When faced with a blank computer screen and a looming deadline for new marketing copy, most people get a little uptight. It’s intimidating to capture everything you want a prospect to know and share it in a compelling way. Your product or service is superb, and you have so much to say. How will you do it justice?

Unfortunately, most marketing copy is dreadful.

Here are the most common mistakes.

1. We do a brain dump, sharing everything we know.
2. We want to demonstrate that we’re experts, so we use impressive words and jargon that shows we’re in the know.
3. We cram too many words into the piece because it’s all important.
4. We talk about our company, our product, our people… but not about our customers.

If you make even one of those mistakes, odds are your prospects are taking a glance at your first two or three sentences—then moving on. You haven’t invited them into the conversation. You’re just talking about you.

Remember that you are trying to start a conversation. Who would you rather talk to: someone who walks up to you and asks a question about you, or a person who walks up and starts telling you all about themselves?

So, how do we avoid those mistakes?

Consider How Your Prospects Talk

I can have the best deal in the world, but if I tell you about it in Japanese and you don’t speak Japanese… you can’t possibly want what I am selling.

You need to know your prospect well enough that you know how they talk:

• Are they engineers who use very precise, detailed language and acronyms?
• Are they teachers who speak with affection and pride about their students?
• Are they purchasing agents who need to squeeze every penny from the deal and deliver the highest ROI possible?

Understanding the language your target audience uses and how they’re going to have to sell your offering up and down the food chain will allow you to craft your message in their native tongue.

Your prospects are busy. They won’t take the time to decipher your marketing messages. If they don’t instantly understand your message and see that you’re talking to them, they’ll pass over your messages every time.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Funny Nerds)

Years ago, the political philosopher Leo Strauss wrote an essay titled “Persecution and the Art of Writing,” in which he advocated reading some philosophers “between the lines.” For a host of reasons, the philosopher felt that the truth he had to speak could only be spoken surreptitiously or “by means of brief indication.”

Of course, one can run into a lot of trouble scholastically when arguing that a philosopher meant to say something other than what he explicitly stated. I mean, how are you supposed to prove that?

Strauss insists that a “between the lines” reading is at least plausible if you find cases where the thinker has subtly contradicted orthodox beliefs (or the ruling beliefs of the time) and is absolutely necessary when you find “explicit evidence” (such as correspondence or journal entries) indicating that the philosopher has chosen to express his views in this esoteric manner.

Why am I bringing up Strauss? I was thinking a lot about secret messages when I read The Go-Giver, by Bob Burg and John David Mann, in preparation for Bob’s appearance as a guest on our podcast, Marketing Smarts. (If you’d like to hear my entire interview with Bob, you may do so here.)

The book is a business parable about a young everyman, Joe, who finds himself in a jam at work and seeks the advice of an older gentleman, Pindar, who teaches him “The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success.” Joe puts the laws into practice and finds the success he was seeking.

On the surface, the message of the book is fairly straightforward: If you focus on how providing value for others and serving them, then you will ultimately succeed in business and in life. The idea that those lessons are not just business lessons but also life lessons is highlighted towards the end of the book when a character tells Joe, “The point is not what you do. Not what you accomplish. It’s who you are.” [Emphasis in original.]

What made me wonder whether there might be something beneath this surface, however, were Pindar’s repeated admonitions: “Appearances can be deceiving… In fact, they nearly always are.” He tells Joe that in their first meeting, repeats it when they meet the character Ernesto (here replacing “In fact” with “Truth is”), and then towards the end when he says, “Just to keep things interesting, things are always a bit the opposite of what they seem.”

Believing this sentiment to be a strong indication that we should read the book between the lines, I asked Burg about it. He laughed, saying that there was no secret message, just the simple but profound truth of what leads to success.

Not satisfied with that answer (I’m somewhat paranoid by nature—studying German philosophy will do that to you!), I asked Burg whether the secret message might have something to do with his political beliefs. His beliefs are not a secret; he states in his bio, “Bob is an advocate, supporter and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve.” (That last part is a paraphrase of The Go-Giver’s “Law of Compensation,” which states, “Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”) However, his book is not overtly political in any way.

While Burg didn’t go so far as to say that I had uncovered a “secret message,” he did point out the laws of success described by John and himself “would not hold true within a communist system.” We also spent the last segment of the interview discussing the portrayal of the wealthy in the mass media (“Society as it is makes money the enemy,” he said) and the proper role of government in a society distinguished by “free minds and free markets.”

Have you read The Go-Giver? Did you uncover any secret messages?

More importantly, do you think it is effective to create interest in your products or your brand by suggesting that “there’s more to it than meets the eye”?

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Young Man Reading)

A guest blog post by Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich.

A classic marketing strategy mistake is to select tools because they are new or talked about frequently in the media.

Fascinated with the latest tool, marketing rounds (what we like to call your team) forget to select media and methods to achieve an objective.

Measurable objectives, however, often require selecting a primary approach towards the customer, after which tools are selected based on budget, time, and other resources.

There are four common approaches to marketing campaigns today.

Direct Community Interaction With Stakeholders

Whenever possible, marketers and communicators should directly interact with their primary stakeholders. Whether the topic is sales, donations, input on ideas, agreement on civil actions, public resolution of customer issues, customer reviews, or other actions, direct communication is most likely to produce outcomes—and do so quickly.

Top-Down Influence Approaches

The top-down attitude is one in which media—events, PR, some types of advertising campaigns, and well-known influencers—are used to “inform” the marketplace about new products. The message comes to the marketplace from a position of authority, and the source hopes that the positions of media voices, celebrities, and bloggers are enough to persuade customers.

The Groundswell

Not every company has the luxury of an established customer base for its products and services, nor the resources to support advertising and promotional campaigns. The groundswell method of marketing a product or service is fostering word of mouth-marketing to loyal customers by the individual, who shares with dozens, and so forth.

Flanking Techniques

The direct, top-down, and groundswell approaches are common in traditional advertising, social media, public relations, networking, and direct marketing disciplines.

But sometimes, a company has regulations and obstructions, or a lack of a loyal customer base, or no one is talking positively about it, etc. Then that communications effort must employ flanking techniques, such as advertising, content marketing, or search engine optimization (SEO) as primary tools.

All these approaches can be blended; some tools can be used across different approaches. For example, social media can be a lead tool set for groundswell approaches but provide customer support for a direct marketing campaign, or blogger relations for a top-down approach.

Similarly, approaches can support each other in a large multichannel campaign. Top-down approaches can be used to support a direct marketing campaign, much in the way that Apple launches its products with events and publicity—coinciding with strong email marketing campaigns to drive existing customers to buy.

The question becomes how to select the right approach to meet objectives.

Here are four factors your marketing team should use to select the company’s marketing approach.

1. Key performance indicators. What does strategic success for the company/product line look like?
2. The corresponding marketing objectives, whether they be lead generation, branding, or both.
3. Stakeholders and how you can communicate with them. What is your relationship with customers like? Do you have significant customers lists? Do you have a good market reputation? Are barriers in the way? Let your relationships dictate the primary approach.
4. Capacity to market to them, specifically your budget, time for success and your human resources

These components form a framework to determine the marketing round strategy and dictate your possible approaches and tools. When you list them on paper, the right strategic approach(es) become clearer, and ideas about how to use your particular tools to achieve the right result also begin to evolve. You can begin to visualize the path towards the end result.

We realize a blog post is not enough to delve deeply into the four approaches and how to select them. In fact, we dedicated five chapters of our new book Marketing in the Round to this particular aspect of multichannel marketing strategy development.

We know you want to realize objectives in your campaign. You want people to buy your product or service, and to advocate your brand. That allows a company to win a market and defeat its competitors. Independently or sequenced, the primary approaches form a baseline to approaching marketing strategies. We hope you’ll use these general ideas as starting point to think about how to launch your next successful marketing campaign.

Geoff Livingston is an author and marketing strategist, and serves as vice president of Strategic Partnerships for Razoo. A former journalist, Livingston continues to write. Most recently, he co-authored Marketing in the Round and authored the social media primer Welcome to the Fifth Estate.

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks, and co-author of Marketing in the Round.

Their new book Marketing in the Round shows you how to get more value from all your marketing and communications channels integrated together!

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Number Four)

A guest blog post by Maranda Gibson of AccuConference.

Former St. Louis Cardinals powerhouse first baseman Albert Pujols traded the Midwest for the West Coast when he accepted a record-breaking deal from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

His start for the Angels was highly anticipated, so many people were shocked that Pujols had done more striking out than anything else since the beginning of the season.

That’s right. A lot of money was invested in a man who could hit a home run off any pitcher in either league, but all he had managed to do lately was strike out—until May 6, 2012. That’s when he finally hit a home run for the Angels in a 4-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

What businesses can learn from Pujols’ experience is that everyone has a slump once in a while. Success brings pressure and the desire to not let down the people who have invested in us. Despite those feelings, we will have a slump sometimes. In fact, our feelings may contribute to our lack of home runs.

So, how do we survive a slump? What did Albert do?

Here are four ideas to help businesses break out of their slumps.

Make adjustments. We all take on new jobs and responsibilities. Our new location could be anything from a new city to a new desk on the other side of the office building. Though a new move may shine bright with promise, we may not be able to harness that power right away. We have to adjust to a new room, a new building, a new city, or even just being moved away from our co-workers. A transition may not be easy, but adaptation is vital to getting out of a slump.

Believe in your abilities and talents. Pujols never said he couldn’t do it. Whether in a slump or not, Albert didn’t doubt that he was the kind of guy that could start slapping home runs again. He knew he was talented, he knew he had the power, and he couldn’t let negative thoughts get into his brain and start eating away at his motivation. That’s part of the power of a slump for anyone in any business out there.

Remember to be patient. When we fail to perform as expected, we often try to force ourselves to that moment where we can hold up our arms in triumph. But our lack of patience isn’t always helpful. Trying to rush things causes mistakes and burns us out. Keep pushing through; don’t rush things. Albert was patient with his performance and never did anything that would get him injured.

Get some breathing room. I find it an interesting coincidence that, on Saturday, Albert was not in the lineup, and on Sunday, he finally broke his home run slump. Maybe those 24 hours of breathing room enabled him to get his head straight. Hitting the refresh button is good for our brains. If you can’t think of a great blog post, stop writing for a couple of days. If you’re stuck in getting people to listen to what you’re saying, step back and listen for a while. You never know—it might just mean you’ll hit a home run the next day.

Even if you’re not a sports fan, you can still find similarities between the world of business and the world of professional sports. We all get in a slump. It’s what we do to get out of it that it really matters. Fortunately, most of us don’t have hundreds of thousands of people waiting to see us fail.

How do you break your slumps?

Maranda Gibson is the regular writer for the AccuConference website and blog. She is passionate about making meetings more bearable and offers advice that can help to change the way your participants see meetings.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Albert Pujols Hitting Ball)

A guest post by Irv Shapiro of Ifbyphone.

The term “marketing automation” often conjures up images of people waiting on hold or receiving out-of-office responses. However, smart business owners know that marketing automation equals measured results.

The term “marketing automation” includes lead management, Web analytics, email marketing, voice-based measurement, inbound marketing, and social media. And marketing automation contains a wealth of opportunities for businesses to…

• Measure ROI and lead quality
• Streamline the leads-to-sales process
• Enhance user interaction with brands

How important is marketing automation to business? B2B marketers spent about $325 million on marketing automation in 2011—a 50% increase over 2010.

In the following infographic, voice-based marketing automation leader Ifbyphone offers a look at marketing automation in 2012.

As CEO and CTO of Ifbyphone, Irv Shapiro is responsible for overall business strategy and corporate leadership. His business success has earned him several awards including as inductee status with the “Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame” and as gold winner in the Executive of the Year category for the Best in Biz Awards.

A guest post by Roland Benedetti of Nuxeo.

Ten years ago, if you asked a group of marketing professionals which content management systems (CMS) they encountered most often, you would probably get a few blank stares. Nowadays, however, everyone knows what a content management system is because marketers use them nearly every day to create content, edit websites, and manage projects.

But is there only one type of CMS? Do they all operate the same? Which type is best for which function? One of the biggest differences in CMS solutions is what is called open source vs. cloud-based solutions. Do you know if the CMS you’re using runs on an open source platform? Is it cloud-based? What’s the difference, anyway? And why should marketers even care?

The difference is that open source is a development model—think how the software developers create an app—and the cloud refers to how a software application is delivered to users. Both open source and cloud-based platforms come with their fair share of benefits and limitations.

Here is a breakdown of what each type of CMS platform offers. I hope this helps answer questions regarding which CMS solution is right for your needs.

Open Source Means Better Software

To better understand what it means for a CMS to be “open source,” let’s consider a platform that just about every digital marketing professional knows well: WordPress.

WordPress is an open source CMS. When a platform is open source, its source code is freely available for developers to modify and improve. Open source gives developers the freedom to:

• Customize the solution to meet the needs of users
• Enable new functionality within an existing platform to solve a business problem
• Deliver scalable solutions that can grow with organizations

Those are the main reasons WordPress is such an effective solution for many organizations’ blogs and even some smaller websites. WordPress isn’t some giant company hiding out in an office park somewhere, overseeing all aspects of the CMS and disallowing outsiders from changing anything.

On the contrary, WordPress is free for anyone to tinker with. For that matter, so are other open source CMS solutions like Drupal and Joomla. That’s why your experience using the CMS won’t be the same as the marketer down the street’s experience. You’re using a version of WordPress that’s highly customized to meet the needs of your organization or your client.

Because the source code is out there for any developer to modify it, WordPress can answer so many questions for marketing professionals, such as…

• How will clients be able to implement useful contact forms?
• How can we be reminded if we didn’t use a keyword in the H2 tag?
• Is there any way to put floating social share icons to the left of the body copy?

WordPress provides solutions to all these issues because developers all over the world collaborate to make it a more effective platform. Simply put, open source applications are better from a development perspective (because everyone is invited to participate) and from an end user’s perspective.

If WordPress is to thank for helping marketers make major breakthroughs in the last several years, it’s thanks to open source that it is such an effective CMS.

Cloud-Based Means Flexibility

Let’s not forget the other thing about WordPress that makes it so useful for marketers: It lives in the cloud.

That WordPress is a cloud app may seem too obvious a fact to ponder very deeply. After all, WordPress is what we use to publish blog posts. Blog posts are read online, so it only makes sense that WordPress would be in the cloud.

Remember, however, that not every CMS deals with blogging. Many a CMS, whether it’s an open source solution or not, exists “in-house” on company-run servers and helps employees of an organization share, modify, and work with content. It’s not always online content, per se, but documents and information that users send through a workflow.

A marketing firm, for instance, might use a proprietary CMS to manage client files. Through the system’s interface, users can easily retrieve, modify, and send documents to other people to complete tasks. This type of CMS has been around for many years, and organizations have traditionally been responsible for hosting their own data.

But with any non-cloud CMS, there are several common problems.

• Updates—The responsibility of keeping software current rests with IT personnel; it doesn’t happen automatically.
• Mobility—Users can’t always access the CMS on the go, at least not very easily.
• Costs—Companies have to maintain their own hosting and storage for the data inside the CMS.
• Security—Storing data in-house may mean lower redundancy than cloud storage, which could put the local data at greater risk.

Sounds archaic? Maybe you’re accustomed to cloud-based content management and all the benefits it offers. (Note: Though we used WordPress as a cloud-based CMS example, it is just one of many such solutions.)

Drupal also lets users store everything in the cloud. Like WordPress, Drupal is known as a blogging platform, but it is also a comprehensive, feature-packed CMS for companies of all sizes. Drupal is easy to access on the go, and many organizations find it secure, modern, and cost-effective. Joomla is a CMS that offers similar functionality. Both of these solutions thrive in a cloud environment and offer all the benefits of off-site data storage.

So, open source is about application development, and the cloud is about content delivery. Whether you’re using a CMS in-house or at a client site, both models provide benefits that make it easier to finish tasks and improve your efficiency. The question is do you need a CMS system that has both or does one’s features outweigh the other?

The answer will be determined by many factors, including your organization’s needs, workflow, technical know-how, budget, and available functional features. Just remember: Before setting out on your journey for a new CMS, know exactly what you need it to do so you can stay focused and find the best solution for your needs.

Roland Benedetti is an IT professional with over 14 years of experience in content management and information management for leading software vendors, integrators, media, and e-business companies. He works at Nuxeo, a software company providing a full enterprise document management platform, open source, for any kind of content-driven application.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Apple and Heavy Orange)

“If you believe business is built on relationships, make building them your business,” says Scott Stratten in his best-selling book, UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.

In our digital age, your clients and potential customers are talking, sharing, advising, and even gossiping on social networks. So, how do you join in meaningful conversations with your audience? How do you avoid sounding like you’re lecturing your potential clients or badgering your existing ones?

To help you learn how to engage in mutually beneficial relationships online, we’re offering you the opportunity to hear Scott Stratten at a free seminar, sponsored by Citrix.

At the free seminar “UnMarketing: Top Tools and Techniques for Engaging Your Audience Online,” Stratten will discuss:

• The right platform for your online business strategy
• Why some companies thrive (and most fail) in social media
• How to generate online buzz about your business

The free one-hour seminar starts at 1 p.m. (Eastern time) on May 16, 2012.

To get the details and registration info, just visit the free seminar page.

A guest blog post by Jason Ferrara of Ifbyphone.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, so I started making a mental list of all the little (and not-so-little) lessons my mom taught me over the years. In teaching me how to cook and clean, and offering parenting advice, my mom has been a constant source of wisdom and guidance.

Mom also taught me how to be a better marketer (this most likely surprises her). I realized that Mom taught me four key behaviors that I use everyday in my marketing role.

1. Always Call If You’re Going to Be Late
My mom is a stickler about calling if you’re going to be late. Her insistence on a courtesy call speaks to the importance of effective communication in marketing. The more you invest in communicating with customers and prospects, the happier they will be—and the more likely they are to stay connected to you and your company.

2. Learn to Appreciate Others
My mom taught me how to cook and do laundry at an early age. She wanted the help, but she also wanted me to appreciate the work she did around the house. The lesson for marketers is that, although strategy is important, sometimes you need to get your hands dirty and dig into tactics, so you can appreciate the roles other people play in your marketing agenda.

3. Be Prepared by Planning Ahead
When I was growing up, my mom kept a file of my clothing sizes and measurements. She always wanted to be prepared to buy clothes that fit me properly. In marketing, data plays an equally important role. It give you the information you need to make solid decisions at a moment’s notice.

4. Life Is More Fun with a Diverse Group Friends
My mom has taught me that life is simply more fun and more interesting when you share it with a diverse group of friends. In marketing, diverse groups of coworkers bring fresh perspectives to the table and underscore the need to avoid homogeneous hiring routines.

Marketing isn’t easy. But a few common sense tips from my mom (or from your own mother) just may be what you need to maintain meaningful connections with your company’s most important audiences.

Jason Ferrara is responsible for all facets of Ifbyphone’s marketing efforts, including overall marketing strategy, new market segments, and managing communications with the company’s existing customer base.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Mom and Daughter Having Fun)

A guest blog post by Jens Lundgaard of Brandworkz.

I have recently been in Silicon Valley and San Francisco meeting with a variety of CMOs and marketing directors, as well as many branding and marketing agencies.

Silicon Valley is incredibly dynamic and forward-thinking when it comes to software and technology across every industry sector. One of our own clients, Varian, is located there. They are at the forefront of life sciences, pioneering breakthrough proton-therapy equipment for cancer patients that enables 3-D targeting of tumors coupled with software-assisted dosage regulation.

All this innovative thinking is rubbing off on some marketers and agencies there. And it has highlighted in my mind what the main drivers of a strong brand strategy and good brand management will be in the coming years.

1. User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)

Brands need to rethink where and how they interact with their consumers. Digital user experiences are rapidly taking over traditional brand touch points as the most important interfaces for brands with their customers.

Take banking, for example. I interact more often with my bank through its iPhone app and various personal and business Web applications than I do through the bank’s physical or paper-based touch points.

When my bank recently released a new version of its iPhone app with a massively improved UI/UX, which, by the way, is also very on-brand in terms of look and feel, my estimation of the bank went up—by more than it would have through any other brand- or marketing-related activity the bank could have undertaken.

What does this mean if you are a brand owner?

Before embarking on any brand or re-brand exercise, ask your existing customers—and potential ones—what the most important touch points with your organization are likely to be for them. Then rank them in terms of which ones will contribute the most to consumer satisfaction and which will attract potential customers most effectively.

Then decide if…

a.) you should go with a “traditional” branding agency that is strong on general positioning and creative—and then have a separate digital agency interpreting this output for your digital UX and UI
b.) digital user experiences are so important to your customers that this justifies choosing an agency that has UX as a core competency—but also understands and can develop a brand positioning

What does this mean if you are a branding agency?

If you don’t already have a strong digital UX and UI capability or you aren’t in the process of developing it, you need to start—now.

Many brand owners are already putting that capability at the top of the list when choosing a branding agency. These agencies will sooner rather than later become the agencies of record (or in UK terms, lead agency) because they are also picking up the traditional branding work, such as positioning, identity, communications, stationery, signage, brochures, and other marketing materials.

2. Analytics

Analytics is becoming even more integral to good brand management. With an effective digital asset management system, businesses will soon be able to track where and how brand assets are being used online and their effectiveness and relevance.

In the case of material with a limited lifespan, such as specific campaigns, videos, or images, businesses can track where these are, so they can be replaced when appropriate. This is vital in the digital space where the interaction between brand and consumers is two-way.

If you are a brand owner, ask yourself the following questions.

• When your images and videos are used on third-party sites, should these be available from your brand-management site, so you can track their popularity and use, and change them if they become out of date?
• If you allow consumers or third parties to download your brand images and videos, can you track where they are used?

3. Differentiated Positioning and Visual Style

What I have also learned is that, while advances in technology are changing the face of brand management, a differentiated positioning and supporting visual style remain as important as ever—if not more so.

Most product categories are immensely crowded. Competition is now not just from your own country but from the whole world; consumers are switching their spending to the Internet.

To build a successful brand and business, you must have a product or service that is highly relevant to your target market and that you can differentiate from your competitors’ products or services. In addition, you must communicate this clearly and consistently, both visually and through your messaging in every communications channel you use.

Jens Lundgaard is founder and CEO of Brandworkz. He has been developing cloud-based brand and digital asset management technology since the 1990s for such companies as Eurostar, Bupa, and Sony Ericsson.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Future)

How do you differentiate yourself in a marketplace so intensely regulated that everyone has to charge the same amount for services rendered? Likewise, how do you differentiate yourself when the service you offer is free and people see little difference between you and your competitors?

Those questions became the theme of the most recent episode of Marketing Smarts, which we recorded live in Los Angeles on April 25. Our guests were Eric Granof of AIA, the nation’s largest underwriter of bail bonds, and Brad Abare, founder of the Center for Church Communication and communications director for the evangelical Foursquare denomination. And though you might not think bail bond marketing and church marketing have much in common, they do share this problem: differentiation.

During our conversation, Eric pointed out, “Bail’s a regulated insurance product. Everyone has to charge the same. You file rates [so] it’s all marketing; it’s all branding.”

To help AIA’s agents address this issue, they created a site, ExpertBail, that does three things: It provides a lot of content to educate people on the bail industry; it profiles agents to put a human face on the industry (a face that doesn’t resemble Dog); and, finally, it recommends agents that have been vetted according to the site’s standards. This “certification” can make a real difference, according to Eric, “when you go down that bail bond row.”

Why? Because after seeing bail agent after bail agent, you suddenly see “ExpertBail—Trusted” and think, “I”m going to trust that guy.”

In other words, when you can’t differentiate on price, and the product is essentially the same, you need to differentiate on things like character and trust. With ExpertBail, AIA provides a platform that allows their agents to do just that.

Turning to the world of Christian churches, we run into a strikingly similar problem. To the extent that they preach the same Gospel and are based on a common set of values, churches can’t really “compete” on message. For all intents and purposes, they all have the same message. And because church services tend to follow the same template (music, prayer, sermon, etc.), you can’t really compete on, well, service. So, how do you entice people to visit your church instead of the one down the street?

“What brings people in to a local church community,” Brad told me, “whether it’s a church or a parish or whatever the denomination is, is something unique about that church.”

Because all churches are offering the same basic product/service, they need to pay special attention to the question, “What makes you you?”

It can take a lot of work and soul-searching to come up with a satisfying—and differentiating—answer to that question. Some churches focus on the pastor or minister, and his or her teaching as the community’s unique selling point. The problem with doing that, Brad points out, is that if something happens to that person—they leave or, worse, become involved in some sort of scandal, as happens from time to time—then attendance inevitably goes down.

Rather than building a “cult of personality,” Brad recommends that churches focus on defining the “personality of the church.” Why was it founded? What is the goal of its ministry? How does it seek to serve the greater community? Churches then should work on bringing that to the surface. “That,” he says, “is how you connect with community.”

The bottom line is this: If there is nothing that truly differentiates you from your competition, you’ve already lost. Fortunately, there probably is something unique and special about your organization, be it a church or a business. Find and articulate that, and you’ve already won!

So how have you created differentiation when you can’t do so on product or price?

If you’d like to listen to my conversations with Eric and Brad, you may do so here. If you’d like to make sure that you never miss an episode of Marketing Smarts, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Standing Out)

A guest post by Ann Ehnert.

Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns in Google provide great opportunities for businesses to appear in search results for targeted keywords and to direct visitors to landing pages. But the optimization fun doesn’t (and shouldn’t) stop there.

After your team optimizes ad titles, URLs, and copy, consider the following three ideas for encouraging even more clicks on your ads.

1. Incorporate sitelink ads extension. Sitelinks ads are URLs that appear with your paid search campaign but are separate from the title, URL, and ad copy. The sitelinks live right under your PPC ad, and they provide additional suggestions to your target audience. The titles can be customized to include specific keywords or calls to action to further engage your potential customers.

2. Aim for the seller ratings extension. Seller ratings appended to a PPC ad are positive reviews of online stores that are aggregated by Google Product Review from several online review sites. Not every PPC ad will be eligible for this opportunity right away. (Google has a set of criteria that your business must meet to have your reviews appear along with your ad.)

Here’s the scoop: Once your online business achieves 30 reviews with a four-star rating on Google Product Search, it is eligible to have the seller ratings extension. There is no work on your end to start showing the seller ratings.

3. Include social extensions. Consider joining the forces of Google+ with your AdWords account. This will allow those users who have +1’d your page to appear below the ad copy. That not only highlights your presence on the social network but also lets your visitors know that other users have noticed or recognized your services and continue to follow you, thus increasing your organization’s online reputation.

Setting up is easy as pie. Once you have created and verified a Google+ Business Page, go to your AdWords account, and click on the “Ad Extensions.” Once there, you will see an option for “social extensions,” which will allow you to paste in the verified Google+ Business page URL. And that’s all there is to it!

And this is just the beginning. Once your PPC ads are up and running, continue to be proactive in the management of the campaign and seek ways of improving.

What other optimization tools are you using to boost your ROI?

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Winning Money)

Four years ago, my husband and I moved from a big city in northern California to a tiny town in central Arizona. I went through a tough adjustment period. I missed my family, friends, and my familiar routine. But more than anything, I missed Trader Joe’s.

But last month, everything changed. A big, shiny, colorful, brand-spanking-new Trader Joe’s opened!

My husband, who only goes to the grocery store under the threat of starvation, was completely baffled by my excitement at the prospect of a new place to buy food. As I tried to rationalize my unfettered glee, I started thinking about the “4 P’s of Marketing” and why, even after a four-year drought, I’m still loyal to Trader Joe’s.

Product

First, I love Trader Joe’s products because they are simple. I can pronounce each ingredient in each item I buy, and the list of ingredients doesn’t take up half of each package. Don’t get me wrong; simple does not mean boring. Which brings me to the second reason I love Trader Joe’s products: variety. Whether I’m in the mood for something Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, French, or Mediterranean, I know I can find something to please my palate.

Best of all, if I try something and I don’t like it, I can take it back for a full refund. No questions asked—even if the container is empty. I rarely dislike anything because Trader Joe’s products are consistently good.

Marketing Takeaway: The root of great marketing is a great product. Which sounds obvious, maybe. But you have to nail product before anything else. Are you creating a product that your customers will love? That they’ll go out of their way to access? That they value?

Price

I spend less money on grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s than I do at “regular” grocery stores, period. I’ve done the comparison-shopping. But even better than that, I know the pricing at Trader Joe’s is consistent. I don’t need coupons. I don’t need a club card. I don’t need to shop on the first Wednesday of each month to get my orange juice for $1.99. It’s always $1.99. And, because Trader Joe’s private labels the majority of what it sells, Trader Joe’s doesn’t have to push the cost of name brands to consumers. No middlemen. Ever.

Marketing Takeaway: Don’t rely on gimmicks and discounts to sell your product or service. Decide what it’s worth (do your research), and most importantly, be consistent.

Promotion

Trader Joe’s doesn’t do print or TV ads. Trader Joe’s doesn’t use an advertising agency. Because they don’t have to. Spending money on advertising means they’d have to jack up prices, so they don’t. Occasionally, you’ll hear a radio ad, but those announcements are read by a company employee, not a voice-over actor. All the artwork in the stores is made in-store, by hand, by a team of artists. Yep, artists. Not computers. Each shelf tag, chalkboard, and mural was created with markers, paint, and chalk. What’s not to love about that?

Marketing Takeaway: Don’t spend money promoting your product if your product will suffer because of it. You can build buzz around your product without spending a fortune; it happens all the time. Take advantage of brand loyalists to tell your story for you. When in doubt remember: Authenticity rules.

Place

There’s more to place than location. Yes, Trader Joe’s did the research and determined that a new store would thrive where I live, but the spot on the map is only one part of the equation. For the place to be the right place, there has to be the right atmosphere—one that’s inviting (flowers at the front door) and friendly (crew members in cute t-shirts). That’s what Trader Joe’s does so well. My excitement walking into the new store wasn’t just about buying food. It wasn’t even about price, product, or promotion. It was about the place. A place where I felt… at home.

Marketing Takeaway: Humans are emotional, and we want to connect. Are you creating an environment where your customers feel welcome? Websites are environments, too, and every click offers a chance to connect. Don’t squander a single opportunity to demonstrate that you value those connections.

Imagine doing business with Iron Man*, Captain America, Thor, or the Hulk. What business lessons would they share?

Download a bigger, brighter PDF of this infodoodle, if you like.

* I know, I know. Tony Stark is a businessperson, but just go with it…

A sparkling résumé used to be all you needed to navigate a career path. The right names and places on paper answered the basic questions about you and your professional experience. Nowadays, however, a résumé isn’t enough to tell your story.

To help you learn the best way to share your professional story, seize the personal branding trends this year, and boost your career, we’re offering our free Marketing Kit: Career.

The kit is packed with career advice for smart marketers.

You’ll learn about the personal branding trends for 2012, such as the personalization of work, crowdsourcing for professionals, and personal publishing. And you’ll receive suggestions that take your professional bio from great to outstanding.

If you need to retool your marketing team (or want to be on one), you can check out information about skills that are in demand.

Plus, MarketingProfs own chief content officer Ann Handley shares 11 key traits for companies wanting to hire chief content officers. (And if you want to become one, check out her list. Do you have all the vital traits of a chief content officer?)

Get all the details at the free Marketing Kit: Career page and download the free PDF.

How many times have you visited a website and ended up sorely disappointed? Or worse, annoyed as all get out? For me, the answer is an easy one: a lot!

So, I put together a list of the 12 things that annoy me the most about websites. Maybe you’ll agree; maybe you won’t.

Let’s see…

12. Music

Music blares the minute I visit your site. That is unexpected, disruptive, and downright rude, from a customer experience standpoint. And, in case you weren’t sure, it ticks me (and most people) off more than just about anything. Wake up and smell the coffee! That is so 2001. Frankly, it wasn’t cool even back then—but today, music on your website can mean the kiss of death.

11. Flash

Your “awesome” Flash website takes forever to load and then blasts me with all these neat-o visuals that require me to twiddle my thumbs and waste precious time. I need information, not entertainment. Get over yourselves. Quit listening to your creative team (and if they’re recommending Flash, hire a new team), and maximize the three seconds of attention I’m willing to give you by telling me something I want or need to know.

10. Pop-ups

Pop-up ads (and that’s what they are) make me want to kill you. Yeah, I know they’re effective at boosting click-through rates. I still hate ‘em. Stop it. Using pop-up ads tells me you don’t care about my experience—you just want to sell me crap. It’s like going on a first date, and having the date say, “Let’s fool around” before dinner hits the table. It’s too much. Too soon. I don’t care what the experts say. Pop-up ads make me want to leave.

9. Walking Ads

[Cue scream here.] Speaking of pop-ups, walking ads stink even more. They are annoying, disruptive, and inconsiderate. I came to your site for information. You only have one chance to make a good first impression, and walking ads are not the way to do it. I don’t care who sold you on it. It’s a bad idea.

8. Contact Info

Sure, I have a lot of patience and free time. I really WANT to have to dig through your bleepin’ site to find your contact information. That makes my life super-easy. Go ahead, hide it! Or better yet, don’t put contact info on there at all. That’s one way to ensure we don’t ever work together.

7. Mystery

Websites that don’t tell me what you do, why I need what you do, and what it’s gonna cost me are downright ineffective. I don’t want to dig for pricing. I want the information, and I want it now. Being coy might work when you’re dating, but when it comes to business, I’m like Sergeant Friday on Dragnet. Just the facts, ma’am. You’ve got about three seconds of my time and attention—use it wisely. And copy that’s “mysterious” is not.

6. Down the Rabbit Hole

Contact pages that make us feel like Alice in Wonderland? Not prudent. And when your contact form leads us to default email programs that we can’t stand, they cause us to immediately leave your site. For instance, I don’t use Mail; I don’t want to use Mail. And when your contact form automatically loads Mail for me, it makes curse words flow out of my mouth that are very unladylike. WHAT are you thinking? Stop it. Please.

5. Black Backgrounds

Black backgrounds and white or grey type are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to read. With very few exceptions (there are some sites done very well by people who know what they’re doing, but they are rare), cut it out. Black backgrounds stink. And if your Web-design team thinks those backgrounds are cool, do your homework. Ask people who know about converting the leads that come to your website to sales about the performance of sites with dark backgrounds. After all, isn’t that what you’re really interested in—leads that you can convert to sales?

4. Miniscule Text

Fonts that are too small can be remedied by a surfer; I’ll give you that. But it annoys me when I have to manually bump up the type. And I’m thinking that if you really think about what you want from a site visitor in terms of actions, it’s not making them do something to learn more. Tell your Web developers with young eyes that it’s often old folks like me who are making the buying decisions. The “default” font most Web developers use is almost ALWAYS too small. Bump it up a notch. Or three. You’ll be amazed at how much happier your Web surfers will be. Know who your customers and prospects are; serve them information that is easy for them to consume—without the need for modifications.

3. An Undesired Delivery

I consume a lot of content. And when I find yours—and I like it—I want to read more. And I want it delivered to my email inbox, not my Reader, which I use for different things. When your blog doesn’t take that into consideration, I know you’re not paying attention. And I know you don’t care about me as a consumer, you’re only thinking about how you like information delivered. Newsflash: It’s not about you. A vast majority of content consumers are just like me. They want content delivered to their email inbox rather than subscribing via an RSS feed. When you overlook that and when you don’t offer me an option that suits my consumption preferences, it tells me you’re not paying attention.

2. Searching for Search

What are you doing to make it easy for people to search your site? You’d be amazed how many sites don’t have an easy-to-find search function—or that don’t have a search function at all. That’s just plain dumb. Make sure your website has an easy-to-locate, easy-to-use search button.

1. Anti-Social

Where are the buttons displaying where to find you on the Web? I keep running across websites that have social sharing buttons on them, but when you click on the buttons, instead of taking you to say, for instance, someone’s Facebook page, it allows me to share your page of content on Facebook. Seriously? As if I want to share your “About” page on Facebook? No, dummy. What I’m looking for is your brand presence on Facebook (or Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)—maybe because I want to “like” you there and pay attention to what you’re doing. Not having social sharing buttons shows me that you’re not participating in the social media space (whether that’s really the case). And it also shows me that you have no idea that I’m judging you—and your level of savviness about the digital space and the importance of social networks—based on their absence. Is that what you want? Really?

The Bottom Line

Don’t be egocentric when it comes to Web design. Know who your audience is and what people come to your site looking for. Or what you want them to come to your site looking for. Let your Web analytics play a huge rule in this process. Focus on creating a user experience that respects users’ needs and makes it easy for them to find the information they seek. Make sure your site has a navigation system that makes sense. And when you’re developing it, step outside the group of people working on the nav design and ask for feedback from others. Test your theories before implementing them. You’ll be surprised how often you’ve made assumptions that aren’t quite right. Sometimes, we’re so close to our own businesses and our own designs that we can’t be objective.

Great design is cool. And cool is nice. But that isn’t enough when it comes to effective online marketing. A beautifully designed website that has a crappy user experience serves up zero results. Great design paired with navigation that’s well-thought out and content that does the job it’s supposed to do? Those make a website work. Creating an effective Web experience that actually turns site visitors into leads and allows you the opportunity to convert those leads into sales—that’s what effective online marketing is all about.

And if you really want to strengthen your Web presence, consider attending the MarketingProfs University course Websites That Work (now on demand), an 11-class course that will help you plan, redesign, measure, optimize and track all your landing page and website activities. I’m slightly biased because I taught one of the classes, but I can promise you that I also sat through all the other sessions. And learned a lot. You will, too. So, register now.

Oh, and thanks to the Punks for their feedback. It’s always nice to know the very things that drive me crazy drive other people I respect and admire crazy, too. Now, what have I missed?

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Angry Woman)

Social media is all about brand engagement. So, how can sports organizations use it to improve fan experience and not detract from it?

As a recent Media Post article stated, “The challenge of social media for major league sports is how to engage fans without disengaging them from the game by interrupting those all-important moments of play.”

The piece discussed how pro sports organizations have been trying to figure out “the social media puzzle.” How can they walk the line between wiring modern stadiums, so fans can access immediate information, send tweets to friends, and catch an important replay if they missed it in real time—without disruption during a game? How can sports organizations offer interactive social media programs that don’t distract from but heighten the fan experience?

One line in the article summed up sports fans very well: “Fan groups are by nature social.” That means they enjoy attending sports events together and sharing the experience to the hilt. Using social media before the game, during time outs and intermissions, and when it’s over is terrific. Reliving “the great play” or “the play that swung the momentum” is a big part of the sports experience for all fans. And those moments are meant to be shared and savored.

When I go to a sports event, I’m there to see the game. Sure, I want to share the experience with my son and friends, both at the game or not. I’ll send photos and comments out via my iPhone… but not during the action.

For teams that want to engage fans via social media, photo ops, invites to Q&A sessions, and contests are great ideas. But can they come before and after games? How about during the pre- and post-seasons to keep fans engaged consistently without interrupting games?

Let’s leave it up to the fans to decide when and how they want to engage with friends during sporting events. That enables us all to optimize and customize our experiences.

• What’s the role of social media where pro sports are concerned?
• Do you think sports teams should engage fans during games?
• When and how should pro sports organizations use social media? How about local sports groups?

Let’s hear from marketers, social media experts, and fans!

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Baseball Crowd)

Paul Castain is a former sales director for the famed training company, Dale Carnegie & Associates. Like many successful sales professionals, he spent years grooming relationships with his personal network. So, when he went solo, he started with 15 corporate clients. Now, he has relationships with 29,000 people inside his LinkedIn group, Sales Playbook!, which is one of the largest LinkedIn groups for sales professionals.

Being at a company that helps sales and marketing teams collaborate, I’m always on the look out for smarty-pants in the sales and marketing industry. Paul is one of them, and he’s got some experiences to share with folks who shepherd online communities as part of their day-to-day marketing responsibilities.

How to Pitch

In his book, Social Networking Playbook, Paul explains how we need to be delicate when pitching our communities. People who are smarter than I am know that they shouldn’t ask someone to marry them on their first date. That’s also the case with community management. Just because we’re in front of tens of thousands of potential customers doesn’t mean we need to pitch them right away.

Paul invites us to approach our online community like we would approach a dating relationship. With dating, we want to demonstrate how much we care for the other person. If done enough times, the other person might reciprocate and like you back. And then you can both dance into the horizon framed by the sunset and a bevy of rainbows and butterflies.

It’s about reciprocity. Karma. The idea that I scratch your back, and you’ll scratch mine.

One blogger I met years ago explained a mantra she had developed for herself: For every time she makes a request of her community, she makes sure to give away nine helpful things.

How to Date 29,000 People Simultaneously

Nearly every sane person wants to succeed. So, Paul suggests that we care for our community by helping our community succeed. Here’s how Paul helps Sales Playbook!, his community of sales and marketing professionals, succeed.

Play matchmaker. This could be a simple email introduction. Or it could be a full-blown LinkedIn group.

Facilitate mind-melds. Paul hosts teleconferences and LinkedIn discussions, where participants are invited to share some tips and best practices.

Distribute helpful resources. In his book, Paul lists some of the resources he likes to pass along to his group. Here’s a short list of what to share, inspired by what he wrote.

• Names of some great books found on Amazon’s bestseller list or Goodreads
• Free e-books. A lot are on Scribd.
• Free apps that boost productivity, such as Evernote
• Websites jam-packed with helpful free resources

How All This Pays Off

Although Paul can’t share names and dollar amounts, he did share a couple of success stories.

One day, he got a random call from a woman at a Fortune 500 company. She wasn’t a member of his LinkedIn group, but she worked with someone who was. Her coworker spoke so highly of him that she checked out his profile and website, then decided to hire him for a major speaking gig at their national sales conference. That gig has now opened the door for additional work and coaching assignments.

Another time, Paul landed a major consulting contract because someone on his group read that he’s a guitar player. They chatted music a few times, then one day, his new music buddy shared some sales challenges his team was having. Things moved very quickly, and, within six weeks, Paul was training the first group of sales reps.

Paul is convinced that all this would have never happened if he didn’t work to foster a sense of community within his group.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Man Holding Flowers)

On the most recent episode of Marketing Smarts, while describing all the work that went into producing Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) in Boston last year, Michelle McCormack referred to social media as “the great equalizer.”

In her view, thanks to social media she and her partner, Richard Villani, were able to get the word out, garner press attention (front page of the Boston Globe), and generate the buzz that made the event such a success.

“We did agency level work with no budget,” McCormack said. “You don’t need to have a million dollars to do stuff like this.”

I’ve been thinking about this notion of social media as the great equalizer and wondering if it’s true. I can’t deny that it helped Michelle and other folks to create a successful, citywide event on “no budget.” And when one reads, as Michelle did, that a 21 year-old grad student launched a Facebook page that attracted more than 180,000 fans in less than two weeks—and even led to the launch of a start-up—it’s easy to see why people believe that social media levels the playing field. In what era could an unknown person get close to a quarter million people involved in a project without spending a dime?

(For that matter, how could a kid with an annoying voice and a video camera get more than 17 million people to watch his stuff?)

“Everyone’s a publisher,” people like to say. Anyone with access to the Web can “publish” to a given social media (and blogging) platform, and, at least in theory, get their stuff in front of the Web’s 2 billion+ users. Nevertheless, you also are competing with these same 2 billion people. In other words, lowering the publishing bar—and the Web in general—didn’t just make you equal to CNN (at least in access); it made everyone equal to CNN (or Kim Kardashian or whomever).

To paraphrase a common truism, when one bar is lowered, another is raised. Consider what happened with cable television and the accompanying proliferation of channels. Yes, the bar had been lowered as far as getting a show on television, but the bar had been raised in terms of what you had to do to get people to watch. When there were three channels, the barrier to entry was high, but so were the chances that you could get enough audience to sell advertising against. When there are a thousand channels or more (Technorati currently indexes over 1.2 millions blogs alone), your cat can haz its own show, but the chances that anyone will see it or care are vanishingly small.

What has become equalized is the ability for people to publish stuff that no one pays any attention to. Moreover, equal access doesn’t mean equal ability. So, we publishers are not only competing with the millions who might not have that much to offer but also with the thousands that do. And if any of those thousands have resources as well as talent, then we’re back where we began with the few producing for the many.

What do you think? Is social media the great equalizer? (And am I just a bitter, old man?) Or does the sheer breadth of equalization mean that nothing has really changed?

If you would like to hear my entire conversation with Michelle and learn about the success she’s had in social media, I encourage to listen to this week’s podcast here or subscribe in iTunes. Thanks for listening!

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Integration)

A guest blog post by Laura Clarke.

Company branding that is not 100% consistent could be losing you money. However, it’s something that could easily be put right with the help of brand-management software.

Here are a few tips to prevent the worst mistakes that attribute to the loss of brand identity.

Make sure company colors, logos, and images remain the same. Multimillion dollar companies do not become such by changing their branding—they stick with it. Take Coca-Cola, for instance. You will never see them changing their colors. The red that adorns every drink, billboard, and TV campaign makes Coca-Cola familiar to consumers. Businesses that use software with digital asset management can easily share all approved logos, images, and documents, and help improve consistency within the brand.

Do not create bland marketing documents with no brand identity. Use your documents to really sell your brand. Insert logos, the right typeface, and images. By using Web-to-print software templates, businesses quickly can perform these time-consuming tasks and create documents that can be saved and edited.

Put a system in place that unites the whole company. Whether a company has locations throughout one country or the world, the brand needs to remain constant. It is easy for different strands of the same brand to be loosely related, but by having a definite link, the familiarity factor suddenly goes global. By having Web-based software, the brand database of accepted material can be accessed from anywhere and unite a company’s products throughout the world.

Do not completely limit access to brand material. Doing that will only waste valuable time as authorization will have to be given for the use of brand logos, images, and documents. That could also lead to the scrapping of official brand material to avoid the lengthy authorization process. With brand-management software, different levels of accounts can be set up, so employees have all the tools to create documents that incorporate the company branding but cannot access anything not relevant or needed for their position.

By following the above guidelines and investing in brand-management software, the value of your business can increase by 20% or even higher. In brand management, such simple changes as investing in software can mean a world of difference to the growth and future of your company.

Laura Clarke is a freelance writer.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Business Man Wearing Dunce Cap)

With all the buzz about social media, it’s easy to forget the tried and true advertising tactics like radio advertising. But radio can be a very cost-effective and action-inducing method of connecting to new customers and re-connecting to those who already love your company.

Of course, there are good radio spots, and then there are great radio spots. You want the latter. That takes some planning, extra effort, and a willingness to invest a little bit of time and money to do radio right.

Here are four tips to turn bland radio spots into memorable ones.

1. Make listeners feel something. We buy everything based on emotions. Everything. From toothpaste to our accounting software.

Too many radio spots, however, are heavy on facts and light on emotions. That doesn’t mean that every spot has to be funny. Humor is very memorable, but not every subject lends itself to a side-splitting radio spot.

Tap into your audience’s emotions. Remind listeners how it feels to fall in love, be afraid of the IRS, or have everyone forget their birthdays. Understand your audience well enough to know what emotions they experience regularly, so you can either enhance good emotions or eliminate bad emotions.

2. Slow down! Most radio spots sound like they are trying to put five pounds of potatoes in a one-pound bag. Great radio takes its time. It allows the actors to create a character. It makes time for pregnant pauses and the smart use of silence.

A good rule of thumb is 150 to 165 words for a 60-second spot and about 75 to 80 words for a 30-second spot. Remember to leave room for disclaimers, taglines, and company IDs.

3. Make your contact info memorable. This is one of my personal pet peeves when it comes to radio spots. Odds are that if someone is listening to the radio, they’re also doing something else, such as fixing breakfast, getting the kids ready for the bus, driving home from work, working out, or doing laundry. Radio is a wonderful companion for all kinds of tasks.

However, when a person is doing any of those things, they are not in a position to write a bunch of stuff down. Don’t give them your phone number, street address, a coupon code, or a laundry list of things to do to get the special offer.

If you want people to contact you, make your contact information easy to remember. That might be a phone number like “222 and then four more twos.” Or a Web address like “cut my gas bills in half dot com.” But if you have a normal phone number, a company name that’s hard to spell, or a Web address that isn’t intuitive, don’t waste your few words on them. People won’t remember them anyway.

Give people’s brains some sort of handle to grab onto until they have time to follow up.

4. Don’t cheap out. Writing and producing radio spots is an art. Just because you listen to the radio that doesn’t mean you’re ready to be an advertising copywriter. Invest in a copywriter and good voice talent. If you’re only spending 10 to 15 minutes in the studio recording your spot, you can rest assured that it’s not going to be the best radio spot ever.

You’re spending a lot of money buying the radio time. Shouldn’t you also spend time making sure you’re running something worthy of that investment?

Now that you’re in the know, go make some good radio. I’ll know which ones are yours. They’ll be the ones I listen to.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Young Woman Listening to Radio)

It’s been more than five years since I wrote this piece on MarketingProfs referring to Charlene Li’s original post that introduced us to new ways to track social media metrics.

Here we are, almost halfway through 2012, and after a review of some of the leading social media “management,” “monitoring,” and “listening” tools, it’s too bad that we don’t have a single winner.

Instead, we have a mashup of tools, some which work better than others.

Now, I bet you didn’t come here to read that. What I’d like to do over the next few minutes is to give you a sense of the social media landscape that greets you today. Consider this post a primer on navigating the mess that is social media management.

Novices are probably confused by the tons of social media management tools out there, but you may have heard of the ones above. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I’d highly recommend Jeremiah’s research on this topic.

Where Do I Begin?

Despite marketers coming a long way in the social space, it sucks that there ain’t a single tool that’s a panacea for all your social media tracking woes. Companies are either dismally unprepared to understand the strengths of social or businesses must wield tools that are clumsy and possess a huge learning curve.

Frankly, you’re gonna find out two kinds of categories that cater to different teams’ needs out there (Marketing versus PR). The two broad categories of measurement most companies crave are…

1. Social media management tools (Tweetdeck, HootSuite, etc.)
2. Social media listening tools (Radian6, Sysomos, Lithium, etc.)

You’re going to find that all the tools you evaluate are going to perform better either as a stand-alone management tool or a listening tool. Very few try to do both—and in those cases, they fail at one or the other. Most companies and small businesses will start this journey looking for a social media management tool because the first step in evolving your company’s social media brain is “awareness,” in which you identify and track your existing social media presence on social platforms. For example, see LinkedIn’s Social Media Presence below. (These slides are from a presentation I gave months ago but the breakdown still remains roughly similar.)

Step 1 is gonna be to monitor your activity on these key platforms, identify audience growth (number of followers) across platforms, and figure out engagement (how to improve RTs or comments via proper copy and scheduling).

Step 2 is to identify the criteria for selecting this social media tool for your company. The social media tool will have to take into account a bunch of internal requirements that you’ve got to map.

Once you define your version of the above criteria, the goal is to come up with a list of tools that fit the parameters you define. As you go through the list, you realize that the primary challenge is finding a tool complex enough to deal with massive data sets (for example, to plan your marketing campaigns on Twitter or run reports around PR campaigns) while at the same time easy enough to be used by everyone on the team to update your company’s status updates on multiple social channels across time zones.

So, though Tweetdeck is ideal—it’s free, the easiest tool to use, features basic scheduling of tweets, etc.—it unfortunately lacks even basic collaboration and report generation features. So, you eventually end up with what you’re forced to pick: a social media management system, listening tool, or both.

So, how does your company do social media? And if you’ve had a different experience and found your ideal social media tool, leave a comment or tweet me @mariosundar.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Portrait Studio Baby)

Want to give your marketing know-how a boost? On this Free Friday, we’re offering you the opportunity to enjoy our Digital Marketing World: Smarter Marketer virtual conference on demand.

MarketingProfs own marketing-savvy folks present the three sessions.

In “Five Traditional (Gasp!) Marcom Methods That (Still) Deliver Today,” Jo Roberts discusses…

• five traditional programs to rethink rather than reject
• how to choose program tactics that best align with your business objectives
• why integration is vital to maximizing your results

Matt Snodgrass, in his session, “What If Everything Were a Little More Fun: How Gamification Is Changing the Way We Market,” covers…

• how marketers can learn from other brands’ gamification efforts, hits, and misses
• how to bring fun into product marketing

And to help you in “Making the Most of MarketingProfs,” Anne Yastremski, VP of Marketing, and Valerie Witt, VP of Paid Content and MPU, offer a session that gives the inside scoop on MarketingProfs.

Best of all, because the virtual conference is on demand, you can choose to see the sessions all at once or separately as time permits.

To get the details and register, head on over to DMW: Smarter Marketer.

Ten years ago, businesses held all the power. They controlled information and leaked it as needed; salespeople managed the process. Now, however, the power has shifted to the buyer.

Buyers have access to more information from more sources than ever. They ask questions, get answers, read reviews, do comparisons, and start conversations with people they’ve never met—all on the Web, all on their own terms, and all on their own time. In fact, research shows that 25% of all purchases start with an Internet search.

Sales and marketing professionals who are unable to adapt to this new system of buyer behavior are going to have a tough road in the near future. So, you have to adapt your marketing efforts to this new buyer behavior.

1. Know buyers expect to be educated, not sold to

Buyers are using the Internet to get information about the products and services they purchase in advance of contacting suppliers. Buyers are looking for a deeper, more detailed level of information, and they expect the businesses they solicit to provide it.

Forget about what you want them to buy. Instead, focus on understanding what your buyer is looking for. For example, if your buyers typically want a rate calculator on your website, provide it. Content that is highly relevant to the buyer (because it answers their questions) will be perceived as valuable.

The more helpful the content you provide, the more trustworthy your company becomes in the eyes of the buyer. Provide consumers with information that helps them solve their problems, and they’ll love you for it.

2. Remember that buyers are listening to what others say

While buyers are coming to your site to hear what you have to say, they’re also looking for validation from third parties. Most buyers will only stay at a hotel with favorable Trip Advisor reviews and visit restaurants with amazing Yelp posts. Companies that don’t participate and facilitate these reviews are less likely to make it to the short list. Asking your clients for reviews and testimonials is easy, and most clients are happy to give their opinions.

3. Understand that buyers are more informed earlier in the process

You must identify the influential industry sites that your buyers visit and implement a plan to create a presence on those sites—whether by sharing relevant content or joining in the conversation. The increase in the amount of online sources means your buyer is substantially more educated than ever.

You need to change your sales process in response. Buyers no longer have to wait to have sales meetings or presentations from traditional salespeople to get a better understanding of what solutions your firm offers. Many times, customers may not even be looking for your specific solution to a problem yet find your company as part of their daily search of the blogosphere looking to get smarter about what they do.

When your buyer does reach out to you, they’ll most likely be better prepared than even a year ago. They may even come to the table with specific expectations in terms of pricing. Nothing is worse than a salesperson trying to “sell” an educated buyer. Now is the opportunity to transition the “prospectors” and “closers” in your sales department to helpful “guides” who better match up with your prospects’ behavior.

And that’s why you have to fire your sales team today. No, we don’t mean to permanently fire your entire sales team. Fire them, but immediately rehire the qualified ones to a newly created position, the Sales Guide.

What Is a Sales Guide?

Let’s help you visualize the new Sales Guide position with a story about taking a four-day rafting trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. If your family decides to take that once-in-a-lifetime trip, chances are you will go on a guided tour and not venture out on your own.

To choose a company to help guide your family down the river, you could ask friends and colleagues if they have ever experienced a trip like that and if they can recommend a firm. In lieu of a recommendation, chances are you research companies on the Internet by searching “Grand Canyon Rafting Trips” or “Colorado River Rafting.”

You find many companies that offer the service, but you also find companies like Trip Advisor that provide third-party comments and ratings on the various companies. You visit the websites of the firms you are interested in. You watch videos on their websites, read testimonials of other guests, and check out trip options. After you have done your research, you might even reach out to a few companies by phone or email before you make your choice.

Here is where your sales guide comes into play.

In the case of the Grand Canyon Tour Company, once you reach out, you are assigned a guide. The guide reaches out to you to discuss the trip and your preferences. You will be asked many questions in preparation of the trip: How many people will be going? How many have done a trip like this before? Would you rather sleep under the starts or in tents? How old are the children in your party? How well can everyone swim? Do you want to walk or ride down the canyon? And so forth.

You get the idea. There are probably 50 more questions required to create the right trip for your family. Your guide suggests the right course of action and, as a result, you start to trust your guide. So when the package with pricing appears, you feel comfortable that this is exactly what you want. No haggling, no looking for a discount, and—guess what else—no shopping around.

Shopping has been eliminated for myriad reasons, but the most significant reason is that you and your guide have co-created your trip. This shared ownership brings with it shared accountability for the quality of the trip and the costs associated. This is an extremely important element of the guided sales process.

Can you see the correlation? As consumers in this new era of buyer behavior, we want to be guided, not sold. The challenge is changing the way you approach the sales function in your company.

For more information on the changes in buyer behavior, the guided sales process, co-creating solutions with your prospects and creating a Revenue Department (blended your sales and marketing teams) for your company, click here to download the first chapter of a new book, Fire Your Sales Team Today!

Co-founder of Square 2 Marketing, Mike is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and marketing professionals create Marketing Machines. Mike is the author of the popular Remarkablog and a frequent speaker on Reality Marketing.

A guest post by Matt Powers of Blue Soda Promo.

With the dramatic flair of a Tennessee Williams character—Blanche comes to mind—a Georgia photographer became a viral blog sensation with her post “Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspiration Boards.”

Business Insider picked up the story, and a shockwave began, with folks calling Pinterest the Satan to the copyright lords. For folks who don’t know what Pinterest is, here’s a quick explanation. Pinterest is the newest social media tool that allows you to post photographs or video from the Web and categorize them in elegant three-column grid boards.

The pilfering, posting photographer read Pinterest Terms of Use, which basically says if lawyers come a-knockin’ because of content you post, you’re on your own. This seemed to surprise the blog writer, and she immediately panicked. It would seem obvious that posting content you don’t own on Pinterest, as well as WordPress, Facebook or any social media tool, could quickly run you afoul of the law.

Yet, when I looked through Pinterest boards, major blogs, and YouTube videos, I suspect that the majority of bloggers, social media users,and Pinterest users are like the Georgia blogger—cluelessly posting copyrighted work and violating copyright laws.

Pinterest has remained largely silent on the issue, brushing off controversy as it grows. But ignorance of the law is no defense.

So here are some quick tips on posting responsibly.

• Post your own content—and you only have to worry about battling social media giants for the right to use it. (Both Pinterest and Facebook claim rights to all content posted on their sites, though Facebook isn’t as draconian as Pinterest. I predict Pinterest will change its terms.)
• If you aren’t good at creating your own images, check out these open-use image websites: Public Domain Pictures, Creative Commons, Corbis Images, and Web Design Lessons.
• When in doubt, avoid using any image with an iffy copyright status. You could get caught like the copywriters at Webcopyplus who had to pay $4,000 for a photo they just grabbed from the web. “Well, frankly, we screwed up,” Webcopyplus wrote about its costly boo-boo. “It’s an expensive lesson on copyright laws that we wish to share with other marketers, so you don’t make the same mistake.”

Using royalty-free, commercial stock photography, and creative commons photos for your blog could avoid that most painful instance where you actually have to speak to a lawyer. Next blog post? How about the $2.5 million fine leveled against a blogger for defamation. Yikes.

Matt Powers is an Internet marketer at Blue Soda Promo. BSP imprints logos on items from custom koozies, to sunglasses at ridiculously low prices. We make your brand POP!

Pinterest, Tumblr, now Facebook Timeline… Due to the popularity of visually appealing platforms, businesses need to heed the growing demand for visual content.

To help you brainstorm ideas for adding visual content to your marketing mix, I drew up a few infodoodles, then I put them in a slide show for you.

(If you’d rather have the non-colorful, text version of these tips, just read the quick list beneath the slide show in this post.)

If you’d rather not go through the slide show (even though it’s superquick), here’s the non-colorful version.

1. Select photos for your Facebook Timeline, Twitter page, etc., that let your brand’s personality shine.
2. Have visual recordings of important talks to share. Highlights and key points of a talk are recorded as they are spoken in pictures, doodles, symbols, etc.
3. Create infographics. Use images to share data in a visually appealing way.
4. Add author photos to bylines. Photos help readers connect with authors.
5. Get a subscription to use stock images and use one (or more) in every published piece.
6. Create a visual summary of published content. (A summary lets an artist take her time. A recording is immediate and on the spot.)
7. Craft a slide show of notes from talks or bulleted info.
8. Use images from Instagram, Twitpic, etc., to spruce up articles.
9. Inspire users to share images with you to use.
10. Take photos of cool stuff folks usually don’t see, new uses for your product, and your customers’ stories.

I interviewed Eloqua’s Joe Chernov for the most recent episode of Marketing Smarts because I wanted to know why he had hired a brand journalist and how that was working out (very well, it turns out!).

In the course of our conversation, Joe started talking about the audience for Eloqua’s content, and he said something worth noting for all you aspiring content marketers out there. He said, “I look at my audience… as not our buyer but the person who sits in the cube next to our buyer. I mean that both literally and figuratively.”

You hear a lot about “mapping content to the buying cycle,” but this sounded to me like “mapping content to the buyer’s eco-system,” and it made a lot of sense. Especially in the B2B space, buying decisions are often group efforts. Buyers can be influenced by folks who are officially part of the buying process, but they can also be influenced by those who are not. For this reason, it behooves content creators to think broadly about their audience and produce material for both groups: influencers with a capital “I” and those with a lower case.

At Eloqua, Joe does this by thinking “adjacently.”

“I want to create content for those adjacent to our buyer,” he said, “because we don’t know who influences a deal; we just know that all deals get influenced. So, if I create content that appeals to or attracts the attention of or adds value to all the people that could potentially accelerate or block a deal, then I’m doing my job.”

Joe told me that he thinks of influence in terms of concentric rings and that these “adjacents” belong to “the forgotten ring” of influence. That is, content often addresses buyers directly and may, at times, address “key decision makers” throughout an organization, but it does not frequently enough address those who may have a weak link to the buying process, but a strong and influential link to the buyer.

So who is your content “forgetting”?

If you’d like to hear my entire conversation with Joe, you may listen to it here. You can also subscribe to Marketing Smarts in iTunes and never miss an episode!

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Co-workers Talking)

Much as I write and speak and champion the notion that every business needs to tell its story as a cornerstone of its marketing, I’m also not myopic in the view that great content alone is enough to drive your business forward.

Just as a pitcher does not a baseball team make, or one chapter does not a book make, or one note a song, or one link a chain, or one chickpea a hummus dip, or just one lick to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop… well, you get the point. There are several key elements to a successful content marketing strategy. And as Lee Odden defines it, there are precisely three: content, search engine optimization, and social media.

Between you and me, I couldn’t agree more. I think of content, search, and social as the Three Musketeers of Marketing. In Lee’s new book, Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing, he tells you how to get the three to work together to benefit your business.

Lee comes out of the search marketing world, and he knows more than almost anyone about the intersection of search and marketing. More broadly, Lee has been recognized for his expertise with enterprise social media, SEO, and content marketing strategies by The Economist and Advertising Age, and he presents regularly at marketing and public relations conferences worldwide, including MarketingProfs events. He has been an instructor several times in our online training programs produced through MarketingProfs University. Lee’s TopRankBlog.com is crazy-popular; it has over 46,000 subscribers and 11,000 Facebook Fans.

On a personal level, Lee has long been my own go-to expert on anything search- or SEO-related. He’s also a friend and one of my favorite people to follow on my favorite social media platform, Instagram.

Lee and I sat down recently to talk over his new book and the ideas therein.

Tell me why you wrote this book.

A publisher approached me several years ago, and I’ve always felt that, for me, writing a book would be pointless. I mean, most authors are boring, right? (ducks)

Actually, sharing content and engaging with our community through Online Marketing Blog that has a network size of an agency 10 times our size served my writing and lead-generation needs just fine. However, at the time that Wiley approached me, I felt like the process of writing a book would be a useful experience both for me personally, as well as something we could use with our agency to communicate TopRank’s approach to customer acquisition and retention.

What problem does the book solve?

While the name is “Optimize,” it is by no means just a book about SEO. The search and social web is changing faster than ever, and I think it’s time the conversation about what optimization means should change. “To optimize” is to “make the best or most effective use of (a situation, opportunity, or resource).” I think that definition bodes well to the challenges we face with Internet marketing today and in the future: how to optimize our ability to be more intentional about attracting and engaging customers with content, regardless of search or social technologies of the day.

Optimize communicates a customer-centric framework that guides the reader through three phases—planning, implementation, and scale—that can be approached in a linear process for developing strategy, putting tactics in action, and implementing what is learned to other areas of the organization. It’s also a useful reference guide for those who are well-developed in one area—like social media marketing—but not SEO or content marketing.

There’s an emphasis on marketing in Optimize, but there’s also specific insight and guidance for public relations, customer service, and other publishers of content in an organization. Whatever can be searched can be optimized. Whatever can be found can be shared. This book is a guide for both, with content and customers at the center.

The idea of SEO seems embedded into business processes to a greater degree—at least, it’s been embraced more fully than content and social media as a business lever. Yet you see the three working together—as three legs of a stool. Can you explain that more fully?

One of the biggest problems with SEO has to do with companies approaching it more as a project versus a process. They see it as an event, not a way of approaching Internet marketing on an ongoing basis.

The approach we use in our consulting and what I use in the book focuses on understanding how customers discover, consume, and share information. Content is the vehicle for attracting and engaging potential customers in ways that inspire them to buy, share, and refer. I see social media and SEO as excellent means for facilitating all three aspects of how prospects interact with content on their journey from awareness to purchase.

When you look at the buying cycle or even customer life cycle, content is what feeds the customer experience. Imagine someone looking for a way to take better pictures with her iPhone, and she finds an article through search (or is referred to it via her social network) giving tips. That article is published by a company that makes an array of photo apps for iPhones. She’s now aware of that company.

A mix of other media optimized for search and social sharing might include demos, video, a photo editor simulator, and other features that can move this prospect to consideration and, with pricing or offers, to purchase. An email newsletter offering further usage tips and a social site that connects other users of the apps to share tips with each other (and photos, too) can inspire retention and advocacy. Content that is easily discoverable via search or shared through social channels can attract customers at any point in the journey from awareness to evangelism.

Optimizing and socializing content across the buying cycle with customer goals in mind is the essence of the integrated approach that Optimize discusses.

So the three need to work together—but in most organizations, they aren’t organized as such. You talk about the importance of breaking down those silos, but that’s a difficult task. Any advice for a CMO or owner on how to make that happen?

Silos in organizations often exist because of how goals are managed. Look at departments. Public Relations creates awareness. Marketing creates demand and leads. Customer Service retains customers. When [we shift] the focus from just meeting organizational goals to also include understanding customer goals, the picture of an integrated approach to content, SEO, and social becomes clearer.

For example, making it clear how content can better reach the customers it’s intended for through quality search engine optimization and social sharing should motivate content producers to open up to keywords and social network participation. The same goes for those in SEO and helping them see the power of customer-centric content and storytelling as ways to produce content that more people will link to, share, and respond to through conversions. Social media practitioners can use keyword glossaries that include search phrases and popular social topics relevant to the organization and customer goals to be more effective at engagement.

Shared goals, mutual understanding about how search, social and content can work together, and a good method of reporting integrated KPIs and business outcomes is the formula for effective silo-busting.

Do you think companies understand that they need to be publishing content as a cornerstone of their marketing?

Despite surveys reporting that more companies are investing in content, I don’t know if we’re there yet when it comes to saying they see content as a cornerstone of their marketing. Certainly, that is the way marketing is trending, but I think we have a ways to go.

What’s their biggest pain as “publishers”?

For companies that have discovered the power and value of publishing content, I think the most common pain is being able to sustain a meaningful publishing schedule over a long period of time. I like to say, if a company doesn’t have something interesting to say, they have bigger problems to solve than figuring out how content publishing will fit in their marketing mix. Social engagement, data from analytics and monitoring, and being well-connected internally should give a company an infinite number of meaningful things to say. They just need the right state of mind to see it. An Optimized state of mind!

What do most businesses miss entirely in their content creation efforts?

Customer focus is missing from a lot of business content. Corporate ego-centrism is still rampant with a lot of content being published that is “all about the company” and not thinking about the needs, pain points, or goals of the audiences the content is intended for.

Let’s say you’re the CMO of a brand-new startup. Who would be your first hire?

A CMO for a startup? They must be well-funded! : )

Depending on the approach to growing the business, I would want a writer with social strategy and community management skills. We could blog, write contributed articles in industry media, publish guest blog posts, and start growing and engaging our social networks.

You talk about the “big five” of social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Google+). Social media platforms change and evolve so fast… Would you add any others to this mix, if you were writing the book today?

Sure, Pinterest and Instagram are interesting, but the point of the book isn’t specific applications. That’s why I didn’t include a lot of screen shots of Facebook, Google+, etc. It’s a framework for working (optimizing) with any kind of social platform where content can be optimized and shared. The goal with Optimize was to “teach readers to fish” so they can better appreciate the smart advice we have to give at TopRank. Or at least begin smart programs on their own versus being bogged down with specific advice for specific social platforms that might—heck, will!—change significantly by the time the ink dries.

I love the part toward the end where you give a sample process and blueprint for broader adoption of content, social, and SEO—as suited to a small, midsized, and then enterprise organization. I know they all have unique challenges, but which size organization do you think resists the idea of content and social media the most?

I love that you love that part of the book, Ann. As a consultant, I’m obligated at some point in this interview to say, “It depends.” There, that’s out of the way.

I think organizations that are limited on resources and are confined with rigid structure are most resistant to content and social media. That could be a company of any size.

I know you had to edit the book ruthlessly. I remember your social status updates when you were in the midst of editing! What did you leave out of the book that you wish you could have included?

I thought about a pop-up book—but with so many graphs, someone would poke an eye out, and who needs that kind of lawsuit? I wanted to include a lot more interviews, examples, and some research, but overall, I’m happy with how the book turned out in the time we had. There’s been so much great feedback already!

What was your favorite part of writing the book? What was your least favorite part?

Most: Learning a LOT more about the intersection of search, social, and content. And being done. What I’m really enjoying now is experiencing an amazing amount of outreach by others to help me promote the book and the feedback from those that have bought and read it. It’s incredibly satisfying to have created something people find so useful.

Least: Writing a book in 2 1/2 months. I don’t recommend it.

Want to win a copy of Lee’s new book, Optimize? Leave a comment below if you do, and I’ll pick one lucky winner at random!

What’s coming next for television? How does the social media back channel work with the second screen? How does it all get measured? 

In this Marketing Over Coffee episode, host John Wall and Mike Proulx, co-author of Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile, discuss the digital frontier for the big screen.

Direct Link to File

Show length is 28:17.

01:33 What is social TV all about?

02:40 Live TV and the back channel

05:05 Jump-starting a Twitter wave early in a program

06:47 Choice, non-choice, and social impressions

09:22 TV check-in—Miso, Get Glue, Philo, Shazam, and more

12:12 Convergence of tablets as a second screen, custom content, and the back channel

15:22 How does the industry try to measure “on-demand, everywhere” TV?

17:58 Audience addressability

20:16 The spectrum of bridge content

22:50 What are the implications of TV everywhere?

25:18 Extending beyond the book with Web and QR codes

The podcast is hosted by John J. Wall.

Sign up for this podcast in iTunes. (Don’t be afraid to give it a review!)

Our theme song is called Mellow G by Fonkmasters in the Music Alley from Mevio.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Coffee Break)

A guest post by Dylan Mazeika of FreeLogoServices.

In this digital age, a successful business needs to provide outstanding service, offer intrinsic value to its clients, build customer relationships—and stand out from the crowd on myriad online platforms.

To set one’s company apart from the herd, a business needs a brand. The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”

To understand the elements of small-business branding, you first need to know why it’s essential to a company’s success.

1. Branding is your business identity. Branding goes beyond your name, tagline, and logo. Your brand is who your business is to the world. What is your story? What makes you special? Differentiation is key for a dynamic brand. Your brand is your mission, vision, and story wrapped up in one unique package.

2. Branding is your business ambassador. It helps customers familiarize themselves with your business and builds trust with colleagues, customers, and prospects.

3. A great brand is memorable. If people can’t remember your brand, they will not be inspired to do business with you. People buy from businesses they know, trust, and like.

4. Social media demands a visible, attractive brand. It’s not a question of “should” you engage in social media anymore, it’s “how.” A brand helps folks identify your business in your marketing sphere.

5. Branding helps your business get recognized on multiple platforms. Getting your message out and keeping it consistent is only achievable when your brand is searchable, recognizable, and accountable.  You need to manage your brand on different platforms (your blog, social media sites, etc.)

6. People connect with your brand through its story. Every company has a “how we came to be” story. Let your story be part of the brand that resonates with your customers.

7. Branding levels the playing field for small businesses. Entrepreneurs do not have an unlimited marketing budget. However, by honing your brand’s message, visuals, and style, you can go toe to toe with your larger competitors—and look good doing it.

8. Today’s connected, social savvy consumers demand it. People need to see you’re on top of your game with a compelling brand. A solid brand equals trust.

9. Small businesses are doomed to fail without effective branding. Sad, but true. Your ideas and outstanding service aren’t enough to cut it in today’s brutal business climate. Your brand is your story, and stories are essential to attracting and keeping customers.

10. Smart branding will bring your “red carpet moment.” Whether through social media, traditional advertising, or good old-fashioned networking, influencers and decision-makers are on the lookout for trend-setting businesses. Make the biggest impact possible by having a memorable brand.

When it comes to designing your brand, you need to plan well and find a great logo maker or designer that understands your company’s needs. Contrary to popular belief, a fresh, professionally designed logo doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Websites like FreeLogoServices, are cool resources to design your logo for your website, blog, Facebook business page, Twitter page, and other social media platforms.

When done well, a brand can help businesses gain new customers, expand their circle of influence, and stand out.

Dylan Mazeika is an online writer with a background in marketing and small business. He enjoys helping business owners with branding efforts through the use of a logo maker.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Standing Out)

For some Silicon Valley companies, the mantra is: “Slap code together, design a quick user interface, and get it to market.” And above all, as Mark Zuckerberg would remind us, “Keep shipping.”

That kind of talk probably gives Instagram founder Kevin Systrom heartburn. That’s because Systrom thinks designing software code should be an inspired effort, just like the delectable creations of top chefs around the world.

When it comes to digital products, the idea that form follows function is being tossed out the window. As a New York Times article describes, it’s no longer necessary to simply examine a digital device or application to discern what it does. But that doesn’t mean there’s not a sense of beauty and simplicity necessary for digital products. In fact, the goal for software engineers designing best-in-class digital products is to build instinctive and intuitive applications and devices.

Perhaps that’s why Kevin Systrom’s Instagram was worth one billion dollars to Facebook. As noted in a Financial Times article titled, “The Aesthete of Silicon Valley Who Makes Photos Beautiful,” Systrom is obsessed with building things that are inherently beautiful.  Systrom says great chefs who painstakingly labor over their creations and add high-quality ingredients despite potentially higher costs inspire him. “The things we’re creating solve a need,” he says, “but in the meantime, they should be visually stimulating and fun to interact with.”

An obsessive personality, Systrom would likely have been a better disciple of Steve Jobs rather than of his new boss, Mark Zuckerberg. “Kevin notices the details that most of us don’t notice,” says Clara Shih, a friend of Systrom. “He’s a slow walker and lets himself get distracted. He takes time not just to smell the roses but to analyze the roses and think about the detail.”

Technological advances are coming so fast that it takes us a long time to assimilate all the benefits of each product and service. For example, software companies are notorious for rolling out hundreds of new features in each release, only to have customers use very few.

As our digital lives get inevitably more complicated, there will be an insatiable customer requirement for simplicity and aesthetic beauty. And as user interfaces get more cluttered, clarity in purpose and design will drive market share (as Google can attest). Indeed, the elegance of a single search box—unencumbered by advertising—is one reason Google has the lion’s share of search requests.

Instead of focusing on additional features that users will probably never use, digital companies of all stripes perhaps should aim for a crisper design and greater ease of use.

Ultimately, making digital products easier to use takes a long time in discerning and studying user behaviors, capturing those learnings, and using them to design better and more intuitive devices and interfaces. However, much like how top culinary chefs take the time to use better ingredients and obsess over the tiniest details in presenting their creations, digital creators will need to endeavor to stress the small stuff.

For digital consumers, naturalness, comfort, and fit will matter more in the near future. And thoughtfulness in terms of design and ease of use will be the next generation of differentiation for digital companies.

Finally, there’s been a bit of stress for Instagram users now that Facebook has purchased the company. Despite Facebook saying it will run the company independently, plenty of users fret that Instagram will lose its touch. However, wouldn’t it be something if Systrom didn’t end up leaving Facebook after all and instead became the company’s Jonathan Ive? It could end up being a magical pairing.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Young Man Dressed Like Nerd)

Paul Barsch directs services marketing programs for one of top 10 software companies in the United States.