Alberta Business Marketing

What a pleasant surprise at today’s Mind Over Marketing day here in Calgary.

Greg from “The Engaged Entrepreneur” was a pleasant addition to the speaker lineup at the Mind Over Marketing boot camp today and shared some great strategies on marketing for our small businesses.  Greg had a great question on “Why is so much marketing screwed up?” What a great question!

I shared this belief with a number of my fellow Canadian small business owners on why our marketing simply doesn’t work.  Here is the main issue…we are all focused on “IMAGE MARKETING”.  You know or maybe you don’t know.  Drive down any highway and you will see classic examples of image advertising…just look for all the billboards.  The biggest challenge with image-based advertising is this…you can’t measure it.  Lesson of the day – If you can’t easily measure it…DON’T DO IT!

Here are a few great small business marketing ideas I learned from Greg.

Never drive traffic to your main website – David and I talk about this all the time.  Domain names are cheap and people who specialize in Internet Marketing are plentiful.  When you run a campaign or do some marketing, register a special domain at godaddy.com or your favourite registrar and then have everyone go to that specially registered domain name.  Why?  So you can measure how effective your marketing is.  Ulistic can help with strategy around this.  There are many ways to implement this, so before you spend a dime…call me at 403.775.2205.

Not everyone is your target market – Most entrepreneurs are afraid of limiting their target market.  Well, the opposite is the reality.  With Ulistic, we focus on hi-tech organizations, IT Professionals, Real Estate Agents, Real Estate businesses and keep our focus aligned on what we do best.  Not everyone is in your target market.

Keep it simple – Avoid high prices imaged-based marketing.  Keep your marketing simple and targeted.  Always think about the target market that you are serving and think about them some more.  People are always asking “Who cares, what is in it for me?”. Simple marketing works, put yourself in the heads of the market you are looking to serve and then serve, serve, serve them.

What does this have to do with social media or online marketing?  Lots!

As I mentioned in my talk yesterday at Mind Over Marketing…the barrier to entry is extremely low and never before has access to the market been so affordable for small business.  Don’t bring in the mistakes of image-based marketing into the online world.  Put yourself in the shoes of your prospect and market and then serve them.  Position your marketing, your blogs, and social media to serve and offer great advice and service.

If you need some help with online marketing and position yourself online as a servant to your community give me a shout at 403.775.2205.

Tags: 403.775.2205, Business, Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, Engaged Entrepreneur, favourite registrar, image advertising, image-based advertising, Internet Marketing, Marketing research, online world, Positioning, Return on marketing investment, social media, speaker, Technology/Internet
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Why is football so popular?

Is it the brutal tackling, amazing catches and exceptional athletes?

This year I am volunteering to coach the Calgary Bantam Wildcats as an Offensive Line coach.  I played Defensive End when in high school, so it will be interesting to be on the other side of the ball for a change.  Football for those who follow this game closely must be approached in a strategic manner.  You can’t expect to take the field without a plan of how you are going to play the game.  The best teams throughout history have always used strategy to fight for every yard and to win championships.

Lately, I have been looking at social media from a very strategic approach.  I first started out with tactics and dismissed strategy, however as I mature as a business consultant who focuses on helping Canadian small business with Online Marketing, strategy is crucial to everyone’s overall success online.

Many Canadian, US and Tech firms simply attempt to leverage social media by going at it very tactically and I am not sure why online marketing often skips over the planning and strategy phase.  Perhaps it is the ease of access and even because it requires little or no financial investment to get started.  What a mistake as I have learned over my time in the industry.  Tactical is crucial during the execution phase however long before you send out a tweet, post an update on Facebook or write your first blog post you have to look at the strategical approach to social media.

Social Media is a relationship marketing tool and the best relationships are always part of your strategic plan.  Over the past few weeks I have spoken about the importance of a plan and what my friend Arlin talks about “The Four Plans That Change Everything“.

Do you have a business plan?  Many businesses don’t.

How about a marketing plan?  Nope, even more business don’t have a plan to execute their marketing.

Are you getting the results from your online marketing? Maybe it is simply a failure to plan.

Many businesses here in Calgary and across Canada are not getting the results they were promised by their social media consultant.  Why?  Because they have no plan to attack the market, just like in football…no plan, how can you ever succeed?

Yes, Social Media is exactly like Football.  You need to battle to develop every strategic relationship just like you need to take the field in football to win each series, each quarter, each half and then each game.

Need a hand planning your online marketing…give me a call 403.775.2205

Tags: 403.775.2205, Arlin, Business, business consultant, business plan, Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, canada, Defensive End, Facebook Inc, football, Internet Marketing, Management, Marketing effectiveness, marketing plan, Media consultant, Offensive Line coach, relationship marketing, relationship marketing tool, social media consultant, Sports, Strategic management, United States
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Are websites really relevant in todays’ social web? I subscribe to a great and very informative blog by marketing expert Scott Brinker.   Recently one of his discussion points was on the concept of a website in today’s social web.  Go ahead and check out his article 3 nimble trends changing content and marketing, it makes for some very interesting reading on where we may be heading in the marketing world.

It was Scott’s article that sparked the thought in me about relevance and business websites.

Are these Internet billboards really necessary when we have so many different forms factors online to consume information?

I don’t know the answer to this question or maybe I do and need to write about to figure it all out.  Half of me is torn one way while the other half torn in the opposite direction.  For those who follow this blog and my number of different blogs focused on business in Calgary and Canadian business know that I have a passion for creating content.  So much this is my career, working with small business on crafting and creating their online communications strategy.  I am so blessed to have a faithful following of people who check in almost daily for new information that either comes from my colleagues like Scott or stuff I just think about.  We don’t have a website for these content service, just a blog…and for all argument sakes a blog is really a website with dynamic content.

My argument for business “owning” their website (notice I didn’t say having) is this.  Your website serves a great place for your static business content.  Information about your products and services, history of the company and a run down of all the great things you do.  Some of you even transact through your website.  However, more and more of the leading websites are now combining traditional static information with bits and pieces of dynamic content thrown in just for fun.

Your business marketing site (your website) is your sales and marketing engine online.  David and I work hard each day and focus our services at Ulistic on educating small business owners across North America on the value of investing in the ownership of the entire web presence through our Ulistic Coaching and Online Mentoring Program.  Not just a simple website but an interactive marketing machine that converts visitors to prospects for your business.

The demand for this knowledge of communicating online is overwhelming some days however it is truly rewarding.

What does this really mean?

I believe websites for small business are an investment.  A well performing website is a huge asset to any corporation, especially one that has proven conversion results.  So yes, a business must have a marketing website to market their business online and one that blends all the social interaction required in today’s world.

I think I just answered my own question.

Here is a great quote I pulled off of Scott’s blog and it really sums it up.

Nic Newman of the BBC:
You can’t afford to [create] a piece of content for any one platform. Instead of crafting a website, you have to put more effort into crafting the description of an asset and the different bits of an asset, so they can be reused more effectively, so they can deliver more value.

Tags: blog, business marketing site, Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, Computing, Internet billboards, Modal logic, North America, online communications strategy, Online Mentoring Program, Scott Brinker, social web, technology, Technology/Internet, ulistic, web presence, website, World Wide Web
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Are we at a major crossroads in business marketing?

I think we are at a critical junction in marketing, especially those focused on the online space and developing platforms.  Given all the challenges facing popular online networking services in the past week and the average Joe’s potential loss of trust towards online services, will it slow down the rapid advance that we have seen lately in the entire social media space?

Social Media is business can go one of two ways, it will either skyrocket or cave in.  The next few months will be crucial in determining the direction the social side of online marketing goes.

It does all begin with Trust

There are similarities between social media and the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland.  Eyjafjallajökull spewed ash for week and disrupted airspace over the North Atlantic and Europe.  Social Media is not so different.  There are many “Human Volcanos” spewing disruptive ash of their own and causing people to shut down or divert to other avenues. When you combine this with the recent privacy issues, does social media marketing have the potential of moving in the same direction as traditional marketing?

How will social media and business co-exist? This is something I spend most waking work moments striving to figure out and achieve here in the Canadian market.  Today, I am blessed to be speaking about “Trust Marketing” at the Alberta Association of Library Technicians 36th Annual Conference.  Trust Marketing is all about positioning yourself as a trusted business advisor who at least practices the 5 principles shared by Bob Burg and John David Mann in the Go Giver parable.

Trust Marketing is all about delivering value within your target marketing and community without being concerned if you are going to loss the deal or someone is going to steal your thoughts.  Here is a secret folks, all the knowledge you have is simply a Google search away, so we need to get over the fact that we know it all.  It is ok to give away knowledge to those seeking what you know, this is where the “law of value” kicks in.  You can read the 5 laws here.  What you will find is the more you give away in value and the better you serve folks in your business community, the higher your income will eventually be.

We all must be extremely open to sharing and this is the only way in my opinion social media marketing and business will work together. Business owners need to share and share often.  I have always been open to sharing information even with my so-called competitors (often beaten up by my co-workers as well about this) in the marketplace and especially with those looking to do business with us.  I think it is critical in the “feeling out phase” to be completely open and not hide a single thing.  Clients and prospects are not dumb, they know when you are holding back the goods and they appreciate it when you are open and serve them.

If your website, social media activities and online market are about sharing information, teaching people and offering insight you will be fine in the online world.

Can social media and business co-exist? What will it take for trust to shine through online?  What information do you trust more?  As a business owner, can you leverage “Trust Marketing”?

Tags: Alberta Association of Library Technicians, bob burg, Business, Business Success, Business/Finance, Europe, Iceland, Internet Marketing, John David Mann, Library Technicians, Man-Made Disaster, media marketing, media space, Natural Disaster, North Atlantic, North Atlantic and Europe, online networking services, online space, social media marketing, Social Media Ventures Inc, trust, trusted business advisor
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Over the past week I have spent many hours deeply engaged with local and industry communities.  At the beginning of the week I started off at the HTG Peer Group annual summit in Dallas, TX.  HTG is a community that I was deeply involved with during my days as a Calgary Computer Support Specialist.  HTG is made up of like-minded IT firms and brings them together in large groups, small groups and special interest groups built on the sharing of best practices and getting involved in the health of each member’s business.

At HTG Summit, I had an opportunity to speak about “online marketing” to a small group of HTG Marketing Professionals on Monday.  Marketing your business and ensuring you have a strategy to keep your business pipeline full is just one of the critical success elements for all business.  Doesn’t matter if you are a tech company, selling real estate or selling hot dogs on the street corner – marketing is a must.  Great marketing is the heartbeat of any business.  What I shared with these HTG professionals is the importance of online marketing when it is balanced with all other aspects of your business marketing, you have look at your overall strategy and how the web fits into your marketing.  You can read my review of the first couple of days with HTG by visiting “The VarGuy site“.

When I returned to Calgary on Tuesday, Ulistic jumped into education mode and brought together a number of great business people for a day of LinkedIn training at our monthly LinkedIn Workshop.  This week we had an experience with a national industry peer group and also a local community of business professionals right in our own backyard.

How do communities work with your business?

Are you the type to engage with community or walk away from those you see as competitors?

I heard something from one of my friends and mentors, Dr. Leslie Roberts from Calgary small business training firm GoForth Institute about competition in our world today during my small business podcast.  Plus, I also just need to turn to what Erik and Lyf are doing in Minneapolis with their Techpulse Minneapolis event.  In MSP, Erik and Lyf come together, competitors in the same industry and they also bring their own customers and share….very powerful.  A great community of professionals led by two leaders in industry.

Here is my advice…don’t hide in the corner, sucking your thumb…get out and engage with others in your community.

Tags: Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, Calgary Computer Support Specialist, collaboration, Community websites, dallas, GoForth Institute, htg peer group, Human Interest, Leslie Roberts, linkedin, LinkedIn Ltd, Minneapolis, Online social networking, Real Estate, Social information processing, social media, Texas, the HTG Peer Group annual, web 2.0, web fits, World Wide Web
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