Alberta Business Marketing

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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Over the past few weeks on my blog and also on the Ulistic Opinion Blog we have shared some of our discussions with a number of the excellent speakers and panelists lined up for the upcoming Search Engine Strategies conference on June 9 through to the 11th in Toronto.

I caught up with one of the speakers this week, Bryan Eisenberg who will be speaking on “21 Secrets to Top Converting Websites“. I caught up with this NYTimes Best Selling Author and discussed topics that he will be sharing at the Toronto Search Engine Optimization event.

You don’t want to miss seeing Bryan and all the great speakers lined up for this Toronto Web Marketing event.  You can follow Bryan on Twitter @thegrok.

1.  Ulistic understands the importance of conversions with a marketing website, business today are leveraging many different types of web services, all hungry to convert or attract qualified prospects.  Can you share an example of trying to hard to convert? What are some of the pitfalls?

I have seen many instances of this occur, but the one that really stands out is when in was doing some research on Eloqua, and I came across an ad for one of their competitors Marketo. They committed one of the biggest blunders on their landing page, by not understanding the searchers buying stage. They only thing I was able to do on the landing page was complete a form to view a demo. I was researching their competitor and was committed to understand anything about one of their competitors. They should have taken then time to explain how they differ from their competitor not just to try to convert me into a lead and give me only one option of filling out a lead form. Meet your visitors with your sales or lead process and align it with their buying process if you want to succeed online.

2. What would you recommend to a small business owner looking to roll out an online marketing strategy?

• Take the time to understand your buyers purchase process, needs, fears and concerns.
• Make sure you can explain your value over your competitors. Why should I buy from you?
• Align your marketing messages, ads, etc across channels and experiences so that they all feel integrated and seamless.
• Make it obvious for visitors to your website what action they should take and build their confidence in order to take that action.

3. What are some of the key factors associated with success on converting visitors to potential clients?

The number one secret is to developing your corporate metabolism to the point you can execute on a drop of a dime. You need to rely on data driven decisions and foster creativity in testing. The poster child is Amazon.com, who processed around 25% of all Ecommerce transactions in the U.S. last year. Why? At any given time they have around 200 tests running on their website, they execute quickly and intelligently ( within two hours of Michael Jackson’s death they completely reconfigured their who Mp3 store), and they leverage the voice of customer to enable social commerce and move beyond usability to persuadibility ( want to know what I mean then come see my session at SES Toronto)!

Tags: Amazon.com Inc., Bryan Eisenberg, Business, Business/Finance, e - commerce, Internet Marketing, Landing page, michael jackson, Mp3 store, online marketing strategy, sales, search engine, Selling Author, Technology/Internet, toronto, United States, web marketing, web services
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A tip of my hat goes out to my good friend Joseph from the Power Within.  These guys pulled off another excellent event yesterday (Thursday May 20th, 2010) here in the Stampede City.  The keynote speaker was hockey legend and captain of the Canadian Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Champions Haley Wickenheiser, no wait she was the last speaker, does that make her the headlining act?  Did the 42nd President of the Free World open for a Canadian Hockey Gold Medalist?

Actually, it was William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States who most people came to see (at least the business community who left shortly after the President’s address) to a near sold out crowd during the recent Power Within stop at the Telus Convention Centre.  Mr. Clinton was purely sensational and highly engaged with every single person in the crowd during his keynote address and Question/Answer period with Salida Capital President and CEO, Ms. Courtenay Wolfe.

Bill Clinton’s stop in Calgary wasn’t his first and chances are it will not be his last.  I highly recommend next time he is in town, you get out and see him. Bill spoke on a number of topics including the importance of shutting down the coal-burning electric generators, the energy sector in North America as a whole and any discussion with a former President wouldn’t be complete without his views on the economy.

What I really grabbed onto the most was Bill Clinton’s passion for every single cause he works on and especially the importance of ending hunger worldwide.  Through the William J. Clinton Foundation, he strives daily to end things such as childhood obesity, famine, HIV/AIDs and a number of other great causes.  He even gets along with the 43rd President, George W. Bush as the two work together on some efforts.

How does Mr. Clinton’s address effect a Calgary Online Marketing person like myself?  Mr. Clinton shared some discussion points on technology and the rapid changes occurring around technology.  Especially how we can leverage these changes to do something good in the world.  It was an eye-opener that was what hit me the most and when I left the Calgary Telus Convention Centre I was thinking to myself, what can I do right now to make a change?

It is no secret that technology is crucial to business today.  It is also crucial to the very existence of us as a race today but I am shocked when I hear about the number of people worldwide without fresh drinking water or proper sanitation.  How can I make a difference here?  After all, I am just a blogger?  Can I increase awareness of the challenges facing our world today.  Bill Clinton did talk about how great of a world we have but how poor we treat it.  Interesting, once again I ask…

How can I make a difference?

Tags: 42nd President, 42nd President of the United States, 43rd President, Arkansas, Bill Clinton, Calgary, canada, Captain, CEO, childhood obesity, Clinton, Clinton Foundation, Courtenay Wolfe, energy sector, Force Majeure, George W. Bush, Haley Wickenheiser, HIV/AIDs, Joseph, keynote speaker, last speaker, North America, Online Marketing person, Politics, President, Salida Capital Corp, Stuart's ramblings, Telus, Telus Convention Centre, TELUS Corporation, The Power Within, United States, William J. Clinton Foundation, William Jefferson Clinton
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Does your business have a CEO? The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) many times in a small business is also the President, Salesperson, consultant, technician, bottle washer and accountant.  However, the CEO position is an essential role within many successful small and large enterprises.

My good buddy Joe who runs a number of technology blogs recently shared a great article on the topic of CEOs in the Managed IT Services business.  You can read Joe’s article from the MSPMentor.net site here.  Joe mentions he was inspired by an article that appear in Inc. magazine, I will have to track this one down.  Our new client in Tampa who focuses on back to work programs in the US also gave me a copy of Inc. this past week…so now I have to check it out.

What is a CEO? Does your business have one?  Perhaps you have it printed on your business card.  If it is you, are you acting like a CEO?

Joe’s article shares a number of key and highly valid points about what or how a CEO needs to function in their business.  I am sure there are many great examples of “how a CEO should behave” and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Over the past several years, I have worked for a number of people who have called themselves the CEO (some great and some still under development) who have inspired me one way or another in my own personal development.   The one who has inspired me the most from an overall leadership perspective has to be Pat Davis from Passion Parties.

Pat shared with me the importance of “leadership by walking around”.  I still remember discussing these points with her in Passion Parties’ Brisbane, CA office a few years ago.  During that time I was helping Passion Parties with their complete technology overall and also assisting in the move to their new Las Vegas HQ.  Pat and I would often discuss technology in the direct marketing business and how technology will enhance their overall business.  At that time I was working in the small business computer networking business and as a technology professional was very much in development of my own business acumen.

Pat and I would discuss the importance technology will play in business often, but she also told me computers are tools and tools only.  Nothing will ever beat the importance of getting off your backside and walking around the office, getting out in the community and shaking the hands of those around you.  Pat is an expert at speaking with her staff, talking with her consultants and she is the master at leveraging the media.  Just Google her and you will see what comes up.

A CEO in my opinion has to be the face of the organization, you can’t sit in the backroom, head down in your laptop sending out email after email.  A CEO has to get out of the office and meet people eyeball to eyeball.  A CEO has to speak with the media and not be shy of the camera.  A CEO needs to know everyone in their organization and their families (bigger firms will find this a challenge).  A CEO needs to do a lot of the grunt work and it is not an easy job, that is why only a handful do it successfully.

What does this have to do with social media? Social Media services now enhance the reach of a CEO, their circle of trust just got a lot bigger.  Those they can touch and inspire just exploded in size.  A CEO must be a company blogger.  A CEO needs to own the company social media services.  A CEO needs to connect with people and especially connect online.  Did I say the face of the company, yes I believe I did.  The CEO must be the voice of the company, before someone else claims that voice.

I personally work with a number of CEO’s across North America master their online appearance.  Some are getting it, some are still having a challenge.  Need to chat…call me 403.775.2205.

Tags: 403.775.2205, Brisbane, Business, business computer networking, Business/Finance, CEO, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), company social media services, consultant technician, consultant technician and accountant, Data General, Google Inc., importance technology, Joe, Las Vegas HQ, leadership, media services, MSPMentor.net, North America, online appearance, passion parties, Pat, Pat Davis, Person Communication and Meetings, President, salesperson, social media, Social Media Ventures Inc, tampa, technician bottle washer and accountant, technology blogs, technology professional, Technology/Internet, United States
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Two Calgary boys heading to Hogtown for an industry leading conference on SEO.

David and I will be heading to the Ontario Capital this June for a great Search Engine Optimization event.  We are planning to play a vital role with our blogging from this year’s Toronto Search Engine Strategies Conference, it should a wonderful three days of learning and networking with leaders in the Canadian SEO market.  This will be my first time at this event and from what I understand from reading blogs from the previous years, it is going to be an awesome time.  Will be different from the IT conferences I have attended?

During some discussions in our office recently about who should represent Ulistic at this event, we basically figured out that we all need to be there.  That is right, the majority of our Ulistic team is investing the time to learn from the best in our industry and how we can serve our Calgary and Information Technology clients with practical SEO advice which will enhance their online marketing efforts.  You may ask yourself why does a Calgary SEO firm need to send a good portion of their team to a conference on the other side of the country?  Well, to learn and to share our learnings with our community.  If you are leader, you must continue to sharpen your saw…something I learned once.

The world of online marketing and Internet marketing is constantly changing.  Just ask our first batch of graduates coming out of our Ulistic Calgary Online Marketing Mentoring program.  Change is already occurring and they are just finishing their programs with Ulistic. So yes, we all must continue to learn the new things in the world of Internet Marketing.

Over the next few weeks, David and I will be blogging about the Toronto Search Engine Strategies Conference and sharing who will be there and what will be happening. Also keep an eye on the Ulistic Facebook page and our Twitter account for up to the minute news.

SES Toronto typically attracts Canada’s and U.S.’s leading search engine marketing (SEM) professionals – from the very experienced to the novice. Marketers can take advantage of the special early-bird registration and save up to $200 by registering by May 21. Click here to review SES Toronto rates and registration details.

The SES Toronto 2010 conference, which will be held on June 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency Toronto, 370 King Street.

Tags: Calgary, canada, Hogtown, information technology, Internet Marketing, online marketing efforts, Online Marketing Mentoring program, search engine, Search engine marketing, search engine optimization, Search Engine Strategies, Technology/Internet, toronto, Twitter Inc, United States, USD
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