In Search of Magic and Silver Bullets

Many of us can only see patterns in our lives and in our work when we stand still long enough to look past the surface and see what’s been happening underneath. I don’t mean look at our business revenues (we’re always doing that), nor our success at losing weight (another popular metric), but our approach and our attitude toward the complex moving parts of our lives.

It takes a lot to make me stop and look around, but total hip replacement surgery in September stopped me in my tracks.

I thought I’d be functioning like my old self within a few days.  Duh.  A combination of pain, ongoing physical therapy, sleepless nights, lack of energy and a pervasive sense of exhaustion slowed me down enough to look around.

One of the first things I noticed during this time is that I have a long-standing habit of looking for “Silver Bullets” (aka magic) in the form of a person, an experience, a business partner, or a new idea.

Basically I have always been on the lookout for something that would make a big difference in my ability to succeed in business and in life.  That doesn’t mean I sat around and twiddled my thumbs.  Working hard has always been deep in my DNA, but I still had the sense that there was something outside myself that was “the answer.”

Leaving the corporate world and starting a business back in 1996 was a Silver Cannonball – bigger than a Silver Bullet but still not large enough to create the life shift I was looking for.  And there were other Silver Bullets along the way – a business partner who turned out to be a mistake; a training program full of new ideas that inspired – then disappointed.   A book that got me all pumped up about new approaches – then slipped to the back of the bookshelf with those that went before.

Lucky for me, I work with an extraordinary Life Coach who helped me pay attention to my endless search for Silver Bullets.  With her help, I’ve learned to ask myself how I can really know if the latest bright shiny object or experience or person on the horizon will be the thing that works a miracle.

Between now and year end, my goal is to look both inside myself and outside – not for a Silver Bullet – but for a path that makes sense to me.  Using a walker, then a cane and spending hours rebuilding an injured body has taught me patience.  And reminded me that spending 12 hours at the computer is neither a business nor a life – and something has to change.

I hope that friends and readers will come with me over the next few weeks as I try to discover what that new path looks like and where it leads.  I don’t want to simply push the same old pieces around on the chess board (with a new business plan or a new marketing plan).  Been there, done that.  This time I want to change the game.

If you’ve been on this journey too, please feel free to leave a comment.

When Google Doesn’t Love You Any More

People who call me for marketing help often emphasize that their website is “just fine” (or “just fahn” now that I live in South Carolina).   The site in question may be five years old, look like a brochure, provide no connection to social media, no opportunities for interaction – but it’s just fine.  Google may have given up on it long ago because it’s inactive, has no keywords and gets no traffic.  But the site owner persists in believing that it doesn’t matter.

Usually I hear this from people who are firmly convinced that they do not get business on the Internet.  They get it from their network or an alliance relationship or just word of mouth.  And I’d believe them if it weren’t for the fact that they want to talk to me about growing their business.   Whatever it is they’re doing, it isn’t meeting their growth goals, and yet they are adamant in refusing to put the website in play.

Very often they want a brochure. Or a postcard mailing. Or collateral for a trade show.  Hey, I’m game.  I can do that.  My question is — when someone receives your postcard, attends the trade show or gets their hands on your brochure, where will they go to check you out before making an appointment? 

And if they misplace the postcard or the brochure and want to find you, how will they do that?  They may have a recollection that you offer a particular service, so they get online and search for it.  Good news for them – they’ll find lots of people who offer that service.  Bad news for you – you won’t be one of them because your site is DOA.

The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter where your business comes from.  Your prospects will want to “vet” you and make sure you look like the kind of individual or organization they want to work with.  Guess where they’ll go to find out?

For a complimentary consultation on whether your website is positioned to help you or has joined the great cyber graveyard, call me at +1.864.653.7701 or send an email to barbara@yourmarketingteam.com.

What’s So Great About Inbound Marketing?

A 2010 study entitled “The State of Inbound Marketing” analyzed data from businesses about what types of marketing programs deliver the best return on investment.  

The major finding was that inbound marketing-focused businesses have a 60% lower cost per lead – less money is utilized to produce more results.¹ 

Should we say that again?  A 60% lower cost per lead.  But that’s only part of “What’s so great about Inbound Marketing.”

All of us are familiar with Traditional or “Outbound Marketing,” which includes print ads, television ads, telemarketing/cold calls, direct mail/e-mail, trade shows, etc.   It’s a “push” technique that relies upon interrupting a broad target audience at the optimum moment.  Anyone who’s done a trade show or print advertising campaign knows that Outbound Marketing typically has a very high cost per lead.

So where did Inbound Marketing or “new marketing” come from?  It is usually viewed as a response to economic changes and changes in consumer behavior that reflects:

·         The explosive growth of social media
·         The increasingly powerful search capabilities of Google
·         The need to reduce cost per lead in a tight economy.

In other words, at the very time when companies needed to do more with less, the technology was there to make it possible. 

As recently as two years ago, I would have told a client that they needed to do an email newsletter – on a regular basis – in order to drive traffic to their web site.  Well, if their mailing list has only 100 names, then the amount of “traffic” is likely to be 100 people or less – probably a lot less. 

So here’s the key:  Google cannot see your email newsletter.  It’s invisible.  So are many of your other expensive Outbound Marketing activities, like cold calls, television ads and print ads.

So what’s so great about Inbound Marketing?

It enables you to position your company so that your ideal clients can find you because you are everywhere.   

 

AND your cost per lead is significantly less – which means greater return on a lower investment.

In addition, your conversation with your target audience is not limited by ad space, booth size, or other constraints.  You talk to your audience through your web site, your blog, your LinkedIn page – and if you are working with a HubSpot Certified Inbound Marketing Consultant – you have the ability to integrate your content across all media.  You wrote a Blog post?  Go ahead and Tweet it!  Or ask your HubSpot Consultant to automatically publish your post to your company’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

It’s true that there’s a lot that must happen behind the scenes to make all of this work (like effective use of keywords, understanding the metrics, consistent follow through and more).  But the good news is that the  tools are there to create, integrate, promote and analyze web sites and social media. 

Ask me how!  It’s a whole new world!

¹HubSpot, Inc. (2010). “The State of Inbound Marketing 2010.”

How Well Do You Know Google?

Just about a year ago, a company by the name of Tech Chunks (www.techchunks.com) posted a blog entitled “How Well Do You Know Google?”.  That’s a pretty good question, so I checked it out and found that the questions focused on when Google was founded and how many words you could include in a search.

I thought it might be helpful to take it a step further and ask How Well You Know Google when it comes to Inbound Marketing.

Brian Halligan, CEO & Founder of HubSpot, defines Inbound Marketing in terms of “getting found by potential customers through search.”  This relatively new marketing strategy represents a paradigm shift from “traditional marketing” which relied upon advertising, telemarketing, cold calls, direct mail, email, etc. (sometimes referred to as “begging, buying or bugging your way in”).

Like Halligan, David Meerman Scott recommends that marketers “earn their way in” to potential clients by publishing helpful information on a blog or other Inbound Marketing technique.

So where does Google come in?  As the premier search engine, Google holds the cards in determining how easy it is to find your business. 

But what does Google WANT?  What’s their business model?  How can you get noticed?

Here’s a quick True/False quiz to help you answer the question, “How Well Do You Know Google”:

1. _____  Email marketing helps you rank higher in Google search results.
2. _____  Blogs rank higher than email blasts in Google search results.
3. _____  Social media (like Facebook and Twitter) do not help your Google rank.   
4. _____  Updating your web site once every six months or so is sufficient.
5. _____  Stuffing a lot of keywords into your site can hurt your Google rank.
6. _____  You should be consistent and use the same keywords on every page of your site.
7. _____  Outbound links (from your site to other sites) help improve your Google rank.
8. _____  Google can see how much traffic your site is getting.
9. _____  The only way to improve your Google rank is to pay for advertising.
10. ____  YouTube videos can improve your Google rank.

To see how well you did, click here for our answers.  To learn more, contact us.

Happy searching!

Attention CEOs: What Do You Want Under Your Tree?

If you ask a group of CEOs what they’d like to see under their company Christmas tree this year, the responses would probably be pretty consistent:  most CEOs want to grow revenue, build market share, improve visibility, and generate more qualified leads.

Most probably have a business plan (based on last year or the year before or the year before that).  Depending on their business model, that might work – or not.  If they do business in a small town where you essentially pass the same $100 bill around from lawyer to banker to baker to pharmacist, then referrals and long-term relationships rule.  A movie like “It’s a Wonderful Life” reminds us of a time when things worked that way.  But for most of us, those days are over.

A more promising plan for 2011 might say that getting the “presents” you want under the tree means paying attention to the things that have radically changed in the last two years – and even in the last year. 

In the holiday spirit, we have some recommendations for your 2011 business plan – as symbolized by your holiday tree!  For example:

Hang a BLOG on your Tree to build visibility on Google.  Your email newsletter is great – but Google can’t see it.  A bright, shiny blog reflects many happy returns back to you!

Add a LinkedIn profile to your virtual tree to connect you to others and create another opportunity for you to shine.

A funny little bird ornament representing Twitter will allow you to share your blog posts — just TWEET them!

Consider hanging a Keyword Grader (ask me how!) to assess the power of your web site’s keywords.

A company Facebook page adds yet another way to get noticed – by Google.   Well worth the time it takes to hang this particular ornament.

The bottom line is this:  if you’re not rich yet and your company is not yet doing what you’d like it to do, think about adding some visibility by showing up in the many places that a visitor might look for a business like yours.  Google’s out there looking – but if you’ve failed to recognize the many ways to “ornament” your business, they’ll have a hard time finding you.  And that means some disappointing results under your tree in the new year.

LESSON 3: INSIGHTS AND GETTING FOUND

My company has used technology to leverage marketing efforts since 1996.  Today that translates to Inbound Marketing. 

An easy way to explain Inbound Marketing is to say that it’s rather like playing the childhood game of Hide and Seek, except that instead of hiding, you do everything you possibly can to GET FOUND. 

If you were playing Hide and Seek and wanted to get found, you might wear vibrant, vivid colors.  Hide in plain sight.  Or give your hiding place away by talking from behind a tree about the good things that could happen if they find you!  The Inbound Marketing version of Hide and Seek is taking the actions that will help you to GET FOUND on your web site, on LinkedIn, on your blog, on Facebook and Twitter.

With that in mind, I discussed with my client the many different ways to GET FOUND.  Her response was that she doesn’t want to do “all that marketing stuff” – she’s very good at cold calling and could do that on a regular basis instead.

And yet, and yet – the meeting turned out to be a surprise for me!  She’d hired someone to do a one-shot Search Engine Optimization of her website.  Now, first of all, anyone who thinks that technology in general and Google in particular are going to stagnate after her SEO is completed should look at the history of the last few years.

Out of curiosity, I posted a question on LinkedIn, asking experts on inbound marketing and SEO to weigh in on the issues of whether a one-shot SEO effort is a legitimate strategy.  The comments were consistent — SEO is not a destination but a journey and can be a successful one-shot only if the client takes over responsibility once the vendor is gone.

The comment that made the most sense to me came from Billy MacDonald, Inbound Marketing Consultant at HubSpot, who said:

Hi Barbara

Besides the rules of SEO constantly changing (e.g., intro of Google Instant) the most important factor in how you rank one your pages are indexed in search engines is the number and quality of inbound links back to your site. An estimate is 25% of how you rank is based on on-page SEO (how well you tell search engines the content on that page) and 75% is how much authority you have for that page (number and quality of inbound links going back to that page).

The best way to acquire inbound links is to create remarkable content. Most SEO companies will not be producing content for you. You need to produce new content regularly to acquire these valuable inbound links, so SEO never ends. You’ll also want to be adjusting your on-page SEO and specific keyword for each page based on the results you get from traffic to each page.

My advice would be to develop a strong content creation strategy and stick to it. One of the more effective ways to do this is be active in blogging.”

So why didn’t I ask her this simple question:  “If you’d rather do cold calls and you don’t believe that getting found is important, why are you going to spend money on an SEO project?”.   

Lesson learned:  Don’t let surprise stop you from sharing what you know, even if it seems to be too late.   You never know if expert advice might be remembered and appreciated on another day.

LESSON 2: RELATIONSHIPS AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Here’s another important lesson from that meeting last week with an existing client…

I have always believed that I provide excellent customer service since every project I complete is done to the highest standards.  However, because of the economy and the challenges facing this particular client’s industry, I failed to be pro-active in bringing opportunities to her.  I worried too much about making her uncomfortable by suggesting activities that might not be affordable at such a difficult time.  But, as she said when we discussed this, that should have been her call.

In retrospect, it’s not my job to protect my clients from the momentary discomfort of saying No to a project that might help them.  Instead, I should be on the phone with my key clients at least once a week, providing some ideas for them to consider.  I could have done that but I was “too nice.” 

Lesson learned:  No more Ms. Nice Guy!

LESSON 1: TRANSPARENCY – CLEAR AS GLASS

Had a meeting last week with an existing client, hoping to develop a pro-active plan for Inbound Marketing activities.

I intended to begin the meeting by letting my client know that I am opening a new location in Clemson, SC, so that I can spend more time with family.  My Internet-based business allows me to work from just about any place, but I still wanted to show respect by telling her in person.  Painful surprise — she already knew because someone else told her. 

It was only when I spoke with my Sales Coach Rick later that the full impact of that exchange became clear to me.  (I’m very good at Marketing but years of Word of Mouth business allowed me to learn about Sales very late in the game.)  Anyway, Rick’s response to this story was that my client might think I was deliberately trying to hide something from her.  “I would never do that,” I groaned.  “But,” says Coach Rick, “She may not have believed that.  So what’s the lesson?” 

The lesson is that everything I do should be transparent – clear as glass – to my clients.  If something changes, I should be on the phone, letting them know immediately.  Whether it’s taking on staff or adding a new location or anything that might affect my ability to serve them well, they have a right to be the first to know. 

Lesson learned:  Be transparent!

Three Lessons from a Blown Meeting

I had scheduled a meeting with an existing client to talk about Inbound Marketing and HubSpot and a couple of other things. They are now somebody else’s client. Too many words for one reading, so it’ll be one lesson a day for the next three days.

The Old Green Bag Just Ain’t What It Used to Be

I admit it!  I know that I should use the ugly green bags at the grocery store.  I’ve even purchased some, but I rarely remember to take them with me. 

Ashamed of being an eco-dud, I keep my head down when emptying my cart, waiting for the Bagger to call out his usual unintelligible version of “Plastic ok?”, which I’ve come to recognize in a wide variety of foreign and regional accents.  And I mutter once again, “Yeah.”  Eco-enemy #1.

But then one day I see this reusable bag with a big picture of a beautiful blue chrysanthemum.  And I buy it!  That bag now goes with me every time I go to the store.  And the marketing professional in me says, “Ha!  They got you, dummy!  You paid TWICE as much for a bag because it has a flower on it.  Duh.” 

But that begs the question of HOW they got me. Obviously I had been unmoved by the facts about plastic grocery bags, which are horrific:  Americans recycle only 0.6 percent of the 100 billion plastic bags they take home from stores every year; the rest end up in landfills or as litter (and there are arguments that the plastic bags in question never totally decompose, with tiny chips becoming part of the food chain – yuck!). 

But neither the intellectual argument nor the emotional power of guilt caused me to take up the green bags and eschew plastic.

Until I saw that reusable bag with the flower on it.  I could see it dangling tastefully from my arm.  The fact that it was twice as expensive ($1.99 instead of $.99) was meaningless.  I WANTED that big blue flower.

As I think about it now, I recognize what their marketing team saw so clearly:  Who does most of the grocery shopping?  Women.  Who wants to carry something truly ugly if they don’t have to?  Is that a trick question?  What if they took into account the women in their specific market?  My town, Tampa is at least a somewhat southern city.  And many women show up at the grocery store beautifully dressed, groomed, coiffed, made up, etc.  (Not me by the way since I’m Philadelphia born.)  But still, if you look at a woman wearing suede boots, a mid-calf skirt, and about $50k worth of jewelry, do you see her  sporting ugly green bags from her arm?  Are you kidding me?

Marketing 101 tells you: Know your audience inside and out.  Know their buying habits, the things that will make them choose quality or value or service or beauty or relationship or even a blue chrysanthemum over price!

While I am not one of the GRITS (Girls Raised In The South), even I want a pretty bag and will pay double to get it. 

So how do YOU apply that to your clients?  What value can you offer them at a price they are willing – and even eager – to pay?  Can you test it (as Publix tested these bags in small quantities)?  Do you know what your prospect uses now (for example, if you offer a professional service, who is providing that to them now?  Are they satisfied?  Is the price right?) 

I’m not suggesting that we take an offering that is, essentially, a “pig” and paint it to hide its defects.  Instead I’m asking if you could look at your offering and figure out how to put a blue flower on it? Something that would push the prospect past price and intellectual arguments and seal the deal.

The more we probe and the better we know our prospects, the more likely we’ll be to recognize the “blue flower” when it shows up!

Can’t wait for my next trip to Publix – maybe they’ll have a bag with a big yellow tulip.  I’m a sucker for tulips.

Barbara Escher
HTCC:  Your Marketing Team
http://www.yourmarketingteam.com