Category listing: May, 2008
The Marketing Twins had a meeting earlier in the week with another marketing professional in which we talked about the role of social media for business. (If this term is not clear, read this definition or think: interacting with people through technology, mainly the internet such as blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc – also check out what John says about one of the oldest social media tools around!)
If you still think that all of these tools are just for sharing personal information, immature worthless videos, or trying to connect with long-lost friends, then you need to start thinking how you can use these tools in your small business. Non-profit organizations and churches are waking up to the reality as well. Why?
I read an interesting article online at FastCompany. In talking particularly about the power of Facebook marketing (this is business marketing, not just personal use of Facebook), it was noted that traditional media called on the company to disseminate the marketing message through mediums like radio, print, TV, etc, and then just WAIT. But within social media, a message may be initiated by the original source (you), but in hopes that it spreads like a virus and gets picked up by a million different viewers – each adding their own commentary, their own perception on what you are offering, and their own personalized endorsements. Here’s what the article says:
“Organizations need to understand how to get distribution within these social networks. How do we get friends to tell friends? How do you create new viral videos? How do you create groups that people are going to join? How do you create events that people will invite other people to? That’s where mass interpersonal persuasion comes in. Through the newsfeed and my social network, interesting stuff now comes to me; I don’t have to go searching for it.”
Through the likes of RSS feeds, what I’m interested in does arrive in my RSS reader (Bloglines for me) and I get to read about what I want to read about. My interests. My likes. In Facebook, I may join a group of like-minded people. And ads are targeting this very group. Or people within the group share links to web pages talking about things we might all enjoy. As more and more people learn to use the internet in this way, traditional shopping will transform. You can’t expect people to just find your products. You have got to create traffic that drives up your search engine rankings. You’ve got to provide rich content that uses the right keywords so that I see it in my RSS feed. A viral video shows up as I check up on my friends in Facebook – I watch it, share it, post it, link to it. Others who have similar likes follow my suggestion and this becomes a powerful force of referral marketing.
For alot of folks, the use of social media is still relatively new – and even newer is the application for small business. So if you’re not up to speed, don’t worry. But don’t delay!
Here’s another article by John Jantsch - Social media strategy
And another perspective on Facebook for Business by a fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Bill Briesford – Using Facebook for Business
And have you ever uttered these words: “They don’t use SOCIAL MEDIA in my industry.” If so, read this one, the guy who lures!
And finally, if you are new to Facebook, note that there is some privacy established for everyone’s protection, so we can’t be “friends” until we both accept. So when you get on Facebook, search for “Randy Vaughn” and click on “Add as Friend.” Then click on “Add a Personal Message” and type in “MarketingTwins blog” – this way, in case I don’t know you yet, I’ll be able to accept your invitation. You’ll find a quick link to Facebook on the right of this blog (scroll down a little after this post). Yes, the other Marketing Twin, Donny, is on Facebook, too, so add him as a friend as well!
All this social media stuff still clear as mud? Keep reading throughout the summer for additional posts about the emerging role of “Social Media & Business” – and coming SOON, we’ll be offering a marketing training workshop on this very topic! It probably won’t be ready for a few months, but it will be very practical!
-Randy
OK – this is just a rant. We live next door to this place well known for serving kids’ food (not sure the healthy adult entrees are quite as popular). Inexpensive hamburgers, nuggets, french fries, and ice cream.
So it’s getting HOT here in Texas, so it’s time to start thinking about how to market your products that particularly “beat the heat!”
Everyday during the school year, my wife or I will pick up our 3rd grader from school and stop off for a snack at various places.
Today was my turn with the kids (I had all 4). We are close enough to this famous place that it made sense to run through the drive-thru so I could get the kids back in time for Hannah Montana (a priority in our house apparently) and I could get this blog post up.
I waited in the typical 3:30p long line (6 cars deep) and with a car full of restless little tykes. Finally we make our way and began our order placement of 4 vanilla ice cream cones. RESPONSE: “I’m sorry, we’re cleaning out our ice cream machine right now. If you can come back in about 20 minutes, we’ll be done.”
Yeh – right. We were at the other ice cream joint down the street in less than 2 minutes and the kids had their cones in hand and we were back at home long before Miley does her costume change (that’s a Hannah Montana reference if you are not into the Disney channel thing, or if that Miley Cyrus photo for Vanity Fair just totally turned you off – another story!) Sorry, you missed that sale.
What in the world is this world renown fast-food restaurant doing CLEANING IT’S ICE CREAM MACHINE just as schools are letting out all over the area, and it’s 90+ degrees outside! PLUS, did it ever occur to anyone that you might post a SIGN somewhere along the LONG drive-thru route to say, OUR ICE CREAM MACHINE IS DOWN RIGHT NOW (or to be more positive, “The Best Ice Cream in the Area Will Begin Being Served at 4:00p! Don’t Miss It!”) Saves a few frustrated customers.
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Another family favorite seems to understand the timing issue. SONIC has their now famous HAPPY HOUR where ALL drinks and slushes are HALF-PRICE between 2-4! Why? Because that’s when parents are picking up their kids from school!! And it’s the hottest time of the day and people enjoy a little relief now and then! I read this online:
“The Sonic HAPPY HOUR initiative has been particularly effective not only at stimulating overall sales growth, but also increasing traffic, which has grown significantly in the afternoon day part since its introduction.”
Traffic! Traffic! Traffic! And I would love to see the stats, but wouldn’t you guess, along with me, that they do a whole lot more than just sell drinks between 2-4! I would love to see how much more they make on food sales during that time period. Everyday! 2-4pm!
TAKE NOTE: Repetition is also a magnet for traffic because it creates buying habits for consumers. And by defining the promotional time period (2-4), this helps create that sense of urgency for the customer – positively affecting their purchase decision because they know if they don’t act now, they’ll pay more later.
What are you doing to drive traffic? Are you doing something unique and on such a regular basis that everyone in town knows about it? If not, you’re probably twittling your thumbs wondering why no one is stopping to purchase your wonderful products. Go and create a traffic-driving promotion that everyone will know about!! And don’t just do it one day or just Memorial Weekend. What are you known for that does something unique EVERYDAY? And stop cleaning your ice cream machine at 3:30 in the afternoon. Try doing it at 9:30a when people are thinking more about pancakes and egg sandwices.
Our local team, the Dallas Stars fell to the opponent tonight, 4-1. A blow-out, right? Well, maybe, but considering the Dallas were down 3-0 in the series only to win 2 straight, it’s no wonder at game’s end, the crowd at the American Airlines Center here in Dallas was on its feet cheering. For a win? No. For a loss??? No. For a great effort.
Also today, Jon Lester of the Red Sox, is the first left-handed Sox pitcher to throw a no-hitter . . . in 52 years!!
INSPIRATION FOR YOU & ME:
Some days we go down in defeat. Some days sales don’t get anywhere close to where they need to be to meet payroll (or that looming mortgage or college tuition payment!). Some days are just hard. Your brilliant ideas lay dormant, not because you haven’t put forth amazing effort – but because they just aren’t hitting a nerve with your customers. They are somehow not resonating and bringing you the ROI you were hoping for. Wouldn’t it be easier to just throw in the towel, go work for someone else (never-the-matter you might be miserable doing something you don’t want to do, all-the-while dreaming about your REAL dream that you gave up on) . . .??
Perhaps you’re down 3-2, or even 3-0! Defeat stares you in the face. If you lose on this day, know that the Marketing Twins stand to applaud you for a great fight! We know the challenges of small business. We know what it feels like to be pursuing a dream, only to find that the reality of net profit for the month seems to startle you out of that blissful vision about what you DREAM about! Yes, we occasionally have an idea or two that seem awesome, only to find them fall flat. (Of course, those are just ideas we try on ourselves – all of the ideas we offer our clients bring super fantastic great returns . . . uh . . . 
Don’t give up! Keep trying. Maybe it’s not been 52 YEARS since you’ve hit it big, but maybe it’s been 52 long days! Persevere friend! Learn something new. Try something new. Try something old. Pick one area and stick to it rather than trying to try a little bit of this and a little bit of that on the overwhelming marketing technique buffet.
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
Find inspiration in that you are not just in this for money, power, profits or yourself. Truth be told, most of you are in it to do GREATER THINGS. More time for charity. More time with your families (you’re best friend works at a job 80 hours a week and never has time for his son’s Little League games, but that’s not for you!!) More time to travel around the world helping people. More money to give to local charities. More money to give away to people in need. More opportunity to give of yourself, your ideas and your talent so that others can advance alongside of you. That’s GREATER THINGS!
If you need inspiration and a solid and practical marketing strategy to do GREATER THINGS, sign up NOW for Tuesday at 2pm! Every Tuesday, we offer a FREE conference call – simple enroll for FREE and we’ll send you the call-in information. Absolutely FREE!
