Alberta Business Marketing

There has been a number of people claiming to be Social Media Experts who are attempting to capitalize on the  social media craze. Social Media technologies are not going anywhere and now they are woven into the fabric of business communications.  However, knowing this, there are a number of social media professionals in Calgary and I am sure this trend is occurring everywhere in the world.  People looking to make a quick buck on the social media rage out there.

Why your business doesn’t need a social media consultant?

Wait, isn’t this what I do for a living?

Not exactly, David and I are more than just social media consultants.  Ulistic’s focus is on the entire web marketing strategy for small business.  As professionals in the “all up” approach on Internet Consulting, we totally understand that social media is just one piece of a very complex puzzle.  Our complete approach is very different from many of the social media consultants who are popping out of the woodwork, just like a dandelion on a spring day.

Tip:  If you want to know the biggest difference, just look at their website.  This is a strong indication if they are a complete marketing professional or just someone offering to write your blogs, tweet for you or update your Facebook page.

Your business doesn’t need someone to do your social media for you.  This is something the business must own.  Ulistic core message is on helping business owners, directors and executives who have business websites to become owners of their web presence.

When it comes to Social Media, Twitter is merely 140 characters and the truth be told, is a great way to listen and learn about things happening in your community, with suppliers and perhaps learn about events happening around the city.  Some of my clients never send out a tweet, all they do is listen.  Twitter on its own will not sell products or even have some one pick up the phone and call you.  Remember the core lesson of business and sales which I learn learned from Bob Burg.  People do business with those they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST.  Simply tweeting, blogging and Facebook is not enough.

Facebook Fan Pages are also gaining in popularity and once again on its own…doesn’t make me want to pick up the phone and call any business let alone join as a fan.  Just leave your Facebook idle for a couple of days and see how many invites you get to join someone’s fan page.  My own strategy is never to join a fan page of someone I don’t know, never have worked with or don’t feel comfortable endorsing face-to-face.

Familiarization, mentoring and education is the secret

David and I are completely focused on empowering business in Calgary and those across the globe so they take ownership of their entire social media and web marketing strategies.  It is not about doing, it is about empowering and educating our clients so they know what we know and ultimately they can do it for themselves.

At the end of the day it is about lead generation.  You can be the best thought leader, community player or blogger…but if you are not generating leads for your business, what are you doing?  This is what we teach our clients…how to create new lead generation activities, one of my clients just emailed me and told me her new blog has generated her first lead. Love it when this happens.

Sure, we can kick-start a campaign, but at the end of the day…you, the business owner, VP Marketing, Director of Business Development are ultimately responsible for your web marketing and overall business strategy.

Tags: Blog hosting services, Business, business communications, Business/Finance, Calgary, Consultants, Facebook, Facebook Inc, Internet Consulting, Internet Marketing, Media consultant, media consultants, media professionals, Online social networking, sales, Social information processing, social media, social media consultant, social media consultants, social media professionals, Social Media Ventures Inc, The Facebook Era, Twitter, Twitter Inc, VP Marketing Director of Business Development, web 2.0, web marketing, web marketing professionals, web marketing strategy, web presence, World Wide Web
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Every once and a while in my travels as a Calgary social media consultant I run across a gem of a business or a group of business that simply impress me.  During my recent travels to Arizona I met up with a great Canadian firm who help out the busy and often stressed out IT professional by providing help desk services to managed IT services providers and the average IT professional.  I got chatting with Neil Jones as a enjoyed the beautiful Arizona sun and instantly became great friends and learned lots about what they are up to in beautiful British Columbia.

Neil’s firm “Live Virtual Help Desk” provides help desk services to Manage Services Providers.  You maybe asking “what the heck is a managed services provider?  Fair question…think computer support guys, IT folks and computer professionals for us out there who are not in the IT support industry.

In chatting with Neil I learned about the struggles computer support companies have working with their clients and dealing with the simple calls for help.

Have you ever had a printer stop printing?  I am sure this particular example happens to all of us and when we try to call our IT guy we get caught in the endless abyss of voice mail or transferred from department to department often scratching our heads wondering if someone will take care of us.

Well my friends at Live Virtual Help Desk has a cure for this feeling of loneliness and your dead computer system.  They take on your calls for help by working with your IT folks to solve your basic to somewhat technical calls for help.  They are sometimes the knight in shining armour when your techy guy is swamped with a bunch of other things happening around them.

If your IT guy isn’t using these guys…they should be – maybe you can refer Neil’s firm to them.

If you are an IT guy reading this…you need to reach out to Neil and his team at 1-866-677-3256.

BTW, I am not an agent for Live Virtual Help Desk nor do I receive any payments for sending business to Neil.  I simply think he and his team have their head screwed on pretty tight and can help all IT firms succeed in customer service.

Tags: 1-866-677-3256, Arizona, british columbia, Business, Calgary, Calgary social media consultant, Customer experience management, Help desk, help desk services, Live Virtual Help Desk, Management, Neil Jones, printer stop printing, Stuart's ramblings, Technical support, Virtual help desk, Voicemail
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Don’t Register Overpriced Domain Names that you don’t need

Ulistic has received a number of calls and emails lately from our clients asking us about an email they are receiving about ASIA and CHINESE domain names.  They are wondering how they should respond to this email they have received.  Simple answer, just delete it and forget about it.

The email claims to be from Chinese domain registration firms asserting that there is a potential conflict with your brand name or trademark.  Again, this is a SCAM and needs to be deleted immediately.  These firms want to have you register asian domain names (like yourbusiness.cn or yourbusiness.asia) which you don’t need to worry about and you don’t need PERIOD!

Here is what the SCAM letter looks like;

Dear Manager:
We are a Domain Name registration service company, which is a professional Internet Domain Name Registration and dispute resolution organization in China.On March,17th,2010, We received QIFA Investment company’s application that they are registering the name “YOURDOMAIN_OR_COMPANYNAME” as their Internet Trademark and “YOURDOMAINNAME.cn”,”perfectlydivinebody.com.cn” ,”YOURDOMAINNAME.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third-party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!

Looking forward to your reply.

Kind regards
Angela
———————————–
Oversea marketing manager?Tel:+86(0)21 XXXXXXX50?Fax:+86(0)21 XXXXXX557 ?web:www.ygnXXXXXXrk.cn

The objective of the scammer is to have you register these domain names under their registrar account for stupid prices which are extremely overpriced.

Single registration fee:

(.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) Domain name:160USD/ 5 Years Per Name
(.hk/.tw) Domain name: 405USD/ 5 Years Per Name
(.mobi) Domain name: 320USD/ 5 Years Per Name
(.cc) Domain name: 340USD/ 5 Years Per Name
(.asia) Domain name: 840USD/ 5 Years Per Name
.Internet brand keyword: 705EUR/ 5 Years Per Name

Domain name registrations typically cost between $9 and $22.00 depending on the extension you are registering. For example .com may cost more than .ca.

If indeed you would like to secure .CN or .ASIA domain name extensions, contact your current domain registrar or contact your Ulistic Internet Consultant for help.

Tags: .ca, .cn, .com, Asia, China, Country code top-level domains, current domain registrar, Domain name, Domain name registrar, Domain name system, Domain registrars, Internet, Internet Domain Name Registration, Internet in the People's Republic of China, Internet Trademark, Manager, marketing manager, officer, Online Solutions, registrar, Scams in intellectual property, Ulistic Internet Consultant for help, USD, web:www.ygnXXXXXXrk.cn
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Tags: Alberta Carbon Capture and Storage Development Council, Ann McLellan, BizBeat - Editor's Blog, Clive Mather, David Dodge, Ed Stelmach, Elyse Allan, energy industry, Jennifer Welsh, Jim Carter, oilsands, Premier's Council for Economic Strategy, Sir John Bell, Syncrude
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Let’s give it a shot. To the best of my ability, that’s the attitude I’ve tried to embody during my first two years in college. After all, the marketing world is notorious for its fast pace and competitive nature; it’s basically a necessity for entry-level applicants to have some dazzling extra-curricular content on their resume. So I decided to reach outside of school and make a splash. Was it intimidating? Yes. Was it sometimes challenging to balance college with additional opportunities? Sure. But was it worth it? Absolutely.

I assisted with a charity event, competed in provincial and national marketing competitions, interned for a small agency, started a blog, and even had some posts published on this very site. And while I did all of this, one thing became clear to me - connecting and developing is as easy as saying those five words: let’s give it a shot. Here’s my most recent example. Earlier this month, I was attending the Art of Marketing conference in Toronto. I saw some wonderful speakers including Mitch Joel – marketing guru, bestselling author, and “Rockstar of Digital Marketing”. I was also reading Mitch’s book at the time, and began to think about some of his concepts. So, I went home one day and typed up a little piece for my blog that referenced one of his ideas. Later that night, I got an email notification from my blog engine with the following subject line: “New comment on your post #547 "Itchin' to shoot" - Author: Mitch Joel - Twist Image”.

I’m a self-proclaimed marketing nerd, so I was definitely a little star struck upon seeing this. We began discussing the subject on the comment page and I eventually emailed him to connect. I saw another opportunity; I asked him if he’d be up for an interview for my hinky-dinky blog. On March 2nd, I was a 19-year-old student in a crowd of 1600 marketing professionals watching Mitch speak. Five days later, I was interviewing him for my blog. If that doesn’t demonstrate the power of “giving it a shot”, then I don’t know what will. I think a lot of people forget to think this way. Why? Because it’s terrifying! Whether you’re a creative director or run a hot-dog stand, you have the huge responsibility of building something, and your fate rests on the results. It’s only natural to shy away from such a reckless theory. But why not give it a shot?

Maybe there’s an initiative you’ve been shying away from, or maybe you’re a student like me that’s too reserved to ask for an information interview. At risk of sounding tacky, it goes back to that old philosophy of missing 100% of the shots you never take. So, throw caution to the wind, give it a whirl, and toss your hat in the ring; that’s the only way you’ll get anywhere – even if you stumble along the way. You might just end up with something amazing.

Brook Johnston

Tags: This and That
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