Archive for January, 2009

No.  Well, sort of.  But not really.

If you just read my Tornado Marketing blog, you’d probably think I devoted 24/7 to social media consulting – but that’s not true.  I actually don’t consider myself a social media consultant.  I consider myself a marketing consultant. 

Social media is just ONE tool in the metaphoric marketing toolbelt – one that my customers, readers and friends are trying to make sense of right now. So even though I write a lot about social media, it’s  because social media new and it’s changing the marketing game. Smart businesses need to start paying attention to social media marketing – but not at the expense of everything else.  

I don’t want my customers or my readers to forget about the basic blocking and tackling of marketing, like:

• Do you know who your ideal customer is?
• Do you have a way to communicate with them?
• Are you able to articulate your differentiation?
• Are you marketing consistently?
• Is your material educational, persuasive and smart? 
• Do you make it easy for people to do business with you?
• Do you provide good products and services?

Marketing has never been about doing “one thing” right.  I hate to tell you this, but there is no magic bullet that will transform your business overnight.  Marketing is about doing lots of things right, learning from everything you do, and marketing your business consistently and professionally. 

Yes, you should have social media as part of your mix. Yes, you can call on me for social media consultation if you need help.  But I just don’t want you thinking that social media is the end-all be-all of marketing.  When you call, I’ll ask you to take a holistic look at your business and your marketing practices – and then we can talk about how social media marketing can work for you.  Fair enough? 

Don’t you appreciate having friends who will tell you honestly when you have spinach in your teeth?  I sure do!

I live by the principle that I treat people the way I want to be treated.  Consequently, I will tell complete strangers (very discretely of course) when they are suffering from a social faux pas, like having spinach in their teeth.  But everyone is not like me, and even I don’t always tell businesses how they infuriate me and send me running to their competitor – often, because I can’t.  There is no way to communicate with them. 

Frustrated Customer

Once I was so mad at Target (a store I actually love…usually) that I was motivated enough to go to the web survey (that if you’ll notice all the big box stores are printing on their receipts) – and THE URL DIDN’T WORK.  Talk about frustrating!  I had to just let it go.  The big stores are begging for feedback – because they know that they need the insight of the “complainers” to improve their offerings.

In business, people are unlikely to tell you what’s wrong.  Instead, they’ll just slink off to your competitors, leaving you wondering what you did wrong.  The good news is that for a small business, you can make it really easy to communicate.  You just have to learn to listen.  Don’t be defensive.  Be open-minded.

When people call “complaining” about service, product or delivery problems, you should THANK THEM profusely. They’re telling you, “I want to do business with you.  I care enough to tell you.”  Of course, if you don’t DO anything with that information, then your customers will be even more frustrated. 

If you’re not willing to change your business to fix the customer complaints, then you might need to find different clients.  Find clients whose values better align with what your business offers.   Know what I mean? 

How do you deal with customer complaints?  How do you think businesses should ask for your feedback?

While marketers remain firmly convinced of the value of social media marketing, executives in the C-Suite may not yet be convinced.  So how do you speak their language, and help your CFO, CTO or CEO understand how social media marketing can help you grow your business?

Well, shoot, I couldn’t say it any better than this:   http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/how-to-sell-social-media-to-cynics-skeptics-luddites-tips-resources-advice/  Robin and John have compiled a list from social media experts who explain:

• 8 Tips for Selling Social Media to CFOs
• Selling Social Media “Up” to Management
• How to Champion Social Media at Work
• 12 Ways to Sell Social Media to Your Boss
• 10 Common Objections to Social Media Adoption
• And so many more great articles about Social Media Marketing!

The benefit of social media marketing isn’t always immediately obvious.  It can look like too much fun to be “real work” – and I’ll be the first to admit it can be a collossal waste of time if you aren’t doing it right.  

Like any marketing strategy, you need to decide whether social media is an appropriate tactic for you, and if it is – how will you execute?  How, who, when and where will you engage with social media marketing?  How will you justify the time spent to your CFO?  How will you measure your ROI? 

Thanks Robin and John for that great list of How to Sell Social Media to Your Boss!  Keep up the great work!

Are you super fabulous at what you do?  Do you believe that you are a GREAT …IT shop, accountant, VAR, trainer, lawyer, designer, contractor, (insert your small business type here)?  Do you know your customers LOVE you?

I hate to tell you this.  But – just being good (or even GREAT) at what you do might not be enough. 

Don't wait until it's too late!

Sure, in good times, business regularly comes flowing in through word of mouth and referrals.  But what do you do when that stops?  Do you have the core marketing infrastructure in place?  What happens if you don’t?  What happens if you take a “wait and see approach” hoping for the best?  Read the sad, but true blog post I just wrote for the AMEX Open Forum:  http://blogs.openforum.com/2009/01/14/dont-wait-until-its-too-late/

PLEASE – Don’t wait until it’s too late!!!  I don’t want this to happen to you. 

You don’t have to use a marketing consultant if you can’t afford one.  There are lots of affordable small business marketing tools out there!  In fact I created a website Tornado Tools exactly for that group of small business owners who can’t afford to hire me, but just aren’t sure which marketing vendors to trust.

If you’re a OC Small Business Owner, I just launched a super affordable OC Duct Tape Marketing Meetup Group, which will meet the last Wednesday of every month.  The first meetings are scheduled for 1/21 and 1/28. (running repeat sessions.)  Details here: http://www.meetup.com/The-OC-Duct-Tape-Marketing-Meetup-Group/ Every member will get a copy of the Duct Tape Marketing book when they attend their first meeting. 

This Marketing Group is live because I feel there is a lot of value in face-to-face networking, but if anyone is interested in an internet-based session on the same topic, email me at tornado@tornadomktg.com, and I’ll schedule one.

No excuses.  Just do it! 

Vinnie Mirchandani of the Deal Architect blog recently wrote a very interesting post about finding the IT Buyer on Twitter.  You can read my response to him here:  Response to Looking for Mr. Customer. 

In some ways I totally agree with what Vinnie had to say.  The majority of CIOs and CFOs are not on Twitter and perhaps never will be.  These roles require a keep-your-guard-up type of mentality.  They’re typically not hanging around the water cooler at work – so why would they do it online?   

The C-Suite positions (CEO, CIO, CTO, CFO, CMO)  are so sought-after and so inundated with continual requests from employees, board members, etc. that they have to shield themselves from  as much info-clutter as they can.  This is true online as well as offline.  You can’t get through to them when you call. Their mail is screened.  Their email is filtered. So why would they close all the windows, and then open the door?  They probably wouldn’t. 

 But here’s the secret.  You don’t have to reach that person in the marketing cycle.  You need to find the person with the most pain.  Many IT decisions begin with business decision makers screaming loudly for help. 

“We keep getting charge backs on our EDI!” 

“Our customer list in accounting is completely different than the one we have in marketing!” 

“The inventory we sold through our website isn’t in our warehouse.”

Find the person with the pain.  The marketing manger. The warehouse manager.  The accounting manager.  Market to them.  Get them to open the door and walk you into the CIOs office with a warm introduction.  That’s the person who is begging for your help and will become your “internal champion” in the sales cycle.  Is that person is on Twitter? or on FaceBook?  That’s what you need to find out.

I’m on Twitter. If you want to connect to me, I’m at http://www.Twitter.com/Amachina.  Yep, I’m on FaceBook too.  You can find me at: http://profile.to/adriannemachina/

And if you skipped the link at the beginning, you might want to go to  Response to Looking for Mr. Customer now to read the reasons you may want to be on Twitter – whether your end customer is there or not.

You’re using Google Alerts, aren’t you?  No?

Well then, sit right down and listen up, because Google Alerts will save you from countless hours of web surfing, and is an essential tool in your marketing strategy. 

Did you know:

• The Internet is composed of  that 108,810,358 distinct websites? (as of February 2007, according to the Netcraft Web Server Survey)
• There are over 112.8 million blogs (according to Technorati).
• 175,000 new blogs are created every day (though admittedly some of those are splogs (aka spam blogs)

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write a blog – you should, especially if you have something interesting to share with the world.  What it means though is that it’s virtually impossible to keep up on all the new and interesting things going on in your industry, With time being your most precious resource, you need to filter the information and get it delivered to you!   That’s why I’ve put together this two minute video that shows you exactly what you need to do to get started.

Bring the mountain to Mohammed

Google Alerts brings the mountain of information to you, consolidated into one neat little email (or RSS) package.  Once you have the alert set up, and delivering the information, you can use it as a foundational piece of your SEO and Social Media Strategy.

Act on the alerts by:

• Comment on a blog a day.
• Send a letter of congratulations! (Did someone get a new job, an award or a promotion?)
• Track which bloggers and journalists cover your industry.
• Write a blog post.
• Check out the competition.
• Create a new product or service that addresses the concerns you’re hearing.

Once you start using Google Alerts, you’ll wonder how you managed to live without them all this time. 

Do you use Google Alerts?  In what innovative ways do you use them to help your business?

I have New Years Resolutions, and you probably do too.

The problem I see is that when people set big result-oriented far-away goals, it’s easy to lose sight of how to get there.  People have a natural tendency to procrastinate, and then they end up trying to cram to meet their goal. Ever want to lose 20 lbs. for the wedding next weekend?  Then you know what I mean!

I think it’s better to set micro-goals.   Your micro-goals will become daily habits, and the results will manifest themselves.  As an example, you might have a personal goal to lose 20 lbs by April 1st. The weight is just a measurement of the habits you’ve adhered to between now and April 1st. So pay attention to the micro-goals, which will become habits, and you’ll achieve the desired result at the end – or at least you’ll get close!

For business, maybe your goal is to add ten customers by June 1. What are the habits you could develop and do every day to acquire these 10 new customers?

Daily or weekly you could set micro-goals to:

Oh the list could go on and on…. I’ve always been a big fan of Stephen Covey, who preaches that the first 20 minutes of every day should be spent planning.  Then the rest is just execution.  Easy, right?

Well, if it were that easy, everyone would do it. Discipline takes time to develop. Start with micro-goals, and you’ll be well on your way to a happier new year. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM TORNADO MARKETING!