I work regularly with businesses, and independent consultants, on their marketing communication strategies, including social media strategies. The first two key points I address with my clients (whether for traditional or online media) are: Continue reading “Are Your Social Media Efforts Addressing the Right Questions?”
Category: Marketing Communication
Social Media Mistakes that Businesses Make
I was recently interviewed by a journalist for a piece for a business trade publication on the common mistakes made by businesses when using social media. It’s a great topic and one that could easily be expanded to the broad range of communication tools in general because the same types of mistakes occur in old as in new media.
Focusing specifically on new media– in this case social media– though, I shared with the reporter some of the common missteps I see Continue reading “Social Media Mistakes that Businesses Make”
Small Businesses Avoiding LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest: Are They Missing Out?
A recent survey by VerticalResponse, a marketing software company indicates that while 90 percent of small businesses are on Facebook and 70 percent on Twitter, they’re not as eager to embrace social media sites like LinkedIn (only 4 percent!), Google+ (3 percent) or Pinterest (1 percent). Wow! (An infographic provides more detail.)
Personally, I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn, find Pinterest to be a very interesting concept (and have an article coming out soon in EContent about some unique ways content providers are using Pinterest), and don’t really “get” Google+, but my personal opinions really don’t matter here and, IMO, neither do these survey results. Continue reading “Small Businesses Avoiding LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest: Are They Missing Out?”
Connecting With Your Audiences Through Social Media
As hard as it may be to believe, not everybody is engaged in social media these days. And, even those who have profiles established on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may not be active participants and, importantly, may not be seeing your communications, regardless of how frequently you post or how brilliant your insights are.
In my work as a marketing communication consultant I work with clients regularly to assess and improve their communications, including online communications. The first area of discussion Continue reading “Connecting With Your Audiences Through Social Media”
Markets Can’t Really Tell Us How They’re Influenced
I’m a proponent of marketing research and the use of data to drive business decisions at every level and in every aspect of organizational performance. I recognize, though, that sometimes the predictive value of research can be questionable and that it can be most useful to evaluate actual behaviors to support future decisions.
Advertising efforts are a good example of this. Continue reading “Markets Can’t Really Tell Us How They’re Influenced”
Overcoming Your Fears of Social Media
Contrary to popular belief not everybody is engaged in social media. In fact, recent Pew research reveals some surprising statistics about the level of engagement among various market segments. While their research suggests that 50 percent of adults do use social media, fully 50 percent do not. You may be among the non-engaged and, if you are, Continue reading “Overcoming Your Fears of Social Media”
Take the Time to Plan!
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll reveal a personal “pet peeve” right up front. I have a strong negative reaction any time I’m approached by someone – colleague, client, prospective client, etc. – who says: “Let’s do…” without having taken the time to develop a plan (even a very quick and abbreviated plan) to help them determine whether the thing they wish to do makes sense within some larger context.
Here’s a 10-step process to developing communication/marketing plans that will provide you with the direction you need.
Copywriting Tips Anyone Can Use
Whether you’re writing copy for a brochure, a newspaper ad, a radio announcement or a blog for your web site–or even a resume–there are some tried and true techniques that can help you make sure that your copy gets the results you’re looking for.
Think about writing copy as making a sales pitch to some target audience. Your goal is to persuade that person to do something – most likely to purchase your product or service. Here’s how: Continue reading “Copywriting Tips Anyone Can Use”
Ramp Up Your Email Marketing Effectiveness
I did an interview recently with a reporter who was looking for tips on email marketing effectiveness. Whenever I do this type of thing, or write bout email or Internet marketing, or even *think* about email or Internet marketing, I’m always struck with how very much the *same* online marketing is to traditional marketing. The tools may be different. The reach may be different. But the bottom line, by and large, is that the techniques Continue reading “Ramp Up Your Email Marketing Effectiveness”
Influencing Target Audiences – Work From the Inside Out
There are four ways that people learn about our products and services:
1. Through their own experiences with us.
2. From their friends, family and colleagues – word of mouth.
3. Through the media – news reports, articles, etc.
4. Directly from us through our own advertising, web sites, social media, etc.
I always list these four sources of information in this order, because Continue reading “Influencing Target Audiences – Work From the Inside Out”