You’ve heard of time vampires right?

More than likely you are experiencing them every single day. As Social Media proliferates as a social marketing tool, I see more and more business owners getting frustrated.

Is this you?

Many business owners jump into the Social Media fray then stop their efforts because they aren’t seeing results. Worse yet, Social Media and Social Marketing become a “time vampire” for them. Sometimes taking time away from marketing efforts that were working well for them.

Here are a couple things you need to do now to prevent the social media time vampires from affecting you:

1) Your Objective - Before you start Tweeting and Blogging, start with an objective. What do you want your prospects to do? Are you trying to build your list? Or, are you trying to use a one step sales process and sell your prospect immediately. If it is the latter, I would suggest a two step process if you are moving them from Social Media to your website or blog. Bottom line, get clear on what you want to accomplish.

2) Work In Blocks – Carve time out each day and use automation tools like HootSuite.com and Word Press to create and pre-schedule content. Working in blocks of time with an objective will allow you to leverage your time and not get sucked into real time chats and the infamous Facebook wall. Focus on creating relevant content based on your objective, but have a purpose.

3) Be Consistent – Remember in any marketing effort, it is a marathon not a sprint. Don’t blog twice then quit. It will take a time to build a following, but you need to consistently take action and post relevant content and build a layer at a time. Speak to your prospects about solutions, and get them on your list to build more trust.

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

As the battle for online advertising heats up, I have had several small business owners ask me if they should be using Adwords or Facebook PPC.

What should you be using of Pay Per Click?

The short answer is, it depends…

I would say that while Facebook is fairly young in terms of the PPC game, they are a very viable player. In the testing that I am doing now, I am seeing some promising results.

Here are a couple reasons I would consider Facebook ads over Adwords:

1) Less Expensive – Facebook ads are costing me less per click than my Adwords accounts that I manage for clients.

2) Laser Targeted – With Facebooks 380+ million user base, they have much deeper and more relevant demographic data than Google does. I can actually target the users age, gender, and geographic location much easier than on Adwords. With Adwords I can’t always tell by just the context of keywords that were used.

3) No Slaps – So far, I haven’t seen the same wrath that I have experienced in the path from Google. It seems to be more user friendly with less restrictions for landing page content etc..I imagine that will change over time, but so far so good.

The bottom line is that as a small business owner I would for sure give it a shot. The same principles still apply for Facebook Ads for the most part. The biggest benefit is the ability to filter your ads for the exact audience.This ultimately save money as you have a higher conversion and a lower acquisition cost than Adwords.

If you dive into the Facebook PPC system and you have questions let me know. Would love to help!

Cheers,

Matt

Kinda harsh I know.

I have heard this many times from friends and other small business owners. “My Marketing sucks but…”. But what?

The problem I have with that statement is that I have a firm belief we are all marketing businesses at the core. Regardless of what you sell, or service you deliver. You could be an accountant, technician, or caterer…Doesn’t matter in my book, we are all marketing businesses.

So what happens when you declare and then dismiss that your marketing sucks? In my book, you are making a very bold statement to yourself and your employees that you don’t take the growth of your business seriously. You may have a desire to grow your business, but your actions aren’t congruent with your marketing efforts.

When I hear this statement, what I now hear is that the business owner doesn’t have time. That they are too busy. There are so many tactics that they don’t know where to start. They start one tactic after another without a strategy behind their efforts.

This has never been more true with Internet marketing, Social Media, and all the other bright and shiny marketing tactics available to us. If you are stuck, and maybe even paralyzed in the “marketing sucks” mode, here are three (3) tips that might just get you out of it.

1) Find The Path – Take 30 minutes and write down all of the paths your current customers took to find you. This will do two things. One, it will help you identify those efforts that don’t suck and are working now. Two, it will help you focus on the 20% of your effort that is getting you 80% of your results. If you are a new business, this might not take you very long but it is still worth the exercise.

2) Create A Simple One Month Plan – While I do recommend you create a complete marketing plan, one good way to jump start your efforts is a simple one month plan. Chart out one thing you can do consistently in the next month to market your business. An example is make a habit to write in your blog and promote it once a week. Start getting some momentum and build on it. You will be surprised how fast this can build and kick you out of the “my marketing sucks” mode. Remember, what you focus on expands…

3) Create Habits – Make marketing a habit. Build on the success in your first month, and make it a habit in your marketing system. Focus on adding one habit at a time. In one year, you will have a system. Many of the smaller tactics when done consistently will surprise you. One blog post, one sales letter, one newsletter at a time. Break it into small manageable pieces, and you will see results.

Us Entrepreneurs have a tough time sometimes with the marathon. Remember that the only way to eat an Elephant is one piece at a time…

Have a successful week!

~Matt

One of the strengths of most Entreprenuers is they are extreme optimists. If we weren’t, we would all be screwed. With the shear amount of obstacles and contraints we deal with growing, building, and operating our business.

Not to mention balancing family life. I know you can relate…

We often times get stuck in the “What Should Be” vs. “What Is” mode. We start looking at things through rose colored glasses, especially when it comes to our marketing efforts.

Many small businesses stop measuring and just sit back and assume that leads will pour in. Sound familiar? You launch a one off promotional effort, then wonder why the heck you aren’t getting any leads. The copy was killer, the graphics were spectacular, and still little or nothing in return.

When you start looking at “What Is” you start doing things like measuring your results. You look at how each marketing dollar is returning value to your bottom line. You stop “wishing” that leads would come in, and you start actively getting on with testing, tweaking, and seeing results. You stop doing one time promotional efforts, and you build a marketing plan and marketing system.

Marketing is a contact sport. You have prospects that you have to move into motion and take action from a dead stop most times. You need to capture their interest, create desire, and then get them off their a@@ to take the next step with your product our service.

I’m gonna bet that you are spending time or money in areas that are promotional that you aren’t getting any results from. You keep “wishing” (there’s that word again) that some day that ad will yield results. Again, What Should be vs. What Is.

I am as optimistic as you, and quite honestly don’t enjoy what is all the time. But quite frankly there really isn’t a choice. “Should” isn’t going to help you reach your dreams and your goals in your business.

Now…

Go Target, Attack, and Profit.

We are all totally logical, sane, and rational consumers right?

Hahahahaha…That’s pretty funny.

That’s laughable isn’t it. Everything you purchase is certainly based on the logical need. The totally rational decision about need vs. want. The well thought out, well executed purchase.

Yeah right. Me neither.

There’s always an irrational element to our decision as a consumer. Whether you are marketing to B2C or B2B, this is pretty much universal and human nature. The truth is we like to THINK that we are these totally rational and logical buyers that think through every purchase with exacting detail.

The truth is that our irrational and emotional brain calls the shots, then our logical left brain kicks in to ONLY THEN explain the logic and justify the purchase.

So what does that mean to you as the small business owner and marketer of your product or service?

Everything…

I want you to go through your current marketing and sales messages. Are you speaking to the emotional and irrational brain? Or, are you speaking to the logical brain?

Your marketing message needs to address the wants, needs, desires, hurts, frustration, and pain that you are solving for your prospect. Then leverage the emotions attached to those needs, and make a solid case logically how your product or service addresses those.

Here’s an example:

If you are in the market for drill, what are you in the market for? The fastest, best looking, and most powerful drill out there?

Nope!

You are in the market to create a hole. Sounds simple I know, but many marketers and business owners forget about the desired outcome.

Marketing Tip: Sit down and look at your marketing materials and write down or highlight how many times the word “I” appears in your marketing and replace it with “You”. You will notice a difference right away. Then start defining the real reasons prospects need your product, and create a message that addresses the need not the logic…

Remember, we aren’t all that rational after all.

Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

~Matt

Most small business owners survive primarily on referrals. Many don’t even know they have a referral marketing system in place, it just happens.

What if you were to make a conscious effort to add a complete referral marketing system as a part of your overall marketing strategy. The key here is “system”…

That means it is a reproducible process that you can use to over and over to get the desired results you want. More referrals!

Here are a few tactics to add to your referral marketing system, and efforts:

1) Give more referrals – Pretty simple right? Sure is. Leveraging the laws of reciprocity will surprise you. Be on the look out for leads for other businesses, even if they aren’t currently a customer of yours. By giving first, you will be surprised at your results.

2) Give testimonials – If you work with local businesses, and you haven’t given them a testimonial by all means give them one. Proactively at that. By delivering your customer, partner, or prospect a testimonial for their business you create top of mind awareness of yourself and your company.

3) Send An “Ideal Client” letter to partners – Identify a group of 10-20 ideal referral partners for you. Then, create a letter that states you are interested in referring them business. In the letter, create a form that outlines what a perfect referral might be for them. Included in the letter, add your list with all the answers for your ideal client and referral as an example. This technique works!

The key here is that you make this part of your system. Not a one time event, but something you do on a regular schedule. That could be weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Just do something!

Best,

Yep, that’s right a Lasso…

What’s a Lasso for anyways? You got it, rounding up your herd. Or in marketing terms, turning “suspects” into prospects that tune into your channel and start getting to know you as you gain their trust.

Ok, so what’s the relationship with Twitter?

Here you go…

Twitter as a Social Media tool is an effective means to find “suspects” across the globe that are interested in what you have to say. You can go to search.twitter.com and in seconds find people that might have an interest or are currently looking for advice in your area of expertise.

Or, you can find thought leaders in your market and start a conversation with their followers. Here’s where the Lasso comes in…

It isn’t enough to just find them and start a communication on Twitter. Or add them to your list of followers for that matter…

You need to bring them into your “herd”. Get them on your newsletter list and bring them into the private conversations you are having with your customers and prospects. Twitter is an excellent and efficient tool for list building. Start building the trust, then move them into your herd. Throw a free offer out there, listen to their needs, and respond with something valuable they can’t ignore.

So next time you get on Twitter. Start thinking more strategically how you can move your followers from your followers list to your email list. Then from your email list to your customer list…

Now Go Target, Attack, and Profit!

Really? I know, not the most profound statement but stay with me…

If you think about it, many business owners go into their marketing looking for the “quick fix” many times on the one hit campaign that is going to bring in a flood of leads.

Reality check…

It just doesn’t happen like that without some hard work, and elbow grease as my grandpa likes to call it. What does that mean from a marketing perspective? It means you need a marketing strategy and a system to execute it. If you don’t have that, marketing and lead generation will be hard, maybe forever. It gets easy when you know each day what you must do to execute your system. You will no longer be frustrated about what to do next. And, you will quit chasing the latest shiniest object out there that promises thousands of leads with one email blast, or page 1 Google rankings for $59…

Here are two things you should do right now to get started:

1) Create a marketing strategy – Sit down, and spend the time to create a marketing plan. One of the best solutions I have found that we use in Duct Tape Marketing is Marketing Plan Pro by Palo Alto Software. It is based around the Duct Tape Marketing principles I use to coach small businesses like yours.

2) Just In Time vs. Just In Case Learning – Are you an info junkie? Do you spend time learning “just in case” you need it? Or, do you look at your strategy and focus on learning skills just in time to execute your strategy?
If you are the former and not the latter, I suggest you shift your approach. this will help you with the very next thing you need to do to execute your strategy. One question I always ask and have posted on my office wall is “What Do I Need Know To Accomplish This Task?” Asking this one question forces you to get clear on the resources, knowledge, and tools you need to accomplish one task at a time without distraction.

Just remember, strategy before tactics is always a winner…

Cheers,