12 Minutes

Nov 22 2011

Why Automation Is Awesome

Before you say “Automation is Bad” when talking about Social Media Marketing, let’s dig a little deeper.

Confession: I have automated my social media posts. I will do it again. And here’s why…

Automation of Social Media isn’t a bad thing when done right.

Let’s get real for a half second: who really can spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? I sure as heck can’t – and I’m pretty sure you can’t either. You can’t be everywhere at once, so what’s wrong with a little automated content?

Not looking for a Webster’s Dictionary definition of automation – but, instead, how about a show of hands?

Have you ever used Aweber? Get Response? Infusionsoft?

These are tools that automate your email marketing. They automate your response to people visiting your site and asking for more information from you.

Saying “Automation is Bad” is a Dangerous Blanket Statement.

Ever used a Facebook fan page, asked people to “Like” your brand, then turned around and sent them something automatically because they clicked the Like button? You’ve automated, dear friend. Don’t sound out against it unless you’ve never used it.

Some People Need to Build a Platform – Automating SOME of their Social gives them that chance.

Okay, I’m probably being a little harsh here – of course, there are some marketers and people who call themselves celebrities who automate every piece of content they have ever produced – more often than most of us floss our teeth, there seems to be a post coming from them, automated by one of the tools anyone has access to.

And if you have ever used an email system that says you’re going to send a message at a specific date or time – you, my dear friend, have automated.

One thing you can’t automate? Relationships.

Real, human relationships are built a tweet, a Facebook post, and an email at a time. Sometimes you NEED to automate parts of your social life in order to get to the point where there’s a fighting chance you’ll be heard.

So don’t Robocall your friends, pick up the phone.

Don’t blindly email those people you want to call friends – put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and get in touch.

Don’t automate relationship building…build relationships through a good old fashioned combo of hard work and being a real authentic human.

Thanks.

Oct 26 2011

3 Weeks, 3 Months, 3 Years – Got a Plan?

333 — Image by Leo Reynolds, used with Creative Commons license

Area 224. 12 Minute Marketing. So Why Would We Talk about Threes?

We’ve found that, without a plan, no matter what your business is, you’re gonna be lost.

You also need to execute against that plan.

AND, in some cases, you need to ask yourself if the thing you’re working on right now should be done RIGHT NOW, or if it should wait a few weeks, months, or years.

GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain talks about “9-9-9.” We want to talk about “3-3-3.”

3 Weeks, 3 Months, 3 Years.

What Needs to Happen in the Next 3 Weeks?

Let’s say you’re talking about setting a Social Media Strategy for your organization. (Something we, of course, touch on in our 12 Minute Marketing program.) Since Rome wasn’t burned in a day, you can’t honestly expect to tell the boss that you’re going to have all the answers tomorrow. But, in 3 Weeks, can you develop the framework of a plan? Can you do a Situation Analysis to be able to report back to the boss?

Also, what are the tools that you need in place now so that you can point back to some examples of tactics that will support your strategy?

Three Weeks – there’s a sense of urgency there – but there’s also an understanding that you cannot possibly get it all figured out. Your focus sharpens on those things that are absolutely necessary to support your strategy.

What Needs to Happen in the Next 3 Months?

Since Area 224 is not just a blog about Social Media, let’s talk about things like Sales Goals.

You do have Sales Goals, right?

Unless you’re in an eCommerce gig somewhere, you will probably have to incorporate the real world into your Sales Goals. It might take you a week to get a list of prospects together, and another week to figure out the right messaging. Do you think you’re going to reach every one of them in the next couple days after that?

Here’s where a CRM comes in handy – moving prospects along the process, or through the funnel – is going to take time, and you’re going to want to handle that appropriately.

Watch this 12 Minute Marketing Lesson on WIIFM Selling for some more ideas.

The bottom line here is this: some things do take time. Even if you’re in a Long Sales Cycle business, you need to figure out what has to happen when, and put the wheels in motion.

What Needs to Happen in the Next 3 Years?

Blue Sky Plans. BHAGs. Exit Strategies.

Trying to look out over the Horizon beyond 2012 and into (gasp) Fall of 2014 might not be something you’re thinking of doing.

But you need to do it – for your business – and here are a few questions to ask:

What does success look like to me?
What does my business look like – is it huge? Is it small? Do we have a dynamic culture?
What skills do I need to acquire – what tools do we need to have on staff – do we build, buy or partner?

Start getting into the long-term mindset – even if it’s difficult to think beyond the next three weeks or months – and ask those important questions.

Oct 21 2011

Content, Community, Engagement, Influence, Milk Duds

We’re out to prove a point with today’s post: Content, Community, Engagement and Influence are overused terms.

If you think about it, saying that your company or your department needs a “Content Strategy” makes lots of sense. Since everyone is talking about Content, you should be talking about Content, too. (Content with a capital “C,” of course.)

“XYZ Company will use Content to Build Community, Drive Engagement and reach out to Key Influencers.”

Congratulations, that will be $5000. (Actually – we charge $5000 a day for sessions with companies to help them better market their products and services. If this was the result of the day-long session, you’d get your money back.)

If it were that gosh-darn easy to put together a Fill In The Blank Strategy for your company, everyone would be doing it, and you’d see literally thousands of companies out there making things happen with Content, Community, Engagement and Influence. But it’s not, and here’s why:

Developing a Strategy for ANYTHING without an Eye Toward Business Objectives is a Recipe for Disaster.

Your Content Strategy? Guess what, if you’re putting out white paper after white paper, writing countless press releases (or, preferably, using PitchEngine), and doing corporate videos interviewing key executives, there’s your Content. But it’s not your Content Strategy, it’s your Content Tactics.

Building Community is Great! We’re seriously all for it here at Area 224 – yes, we’re building a community around 12 Minute Marketing, and yes there will be more information on that in the days to come. But that community needs a common thread – not just an idea to “build a community.”

The Brand Builder, Olivier Blanchard, has a great piece on Social Media and Social Business Myths. Read them all, but #1 is the one we’ll point you to.

If you’re building a Community around your Awesome Product…Make Sure Your Product is Awesome FIRST.

Engagement is even more puzzling these days. Scott Stratten wrote a book last year called UnMarketing and the subtitle was “Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.” So, magically, everyone did! They stopped Marketing! And they started Engaging! (If you can’t sense the sarcasm there, take a look at my Twitter background. My eldest child asked me the other night “why is there a unicorn on your Twitter background?” For reasons like this, my dear.)

Actually, the story in the UnMarketing book about the guy at the Wynn who stopped his carpet cleaning duties to give a genuinely friendly greeting to Scott and get him to return? Uh, that’s engaging. In that they guy likes what he does, likes people, and genuinely wanted them to enjoy their stay.

Segueing to Influence in 3…2…1…

Does it matter that Scott is an Influencer? Not one iota – and that’s probably the biggest pain in the a** about this whole Content, Community, Engagement, Influence discussion:

Your Own Potential to Influence in Your Business Trumps That of Any External Influencer.

You’re passionate about something. That something gets shown somewhere in your business – now the potential to Influence comes through. Right? Does It?

We’re not going to claim to have all the answers here – we think we’ve built a dynamite Business Marketing and Coaching Course called 12 Minute Marketing, but there’s no way that our course, or any other course out there, is going to do you a bit of good unless you, frankly, give a crap about your business.

So…what’s the point behind the Milk Duds?

There’s a restaurant in Chicago called Lou Mitchell’s. They give out Milk Duds when you leave, after you pay the check. It’s a nice touch.

The Milk Duds are not their Content Strategy. The Milk Duds might help them build Community. The Milk Duds could make them ace a test on Engagement. And hey, Influencers LOVE Milk Duds, right?

It’s the food, the atmosphere, the ambience, the kitsch, all that stuff rolled into a bucket. That’s their Business Strategy.

Avoid the Buzzword Bingo and Focus on Making a Real Difference, on Real Passion.

Go!

Oct 18 2011

If Email Is Dead Why Does Everyone Have An Inbox?

“Email Marketing Is Dead. Everyone’s Going Social.”

Not sure who to attribute that quote to. A few social media marketing gurus? Social Media Ninja Camp 2010? And not sure it really matters – email marketing isn’t going anywhere for quite a long time. Don’t agree? Here’s Rick Strater’s take on Email – it’s from one of the 12 Minute Marketing Lessons. Spend a couple minutes watching and we’ll see you after the jump.

We’d be crazy if we didn’t mention that the above video is part of the Sample Lessons you can check out over at the 12 Minute Marketing site. 12 Minute Marketing Sample Lessons include Push vs. Pull and Holistic Social Media. And a couple more.

Email is PART of an Integrated Marketing Strategy. It’s not all of it – this is why, for every marketer who says “there’s money in the list,” there’s another who completely abandons his list to sell something else. What’s an Integrated Marketer to do? 3 Tips:

1. Add Value or Get Out of the Way.

My own Gmail account has 50,000-plus unread messages in it. I’m not making this up:

I’m guilty of two things as an email recipient: I don’t read everything and I don’t aspire to “Inbox Zero.” (In fact, Inbox Zero is a total waste of time.)

I’ve gotten to the point where I sign up for lots of things to see a variety of email approaches – and I only unsubscribe when someone gets on my nerves. (Had a friend call someone the “Bally’s of Marketing,” in that this person was annoying and everywhere. I’ll go with it – and that’s when I unsubscribe. But not before.)

Your email newsletter, which I’m sure is awesome, by the way, has to cut through the 50,000-plus clutter, or it just ain’t gonna get read. Bringing us to Tip 2:

2. The Subject Line is Your Friend.

It is, really.

Even Uber-Marketers have to get their emails actually opened to make the magic happen. You have to strike a chord with the reader – even if the chord tells them that this particular offer is NOT for them.

I have an email waiting for me that says “50% off Veterinary Services.” I don’t have a pet, so I know I’m not going to open this one. Fine – we didn’t waste each other’s time.

You can personalize if you like – but you certainly don’t have to.

Subject lines are so under-utilized – cutting to the chase is absolutely vital, and if I don’t see a hook for me, I may not even open.

Underground Jedi Trick: Begin the Subject with “[Name of Business]”…On some mobile readers, Gmail included, the “[Name of Business]” gets shortened to “[Name…]” and then the reader dives into the rest of your subject line.

This segues nicely into Tip 3:

3. Have a Point.

Some people call this a “Call to Action” – but that may not be the reason for the email you’re sending.

Let’s say it’s the monthly newsletter from your company – you may not be selling something, you may not want people to pick up the phone and call you so they can buy from you. If you’re doing the newsletter as a branding exercise, then the “Point” of the email may well be that you’re sharing information that’s valuable to your reader.

But your monthly newsletter just for the sake of your monthly newsletter isn’t exactly accomplishing anything, is it?

Value the reader’s time, and they’ll in turn value reading your newsletter. Or whatever you’re emailing.

The Inbox isn’t going away. The Email will continue to be important. It’s part of your toolkit, but not the only thing in it.

One More Thing…

If you like what you saw from the above email and the 12 Minute Marketing Sample Lessons, consider beginning your 12 Minute Marketing journey. We’ve been told that $297 is a tremendous value for a course that delivers daily lessons on marketing strategy, new media, social media, traditional sales and marketing concepts and a heck of a lot more. (And you can get it for less than that if you choose the “one pay” option.) Learn more about 12 Minute Marketing on the Curriculum Page, or just Enroll Today on the Enroll Page.

Oct 17 2011

Where To Today?

Going Lots of Places? Or Nowhere at All?

Tweet Too Much?

There are days as an entrepreneur where the schedule is jam-packed. Phone meeting, another phone meeting, coffee masked as business development, emails, tweets, Facebook posts, and maybe another IRL meeting.

Then there are days where tumbleweeds blow through the schedule, crickets are in the background, and you’re left to your own devices.

Down time. Decompression. Vital for the entrepreneur.

Question, young Jedi: Where To Today?

It’s highly possible that, while you’re out there “connecting” – you may actually be going just about nowhere.

“Social Media” – we use the term with air quotes – create the opportunity to go around the world and back through short messages, friend requests, videos on YouTube, and a LinkedIn contact request or five.

But are you really “going anywhere?”

Social Media + Business Road Map = Chance to Get SOMEWHERE

Over at 12 Minute Marketing – where we invite you to become a better marketer with an investment of just 12 minutes a day, here’s a link to Sample Lessons for you – we try to instill the value of planning. Of Objective-Oriented Marketing. Of turning off the Twitter machine and actually figuring out what it is you want to accomplish.

Easier said than done – or is it?

You know why you’re on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn. You know what it is you want to accomplish those places, don’t you?

If you don’t, maybe that break in your schedule is just the thing you need.

Maybe the Road Map is in your head, but it should be on a white board, on a computer screen, in a notebook.

Maybe the destination is in sight – but the Construction Zone isn’t on the map.

Maybe you might run out of gas before you get there.

Maybe there’s value in pulling the car over at the next exit, grabbing a refreshment, looking at the wildflowers on the road.

Maybe.