#Bacon is on purpose. Search #Bacon in Twitter and you will find thousands of posts.  I joined Pintrest and looked up Bacon and there were thousands more!  This just proves that people are more interested in Bacon than seeing a picture of me presenting about Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter : )

The Question???

During a presentation today I was asked “The Question?”.  It’s the one I get in every presentation, every class I teach, and almost daily online…  But I digress!

This was a panel discussion with Jean Maday from the Chicago office of the National Association or Realtors.  Jean is very experienced with Social Media and a big fan of Twitter.  We talked with people who belong to the Northern Illinois Commercial Association of Realtors (NICAR) about using Social Media and Social Networking to grow their businesses in these tough economic times.

The focus was on how do they leverage Social Media to grow business.  Since LinkedIn is primarily Business-2-Business (B2b), it was a huge topic of discussion.  Also how Twitter could help them (but there was only a few on Twitter – and less who really understood it’s use and power).  You get the questions of “How” and Why” and “Who” but no question is as poignant and eye opening as this…

The answer always comes out like the first Gulf War…  SHOCK AND AWE!  The answer they want to hear is “Well then it’s not for you and it does not matter!”.  The Answer they want is “I can just ignore this and do business the old way!”. But the REAL ANSWER is “If you don’t want to jump on the trolly then you can bet you are waving to your competition as they move on to a new way of doing business!”.

The Answer???

The Answer is simple…  but the execution is hard, time consuming, and a complete paradigm shift in doing business.  The OLD way was people chose you because you were the best, the most experienced, and the one that everyone knew!  The NEW is because, you are available, accessible, and someone that everyone recommends because they KNOW, LIKE, AND TRUST YOU!

The Answer today was…

If you don’t like the answer…  your competition will appreciate that… and will be happy to be available for those potential customers!

So What’s With This Social Media Thingy Stuff?

I am not going to tell you that Social Media is the Panacea of Marketing…  or the Holy Grail of the New Economy…  but what I will tell you is “You Snooze, You Lose!”. Here are some thoughts that I think will better help you get the Point, Purpose and understand the Peeked Interest Social Media For Business…

1. Face To Face Networking is King… Getting to sit down with people is the best way to get them to Know, Like, and Trust YOU! What makes you different than anyone else who does what you do?  No web entity can create personality, experience, and answers to personal questions!
2. Social Networking is an Extension of Face to Face Networking - Not a Replacement for It… When you get the chance to connect with someone, use Social Media to continue the conversation.  Just telling someone (who you have not met) how wonderful you are is just another ADVERTISEMENT!
3. Be Where Your Customers (or Potential Customers) Want You to Be…  I have clients that will text me one day, then Facebook message me the next, then eMail me the next, and call me the next.  Why would you not want to be where people WANT to find you?  If you say “I don’t do Facebook because I don’t want my personal life on display!”… Then there is definitely someone else who will be excited to answer that question or solve that problem!  IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!

Believe me when I say that it’s a challenge and not easy…  but in this new way of doing business… others are figuring out ways to be where your customers are, and what they need to do to fulfill their needs!

Need help or have a question?  Please send your feed back or Comment!

Magic is mostly about diverting your attention and slight of hand. My wife and I were at the Roundhouse (In Aurora – now Two Brothers)  last year for Valentines day.  After our dinner we stopped in the bar for a glass of wine.  While sitting at the bar, a man approached us and asked us if we would like to see some magic.  The dewd was AMAZING.  Trick after trick just continued to awe us.  It really added a special exclamation point to our evening!

When it comes to websites…  people are sold a lot of hocus pocus and slight of hand. When was the last time you had an email for a free website review?  I get 2 a day (because I have 10 of my own and have developed hundreds). My favorite is the reviews for DoughBoys Pizza (I have a band named Dough! – but no pizza). Those website reviews are going to find flaws, and inefficiencies in your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and they can fix it to make you rank #1 in all the major search engines for only $1500 or $500 a month.

Well, unlike seedy clubs in the city…  Google has no Back-Door-Deals.  You can’t get in with the right password, and no amount of  meta-tags, keywords, or magic potion is going to help a website that does not meet their criteria (which is a moving target daily).  They are selling you promises that they can’t keep unless you keep paying them, and even if you do… there are no guaranties! To prove it…  Go through the motions and listen to their pitch!  Then ask for a “Money Back Guarantee” if they cannot get you to #1 in Google searches? They will slither and squirm and talk out of every side of their mouth but forward!!!

Search engines can drive traffic to your website…  but you can be much better at it than them…

I Am King of the World (Wide Web)

I am about to let you in on a couple of little secrets.  These tips will drive more traffic to your site.  That traffic will turn into more sales and all the unsolicited traffic to your site any SEO can ever hope to deliver.  And most of it will cost you NOTHING!

Most of you remember the “King” from Burger King (the almost creepy mascot to sell hamburgers).  That’s the way that people treat shortcuts to gaining their loyalty.  The way to get people to “Know, Like, and Trust” you is to meet you in person, and REALLY get to know you and your business!  One of the most powerful networking tools I know of (from my over 13 networking meetings a month) is the One-On-One!  When people get to talk to you and know what you do and what makes you tick…  they’re more likely to use your services and/or recommend you!

1. “The best internet marketing tool you have…  IS YOU!”.  You have dozens or even hundreds of opportunities to drive people to your website daily…  it’s called your signiture!  It what’s at the end of your emails.  Make the links clickable, and better yet…  include an offer or a call to action to get more people to click through to your website. Some people over do it with a lot of graphics (that just looks like advertising).  The same goes for your Social Networking links. Make it easy and inciting to find your information and follow you (and don’t be offended if they only do so for a little while).
2. “Your website is the key to any good marketing plan!”. Web developers get paid by the volume of content they sell you.  A 100 page website costs a lot more than a 10 page website.  I have clients with over 1000 pages (dynamically generated via databases) and others that have only 1 page!  Success is a relative term.  The one with the 1000 page does millions of dollars of business a year, while the other with 1 page does 10′s of thousands.  What matters is what the website actually does for your business.
3. “Welcome to the Short Attention Span Theatre”.  Other than 1 page websites, the average is 3 clicks and 2 minutes of user attention. The 1000+ page website gets an average of 5 pages and 3.5 minutes of attention… it offers user manuals, investor relations, and a wide spectrum of data.  Most of the other sites I see (including those who have thousands verses hundreds of visitors a month) fall into the 2-3 minutes and 3+ page rule. If you don’t have a plan in what you want people to do with those 3 clicks and 2 minutes, then you are more likely blah-blah-blahing them, then inviting them to interact with you!

No matter how many times I try to explain it…  people just cannot resist the urge to try to sell via Social Media.  ”But There are almost 1 billion people just waiting to buy what I have to sell…  It’s too tempting!”. Just going to Facebook and placing a text advertisement of this week’s specials is a sure fire way to become irrelevant and sometimes annoying.  Some realtors I know, only post listings of homes for sale.  How many of those 1 billion people really care (especially those in Abu Dhabi  and don’t speak English)?

You can really tell the difference between companies that get it, and those that don’t…  It’s called Fans or Likes.  The ones I work with (and get it) have over 500 likes (B2b just crossed that line). The ones that don’t, have less than 100. There may be multiple reasons for the disparity, but the successful ones understand the difference between SP and PS.

Self Promotion

I deal with a lot of businesses that say “I don’t want a personal Facebook account…  just a business page!”. What they are really saying is “I don’t have the time to interact with people…  I just want to sell them what I have or do!”. PEOPLE…  there is a reason why it is called “SOCIAL MEDIA”.

There is no such thing as “Shameless Self Promotion”.  If all you want to do is SELL, SELL, SELL, on Facebook, it will become glossed over between the posts of babies being born, friends dealing with cancer, or a parent who is ecstatic about their kids winning basket!  People post things with the hope that their friends will connect with them. If you want Social Media to work for your business, you have to start treating them like people…  NOT PROSPECTS!

The companies who do it best ,are the ones that talk more about their customers and less about themselves. There is nothing wrong with talking about your business…  but doing it every 10 posts is very different than every other post (or even worse…  EVERY POST).

PS = Public Service

The last blog I wrote was about how people are always looking for free advice… but that’s what makes Social Media so exciting.  You have the opportunity to define your business as a relevant and top of mind reference without selling anything.  You do this by posting timely, topical, and sometimes interesting or quirky content…  not commercials!

The other thing you have to do is create an identity.  Too many people just copy and paste the same things.  You have to know YOUR audience and what creates conversations. Getting people to interact and share your content (or better yet…  share content with you), IS what makes you stand out from the crowd.

By knowing who you are talking with (emphasis on with – NOT TO) and providing them with quality information, your posts become more noticed when dabbled in the flood of information.

Here are some tips to be a bit more successful and build your business with Social Media…

1. Social Media is not advertising…  it’s an extension of your face to face networking. People are getting more savvy about using Social Media to ask “Does anyone know a good plumber?”. By connecting with friends and business associates, with useful information that they can actually use…  you stay top of mind.   By constantly selling, you become noise in the barrage of messages in somebody’s Facebook news or Twitter feed.
2. Quality information is everywhere…  Google it!  If you want to find timely and relevant information… just search for it.  You can also follow some of your favorite sources in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  Just because you may see it all the time, does not mean that your audience follows the same stuff and may find it very helpful!
3. Pay attention to your posts.  Too many businesses take a “Post It and Forget It” mentality.  If people comment on your posts…  they’ll real appreciate it when you comment back.  That will give them a reason to comment again.  If their comments become unnoticed…  the are more likely than not to think that you JUST DON’T CARE about their thoughts and opinions (positive or negative).

Does all this take time?  WELL HECK YEAH!  Does it reap rewards? WELL THAT DEPENDS!  In this short attention span theatre, you have to have a “READY – FIRE – AIM” mentality.  Try some posts…  measure the results, and repeat what is working and abandon those that are not generation comments or creating conversations!

Like This Post?  Have Some Thoughts?  We really appreciate your comments

SOPA…  It’s Not Italian Irish Spring!

Unless you’ve been under a rock lately, you’ve probably heard of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) which is a bill that’s supposed to protect internet content from being stolen or shared without copywriter protection. Since I’m a person who produces content that’s sold on the Internet, I can totally appreciate what the bill was intending to do… but in its complete form, it would have made just simply sharing this blog a crime. That’s why people were so up in arms!

There are 2 sides to this argument. First, by freely sharing content we are making the world a better place. Second is… people think that because it’s on the internet… IT’S FREE! Things like this blog and other content across the Internet are designed to give you just enough information to make you want to explore actually doing a project with a consultant or company (hopefully it generates a phone call or email).

If you go on Facebook, you’ll see people posting pictures, links to articles, and a whole lot more. All of that would’ve gone down the toilet and would have made Twitter, news sites (Mashable, CNBC, or whatever), and Google almost irrelevant. We all constantly skirt a thin line between simply sharing interesting content, and plagiarizing or stealing!

Most sites give a link or an embed code to share content. This means that you are just copying and sharing the URL that is linking back to the original content, where the author or organization gets credit for it. Taking content, modifying it, and posting it to your own website or email is stealing!

Just because you find an image on Google that’s funny, does not give you the legal right to copy and post it to your own website or marketing materials. I learned that lesson the hard way when I used an image that was imbedded in a Powerpoint™ from a previous employer. When I temporarily posted it to my website and thought I had taken it down, I got a major wake-up call in the form of a FedEx with the bill for $12,000!!! But this SOPA bill could have made lawyers richer and my bill look like a McDonald’s $1 menu receipt!!!

What is free doesn’t come cheaply…

One of the most intriguing things about being on the Internet is that you can Google or YouTube just about anything. Ask my wife who calls herself the ‘Google Queen’… need a recipe, have a question, check a fact, want to learn needlepoint or to play guitar… Google it! Admittedly, we’ve all learned something from the internet.

Businesses have to learn to embrace their strengths, enhance their weaknesses and pick their battles. Just because you can learn to use a scalpel and see an open heart surgery on the internet… does not necessarily make qualified to try it on your friends and family.

That’s a question I have to ask you… Just because you can learn to do it… does it always make sense to DIY (Do It Yourself)?

Here some things to think about…

1. I totally trust and respect the accountant who does my taxes. I know I could probably just do it myself, or use a less expensive service, but in the long run it could cost me MUCH more. My accountant spends hundreds of hours a year learning software and all the new tax laws, both state and federal, that affect my personal and my business accounts. Does it make sense to learn all that stuff yourself when you only use it once, or is it better to pay somebody who continually is focused on your best interest?
2.  When I owned my recording studio, I constantly had people say “If you record me for free, I’ll remember you when I make it”. Would you take that gamble? It’s kind of the same game that people play when they ask you to come do a project for free… “It’s great exposure for your business”, “You’ll learn something that will help you in the future”, “If this is successful, there are 10 more projects just like it so let’s try this one out”!? How would that work in REALLY growing your business?
3. People…  Your time and your knowledge both have weight in what you sell. Each has it’s own value and you should not forget that they work hand in glove.  Knowledge may be free on the internet, but knowing what to do with that knowledge can make all the difference in your… and your clients businesses.

There’s a story that goes…

A business owner had the heat in his building go down because a boiler stopped working. This was costing him tens of thousands of dollars a day in lost revenue! So he calls a repairman to come fix it. The repair man goes into the boiler room, and with a quick turn of the screwdriver and the boiler starts working again. Then he hands the business owner a bill for $1000. The business owner looks at the bill and then angrily looks up and says “How can you charge me $1000 for just turning a screw?”. The repairman says “This bill is not for just turning a screw… but also knowing which screw to turn and how far”!

The moral of the story is sometimes your experience is more valuable than your time… Don’t be afraid to treat it that way! But how do you convince potential clients of that?

Bonus Video

Congrats to the Giants & Pats…  Enjoy the Super Bowl!

2011 was a year of challenge and change. I am thankful for all of the new people I’ve met and the opportunity to serve, teach or present.  This year is going to be a roller coaster…  working on my 1st book with a professional writer, starting to expand my business with two new on-line ventures,  and I’m looking forward to many more opportunities to teach and give presentations across the country.

Trouble in Paradise…

Being in business means you can’t survive without customers.  Customer service is part of every business.  How you communicate is part of that customer service. What follows is the story of our New Years Eve and the Customer Service nightmare that dampened our evening.

We chose to go out with some neighbors to a very nice local steak house (Kim’s favorite meal). We had reservations for 9:30 but decided to go about 8:30 and have a glass of wine.  We found a table at the bar and asked the server for an appetizer menu and to take our wine order. 10 minutes goes by and no sign of our waitress again.  We see some seats open up at the bar and move there.  Another 10 minutes passes before we can get the attention of the bartender to order 4 glasses of wine.

Over the next 40 minutes or so we see people enter the bar and get seated while we waited.  At 9:30 we go to see the Maître d’ and ask how much longer? She says “10 more minutes”.  At that time we noticed there was a table for four open just needing to be bussed.  As we waited, the girls were treated to sewer gas filling the ladies room.  They alerted the manager who apologized.

At 10pm we are getting anxious while watching groups getting seated as we continue to wait. We asked to see the manager (who was a no show).  By now, there are dozens of open tables. Eventually we are seated at a table for 8 (with lots of open tables for 4?). We get to order our appetizer (almost two hours later).  The main course comes and one of the plates has a hair on it…  so it’s sent back and three of us were told to eat (awkward).  Finally we get some attention from the Manager who came over and apologized again and comped our entire dinner bill.

The food was awesome and getting a free dinner was a bonus…  but the lack of customer service left a bad taste in our mouths! The moral of the story is that they didn’t plan ahead to deal with the holiday onslaught.   I was constantly posting on Facebook (look up the posts).  Do you know what customers are saying about you online?

Making Resolutions…

I am not big into New Years Resolutions…  but I take  January 1st as a breather to refocus (and write my blog).  Since today is the celebrated New Years Day…  I have a pile of file folders and bankers boxes ready to box the folders from last year, and make all the new folders needed for 2012!  With that said…  I want to offer you a few business tips that I think can help you in the coming year!

1) Don’t Leave Money on the Table

It took me all of 5+ hours yesterday, but I logged my mileage for the last year today and found $4000+ of money my company owed me.  It was .51.5¢ From January and .55¢ from July on. Now I am not an accountant, and you need to have professional help to confirm it…  but what I found was $4k of money that I don’t have to pay taxes on personally (expense income on a 7+ year old car) and $4K my business can deduct as an expense (a double win-win)!

2) Don’t Leave Business on the Table

I had a stack of business cards that I had collected during Holiday parties and networking events.  I used my Neat Scanner, and OCR’d (optical character recognition) them and added them to my IContact email database.  There are now dozens of people who will receive my New Year Welcome email!  I am sure some of them will opt-out, but there are at least a few that I can count on for new business or recommend me if they follow my Facebook page!

3) Don’t Leave Your Customers on the Table

Part of my New Year Resolution (not that I really make any) is to add every new customer this year to my eMail marketing program, send them a thank you, and communicate to them new things that I am doing to help make their business better.  It may not be an immediate need for them, but they may be happy enough to recommend my business to a friend or another business!  Depending on your business, you may not get a lot of repeat customers, but it’s no reason to get it… and forget it!

We wish you much success, happiness, and health this New Year!

Please comment on this post and let us know what you think of the new website and how we can make it a better too to serve you needs!

The goal of my presentation, was to show these guys and gals that what they do on the internet.. can define their personal brand. To help them better understand the concept of branding, I showed them a couple of videos… The first was most everybody’s annoying favorite “The Hamster Dance”. The second was a Kia commercial that features rapping hamsters. They totally got the concept that, something that used to make them laugh as a kid, was now being used to entice them to buy a car.  Most of them were shocked to learn that everything they do on the Internet is there forever. But the most important message of the presentation, was to get them to understand those posts will have a lasting effect on their college and ultimately work life.

I know it made an impact, because the next day I got an e-mail from one of the attendees saying how much the presentation opened her eyes to what is really going on across the web. She asked me to send her links to some of the content so she could share it with her parents… Now that’s what I call a leader!

A Branding Story

Another story about branding, actually started 3 years ago. I was teaching a class at Elgin community college on “Being on the Internet” for business. After the class I was approached by Juliana Vinson of Cell-Parts. She explained that her company was struggling because… all of the business she used to have was now being done overseas in China. So we set up a meeting and I drove to her office in Dundee. Her company was started by her grandfather in Chicago. The only thing they manufacture is a part of a golf club called the ferrule (a little plastic part that goes between the head and the shaft). The product was used by almost every golf club manufacturer in the US because of the quality and reputation.  She was selling millions of them at about $.07 apiece and making a pretty good profit off that. Back around the year 2000, most manufacturers thought it could be more profitable by having all of their production done overseas… taking Cell Parts out of the mix. She went from selling millions to thousands, and for all practical purposes business literally dried up. She was desperate to find some way to save the business.

So to start of the re-branding process I did some market research. I talked to club pros, distributors, and even someone who builds clubs for touring professionals at tournaments. I asked them, did the feral do anything to improve the game of golf? The answer I got was a resounding “NO”. What I did discover though, was the quality of cell part ferrules was more than significantly higher than anything else on the market. If that little piece of plastic, breaks during manufacturing or use of the club, it could cost over $100 to replace a $.07 part.  So together we came up with a concept that could re-brand and rebuild her business. We knew it was just a matter of time before manufacturers figure out that the cheap ferrules would cost them millions in repairs. So she begrudgingly decided to package that $.07 part, into a 12 pack, and sell them for around a $1.00 a piece. We’ve redefined the marketing to target hobbyists who build their own clubs, and who would pay a premium for custom colors and styles.

The 1st step was to build a new website that focused more on the product  and less the manufacturing process (like her old one did). The 2nd part was to create an e-commerce website where people would see and buy these new unique products. And the 3rd step, was to use social media and online marketing techniques to help spread the word about her products. I logged into websites and forums where I found people who built their own clubs commiserating. One of the  first posts I did went something like this, “Hey guys check out this new website with some really cool products… custom and colored ferrules for building your golf clubs.”. The initial reaction I got is “This guy is a spammer… get out here”, but right after that post another dude posted “No seriously… I tried some Cell Parts stuff, and it rocks!!!”. That 2nd post started a chain reaction that was beyond all of our expectations. A couple of days later I got a phone call from Juliana who said, “I don’t know what the hell you did… but I can’t get any work done because I’m too busy answering the phone and e-mails”, and then she laughed and hung up.

Yesterday I got another call from Juliana (roughly 3 years after we started). She called just to say “Thank You!”.  The golf club manufacturers ultimately realized the error of their ways and the cost of poor quality… So now Cell Parts is manufacturing their ferrules and shipping them overseas to some of the golf club manufacturers that left her years ago. She said “I’m not completely out of the woods yet, but I have to ramp up business to meet the new demands of the large manufacturers again!”. The rebranding was never intended to replace The business she had lost, it was an effort to keep her afloat long enough until the clients that left her, realize what a big mistake they had made. Ultimately it was her dedication, tenacity but more importantly the quality of her product which made all the difference!

In the presentation I did last week about branding to the high school students I had a couple of tips for them for that I thought could be helpful for you…

1. Your brand is dictated by your audience just like Kia knew to use hamsters that rap… to appeal to young adults. Once you know who your audience is, you should package your product or service to appeal to what motivates them.
2. Just like coffee retailers: Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and the McCafé, appeal to different audiences because of their price points… your pricing can be part of your brand! Are you a premium brand, or the low-cost leader? How you price your product or service, can determine which customers will want to buy.
3. And just like I presented to those high school leaders… what you say and do online can affect your brand. You may have a very well defined website, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn presence… but what you say on your personal profile can alter opinions. In my classes… I teach that if you want to alienate 50% of your audience start talking about religion or politics. So keep that in mind when you’re posting personal content on the Internet.

I have had to re-brand myself over the years to adapt to the ever-changing internet.  Some people call it re-inventing themselves.  Social Media was not a viable option for business 3 years ago…  now I am giving 3-5 presentations a month (regionally & nationally).  Learning to adapt to the changing marketplace…   keeps you relevant…  and in business!

Want to leran more?  Check out our new website – socialnetworkconsulting.com or call me at 630-692-1431

Marketing 101 starts with your customers. One of my favorite quotes is “The purpose of a business is to create a customer.” - Peter Drucker. He realizes that a product or service without a customer is just inventory. If you treat Social Media as something different (like a new toy) and not a part of a traditional marketing plan… then you are just dabbling & babbling. Also, people (especially more seasoned clients) are resistant to change. If it worked before it will again… REALLY? Drucker also said “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”. That is my biggest challenge.

Last year I gave a presentation at the A.P.A.W.S. Annual Convention. It was an awesome group of very committed and sharp business people. You may have the impression of people who pick up dog poop for a living are unsophisticated… but you would be surprised at how they know their cost of doing business, asset depreciation risks, and target marketing vs ROI ratios. One of this scoopers at the convention was Grady from Scooperdude.com.  Before the presentation he said “See this?  This is a phone!  I dial it and someone answers.  I don’t think I need to get all this internet marketing and social networking stuff.”. Two weeks later he called me up and now he has a new website, a blog, and a Facebook Landing Page!

Fast forward to last week.  Grady calls me up and wanted to create a QR Code and a landing page on his website with a “Poopon”.  He is now embracing all this new technology and has attend numerous of my Facebook Webinars.

Grady also sends me an email after that.  Seems a marketing company was trying to win an award and was going to re-design his logo.  They said his logo was unprofessional and proceeded to make him a new one for free.  Something smelled like a bit like a by-product of his service… and he was right.  The logo was clean and professional, but did not match his brand.  It dulled him down to look like franchise and not a personality.  Grady tells me that people hang out of cars at 65 miles an hour to get a picture of his truck and his logo.

Most scoopers have a cartoon or something fun…  picking up crap is not fun (even for clients) but in most circles… just the concept can make you smile!!!  It’s part of this brand to lighten up the issue (even thought is very serious business). Then most importantly, this company was not trying to enhance a well established brand!  It was trying to sell him a new logo because they knew if he bit on their sales pitch…  they could sell him new business cards, letter head, envelopes, website, truck graphics, and more.  They were hoping to make a crapload of money off this free logo!

This is known in business as the Gillette theory of marketing…  Give away the razor, and the client will happily pay for the blades (at a premium).

So a brand is much more than just a logo (but a good one can enhance your brand). A brand is the essence of your product or service and what it means to your customers. Your brand is attitude, perception, and how people differentiate you from your competition.  Here are some tips on better defining your brand…

1. Every brand has a story that makes it different from it’s competition.  In the case of a pooper scooper it’s all the same crap… being professional is a must.  I have had scoopers that showed up erratically and made me doubt their ability to serve our needs.  The one with the most personality and fun attitude ultimately won our business!
2. Depending on your business…  Your personal and business brand are the same thing… but that does not mean that you market both the same or equally!  In my case, my business brand is marketing, and social media.  My personal brand is activism, music, and creative.  Although they work hand in glove…  it’s not always a Michael Jackson moment.  Social Media marketing says… “If you are political or religious in nature with your posts… You are better than 50% certain to piss someone off!”.  Keep your opinions to yourself and your business focused on ALL of your customers needs!
3. Don’t let your competition dictate your brand.  In the case of the pooper scoopers….  Just because they are facing national competition from franchises, that does not mean that they know your audience or clients better than you do!  What matters is you, your integrity, and your ability to match expectations… to what you can ACTUALLY DELIVER!

It’s not about you…  It’s about your customer… and can they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST you!

Grady learned that you…  ”You can teach an old dog new tricks….  but you can’t trick an old dog!”.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject…

Bonus Video of the Week!

To all of my scooper friends…  I know you have seen, socks, crayons, balloons, and various light sundry and personally hygiene products! But being able to confront the culprit right after the offense… is priceless… Enjoy!

It may sound like I’m whining, but that’s not the point. The point is… If you run around like a chicken with your head cut off –  you are a headless chicken (with a wish that you did not lose your head)!  If you run around like a chicken with your head cut off and measure it – you get data that you can use to predict the next go at it (and a list of how to not lose that head again)!  Each activity this past week had a purpose and a measurable result.  The results…  5 new leads,  3 new client consultations, and 4 new projects… all from that networking and training!  I also have a stack of 14 new business cards to scan and add to my email marketing database!

Setting up a tool to drive traffic to your store or website is one thing…  measuring, analyzing and utilizing the results in ways that can effectively grow your business is a whole bigger picture and project!

“What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated.”
- John E. Jones

“You get what you measure. Measure the wrong thing and you get the wrong behaviors.”
- John H. Lingle

Here are some tips to create measurable results that can help you make the most of your marketing efforts:

1) Know What to Measure – Some businesses are overly obsessed with being #1 in Google or increasing hits to their website.  What they really NEED to measure is… sales and how customers went from shoppers to buyers. Everything you do should have a traceable and measurable path!  If it does not, you need help designing and defining that…  otherwise it’s guessing, wishing and not measuring! The more detailed information you get the better…  If someone says “I found you on the internet” – don’t stop there.  Was it from a Google Search, Places, Facebook, a link to your website from a third party site?  Shouldn’t you want to know that detail?

2) Know How to Measure – I am a big proponent of Google Analytics, but that only measures web site traffic.  You have to measure phone calls, walk-ins, and sales.  Are they a repeat customer or a new customer?  How are you gathering data and are you putting it into a monthly report that you can compare month to month, or year to year?  You may have to train your staff to ask the right questions.  You may have to dangle a special offer to get customers to fill out a short survey or questionnaire, but you need all that detailed information to evaluate marketing programs!

3) Know What to React To – In this short attention pan theatre… sometimes you have to try things 2-3 times before it starts to take hold and show results.  Lack of patience, is where people tend to fail to understand the real value of what is working and what is not.  The old way of doing things is that it takes 3-7 impressions to get people to react to your message.  Too often I see people start out all a blaze in social media, and then die off slowly saying it’s just not working.  It takes time and consistency to get people to know, like and trust you enough to buy from you!

The bottom line…  having a plan and having specific goals to measure, will give you much better and repeatable results…  Than just wising it so!

Bonus Video of the Week – In these hard times (unless you are one of the lucky ones raking in the Dough!), wishes should be used for children…  not for growing your business…  enjoy

There was such an uproar last week with the new Facebook lists, timeline, and news feed changes..  that I thought people were going to start a revolt not seen since the Civil War.  The North was the geeks and the South was the casual user who just did not get it or want to change!

Change is a fact of life nowadays!  When was the last time you bought a piece of software that came with an instruction manual?  Now the software just updates it’s self and you are left to search out blogs, news stories, and more about what changed and how to utilize it!  Staying current takes additional learning.  It takes time, research, and a whole bunch of effort.  Trust me… I see both sides now!  I have gone through some very bad webinars and classes (like the guy who did a webinar about doing “Killer Webinars” that was so lame, I left half way through it).

An interesting fact is that my dad grew up as the son of a tailor (insert “House of The Rising Sun” riff here), who helped out in his family’s laundromat. I seriously doubt that at 10 years old in streets of New York City, that he someday dreamed he would be a trainer and course developer working for one the world’s largest corporations. I think the profession chose him and not the other way around… and he was very well respected and damn good at it.

Another ironic thing… is I have an Electronics Technician degree. I know just enough about electronics that I can actually fix a few things, but not nearly enough to repair anything new that’s come out in the last 10 years.  That degree is so outdated, that I could not imagine going back and trying to learn how to fix things today.  I network with a guy (Ken from R&R Automotive) who says it cost him $3000 to update the software just to diagnose problems on cars today because they’re so computerized. So staying in tune with current technologies, trends and tactics, is a full-time job. So believe me… as a educator and trainer, I understand how overwhelming all of this “New Technology” stuff can be to somebody who “Just Does Not Get It”.

So this is the point of the blog where you’re asked yourself ”Self? what does this have to do with the price of peanut oil?”. If my dad chose to be a tailor, I have a feeling that he would’ve been damn good at it… and if I continued to be an electronic technician working with transistors and resistors, I would have failed miserably and be so outdated right now! Especially in today’s marketplace… you have to learn to evolve and educate yourself to stay contextual, influential and relevant. That means that you have to make time to learn new things and learn to adapt to change like never before…  PEOPLE  Facebook is never going back to the way it was and more changes are on the way!!!

Rapid change is now a way of life (and it’s only going to get faster). So with all that said… I want to offer you a couple of tips of the thinking help you grow your business and yourself to stay contextual, influential and relevant…

1. Learn to Grow… and Grow to Learn – I’ve seen a lot of unemployed people who tend to lean on their experience as if somebody owes them something…  but companies are always looking for something faster, better, cheaper. It’s common knowledge that you can only pick 2 of those… So how do you learn to present yourself as the best option, and use your experience as the dealmaker? Don’t rest on your laurels…  Keep learning!
2. Plan to Learn… And Learn to Plan –  Sometimes we’re just too busy despite ourselves. If you don’t set time aside to learn, reflect, plan, grow and change… then you will just end up reacting to change… and that’s a major “Time Suck” in business!  Spend a little bit of time exploring articles and people of interest, and see what they have the say. Then plan out some time that you can dedicate solely to… learning new things, trying new things, failing at new things, and growing yourself and what you have to offer!
3. Make A Difference – Teach to Learn and Learn to Teach… Every time I give a presentation I learn what’s important to my audience. and that teaches me what’s important to me and my business. Each time you teach a class or do a presentation to a networking group, be sure that class or group is ready, willing and able to learn!  Give them some REAL knowledge that they can take away…  and show that you are a trusted expert that they can count on in the future!  Show your knowledge in a good light, but don’t do a commercial for your business. You will be met with rave reviews… if you are contextual, influential and relevant!!!

If you’re interested in learning more about Social Media, Social Networking, or Internet Marketing… Check out our websites B2b-im.com or SocialNetworkConsulting.com.

Bonus Video of the Week

“SOMEONE CHANGED MY FACEBOOK TODAY…  SO NOW I’M REALLY TICKED OFF…  STEP OFF…  STEP OFF… STEP OFF… STEP OFF!”

I am all about teaching things in a slightly unorthodox way….  This clip from “School of Rock” shows the perfect way to think outside the box and teaches you how to write a rock anthem to FACEBOOK CHANGES…  ENJOY!!!

XB32E9T344BJ

As you know (or maybe not), I network a-lot… upwards of 18-24 meetings a month.  I also teach at several colleges, and give presentations and webinars.  During the course of a month I meet a lot of the same people, but I also meet a lot of new ones.  Most of those face-to-face meetings end in an exchange of business cards (I just recycled over 1000 of them).  Most people just file them (and some just toss them).  I treat them like gold…  I nurture and grow them. I try to turn a card into a connection, a conversation, and a conversion to a power partner or better yet…  a customer!  ”How”… you ask?

What you need is a plan.  I scan cards using a Neat scanner, then send out a “Dewd (or Dewdette), Nice to Meet You” email.  I try to encourage them for Follow on Facebook, connect LinkedIn, subscribe to my blog, or join our main email list.  I give people as many options as possible to connect so they can use what they are comfortable with to stay in touch…  It’s about them! If they do (maybe now…  maybe later), it creates opportunities to continue building a relationship that may foster business for both of us!

The best way to utilize Social Networking is… as an extension of face-to-face networking. By connecting with people who know, like and trust you, you have a better chance of creating a winning connection.  But you have to invest some time by making yourself, and your business available as a resource.

Here are some tips…

1. Find Some Common Ground for a Connection
   In order to create a connection you must foster it.  What ever method you choose (eMail, Newsletter, Phone Call, Thanks You Card, Smoke Signals), confirm the connection within 3 days of the initial contact (Even if you feel like this may be a dead end connection…  You just never know). How many people gather names at trade shows and don’t contact people till months later?
2. Create a Conversation
   You attract more bees with honey, than vinegar.  And that’s what we all want…  to create a “Buzz” about you and your business!  You do that by creating a two way conversation that let’s other share their thoughts and opinions.  You go through all the trouble to get people to like your Facebook Business Page….  Then you turn off comments?  How about “Turning Off” Potential Customers or Power Partners. It’s much more fun and engaging to ask questions and watch answers…  than listening to crickets when you – sell. sell. sell!!!
3. Be a Resource
   If someone has a question, or asks for help, take some time to answer.  That does not mean that you spend hours doing free work…  just give some advice or point them in a direction (as long as you have something of value to offer that’s in your sweet spot).  I answer posts on Facebook and LinkedIn all the time.  It’s my way of extending relationships I have fostered from face-to-face networking and  keeping my name and brand – top of mind!

Being relevant means also NOT being annoying.  Working on computers…  does not make you an expert on all software.  If your business specializes in faux painting…  don’t answer questions about financials (unless you have some pertinent expertise from a prior career).  When someone asks a question or has a need that is in your brand’s wheelhouse, give a helpful and positive bit of insight or advice.  That way, when someone is looking for a painter (or whatever you do)… you come across as a real expert (your brand), a resource, and relevant… and not the Jack or Jill of all trades!

I would love your comments and feedback.  Please visit our new website socialnetworkconsulting.com for more information!

Bonus Video of the Week

Bad networking is found all over the world  Meet Jack (or something like that)…  Enjoy!