Category listing: Marketing Coaching
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
