Why a small business MUST use the power of PR

We often get asked why PR? What can PR do for my business that advertising or marketing can’t.  Whether you are a small business, start-up company, or simply expanding into a new country or geographical area, PR is an important tool for you. Here is what we think…

Credibility – Public relations holds a powerful position in the communications suite. One of the major impacts of PR is media relations, which assists you in achieving editorial coverage. People in your target market may see editorial as an independent and objective evaluation of your company. Due to the perceived objectivity of editorial coverage, PR is said to hold more credibility than other forms of marketing communication. Editorial coverage is trusted more than running an advertisement.

Cost Effectiveness – Public relations can be less expensive than other forms of paid communication, even if you hire an external public relations agency rather than performing this task in-house. Whilst you are paying for the services of a PR specialist, what you are achieving in the way of media coverage and changes in public perception may have otherwise cost you much more.

Exposure – Media coverage achieved through PR is likely to be more extensive than that which you would achieve through advertising, given a similar budget. Specialist PR people know which media to target for which message (and often have cultivated incredible contacts), what content the media want, when to pitch them which story and what is the best way to deliver your message.

Flexibility – Public relations has the benefits of being flexible in message content and being responsive to news. A skilled PR professional can turn around media releases in reaction to news or crisis situations within hours

Check out our site for some PR ideas

Ethical Marketing

Marketing has expanded far and wide in the past few years. The continued growth of social media marketing and rise in mobile marketing will see this trend increase rapidly in the coming months. The internet is often seen as a dark and scary place with tricksters, hackers, cheats and swindlers hiding behind each click. Therefore,  it’s more important than ever to be trustworthy. As a starting point, here are the Igneous Marketing seven rules for ethical marketing:

1. Tell the truth. Don’t write or say anything, anywhere, that isn’t true. True is not a relative term—it’s black and white. If it looks grayish, don’t say it.


2. Say it nicely. Don’t write or say anything, anywhere, that you’d be ashamed to see on a billboard or on the front page of the newspaper.


3. Give credit and say thank you. It’s so easy to get information and much of it is free. But if you use information from the Internet, credit the source. If possible, link to it.


4. Protect your customers. Never use a story about a client, even if you’ve removed the name, without asking for permission.


5. Treat your blog like journalism, not marketing. Pretend the editor at the The Times is going to fact-check you.


6. Use ghostwriters with integrity. If the ideas come from an expert, and a writer builds an article, blog post, newsletter, or seminar content from those ideas, it’s the expert’s work.


7. Respect your competitors. It’s just bad form to say negative things about competitors. Differentiating your company means saying positive things about yourself that are truthful, can be supported with evidence, and make a difference to clients. Don’t lie to get competitive intelligence. Instead, consider asking your clients who switched or employees who moved. Follow competitors on social media, and set up Google alerts.

Don’t be tarred with the same brush – make sure your website or social media presence is seen and trusted

Retail IS NOT eCommerce

I met with an old friend, soon to be client, the other day at his shop. The guy’s been running retail shops longer than I’ve known the meaning of retail. Anyhow, he really knows his stuff; he was telling me that he moved one of the cash desks the other day because there wasn’t enough space for customers to get through, plus if he moved it to the lower left corner he could get another 2 sets of shelves in etc, etc…

While telling me all of this he notices a small mark on a carpet tile, I’m not kidding, 10 feet away! "We need to get that cleaned or replaced" he barks while pointing at this dot! Anyhow, I guess his attention to detail and knowledge of his domain was really impressive to me, he has retail in his DNA.

The flip side to this is his website, not quite the same authority at all. Misshapen images, products with no descriptions or very poorly written ones. Categories duplicated and in some areas over 5 levels of navigation. And don’t get me started on the checkout process! I mean, does he want to sell anything? "Am I adding to basket or to the cart? Are they the same? I don’t know, let’s see! Ah, what’s this, I need to login first, ok, I’ll create an account then. Why exactly do you need my credit card to allow me to add something to my basket? I mean cart! Oh, whatever!"

But that’s not the worse part at all! Search good ol' Google for his business name, and his website comes below the fold at position 6 or 7. We can only guess his products are visible to the "page 10 brave".

The shame of it is that we see this kind of situation so often. Experienced business people that understand their realm of commerce so well, but when it comes to launching their Internet empire, they are convinced they can do it alone, with no prior experience or guidance. However, that in itself is not the issue. I’m all for self development and taking responsibility for your business’s progression. However, this is not the case. None of these sites are updated or have had any attempt made to make them better. The same problems exist online and offline, if someone has a bad experience in a shop, they are likely not to return and, online, the same applies.

Those old-school retailers with retail DNA coursing through their very being, need to find a way to have the Internet DNA spliced with theirs. And until they can, they need to find someone, or some- team, that can truly drive their online ambitions home.

Fear is the Killer of Small Business

Company failures are set to increase. And although this may sound like terrifying news to many small businesses, bankruptcy is not the end of the world.

Times are tough and no one knows this better than the small business owner. Debt, bankruptcy and failure are rife in our world and keep many of us awake at night but is it really the end of the world?

In her excellent book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and The World, Barbara Ehrenreich criticises the relentless culture of positive thinking, which contributed to the build-up of bad debts, dodgy loans and excessive risk taking in the pre-credit crunch milieu. Back then so-called self-help books encouraged people to believe that by simply concentrating their thoughts hard enough on positive ideas the universe would deliver them prosperity. A far cry from our new age of realism and austerity.

But while mindless optimism is undoubtedly a liability to business – and arguably the economy as a whole – SMEs should still take comfort in the fact that many successful people have either come close to bankruptcy or have gone bankrupt at some point.

For example, Henry Ford lost everything twice before founding Ford Motor Company in 1903, revolutionising the American car industry. Walt Disney ran up huge debts in his first venture and the company folded, five years later Mickey Mouse made his first outing in Plane Crazy, and the rest is history.

Michael Acton Smith, founder of Moshi Monsters, one of the UK’s fastest growing websites, is also no stranger to staring over the precipice. Having sunk around £5 million of investment in a failed venture he was on the verge of throwing in the towel. ‘We still had £1 million left in the bank, and I decided to give it one more roll of the dice,’ he recalls. In little more than a year the company went from burning money to hitting a projected turnover over of £10 million before 2011.

Now his optimism is boundless. ‘At the moment we’re riding a lot of momentum, now would be far too early to sell. We’re shooting for a massive exit. I’d rather do that and risk the whole thing, than opt for an early one. We’ll be looking for an exit on the scale of what you see in Silicon Valley and rarely get in London,’ he says.

Any entrepreneur worth their salt will tell you that the key to success is knowing when to see the glass as half full and when to take a half empty approach. Yes, the financial outlook for businesses is scary and SMEs should be doing everything they can to shore up cash flow. But without a measured degree of optimism the paralysis of analysis sets in – think how many businesses would never get off the ground if they took to heart the survival odds of new ventures. The same can-do spirit goes for giving it a second shot.

As the presider over another great financial crisis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said: ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Getting Referrals

How to get Business Referrals

Getting referrals is beyond the most common method taught new sales persons as a means of lead procurement. It is an excellent source of business. Talk to any veteran salesperson, and he will assure you they ask for referrals every time.

Now, walk up to any salesperson in your organization and ask to see his list of prospects, just the referrals please. Can't seem to find them? Perhaps they were either left at home or in the car, or maybe he ran out of paper and used them for the office football pool.

The truth is, this is one of those situations where everyone agrees that it is a great idea. Unfortunately, most lack the skills to get them on a regular basis. They get some rejection because of that and windup using other lead procurement methods.

Most salespeople ask, "Do you happen to know anyone who wants to buy _______?" Of course, they usually don't, so the salesperson decides that it just isn't working and quits. Here are some tested methods that have worked for professional salespeople for years:

The common denominator When I've worked with salespersons on sales development programs, I identify the common denominators that make a good prospect for that business. I then turn them into what are often called "memory jogger" or "trigger questions". For instance, when I was selling commercial security systems, I knew that new business owners, businesses who have relocated recently and people who have had a crime problem are all good prospects. My salespeople were trained to inquire about (after closing and completing the sale) recently relocated businesses, people with crime problems, and any new businesses. For a company selling wireless phones, however, salespeople and people on the go were two common categories of good prospects. Our salespeople asked about the possibility of any friends being in sales or simply always on the go. For people selling office equipment, companies that are in the process of moving are always prospects, and another common prospect are companies doing very well and expanding their facilities. I'm sure my readers can come up with a few more.

Although most people don't know anyone who wants to buy anything, they do know other people. A salesperson must ask in terms to which people can relate in order to get the memory flowing.

The address book, once in a while, people can't think of prospects for you even with the "memory jogger" or "trigger" questions. After some blank stares in response to questions the salesperson can ask, "Fred, where do you keep telephone numbers for reference? An address book? Could you get it please?" Let the prospect thumb the book completely for each trigger question.

Some salespeople feel that a new customer might object. They rarely do if they perceive you as creditable. If they have just purchased from you, then they should have positive feelings and want to share their great opportunity with friends. People object only when the salesperson is rude, has a bad attitude or is otherwise offensive. To have made the sale in the first place, you have probably already built a relationship upon a foundation of trust and mutual benefit, and if you have done a good job for a client, he should have no problem helping you get more sales.

The reward Often, companies and salespeople will offer a reward for a prospect name that becomes a buyer. This is perfectly acceptable, provided the reward is not excessive. It is very important to keep in mind that most people you are doing this with have only recently signed up. Offering some extravagant reward might offer the impression that you are making big bucks on the sale. Worse, they may start wondering if they just paid too much.

If you can, make the reward something connected to your business. An extended warranty, a free service contract or additional product all work well. Alarm and phone companies in the above examples used a period of free monthly service for new clients.

The unsale How many times have you called on a prospect only to find after talking with them he or she was not really a potential customer. I have gotten a lot of miles out of so called "dead horses" with a conversation along these lines:

ME: Well Jack, it looks like this isn't for you. Is that a fair statement?

PROSPECT: Sure looks like it. It's a shame you came all the way over here.

ME: Thanks Jack, I appreciate your concern. Perhaps you could do me a small favor.

PROSPECT: I'll try, what is it?

ME: Jack, put yourself in my shoes for just a minute. If you were me, who do you have listed in your address book that I should be calling on?'

It doesn't work every time, but most people, with a little encouragement, will get out an address book and search for you. If they come up with some names I then contiue:

ME: Jack, of all those names, who would it make the most sense to call on first?

PROSPECT: (Gives me a name)

ME: Do you have his phone number?

PROSPECT: Yes.

ME: Could you please dial him and tell him I'll be stopping over shortly?

Through all of these methods, I have been introduced to people whom I never would have called up on because they were next to unapproachable. In my career, I've made some very big sales with this one technique. With the careful practice and implementation of these methods, hopefully you and your sales staff will do so as well.

Good luck and good selling!

Business Twitter Tips

Twitter is a probably my favourite form of social media as it puts you in constant contact with prospects and customers. It allows you to communicate in bite size sound bites and if used correctly can drive customers to your business. However, never lose sight of what your aims are; to generate more business. Do your prospects need to know or care what you are eating or what you can see – I would imagine not!

So here are our top 5 tips which we believe most business Tweeters ignore on a daily basis:

1)   It’s all about the HEADLINE

You have 120 words to push someone to your website, blog or other area. This is not easy at all so your headline must be compelling and make people take the next logical step. This is your goal when tweeting – how do you push the reader to the next step. The whole process is very simple (but not that easy). You need to engage them with your tweet so they click on your link, then they go to your website (for example) and read some excellent copy on your new product, then they click on the find out more and email you, you respond and answer all of their questions and voila a new customer! Now, I am not naive and realise it is never that easy but I bet most businesses are getting it wrong on step one. Be compelling, interesting and drive the twitterers from Twitter.

2)   

F  Follow thy Followers

If someone follows you on Twitter, I am a firm believer in following them back as this has a dual effect. Firstly they were obviously interested in you enough to follow you – wouldn’t you like to know the sort of people your Tweets, and ultimately your business, is attracting? Secondly it is great for brand name recognition. If you follow them quickly after they follow you, they will have come in contact with your business twice in a very short period of time thus making recall far more likely.

3)  

   BBe Relevant

This is the golden rule and it is violated every day. People tweet the mundane, stupid observations and celebrity gossip. This is fine for social users and their followers may find this entertaining but it is not appropriate for business users. The other extreme is constantly talking about your business and essentially spamming your followers. You need to give something and want nothing in return. You need to highlight other sites, interesting articles and retweet relevant posts.

4)    Invite Customers

Twitter is also a great way of being constantly in front of your customers. It is a great way to touch base every day without taking up much of their time and whilst you are always at the forefront of their mind, competitors don’t stand a chance.

5)    

Help your Customers

A really advanced technique is to use your twitter account to promote your customers businesses.... and they will love you for it – Free Marketing! You should aim to tweet about one of their “great” services, a recent clients win or an important news story. Not only will this give you varied content but it will help cement you customers to you.

Follow these rules and you should see a dramatic improvement in your conversion rate. As ever, for all your social media needs and to really take this service to the next level, you can talk to Igneous Marketing – plus some of our unique, pay monthly small business marketing bundles actually include a whole range of social media options.

Why the small business needs PR

As a new business, attracting customers who will buy your product or service is paramount. There are many different ways that you can go about this but, PR will return some excellent results for your business – at very little cost.

Public relations, or PR, is literally, the relationship your business has with its public. The relationship you create with your public will have a profound effect on the future of your business, and this is where PR comes into play.

Build awareness and enthusiasm for your business with PR

PR is how you publicise and build enthusiasm for your business among your public, and in successfully doing so, creating widespread awareness and driving sales.

Here are some simple steps for you to use to create a buzz for your new business:

1. Make sure your product or service is ready

This is your immediate priority before you even start to think about PR. You need to make sure your product is ready for public consumption – get it out, make sure it works and does something that people care about.

As PR drives customer demand, if the product is not available to buy when the coverage appears, you’ll be missing out on sales, or even worse, driving customers to your competitors!

2. Know your market

Successful PR is all about reaching the right audience with a message that is appropriate and meaningful to them. If you fail to know your target audience and the publications that they read, implementing the rest of your PR actions will be virtually useless. There is no point aiming to get into the Financial Times when your customers are more likely to read The Sun.

3. Your message should be clear and concise

The centre of your PR campaign is your message. Make sure it's clear, concise and brief. If your message can't be summed up in a few sentences, it's too complicated and editors won't read it.

You also need to focus the materials you send to help the editors or producers. This means anticipating and answering their questions, labeling photographs and explaining why your story is worthy of coverage.

4. Develop a relationship with and use the local media

Your relationship with journalists is very important and is the basis of your interaction with the media. These relationships take time to develop, and this time should be viewed as a long-term investment.

If you have not yet established a relationship with the local press, read the local publications and get the names of the journalists who cover your specific topic. Check out the online version of the publication and search for articles by those journalists. Give them a call and introduce yourself. Journalists are constantly looking for news and this is a great way to start a relationship with them.

When your business gets a significant new customer, moves from your home to a real office, wins a community award or takes on a new employee, don't hesitate to call an appropriate journalist. You may not always get coverage, but you have nothing to lose by cultivating these relationships.

5. Write a feature article

Write an article for your local newspaper or trade publication on a subject that relates to you or your business. If the article is well written and is specifically targeted to the readers of that publication, it could bring you the publicity you seek.

6. Start a Blog

A blog, similar to an online diary, is a great way for you to position your business in the eyes of your customers, your industry and the press. It can demonstrate that you are a leading authority in the industry and allows you to engage with your customers and potential partners.

Furthermore, businesses who actively use blogs as part of their marketing program have discovered that blogs bring in more visitors to your website and that a high percentage of those who visit a blog, if properly influenced through that blog’s content, will actually buy from their business.

7. Public Speaking

Give talks or teach classes about your profession or business to local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, or at industry trade shows, roundtables and conferences.

PR is a great tool for the SME and when done correctly is viewed exceptionally favourably by your target audience. It can be time consuming and that is why you may consider an agency such as Igneous Marketing and don’t forget. A PR element is included in all of our SME monthly marketing bundles!

Does Your Business Need Strategic Marketing?

The UK market is crammed with “marketing experts” and marketing agencies. All offering different solutions to the “growing your business” conundrum. From Web design to innovative Social Media Marketing, from clever PR to the all important creation of SEO.

It is a minefield and do you actually need all of these facets of marketing to grow? Probably not so here are the Igneous Marketing “10 signs you need to look at strategic marketing”

1.    You’re not 100% sure where new business actually comes from – how do they find your site? What prompts them to pick up the phone, etc?

2.    You’ve done some work with an agency, but you weren’t too chuffed with the output – what was the brief?

3.    You get lots of leads, but they don’t seem to convert – what is the sales journey, and how well supported is it with powerful marketing content?

4.    You get enquiries for work that you don’t really like doing – is your business clear about what it does best?

5.    You’re always screwed down on price – does your brand and messaging set your business apart?

6.    When asked what your business does, your people all say something different – is your team clear on what you’re about?

7.    You rarely get repeat business or referrals – is your customer marketing and networking strategy creating advocates for your business?

8.    If one big customer left you’d be in trouble – is your business over reliant on one customer, or one market?

9.    You’ve tried telemarketing, PR, advertising or another tactic and it hasn’t delivered – do you have an integrated plan with momentum that all fits together and ties into your sales process?

10.  You’ve read the books and been to some courses – do you know that you need to give marketing some attention, but never quite get around to it when you’re back at the office?

These are all real scenarios that we’ve heard from small business owners in the last 18 months. Small businesses often make do with a ‘marketing-come-reception’ set-up, working with the marketing suppliers run by friends of friends, or the people down the road. And, there’s nothing wrong with that… if you know exactly what you’re doing on the marketing front.

You must lead the way and have a clear objective on what you want your business to look like, how you want to be perceived and what you want to achieve. No marketing agency can dictate this, it must come from you – the business visionary.

To help you with this daunting task Igneous Marketing are offering a free marketing review for small businesses. Simply complete the document here and we will review what you are doing and provide insight into how you can grow your business.

This is a 100% free, no obligation report created especially for you. Get a different perspective, click here to start

Low Consumer Confidence? Arm your small business

Consumer confidence has slumped to the lowest level since the height of the financial crisis as the Government's cuts to public spending kicked in last month, according to a report.

The GFK NOP Consumer Confidence Index dropped to -31, down from -28 in March and a drop from the -16 registered a year earlier.

All measures - perception of the health of the economy, personal financial health and major purchase intent - that make up the index were down in the month.

So what can a small business do to boost confidence and close business?
Well this is a tricky one and often small businesses will suffer even more when consumer confidence falls. Well there are a few measures you could adopt if this is affecting your business.

Guarantee
A way to quickly remove the doubt in a prospects mind is to offer a guarantee. There is definitely a balance when offering a money back or service level guarantee. You do not want to offer it for too long or wear and tear can play a part. It is pretty much standard to offer a 30 guarantee and services businesses can offer a contract break if the customer is not 100% happy after their first monthly bill.

Free Trial
We love free trials. It is often that once a person starts to use a product or service they have a great “honeymoon period” and therefore will be very reluctant to relinquish this product. Again time is a factor; you need to give them enough time to see the benefits but not too long as this initial excitement level will inevitably drop.

Testimonials
A great way to increase confidence is to inspire the “me too” factor. Rather than just put testimonials onto your website, you need to actively push them to prospects. Try to create loyal “brand Champions” that love your product or service. You then need to put the 2 in touch – nothing inspires loyalty like a heartfelt recommendation.
Hope this helps and don’t forget to check out our new bundles – click here

Being found is great but being loved is better

Much has been made recently about signing up to Social Media Networking sites and creating your own Blog. Even more importantly, a big deal is also made about linking these Tweets and comments back to your own website. But how effective is it? If you write drivel who is going to bother to read your news?

Quite rightly, copywriters and SEO professionals are reminding people to write meaningful news items and to employ a copywriter for important news and events. However, I have seen many websites that have superb copy but very poor graphic design.

How you design your website, or indeed any other materials such as printed matter, will be the first point of contact potential customers have with your company. Visual impact is key to draw visitors into your website. We are very visual beings and as they say a picture paints a thousand words.

Remember - It's the design that draws you in! How often do you visit a website only to click away from it immediately? Think about why you do that.

Your website should involve the following:
— attract visitors
— inform
— be easy to navigate
— have graphical consistency
— look professional
— encourage you to return
— make a sale

So whilst copy is vital, you need to consider grabbing your prospects eye before you grab their mind!

Referrals Scheme Launced!

Just thought we would quickly update you with our latest offer which could provide you with our services, every month for FREE! Too good to be true? Read on here

Twitter

We have finally joined Twitter! search for @SMEMarketing1 and you will find us.We aim to update our followrs every day with news, advice and tips on everything SME. Follow us today click here

Generating Inbound Links

So we all know that Google loves inbound links and if you want your website to succeed you need to build these...and lots of them! So many small businesses see this as a one of task usually undertaken when the site is launched. Wrong!

I would say that the majority of small businesses are not implementing a cohesive inbound link strategy on a daily basis. The good news is that about 80% understand the importance of inbound links and about 30% actually have plans for generating them, but a mere 10% are actually doing something about it.

Why Inbound Links Are Important
If you want to reach the top of major search engines, then you're going to have to tell the search engines why they should rank you. Do you have unique content? Are you a credible website? Can you provide a good user experience? These are all important questions you should be asking yourself as you consider developing an inbound linking strategy.

So here are a few top tips on how to build a profitable link strategy:

1: Right Here, Right Now.
Start with an idea of where you are. Regardless of what type of tool you use (free or paid) to evaluate your current SEO status: rankings, keywords, sites linking in, etc., make sure you have a good idea of where you're starting from - and ultimately where you want to get to. Additionally, plan to check your progress at least once a week. You want to see if your inbound links are helping you success on search.

2: Begin With Your Competitors
One of the best link building strategies is to start with your competitors. Who's linking to them? Are the links from high Google PR sites? What else can you learn about your competitors linking strategies? Start with your competitors or who is already ranked in the number one position for the keyword term or phrase you're optimizing for.

3: Focus on Anchor Text
Another great SEO tip for inbound linking is to evaluate all of the existing inbound links to your website. Whether you use the simple "link:" code via the Google search box, Alexa, or some other tool, create a list of sites linking in and work with them to apply the proper anchor text to the link associated with your keyword.

4: Quality Content and Social Media.
If you provide quality content on your site or simply cover something that would be of interest to your target market, allow others to comment, bookmark and share. Quality content is what search engines like and so will your readers. Develop quality content and encourage others to share it. This creates quality back links to your website.

5: Three Way Linking
Okay, "reciprocal linking is dead". Yeah, I get it.. don't necessarily agree but we won’t debate that here. The good news is that we don't have to talk about it since the best linking option is one-way linking. This can be achieved through a 3 way link. Trying to make a difficult to explain concept relatively simple, exchange links with another website but do it using a 3rd site, not your own. This allows one-way links in either direction.

These tips cover a great deal and have worked for me when it comes to helping my websites and blogs, as well as others, build a significant number of inbound links to their website steadily over time.
WARNING: You may be the anxious type, looking to build hundreds or even thousands of inbound links to your website(s) in the next 48 hours - DON'T DO IT! Although I successfully did this in the past, Google is penalizing sites who are too fast out of the gate when it comes to link building. You should look to ad 3 - 5 quality links to your site on a weekly basis. Slow and steady wins the race.

Common Business Facebook Mistakes

Common Facebook Mistakes

There are about ten common Facebook marketing tactics. (You can probably think of more, but most are a derivative of one of these ten.) It may surprise you to learn that five of these tactics don’t even work — that’s fully half! Now, no Fire God will suddenly appear to smite you if you happen to have done one of the following things. They are definitely mistakes, but they aren’t irreversible. In fact, they’re really only mistakes in one sense of the word.

My perception of these as “mistakes” isn’t about breaches of the unwritten Facebook etiquette either – I dance on those lines myself from time to time.

Rather, I’m calling them mistakes from a perspective of effectiveness, versus the alternative behavior. Whether they’re wrong in terms of just coming across as rude or politically incorrect is another matter altogether.

Having said that, off we go.

Mistake #1 – Posting Signature Links on Profile Walls with Your Introduction

I asked someone why they did this once, especially since I’d already been to their site and purchased the item they were selling on that page.

She said: “I saw someone else do it.”

“How did it make you feel?” I asked.

“I felt kind of used. But I figured if that’s what it takes to be successful, that’s what I’ll do, even if it doesn’t seem quite right.”

Now that’s deep.

I understand though, because once I made the vow to become successful, I also made a vow to do “whatever it takes”. At the time I thought it meant hard selling and being pushy. I later found it meant hard work, and doing what’s right even if there’s a lazier, easier way.

Even if this was at one time effective in terms of getting clicks from random profile visits, Facebook is now much more stream-driven than it is profile-driven.

And that’s a huge part of why this is a mistake in terms of effectiveness.

Not to mention that people who see these postings as rude or attempts to spam can remove or hide them. They may even drop you as a connection, which cuts you off not just from them, but from their network.

You’re not missing out on anything by omitting that signature link. Your name, hyperlinked to your profile IS your signature link. If your profile is set up correctly, prospects will get to your site from there.

Mistake #2 – Pitching

If you want to pitch people on Facebook, buy an ad on Facebook.

It doesn’t have to be a Facebook ad – buy one in a popular Facebook application. No matter how good your elevator pitch is in real life, it doesn’t translate in online networking. Let me give you a hypothetical example from the real world.

Imagine you go to an after-work bar. People go there to relax with work friends, to meet potential mates, on actual dates, and to get to know other people in the business.

You’re unwinding with colleagues when someone walks up, and without forewarning, tries to sell you some steak knives. When you stare blankly, they shrug, and move on to the next person.

We all may chuckle to ourselves, and wonder what that person is thinking… but are you ever the knife salesman when you’re on Facebook?

Honestly, when I first came here, I was tempted to be.

Thank God my better judgement stopped me. I’m telling you that to say this – if you’ve been the knife salesman don’t be ashamed, you didn’t know any better. It’s not like they issue marketing lessons with your incorporation papers.

Just make a vow, right now, to always check yourself before you post. Ask yourself “Am I Networking or Pitching?”

Mistake #3 – Artificial Bonding

I’d respect a person more who was upfront with me, and said they were hoping we could work together, or do some business, than someone who pretended to care about me in order to get me to have a conversation that they could then direct to their pitch.

I wouldn’t buy from them, at least not then. But at least I’d still respect them, which means I could change my mind in the future.

Pretending to like people until you get the chance to try to sell to them is really just pitching with a little bad foreplay first.

Bad foreplay isn’t better than none at all.

Mistake #4 – Favoring Uphill Marketing Over Downhill Marketing

Again, this is a mistake in terms of how effective it is. In my own experience, as well as in case studies of clients, it always works out better when you create a fantastic marketplace presence and people are drawn to you in droves, seeking to do business with you, rathere than the alternative.

The alternative, of course, is when you go out and pursue customers and clients one by one.

That’s not to say that you should stop advertising, bidding on projects, or being a go-getter in any way.

It means that while you’re doing that, also create a situation where customers are flowing towards you, seeking you out, asking for help.

It’s much less work to get from interest to sale when they come to you.

Mistake #5 – Fishing on Dry Land

A long, long time ago, I was in a network marketing company. Now defunct, the products they have greatly enhanced, possibly even saved, my life. The products were targeted to people who cared about being healthier and eco-friendly.

At first, I was so excited about what had happened to me, that I told every single person who would listen. I would try and go product by product and explain how great everything was.

After failing Very Hard for about three months, I narrowed my focus.

I bought a bottle of the mineral complex, and some sample sized containers. Then I gave a sample to every single person I could think of who had a health problem that might be related. Orders started pouring in.

Ever since that day, I have remembered two things. First, the one that’s relevant here – proper targeting greatly increases sales. Secondly, give a free sample of something needed to those most starving for it, and they’ll be back to buy more.

A few well-timed, well-placed interactions with the right profile are the main things you need to do the equivalent of offline networking on Facebook. A great profile is just as important as being appropriately dressed at a networking function offline.

Sex, Lies and Advertising

Ok, I lied. There’s no sex in this post. Adverts, on the other hand, aren’t technically allowed to lie. Back in the 19^th Century, you could make all kinds of wild claims about your Tincture of Gripe Water or Dr Astoundo’s Patented Baldness Liniment. Nobody could sue you if it didn’t do what it said on the tin. That changed in the early 20^th Century, which is all to the good. It means marketers have to be more creative when promoting products or services, and not just resort to bare-faced lies.

But there’s no law against bad spelling, grammar, or inaccurate use of terms. I’m one of those people for whom bad spelling and grammar are akin to the screech of nails down the blackboard of my soul. I spent a good 15 minutes staring at two pieces of bad advertising on the Tube this morning:

1) Nintendo DS’s 100 Classic Books. “100 classic novels… from Jane Eyre to Hamlet”.

Hamlet is not a novel. It’s never been a novel. It’s a bloody play, as anyone with half their wits about them knows.

2) Magnum Temptation. “It’s name? Magnum Temptation”.

This kind of thing puts me in danger of injuring myself, such is my righteous ire. There are talented young people out there busting a gut to get into copywriting, and some smug pillock can’t even be bothered to read through his or her own copy and check for grammatical howlers like this one. And, apparently, neither can anyone else in the agency. It’s an insult to the audience, to people who genuinely care about the quality of their work, and to the whole institution of ice-cream -eating. I will never buy a Magnum again.

Ecommerce Boom!

High Street Slumps, eCommerce Soars

 

It was announced today that despite continued poor high street sales, online businesses are booming. The first quarter of 2011 showed a continued increase of 14% in March. This represented a combined total expenditure of £5.1bn – which equates to roughly £82 per person per month! The 2 core areas of significant increase were Hair and Beauty products, which rose by 32% in March and Business Service, which rose by over 15%.

It is the later part of that statement that I find most interesting. Business services include many utilities such as broadband, call packages, etc plus other outsourced services such a support, marketing, maintenance. Whilst the proliferation of selling products on line has continued, the services market has often struggled to implement an eCommerce solution without a “human touch”.  

Selling products online really removes you from the equation and is a customer only experience. Think of the last time you purchased from Amazon or Tesco online. There was no need to talk to an employee. In fact many of us like this and it ensures a speedy transaction. Services traditionally have been a 2 way thing and this has created an issue when sat at a PC. Banks have negated this pretty well as have insurance companies but what about other services? Trust and security still play a part here. We know Amazon will take back a book and Paypal will credit our money if the product does not arrive but service requires a person.

The latest trend is to use video – show, demonstrate and promote your service first hand via a video. This gives a great try before you buy experience of the product and as long as you offer the same standards that consumer’s expect (security et al) then you should see a slow but steady take up.

Let us know of services you provide online or have seen online