A lot of people struggle to define their strategic work from their tactical work. It’s an important distinction, especially if you’re the boss.
If you’re the boss it’s your responsibility to define the culture of your business or team, to manage the health of your organization, and to provide inspiration, to cite three examples of strategic work that is often ignored.
You may decide you want a culture defined by competition and performance that has a real dog-eat-dog feel to it, or you may decide that a supportive collegial culture best suits for your goals, business and personality. The point is, decide. And then once you decide, take action to instill and support that decision.
Here is one strategic contribution that I act on daily:
Build teams: Some teams are built around natural boundaries or responsibilities, such as Finance or Purchasing, but what if you have a small company? Are you all just one team? That’s ok but difficult to maintain as you hire more people. So figure out how you’re going to build your team and take decisive daily action.
My daily strategic actions to build a team are:
- Be a coach. Keep your team’s self-interests in your heart and be a cheerleader. We all need support. The world is a less-threatening place and we stay calmer and think clearer when we know other people are in our corner. Listen to what your people say and pay attention to how they act. Make sure their actions and words are aligned and, if they’re not, point out the inconsistencies in a nurturing way and offer an alternate approach for dealing with the situation. Pour a shot or two of mentoring into your boss cocktail.
- Promote organizational clarity. Keep an ongoing dialog about goals, roles, responsibilities, customer needs, and the competition. Make sure everyone understands your unique place in the market, what your perfect customer needs, and how you plan to grow. As a leader it’s your job to insure everyone is one the same page and some messages can only be delivered by the person in charge.
- Over-communicate. In a world overloaded with information we must communicate until it feels like we’ve “beaten-it-to-death.” Find new and interesting ways to get your points across. Your words will guide the focus of the organization. If you constantly talk about the need for exceptional customer service your people will get your message.
- Inspiration. There’s too much talk about “the numbers.” I get it, numbers are how a business keeps score. But do numbers inspire or create enthusiasm? Seldom. For most people numbers lack emotion, they’re soulless. The constant drumbeat to reach a sales figure or to ship so many items by Friday are fine but it’s weak and gruel compared to the rich spice of a noble goal. Which would you rather do: Sell 100,000 circuit breakers or provide electricity to people suffering without air conditioning and refrigeration?
Join our conversation at www.facebook.com/alignedmarket and share your leadership story!
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Authentic leaders see what everyone else sees, and more. A leader’s commitment must be to excellence, rather than to perfection, and their wisdom is in knowing the difference. Aligned Marketing will help you see the facts, create a compelling future, and develop a practical action plan for improvement and growth. Contact us at 1-800-707-9150.
The future is online! This means everything you do needs to drive traffic and increase site visits to your website. Even your most internet-averse customers will have friends, family and colleagues who are online sharing your message if they see its value. Yes, there has to be a good balance between your online and offline marketing strategy, but to run a business these days without an online marketing plan is simply absurd.
This short ebook/guide will help you understand the what, why and how of an online marketing plan.
If you are a business owner and are struggling on a daily basis on what comes next in your online marketing, you need to download this guide. If you are in charge of your companies marketing strategy, but the decision makers need convincing on what needs to be done, then you have come to the right place for support. Download this guide today and learn:
- Tips on the WHY an Online Marketing Plan is imperative for the success of your business.
- Call to Action!
- Successful Implementation and Execution.
- 4 C’s of a successful Online Marketing Calendar
- A Word (or two) about Goal Setting
We certainly hope that this guide will assist with your online marketing plan and ultimately give you a good balance in your online and offline marketing strategy. If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to give us a call. We can help!
In the meantime, please feel free to connect on Facebook (facebook.com/alignedmarket) or on Twitter (@alignedmarket) and stay up to date on best content marketing / inbound marketing strategies, improving customer communication and search engine optimization.
“Buy one, get one free” is an old school offer that still succeeds in converting leads into customers. Of course, the trick is to give away something that the customer values without losing your shirt in the process.
Fortunately, e-products can be created and distributed inexpensively and, if properly designed and executed, they can deliver real value and feed your sales funnel. Giving away downloadable content can serve as an incentive for an immediate sale or as a teaser leading to repeat business. For example, if you are selling MP3 music downloads, why not give away a bonus track? If software is your business, how about giving away a free companion smart-phone app? Companies who trade on their expertise and knowledge can give away free follow-up services or guidance documents; it costs very little and can lead to new business.
Of course, for customers to value these freebies, they need to trust you as a provider. Would you want a free music track of someone’s Uncle Fred singing karaoke? No, of course not, but a free track from an up-and-coming local band might be valued highly, and even lead to purchases of other tracks by the same band.
Alternatively, e-products can be given away simply in exchange for a name and email address to augment your marketing database; after the customer enters their information at your website, an e-newsletter auto-responder like Aweber or Mailchimp can confirm their contact information and opt-in, before sending them the e-product. Auto-responders enable you to nurture your contacts and further establish you as an expert. Let the relationship building begin!
Whitepaper or E-book. This is an effective way to use your knowledge and expertise to generate leads. Bundle several of your most popular blog posts about a specific subject into an e-book or whitepaper with a title that throws out an online hook. Add some eye-catching images, your branding, social media links, and a call to action at the end, and you will be reeling in online leads.
Product Video. Create a video that explains the applications for your product, and how it can alleviate different “pain points” for your target market. Explain what makes your product unique in the industry and how easy it is to use. Don’t forget, at the end of the video, to drop in a call to action; for example, offer a free How-To Guide….
How-To Guide. Unfamiliar subjects can appear formidable and intimidating to newbies. If you wanted to repair your clothes dryer, hire a new employee, or learn to play the flute, where would you start? Offering a free downloadable guide not only educates your customers, it also demonstrates your knowledge, builds trust, and plants the seed of “I can do that” or “I’d better NOT do that,” both of which can bring new customers to your door.
Industry Trends Articles and Comments. Show how industry-wise you and/or your company is by documenting current trends in your market and offering your own unique opinions. Be bold, offer insights and your views on the future. Let your audience know you are a thought-leader.
Q & A Sheet. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are asked – well – frequently. Brainstorm with colleagues to identify and answer the most common FAQs in your industry. Then create a Q & A blog post, article or video that answers the questions. You may want to hold back a few of your most intriguing insights so that you have something else to discuss should some of your readers contact you later.
Product Sample. If you sell content on your website, such as an ebook, you can always give away free content in the form of the first chapter or training manual to lure new clients to your site. The goal, of course, is to impress them so much with your first chapter that they return later and buy the whole book. Draw them in!
Even though you are “giving it away” it is important to create fresh new content periodically… 3-4 times a year is typical, depending on the dynamics of your industry. Even just reformatting the same information (e.g. converting a How-To Guide into a Product Video) can add a fresh look and we always recommend multi-purposing content. That means taking sections of a white-paper and creating a series of article, then taking those articles and creating blog posts, then taking those blog posts and creating interesting tweets…you get the idea.
Finally, don’t forget to continually evaluate your successes and failures, that’s how you learn what works and what doesn’t so you can produce more of the former and less of the latter.
If you would like FREE Aligned Marketing e-products please visit our website at aligned-marketing.com. For more information on how we can help with your lead generation and tracking, please contact us at 1-800 707 9150.
According to eMarketer, the number of blog readers in the US reached 122.6 million in 2011, representing 53.5% of internet users. If that isn’t enough to have you rushing to set-up a business blog, maybe these reasons will convince you:
- A blog is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and experience. Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2011 report , which looks at annual trends in the blogosphere, found that 70% of all bloggers use their blog to share their expertise and experience with others. More than 60% of corporate and entrepreneur bloggers have enjoyed enhanced visibility in their industry through blogging.
- Regularly posting fresh blog content in your niche will gain you points with the search engines. Of course, content needs to be relevant to your target market; writing about fly fishing on a computer technology blog is not likely to attract a loyal audience. Blogs should include words that your target customers use on search engines, and regular use of such “keywords” will reward you with higher search engine rankings.
- Your competitors are likely to be attracting comments and feedback on their blog posts already, so don’t fall behind the blogging curve. You want your prospects to be signing up to your RSS feed so that they will be thinking of you when the time comes to make purchases.
- A blog is shareable on other social media platforms, thus expanding your reach online. Blog posts are also reusable as e-books, or as material for that paper book you always wanted to publish. Blogging is an investment that keeps on giving.
- A blog gives your company a voice online that can quickly disseminate new information, and that can respond to the latest industry developments as they happen. Your prospects and customers will feel like they know you already when they read your blog, and they will want to find out more about the business behind the blog posts they respect and trust.
What is your area of expertise, and what does your audience want to learn? Establish your niche and blog in that niche. This will help you to become THE place to find information about your topic. You will start to build a loyal and attentive community that will in turn begin to leave positive feedback on your blog, attracting yet more potential customers.
Of course, it’s important to set-up your blog correctly in order to maximize its impact. If you need assistance designing your blog, our Aligned Marketing team is here to help. Call us now at 1 800 707-9150, and become the blogger that your customers can’t stop talking about.
You have identified your niche and your target audience, and now it’s time to share your pearls of wisdom via your blog. We strongly recommend having a well-defined blog creation process, as this will save you considerable time and energy:
- Visit other sites in your industry and determine which topics are “hot” and attracting the most comments. Check out your competitor’s blog categories, recent posts, and tags. It is likely that your target audience wants to find out more about these areas, and they will be searching Google for more information using relevant “keywords”.
- Select your keywords. This can be a balancing act - keywords seldom searched on Google won’t deliver much traffic because they lack “relevance”, but keywords that are searched a million times a day are typically too “competitive” for all but the largest sites to exploit. Effective keywords are those where you have an honest chance of being listed on page one or two of Google’s search results for your target audience.
- Test your keywords. Google changes its search algorithm several hundred times each year, so it is important to test your keywords for relevance and competitiveness. For example, if we were comparing the keyword phrases “SEO services” and “small business SEO”, we would use our keyword research tool to compare search volume for both keyword phrases. Finding that “SEO services” has approximately 74,000 searches per month, whereas “small business SEO” has only 6,600, we might select “small business SEO” as our primary keyword phrase because it is relevant to potential clients, yet is less competitive than “SEO services”.
- Outline your blog post by listing the main points, and finish with a call to action that will drive traffic to a specific location. It may be on your main website, where customers make a purchasing decision, or it may be on a social media platform such as Facebook, where you are focusing on building your brand or establishing a community.
- Draft your blog in 250-750 words, and include the 2-6 keywords several times. Remember, though, that overusing keywords is as bad as under using them in the eyes of those fickle search engines!
- Carefully proofread and make any necessary edits before posting. If you are blogging on something unusually fast-moving or controversial, consider having a knowledgeable friend or colleague review it as a reality check. Then pull the trigger - post it on your blog and on your social media platforms.
- FINALLY evaluate your results by examining comments made on the post, and the number of social media shares. Feed that experience back into future blog posts. Blogging is all about investing in a relationship with your audience – like all relationships, the best and strongest take time and effort to forge.
Join in our conversation on Facebook and share your business blogging experiences.
If Charles Darwin was alive in 2012, he would see that his theory of evolution has as much relevance in today’s online world as it did on the Galapagos Islands he visited in 1835. Darwin’s theory of evolution observed that animals incapable of adapting to their environment eventually became extinct, leaving the world of the future to fitter and more adaptable species. The most notable example of a species that did not adapt is the Dodo.
Digital Darwinism is the theory of evolution applied to the online world; those that can adapt and evolve will ultimately prevail, whereas those who are unable to change are destined for online extinction. There are several steps that you can take to avoid becoming the next Dodo.
Social media is continuing to evolve at an extraordinary rate, and shows no sign of declining. New social media platforms such as Google+ and Pinterest have businesses scrambling to evaluate their relevance, effectiveness and efficiency in their markets. Now is most definitely not the time to hesitate. Often your competitors are there already, busy building a rapport with YOUR customers.
Adapting to your digital ecosystem starts with researching the areas your target market is talking about. Start by visiting your competitors’ social media sites; see what they are doing and who they are talking to. How are they trying to convert your mutual target market into loyal customers? Listen to their conversations and learn.
Your prospects and clients will expect you to be on social media, and will be disappointed if you are not there or you if you make it difficult for them to find you. Make sure your website and blog has social media share buttons on it. Your clients are looking to you as an online source of information about industry trends, new product innovations, specials, etc. They may want to share your information with others; there is nothing better than a personal recommendation, so make it easy for them to do so.
Customers also like and expect to give feedback online about your business, so make sure you know what they are saying about you. Monitor online conversations, and don’t be afraid to ask them what THEY want – there is nothing more valuable than direct “voice of the customer”.
Search engines use social media site activity in their ranking algorithms, so a strong social media footprint can boost your ranking. When you set-up your social media platforms, focus on continuity in your branding and make sure that you have a “living” social media strategy. It is not enough to set-up social media accounts then leave them to fend for themselves; without constant nurturing of, and attention to, your social media persona, the market will think you have gone out of business. If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, considering outsourcing your social media presence.
Remember, your customers will be talking about you online, so make sure it’s a two-way conversation. Continue to evolve and adapt, or prepare for ultimate failure and extinction as a company that did not respond to the evolutionary pressures of the online world!
Don’t let your company go the way of the Dodo. Call Aligned Marketing for social media set-up and strategy assistance at 1 800 707-9150.
I love writing blogs. Yesterday, however, I found myself staring at my computer screen and nothing was happening. I stared at the screen and it stared right back at me. I was sure it was mocking me.
So I dove into some busy-work and promised myself I would start the blog post tomorrow, which is now today. I had become a temporary member of the “Tomorrow Club.” Maybe you join this club from time to time? Tomorrow Club members share one overriding characteristic; they are procrastinators. They put off until tomorrow what they could do today.
A one-day delay is usually manageable, but longer term delays can have broader implications. Website updates are a great example of the perils of procrastination.
Creating a new website can be painful. It takes a lot of work to define what you want, and still more to crystallize it into a final product ready for the world to see. Once we have our website in place, there is an overwhelming temptation to leave it alone, to classify it as “done.” It is not uncommon for websites to remain unchanged for 5 years or more.
Unfortunately, 5 years is an eternity in today’s on-line world. New technologies come along that leave your old website feeling stale and unwelcoming. Search engine algorithms get refined and your site starts slipping down in the rankings. Older e-commerce code can be fragile, driving customers away with slow response times and leading to lost sales. Competitors with more up-to-date websites start snapping at your heels and taking away your business.
Instead of procrastinating, take the plunge and retire the old website: Outsource your website redesign today and resign from the Tomorrow Club.
To join the Today Club, call us at 800-707-9150.
You've probably already set up your website, you've proof-read your web pages one by one, double checked your download and image links, even optimized your keywords. But none of those brought you the kind of traffic you need.
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“Putting you through to Top Dog now,” smiles the polite female voice from your cellphone. This is the moment you have worked towards for months. You are finally getting your chance to talk to the CEO of Company X. This conversation could be the difference between your company blasting into the stratosphere like a rocket or continuing to plug along barely breaking even financially. A moment later you hear a confident voice proclaim “Top Dog speaking.” This is your moment! Forget your dry mouth and sweaty palms because, it’s SHOWTIME!
Some preparation is required before you find yourself in this position. It is vital that you know what makes your company better than everyone else in your marketplace. After all, if you don’t think you are the greatest why should your prospects and customers think so? Can you tell me why we should do business with you rather than Fred Smith Inc. down the road? What is it about your product or service that makes you unique? What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or Unique Value?
A USP is a statement that enables your business to stand out from the crowd; it sets you apart from your competition. Stating that your company delivers “the best customer service” is a poor USP because it’s too general and not quantifiable. A USP that includes a statement such as “using our manufacturing tool reduces your product defective rate by 10% and increases output by 15%” is more specific and far more powerful. It tells me the “why” I should be buying from you.
A USP can become ineffective over time so you must update it from time-to-time. For example, a furniture store’s USP may be “the only European furniture warehouse in town” but a new European furniture store opening in town would change that. The original store would need to define their USP and value to the market further in order to continue to differentiate themselves from others. So your USP needs to evolve over time to adapt to a changing marketplace and competition.
Your company probably needs to have several versions of your selling proposition. You will need a short version that is one or two sentences. This is often referred to as your tagline or an “elevator speech.” You will need a longer version that can be 2-3 paragraphs long and, finally, you will need a complete sales presentation version that is 15-30 minutes long. These last two are necessary in case, after you’ve delivered your elevator speech, the person you are talking to says, “That’s interesting, tell me more?”
In real life the Top Dog may not be speaking to you on the phone. You may bump into him/her in an elevator, a networking meeting, on the golf course, or at a trade show. You must always be prepared because opportunities can happen anywhere and at anytime. As often as not they are unscheduled and surprise everyone involved.
I have a lot more to share with you on this matter but the phone is ringing and I don’t recognize the number on my caller ID…I wonder who that could be?
Do you need help creating or refining your USP? Aligned Marketing knows the right questions to ask so that your USP is communicated online in the right places and to the right people. This is what our clients are saying about us.
“90% of all web traffic will be video” was the bold statement made by YouTube’s head of Global Partnership in 2012. Wow, that is an impressive prediction! Before you start brushing your hair, working on your perfect smile and picking up your flip video camera, STOP for a moment and think about what that means to your business.
You have to be found online! It is imperative that your video is optimized, so that the 90% can actually find you out there in cyberspace. We will assume for the moment that you have created your video and are asking that all important question, “Now what?”
If your website has high traffic, you can upload your video directly onto your website. However, if you are looking to increase your web site visits significantly, consider uploading your video onto YouTube, where you can brand, title and tag your video. You do, after all, want the search engines to love you!
Be sure to enter keywords when you upload your video, but don’t overdo it. Your title should include a keyword or two, but keep it catchy. For example, a title such as “5 Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ social media Tips and strategies and marketing points” is overflowing with keywords, but it doesn’t make any sense. You could instead call it “5 Tips for Social Media Marketing Strategies”.
Don’t forget to tag your video with keywords that describe what is in the video. This will help users find you more easily when they search. For example, if you are marketing social media strategies specifically to the realty market in New York, ensure that you have the tagged keywords New York, Realty and Marketing.
Time for an impressive statistic! In May 2011 YouTube had 3 billion views per day! Let’s not forget that Google owns YouTube and they know a thing or two about search engine optimization. Get even more traffic to your website by posting your video on your website or blog, and share it on your social media sites. YouTube have recently added a Google+ button that allows you to promote and share your Google+ profile or page on your YouTube channel.
Let’s take a step back in the process and think about creating that video. Time to go ahead and brush your hair and find your perfect smile. Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov conducted research that suggests we form an impression of someone in as little as one tenth of second! This puts new meaning to the phrase “make every second count”.
When you create your video consider your message, facial and hand gestures, and what you are wearing. For example, it may take a while for viewers to get past the red reindeer sweater aunt Mildred knitted for you years ago! It may hold their attention, but for all the wrong reasons. Have a clear message and a call to action on the video, and do not let it run over 5 minutes. Let your personality shine through.
The good news is that not only do humans like videos, so do the search engines. Without a doubt, video CAN be powerful, and it CAN help to convey your message and branding clearly and quickly to your prospects and clients online. Enjoy the creative process, and if you have a question regarding optimizing your video online please let us know at facebook.com/AlignedMarket. Lights, Camera, Search Engine ACTION!