Marketing Evolution – Talk with Customers, not at Customers

I love this video…

The Marketing Capability: The Future is Digital

“Customers have dreams… and they have things that they want to do in thier lives. One of the things that technology does; it can make those dreams come true.” – Barry Judge (CMO, Best Buy)

Keep Building Trust…

Biznet Blog » Making the Digital Commitment by Jenn Weesies

It’s the fourth quarter in 2009 and a Michigan based company just reported a $1 Billion profit in the third quarter.  Pinch me – I must be dreaming, right?  Nope, Ford Motor Company – a company founded by an entrepreneur and built by the hard working people that thrived on his ingenuity and the passion that it bred, just reported this news last week.

Read more in Jenn Weesies’ recent post, she is the newest addition to our team at Biznet. Let us know what you think….

Biznet Blog » Making the Digital Commitment. by Jenn Weesies

Moving ahead is tough, especially in the absence of certainty but today there are many young intelligent people stepping up, going against the odds and making a difference.  Making the digital commitment is not simply about spending 25% of your budget on “new media”… it is about new ways of thinking.  Bringing sexy ingenuity back…  “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

I admire how Ford Motor Company is thinking “more intelligently” – once again.

Jenn recently posted on Twitter (in response to the article in the picture) – @weesiesj Dear Business Week, u are the most depressing magazine & do nothing for the American spirit. I found a job in MICH! http://twitpic.com/lfbcn

Jenn demonstrates the American Spirit that I admire! The lost generation?  Sure, there are many that are lost (most likely) and I am sure that is not new to this young generation…  But those people that are lost (in my opinion) aren’t willing to roll up their sleeves, fail a few times before they succeed and move ahead gracefully…

“90% of social media is simply showing up” – Scott Monty

Young leaders are not simply just looking for work, they are creating it and/or finding positions within great companies where they are carving out their own success. Showing up, getting “baptized by fire” and having the will to take on whatever challenges lie ahead is how our country became great. Let’s keep it going!

Website Technical Optimization – Basic Stuff, High Rewards

Original post – on Atomic Ideas

When I sit with clients, prospects and colleagues, I try to spend the time both teaching and learning. In particular, when I coach many of the smart people that I am thankful to work with, on a variety of digital marketing and social media business strategies, I have a tendency to often lose them. This is most likely because of the speed that I explain things.

I have a bad habit of assuming that people know what I am talking about because I get very passionate about sharing my experiences and knowledge. Ask my wife and she will not only agree but laugh that I am stating this fact.

The critical focal point in the first sentence above, however, is learning. I have found that as I am teaching others, I can actually learn more than I am teaching in many cases. For example, (take a social assessment and strategy development for a B2B company) – I’ve consulted with some very intelligent and savvy business people in the B2B arena on social assessment projects – but I’ve learned to become a better listener. Which, ( …BTW) – allows me to be a better learner and ultimately a better teacher.

Outside of an extremely detailed assessment ( among other deliverables) – including “listening” to the social landscape of:

* Brand mentions

* Competitors

* Customers, across several industries

* Service offerings/products

Prior to developing a strategy – the recommendation to begin improving their web sites is sometimes needed first and foremost. As my colleague Shauna Nicholson states, “It’s like dressing up before you go out to a business event.” However, what if your client really likes their current site? (Even if it has not been updated since 2001) Feeling that there is nothing needed for improvement. In fact, they feel that:

* The creative is great. (In reality: It looks like 1998 is calling!)

* It has functionality and conversions are great. (In reality: They don’t know the potential that they are missing.)

* It must be optimized correctly, right? Just leave it and let’s move forward with Twitter and Facebook, right?

How do we explain this most basic step? Putting your clothes on before you go out… a small (but very important) part of the overall strategy, without irritating or losing a client? Here are some slivers of the website technical optimization pie that can hit a cord with a President of a large B2B organization.

Let’s say that Google, Yahoo and Bing are the hosts of a major trade show in your industry. Anybody that you ever dreamed of getting in front of is your audience – and they are at this trade show, which gives you many opportunities to tell them all who you are and what you do. You go outside of your booth passing out some really great items to draw them to your booth (as well as having the opportunity for your hosts to draw traffic to your booth…) But, what happens when they get there?

Let’s look at what you are telling your hosts first:

Page Title - Does your page title (or tradeshow banner) effectively tell Google (or your trade show host) who they should recommend visiting your booth?
(Is it relevant and descriptive to the industry you serve?

Meta Description – Does your meta description effectively tell Yahoo what you do?
(Does it match the visible text?)

Meta Keywords – Are your keyword effective and relevant?
(Are they consistent with the content page by page? (Each page individually optimized?))

Then… there is your audience (what if they come):
They’re Heeere! Once your users show up, is your website clear, consistent and easy to navigate? Or is it cold, gloomy and/or hard to understand? I’ve personally spent more time at trade show booths that have occupied my attention (without overwhelming me) and offered great information. The same goes for websites. So, you have a 24-7 (365 days a year) trade show going on and your okay with a dingy booth with incomplete messages and no one hanging around, eh?

Driving traffic to a site can be the easy part – in some cases, outside of the fact that we want to get relevant traffic – we want to look the part. Do we have a nice outfit on, have our hair combed, teeth brushed and flossed with a smile on ready to do some business?

Leadership, Authority, Power and Pride

Those who continually provide helpful tips to their followers – who teach and seek to help people grow… in order to become better individuals, are leaders.  Of course, there are many types of leaders but what type of leader do you want to be (if at all)?

“The minute we start living condescending toward our congregations we lose all authority.” Eugene Peterson

I've got two daugthers! Chity chitty bang bang!

Authority is often confused with “power”, yet their meanings do differ.  Authority can refer to a claim of legitimacy, justification and a right to exercise power. For example, I just ordered a new gun (a 9mm Glock – Model # 26) and with it could have the power to punish a criminal, but believing in the rule of law (as a United States citizen), I know that only a court of law carries the authority to carry out capital punishment.

What Leadership Is Not…

In my opinion, leadership isn’t power.  Define power, hmmm, no thanks (but feel free to look it up at Wikipedia) and let’s just say there is a hint of control involved. Does a good leader control? Again – my opinion – I believe that a great leader would want great results and share in the success.  A controlling leader exerts their power because of (empty) pride among other selfish reasons. Yesterday, I was at a conference held in Mid-Michigan called Michigan Men of Faith and realized that I have to continually reflect on the question (above in the first paragraph.) Of the many great topics, I attended a break out session on leadership and authority – imagine that.

I’m not gender biased but my wife has a saying for men who are weak; she called them weenie boys (or W.B.’s for short.)  Of course the definition of a W.B. can come in different varieties (including not living up to what they say (lie and deceit) and/or use of negative sentiment to get what they want or make a point) but (most commonly) they share the following similar trait:

• Afraid to make decisions and/or afraid to make the wrong decisions

The worst thing that I could possibly hear from my wife when we are communicating in a disagreement is her calling me a W.B. (and she knows it….but of course, she wouldn’t do that, right?) Although, what if she had a valid point – what if I am afraid of… not having power…. or having my pride hurt… or being a bad leader….

If I am afraid of being a bad (leader) husband, father, boss, or church/community member, then I have to understand – I am what I choose. If I choose the right things, should I be afraid? If so, then what am I afraid of and why?  For example, “I’M leaving because [SOMEONE ELSE] screwed up.” OR “You made me….” This can also be used in an example of a father who claims that his ex-spouse is the excuse for his shortcomings on being a bad father, rather than facing his fear of why he is actually a bad father (if in fact he really is.)

Some Men Are Born Great – Others Find They Have To Work Hard For It

A real leader should work on removing fear and pride and accept their authority and understands that it is not easy. Did General Washington kneel and pray to God at Valley Forge? Ahh, another great debate, but I believe the answer is yes, he did accept not only his authority in leading his troops into battle but he had faith in and accepted a higher authority. Did he fear the battle? Was it easy? Absolutely not, but his faith made him strong.

• Leaders should be as objective as possible, such as in my last post titled Social Revolution – Objectivity vs. Subjectivity– if we listen to what Dr. Pearsall said, a leader who trusts “there are several ways of “knowing”” then a leader can find “evidence that there is much more to us than skin and bones and days and years.” There is a higher authority, I believe and I am open to learning more and seeking truth. It’s a lifelong process.
• Think noble thoughts and strive to: Do the right thing, in the right way, at the right time and for the right reason.
• Watch your sentiment – I too am guilty of not always being positive in my reinforcement (as a leader.)  For example, “saying whoever did this is stupid….” In front of my four year old or my employee, is simply wrong – it’s not doing “right thing.”  What if they did it?  What message am I really delivering?  Am I helping them to grow or helping them try again to get a better result?  What if they did – what I deem is stupid?  A WB overlays personal feelings  (a.k.a PRIDE) but a real leader (first) holds themselves accountable and delivers a clearly defined (positive) message for improvement to a negative situation.

I made a list of things that I want to work on to become a better leader (Husband, Father, Church Member and Boss) myself:

Love, Listen, Help, Support, Respect, Communicate, Be Consistent, Seek Truth, Provide Stewardship, Be Healthy, Forgive, and Preserver.

I’m sure that I missed some things but feel free to post your thoughts. What do you think? As I strive to continue to – do the right thing – I challenge myself to continue to grow and help others grow around me.

Have faith!  Take good care…


Belle Tire Cares!

Visit Belle Tire Cares Blog

Belle tire is genuinely reaching out to customers bringing down the barriers to communication inside and outside the organization.

Is this a reason why Belle Tire has been nominated as one of Detroit’s best businesses in the 2009?

For more information, please visit: http://www.belletire.com

Belle Tire Grand Opening – Out the door pricing. Discount tires…

Shared via AddThis

Think INSIDE The Box – Invest in Your Employees, Sell More Stuff.

Think INSIDE The Box – Invest in Your Employees, Sell More Stuff.

Posted using ShareThis

I recently posted a comment on this blog post by Russ Tate. Cheers to those employers who empower employees with mutual respect and satisfaction.

Increasing Relevance to Improve Ranking

I can’t stress the importance of research, strategy and planning (enough) in any good marketing strategy. I attempted to describe this in my post from this April titled: Moving the Needle with “New Media” – Technically Speaking (under the subheading: Finally, don’t just throw your time or budget away!) A solid digital business strategy will ensure that the work done has an incremental and long-term value for years to come. Is this branding at its best?

Yesterday, I was training a small group on best blogging practices. Good thing, I’m able to use my own blog as an example of how content marketing has a “shelf life of years.”

I have started several blogs over the years either for friends, clients and even myself – all with a variety of different purposes or strategies. This very blog (http://www.freshmenz.wordpress.com) (originally) started in May of 2008 to discuss products that my family uses in our home.

In May of this year, I started using this blog to discuss topics of interest to share certain passions, experiences and stories in my life. Thus, I began writing somewhat regularly on this blog. As it began to pick up popularity with my content on social media and digital marketing, this caused some confusion with some of my audience.

For example, I had a Michigan business coach tell me that he loves my blog but “what is up with Freshmenz Enterprises offering UV air purifiers, laundry products, UV water purifiers, etc?” Although he knows why, I understood what he meant. It is confusing to a user searching for this information (potentially looking for air and water purification products) and end up coming to a blog (mostly talking about digital media and social strategies.)

Back in 2007, I had started an e-commerce website (using the domain http://www.freshmenz.com) and set up a low budget website with a shopping cart to sell these products directly. I mass distributed a press release and was also very active in social communities engaging people with similar interests, sharing and collaborating on information about the green technologies that I was passionate about, used in my home and offered via my e-commerce website.

Content Marketing Relevancy

I originally intended for people to find me and ask me how these products have helped my family. At that time, I found how to becoming a valuable resource for people online (rather than trying to sell directly to them) results in developing many great relationships. I developed a nice customer base with customers all over the United States because they found my content useful and/or informative (via various locations on the Internet.)

Today, I use this domain for my blog yet this content still exists on hundreds of web sites driving traffic to this property. Although, I am still a resource for these products the user experience may be confusing for those who click through looking ti find information on how to clean their clothes without using laundry detergent (e.g. LaundryPure). That is… unless they find this specific post (or some other specific previous post), it is easy to understand how they could easily be lost, confused and annoyed. The fact that this content has a shelf life for many years is exactly why you want to have a solid strategy in place first (and foremost.)

I’ve worked with small brands (e.g. Freshmenz Enterprises), medium brands and large International brands on digital marketing efforts that use content to become an authority in a variety of different areas. Whether you are a major automotive supplier, a non-profit organization, a small business or a professional blogger… your Internet presence needs a strategy for long-term success.

I apologize for (originally) not having a specific plan in how I would use this domain and this blog. However, it has been a great example to show friends, colleagues, prospects and clients. Does your brand have a long-term digital strategy?

Content Marketing Tool Tip – Building Powerful Online Visibility

PRWeb Webinar: How to Use Your News to Bring Customers Straight to Your Door

Today, a free, one-hour Webinar hosted by PRWeb’s Jiyan Wei ( @PRWeb – at Twitter) taught participants how to use news releases online to build an your brands authority via the power of the Internet, attracting customers to your website.

Featured co-presenters included:
• Janet Driscoll Miller – President and CEO for SEO firm, Search Mojo
• Stacey Wells Justice – Director of Corporate Communications for Vocus

Among the topic on using online digital press release services like PRWeb, Miller described that “Links pointing to your website from other websites, inbound links, are the most important element in Google’s ranking algorithm. Links are treated like a vote of popularity for a website about a particular subject.” Press releases (a.k.a. web releases) are a great part of a robust content marketing strategy to build inbound links.

How PRWeb Changed the Press Release

This Webinar was a perfect opportunity for our interns, prospects and current clients to learn how and why we integrate these functions and get results.

For more information please visit: PRWeb Webinar: How to Use Your News to Bring Customers Straight to Your Door

Click Here To View PowerPoint: Use News to Bring Customers to Your Door( PRWeb) Webinar

Posted using ShareThis

Biznet Internet Marketing Seminar

Here is a copy of the PowerPoint from Biznet’s Internet Marketing Seminar held at Automation Alley in Troy, Michigan on June 23, 2009.

This seminar included Kevin Krason and Shauna Nicholson speaking about:

“How to” on Search Engine Marketing (SEM), including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-per-click (PPC)

Social Media Marketing

Mobile Marketing

Biznet Internet Marketing Seminar

View more OpenOffice presentations from Shauna Nicholson.

Learn more about online marketing in the Biznet Marketing Toolbox at: http://www.biznetis.net/

You’re never too young to learn on a PC!

I’m a finalist in the Microsoft Brickfish contest.

Submitted for: Windows® Brand Ambassador — Semi-Finals

Windows® Brand Ambassador — Semi-Finals Sponsored by Microsoft®