The South American economy is growing and the interest and demand in social media and mobile marketing is growing with it. Here are a few thought from my trip to Lima this week
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Social Media Used to Search for Isabel Celis
May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Isabel Celis
In an effort find Isabel, many citizens and businesses owners posted flyers and told neighbors. Most of these flyers contained information about a $50,000 reward for finding Isa and used QR codes that drove mobile users to a website with information about the young girl.
Tucsonans also used a number of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to let others around the world know that Isa was missing. Within hours of the news story, post with pictures of young Isabel went up across the social graph.
In addition to a number of YouTube videos created, as police wound down their search efforts, one group of musicians “The Flight Team” released a music video entitled “Bring Isa Home.” So far the video has been seen more than 22,000 times. View the video below and share it with others.
Isa we miss you and we wait for your return. #BringIsaHome #Tucson
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Internet Marketing Trends for Small Business Leaders
May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I recently spoke to a group of small business leaders in Tucson about internet marketing trends.
What other trends do you feel are important in the ever changing world of internet marketing?
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Create an Avatar of your Favorite Customers
November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Often times when meeting with new clients I ask them to describe their target market or perfect client. The answers I get range from “everybody” to small businesses owners on the “North-side” of town. As a business newbie we’ve all said something like this. However, if you ever want to make it to become an “oldie” I’d recommend never repeating it. If you want to be laser focused in your efforts to attract the right clients for your business I’d recommend creating up to 3 Avatars or personalities of your target market and directing your marketing specifically to these individuals.
I’ve known this concept for awhile but recently decided to take it on after hearing a talk by Paul Lemberg at the Social Profit Formula conference in Phoenix, Arizona nearly a week ago.
In less than one week I have effortlessly attracted 3 perfect prospective clients without even looking for them. Why? Because my intentions were crystal clear about what I was looking for. Additionally, I am now able to share my Avatar with others so they can make the best referrals. Lastly, and best of all I get to save time and energy by not wading through the hordes of individuals who simply aren’t a good fit.
Surprisingly, my perfect Avatar was not at all who I thought it would be. This was very eye-opening and caused me to rethink my marketing efforts. Which as I mentioned has worked like a charm.
Below is what I did to create my Avatar. Follow these steps to create your own.
1. Review the records of the customers you’ve worked with.
2. Make a list of 6-10 that you absolutely enjoyed working with. The clients I’ve enjoyed working with the most were very positive, eager to learn, took action, and best of all they didn’t haggle over pricing because they could afford my services.
3. Create a personal and professional profile for each of these individuals based on the following:
Professional
- Industry
- Company size
- Gross Sales
- How they interact with company
- How their employees and peers view them
- Problems they need solved
Personal
- Age
- Sex
- weight
- Race
- Hobbies
- Political preferences (even if you don’t agree)
- Cars they drive
- Marital status
- What inspires them
- What keeps them up at night
4. Find or create a picture of your Avatar.
5. Give him/her a name and personality.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 two more times.
7. Design marketing materials to focus on your 3 Avatars.
8. Share your Avatar with all who ask you to identify your best customer.
Here is an example of one of my perfect Avatars (If this looks like you or someone you know visit SocialMobileBuzz.com to learn more about how I can help you grow your company with social media and mobile marketing.)
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Does Your Story Include the Life of You Really Want?
October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Last week I mentioned that I was reading the book “Trance of Scarcity” and I was sharing my thoughts on Marketing Beyond the Trance of Scarcity. This week our guest blogger, success expert, coach, author and speaker Lynden Kidd will be sharing with us her view on the chapter in “Trance of Scarcity” about ‘stories’ and how they impact our ability to create the results we deserve in life.
We all have a story about ourselves. It usually starts mundanely with; ‘I was born on (fill in the blank date) in (fill in the blank location).’ We also love to tell stories about everything around us. Additionally, we learn powerfully from them too. So, then it seems logical that we’d be empowered by our stories; that they would be informative, uplifting and renewing and that we would tell good ones, rich, juicy benevolent ones about ourselves and each other. NOT. Have you seen the headlines? Have you heard about the US economy; 
about the European one? What about your own story? There isn’t much of a silver lining in anything in the headlines and many of us have chosen really awful personal stories.
With bad news all around us; how do we avoid the instinct to simply hunker down and to wait out this economic winter hoping that spring will arrive before we perish or run out of cash, investments and patience? Answer: we live intentionally.
Each of us is in control of how we respond to the events that happen in our lives, and we craft what happens to us from adolescence through all of our adult years.
Living a life on purpose or a life of intention is very different than trying to get our personal and professional circumstances to behave. Intentional living means living out loud and in a way that aligns us with what really works – being confident, being resilient and exultingly achieving success in our lives and our work.
So, how do we do this you might ask? The most successful among us examine our stories and lives for “limiting” beliefs. We intentionally reviewing what is serving us and what isn’t any more. We focus on the stories and beliefs that serve us and discard all others.
The objective is to transform into a version of yourself that has a story that is worth telling.
Bottom line, intentionality means consciously choosing to write and live a better story. instead of just bumping along like a leaf in a stream. Here’s to great stories!
You can begin your journey for intentional living by attending Lynden’s day long Success by Design workshop on October 8th. Visit http://lyndenkidd.eventbright.com to register.
Use the Coupon code “NETWORK“ to receive $50 off the retail ticket price
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How to Successfully Launch Your First Business
September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A friend of mine recently graduated college and landed a great job in the IT industry only to discover that her passion was baking. She sent me an email requesting my advice. I ended up writing a pretty lengthy response that I believe is filled with information any new entrepreneur can use… so I decide to share it with you; my favorite reader! I apologize in advance for any spelling errors. I like for my my emails to have character.
So…you want to be an entrepreneur? This is a big decision. I’m glad you have job now to support you while you build this dream. Since you want to become a baker lets hop right in to it.
Start Small and fill a Niche
I would start by baking cakes at home and selling them to friends and family while you save money and prepare for your bakery. You may even want to get access to a commercial kitchen at a church if things really get rocking. Most churches have underutilized kitchens and would be happy for an extra $100-200 a month. I recommend choosing a niche (wedding cakes, cup cakes, etc) and getting really good at it You can make a pretty good living off of wedding cakes.
Build a business Plan – Most people say start here. However, if you’re a procrastination you will never get started. My advice is to simply get started and but build your plan before taking on too many customer.
Next, you will need to build a business plan with a good financial forecast. This means you will need to start pricing everything you need as if you were going to open the bakery tomorrow. (Location, oven, city inspection and tax fees, baking ingredients, credit card machine, etc). It wouldn’t be a bad idea to work part-time with a local baker and watch how the run their business.
There are many FREE biz plan templates online http://bplan.com/ is one.
Get Support – Business is a team sport. Lone Rangers are punished harshly
Review your plan with several people who have been successful in business (The keyword is “successful”) and who you trust will give you honest feedback and won’t be a dream stealer. Look around your city for an SBA approved Small Business Development Center or other Free or low cost start-up support centers like SCORE.
I would also become a regular at chamber of commerce, non-profits, and other business/social related meetings. Make friends and lots of them and keep up with them on Facebook and with Christmas cards, etc. They will eventually become your customers. It’s not a bad idea to find out what the top charities are in your city and start volunteering when you can. This will get you noticed by the big players in your city.
Confidence is King – If you don’t have it now read motivational books take seminars and execute on your plan like crazy to build it.
When people ask what you do tell them by you own a cake decorating company and you specialize in_________cakes. Even if you’re baking them in your apartment.
Part of becoming a business leader means acting like one until you believe you really become one. Hence, the phrase from the movie “Boiler Room” Act as If. Customers absolutely love confidence and will pay a premium for it!
Save Your Dough – Most business owners fail because they go broke before they learn how to make money. Don’t be this guy. Additionally, I would caution against taking out large loans on your first enterprise. There is nothing wrong with growing your business with the earnings from your success. Business loans are still loans and have to be repaid (Unless you’re like Trump and you go bankrupt every year).
While you’re doing all of these things keep your expenses way low and start saving like a maniac 25-35% of your pay. You will need at least 6-12 months to live on plus whatever your business plan dictates you will need monthly to run your business until it becomes profitable. Starting home-based bakery can help with this transition.
Be willing to Fail – Because chances are you will
Most businesses fail in the first year. Don’t be afraid of this. Business is 90% mental. If you do the things in this email you will increase your odds by 1000%. Nearly every Millionaire has failed their way to success. In fact, most millionaires fail on average 16 times. Since this is your first business you should be prepared to take at least 15 more shots.
If you don’t want to become a millionaire thats ok but the same rules apply. However, you should plan to make a lot of money at what you do otherwise it’s not worth the risk, worry and sleepless nights.
Oh…and you must learn to Sell, Sell, Sell yourself. If you’re uncomfortable asking for money get over quick there are several seminars and training programs to help you with this.
Finally make sure you read the book “The E-myth Revisited”….this book is critical reading for all entrepreneurs according to nearly every business consultant in America and its core example is built around a bakery concept.
What would you have included in this email to my friend?
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GaggleAmp helps Organizations Promote Themselves through Stakeholders
September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Everyone has been talking about Google + and Facebook’s new timeline so much these days until most have missed one of the latest innovations in increasing social Brand Awareness; GaggleAMP.
Google AMP is a tool designed for brand managers and marketers looking to increase exposure by way of organizational employees, vendors, political, supporters, donors or customer networks. The organization builds a network and the people associated with the network amplify the messages pushed thorough it by posting and retweeting company info to their friends and connections on the various social networks. The idea behind GaggleAMP is to make it easier for an organizations stakeholders to participate in the promotion of that organization in guided fashion.
The stakeholders who agree to promote the company simply sign up to be apart of a “Gaggle” on GaggleAMP and start posting messages. They can even receive emails telling them when they have a message to share.
I exepect to hear more about GaggleAMP in the coming months. This technology has the ability to help small and midsize companies gain a competitive advantage when it comes to increasing brand awareness because it helps them more strategically tap into the relationships they already have.
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Marketing Beyond the Trance of Scarcity
September 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I recently started reading the book “Trance of Scarcity” by Victoria Castle as a part of a reading circle at the Center for Spiritual Living in Tucson. Since choosing to become a full-time entrepreneur in 2006 I have seen many ups and downs in business. I know what it means to work really hard and stay focused and play even when I don’t see results or feel well. I did this for several years and while I did see some business growth I always knew, that it was limited when compared to what I believed I was capable of.
Over the last year or so I have change may game plan a bit. I have been making an effort to just relax, be happy, love my family, take vacations and enjoy life regardless of what the business was doing or not doing.
Please don’t hear this as “I decided to neglect my business” I still did all of the basic things I needed to do to run and promote my business. However, this time I did them from a place of joy and not obligation or fear. When I would get out of this flow I would get back in by focusing on all the things I was grateful for.
The results have been amazing. I hired and contracted several employees this year and my marketing company Social Mobile Buzz is growing like a weed. While I do my best to practice my own marketing rules, I must admit that my largest business deals have come in spite of them. I have shared how I have been creating these results with a few of my clients. However, as of today, I will be making this message an even greater part of my consulting process.
Victoria’s book is a great tool to support this mindset. I am very grateful that she took the time to write a book that provides such clear instructions on how to remain in the flow of abundance.
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Setting Goals and Measuring Success with Social Media
August 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I often meet with clients that want to set up a Facebook or Twitter account. When I ask them how they plan to use it they usually have no clue or jokingly say, “I just want to get more business or sale more products.” While this may be a statement spoken in truth. It warrants further discussion.
While there is an economic value to social media, without clearly defined goals it is difficult to measure one’s success. Here are few goals businesses often have for their social media plan.
• Brand awareness
• Lead generation
• Community building
• Customer service
• Employee Recruiting
When it comes to measuring the accomplishment of these goals you may want to consider measuring milestones that indicate success. There are a number of variables that can be measure. For example. If you wanted to measure brand awareness here are just a few metrics you may want to monitor.
• Number Facebook Page or Ad impressions and “Likes”
• Number of Facebook post shared
• Number of Facebook comments
• Number of mentions regarding your brand across the web
• Number of Daily Website & Blog visits
• Number of Blog comments
• Retweets with link to blog article
• Number of Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, reviews
The great thing about social media marketing is unlike many other form of marketing, it can be tracked an measured in real-time. Facebook Insights, Google Analytics, and Google Alerts are great tools to start with. Best of all they are free. As you advance in your social media marketing you may want to consider using paid tools to measure your performance.
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What is a Brand?
August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The concept of a brand is very large and in many ways esoteric. However, I like to keep things simple. A brand is simply a promise or guarantee of uniqueness made to a customer. The best brands are those that communicate their uniqueness so well that when you think of a type of product or industry their name comes to mind.
Here are a few examples, when you need to blow your nose, you ask for a Kleenex. When you need a copier machine you ask for a Xerox. When you need to do an online search you “Google it.” These brands have been so well positioned in our minds until it is almost heresy to consider another product in the category they dominate.
Coca Cola is and anther great example. Have you ever wondered why it is called “the real thing?” Two words, brilliant branding. This phrase begs the question If Coca Cola is “the real thing,” what is everything else? The logical answer to this question is everything else that is not Coca Cola is a knock off, a fraud, a fake. Why? Because Coca Cola said so…over, and over again and so do all the people you know.
The last statement brings me to another point. While companies do their best to create and influence their brand, the people have the last say.
In the 70’s before Toyota became an industry leader in quality and sales, If you were to ask an American what they thought of Toyota or Japanese cars, most would say that they were an unreliable piece of junk. No matter how much they spent on advertising “Piece of Junk” was indeed their brand. Why? Because based on their experiences, this is what the people concluded and held in their conscious and subconscious mind.
As a business owner, speaker, consultant or coach you must consciously create your own brand. What unique promise will you make to your customer? What can they get from you that they can get nowhere else? This is your brand.
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