For year’s we’ve heard that Content is King! And the Internet has propagated that fact repeatedly over the last 15 years. Now it’s 2010 and the convergence of different types of marketing is a growing trend – all based around content. But the message you need to get out there isn’t in a neat little tweet of 140 characters, and people don’t refer you if they don’t know you, if there’s no relationship. So let’s say that success to you means 200% growth in the next 5 years. To grow you need to increase customers, equipment, staff and possibly space. You also need to grow your marketing base.

We’ve heard for a couple of years that traditional advertising is a thing of the past. It used to be that you outspent your competitors to gain market share. The companies with the deepest pockets had the best known brand. That trend changes more each day. Today, your reputation is critical more than ever, and no amount of spending will remove a customer’s bad taste (just ask BP!). Today you need to spend more time on relationships, more time on content, and more time than money basically.

For many of us, time is more important than money. Time to do what we want, time with family, time for fun, time for rest, relaxation, exercise, hobbies, time for work, time for play… so what’s the best way to make the best use of your time? In a word… STRATEGIC PLANNING.

In order to create a strategic Marketing Plan for today’s marketplace, you need to start with the basics and those are your brand (reputation) and your website. These are the two most important elements of building a profitable campaign that’s always looking at the end result – your success (and however you’ve measured that).

Step 1: Discovery
Identify the value of your brand, its effectiveness, its consistency, its differentiation, and its general reputation level. What are the goals for your brand? Are you meeting them?
Identify the value of your website. Your website should connect, impel, and generate. Does your website contain accurate, up-to-date content that is consistent with your brand? Are call-to-actions clear, easy to use, and everywhere they need to be? Are you getting leads from your website? If not, contacting a marketing-based, graphic and website design company should be the place you start.

Step 2: Set Objectives
Since we’ve established you control what success is, the only way to get to that result is to set goals and objectives that clearly define the path. The ultimate goal is to build your brand and increase traffic and conversions on your website because, that momentum is what will drive you toward your success goal.

Step 3: Create Campaigns
The campaigns you create will all be designed to reach the objectives set in step 2 with the ultimate goal of enhancing step 1. These campaigns may include search engine optimization and search engine marketing, social media, networking, content building (blogs and articles), event marketing, and publicity. The success of each strategy creates momentum that drives your organization forward.

Step 4: Set Budgets
Budgeting time and money is critical to success. Make sure you leave room for moving either from task to task as you work the campaigns so you spend time and money on the marketing areas that are working the best. In other words, if your Facebook fans are hot on a subject, engaged and interacting, don’t be rigid and say… “time to work on the blog”. Keep your audience engaged where they are, and be flexible.

Step 5: Measure
You have goals, you have budgets, you have campaign ideas. Now you have to set the times you’ll measure, evaluate and update your plan.

Step 6: Devil’s in the Details
Here’s where it gets sticky. Inspired 2 Design recommends creating a full year strategic marketing calendar for businesses. This is a detailed plan, by month or by quarter. It includes all the above, specific details. What event, what keyword, what blog entry, what Tweet, and the task assignments, responsible parties, time allotments etc.

This 6-Step Marketing for 2010 Outline is critical to success (whatever that means to you and your business). For help getting a plan on paper, contact Inspired 2 Design at 770-781-3452.

A blog gives these special families a place to share information, photos, treatments, new drugs, links, successes, failures, and other information via social media. Blogs can be linked to Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to spread the word even faster.

Stacy and Ansley’s story began 7 years ago, and can be followed via their new blog at www.stacycarverbailey.com.

Here are some common definitions:
- Networking is both an art and a science, building on sound principles and developed skill.
- Networking is working – it takes effort and time to become an effective tool.
- Networking is like farming in that you plant seeds, tend crops, and reap a harvest at some point in the future.

All these variations have a common theme. But here’s a definition that we feel stands head and shoulders above the rest:

Networking is cultivating mutually beneficial relationships between two or more people who share their connections in order to build bigger networks.

Why does this definition of networking stand out above all others?

1. It references the “cultivation” factor (like working and farming). Cultivation is a process involving time, sequence and steps. Effective networking involves all of these, hence making networking much like a science.

2. It considers the need for building “relationships”. Too often are events dubbed “Networking Events” where business people go to introduce themselves and hand out business cards to every person in the room. These types of events can certainly be a part of your networking process, but limiting your reach at such events ensures you’re considering the relationship requirement for effective networking. Since relationship is definined as being connected or associated with, your goal is to connect with people, not simply meet and greet.

3. It further clarifies relationships as being “mutually beneficial”. This is a critical factor for effective networking. Any relationship where only one party benefits is lopsided, and thus doomed for failure. For a relationship to be successful, it must be interdependent. The parties must rely on each other which indicates a level of trust must be established. Trust can only be established through cultivation of the relationship…if it sounds like a cycle, that’s because it is.

4. It specifies that “two or more people” can be involved in this network of mutually beneficial relationships. The size of your network is important as it defines your sphere of influence. Poor networkers have small spheres of influence and therefore may not be capable of holding up their side of the relationship. This is another reason that cultivation is important, it allows you to “weed” out those contacts that suck up all the nutrients, or referrals, and never offer anything to their networking partners.

5. It involves “sharing” – the joint use of resources. A sucessful network may include sharing contacts, sharing information, shared marketing, shared expenses, shared knowledge. This point is difficult for some business owners as they feel protective of what they’ve learned or achieved. But only through sharing information and experience will others get to see what you know. Only through sharing contacts will others benefit, and in the effective relationship, they’ll turn around and do the same for you.

6. It defines success as “building a bigger network”. A bigger network means more connections to future clients and prospects. Broadening your reach through mutually beneficial relationships ultimately leads to more sales, more retention, and more success in your business.

Of course, following the right steps is important, but developing the right skills is critical to successful networking. After all, no one is going to refer someone they don’t know or trust, and few will refer someone they don’t like. So, first it’s important to be known, it’s very important to be trustworthy, and it’s important to become a likeable people person (most people don’t care for the selfish, self-centered, all about me types).  And that doesn’t mean you have to have a bubbly, outgoing, life of the party personality. But it does mean that you need to take a genuine interest in other people, train yourself to be a good listener, and have a truly unselfish desire to see others succeed. These skills cannot be taught, they must be learned and practiced for many of us.

Effective networking is critical to the success of any business today. The onslaught of social media networks only drives this point home more than ever. People are social and today’s consumer wants to know who and what their connections recommend. If you do it right, it could be you and your business.

Now with the onrush of Social Media, there’s a new twist and an even better communication method that wasn’t really prevalent in late 2008.  Tie in #1-#8 above to Social Media networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Answers, and you have a whole new way to reach prospects.

Here are 6 new considerations:
1. Give something for nothing. Chuck Flagg of Cruise Holidays – The Flagg Agency hits it right on the head with his post “You Want Me to Give Away What?”. Read it here. The point is, that you need to share your expertise, or no one will ever know you have a clue as to what you’re talking about. It’s like giving out samples at the grocery store.

2. You will be most effective when your motives for sharing are genuine. Of course, you expect a return, but if you go into it with that as the sole motivation above helping people, you’ll defeat the whole purpose. Put others first, and you’ll find the results surprising.

3. People buy from those they know, like and trust. Get people to know you, be like-able, and be honest. Trust will build and in the end, dollars will flow. You’ll need to open up, be transparent and share things that you may at first feel are too personal, too proprietary, or too valuable. Remember, you gotta spend money to make money. Time is money, and building relationships takes time.

4. How much is too much? Well, the bikini reference Chuck makes in his blog post (see #1 above) may be too much for you. You may feel more comfortable in board shorts or a one piece skirted number. The point is that you know how your business operates and you can only be the judge of what can be found via a Google search, and what cannot. If you’re a professional, experienced in your field, you certainly have something to offer that others don’t. The trick here is to make them aware of what you have to offer without revealing all the cards in your hand.

5. Use the tools. Yesterday we posted information about how Social Media Marketing is another tool. Communication methods come and go, and the bottom line is that the deal is done between two people. How you forge that relationship is almost irrelevant once you shake and dollars are exchanged (of course, at I2D, we insist you track every customer you can to see where they come!).

6. Content is still KING! Filling your blog, writing articles, Tweeting tips, Sharing on Facebook, and Answering questions on LinkedIn are all great content boosters. Google LOVES your content, and your readers, visitors, friends, followers, and connections will all benefit. In the end… so will you.

Expert-status and the associated promotion of your business are really just by-products of the efforts you put into educating others. Call Inspired 2 Design to add knowledge to your marketing mix – if you don’t like to write, research or speak, we can help!

Two Sides to the Story

There are two distinct sides to the Social Media subject – those who believe it "works" and those who don’t. By works, we mean use of, or activity in Social Media can be "monetized". Truth be told, we haven’t had or heard of any business that’s been able to pinpoint any specific gain by use of Social Media Marketing. And that’s precisely what the non-believers say is the reason for their poo-pooing of the tool. On the other side, there are those who say it does work, are adamant about its success and its benefits, point out the rapid and continuing increase in Social Media advertising expenditures over the past two years, and who just plain refuse to accept the negatives – despite the lack of actual revenue associated with it.

Social Media’s Capabilities

To be plain and simply put, Social Media Marketing is a just another tool. And just like the other tools we use to market a business, service or product, this tool needs to be applied to the right job in order to produce the desired results. So, bottom line is this… knowing what you want to accomplish is where you start. Once you’ve established your goal, review all the options in your toolbox and select the right tool for the job. What is Social Media Marketing capable of producing for your business? Well, it may depend on your business, but suffice it to say that Awareness, Interaction, and Buzz are all possible end products. We all know that to be successful in business, people have to know about us, they have to have an interaction with us, and they have to talk about us.

So exactly what do we know for sure:

1. Social Media Marketing really isn’t marketing at all. It’s networking to build a relationship.
2. Social Media Marketing is interactive and must be two-way communication for it to work at all.
3. Online Social Media Marketing will increase the traffic to your website if applied correctly.
4. Social Media Marketing will help you manage your reputation online.
5. Social Media Marketing is extremely inexpensive, but very time consuming.
6. Social Media Marketing is here, and the smart companies will take the time and spend the money, to embrace it.
7. Social Media Marketing will result in actual revenue gains over time, when applied appropriately, and when treated with respect for the audience.

Regardless of which side of the fence you stand on, you need to be aware of Social Media’s pros and cons and its capabilities and limitations.

Inspired 2 Design would like to talk to you about your company’s Social Media Marketing plan, or lack thereof. Contact Us to get started, or if you’re already in it, let’s talk about what your doing and how to capitalize on your investment. If you’re a naysayer, we’d like to talk to you especially to see what you might be missing out on.

1. Be relevant
Make your comments meaningful. Please don’t blow wind up our skirts by telling us what a great post we did and then move on. If you want to pay a compliment, give us a call. The blog commenting area is for continuation of the topic, respectful challenges to the topic, additions and observations, links to additional sources and truly useful content. If you have nothing to say… you have nothing to say. Leave it that way.

2. Be Correct
Run through your comment and spell check. Check your grammar, reread to insure the thought is understandable, and please keep the tone businesslike. There’s nothing that brings both your brand down faster than comments filled with typos and foulness. Remember, once you post, it’s public.

3. Don’t be a Know-it-All
No one likes a pompous person. Politeness is valuable. If you’re an expert, that’s great, share your expertise… just be humble about it and back up your knowledge with relevant links.

4. Comment Areas are NOT Billboards
Don’t leave links to your company’s website home page in the midst of your comment. Don’t say “Hey, Look at Me! I do …” Make your content sing your praises. This type of commenting will result in an edited comment or a deleted one. Links to relevant information are welcome. Signature links are permitted. Self promotion on our bandwidth is frowned-upon. Want to promote yourself? Start a blog, or offer to write a guest post on someone else’s blog. Coming to the party empty-handed each time will result in a shortage of invitations for you at some point soon!

5. Respect Rules 1-4
If you’re visiting a blog, think of it as just that, visiting. Leave the place the same, or better, than it was when you found it. Or… find another place to visit.

Offering opinions and information via Blogging takes time and effort. Commenting for true discussion and relationship building is easy as 1,2,3,4,5!
Inspired 2 Design welcomes relevant, thought-provoking business oriented comments on our blog.

Setting goals for your business blog is critical to your blog’s success. To start goal-setting, it’s important to see what potential benefits are available from creating and maintaining a company blog. This list is by no means exhaustive, but gives an overview of the top ten benefits to review when setting goals for your business blog. After reading through them, decide for yourself if blogging for business is just chatter, or chum.

What is a blog?
A blog is an journal, or web log written about whatever the writer feels like writing about: personal, political, or business topics, (there are also blogs written by the mainstream media). You’re reading a blog right now if you are reading this post! You can subscribe to a blog using RSS which allows you to read the blog in a newsreader service like: Bloglines, Google Reader. Use a search engine like Technorati or Google Blog Search to find blogs that you’re interested in. Blogs should be installed on your existing website and customized (by someone like Inspired 2 Design).

Blogs are a form of social media. They are designed for both outbound marketing (the post goes out), and inbound marketing (interested people read and subscribe) and for two way communication (feedback through comments). Blogs are also viral – meaning that good content can be redistributed across the Internet.

Why should a business have a blog?

1. Blogging builds your brand (honesty and transparency is the key – at I2D we call it Our 5-C’s Philosophy)
2. A blog allows direct communication (two-way dialog opens up opportunity for you to learn what your customers want)
3. Blogging builds relationships (humanizes your company)
4. Blog to gain the competitive edge (test new ideas quickly with your client base)
5. Blogging positions you as an expert (you know your business, let everyone know that you know)
6. Blogging is a Public Relations tool (and allows for Reputation Management)
7. Blogging creates search engine paradise (content is king)
8. A blog reeks of freshness (stay up-to-the-minute with trends, projects, new products/services, and more)
9. A blog can be cost effective (time is money, but who’s counting? Seriously though, no technical skill is required to post to your blog)
10. A blog can reflect your corporate culture (delegate to employees and build a team of corporate bloggers)

Successful goal setting must consider the bad as well as the good. So, flip the coin, and let’s take a look at some potential hurdles you may need to jump to reap the rewards.

What challenges accompany blogging?

1. Constant content (what to write about)
2. Resources (time, staff, guest bloggers)
3. Popularity (how do you get people to visit your blog)
4. Conversion (how do you make money from your blog)
5. Measuring (how do you measure the benefits)

And those answers are the subject for another post (hint on the content challenge!).

There’s no time like the present to get your business up-to-speed on the new wave of communication and market your business to today’s (and tomorrow’s) consumers.

Inspired 2 Design's new Facebook page

Of course, we’re also on Twitter and LinkedIn, and those links will follow soon too. Boosting your business brand, while keeping in touch with customers, prospects, competitors, collaborators and just about anyone is here via social media. But let’s face it, no one is yet the expert, but it helps to know that there are people (like Inspired 2 Design) who are working out the kinks, and sharing with our loyal blog subscribers and readers.

Our advice is to at the very least, sign on, start a page, and just watch others. Listen, don’t talk, just like when you network in person. Find out what others know and apply the best to your business. Subscribe to this blog, and share it on your pages! We love it and you’ll see how the good kind of computer viruses happen!

Check back soon for more online marketing hints and tips from I2D.

Social network
A website which allows people to build a web page or profile, and then connect, share content and communicate with others. The major players are: MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Blog
A Blog is an journal, or web log written about whatever the blogger feels like writing about: personal, political, or business topics, (there are also blogs written by the mainstream media). You’re reading a blog right now if you are reading this post!  You can subscribe to a blog using RSS which allows you to read the blog in a newsreader service like: Bloglines, Google Reader or Newsgator.  Use a search engine like Technorati or Google Blog Search to find blogs that you’re interested in. Blogs are easy to set up using Google’s Blogspot or Wordpress, and can be stand alone, or be installed on an existing website and customized (by someone like Inspired 2 Design!).

Microblogging
Social networking that’s a combination of instant messaging and miniature blog entries. Most people are familiar with the microblog, Twitter. Twitter which allows users to send 140 character messages (called Tweets) instantly to followers via a browser, mobile phone or RSS feed.

Podcast
Audio and video files available by subscription through a website like iTunes. What’s important about podcasts
is that it allows regular people to create a following of their own “shows” putting them on a level playing field with traditional media for audio and visual content online.

Forum
A website or part of a website where discussions about a specific topic are held.  Forums were pretty much the original social media format, popular with developers, help desks, hobbies, interests, etc.  Each discussion in a forum is known as a thread, and there can be lots of different threads going on at the same time each moderated by an administrator.

Content community
A website used to organize and share particular kinds of content: photos (Flickr), bookmarked links (del.icio.us or Digg) and videos (YouTube).

Wiki
A private or public website made up of content added by people or edited by people like a community document or database.  The best known wiki is Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia. They are great for collaboration (say you have multiple offices around the world and are drafting your company manual).

RSS
(Really Simple Syndication) allows people to subscribe to a blog or website.  It notifies a ‘newsreader’ that new content is available and sends it the entry.  You can then read these in your newsreader without having to visit the website itself, making the blog easy to add to other social media.

Instant Messaging (IM)
One type of real-time communication between two internet users (using Skype, AIM, Facebook, MySpace and others).

Like it or not, social media is the cusp of what’s to come. Recently a business owner I spoke with said they didn’t want to get into it because they were afraid competitors would bash them online. Really, it doesn’t matter if you’re in it or not, that is always a possiblity, so read my post on Reputation Management. What does matter about social media and social networking is the transparency involved.

Over the past few years marketers have learned that personal buying experiences matter to customers, and that the internet has become the number one information source buyers use during the buying cycle.  As the Y-Generation takes over in the next 5-10 years, their demand for honest two-way communication will be unmatched as they’ve grown up in the “me” generation.

Smart business owners will make the effort now to start tempering themselves off to the water temperature. Here’s why: at this time right now, the social media world is forgiving.

Today, there are tons of folks all asking the same questions: Why? What’s the point? How can this help my business? Who cares? But in 5 years, if you’re not there… then you’ll be climbing a steep learning curve, before a very unforgiving audience. Of course, maybe you don’t plan to be in business in 5 years…