Alberta Business Marketing

I got a very timely and critical email from my mentor Arlin Sorensen the other day.  Arlin just has the knack of hitting me with his virtual 2×4 at the right time and he does it well.  Arlin is the mastermind behind the Peer Power blog and Heartland Tech Groups.  Arlin is a very faithful man and a leader inside/outside the tech support community.

This post of his got me thinking about social media.  There is a lot of people making a tremendous amount of noise, but do we have a leader in our space?  Not the person who is the most technical or the smartest marketer.  Someone who is humble enough to lead our community?  A person who can call it like it is and be there to support our group?  Do we have an Arlin Sorensen in the Social Media world?

One of things Arlin did for me was tear down the walls of competition…plus he helped me through a very rough patch in my life.

Can I lead this community? Do I have what it takes to do what Arlin did in the tech world and apply what I learned from him in the social media world?

Does being a leader in the Canadian social media community mean dismissing competition and embracing those around me?  Does this mean we are here to serve and to put the needs of others before my own needs?  Do I still put my oxygen mask on first?

I know the entire online marketing community here in Calgary and across the globe needs some leadership.  A few are providing this and doing a great job.  But we can always use more.

Are you willing to step up?  This means openly sharing what you know for the great good of our community.  This is something I have noticed big time during my transition to the marketing world.  These guys don’t like to share within their community.  It is like old school business…let’s not tell anyone anything and never think about helping our competitor or someone who claims to do the same thing we do.  I even got caught in that yesterday.  I was reminded about competition from Bob Burg as well yesterday.

Gotta walk the walk if I am going to talk the talk.

Read Arlin’s blog post on Leadership in our community.

Tags: bob burg, Calgary, Human Interest, leader, media community mean dismissing competition, media world, Music industry, online marketing community, Read Arlin, social media, The Master
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This past week I have been working with a fellow Heartland Tech Group member from the Philadelphia, PA area and leader in the Philadelphia Small Business Computer Support market, Jobecca Technology Group.  Michael and I have known each other for a couple of years now and it wasn’t until this past month we decided to work together and what a pleasure it is to have Michael on board as a client with Ulistic.  Today, Ulistic is assisting Michael in taking his web marketing and overall web strategy to a new level.  So far, so good and it is awesome to have this HTG member as a client of our Calgary based Social Media Consulting and Online marketing organization, Ulistic.  Need help 403.775.2205.

See Jobecca’s new Philadelphia Business Computer Support blog today.

I learn from my clients just as much as I hope they learn from my experiences from us working together and with Jobecca, no exception to this rule occurs.  Michael and I share a very close friend Jeremy Epstein from Never Stop Marketing. I have been reading Michael’s blog posts and he reminded me about a focus point our friend Jeremy is talking about on his blog about Dandelin Marketing and the importance of Never Stop Marketing…sorry to the guys at TLC in Calgary…Jeremy coined this phrase long before you guys started using it (see spam emails going around Calgary).

Like Michael and I have mentioned, one of Jeremy’s new or recent discussion points is on Dandelion Marketing.  Are you asking yourself what is Dandelion Marketing? let’s think about this for a second and how dandelions spread in the wild.  Look outside your Calgary home right now, can you see a number of dandelions investing your lawn?  Being the May Long Weekend, it is more than likely that the dandelions are out in full force.  I know my front yard has many of the yellow butter cups showing their face.

In Jeremy’s blog post on Dandelion Marketing, he shares 6 basic concepts on how to share information online with your raving fans and also those who simply like what you have to offer.

• Know the Commander’s Intent
• EVERYONE is in marketing.
• Brand: Feel Over Look.
• Agile Marketing Development
• High Fault Tolerance.
• Rapid Feedback Loops.

Dandelion Marketing is in my opinion is about leverage.  Using the tools available to you, some are actually free and some have a small price tag associated with them to share relevant information with your community and also your raving fans.  Information that is relevant, information they would find interesting and information their follows find interesting and when everything aligns…well look how dandelions spread across the prairie landscape!

Download the Dandelion Marketing eBook from Jeremy Epstein today…some very good reading…I am reading it on my iPad right now!

Tags: 403.775.2205, Biology, Botany, Business Success, Business/Finance, Calgary, Dandelion, heartland tech group, Herbs, Human Interest, iPad, Jeremy Epstein, Jobecca Technology Group, leader, Medicinal plants, Michael, never stop marketing, overall web strategy, Philadelphia, philadelphia computer support, social media consulting, Social Media Consulting and Online, Taraxacum, ulistic, web marketing
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Managed Service Providers is a term really only used by a selected few in a tight community of small business technology support companies across the globe.  These firms are committed to helping small businesses with all their computer and network support, most of them are also focused on Microsoft networks and Microsoft services.  This is definitely a blood-red ocean, and there are a number of firms looking at tapping into this market of support companies from around the globe.

On Thursday, I was blessed to enjoy a great chat with Mark Checksfield via Skype (a free telephone service) who works with Naverisk, a leader in the Australian/New Zealand market  in the remote monitoring, remote support and patch management marketplace.  Naverisk came highly recommended to me from some great friends in the business and Stuart Selbst.  Even though I provide no IT services to clients that require me to use their services, it was great to discuss the market and opportunities with Mark and keep my finger on the pulse of a community where I recently finished 15 years of service.

Naverisk is a firm located in Auckland, New Zealand and they are starting to get traction in the Australian and New Zealand Managed Services market.  Mark even shared with me that they are now gaining some momentum in the US and Canada, a market which has great potential.

I am no expert when it comes to these tools and actually when I was providing computer services to small business in Calgary I often thought of these services as simply a cash grab.   In reality, at the end of the day they provided no real value to my clients (one of my friends this week told me that he actually removed one of these solutions because he claims it was invasive (he first used the term TROJAN) and violated his own privacy policy) and for many of peers often emptied their bank accounts as they jumped from solution to solution.  I have found with Naverisk a different approach, Mark appears to be aligned with the “Go Giver” model and their pricing structure is affordable and flexible for every computer support company.

I would give Naverisk a review if you are looking for a remote monitoring tool for managed service providers.  For me, I am not gaining financially from writing this post, I want to share with you a solution which appears to meet the needs of every technology support firm and is aligned with the core principles of being a Go Giver.

Tags: Auckland, bank, Business, Business IT, business technology support, Business/Finance, Calgary, canada, free telephone service, International trade, leader, Live Virtual Help Desk, managed services, Mark Checksfield, Microsoft Corporation, Naverisk, New Zealand, remote monitoring tool, Stuart Selbst, supply chain management, technology support, Technology/Internet, United States
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Life has a funny way of coming around eh?

I used to think in order to be a real leader you needed to be in front of the room, the one leading the group, being in charge, organizing the events and so on…

Boy was I wrong!

Sometimes a real leader comes from the back of the room, the quiet one, the one that when they speak they have something to say…and so on.  The real leader is the one who is there for you when you don’t need them, but also when you do.  The real leader understands the importance of the big picture, a real leader doesn’t scoff with smart ass comments but digs deep to see the relevance of the big picture.

Thanks for the wake up this morning!

Tags: Canadian culture, Canadian English, Eh, Interjections, leader, leadership, Stuart's ramblings
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