BrandOne Marketing Services

Internet: Over Promise and Under Deliver

It’s easy to get caught up in exciting new world of online marketing. You can now find endless articles, blogs, webinars and companies offering services related to search engine optimization, content marketing, social media and e-mail campaigns. It’s all so fast, sexy, and yes, cheap.

What’s not so easy to find? Hard facts and case studies that demonstrate if any of this creates profit on a sustainable basis. Yes, the occasional viral video hits the jackpot, and once and a while a local business scores big on Twitter. But day in and day out? Don’t bank on it.

Online marketing, is just that: marketing. Unless you’re amazon.com, that’s not the same as sales.

Especially for the B2B world, selling is a personal contact sport. Only to the extent that online tools enhance relationships and awareness, are they a step in the direction of a sale. Same for direct mail, brochures and printed collateral which are increasingly rare and similarly effective these days.

You’re gettng word of mouth, referrals and testimonials? Great. Increased credibility and visibility though internet channels? Super Duper! Top of mind presence though e-mail and direct marketing? Very cool.

Still, and especially in tough times, your business must address the question of selling. Not blog posts. Not impersonal e-mails. Not customer service. Selling. It’s a separate in-the-moment skill that has to be carefully woven into the texture of your company.

Taking a lot of time to develop, update and enhance your selling skills, product knowledge, and customer knowledge (and that of your team) isn’t fast, sexy or cheap. Which is precisely why so few companies get it right.

Are Business Cards Now Obsolete?

Opinions fully cover the spectrum: business cards are everything from indispensable to obsolete. This Inc. magazine article highlights a range of beliefs.

One quote stands in my mind:

“Coming home with 30 or 40 cards is not nearly as effective as having half a dozen [that were from] really good quality conversations where having the business card and the ability to reconnect was important to you,” Ross Parker says. “I think people miss that.”

Do you think business cards are obsolete in the internet era? Let’s hear your take!

Why you DON’T want to use graphic design templates

Neal, a cool, young internet saavy speaker and author, is thinking about some new business cards. “Do you have templates at your printing company,” he asked, striking up a conversation at a recent O.C. marketing event.

“The problem with graphic design templates, is that they’re just that: templates,” I responded. They make your business look like every other business. And that’s deadly for your marketing, be it in print or on the web.

If your marketing looks like it was “cut and pasted” from another company, that’s a clear message: You don’t have your own story to tell. So you just borrowed someone else’s.

Marketer Seth Godin says it well: “There is no roadmap.” If you’re in business, you’re in the marketing business. That means you have to create your own map. You get to define the customer, and the business model. And of course you must design the ad, brochure or business card that communicates that model.

No, I don’t have templates, and I promise I never will. BTW, Neal appears to be quite an accomplished LinkedIn artist. You can find him here.

Dale Carnegie Invented Social Media

Don’t think Social Media is important to your business? Think again:

How’s your pitch?

It’s your 15 seconds of fame, and you’ll likely get a shot almost every day. Is this your frequent nightmare: walking out on the Carnegie Hall stage not having practiced once?

Winging it doesn’t cut it. Instead, spend a few minutes right now working out your own pitch. Here are a few starter questions, from 15secondpitch.com along with my answers. Obviously, you’ll need to make this your own.

Who you are
my name is…
i am a…
specializing in…

what you do

why you’re the best

your call to action

My name is BILL and I am a MARKETING COACH specializing in HELPING BUSINESS OWNERS SLEEP AT NIGHT. I HELP YOU FIND YOUR STORY AND TELL IT IN A COMPELLING WAY. I’VE LEARNED FROM EVERY MISTAKE THAT CAN BE MADE AND SPENT A LIFETIME WORKING WITH BUSINESS OWNERS.
If you’re all over the map, let’s START GETTING ORGANIZED. If you don’t know where to start, let’s make a plan. JOIN ME ONLINE next week for about 30 minutes to find out how we do it at BrandOne Marketing