Successful Blog

Untangling Marketing Goals, Strategies, and Tactics

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Today, I have a confession.

I’m a serial hobbyist poser.

I have whole closets full of squash rackets, glue guns, guitar music, and other must-have items that I bought before figuring out what I really wanted to spend time doing. I’d see a Martha Stewart article about paper quilling and run out immediately to buy specialized tools.

Do you find yourself with all of the “trappings” of marketing, but no results to show for it? I’m talking about that time you signed up for a Google Analytics account and then never looked at any of the data. Or that time you started a monthly email newsletter and it only went out for three months.

Without a clear marketing plan, you will run from idea to idea, or tool to tool, with no roadmap. Even if you have success, you won’t know how it happened, or be able to repeat it in the future.

Your marketing plan must dovetail with your overall mission as a business. Untangling those priorities and putting them in the correct order is crucial to your business success.

untangled marketing

Start with the Mission, Work your Way Down

So what comes first? It’s your Mission. Why does your business exist? Not a prefab paragraph you concocted, but why you get up in the morning and go to work.

Once you know your Mission, you can use that to come up with some marketing goals. Once you have marketing goals, you can determine your marketing strategy and tactics. Somewhere within your arsenal of marketing tactics, you can include some social media tactics.

See how that worked? We zoomed in several levels before we got to anything like “make a Facebook page” or “create a Vine video.”

Sorting out Goals, Strategies, & Tactics – An Example

Let’s use a concrete example that will help clarify. I like to use the American Red Cross, because hey, they help people!

Their stated Mission is “The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.”

Here’s my sample made-up marketing goal for the American Red Cross:
“Promote 100 blood drives in the State of South Carolina in Q1 of 2014.”

How can we achieve that goal? We need a strategy (or a few strategies).

For example:
Strategy 1: Increase sharing mechanisms for current donors.
Strategy 2: Create content that demonstrates the value of blood drives.
Strategy 3: Build up number of donors who subscribe to text reminders.

You could use all sorts of tactics to support these strategies. They might run the gamut from buying billboard space next to a donation center, to collecting Twitter handles during the donor registration process. They can be traditional tactics, or they can involve social media.

Let’s break out some potential tactics for Strategy 1, to illustrate:

Tactic 1: Collect Twitter handles during the donor registration process.
Tactic 2: Invite current donors to participate in phone banks to encourage new donors.
Tactic 3: Set up a video sharing station at blood centers to facilitate Vines, Instagrams after donation.
Tactic 4: Offer an “I donated” button for social profiles.
Tactic 5: Give out Red Cross t-shirts or other branded materials to donors.

The final step is to analyze the possible tactics according to your own criteria for success. What resources would be required? How much time would it take? What is the cost? Does it fit in with the rest of our marketing program?

Once you’ve decided which tactics suit your situation, create a calendar and plot out the marketing program. Be sure to build in periodic reviews, so that you can adjust as necessary.

Going through a process like this will result in a marketing strategy and business plan that make sense for your business. It will prevent shiny object syndrome. And it will leverage your marketing investment in a dramatic way.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Is Rehiring Those You Laid Off Smart?

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arehire

Experiencing a recession or other financial issue that requires you to lay off employees is one of the most stressful times a small business owner can go through.

But re-hiring those laid off workers may come in a close second if you’re not prepared for legal and other issues that may arise.

Discrimination Claims

If you’re not careful, you may end up receiving a discrimination claim when you start hiring back your laid-off employees. Remember: Fair employment laws apply to rehiring laid-off workers, just as they do to new hires.

Protect yourself by writing a clear rehire policy that lays out exactly how you’ll make the determination about who you’re going to bring back, and when.

For added protection, have an attorney read over your policy to make sure it can’t come back to haunt you in the case of a discrimination suit.

List Your Rehire Criteria Carefully

While writing your rehire policy, be cautious about your list of criteria you’ll use to decide who gets to come back.

Re-hiring based on skills, training, and knowledge of your company and procedures are excellent choices. Re-hiring based on whether or not you can still afford that employee’s salary can lead you into hot water.

Older workers tend to earn more, having worked their way up to higher salaries. If you eliminate rehires based on salary, you may be ruling out these older workers — leaving you open to an age-based discrimination claim.

Embrace Transparency

When you’re making your layoff decisions, and again when you’re rehiring workers, aim to be as transparent as possible about the reasons for both actions.

Employees who are laid off without a real explanation for why they were chosen may harbor resentment toward your company, which can cause morale and trust problems when you bring them back.

When you make your layoffs, ensure that your workers understand what you’ll do about their positions if things change.

If you lead employees to believe their old positions will be waiting for them when business improves, you’re setting yourself up for problems.

Offer Alternate Positions If Necessary

Unless your business operates under a collective bargaining agreement or union pact, don’t be afraid to offer your laid-off workers alternate jobs within your company.

In some cases, your financial situation may force you to eliminate some positions or departments, and you may not be able to bring everyone back at their old pay scale.

If you have to rewrite job descriptions and compensation terms, make sure your workers fully understand them — and the reasons for the changes.

You should also interview laid-off workers for the jobs, so you can reassess their skills and expertise before hiring them back.

And, if your company is in a position to start rehiring, but can no longer offer full-time work to laid-off employees, consider offering part-time positions.

Many workers may decide part-time work is better than no work at all. Just be careful: Don’t promise that these part-time positions will turn into more hours or full-time salaries in the future if there’s no guarantee.

Re-hiring employees you laid off can be a little touchy, especially if word gets around the Internet that how you are doing it is being called into question. Not only can it cause issues with your staff, but your online reputation management could take a hit with customers too.

But if you have a solid plan in place and make sure your workers understand the process, you can make it as painless as possible for both them and yourself.

Photo credit: instanthrsolutions.com

About the Author: Freelance blogger Angie Mansfield covers a variety of subjects for small business owners. From business growth to marketing, her work will give you tips to keep your business running smoothly.

Leveraging Your Relationships For Authentic Content Marketing

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building-relationships-cartoon

The topic of “content marketing” and cutting through the fads surrounding it came up recently in a phone conversation I had with Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder & Strategic Director of Orbit Media Studios.  Knowing Andy’s experienced in this area I shared my curiosity and questions people often ask me.  Things like: What is content marketing, what should you be doing and what shouldn’t you be doing?

The first thing Andy brought up was this important tip:

Whatever you do, please don’t create…

CONTENT FOR THE SAKE OF CONTENT

“It’s never about the content itself; it’s about the relationships.  And SEO, social media marketing and content marketing are coming back to focusing on the relationships.”  It’s no longer someone sitting in a cubicle punching out “tweaked” copy that Google will like.  People want value and great content, not a page  littered with key word phrases.

Old school SEO was more about the key words than their meaning.  What about now?  Andy points out that semantic search is all about context and meaning to get results that will best help the answer a question for the person searching.  In short PR + Data = SEO.  If you want to do great SEO you need:

  • To talk to people on Twitter; have conversations and share their links too.
  • Do Public Relations; which means you have to pitch.
  • You have to go to (offline) events and make friends.

You have to not only understand your links and traffic stats but it’s even more important to understand your target audiences, what they’re reading and why.  You need people to talk about you online and offline and share your content.  That’s all about the relationships, not just clicks.

Social media has also changed.  Social media activity for the sake of activity is just for fun.  If you want to have social conversations and pass the time that’s a choice to make.  But… Social media marketing has a point; you have goals and a structured plan to meet those goals.

So…

WHAT IS “JUST CONTENT” AND HOW CAN YOU CREATE SOMETHING BETTER?

Let’s talk about the analogy: “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s around to hear it; does it make a sound?” and compare it to content.  If you create content, put it online and nobody sees or shares it – was it worth creating?

“Just content” falls into the personal blog or hobby market.  It’s created by you, for you and it serves a personal purpose.  If that’s your intention that works.  If your goal is successful marketing with your content you need to do more.

So how can we differentiate between things like

  • Content creation vs. content marketing?
  • Social media activity vs. social media marketing?

Let’s ask and answer this question I posed to Andy…

HOW CAN YOU CREATE AUTHENTIC AND POWERFUL CONTENT MARKETING PROGRAMS?

Marketing means you have a purpose.  You have an audience you want to reach and relationships you want to build.

Content marketing happens when you reach people who:

  • Find your content helpful
  • Believe your content is relevant to their business or career
  • You might be able to help immediately or at a later date and
  • Might be able to help you immediately or at a later date.

In short you’re creating the opportunity to become relevant and important to them as well as finding people and companies who are relevant and important to you.  Those bullet points give you a litmus test to use when you want to create valuable content and successful content marketing campaigns. 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

The key lesson behind the first two bullet points: You have to know WHO your target markets are and WHAT they need.  This means that you have to create VALUE for those target markets; the content has to be helpful to them.

The key lesson behind the second two bullet points: Relationships are always a two way street; you have to give to get.  That brings us full circle to the point we first talked about in this post: It’s not about the content itself; it’s all about the relationships created or enhanced by the content.

In closing, Andy shared these tips for you to implement today:

  • Write as if you’re writing for one reader; as if you’re talking to one person.
  • If you don’t feel something while you’re writing: STOP.  This means your audience won’t feel any emotion about your writing either.
  • For your marketing strategy: Answer your audience’s WHY’s.  Remind them why you’re in business, why they’re looking at you and why your product or service matters.

 What relationships will YOU leverage this week to create amazing content?

Andy_Headshot_2Andy Crestodina is a co-founder of Orbit Media, an award winning, 35-person web design company here in Chicago. Andy has written hundreds of articles on topics like email marketing, search optimization, social media and Analytics. He is also the author of Content Chemistry and a two-time veteran of SOBCon. He hopes to see you there in June!

 

 

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About The Author: Mark J. Carter is the founder of ONE80; his mission is bringing conversations & storytelling back to business… through mentoring (programs, events & marketing).  He currently serves as Vice President of Communications for the Chicago Area Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

Three of the Best Website Builders for Time-Crunched Graphic Designers

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By Teddy Hunt

OK, so perhaps you’re a graphic designer who knows he or she can create one hell of a website that impresses visitors. But sometimes there’s just not enough time, and you have to leave the hard work to the Internet. Whether you want to create an online portfolio to showcase your work, or a website that people can visit when they need your services, there are plenty of options out there to meet your needs and get a functional website running.

With that said, here are three of the best website builders available if you’re too “busy” to do it yourself.

lazy designers

Wix

Wix currently has more than 43 million registered users, with about 45,000 new ones joining every day. This website builder works well for photographers, musicians, small businesses, and yes, designers. It’s especially great if you’re a beginner so to speak, since it’s relatively easy to use and features a “Help” function that’s well thought out and easy to use. Here are some other pros and cons of Wix to think about before taking a test drive.

  • Impressive templates. Wix includes more than 280 templates or you can create a customized one.
  • Drag and drop interface. Simply choose what you need (text, pictures, slideshows, etc) and put them where you want without restrictions. Although it’s not the easiest builder to use out of the three, it works well.
  • Support and help. As stated earlier, Wix provides unmatched support and help. There are buttons you can click on for answers when you’re stumbled all over the website. With a VIP plan, you get one-on-one support.
  • Advertisements on the free version. Unfortunately, if you’re using Wix for free, your published website will include ad logos on the side and bottom of it. All three of these web builders have ads in some form or fashion in the free versions, but Wix has a considerable amount more. You’ll have to upgrade to get rid of the ads.
  • Can’t change templates. Once you decide on a template, you’re stuck with it. So choose wisely.
  • Won’t manage complex e-commerce needs. Want to build an online store? Stay away from Wix.

Weebly

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use website builder that doesn’t sacrifice reliability, look no further. Weebly is perfect for graphic designers who want to showcase their portfolio without much effort put into building the website. Here are some other pros and cons of Weebly to think about before taking a test drive.

  • The best drag and drop builder on the market. Yes, even better than Wix. There isn’t an overwhelming amount of tools, but still more than enough to build a functional and professional website.
  • Free. Not only is Weebly free for most users (or really cheap for those who want to upgrade), but the advertisements are minimal. No limits. No credit card information required. No pressure to upgrade.
  • Range of templates. Even with a free account, there’s a template for everyone (and you can change it).
  • Won’t manage complex e-commerce needs. See con about Wix.
  • Limited amount of designer-caliber templates. But Weebly is changing this rapidly, so it won’t be a con for long.
  • Basic blog functions. If you want to blog on your website, you’ll have to get used to the basics. Unfortunately, Weebly lags behind when it comes to blog post organization and management. Also, you can only promote your posts through Facebook and Twitter.

Squarespace

Squarespace launched in 2004 and has since used memorable marketing videos, good publicity, and stunning example websites to push itself to the top of the website builder food chain. It currently runs more than 1.8 million websites. Although most probably won’t appreciate what Squarespace has to offer, graphic designers most certainly will. Here are some other pros and cons to think about before taking a test drive.

  • Commands your attention. The templates on Squarespace are beautiful and rich with imagery, making it look like you poured your heart and soul into designing your blog or website.
  • Responsive templates. Meaning you can resize your browser and your content will automatically adjust to provide your visitors with an optimized viewing experience. This is so crucial for end user engagement. It’s critical to note in web design the advancement of photo quality coupled with the popularity and on-the-go convenience of tablets.
  • Extensive styling options. Squarespace offers them, other website builders don’t.
  • More difficult to use. Simply put, you need to invest some time and effort before taking advantage of all the tools that Squarespace offers. If easy is what you’re looking for, look elsewhere.
  • Drag and drop feature not as smooth. Wix and Weebly’s drag and drop interface seem to work smoother.
  • You can customize everything without going into codes. This is actually a con for the average Joe, but to an experienced graphic designer this might not mean much.

All three of these website builders work well. It all comes down to your wants, needs, and abilities.

Have you used one of these before? What was/is your experience like?

Author’s Bio: Teddy Hunt is a freelance content writer with a focus on technology. When not behind a computer, Teddy spends the majority of his free time outdoors and resides in Tampa, Florida.

Photo Credit: anoldent via Compfight cc

The 5 W’s to Prepare for SOBCon

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Getting the most out of the conference before you go

Once you do the budgeting and registering, you’re just at the beginning of planning. What you get out of a conference depends on what you put into it. This is even more true of SOBCon than other events because of the collaborative way you’ll learn there.

You need to know the five W’s of your conference before you ever go.

Who

  • Who do you want to meet? Think customers, partners, competitors, mentors, and vendors.
  • Who could you cooperate with?
  • Who could send you customers? Who could you send customers to?
  • Who have you talked to several times, and you just need to push it over the edge and get something going with them?

What

  • What do you want to talk to these people about?
  • What project are you working on that is too big for you alone?
  • What are you most wanting to learn?

When and Where

  • Invite a friend or colleague to join your mastermind for a particular session that relates to a project you’re working on together. You don’t have to stick with one table or one set of people for the entire event.
  • Put together a small group to go to dinner or breakfast together. I like to leave lunches open and see who I happen to connect with.

Why

  • Review the topics that will be presented. Think about how they relate to your business. What key points will you listen for during that topic?
  • Think through your goals for the event. Make an index card with a summary and take it with you.

A few other points

  • Follow the #SOBCon discussion on Twitter. It’s the best place to interact with other attendees before the event.
  • Order some business cards or have a ready alternative prepared. I still use a few at each SOBCon.
  • Post something relevant on your blog. When you meet people at SOBCon, they are likely to stop by to learn more about you. Make sure your site is ready for them. Don’t panic or obsess over this, but do take time to post something meaningful. Can’t think of anything else? Post a summary of your mission or purpose.
  • Update your profile photo. If you usually use anything besides a photo of you as your profile photo, consider changing it at least a week in advance. We want to be able to recognize you when we meet in person.

Beware the Social Media Cockroaches

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He came to the house every month on Wednesday. Armed with powerful chemicals, he made sure that no “Palmetto bugs” found their way inside. While he made the house safe for scaredy cats like me, we would banter about business.

social media cockroaches

His long-term plan was to go out on his own, and once he found out what I did for a living, he had a million questions.

“I already bought a ready-made website from XYZ hosting company, and I have business cards. How can I use Facebook to get more customers?” (Because when I use the word Internet in any conversation with a civilian, they immediately envision me as a Facebook expert.)

I struggled with my answer, mostly because you can’t answer that question in the 10 minute space of time it takes for pest control to occur in a two story home, but also because there is no easy answer.

Anyone who says, “just go get a Facebook page” is being short-sighted. And anyone who prescribes any “social media” solution without doing a lot of listening first is selling snake oil.

My take was that pest control is a highly referral-based business, and he needed to ensure that a) his customers have an easy way to spread the word to their friends, and b) he shows up when people who live in my local area search online for “pest control.”

Ultimately, my advice was to ignore social media until he defined who his target market was, where they lived, and how they shopped for pest control.

Could he use social media to help his business? Absolutely.

He could start regularly blogging to create a content resource that might move him up in the Google search results. He could make a series of funny Vine videos. He could use Twitter advanced search to find local people Tweeting about bug problems. There are hundreds of avenues he could take. Sure, he could even start a Facebook page.

But good marketing advice isn’t like a “hot stock tip” you overhear in the elevator. There’s no one-size-fits-all.

And if you’re working with someone who offers to “set up a Facebook page” as a first step, before learning your business, don’t walk away. Run.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: James Niland via Compfight cc