Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Secrets to Effective Forum Marketing

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Forum marketing can be a great way to market your business! You just have to know the right way to do it. Forum marketing, unfortunately, can be very ineffective and can sometimes have negative results if done improperly.

Forum marketing is especially great if you are promoting a tech company, since many forum users are web/technology savvy. That being said, there are also many other types of forums that do not have web/tech savvy users. Which brings me to our first tip for forum marketing; make sure you find the appropriate forums. It’s a simple rule in marketing – know your audience. You don’t want to waste your time marketing on forums that are not your target audience. Spend some time and make sure you are finding the right types of forums for your business.

Once you have found the right forums, set up accounts and and read the agreement and posting guidelines. Many people skip this step, and then they end up getting banned. You need to make sure you are abiding by all the posting rules. Some forums don’t let you post links until you have posted a few times, etc. Just be aware, and then start posting! Most forums give you more “points” or “credit” for the more posts you have. So start looking at threads and contribute in the conversation. Make sure to understand the forum community and how people are interacting. Follow the trends in the forum.

Lastly, if you are trying to sell something (marketing yourself on a forum), leave the sales pitch for later. No one on these forums wants to be sold to, and you might get banned if you start selling too soon. It’s better to establish yourself as an expert by posting and having legitimate conversations on the forums, and then mention your product when appropriate.

Why MSS is Powerful for Marketing

Uncategorized, mobile marketing, web 3.0 | 0 Comments »

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a new standard in mobile messaging. MMS is a way to send a message from one mobile to another, but it doesn’t stop at text. You can also send sound, images and even video! It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address. This opens up a whole new world for marketing!

Think about it… do you go anywhere without your mobile phone? Probably not, especially for the younger generations. Mobile phones are a great way to reach your audience. They are so powerful because you have the ability to send different types of messages, and images and videos allow you to have achieve a more dynamic message.

Almost any business can utilize MMS marketing. It’s a great way to send promotions or sales to customers. You can set up “exclusive lists” of customers who receive MMS sales. It is a direct link to your customers.

MMS

How to Promote a Virtual Event

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So, you want to promote your webinar, teleconference or podcast? As you can imagine, there are lots of different methods for online event promotion. My company does this type of campaign everyday, so here are some tips for how to successfully promote your virtual event.

webinar

  • Email blast your list. Craft a non-spammy sounding email letting people know about your event. You will most likely have a casual relationship with these people, so make it conversational and inviting. For people that you are more familiar with…
  • Establish joint ventures. Within your email list, write to the people that you know a little better, and that you think have large email lists themselves. Ask them to send out an email blast to THEIR list promoting your virtual event. Offer to reciprocate by promoting them on your blog, or sending out an email blast for them in the future.
  • Facebook ads. These are a cheap and effective way to advertise your virtual event. Plus, you have the ability to target your exact audience with demographic and psychographic filters. You set the budget.
  • Twitter. Although this method my not be the MOST effective, it is free and easy. It gets the word out to your followers. You can also send direct messages to people you identify as the target audience for you virtual event.

Web 3.0 Companies

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When it comes to utilizing Web 3.0, there are a few companies that I consider to be game changers and in a whole different league from the rest. While analyzing Web 3.0 companies, I analyzed more than 100 enterprises across various sectors. I noticed that several shared similar qualities:

  • Have unique traits and habits
  • Started small and grew rapidly
  • Are considered or becoming a household name
  • Are using the Web 3.0 marketing tactics profiled
  • Are pioneers in their space

Yes, there were other factors I noticed, such as growth rates, employee satisfaction, and size, but these less-tangible qualities were the ones that stuck out to me the most. Armed with a whole slew of intangible information, I have selected four companies that I deem to be innovators and companies exhibiting Web 3.0 business and marketing tactics.

The four companies I selected are Amazon.com, Zappos.com, Salesforce.com, and Cisco. Check out their profiles to see why I consider them Web 3.0 companies. These four companies are no exception!

In my book, Marketing in the Moment, you can read about all these companies, but here is more information on why I picked Amazon.com.

Web site: www.Amazon.com

When you think of Amazon.com, you might think books. Granted, Amazon.com did start off by selling books, but it soon starting selling pretty much anything you would desire, from CDs to deodorant to kitchen knives and everything in between.

Amazon has the distinction of being America’s largest online retailer. Try to top that one, Wal-Mart! It puts the customer first in all respects. Amazon tracks your browsing and buying trends. Armed with that information, it creates a unique customer experience tailored to you! When was the last time you logged on to your favorite Web site and the home page was different each time and, oddly enough, packed with only things you might be interested in?

Keeping the customers first has drastically fueled its growth. What’s great about this company is that it is run by innovators who are constantly trying new ways to improve the customer’s experience. They recently launched Amazon S3, included a section for self-publishing books, promoted their famous Kindle device, and even purchased Zappos. I’d say they have diversified themselves quite well as leaders!

Virtual Reality Worlds for Marketing

Online Marketing, Online Strategy, Uncategorized, marketing campaigns, online marketing trends, second life | 0 Comments »

Marketing using virtual reality worlds and methods is one of the more advanced Web 3.0 tactics that you can use to generate leads, close business, or even communicate with your team. It also takes the biggest time commitment, requiring the most work and the largest initial expense to get the platform designed. The upside: When put into place, these 3-D worlds can prove to be your most effective lead generator, sale closer, and cost saver.
In general, virtual reality has a variety of uses. The whole intent of virtual reality is to convince you and your mind that you’re actually there, alive in this make-believe world. It brings the experience and interaction to life, even though you are behind a computer or another device and not there in person.
People, businesses, and agencies are continuing to move to using virtual reality worlds because they are tired of traveling, have less money to spend on travel, and are realizing the power associated in these worlds. My motto is, “Essentially everything that can be done in person can be done over the Web using various technologies.” This is the concept that people are finally starting to understand. Everything continues to move to the Web. So instead of simply resisting, both consumers and businesses are starting to jump on the bandwagon. An additional factor that has helped the rise of virtual reality worlds is their ease of use. Two to three years ago, you needed to have a very fast computer and connection just to view one of these worlds. Today things open up much more quickly and are much more intuitive.
Here are some great virtual reality worlds to check out:

  • www.SecondLife.com
  • www.ActiveWorlds.com
  • Entropia Universe
  • www.There.com
  • www.Kaneva.com
  • www.Worlds.com
  • Moove
  • www.IMVU.com

Online Video Marketing & Distribution Strategy

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If you haven’t heard marketing with video is 7-15X more powerful then just marketing with plain text.   I see plain text (like this blog)  as staying quite stagnant, while video keeps gaining traction and steam.

A few reasons video is more compelling:

  • More interactive
  • Helps to increase your reputation
  • More enjoyable to consume

One of the biggest hurdles with marketers is actually producing video.  They seem to think it’s a daunting task they needs to involve scripting things out, going to a studio, getting shot on a green screen, heavy editing and so on.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.   Video that is non-scripted and in “random”  places is more often viewed then scripted video.  The reason:  it appears to be more authentic.

My recommendation:  pick up an HD Flip Camera, or the new Kodak Zi8 (mine is arriving from Amazon today) and start shooting some videos.    If you don’t have anyone to shoot the videos of you (by pressing start and stop) pick up a mini tripod and set it up somewhere that will capture a good angle.   After you’ve got the videos shot, you can use a free video editing program to snip off the beginning and end and you’re in business!

Once you get into video mode, record a few videos all at the same time.   The topics should be different, and quite short (under 3 minutes).  If you talk at a moderate pace, those short 2-3 minute videos are then a perfect length for about a 500 word article.

Are you following me?  So you start with videos and expand from there to audio and text content.  Here is a simple graphic for you:

Video Marketing and Distribution Strategy

So you take the original videos and strip out the audio giving you podcasts.   At the same time, you hire a transcription firm to transcribe those audios.  Those audio transcriptions can then be turned into articles, blogs and tweets.  Finally, you can take the original videos and submit them EVERYWHERE using a free service like TubeMogul.com.

This is why, we love video as the best starting point, because you can derive so much other forms of content from video.   If you start with an article, you have to work in the completely different direction!

Long Term SEO – Optimizing SEO

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First do a few Google Searches for me:

  • Movie Producer
  • Short Sale education
  • Blackberry Marketing Strategy
  • Emergency Medical Id

All these top rankings have two things in common:

  • Our clients occupy the top spots (hey, I had to show you we can walk the walk and not just talk)
  • These rankings took time

Search engine optimization takes more time then you would like.  It just doesn’t happen overnight.   But once you’re there it’s a whole different ballgame; your traffic goes up, your sales go up, your leads go up.   Yes, this makes the assumption that you picked the right keywords, but it’s like night and day when your on the first page.

Being #10 in the search engines is completely different then being #11.   Less then 5% of people go past the first page in Google.

Hang in there, and let your search engine rankings improve.  Once you’re in the top ten, it’s much easier to stay there and improve.  Also know that if you plan on selling your company, top rankings are worth big bucks (and I mean big)

SEO takes time, but in the end, it’s a game you want to stay in, it will pay off.  With time and money ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE can be outranked!

Google Site Overlay – Google Analytics

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Google Analytics has millions of happy users.  Much like other tools though, its often under-utilized.   Take Microsoft excell for example.  Did you know you can:

  • Compare workbooks side by side?
  • Add up numbers just by clicking on them?
  • Setup smart tags to be used at your command?
  • Use macros?

Chances are, like most users, you use just about 5-10% of the total features of your software and web based programs.  This holds true to Google Analytics as well.

One of the best sources for data is something called a Google Site Overlay.  This gives you the visual analytics of your web site:

  • Where people are clicking
  • How many are clicking

Armed with this data you can make smarter decisions  about site navigation, placement and beyond.

MMS Marketing — A Mobile Marketing Strategy & Campaign

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You are going to hear about Mobile Marketing from us until you’re blue in the face!  Why?  Simple: mobile marketing is the fastest growing online marketng trend.

MMS Marketing is the method of sending a picture over a mobile device.   Take a second, pause and think about the possibilities here…

  • You’re a firework company: Send a picture of your new fireworks (animated as well)
  • Pictures of your latest Pizzas
  • Photo of what your Motorcycle will look like with a certain feature installed
  • The cover of your new book
  • The cover of your overdue library book (if people still go to libraries)
  • A fancy looking business quote to get your clients thinking and pondering
  • Sample wedding photo to show examples of what you can do

Don’t just send a photo for your health, have a clear call to action or link embedded.

This method is low cost and high impact.  We are seeing RECORD conversion rates, test it out.

Holiday E-Commerce Boom

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Want proof that e-commerce is the way of the future? ComScore recently put out the numbers for consumer internet purchases during the holiday season, and, as expected, they are continuing to grow every year, topping the charts at $29.1 billion in 2009 (a 4% increase from last year), just in the days between Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas, with “Green Tuesday” (December 15) being marked as the heaviest online spending day of all time, at $913 million.

“The 2009 online holiday shopping season was a positive one as its growth rate slightly surpassed our forecast and returned to solidly positive rates after nearly a full year of marginally negative growth,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Among the highlights of the season was the first $900 million online spending day and a strong late season spending surge, propelled by effective retailer promotions, guaranteed shipping and a major snowstorm on the eastern seaboard that convinced many to shop from the comfort of home. It’s possible that this better-than-expected end-of-year performance is a harbinger of renewed vigor and optimism for 2010 as the consumer economy seeks to rebound from one of the worst years in memory. At the same time, we need to remember that consumers’ spending power remains constrained by high unemployment levels, substantial debt and a new-found desire to save.”

If there’s anything that helps inspire an online marketer, its reports like that–and what better time to be inspired than at the beginning of a new year?