
3. Since no site can be perfectly optimized the goal is make sure your site is more optimized than your competitor’s site. For my SEO clients we pick one competitor to benchmark against and then, once we’ve overtaken them, pick another site to benchmark against, and so on. Picking one competitor at a time allows us to define our own playing field and create a competitive advantage. A rifle approach produces more targeted results, is easier to measure and, often, less expensive than the shotgun approach where you try to do everything perfect.

Lately I’ve tried a new marketing tactic and it seems to be working. I find a website that I know needs work and provide a free evaluation along with 3-5 specific recommendations for improving the site. Call me if you'd like to evaluate your site for free.

Done with tact, most people seem to appreciate the comments and, as a result, some new work is coming my way.

Steve

800-707-9150

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He was referring to me being a consultant and, indeed, there’s evidence to support his statement. The industrial market is heating up. The Industrial Supply Association’s (ISA) most recent Economic Indicator Report was up for the second month in a row. Their Manufacturer Index was 66.42% in February while the January index was 60.63%. The Distributor Index saw similar gains (61.1% and 65.72%, respectively). Anything above 50% indicates those surveyed expect economic expansion.

The subjective evidence is equally strong. I talk with frustrated marketing people every week. Their complaint is with management and goes like this: “They laid off half my staff so we’ve been struggling to keep up for over a year. Every month we fall further behind and are getting our butts chewed out. Now, because business is getting better, they want us to do a bunch of new stuff. We can’t complete our work now! I have no idea how we’re going to get any new projects completed.” Maybe you can help them?

If you’re an unemployed or underemployed marketing professional consider becoming a consultant. As my CEO friend said, the timing may be perfect.

The client benefits because they can rent the expertise they need (from you). You simply augment their staff as a variable cost solution. A competent resource they can eliminate quickly without a long HR process.

Do a great job and maybe you get hired full-time, if that’s what you want. Here are a few things you need to be prepared for before accepting your first consulting job.

• Be prepared to add value immediately. One good way is to do more than you’re asked. In other words, take tasks off your new employer’s task list. Most marketing managers have presentations to create, reports to format, blogs to write and other nuisance tasks that they’d love to delegate but are beyond the skill level of most support personnel. Don’t wait for them to ask you to help. Be proactive and add value.
• Understand that there will be politics and much of it will be invisible to you. You represent a variable cost option and, as such, threaten everyone in your area of expertise that is an employee, a fixed cost. The best way to combat this is to recognize the politics exist and find a few key alliances within the client’s organization that will help you navigate through the terrain.
• You must be taken seriously so don’t walk in meekly. State your positions and your recommendations clearly and directly. Not everyone will agree but if you focus on pleasing everyone, finding the maximum in common ground and playing politician, you’ll lose. Understand your pre-designed role is to get in, complete your assignment, and get out. You are not part of the long-term extended corporate family (not yet, anyway).
• There’s nothing unethical about selling more services while you’re completing your project. Be polite and professional but keep your eyes and ears open for pain points, new projects and things the company would like to have if they had the resources. There’s truth in the old saying: “The best source of new business is old customers.” In my experience the big firms spend up to 30% of their time onsite looking for a new project while they’re completing the current project. I find that objectionable (selling while I’m on the client’s clock) so I never charge by the hour and I only spend about 10% of my time prospecting for new projects. You’ll need to find your own balance.

If you have skills and are either unemployed or underemployed I encourage you to think about consulting. The market is getting stronger, it’s a great way to leverage your strengths, and may get you the inside track on a full-time job if that’s your ultimate goal.

Feel free to call me if you want to discuss further.

Steve

800-707-9150

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An often-overlooked step in the process is the first one, which is the easiest one: Claim your brand name on every platform. Open at least one account on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., under your company name and brand names. Claim your online real estate before someone else does. That’s really important so I’ll wait…there’s a very reason I made you do that.

The reason is squatters. Squatters will steal your brand names and either block you from your own names or, worse, begin posting as you and potentially do significant damage to your brand. So claim your space now and thank me later.

Most of the platforms have specific rules about squatting and many will help you reclaim your rightful names, but not all. To some it’s just a platform and whatever happens, well, happens. There are numerous examples of names being claimed and even abused. Look at this screenshot from Twitter carefully:

Pfizer’s real Twitter account is @pfizer_news. The guy, I won’t name him because I don’t want to help him and I don’t support this kind of pirating, has the Pfizer name. He doesn’t appear to be malicious but neither is he flattering. Don’t you want your online representation to be flattering? If you’re Pfizer don’t you want to control your own name?

If someone is only casually paying attention, which happens a lot on Twitter, wouldn’t it be easy for them to think this was Pfizer’s official account?

Here’s a shortcut to claiming your name. There are services, such as KnowEm, that you can pay to secure your name on hundreds of social media sites. It’s a good way to secure your name even on platforms you have no intention of using without having to do all the grunt-work yourself.

Finally, after you’ve secured your name go to each one and complete your profile. I know it’s a pain but the search engines are now indexing the social media platforms so this is a quick and easy way to support your brand and increase traffic to your (official) website.

It really boils down to two choices, you claim it or someone else will. So what’s it gonna be?

Steve

800-707-9150

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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

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