Erik Qualman's Blog, page 646

10 Ways to Be a Better Marketer

A marketer’s job is demanding, and because of the high pressure nature of the  job it can be easy to get stuck in a creative rut. In order to keep your content and brand fresh you need to constantly stay on top of the newest marketing trends so that you can continue to learn and get better at what you do. Here are 10 different ways you can become a better marketer:

Have a team: You’ve probably heard the old saying that two heads are better than one, and two creative minds working together will produce a product that goes above and beyond your marketing plan. Whether you are a small or large company, every marketer needs a side kick. If you already have a marketing assistant or team, consider tapping into their ideas and asking for their help more often. If you work alone, consider hiring an assistant or partner to help you.

Tweet: Twitter has become one of the fastest, easiest ways to send and receive marketing messages. If you are not tweeting now, stop reading this and start tweeting as a marketer. Follow marketing companies from all over the world to get tips, insights and articles on how they remain successful at what they do. Twitter should be a marketer’s go-to social media platform.

Read: The internet is full of endless information, so log on and start reading. Read other marketing professionals and companies tips and tricks and take notes. There are also plenty of books available that will offer in-depth coverage of the more specific fields of marketing. A quick tip: consider buying college textbooks that are used for marketing courses, as these textbooks are constantly being updated with information every marketer needs to know.

Research: Do your homework on other marketing companies by reading their blogs, business plans and what their clients have to say. If there is a brand that intrigues you, research them and figure out how they got there. Take it a step further and research your competitors so that you can keep abreast of their plans. Researching other companies will help you gain focus and motivate you to be a better marketer.

Network: Get social, offline. Head to local networking meetings and meet other marketing professionals face to face. Marketing organizations and groups are known for hosting and attending happy hours and socials at local restaurants and bars. This is a great way to not only spread the word about your brand, but also to meet others that could possibly help you with your brand in the future. Marketing is all about who you know, not what you know. 

Listen: When your boss, clients, company, interns and partners talk, listen and listen closely. Whether it’s good or bad, listen. This is a great way to get the insight you need to be a better marketer. Hearing bad criticism is just as beneficial as receiving good criticism because it allows you to learn from your mistakes.

Attend conferences: The only way you can get better at what you do is to educate and immerse yourself into your job’s role and the duties that come with it. There are plenty of valuable and reputable marketing conferences that are held around the world to aid marketers in taking their marketing prowess to the next level. Conferences are typically held by large, well known organizations that are devoted to the marketing field. At these conferences you will have the opportunity to take different classes that range from honing your social media skills to learning the latest technology and tactics. Conferences are a great way for you to interact and learn from other marketers.

Blog: Blogging has turned into a marketer’s dream, and is one of the best ways to get the word out about your services and your company. You may have a part-timer or intern blogging for you, but as a marketer you should get your hands dirty at least once a week. A good marketer oversees a blog, but a great marketer personally blogs for the company. Not only is it a great way to show off your talents, but it also allows you to challenge yourself.

Brainstorm: A marketer needs to hold brainstorming sessions before, in the middle of, and after a project is presented. Brainstorming sessions are imperative, and should consist of the entire marketing team, including the project manager, graphic designer, copy writers and the marketers themselves. 30 minute sessions where you all step away from the computers and get together in a relaxed area of the office to bounce ideas off each other are the perfect way to figure out where everyone is at in the marketing process, what’s working for you in your current plan, and what needs to be revised to have a greater effect on consumers.

Be passionate: A marketer should be passionate about two things: the people they’re marketing to and keeping those people interested and engaged. If you don’t have those two passions in your career then marketing is not for you.

 

An Article from Longhorn Leads (www.longhornleads.com)

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Put Social Media to Use to Lessen Chances of Home Break-In

As you head off to work or other activities in your daily life, do you wonder about the security of your home and possessions?

In a day and age when the economy is troubling, it is not uncommon to pick up the newspaper, turn on the television, or go online and hear about another home invasion, with some turning out very badly for the residents and even sometimes the criminals.

According to a poll conducted last year by MetLife Auto & Homes, 15 percent of Americans use social media to report that they had stepped out of their residence, while 35 percent of Americans (ages 18-34) check in or tweet about their present locale.

Meantime, of those burglars convicted of their crimes, 78 percent noted they had used social media sites to zero in on potential targets, with 74 percent using Google street view to case homes prior to striking.

So, how can homeowners and renters best protect themselves, others living with them, and their possessions all at the same time?

For starters, homeowners and renters should use social media to keep up to speed on crime statistics and know what to look for to prevent home break-ins.

Reports indicate that more police departments are utilizing Twitter and other social venues to inform the public on how to prevent home crimes. By doing so, law enforcement departments nationwide can add millions of officers to their ranks, albeit citizens who watch out for each other’s homes.

Some typical ways social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be used to lessen the chances of homes being broken into include:

* Sharing and tweeting crime statistics for specific towns and cities. Residents in those areas more likely to be targeted can use the stats to better protect themselves and their property;

* Law enforcement can post photos of known burglars who are not in jail to social media sites, preparing residents of who may be in their neighborhood. The same holds true for any vehicles criminals may be using;

* Residents can themselves take pictures of suspicious people (those that are doing more than just passing through) in their neighborhoods and post them to social media sites and/or text such images to local law enforcement;

* Residents and local law enforcement can put in play a Facebook neighborhood watch page, allowing area community members to stay informed of activities in their neighborhood. In these cases, those using the page should be required to prove they live in the neighborhood, while information should be available only to area residents (meaning the information is not for the entire public);

* Visit social media sites for the top security providers to get home safety tips, see their latest products and services tied to a home security system, and determine what formula (both electronic and common sense actions) can work best to protect your residence.

In a world where even your home can’t always provide 100 percent security, using social media can bring home a better sense of protection.

Photo credit: monitorsurveillance.com

 

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Marketers Name their Most Admired Brands

The features and functionality available to social marketers is constantly evolving. With this context in mind, it helps for social marketers to stay informed on brands and campaigns that push the envelope of what is possible to improve their own performance. In our survey, The State of Social Media Marketing,over 460 marketers weighed in on which companies they believe excel at social. While you can check out the full list of winners in Industry Report 2012: Most Admired Brands, we’ll share some of the front-runners below.

Marketers referenced their admired brands’ ability to service customers, create and delivery content and execute on their progressive social media strategies. The 460+ marketers who responded to the survey look to emulate their most admired brands’ social marketing endeavors and glean insights from their successes.

Top 10 Most Admired Social Brands

Coca-Cola
HubSpot
Starbucks
Ford
Nike
Apple
Mashable
Zappos
Red Bull
Dell

About the survey participants:

Participants in this survey represent a broad spectrum of marketers from a wide cross-section of organizations, industries and annual revenues, closely following the greater distribution of businesses across the US. A mix of marketers participated in the survey from business-to-business (B2B) organizations, business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations and a blend of both B2B and B2C, with annual sales ranging from less than $1 million to over $100 million, and representing all major industry sectors.

Marketers frequently named 35 brands for their social prowess – see who made the cut in our free report, Industry Report 2012: Most Admired Brands. Marketers, what do you think? Did your favorite brand make the cut? Did your peers miss any social marketing powerhouses? Tell us on Twitter at @awarnessinc.

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10-Step Guide to Social Link Building

“10-Step Guide to Social Link Building”

Social media becomes a key tool in attracting a large number of inbound links at a low cost. In this deep dive they examine how to magnetize others to link to your site without spending a red cent on advertising or other promotions. Get ready to learn the ten quick ways in which you can start collecting inbound links organically.

A business that doesn’t generate inbound links is like a car without gas: it exists but doesn’t work. So how can you generate links?

Through link building: the key off-page search engine optimization factor. The more links you have pointing to your site, the more traffic and better rankings you can secure through search engines. Inbound links bring three major benefits to your business:

Brand exposure and awareness
Direct/indirect traffic (and leads)
Search engine rankings (residual traffic)

Download the free guide here: http://socialnomics-net.tradepub.com/...

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Distilling Your Brand in 5 Minutes or Less

Quick: What’s the difference between a company and a brand?

A company is a business organization, while a brand is the gut feeling the public has when they think of a company or product. Walmart and Target are similar companies that are perceived quite differently because of their brand identities.

Creating a company requires paperwork. Creating a brand requires something else entirely.

That something is storytelling.

A marketer must be able to distill the brand’s story, including the problems it solves, the target market it services, and its value proposition, all in a way that is simple, clear, and compelling (and hopefully memorable).

Marketers must be flexible enough to tell this story in a variety of formats depending on the channel used to convey the story (digital or otherwise). But no matter what the format is, there are best practices that always apply.

As finalists in CRM Idol, an annual competition honoring innovative CRM companies, Awareness, Inc. was asked to create a video that tells our brand story that in a creative way. The video would then be voted on by the public. Here are some of the best practices we followed in telling our brand story:

Work within constraints – Brand storytelling is usually an open-ended project requiring high levels of creativity. You must establish structure or you will be overwhelmed by options. In the case of CRM Idol, much of the structure was supplied by the competition requirements: we had to create a video that was under five minutes in length, that clearly showed what our company does to an audience that may be largely unfamiliar with Awareness. Creativity was singled out as a very important element in telling the story, so we really tried to take a much different approach than the standard “product demo and company executives” tandem. Those elements are there to a degree, but we went out into left field with them to not only meet the creativity requirement but also as a device to keep the viewer interested.


Consider using analogies – If your concept is complex, align it to something that is familiar to your audience. Our Social Marketing Hub is a complex software product with lots of moving parts so we used the more accessible concept of a scientific laboratory to help explain it.


Keep it short and sweet – Call out the biggest benefits and explain them succinctly. As in any good elevator pitch, whet your audience’s appetite and leave them interested and wanting more.


Utilize the Hero, Villain, Passion triangle – Most stories can be broken down into a Hero, a Villain, and a Passion. The Hero is the protagonist, the Villain opposes or challenges the Hero, and the Passion is the Hero’s motivation to defeat the Villain. In our video, a social marketer (Steve) is the Hero. The Villain is the dissatisfaction of coworkers and colleagues. The Passion is the desire is to be a more productive and effective professional, along with implied perks such as success for the company, praise and professional advancement. Awareness empowers the Hero’s Passion.


Be creative – Stand out with your message. Appeal to your audience by your delivery mechanism; strike an emotional chord, don’t be afraid to be funny or maybe even a little controversial. Remember: your goal is to provoke an emotional response.


Re-purpose – If you develop content that succinctly conveys your message, find multiple uses for it. Moving forward, use the content in email marketing, videos, white papers, infographics, etc. You may need to tweak it slightly depending on the channel, but think creatively how to keep the momentum going.


Share your final product! Tell the world your story (but leave some surprises for them as well).  There are a few cameos in our film you may have noticed, but we haven’t touted them yet to allow people to discover them on their own.

The Result

Now that you’ve read some of the strategies we used to meet the CRM Idol challenge, here’s the end result. Enjoy (and see if you can spot the cameos!)

If you enjoyed the video, and wanted to cast a vote for us to bring home the CRM Idol crown, we certainly wouldn’t stop you.

Best Keynote Speakers

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GroupDocs VS Zoho

Business requirements keep on evolving with changes in the communication and collaboration culture of organizations worldwide. Not so long ago, employees used email attachments to collaborate on documents and get those reviewed from their colleagues and peers. Now, businesses have enterprise document management tools implemented for retrieval of information, records management, organizing as well as keeping track of online documents in an organization. Such a solution is designed to ensure centralized storage of documents so that it is easy to access data while keeping it secure at the same time. It provides advanced capabilities to the users such as availability of many dynamic Apps to perform various tasks on documents online.

Instant document viewing in the browser is an essential aspect of any content management solution. A number of cloud-based Viewer Apps are readily available in the market to view documents online. But the perfect solution is the one which allows you to view, share and collaborate on documents with its dynamic nature and makes viewing of files easy as well as fun. Two of the most widely used Document Viewer Apps in the world are provided by GroupDocs and Zoho which claim to provide the best capabilities to the users. Today, we will do a comparative analysis of both Document Viewer Apps and find out about the unique features of both.

A Comparsion

Supported File Formats

Diversity of the file formats supported by both of these modern online document management solutions is really commendable. GroupDocs offers compatibility to many types of word processing documents (DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, ODT), presentations (PPT, PPTX), spreadsheets (XLS, XLSX), portable files (PDF), and image files (JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF). Other the other hand, Zoho is compatible to file formats such as DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML etc. It doesn’t support image files to be viewed in the browser.

Rendering of Documents

To view a documents via GroupDocs Viewer App, all you need to do is upload the file on the Dashboard to view it in the browser. A robust rendering of the document will be performed and the resulting HTML5 file can be instantly read in the viewer. The whole process takes up only a few seconds and installation of any software or document conversion process is not required.

Zoho Viewer on the contrary, allows you to upload any of the supported document formats to view the document. Once you upload the file, a permalink to that document and you can use this URL to view the document in the browser.

Embedding Documents

GroupDocs Viewer lets you embed documents on your web application so that your website visitors can read those documents on your website. All you need to do to embed a document is copy and paste the code provided by GroupDocs Viewer into your website.

Since a URL is created to your documents while viewing files through Zoho Viewer, you can embed the documents in a blog or a website using the embed codes. The process is easy to perform and doesn’t take up much time.

Easy Access Tools

GroupDocs Viewer also has shortcuts to other GroupDocs Apps which let you move smoothly from tool to tool, without returning to the dashboard. You can access other GroupDocs Apps in the Suite straight from the Viewer App to convert, annotate or compare the uploaded documents.

Zoho allows you to open your documents in its other comparable applications to edit or export documents, spreadsheets as well as presentations. However, marking up the document while reading it from the viewer is not an option with Zoho.

Conclusion

With many features and capabilities, both GroupDocs and Zoho provide users with a comparable experience regarding viewing of documents in the browser. However, GroupDocs serves as a better choice with its complete Suite of document management Apps to fulfill all of your online document viewing needs.

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Turn to Social Media to Lessen the Risk for Your Business

As just about any small business owner can tell you, having a merchant account to do business in this day and age is almost a necessity.

For the small business owner who only accepts cash and checks, life can be quite frustrating at times. Potential customers do not see the plastic option and decide to take their business elsewhere, meaning the business owner is watching money literally go bye-bye.

So, what happens when a small business owner wants to apply for and receive a merchant account, yet their past credit history is less than stellar?

If you find yourself in this position, there are ways to work around past and/or present credit issues and improve the chances of finding high risk merchant accounts.

Maybe to your surprise, using social media is actually not a bad idea.

For those small business owners looking for the right merchant account to better their revenue streams, using the Internet (especially social media) is certainly advisable, given the fact it can help you:

* Shop around – More and more card providers are turning to social media to let both merchants and customers know what they have to offer. For the merchant whose credit history is not exactly something to brag about, they can look at the different offerings card providers have via their social media pages. It also helps the business owner see which providers are good at customer service, relevant in their industry, and engage customers on a regular basis;

* Compile a list – Use the Internet and social media pages like Facebook and Twitter to put together a list of providers that deal specifically with bad credit situations. You should review both their home website and social media pages to see the company’s history, if there is any trail of customer service complaints against the company, and what its financial standing looks like. In most cases, avoid banks because they tend to not want to do business with high-risk applicants. Once you have a handful of providers to look at, find the one that is most apt to work with you;

* Use forums during search – Social media forums (chat rooms to others) are a great place to get the scoop on potential bad credit providers. Since many business owners have been down this road before, it is not uncommon for them to turn to Facebook, Twitter and other social venues to discuss, vent, and ask questions of other people in the same position. While some comments should be taken with a grain of salt, it never hurts to see what is being said about providers, giving you more information at your disposal;

* Know why you might be high risk to begin with – While a bad credit history certainly sends up the red flag to banks and other financial institutions, there may be other things that put you in a bad position with getting a merchant account. Is your small business considered a risky one to begin with? If it is, keep in mind that many financial institutions consider such companies to be a greater risk, meaning an increased chance for fraudulent transactions and higher percentages for charge back incidents. Such businesses can include those involved in social gaming, travel, online dating sites, stock trading and payday loans among others;

* Turn to a co-signer – In the event you find yourself having trouble getting a high-risk merchant account, you may have the option of turning to a co-signer. Financial institutions are more likely to approve the account if the other person’s financial status is in good standing. While your name still remains as the business head, the co-signer’s positive credit will more times than not get you the approval.

If you have been hesitant to this point to try and land a high risk merchant account, give yourself credit when you finally take the initiative to do so.

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Incredible Holiday Flash Mob Video

This is the new face of marketing. The days of simply buying television commercials on the major networks is over. Check out T-Mobile’s holiday flash mob at the local level, which then goes to the international level via YouTube. Are you thinking differently with your marketing efforts?

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Marketing Automation By The Numbers (Infographic)

We love this infographic outlining the Marketing Automation industry by Carlos Hidalgo from the Annuitas Group. While the Marketing Automation field is only about a decade old, experts expect the field to grow rapidly. Leading B2B research firm SiriusDecisions predicts the adoption of Marketing Automation technology will grow to 50% by 2015. How do companies benefit from the usage of Marketing Automation? Research shows that businesses who use Marketing Automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.

For even more on the industry, download our free white paper 52 Secrets to Marketing Automation Success. Marketers, are you using Marketing Automation yet? How has it improved your lead generation and sales? Tell us on Twitter.

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Cyber Monday sets new online sales record by 30%

Cyber Monday Online Shopping Reaches All Time High Increasing 30% over 2011, Reports IBM

Mobile Shopping Rises 70 Percent Over Previous Year reports IBM, and it has risen 450% since 2009 reports NRF/Shop.org

Holiday shoppers turned Cyber Monday into the biggest spending day ever with online sales growing 30.3 percent over the same period last year, according to cloud-based analytics findings by IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Cyber Monday 2012 Compared to Cyber Monday 2011:

Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales increased 30.3 percent over 2011.
Shopping Peaks at 11:25am EST: Consumers flocked online, with shopping momentum hitting its highest peak at 11:25am EST. As in 2011, consumer shopping also maintained strong momentum after commuting hours on both the east and west coast.
Mobile Shopping and Mobile Traffic Increase: On Cyber Monday more than 18 percent of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, an increase of more than 70 percent over 2011. Mobile sales reached close to 13 percent, an increase of more than 96 percent over 2011.
The iPad Factor: The iPad continued to generate more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, driving more than 7 percent of online shopping. This was followed by iPhone at 6.9 percent and Android 4.5 percent. The iPad also continued to dominate tablet traffic reaching a holiday high of 90.5 percent. Amazon Kindle leapt into second at 2.6 percent followed by the Samsung Galaxy at 2 percent and the Barnes and Noble Nook at 0.6 percent.
Multiscreen Shopping: Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Overall 58.1 percent of consumers used smartphones compared to 41.9 percent who used tablets to surf for bargains on Cyber Monday.
The Savvy Shopper: While consumers continued to spend more, they once again shopped with greater frequency to take advantage of retailer deals as well as free shipping. This led to a drop in average order value by 6.6 percent to $185.12. However, the average number of items per order increased 14.1 percent to 8.34 compared to Black Friday.
Social Sales: Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube generated 0.41 percent of all online sales on Cyber Monday, a decrease of more than 26 percent from 2011.

Cyber Monday 2012 Compared to Black Friday 2012

Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales were up more than 36 percent over Black Friday.
Mobile Sales and Traffic: As expected mobile sales decreased as consumers went back to work and conducted more of their shopping from their PC. On Cyber Monday both mobile traffic and sales were down more than 20 percent from Black Friday.
Social Sales: Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube grew by more than 20 percent over Black Friday to reach .41 percent.
Social Media Sentiment Index: Shoppers’ positive consumer sentiment on promotions, product availability and convenience all grew over Black Friday. Positive sentiment around retailers themselves also maintained its overall three to one ratio.

“Cyber Monday was not only the pinnacle of the Thanksgiving shopping weekend but when the cash register closed it officially became the biggest online shopping day ever,” said Jay Henderson, Strategy Director, IBM Smarter Commerce. “Retailers that adopted a smarter marketing approach to commerce were able to adjust to the shifting shopping habits of their customers, whether in-store, online or via their mobile device of choice, and fully benefit from this day and the entire holiday weekend.”

Cyber Monday sales growth was led by several industries which include:

Department stores continued to offer compelling deals and promotions that drove sales to grow by 43.1 percent over Cyber Monday 2011.
Health and Beauty sales increased 25.1 percent year over year with consumers once again choosing to pamper themselves this holiday.
Home goods maintained its momentum this year, reporting a 26.8 percent increase in sales from Cyber Monday 2011.
Apparel sales were also strong this holiday with Cyber Monday numbers showing an increase of 25.3 percent over 2011.

- Erik Qualman via IBM data release
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