Content Synergy Method

April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It doesn’t matter if you sell to businesses or consumers; all buying decisions are made by individuals… people. Marketing has changed and people (your buyers) have changed. They don’t want to be sold-to anymore. They have grown tired of the same old usual platitudes – quality, service, blah, blah.

Today, marketing needs to be about creating an ongoing conversation with your prospects. You need to educate them and illustrate your authority or expertise in a way that will excite them to engage with you in a more meaningful way. And, yes, you need to connect at the right time to help them buy what you sell.

Our approach is called the Content Synergy Method

Expose Yourself
You and your company are already unique. The inside reality of your company is what the people need to see. The Content Synergy Method begins by extracting information from you through an interview process, similar to how a Newspaper Reporter or a Documentary Filmmaker might capture your story. The story is not just the facts – the story is the essence of you, your team and your company.

Demonstrate Your Expertise
Next, this story must be shown to the world in the ways that will allow them to connect with and get to know you. You must educate your prospects and use this approach to establish yourself as the Expert or Authority. This builds trust. And People buy from people they know, like and trust.

Fresh Content
Simply speaking, Content Synergy is about developing a series of fresh, targeted educational and conversational video , audio interviews, articles and stories. These content topics should support your business goals, but are absolutely ‘non-salesy’ in nature. Each monthly topic will become the single foundation for a whole series of content elements, including things like:

• Educational & Conversational Written Blog Posts
• Recorded Audio Interviews & Podcasts
• Short-format Internet Video
• Ongoing Content Series to Email & RSS Subscribers
• Article Marketing to Industry Directories
• Monthly Educational “Tip Sheets” in PDF format
• Online Webinars & Live Events

Each piece is driving prospects to subscribe or engage further with you, allowing you to develop an ever-growing set of quality leads for your business. While this level of ongoing content development may seem impossible to accomplish for the small business, therein lies the power of the Content Synergy Method.

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Control & ROI for Businesses Involved in Social Media

April 16, 2008 | 2 Comments

As a company providing content marketing programs for business clients, a big part of our efforts with clients include the use of Social Media & Social Networking approaches. Now, let me couch this statement by saying that, in many cases, many Social Networks are overkill for many businesses. There are 5-10 new sites popping up each day, so it can be a challenge to manage a budget and true involvement necessary to support such wide-ranging efforts.

We keep a narrow Social Media /Social Networking focus for clients just getting involved - Internet Video, Internet Audio & Podcasts, Blogging, Linked In and perhaps a FaceBook or MySpace, depending on the client. Social Media sites serve as the the medium for Educational and Conversational Content Marketing programs that companies must be including in their mix today if they want to remain relevant in the eyes of their buyers. Social Networking sites serve as the community connection for buzz, listening & engaging in customer conversations and for developing the super user or evangelist network. For a business to really engage in this way, there must be a commitment to be involved and not try to ’skid across the surface’ and apply a corporate PR-type approach. If a company is not truly willing to get down into the trenches of SN, they should stay away so as not to do more harm than good.

The two major questions & objections we get from business clients about Social Media/Social Networking are:

1. Control & Transparency
2. ROI

Control & Transparency
Companies are very concerned about HOW to add business blogging, for example, without losing absolute control. Many are afraid of User-Generated comments or complaints ending up on the corporate site in a way that can’t be controlled. Our response is usually that there needs to be a corporate training & mission to allow each department within the entire company to blog & share in that conversation. The only thing worse than not being in control is not being involved in that conversation AT ALL.

A great example of this is the Sam Adams beer recall this past week. This wonderful, conversational-marketing company that has connected with so many customers through its commercials with the founders, brewers and staff, raised the PR-Brick Wall this week and didn’t get involved in the conversation & concerns by its customers. They have tarnished a stellar image by allowing their corporate PR company or team to go into Damage Control mode that downplayed the issue as if nothing really happened. This is bad!

ROI
This is the other big question… How do we determine Return On Investment. This is why many companies have hired Social Media Marketing specialists who have no budget, no revenue-related goals and no real mission except to “Go figure out what the hell this Social Media thing is all about!” BtoB Magazine has connected the ROI to Search Engine Optimization efforts in its mission to connect its readers to something tangible to Online Marketing.

In our view, the real ROI debate comes down to this… Buyers, whether consumer or business, want to truly connect with a company before making a purchase. So, if a company does not start to engage in this new form of building connections with its constituents, then the company will begin to lose market share to those perhaps smaller, more agile competitors do.

SM/SN allows a company to build credibility in the eyes of the buyer and, implemented and managed correctly, can lead to quantifiable results to capture leads & ultimately to lead to revenue like Direct Response can. BUT, a company can’t view this as just another advertising or marketing medium - it requires a whole new way of thinking to benefit from this shift in commerce.

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Local Search Tip - Google Local Business Center

January 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As we all know, when running a small business it is vital that we find the highest value services to support your company’s growth. So, if you don’t have a Google account yet, go get one now.  

 Among many great tools and services, you’ll have access to the Google Local Business Center. Not sure what that is? Go to www.google.com and enter a local search phrase, such as ‘Austin Mercedes Repair’. You’ll see a handful of local companies come up in the ‘Local Business Results’ section, which even include maps to the providing companies. This is a huge step in being found when someone is searching for what you sell in your local market.

 If you haven’t done this, go do it now. Either log-in or register for a free account at Google.com. After logging into your account, choose ‘Local Business Center’ and complete the process. Another simple and powerful tool to raise your exposure to people who want to buy what you sell.

If you are trying to build exposure to your blog or website, then I would suggest that you subscribe to either our RSS or Email subscription. I will show you techniques, tips and strategies to help you raise your profile with your prospects. So join me and follow along.

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Blog Marketing Tip - Commenting On Other Blogs

January 15, 2008 | 1 Comment

Go check out a great post from Anthony Kirlew a.k.a Old School SEO - “How 30 Minutes a Day Can Result in 250 Inbound Links”. Hopefully you already recognize that, generally speaking, some simple, daily activities can help your search engine rankings tremendously. Two big factors are frequently updated content and ever-increasing inbound links from relevant sites.

 Now, before you start slamming me with all the ins-and-outs of SEO, I get that it involves tons more. But, the point I’m making to the small business with limited time & resources is, get involved in the blog community with others in your industry. Read their blog, comment on their blog and then write frequently on your blog. Doing that will impact your site in pretty surprising ways.

 Check out Old School SEO’s post here…

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Blog Marketing Tip - BlogRush

January 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment

We added the BlogRush widget to our site today to help expose our blog posts to a larger audience. The BlogRush site describes it best:

 By adding the BlogRush Widget to a blog, a blogger can get instant distribution for their latest blog post titles across a network of related blogs.

We’re still waiting for approval, so I have no personal feedback on this yet. But, I’ve talked with others who have been able to generate greater exposure to their educational content and a larger network of readers & commenters. Check it out and we’ll keep you posted.

If you are trying to do the same thing with your blog or website, then I would suggest that you subscribe to either our RSS or Email subscription (on the upper right column). I will show you techniques, tips and strategies to help you raise your profile with your prospects. So join me and follow along.

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Our Blog is Starting to Grow

January 14, 2008 | 2 Comments

Our Austin, Texas Duct Tape Marketing blog has finally achieved a Google Page Rank (PR3)! If you are not sure what Google Page Rank means, check out the technical definition on a Wiki article here. But, simply speaking, it is a Google-provided ranking number, based on popularity, content quality and inbound links. While a site may rank well in Google for certain keyword phrases, it takes a while (6 months in our case) after launching a new site to be awarded a Google Page Rank. It is an indicator that our website and blog is moving the right direction, with more people linking to us, reading our content & blog and listening to what we have to say about Small Business Marketing Strategies.

I’m sure many of you may be saying “who cares”. It is easy for someone to get a Google Page Rank. Yeah, I get that. But, let me give you a bit of background to illustrate why this is such a big day for us. My business partner/brother, Charles, & I started Forest For The Trees in mid-2007 after being involved with 2 companies we owned, and hundreds of client companies, to help grow their business. We finally decided that our approach and skill set was very unique to the marketing consulting or marketing coaching world, we decided it was time to get this company moving. But, we did a bit of an experiment to show that we know what the hell we are doing and could jumpstart a company on a shoestring - just like many small businesses would be doing.

A bit more background… Charles originally started a specialized products company over 5 years ago and I joined him about a year later. (Now at that point, Charles brought many years of successful Business Development in Corporate America and I brought many years growing and running small companies, with a specialty in Internet Strategy.) We received our patent after 4 years of work and generally went through hell & hundreds of versions while growing the company to where it is now. We are (we think), in final discussions to sell the products company. But, with most of our capital (especially Charles) tied up in this products company until it sells, we had to bootstrap Forest For The Trees. So, we’ve been working at least several times a week, if not daily, building links, adding educational content to our site, blogging about small business marketing and attempting to build a community of readers. This takes time to happen organically! So, getting to this point means that that the strategy that we’ve been following is beginning to pay off.

If you are trying to do the same thing with your blog or website, then I would suggest that you subscribe to either our RSS or Email subscription (on the upper right column). I will show you techniques, tips and strategies to help you raise your profile with your prospects. So join me and follow along.

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