Reputation Management Starts With Authenticity

The foundation of reputation management rest on authenticity: The ability to tap into your genuine, humble and individual human qualities from which your identity, personality and character stems. Most of us walk around without much thought to being 'authentic.' We expect that others will take us as they see us. Some of us even boast, 'What you see is what you get!'

But is it? Are you living authentically ' using your values, beliefs and dreams guide you? Are you letting others know you ' truly know you ' or are you hiding behind a shield of appropriateness and conformity?

I was recently asked to provide a guest blog for Peter Sterlacci, a well-respected personal branding expert focused on the marketplace in Japan. Peter speaks and teaches the principles of personal branding to Asian audiences and has built his own reputation as a collaborative, interesting and competitive expert in this field.

When Peter asked me to tackle a personal branding topic, 'authenticity' came to mind. I wrote the piece and the feedback on the blog was overwhelming. Readers were so happy to see this topic exposed, discussed and presented in a way that is understandable and inspiring. Is the topic of authenticity really this unique?

When considering your own personal brand and reputation management scheme, contemplate how authentic your actions truly are. You might ask yourself:

• Am I letting people know the side of me I want to express?
• How do I handle difficult situations? Do I try to be someone I'm not?
• Can I address my faults with humility?
• Do I understand my personal motivators?
• What has to happen for me to feel my life is meaningful?

These and other questions drive to our essence ' to our authentic self. How have you revealed your authenticity?

The Naked Brand ' A Documentary Film About Advertising Changing The World

There is a documentary film about to be unleashed on the advertising world called The Naked Brand.

It is about advertising and branding needing to be genuine in this transparent, digital age. And it's got Shaq in it!

(I love Shaq, not so much for his basketball prowess, but for being one of the funniest and most personable athletes in the world. Remember when he injured himself pretending to be Spider-Man with his kids and allegedly setting up a complicated system of cable supports while attempting to climb a wall in his house? That was awesome, an excellent use of that crazy NBA paycheck, and the best way possible to injure one's self. But I digress')

Also featuring an impressive roster of industry executives, the following is a description of the film from its website and the trailer is below. The film is from advertising agency Questus, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I certainly agree that advertising needs to be more genuine from now on, and I hope that does indeed lead to corporations and marketers changing the world for the better, as the film suggests it will.

The Naked Brand is a story about how corporations can help save the planet one small step at a time. It's an introduction to a bright new future where companies tell the truth and work hard to create better products and a better planet.

Corporations have incredible influence on the world we live in and that's given them free reign to pollute, collude and mislead us, but advances in technology are rapidly making them accountable not just to shareholders, but to everyone. Now that we have constant access to the truth about the products we use and the ethics of the companies behind them, big brands are realizing that looking great isn't enough. It's time to actually be great.

Measuring Marketing Messaging Clarity and Effectiveness

How important is clarity in your messaging and how clear is your message?

Sales and marketing are dependent on the clarity of your message to win mindshare, generate leads; and to engage, diagnose and qualify new opportunities, yet clarity is often an afterthought.

I was prompted to write this article after a call this week with a technology company based in the Mid-West. This company has World leading technology, great vision and is completely failing in marketing.

They are in the red zone. When you arrive on their Website it is not possible to figure out that they do on the home page. Nor is it possible to figure out what they do by clicking on the CTA. You have to click on the product page to find the description of what they do and it's in 10 point font in the middle of the first paragraph. This is not a joke'.this is a disaster.

Why Invest in Message Clarity?

Clarity attracts visitors, clarity engages visitors, clarity converts visitors into leads, clarity differentiates, clarity is monetizable, clarity wins new customers, clarity attracts employees, clarity builds mindshare, clarity wins investors, clarity builds market-share. You will see an new and clearer Admarco.net Website in the near future in pursuit of our own message clarity.

How do you measure the effectiveness or signal quality of your message for Inbound Marketing purposes?

For radio operators in the military and other organizations, the signal quality is reported on two scales; the first is for signal strength, and the second for signal clarity. Both these scales range from one to five, where one is the worst and five is the best. The listening station reports these numbers separated with the word 'by'. 'Five by five' therefore means a signal that has excellent strength and perfect clarity ' the most understandable signal possible.

This is a good metaphor to explore how well you are communicating over the Internet.

 

A Guide to the colors

I propose the following as a basis for discussion on the effectiveness of your messaging for Inbound Marketing purposes.

Green Zone: The leaders in dark green have invested and continue to invest in messaging excellence as a primary driver of their business.

Light Green: The Challengers believe in messaging and are working towards excellence.

Black: The status-quo need help with their messaging, but for one reason or another, it doesn't get done. It's not terrible and it's not great, the sales guys will have to make more calls.

Orange: Weak messaging is costing your business. You will fail over time and will be overtaken by your competitors unless you institute a program to improve your Google rankings and update your messaging urgently. You get no inbound leads and are dependent on trade-shows, word of mouth and cold-calling for lead generation

Red: This is the land of lost opportunity. It doesn't matter how good your products and services are, if buyers can't find you and your message is opaque, you are headed for failure'soon. Urgent action must be taken in the short term.

Desert Islands: It is highly unlikey that a company will have a crystal clear message and be invisible on Google. Similalry it is highly unlikely that a company will have excellent Google rankings and have a completely unintelligble message'.but there may be a few out there on desert islands.

Dead Zone: Self explanatory

Signal Strength = Google Ranking for primary keywords.

5 = You rank on Google Page 1 for more than 20 primary keywords
4 = You rank on Google Page 1 for more than 5 primary keywords
3 = You rank on the first 3 pages for more than 5 primary keywords, but not P1
2 = You rank on the first 10 pages of Google for more than 5 primary keywords, but not on first three pages
1 = You are practically invisible on Google and only 1 primary keyword appears on first 10 pages, but not on first 3 pages
0 = No matter how hard I try I can't find your site through any keyword combinations on google ' you are invisible

Messaging clarity = What is it you do and why should I bother?

When someone arrives on a Website with a clear message, they should be able to figure out what you do in the first 3-7 seconds while they make their decision to stay and explore more or leave.

Therefore I propose the following five point scale
5 = I get what it is you do and what it will do for me in 3-7 seconds.
4 = I get what it is in 3-7 seconds, but it takes me 10-15 seconds to figure out what it will do for me
3 = It takes me 10-20 seconds to figure out what it is and what it will do for me
2 = I cant figure out what it is, but I click on a CTA and it becomes clear what it it and what it will do
1 = I can't figure out what it is, I click on a CTA and I still can't figure out what it is, but I try the product page and there it is buried in 10 point font in the first paragraph.
0 = I cant figure out what it is or what it does, it's all gobbledegook

If you are in the red, orange or black, we can help.

How to Avoid (And Deal With) Rejection from Sales Leads

Congratulations in acquiring a sales lead! Now what?

Of course, the next thing that you would do is to nurture and manage the lead for them to keep on getting interested for the sale that you hope will arrive soon enough. At this point, you must be pretty excited since you are nearing that would be fateful event of closing yet another sale. More sales = more revenue.

But then, something happens. Something that you were not expecting (and not hoping) to happen. They cancel the deal'

Most salespeople are already accustomed to getting rejections even at the later stages of the sales process. But a rejection is still a rejection. Ergo, it hurts.

There are many that will just move on with searching for another prospect to contact in hopes for qualifying them into becoming another business lead for the company, but this trait cannot be found in everyone. In fact, there are those that will be downright disheartened by the sheer fact that a goal is within grasp and have ultimately lost it due to some unforeseen circumstances.

If you need help in dealing with and/or getting over a rejection from closing a sale, then here's a few tips on how you can avoid this possibility:

1. Probe. 'nuff said.

   From the 2005 3D animated cartoon movie Robots', they always say 'See a need, fill a need.' This applies to your b2b lead generation methods as well. You need to ask probing questions as much as possible. However, not too much as to waste your prospects time. Once you make them realize something that is missing from their company, you can then go in deeper by telling your prospect a bit more about the product/service that you offer.

2. Benefits > Features

   Sure you know what your product/service does, but what good will it give to your potential clientèle? People want to know that whatever it is they're purchasing, they will benefit greatly from it. Therefore, if your explaining things about what you offer, state the features in a brief manner whereas you should highlight the benefits more.

3. Pour on the updates

   It doesn't mean that they became a business lead you stop communicating them. Keep them posted on various news and updates from your organization to keep them interested in (hopefully) purchasing your wares.

4. Assess yourself (and your tactics)

   Still lost the b2b lead? Not to worry; rejection is a part of our everyday lives. Remember the time when your mom wouldn't let you lick the cookie dough from the spoon? It's kinda like that but in a more financial sense.

   Take a bit of time to think about yourself and what you have done so far. See something that isn't working right? Change it. Be flexible in your marketing ways.

5. Stand up and move on

   This part of this post is going to be quite frank.

   Rejection will always be there whether you like it or not. It's your choice whether to move on and search for a more willing candidate that will purchase your product/service or stay there like you have an open wound; in pain and helpless.

   Think about this: the time that you stay there doing nothing but contemplating can be better of being used as time being used to be more productive. Remember that every second you waste not contacting leads means more potential clients getting stolen by your competitors. You may have already lost a sale already.

So after reading this, what do you think you should do right now? Stay there and do nothing or get your sales pipeline filled with more leads? I think we know which of these is the better option.

This article is an original contribution by Matt Ford.

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Orbitz Reveals Too Much About Mac Buyer Persona

I'm frequently asked for examples of buyer personas, but my clients never allow me to share their findings publicly. That's because the insights they discover about their buyers are non-obvious and therefore the source of significant competitive advantage.

So I was astounded when the Wall Street Journal broke the story from travel-site Orbitz that Mac users spend 30% more per hotel night than PC/Windows users.

Orbitz is thrilled that they will now be able to promote pricier properties to the Mac buyer persona, eliminating the cheap stuff that isn't relevant and providing easy access to the rooms they want. This will result in higher profits for Orbitz and a better customer experience for the Mac user.

But didn't anyone say, 'great job, marketing team, for gleaning this insight. Let's make those changes to the search function right away and keep this under our hats, as we certainly don't want Expedia or Kayak to copy us.'

The WSJ story set off a flurry of press coverage, including ABC's Good Morning America and endless social media discussion. People are arguing about whether Mac users are profligate spenders and PC users are cheap. The privacy folks are concerned that this data was even available to Orbitz. And there was the obvious worry that Orbitz would mark up prices on a hotel if they see that the user is on a Mac. Here's the company's response as reported by MSNBC:

'If you carefully read the WSJ, it never says Orbitz charges Mac users more. Because we do not. This story grew out of our observation that Mac users tend to like 4-5 star hotels more than PC users. We make recommendations about hotels along a number of variables, i.e., traveling with or without children. Just as Mac users are willing to pay more for higher end computers, at Orbitz we have seen that Mac users are 40% more likely to book 4 or 5 star hotels as compared to Windows users. What we are doing is reflecting that insight in our recommendations. Our recommendation module has extremely high levels of consumer engagement, indicating that it is a feature that our users really appreciate.'

Good idea Orbitz. But I'd have advised you to keep this persona insight locked up in the same vault where Coke keeps their secret formula. I'm sure your competitors are happy for your help.

And I'm pleased to have a buyer persona success story that isn't subject to my customers' non-disclosure agreements.

How To Build Your Personal Brand and Advance Your Career

While many of us use social media to connect with friends and colleagues, to share our favorite photos and to exchange lots of information, how many of us are actively working to build our personal brands?

Should we bother? Won't our managers wonder why we have the time to tweet and post and +1 when we should be 'doing our jobs?' Many marketers are asking themselves if now is the time to build their personal brand.

We know that while 'brands' used to be only for businesses, we are seeing the start of a new era: the employee-brand.

In preparation for my Personal Branding webinar with the Online Marketing Institute's Megan Leap (@MeganLeap) on July 11th at 2pm EST, here are my answers to 5 personal branding questions'

1. Why is personal branding important for marketers?

Because our personal brands and the marketing that we do are inextricably linked. We have to create compelling content and we need to nurture our networks so that we have the personal influence to share great content in an authentic and helpful way. Personal branding is the only way for the marketing of the future to be successful.

2. Should marketers keep separate social profiles for personal and business use?

Do you become a different person when you walk into the office or a meeting. Of course not. We are who we are and we need to own it! Our personality is what makes us unique and powerful. The context may be different and we have to respect that a business meeting and family time with our kids are different situations that require different context and norms that must be adhered to. But I like to quote one of my favorite twitter personalities @LisaBarone on this question: decide who you want to be and then bleed it on all your social accounts.

3. How important is blogging when it comes to your personal brand?

Your blog is an opportunity for you to create your own space on the web. Blogging is really important because it allows you to share your unique point of view. It allows you to share content you find valuable. And it allows personal brands like you to become thought leaders.

4. When and why did you start B2B Marketing Insider?

I started blogging in May, 2010 because I was asked to drive social media as the head of digital / online marketing for SAP North America. I had always wanted to start one and this was just the push I needed. I also knew that in order to do social, you have to be social.

I was already a year into my Twitter addiction and once I started blogging, I really saw how the power of dynamic personal blog content could be amplified by my social connections.

I wrote my first blog posts on why I was in Marketing and why I was starting this blog. The key reasons, aside from what I explained above were to claim a stake in my personal brand, to interact with people around common themes, to share my experience and opinions and because I was excited for the journey. I believe blogging is the most important marketing campaign of your life.

5. Any advice for marketers who want to start developing their personal brand?

First, is just do it. You have to fight the common myths, aka excuses, people don't focus on their personal brand: that you don't have time, that your opinion is not unique, that no one will read it. These are all bull because most people simply have irrational fears that no one will read it or that they will get in trouble or feel stupid. The fact is that we all have unique experiences and opinions and that the world needs to hear your voice.

Second, is to simply commit to a regular schedule. I took Seth Godin's advice to imagine that there is just one person out there who is waiting for your content and to write for them. With that motivation, I get through the days when I really don't feel like writing.

Third, is that blogging is very therapeutic. It helps you to process new information, challenges, frustrations and to take those emotions and turn them into something practical and positive.

Last but not least, is the people you meet and the connections you make. I have met and interacted with the most amazing people. And nothing is cooler then when I interact with someone online, we comment on each other's blogs and re-tweet each other and then we meet in person and have a drink. It's like seeing an old friend even though you just met. The single biggest factor that keeps me going is all the great people I have met along my own personal branding journey.

Is Your Marketing Budget Smart Or Stupid? A Quick Test.

When I ask about how marketing is budgeted within an organization I find way too often that tradition has more influence then reality. Let me explain.

Even among some very smart senior marketing pros I often find that their budget allocations fail to adequately fund the most productive sources of new business leads. And I know some very smart CMOs. It's getting better, but it is slow in coming.

To demonstrate this in presentations I like to use a simple experiment invent by David Meerman Scott. It quickly demonstrates how misaligned most marketing budgets are compared to how people make their buying decisions.

Now David is the Tom Peters to marketing geeks like me. (You should add his blog Web Ink Now to your reading list if you don't already.) Like Tom Peters, David is a visionary and a great guy.

He asked a few questions of audiences he spoke to worldwide about how they research products and services they were thinking about buying, recording their response, and got fundamentally the same answers.

He asked,

In last 1 to 2 months, in order to research a product or service you might want to buy, either personally or professionally, have you used'.?

Direct mail, phone book, mainstream media, went to a trade show as a non-vendor, Google or other search engine, or asked your online social network (email/Facebook/Twitter) for advice and they sent you a URL you checked.

Here is how his audiences from around the world answered:

• Direct mail ad 2%

• Phone book (Yellow pages) 5%

• Mainstream media (TV, radio, magazines, newspapers) 20%

• Trade Show as a non-vendor 5%

• Google or other search engine ~100%

• Asked your online social network (email/Facebook/Twitter/other) for advice and they sent you a URL you checked 95%

Does your marketing budget reflect this reality?

You can watch Do the new rules of marketing work worldwide? here.

Common Sense Content Strategy

I'm often baffled by how intimidating people find content marketing. I have clients that have successfully built offline businesses from the ground up that seem to tremble at this whole content marketing thing. Throw SEO in the mix and they practically run for the hills. Or, start throwing 'consulting' money at me like I have the cure for cancer.

Which is silly.

Content strategy should cover three objectives:

Objective #1: Keep Your Promises

If you want to rank for a key term like 'chicken salad', then all you have to do is create a page that is the go-to resource for chicken salad. This means it has tons of info, supplemental material, links out to appropriate places, etc.

I like to call this the 'Storyboard test.' Imagine you are back in junior high and you have a school project; one of those awful storyboard projects where you have to explore all sorts of perspectives of a particular topic. I vividly remember a storyboard project I did on the Lindbergh Trial. Everybody has one of these memories.

Is the page you are trying to rank for this keyword full of enough info to fill a storyboard? Does it, at the minimum, provide enough options for the person to find all the info they need?

Keep in mind that huge traffic/more generic key terms like 'chicken salad' are casting a much wider net then say 'chicken salad recipe with pecans.' That's where the 'keep your promises' part gets a little tricky. Because even though you might have one singular focus (to sell your chicken salad kit for the office lunch), your potential visitors do not. They have a variety of wants/needs/desires when they type in 'chicken salad' ' if you want to rank well and keep those visitors, you have to provide them what they want, whatever that may be.

Think of it this way:

Let's say you run a grocery store and a young person like myself walks up to the deli counter and asks about a chicken salad recipe with pecans. Which would you prefer?

Option A: The deli clerk to provide me her advice; maybe directs me to a stack of recipe cards or suggests I try the chicken salad she has and just add pecans.

Option B: The deli clerk tells me to get lost; she's busy with paying customers.

How you run your business is up to you, but I think you get my drift about which one of these scenarios plays out on your landing pages. Just like the grocery scenario above, the key is to pinpoint your copy to your ideal audience without alienating the rest. Chances are high that a person who types in 'chicken salad' may very well want to buy a chicken salad kit for lunch sometime down the road.

Objective #2: Maintain Trust

In this post-panda/caffeine/penguin/etc. world, trust is a beautiful thing. In order for your content marketing to be effective, you must maintain your visitors' trust in a variety of ways.

- Leverage trust signals like accreditations, use real face pictures when appropriate, actively engage on social media, and more.

- Provide easy navigation. Feeling trapped does not exude trust.

- Whatever you do, do it consistently. Blogs are historically inconsistent. The irony is just when you start to gain some traction many people jump ship. Unless you are using services like JumpLead, you often have no idea who is lurking on your site.

- Pick your friends wisely. Don't recommend items to your audience based on commissions or include advertising on your site from places you don't recommend. Essentially, 'If you go to bed with dogs, you wake up with fleas.' Be mindful who you link to or otherwise, allow associating with your site.

- Stop cutting corners. Saving a few bucks here or there might just ruin your business if you aren't careful. Be frugal, not stupid.

Objective #3: Conversion

There is a reason that converting is the third objective and not the first. In fact, rather than objectives, you should treat each one of these points as if they were a separate sieve. If whatever you want to do (site design, blog post, etc) doesn't achieve objective #1, then modify it before you proceed.

However, if you have a new page chock full of resources that satisfies both objective #1 and #2, then you can start worrying about conversion.

The good news? All the hard work is mostly done. Now it is just tweaking your copy or doing some A/B testing to untangle the funnel to conversion city!

When you keep your promises and maintain trust, you will be viewed highly by Google and thereby viewed often by visitors. This is where your creativity can really flourish. Keep these parameters in mind and your common sense content marketing will bring you lasting results both in SEO and in sales.

A Tale of Two Stores

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'' These are the opening words from the classic Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities. Substitute the words times for the word stores and you have the beginning of a customer service nightmare. One that loses customers, causes bad word-of-mouth comments from dissatisfied customers, and can ultimately kill a business.

I've written about inconsistent customer service before, but after hearing this story, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it with our readers.

Cathie, my sister-in-law who lives in Miami, FL, was sent a gift from Essie, her mother-in-law, who was vacationing in Palm Springs, CA. Essie bought the gift from a national retail chain that has stores in just about every major city. If Cathie didn't like the gift, she could simply exchange it for something she liked, or so she thought.

Cathie went to return the gift, which happened to be a scarf, to the store in Miami. She likes the merchandise and was sure to find something she would enjoy. She was quite disappointed to find out that the store refused to exchange the item. According to the manager, they didn't accept any returns or exchanges on accessories, and this scarf was an accessory. This was the company's policy. (There's that word: policy. I hate that word!)

Cathie pleaded with the manager to no avail. She even offered to buy something of greater value, and the manager still wouldn't exchange the item. Not one to easily give up, Cathie went home and called the Palm Springs store where the manager gave her the opposite experience. The manager did confirm that this was the company's policy, but she also told Cathie that managers had the ability to be flexible in the right situations. Obviously this was one of those 'right situations.'

The manager apologized and asked Cathie to send the scarf back to her store. A few days later she received a gift card and an extra 'bonus' as a way of saying sorry for the inconvenience and to thank Cathie for her business. And a few days after that the manager called Cathie, just to make sure she received the package.

Isn't it amazing that the store in California was so helpful, and the store in Miami was the exact opposite. This inconsistency does a tremendous amount of damage in various ways.

First, there is now a lack of confidence. Cathie had shopped at that store before and liked it. She might chalk this one up to a 'one-off' bad experience, hopefully to never happen again. However, if and when she does return to the store, there's a pretty good chance that the sour taste of this most recent experience will linger for at least a few visits, if not more. How many times will she go back to the store before the bad experience is a distant memory ' and that's assuming there are no other bad customer service failures.

Second, if this was Cathie's first time doing business with this store, do you think she would ever give the store a second chance and return? Doubtful, unless she is a glutton for punishment.

So, here are a few thoughts about inconsistency.

1. Inconsistency brings up this question: What's normal? A good experience or a bad one.

2. Inconsistency, if it's the bad experience, will lose customers.

3. Inconsistency, if it's the good experience, can create an unrealistic expectation for the next time.

4. Inconsistency erodes the brand.

5. Inconsistency destroys customer confidence.

Be it multiple locations or numerous employees, the customer deserves a consistent customer service experience. Anything less is unacceptable. Give your customers confidence and they may reciprocate with repeat business.

Cool Tool Creates Content for your Email Marketing in a Flash

Sounds like a content marketer's dream come true, create a newsletter in a flash?

Pinch yourself. Now you can.

There's a new, free email newsletter making tool called FlashIssue. FlashIssue allows you to curate stories from anywhere on the web, including your blog, and almost instantaneously create a clean-looking, content-packed communique ready to send to your email contacts. But it gets better.

On login, you're taken to a simple screen where you upload an image, choose a title and begin clicking in the stories you want to curate. Pull in content from your website by adding your RSS feed URL, and a gallery of posts with an image thumbnail will appear on the right side of the web page. Simply drag the stories to the left that you want in your email. Then add some introductory and closing text and then you're done. Done.

For sure, bookmarking great content is a whole lot easier than creating it yourself, but if that wasn't enough to save you from having to rack your brain for compelling content, it's FlashIssue's integration with email marketing providers like MailChimp, ConstantContact and Gmail that makes this tool very cool. In Gmail for instance, simply begin typing the names you want the email to be sent to. (Now if they came up with a way to send emails to a whole circle segment that really would be a dream.) For MailChimp, after permissions are granted, you simply choose which list you want to send it to. Hit 'send' and you're done. Done.

If you download the Chrome boomark plug-in for FlashIssue, you will be able to clip content for later use in your next newsletter. Check this video.

Still in beta, there's still hope that social sharing tools and social follow tools will be added to make this an even more dynamic and powerful tool. Also, the ability to format text would be a great feature. But perhaps the greatest gift FlashIssue offers is the ability to make you a great storyteller, without the effort. Cool.

For the small business owner, FlashIssue makes a good email marketing tool. Announce an upcoming event or promotion, discuss a burning topic, take a poll to unlock customer pain points, sneak in a coupon to reward your most loyal following. But really anyone needing to communicate with a group of others on a particular topic would find FlashIssue useful: plant some ideas for a later brainstorm with the team, get the Girls Scout troupe leaders focused on the same mission, encourage your followers with a daily devotional from your Pastor. This tool makes you look like you've got it together.

FlashIssue is almost too easy to use; the temptation might be to bombard your readers with too much information. Remember though, effective marketing requires a clear strategy. Think through your goals and consider how often your readers can handle an email from you. Choose only the best of what you find, and limit yourself at that. In other words, respect the time of your readers.

FlashIssue. Give it a go and see if it might be a good solution for you. What other email marketing tools would you recommend?

What Is A Landing Page And Why You Need One

According to Wikipedia, a landing page 'is a single web page that appears in response to clicking an advertisement. The landing page will usually display directed sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link.' Allow me to translate'

A landing page is a single web page that appears in response to clicking an advertisement with these specific features:

• Same look and feel of your main school website which reinforces your school's visual brand.
• Employs minimal navigation which focuses user to complete your call-to-action.
• Has one or two calls-to-action.
• Content is geared toward the content of the advertisement to keep things consistent.

We've employed landing pages for over a year now, as part of our inbound marketing strategy, with the sole purpose of generating new inquiries. We primarily use landing pages as part of our search engine marketing (SEM) campaign with Google Adwords and Facebook Ads. Here's how it works for us:

A person views our Google Ad about small class sizes. See below:

When they click on the ad they are directed to our landing page about small classes which is on the left. The image on the right is the About page from our official school website.

Our hope is that the prospective parent will then complete the inquiry form which will begin the admission process. After the parent completes the inquiry form they are directed to the admission section of our official website.

I'd like to point out a few important details regarding the landing page vs. the web page. As I mentioned above, the landing page is devoid of navigation except for a few options in the top right hand corner. This fact forces the user to focus on our call-to-action which, on this page, is to complete the inquiry form to learn more about the school. The landing page's content speaks about my school's small class sizes and talks about the 'big difference' mentioned in our Google Ad helping to connect the ad with the page.

The reason we use a landing page is four-fold:

1. They help parents find information about what matters most to them. For example, the prospective parent in the above scenario was interested in small class sizes which we can glean from the fact that they clicked on our Google Ad about small class sizes. Therefore, it makes more sense to give them information about what interests them as opposed to sending them to our homepage which would be very general.
2. Landing pages limit the number of options a prospective parent has when viewing the page. We want them to fill out the inquiry form and make it very easy for them to do just that. If we had sent them to our homepage they would have many options and none of those options would include filling out our inquiry form.
3. They decrease the amount of money we spend on SEM (Google and Facebook Ads) because we have achieved a higher conversation rate using landing pages. Our conversation rate is the number of people who fill out our inquiry form divided by the number of people who click our ads.
4. We now have the ability to track the success, or failure, of our online ads, our landing pages, and our marketing email messages. This data helps us to manage our budget, test versions of content, and see what prospective families value most when making an admission decision.

Why You Need A Landing Page

Quite simply, if you are serious about inbound marketing for your school, you need to employ landing pages. Landing pages have helped us to increase our conversation rates, increase our inquiries, and decrease the amount of money spent on SEM. A word of caution though ' these positive effects didn't happen overnight and have taken time and effort.

If you're sold on using landing pages I would encourage you to check out Unbounce.com and here are 6 reasons iLove Unbounce.

Being Politely Persistent in Sales

In sales, money is made when a salesperson goes beyond the initial cold call. In fact, about 80 percent of all sales are made after five to 12 contacts between the sales person and prospect. The sales person, when pinpointing a potential sale, must dig in. The rep must engage the prospect in a variety of ways, whether it's through social media or customer referrals, and through several contacts and interactions.

They have to go beyond the age-old art (or archaic practice, depending on who you ask) of the ever-waning cold call. Because sales people have to be constantly chasing a prospect for a sale, they leave themselves room for error. They might get cranky after a prospect won't bite initially, or they might chase a prospect not worth chasing. Worse, a sales rep might drop a prospect who would've bought if the sales rep were more persistent.

Essentially, sales people have to pinpoint a prospect worth pursuing and then go after the prospect persistently and aggressively, but politely. The line between being politely persistent and a nuisance can be thin, especially given the amount of time that must be spent with a prospect before a sale is made, but understanding how to be politely persistent is vital in sales.

Be Kind and Understanding

The first key to being a politely persistent sales person is to just be kind. This tip might elicit a 'duh', but it is essential to remember, especially since sales reps can make 30 to 50 calls a day. Even if a sales person has lost track of the number of calls he or she has made in the day, the prospect on the other end of the line shouldn't notice. In sales, a rep never knows when the prospect might be interested in agreeing to a deal, so that potential sale should never be damned because a rep has grown tired of the monotony of his or her job.

The sales person must stick to the selling points with a prospect, but also be open to going off script to answer any concerns and questions. Be patient with a prospect. Be personable. Listen, and be OK with a prospect not necessarily having the time or patience to hear your pitch when you want to give it. Tomorrow is another day.

A B2B sales rep should also be understanding and considerate of a prospect's time. Customers are busy people, too. If they are busy and don't have time for a pitch, call them back another time, but quickly. You don't want a prospect forgetting who you are because you took two weeks between the initial and second contact. After the first pitch is made, consider following up the phone call that day with an email or social media message letting them know you appreciated their time and look forward to speaking with them again about how your product could help their company. Keep it brief. Then, follow through on your promise to contact them again.

Going beyond the initial contact

After the first few contacts are made, a sales rep should have a plan of attack for closing the deal. First and foremost, a sales rep must be prepared. When making the follow-up contact to a prospect, know the prospect's company from top to bottom. Afterall, you shouldn't have made the call to the prospect unless you know their company could benefit from your product. The more prepared a sales person is, the better he or she can lead the conversation with a prospect. Let the prospect know you've done your homework, so the prospect is more inclined to speak with you and listen.

Sales people should also mix it up in the process of a sale. Don't limit yourself to phone calls and emails. Use customer referrals. Use personal notes. Don't be afraid to use social customer relationship management (CRM) applications. In the modern world, sales reps are using CRM apps more and more. There is no reason why sales reps shouldn't use the apps when chasing down a sale, too. If you've made initial contact with a prospect, look into continuing the conversation on social media sites, such as Twitter or Facebook. This lets the prospect know you're open to a variety of communicative channels, in touch with the 21st Century and willing to be engaged. A social CRM app also allows sales reps to better keep track of a prospect's social media activity, which will help the sales reps to have an easier time keeping the sale moving forward.

Other sales apps can also help a sales team be politely persistent with their prospects simply because they will be more organized. A sales office should streamline its client list into an easy to access database, where its B2B sales people can store their leads and keep them organized. The better you can keep track of the status of a sale, the more likely you are to pull it off.

The final push

If you've reached the midway point of a sale and momentum is stalled, get a little creative. Send a personal card to the prospect's office. Buy the office lunch. Do whatever is needed to get the first meeting without barging through the door and demanding it. And when the meeting happens, be prepared. If you've been politely persistent enough, then you should head into your first face-to-face meeting with the prospect ready to close the deal, instead of presenting it.

For a sale to be successful, a sales rep must be politely persistent when chasing down a sale, as long as the sale is worth chasing. Don't waste time on sales you know won't work. Don't limit yourself to email and phone calls. Instead, have a thought-out plan of attack for a sale that involves a dogged-persistency mixed with a personable and creative touch.

Rocking the Socks Off of Content Marketing: An Interview With Marcus Sheridan

When I first started to transition from my teaching career into the world of content marketing and social media, one of the first names I encountered was Marcus Sheridan. I started reading his blog posts and learning about his story: he'd grown his business, River Pools & Spas, in a big way with content marketing. As I read about all of this, I started to understand what content marketing was all about. And not only that, but I also found it all very exciting. As someone who'd always held a special place in her heart for publishing, I found his site inspiring in the sense that I couldn't wait to start creating and publishing my own content.

Sheridan's site is about so much more than just blog posts, after all. When you arrive, you're greeted with a variety of content ' much of it above the fold ' so right away you know that you're in the company of someone who really gets content marketing.

That's four different kinds of major content above the fold, and it's laid out well, so it doesn't seem overwhelming at all.

Something else I learned along the way is that you find these people, with fantastic sites like this, and you think that there's so much you could learn from them. So you reach out ' often through social media ' only to never receive a reply back. Marcus Sheridan is not one of those people. Not even close. In fact, I'd venture so far as to say that he's one of the most approachable people out there!

So naturally I was thrilled when he agreed to talk to me a bit about content marketing ' his experiences with it, as well as what advice he had for others. Here is the interview:

Renee: When you first started creating and marketing content for River Pools & Spas, did you know that's what you were doing? Were content marketing and SEO familiar terms to you, or was it something that you realized after the fact?

Marcus: I really didn't know what I was doing, other than I wanted to start answering consumer questions. I wasn't scientific in my approach at all. I took every question I'd ever received and turned it into a title of a blog post, and then answered the questions. I didn't use Google Keyword at all, as the simple act of 'listening' was my great keyword tool.

Because of this long-tail approach, the SEO worked, and our traffic and leads grew accordingly. So although I slightly knew of SEO and Content Marketing, I didn't 'Know' them until I actually got down and dirty with writing and analyzing the results.

Renee: It's been said that content marketing can substitute/satisfy up to 80% of the sales process. Would you agree or disagree with that statement?

Marcus: I agree 100%. In fact, the number is higher than that. I've sold $50,000 pools on the phone, never having met the person face to face, but because they watched all my videos, read all my articles'the trust was there. Content is the greatest sales tool in the world. Period.

Renee: As a follow up to that question, how do you think content marketing has changed the sales process, even just in the last five years or so?

Marcus: It has for me. Now I require people to read my content before I'll give them a quote on anything. Content is the great filter, but it also is the great advancer when it comes to the sales process.

Renee: Did you notice a change in website traffic and sales soon after you started creating content for River Pools & Spas, or was it more of a gradual increase over time?

Marcus: It really started to pop after 3 months. And within a year, I knew we were going to be huge. Now granted, the swimming pool industry wasn't saturated with content at the time, so it was ripe for the picking.

Renee: You have been very successful with content marketing. What keeps you motivated and excited about doing it?

Marcus: Simple'Content marketing saved my business. It also saved the jobs of my employees. It has brought me financial peace and allows me to spend more time with my wife and four kids. That alone is enough to make any man or woman passionate about a subject.

Renee: Do you think your customers are drawn to that enthusiasm as well as the excellent content? In other words, do you think it's important for a company or solopreneur to let their personalities shine through in their content?

Marcus: I think it's huge. You've got to be the opposite of a boring college professor. You not only need passion, and lots of it, but you need enthusiasm as well. You've got to push and push and push, and be relentless. And this is exactly why many aren't successful with content marketing'they simply don't love what they're writing about and what they do.

Renee: You run a great site with lots of helpful content over at The Sales Lion. Do you use an editorial calendar when planning your content, or do you base it off of what your customers want to read/breaking news/lightening strikes of inspiration?

Marcus: I have no articles stored up, just ideas in my head. I typically post 2 times a week as inspiration hits, and it's a rhythm that fits me well.

Renee: Do you have a favorite kind of content to create?

Marcus: I love sarcastic, opinionated pieces. They're easily the most enjoyable for me to write. I also really enjoy writing a good list post here and there.

Renee: Is there a certain kind of 'rising' content (video, infographics, etc.) that you think is one to watch for content marketers?

Marcus: I think podcasting is really on the rise. I also think, at least stylistically, we're learning to write like we talk, and not be so dang boring and lifeless.

Renee: What are the biggest challenges content marketers face?

Marcus:

1. Giving CM the time it deserves.
2. Thinking like a consumer, NOT as a business owner.
3. Being fearless in the face of those that disagree.
4. Learning to allow their staff to be a part of the content creation process.

Renee: How do you work to overcome these challenges?

Marcus: It's cliche, but you've just got to write and write and write and push the envelope while you do it. No 'breaks' allowed in the world of content marketing'at least not if you want to be great.

Renee: It's Day 1 of my content marketing journey. What advice would you give me?

Marcus: Write down every single question you've ever heard asked about your product or service in complete sentence form.

Once you reach 50 questions, turn each into 50 titles of your first 50 blog posts'.and then start writing.

Thank you, Marcus! We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us!

For more information about Marcus Sheridan, visit him at The Sales Lion.com, or on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn

Need IT Sales Leads? You Must Have Telemarketing First

One major concern faced by any kind of IT business, whether big or small, is competition. It keeps them always on their toes. It leads them to become better and pushes them to work hard to stay on top. If at the moment you don't have any competition, then you can count your blessings. But when your product/service becomes better, soon you'll have. As a network management professional therefore, you need to deal with this wisely and carefully. You have to maintain a good lead in the race. How? You have to take advantage of the network management sales leads provided by competent telemarketers. You can get help from companies that are specialized in network management sales using telemarketing. Through their service, you can access new markets and establish good public relations.

Telemarketing is just another powerful tool that you can use to improve your standing in the market. It may be an old story in terms of direct marketing, but it has tested and proven by time to be more effective than other marketing methods. You can trust telemarketers to be your helpmate. They are hailed the best when it comes to any tasks involving the telephone. Though you may think that the entire process of telemarketing is stressful, discouraging and risky, telemarketers can turn the tide in your favor. They can manage this process so well that you can just relax and wait for results. Telemarketers would know better how to handle difficult calls and deal with the concerns raised by your prospects than you would. So if you really want to gain network management sales leads, telemarketing would be the right choice.

Managing a network maintenance company on your own is tough and impractical. More so if you are planning to promote your firm. This kind of work requires the help of telemarketing firms. You can expect them to provide you with network maintenance sales leads that you can use to find the right prospective clients that you can do business with. You may not have realized it, but working with these firms is really good deal to you and your business. Telemarketers are the best in this field and they can't go wrong with this.

Professional telemarketers are also reliable when it comes to professional managed services. There are plenty of willing firms there, and they are ready to do business, however they just don't know where to go to. This would be the best time to use professional managed services sales leads. Again, they are generated by telemarketing firms and they can provide you with useful information that can direct you to the right prospective firms.

Now, do these things appeal to you? If yes, then you should try telemarketing now. Through this you can have quality network management sales leads, professional managed services sales leads, and network maintenance sales leads. Many have tried this and are amazed at the results. You might want to try it, too and see the difference.

Your Lead Generation Team's Productivity and Conversions Need to be Exposed ' Daily!

In recent posts, I've given advice about ways of maintaing accountability within your sales organization, and more specifically as it pertains to your lead generation function. This week, I'm going to continue with that trend, because each week it becomes more clear that those teams that expose their lead qualification reps' daily performance to management (and obviously one another on the team), are far more productive and ultimately successful than those who only expose it maybe once a week, month, or quarter.

I've seen some lead gen teams (including the company in the portfolio that I worked for a couple years back) actually require an end-of-day email update coming directly from the lead gen rep. In my case, the update included number of calls made, number of conversations had, demos set, and a quick synopsis of the conversations that resulted in demos, as well as any impediments that held me back that day. The end-of-day report took me about 15-20 minutes to write (depending on the demos set, and the amount of detail pertaining to those conversations that I wrote), and I sent it to both the venture partners at OpenView as well as the management team at the portfolio company, including the CEO. There were some days that I felt it was burden (particularly on those days when I didn't have anything too wonderful to report), but at the end of the day, it kept me incredibly accountable to what I committed to when I accepted the job offer, and you better believe that I kept myself incredibly organized and highly productive each and everyday to make my end-of-day report as impressive as possible.

Plus, there was honestly NOTHING better than having a great day and getting a reply-all from the CEO telling me 'Great job today!' Or even having a day when I didn't set any demos but left 50 voicemails and felt mentally exhausted, but still had a venture partners say ' 'Keep your head up, the demos will come with that type of activity!'

Don't want your rep spending the last chunk of the day writing out this kind of report? Hey, it's not for everyone or every manager. In fact, there is another great option. Have an automated email sent every evening coming from Salesforce.com (or whatever CRM you are using while wishing you are on Salesforce) that pulls your team's daily productivity dashboard. If you are slick, you can also have your messaging dashboard sent to management and marketing (I discuss the messaging dashboard in this post).

If you've hired competitive, hardworking, and driven individuals this end-of-day update will be on their mind and keep them focused. 'Hmm'I could watch this 10-minute long YouTube video that my friend sent me, but it's 3pm and I've only made 20 calls, had 3 conversations, and set no demos today ' maybe I should watch it later.'

You might be reading this and thinking ' wow, Devon seems a little OCD. Hey, I've heard worse. But, let's be serious. Outbound lead qualification is a VERY expensive form of marketing for your business, and there are a LOT of distractions that could pull your team away from being productive. I'm assuming that you, as the manager, are juggling 100 balls because you are working at an expansion-stage organization. Why not find some simple ways to keep accountability high so that you don't have to be breathing down everyone's neck everyday? Let these updates push your reps to better manage themselves.

Do you have a rep who is really turned off by an end-of-day report (handcrafted or automated)? First of all, that's a red flag. What does he/she have to hide?! Second of all, for a relatively junior role within the organization (and I'm not saying entry level ' because in most cases, 2-4 years experience is IDEAL for this role), honestly, what other opportunity do you get to have exposure to senior management and have them observing your hard work, commitment, drive and passion? I honestly believe that if I wasn't sending my personal daily report as a lead qualifier a couple years back, I wouldn't have received the promotion that I did after 6 months on the job because I wouldn't have had that level of exposure to senior management!

A 10-Part Strategy for Boosting Daily Productivity

Numb.I.am © by Francisca Ulloa (2007)

Do you begin your day full of grand intentions of all that you want to accomplish, yet somehow end up going to bed feeling as if you've gotten nothing done?

Like many of you, my daily priorities vary. But I have some standard mental tricks for staying focused and productive. Following my Morning Routine and Daily Planning, I use these techniques to implement the plan.

After planning and processing, I can't wait to get things done! Here's how I make it happen:

• Follow orders. Each day, I make a number order for my daily activities and try to follow it as closely as possible, so the most important tasks get done early in the day and early in the week. Less pressing activities can be moved to another day, if my schedule changes.
• Allow for reflection. Stepping away from my computer and thinking about how to solve a problem or write a blog post or reply to a complex email is not procrastination. This reflection time is immensely productive and seems to happen best for me over a snack or a quick walk.
• Reward myself. To keep up my motivation and to allow for a quicker mental shift between different types of activities, I reward myself with these types of breaks: replying to a few personal emails, a snack or a stretch break.
• Cut up large projects. At the start of the 2'3 hour blocks of time I set aside for large projects, I scribble down a mini-plan of all of the action steps. Then I implement on that mini-plan within the time block.
• Evaluate the cost. If a project starts taking longer than expected, I evaluate the cost of finishing it versus moving on to something else or getting it to 'good enough' with the understanding I can come back, if there's time.
• Stuff in little activities. I try to do little activities like sending in checks or setting up appointments within small pockets of time between scheduled activities.
• Watch my people levels. If I'm craving people time, I try to arrange a call or work in an environment where I'm around others. If I feel tired of being around others, then I seek out solitude.
• Capture the next step. If I leave a voicemail, I make a note on my calendar to follow up. If I leave a meeting, I make a note of when to complete the minutes. If I receive a blog post assignment, I make a note of its deadline and when to start it. Everything has a documented next step.
• Create urgency. I always think of a few more things that it would be nice to fit in a day or the week than I think I could actually get done. That way, I'm motivated to push myself and see how much I can do, instead of subconsciously delaying because I'm not sure what would be next.
• Accountability and transparency. I have four individuals that help keep me motivated by holding me accountable. I commit to being transparent with them about what I'm actually getting done, especially in terms of business and professional development. (They send me lots of encouraging affirmation in return!)

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E®, a time coaching and training company that empowers individuals who are overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished through an exclusive Schedule MakeoverTM process.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC leads #FixYoungAmerica, a solutions-based movement that aims to end youth unemployment and put young Americans back to work.

Why Does Customer Engagement Matter?

In our Most Engaged Customers study we found that retailers who increased Customer Engagement by at least five points exhibited 56% cumulative share price appreciation. Without a doubt, Engaged customers have a credible impact on positive business results.

Customer Engagement is the outcome of an exceptional, differentiated customer experience. Companies that design and deliver better customer experiences have more engaged customers.

To be clear, engaged customers have a heavy impact on the bottom line because they exhibit four key behaviors:

Retention

An engaged customer will continue to do business with you. Common business sense says it is cheaper to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one, some estimate it is approximately 6 to 7 times cheaper to retain. Engaged customers will spend more with you than with your competition, making their overall customer lifetime value quite significant.

Effort

An engaged customer will go out of their way to do business with you. Seth Godin, the enormously popular marketer/philosopher, warns business about 'The tyranny of low price.' 'If you build your business around being the lowest-cost provider,' writes Godin, 'that's all you've got. Everything you do has to be a race in that direction, because if you veer toward anything else (service, workforce, impact, design, etc.) then a competitor with a more single-minded focus will sell your commodity cheaper than you.'

Engaged customers help companies avoid the tyranny of low price. Engaged customers don't want the cheapest because they understand the value you bring to their lives. Because of this they will actually exert extra effort to do business with you. This means your client contact will speak up for you when their team is considering another vendor, this means your guests won't flinch when you have to raise menu prices, this means your customers will wait hours to shop with you even though they can get the same product at Radioshack.

Advocacy

An engaged customer will spread the word about how great you are. Nielsen's 2012 Trust in Advertising Report shows that consumers continue to trust word-of-mouth more than any other advertising form. The bad news, of course, is that you can't rely on TV ads and billboards to earn customer trust. The good news is that, if your experience is good enough to engage them, Engaged customers will provide free advertising.

Passion

And finally, engaged customers love doing business with you. You have captured their hearts, their passion for the experience you deliver. Whether it's through design, shared values, or front-line people who build authentic relationships with customers, passion starts when customers feel a personal connection.

Customer Engagement matters because it ties directly to business performance. Want better business results? Focus on creating an engaging customer experience.

Whiteboard Video Scribing, a Compelling Content Marketing Tool

Back in the day, I used to love to be called up to the blackboard in school. Not because I knew the answer or wanted to show off my artistic skills, but because it helped me to think and communicate on my feet. Years later, whether I was selling ideas to my co-workers or products to potential inbound marketing clients, there was no better tool than a flip chart or whiteboard to close the deal. Why? Because words and images are twice as powerful together as they are apart. Now that nearly everything we do has an online component, why wouldn't we take advantage of the same communication tool'whiteboard videos'to tell our stories and explain complicated subjects?

The Power of Whiteboard Story Telling

We've all sat through countless boring presentations'usually after lunch in a darkened room staring at a bunch of bullet points on a Powerpoint slide. And most of us have snoozed blissfully until the lights come back up. When is this not the case? When the meeting is actually interesting and engaging.

When we're brain storming or planning new ways of getting things done, someone is usually scribbling sketches and flowcharts on the whiteboard. Things get even more interesting when more than one person adds to the graphical story and explains their ideas. There are scientific reasons for this. One professional development pro put it this way, ''unless our words, concepts, ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear. Words are processed by our short-term memory'. Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched.' The advantages of using a whiteboard boil down to:

• Using both visual and audio information together to get attention
• Showing the relationships in time and space between components in a process
• Developing a story over time and pausing to reflect at each 'chapter'
• Involving both author and audience to expand the vision and gain both understanding and buy-in
• Direct impact on sales effectiveness ' i.e. whiteboard selling

Translating Whiteboard Sessions to the Internet

Whiteboards have become progressively more sophisticated in recent years. There are interactive, digital whiteboards that enable you to save and broadcast live sessions. You can buy special paint to turn any wall or other surface into a whiteboard. Your entire office can be one big whiteboard if you choose. Until recently, what's been missing is the ability to shrink the power of whiteboard storytelling into a short, YouTube-ready video. Well, that's available now, too*. If you Google 'video scribing' or 'whiteboard animation' you'll find some of the key players. In essence, the process involves developing your 'story' into a script that fits the optimal profile of a successful video, about 90 seconds to 3 minutes in length, and professionally done to engage the audience. The 'scribers' then draw your story on a whiteboard, capture the session, edit and apply a voice narrative to produce the video.

Using Video Whiteboards for Content Marketing

When we first became aware of whiteboard video scribing, our inbound marketers started dreaming up all kinds of content marketing and strategic uses for ourselves and for our clients, including:

• Telling your brand story'how you became who you are and why people should buy from you
• Showing how your products or services work and why they're different
• Discussing industry trends and forecasting the future
• Understanding your buyers, their behavior and decision making process
• Developing your internal sales and marketing processes

The list goes on indefinitely. Where are we going with this? I think this technology will explode in popularity and use in the next few years. Why? Because these whiteboard videos are mesmerizing, they're different, and they really work to develop a compelling story. Stay tuned for some whiteboard videos here on our site and blog.

Video courtesy of Dr. Susan Weinschenk and Human Factors International
*Disclosure: TruScribe is a client of Kuno Creative 

The Content Marketing Manifesto eBook

Learn how to implement the 22 C's of content marketing, explore 37 months of real content marketing analytics and understand the landscape of content marketing for business.

Is Your Landing Page a Closer?

A winning call-to-action can transform your landing page into a closer.It's the top of the 9^th: your visitors have clicked on your ad, and they're interested in your offer. All that's left is a compelling call-to-action to prevent these prospects from slipping away. So as always, you bring in your closer'but wait: how much thought have you put into crafting your call-to-action?

Far too little energy is invested in writing compelling calls-to-action that truly seal the deal. As a result, many marketers forget to 'ask for the sale' when publishing their landing pages, and the proof is in the bounce rate.

How then do you craft a game-winning call-to-action to see your visitors through to the conversion action? Here are 5 tips that will help transform your landing page into a 'closer'.

• Watch your language!
  Visitors have arrived on your landing page because they're interested in your offer. The easier your landing page is to digest, the more likely those visitors are to convert. As such, your call-to-action and supporting copy should be short, sweet, and informative'providing your visitors with instructions about how to proceed next, and reinforcing the benefits of responding to your offer.

• Keep your eye on the ball.
  Using page elements like directional cues can help to shift your visitors' focus towards the conversion goal, but it's also important to eliminate an unnecessary distractions and micro-conversions from your page. Avoid confusion by keeping third-party and outside links to a minimum and shift momentum back towards facilitating that response.

• Stay above the fold.
  It may be easy to forget that your visitors are viewing your landing page using a wide variety of screen resolutions and sizes, but your call-to-action can't be effective if your visitors can't find it! Keep important page elements like the call-to-action high up above the fold (typically, within the first 800px in height); it'll go a long way towards ensuring that you aren't losing potential conversions due to screen size incompatabilities.

•  Be colorful.It's not enough to ensure that your call-to-action rests towards the top of the landing page; it should also be easily distinguishable amongst all of the other elements that are present on your page. You can achieve this quite simply by combining contrasting colors, negative space, and directional cues. Don't be fooled by landing page myths like, 'green buttons always convert better than red ones'. Instead, test your own combinations of colors and styles to establish winners for your brand.

• Always be Testing!
  Multivariate testing (MVT) is the process by which you can discover optimal combinations of page elements and designs for a higher conversion rate. You can use MVT to pit two (or more!) calls-to-action against one-another to determine which CTA converts better on your page. We've seen copy tests like 'Submit' vs. 'Register', 'Download' vs. 'Get', and many, many more.

Just like a pitcher adjusts his or her style to compensate for different sluggers, you may have to consider tweaking your call-to-action for different traffic sources like Facebook, Twitter, or pay-per-click ads.

When it comes time to win a response, you put in your best closer: a great call-to-action can lend to higher conversion rates and a more successful online campaign. As always, be sure to follow-through and deliver on your promises. Help give your leads what they're looking for, and you'll keep your prospects satisfied and more receptive to your brand's products and services.

Have you come across any memorable calls-to-action? Are you testing any CTA's of your own? Drop us a line in the comments below, or tweet @ioninteractive!

Managing Your Time to Increase Sales

Did you know that on average, only 10% of a salesperson's time is spent selling? How can you expect profits to increase when such a small percent of time involves true selling? Salespeople spend the rest of their time prospecting leads, problem solving, responding to personal phone calls and e-mails, traveling, and administration. While all of these tasks might be important for your business, not all of them are such high priority that they should be a focus.

What are the best practices in order to be the most productive?

Daily:

• 3 hours in front of a customer
• 4-8 outbound calls for lead prospecting
• 10, 2, and 4: The times of day to check email and voicemail
• No longer than 4 hours between receiving and returning a customer's call

Weekly:

• 4-6 face to face sales calls
• An average of 5 new accounts in some stage of development
• 2 hours spent in creative thinking

Goals and Next Steps:

Spend less time on administrative functions (which on average consume 30% of a salesperson's time). These can be delegated to a trusted assistant, freeing up more of your time for lead prospecting and face to face meetings. If a task doesn't directly relate to revenue-producing, find a way to take it out of your hands.

Start each B2B Sales day and week by listing out priorities. Your highest priority is any task that has severe consequences if not completed. Next, consider the difference between activities you can probably complete but that have mild consequences and those things that you can either delegate or eliminate.

Determine the top three goals for the remainder of the year and then set out tasks that build up to those goals. Focus primarily on the tasks that will help complete those three goals. Post them visually as a constant reminder of where you're going and how you plan to get there. Next, identify the time of day you are most productive and use that time to work on tasks related to your big goals.

Finally, utilize technology as a tool and not as a distraction, but make sure you set aside time to detach from both. You may be surprised at how much more productive you find yourself between the times you are checking emails and voicemails.

Why Isn't Your Local Business Cashing in on the Local Web?

If I could use one adjective to describe social media it would be potential. Social media carries all of the potential for businesses to accomplish such a realm of their businesses marketing goals. And just like the word 'potential' implies, it can be utterly ineffective unless it's used right.

It is not only the multinationals who are cashing in on the power of the social web; local businesses are also jumping onto the bandwagon. And some of the ways that local businesses are using the web for marketing may come as a surprise.

Market Research

It takes a lot of confidence in ones business to set up accounts in places like Yelp and Citysearch, since those sites allow customers to voice their opinions of your business, whether their opinion is stellar or horrific, they can say whatever they want and either blemish or beautify your precious brand reputation. The danger of such sites is obvious- since even on bum review can seriously stifle a hard earned good name.

But the potential of customer review sites can also be extraordinarily advantageous for local businesses. For one thing, having immediate feedback can be a very helpful way for local businesses to improve their products and services without any other need for market research. Also, when reviews are positive, which I hope that they will be for you, that is very encouraging for employees, and most importantly it provides free marketing that people trust.

Business Networking

Through sites such as MerchantCircle small business owners can connect, collaborate, and provide advice for one another. Although MerchantCircle does allow people to rate businesses in a similar way as Yelp and Citysearch, according to MerchantCircle president, Darren Waddell, 'the MerchantCircle's social network is a platform for the merchant, first and foremost.' And it is often local businesses that are really benefiting from the social aspects of MerchantCircle. In my own words, the social web allows local business owners to network with one another, even in the comfort of their pajamas.

Exposure

The main goal of marketing is to gain that much needed exposure, and considering that there are over a billion active users of social media sites the potential is readily apparent. Today Facebook and Google allow local businesses to claim their local addresses and market accordingly.

Whether for dentists, lawyers, restaurants or anything else, local business can market themselves for free through Google Local, where they will appear on a Yellow Pages like search page, with their business locations marked on a Google map.

Businesses which would have normally commanded absolute zero exposure on the web can now seize a respectable dwelling in cyberspace.

Mobile Marketing

In addition to being able to be listed in local search results, local businesses are also eligible to show up on the mobile phones of passersby. A well implemented advertising program can actually pull in passersby by offering them discounts in the form of a text message.

What is your business doing to cash in on the vast potential of the social web?

3 Promotional Giveaways That Potential Customers Will Keep And Use

With everything that goes on in the days leading up to a conference ' preparing your staff, arranging meetings, researching prospects, and even brochure and banner printing ' it's not surprising that so many companies put little thought into their promotional gifts. Despite the frequent lack of attention, promotional giveaways are a great way to put your company in the forefront of a potential customer's mind, even after they've left the conference. A well thought-out promotional item can help familiarize a prospect with your name, brand, product, or service ' leading to sales and referrals down the road. However, selecting promotional products that your potential customers will actually keep and use can be difficult. At any conference, attendees are inundated with a plethora of free pens, notepads, mousepads, and t-shirts. These items are often quickly lost or thrown out before the prospect leaves the convention center. The promotional items that potential customers will actually keep and use are the ones that offer value and stand out from the crowd.

While common items like pens, mugs and t-shirts are popular promotional giveaways, they never stand out from the pack. Additionally, they're items that are frequently discarded due to their low perceived value. If we assume that your prospect is in an influential position, is frequently inundated with free giveaways, and also has a certain level of class and taste, what kind of promotional giveaways will grab their attention? Below are 3 promotional item ideas that your high value prospects will keep, use, and enjoy.

USB Flash Drives

USB flash drives are a great promotional giveaway because they're useful, and despite their relatively low cost, they have a high perceived value due to their association with high-end consumer electronics and sensitive data. No one ever throws out a USB flashdrive. In addition to branding the flash drive itself, you also can include promotional material on the drive. Be sure to make your promotional material compelling, useful and interesting, or your prospect will have no reason to watch it. Although USB flash drives are always a welcome gift, yours may not be the only company to discover their value as a long term branding tool. You can stand out from the crowd by ordering custom USB flash drives that come in a unique shape or color. The downside of USB flash drives as promotional items is that they're a little on the expensive side ' even more so if you're customizing them. But if you're dealing with high value prospects, USB flash drives are a great way to ensure that the next time the prospect is in the market for your company's services or products ' your brand will be the first one on their mind. One last tip with regards to using USB flash drives as giveaways is that you should select a model with respectable storage capacity. One gigabyte flash drives are still relatively affordable and offer lots of storage. While this may slightly increase the cost of the promotional item, a little extra storage space will ensure that your prospect will always keep your flash drive handy.

High Quality Travel Mugs

Mugs are a popular giveaway item because they can be used by virtually everyone. However, a cheap, ugly ceramic mug might not find its way onto a prospect's desk or kitchen cupboard. On the other hand, high quality insulated travel mugs may end up being used on a daily basis by your prospect. While high quality travel mugs are a great promotional item, the downside of giving away quality mugs is the high cost. Like with USB flashdrives, you may want to reserve them for your high value prospects.

Post It Notes With Leatherette Cover

Post-its can be a great promotional gift if you're looking for something useful to giveaway ' but you don't have the budget for higher end promotional items. Since they're used in offices everywhere, you can be sure that your prospect will keep your stack of branded post-its handy. Of course, post-its have a low perceived value. But by putting your branded post-it pads into small, inexpensive leatherette covers (which can also be branded), you can greatly raise the perceived value of your gift. Hopefully this brief list gives you some ideas to get your promotional campaign started. Remember, if you're looking for promotional giveaways that your prospect will continue to use over and over, it's important that you take the time to carefully select useful, high-quality items that stand out from the crowd.

What kind of promotional items do you giveaway at your small business? Leave your small biz diamonds in the comments section below.

This is a guest article from contributing writer John Szabo. John is usually writing about personal finance and marketing questions that might be interesting for the public. Now he writes for banner4sale.com , a company specializing in cheap vinyl banners printing.

Have a successful day!

Images: Women in cars via, light bulb usb flash drives via, travel mug via, and leatherette posted notes via

Do You Know the Difference Between a Good Strategy and a Bad Strategy? (Part IV ' Objectives)

This is the fourth in the series of posts on strategy making using Richard Rumelt's masterpiece: Good Strategy Bad Strategy. If you have not already done so then you may get value out of the reading the first three posts:

Do you know the difference between good strategy and bad strategy? (Part I)

Do you know the difference between good strategy and bad strategy? (Part II ' Fluff)

Do you know the difference between good strategy and bad strategy? (Part I ' Failing to face the problem)

What passes for strategy and strategy is so often simply muddled thinking or why so many websites generate a poor user experience

One thing that I have noticed is that so many websites are poor ' from the users perspective. Why is that? I have my point of view which I pleased to see validated by Mark Adams of PortalTech Reply in the May edition of Internet Retailing:

'If your strategy, for example, is to use mobile to generate significant revenues the key considerations, technology choices and approach are going to be very different from setting out to use mobile as brand engagement channel''.. Often the strategy is to accommodate selling, loyalty, brand engagement, in-store integration, social marketing, payments and so on with no clear path on how each of these areas are going to be addressed and at what point.'

Sounds like a 'dog's dinner' of aims/objectives masquerading as strategy to me. That got me thinking that it is worth sharing what Richard Rumelt has to say on the matter of aims, objectives and strategy.

What does Richard Rumelt say about aims, objectives and strategy?

Richard Rumelt says that strategic objectives are one domain that differentiates good strategy from bad strategy:

'One of the challenges of being a leader is mastering this shift from having others define your goals to being the architect of the organisation's purpose and objectives. To help clarify this distinction it is helpful to use the word 'goal' to express overall values and desires and to use the word 'objective' to denote specific operational targets''. Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favourable outcomes.'

In his book, Rumelt identifies two pitfalls in the areas of objectives: 'dog's dinner objectives'; and 'blue sky objectives'. Let's take a look at each in turn.

Dog's dinner objectives

This is what Rumelt says (keep in mind my earlier comment on poor websites and the quote on mobile):

'A long list of 'things to do', often mislabeled as 'strategies' or 'objectives', is not a strategy. It is just a list of things to do. Such lists usually grow out of planning meetings in which a wide variety of stakeholders make suggestions as to things they would like to see done. Rather than focus on a few important items, the group sweeps the whole day's collection into a 'strategic plan'. Then, in recognition that it is a dog's dinner, the label 'long term' is added so that none of them need be done today.'

I absolutely love this paragraph, it strikes as pointing at the 'truth' in a similar way to the Dilbert cartoons and leaves me saying 'How true!'. How does it strike you?

Blue sky objectives

Back to Mr Rumelt and his wisdom on strategy:

'The second form of bad strategic objectives is one that is 'blue sky'. A good strategy defines the critical challenge. What is more, it builds a bridge between that challenge and action, between desire and immediate objectives that lie within grasp. Thus, the objectives a good strategy sets should stand a good chance of being accomplished, given existing resources and competence.'' By contrast, a blue-sky objective is usually a simple restatement of the desired state of affairs or of the challenge. It skips over the annoying fact that no one has a clue as to how to get there.

The purpose of a good strategy is to offer a potentially achievable way of surmounting a key challenge. If the leader's strategic objectives are just as difficult to accomplish as the original challenge, there has been little value added by the strategy.'

Lets revisit 1997 and Steve Jobs return to the helm of Apple

Back in 1997 Apple was burning through its cash and was expected to become bankrupt in months. The imperative was survival ' increasing the cash pile and cutting costs to buy time to focus on product renewal. What did Steve Jobs do? The very first thing, the most thing, he did was to persuade Microsoft, the arch enemy, to invest in Apple. By doing so he was able get his hands on $150 million (in return for non-voting shares). This dismayed the Apple faithful, left them stunned and led to heckling and booing. Something that Jobs had not experienced before. Nonetheless it was a masterstroke as it bought him time to:

• Cut the number of products from 15 to 4;
• Streamline distribution by selling through an exclusive national dealer as opposed to many retailers;
• Focus marketing on a single message 'Think Different';
• Terminate licensing deals that enabled other manufacturers to undercut Apple with Mac clones.

Result: operating expenses were cut nearly in half. Within months, Apple was back in the black and could focus on developing and bringing to market 'killer products' worthy of the Apple brand as personified by Jobs.

It occurs to me that Steve Jobs was more than creative or a showman (like Richard Branson). He was a master strategist he focussed relentlessly on the essence. How different to so many others who call themselves strategist and claim to put forth strategies. What do you say?

Get Organized and Get More Business: How Project Management Software Keeps You Competitive

A successful business is running several different projects and serving several different clients at the same time.  But no two of these projects are alike ' each has a different goal, schedule, budget, and set of resources. Without project management software, it's tough to keep those projects afloat, leaving your business vulnerable to more organized competitors.

What is Project Management Software?

Project management software is a platform that makes it easier to manage all the different elements of one or more large-scale projects.  It makes it easier to:

• Create and maintain schedules;
• Set and allocate budgets;
• Store and update documents and files;
• Facilitate project-related communications;
• Manage clients and employees.

Ultimately, project management software makes your business more competitive.  It allows you to keep everyone up-to-date on the project, store and manage all documents and resources from one central location, and, in the long run, take on and complete more projects without having to add more staff or other resources.

What Should I Look for in Project Management Software?

The right project management software depends entirely on your business.  But regardless of your specific needs, the software you choose should include a few key features.

Collaboration Tools

Most projects are a team effort, whether the team spans one organization or many.  But projects can be stalled without the right tools to foster communication, so your software should enable collaboration with all team members on a project.  For example, if your company does translations for clients, use your software to contact that client and ask questions, give updates, and refine the project as needed.  Instead of doing the work on one platform and talking about it in another, use project management software to keep all communication in one central location.

Tracking and Monitoring

Whether your clients want to talk every day or every month, they should always be able to check the status of their projects.  Your project management software should provide real-time status updates of the project, including timelines, budgets, and last-minutes changes.  This creates greater transparency, which keeps the client more informed and your business more accountable for the work.

Security

Your client wants access to his or her projects, but that doesn't mean everyone should have it.  Your project management software should protect the integrity of your project from prying eyes, unauthorized users, and security breaches.  Specifically, choose software that lets you customize permissions for each user.  For instance, an assistant might need access to status updates and contact information, but not necessarily key documents.  The more secure your project, the sooner it gets completed successfully.

Manage Projects Smarter, Finish Them Faster!

Even the most organized businesses need help managing multiple projects.  With project management software, your business will operate like a well-oiled machine.

This article is an original contribution by Shane Jones.

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