John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing, shared a thought with me recently that went something like this:

“Our complimentary content should be of greater value than what our competitors are charging for.”

That’s radical marketing!

• Are you giving your customers a free taste of your high-value offering that your competitors would never think of offering?
• Are you producing educational content via your blog that draws people to you like a magnet?
• Are you offering a free course, report, video or sample so that potential customers will not just become a transaction, but lifelong raving fans?

We’ve taken John up on his challenge and added a number of FREE REPORTS into our library.  We are making our full library of reports available to you!

Click to access the library of free marketing tips!

As Christian business owners, you no doubt struggle with day-to-day managment and operational challenges, but also wrestle with the effort to make a worthy profit alongside the desire to generously give as Jesus did!   While your competitors are constantly reducing their prices through gimmicks and coupons (which are OK in certain seasons), you can emulate Christ’s generosity by providing a steady stream of complimentary content that helps cultivate loyal ambassadors (satisfied customers who repeat and refer!)

This is a bedrock tenant of our marketing philosophy.  Generously giving to your customers and prospects builds lifelong trust that leads to regular repeat customers who rave about you to their friends!

STOP!

. . . after you read the report, you might be ready to make some changes in your marketing.

Click the box below to learn how we can help.

Our most frequent question in terms of social media is “what should I post?“  A follow-up comment people often make is “…and who really cares anyway?”

One of the sins of the online marketing world, particularly grievous on social sites like Facebook and Twitter, is to constantly flood your follower’s content streams with incessant self-promotion.   But whenever we talk to businesses about using these prominent (and ever-expanding) online platforms for marketing, their eyes light up and inevitably someone will assert that because of the low-cost (or most often FREE) aspect of these tools, they assume their ROI to be sky-high.  “You mean we can market our products and services and tell all of our customers about each of our promotions several times a day – all for free?”  Au contraire.  Social networking sites were not intended for such purposes and to hijack them for your selfish gain goes against the rules of the game.

So, in opposition to the continuous self-promotion often evident from businesses on Facebook or Twitter, consider yourself a resource, a true helping hand to those who follow your activity.  Consider they don’t necessarily follow you just to be inundated with your self-promotion, so change the way you post.   Instead, be a H-E-L-P-E-R :

Follow this acronym:

• H – drive them to high value content at your Hub (your website)
• E – provide Educational value (this information adds value to their day; you can create unique posts or share articles you mind other places)
• L – write thought-Leadership ideas; make them Laugh (people are inspired by leadership, but love a good chuckle, too)
• P – occasionally Promote your promotions (in balance, it’s OK to do this, but just keep it as only part of the variety of postings)
• E – make it a point to Engage (make and react to comments, encourage interactions by asking questions/polls)
• R – intentionally look for ways to Reach out to key influencers (social media tools often permit you access never imagined before)

Promotion is not evil but it’s annoying and a turn-off when it’s all your followers hear from you.  Helping your followers with high-value content, they will not only continue following, but they will also encourage others to do the same.

- Randy

Perhaps you have heard them before:

1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion

Not that there isn’t some evidence of successful marketing following this model, but overall, I think the above P’s have lost their resonance.  A new culture of marketing, social media and online marketing influences, and an increasingly savvy and suspicious consumer has given way to a new model.

John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing, suggests that small business owners should examine “The 4 Ps of a Fully Alive Business.”

These are my three favorite quotes from this great classic post from John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing:

1. You attract by building know, like and trust.
2. You retain customers by focusing on repeat and referral.
3. The key is intention.

Enjoy this article, “How to Attract and Retain New Customers.”

So you wanna get a little creative?

Here’s a recent post about some creative marketing ideas on your business’ Facebook Page.  I think you’ll enjoy some of the practical, yet innovative, uses of Facebook customization.

As well, perhaps you need to know this:

• 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Facebook Pages
• Tips to HELP create a successful Facebook page (video)

Don’t forget to register for the upcoming “Facebook for Business” webinar at the end of the month – it’s FREE!

-Randy

Image source: globalnerdy.com

At the end of this month, we will offer another FREE WEBINAR on the consistently hot topic of Facebook.  It is by far the question we get asked the most.  Either, “do you have to be on Facebook to success in business?” or “how can I use Facebook to drive sales?”

We’ll answer both of these questions and more:

• Why you need to use Facebook for business
• How you DON’T need to use Facebook for business
• What makes an ineffective Facebook strategy
• How to engage customers better, and ensuring that you have future communication with them
• How to showcase all of your expertise and experience without selling anything
• Why you need to do 3 simple things (at least) to make your Facebook page actually work for you
• When you need to post on your Facebook page, how often, and about what topics

We will conduct the FREE webinar on Thursday, March 31, at 1pm CST.  Registration is required, so please click on the link below to register.

Click here to Register for this Webinar

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Enjoy this article on Social Media Examiner called “8 Ways to Find Great Social Media Content” – I use most of these and it makes blogging and updating your Twitter and Facebook a whole lot easier!  I’ve had multiple people assume I’m smarter than I am and ask, “where do you find all that stuff you write about?”

I tell them (after admitting I’m not really that smart) my 3 secrets:

• Follow thought leaders on Twitter and Facebook

• Subscribe to news feeders (like Reader, Alltop, etc)

• I also have about a dozen sites that I can go to anytime and know I will have content worth sharing (one of which is John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing blog – like this article called “Why I Devour Blogs“)

There’s no reason why I need to go searching for content.  I’m not willing to work that hard. 

Wow, where did last week go?  Can’t believe I didn’t post anything new all week.  This year has started off very busy – but I can’t repeat that error again this week, so here’s a few things I have enjoyed reading lately:

• 11 Real Life Examples of Marketing Success – David Meerman Scott shares a free eBook that he co-wrote with HubSpot – good stuff of inspiration!
• How I Use Email Marketing – John Jantsch gets practical again over on the Duct Tape Marketing blog
• Top 10 Things That All Customers Want - Business Pundit offers these simple tips
• Tips to HELP create a successful Facebook page – (VIDEO) Donny shares some practical examples of some custom Facebook jobs we’ve done recently

Also, thanks to Donny who handled the entire seminar on “Social Media for Business” at the NRH Library this past Thursday.  Loved what one participant, Kate, said afterward, “Donny, thanks very much, it was the best use of time I’ve had in a while…Look forward to learning more about your company and hearing you speak again.” Great feedback!

To book The Marketing Twins for your event, see our “Speaking” page.

As the first week of the new year rolls on, what resolutions have you made?  I was in a Bible study this morning and one friend said, “I don’t make them, because I get discouraged by my lack of follow-through by March.” 

On a personal note, I assume it’s easier not to make resolutions for that very reason.  However, I’m not sure businesses can afford to take a passive approach to their business model, their efforts to increase sales, and how they are going to attract better (and more) customers.  So I found this article that might give you some resolutions for your business.  Shawn Parr is the CEO of Bulldog Drummond, a design and innovation consultancy headquartered in San Diego.  Shawn has worked with companies such as Starbucks, Jack in the Box, Adidas, MTV, Virgin, Disney, and Nike.  Here’s his resolutions:

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Brand (2011)

REWIND TIME!

John Jantsch, marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine, shared his predictions one year ago for trends affecting small business in 2010.  As I read this list, I’m wondering if John was ahead of the game.  These seem like they might be trends for 2011 as well (at least in the area where we work).

5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2010 (2010)

Related to that, I wrote a piece a couple of years on AMEX OpenForum with some timeless resolutions you should be committed to in this new year.  Different than predictions, these are essential areas to focus on that will make you a better business this year.

7 Resolutions for Small Business (2009)

Have a great new year!

-Randy

2011 is the year that you better start producing high-value content!  Seriously – it’s the first few days of the new year, but it’s time to get busy.

Effective content has to be created, launched, shared and repurposed – but we all want the latter two, yet don’t give our consumers enough high-value content to share.  And 3 months into the new year, if you don’t produce content, you’ll still be wondering, “How do I get more traffic to my site?”

Effective content can be a powerful magnet for traffic that ultimately results in sales!

Content can be:

• blog posts (read this very effective post from John Jantsch about blogging)
• self-published articles
• ebook, white paper, resource booklet
• videos
• audio podcasts
• webinars recorded and archived
• photos
• etc….

The above are simply ONLINE content.  You might create supporting OFFLINE content as well:

• face-to-face seminars
• speaking engagements
• trainings
• resource book
• etc….

CREATE THE CONTENT - get on a calendar, set a time each week and just write, speak, or outline something of high-value.  Think not about what you DO, but what your target market is NEEDING from you.  This instantly makes your content more valuable to them to consume – and the higher the possibility that your content will be shared by them to their wide circle of friends.  Also, for SEO purposes, write naturally, but also strategically make your content keyword-rich (just don’t stuff the article with keywords so much that it’s unreadable by your audience – write naturally).

LAUNCH THE CONTENT – post the article to your blog, upload the video or photo to a media-sharing site, upload that article or press release to a free distribution service, etc…get it out there in the place that offers you the highest level of exposure.

SHARE THE CONTENT – you can do this, but it is so much more effective if your audience does this for you.  But encouraging them to do it certainly helps – ask them to do it and more will.  Put a “share” button on your blog that can facilitate the sharing over to Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc.

REPURPOSE THE CONTENT – one of the coolest thing about keyword-rich, high-value content is the ability to reuse it over and over.  Post a “REPLAY” of an old blog post that got you alot of traffic – assuming it’s still relevant, play it again and see if you can restimulate some activitiy on your blog.  Articles can’t be posted again to the same article marketing site, but you can certainly draw from old articles when producing new stuff – and those internal links offer your new audience a look back into some of your older content.  Facebook and Twitter users are constantly asking, “what do I post now?”  On those days when you just can’t think of anything, pull from an old blog post or article and you have an easy tweet or status update.

Happy New Year everyone – may 2011 be your very best!

-Randy & Donny