As Fort Worth’s only Duct Tape Marketing Authorized Coach, a reminder about today’s Coaching Excellence Series with Social Media Gurus John Jantsch and Chris Brogan. Today, Thursday, December 11 (Noon, CST), we will hear these two guys discuss a wildly popular and very intriguing subject:
Using TWITTER FOR BUSINESS
Register for FREE - it’s not too late!
Here are some great coaching tips regarding a simple 5-step process for creating fail-proof permission-based email marketing that will lead you on a road map to email marketing success!
Step 1. Start using permission-based email software such as iContact (the permission-based email system we love!) that allows you to easily create newsletters, automatically manage subscribes, unsubscribes, bounces, and view reporting statistics like opens and forwards. iContact has whitelist agreements with major ISPs so clients can enjoy industry-leading deliverability (you won’t be viewed as sending spam!).
Step 2. Decide on the type and frequency of email communication you will be sending. I recommend sending at least a monthly newsletter (at minimum!) but consider every 7-15 days if possible when sending relevant content to your subscribers. You can even send multiple newsletters if you sell different types of products or formats. Take us for example: We send out a “Marketing Twins Hightlight” bi-weekly and “A Word From the Marketing Twins” on the off weeks.
Step 3. Add a sign-up form to your website so you can start collecting subscribers and import any existing lists of subscribers that have already requested your communications. It is generally safe to import the names of anyone who has done business with you in the past year, provided you will be sending content relevant to what they purchased. Make the sign-up form easy to find on your site and offer an incentive for people to sign up (like we do - you get a FREE REPORT!) as well.
Step 4. Choose a good email template by using the templates provided within the email software, having your in-house team create one, or using the custom design services of the email software company. iContact provides over 300 design templates within the software that can be used free of charge. In addition, the Marketing Twins can help you create your own banner to use in your template that includes your logo and basic contact information to give your emails a great, consistent look. Let us know if we can help!
Step 5. Develop quality, relevant content for your newsletter or message and send it out to your list. Continue sending your newsletters, announcements, or promotions with consistent frequency. As your list grows, you will notice increased traffic (and if applicable, increased sales) on the day of and the days following an email send. That’s one of the benefits of using software like iContact - you can track and get great easy-to-read results!
So what are you waiting for - get started today! If you are unsure about taking on this task yourself (or don’t have the time), we have affordable Email Marketing Packages where we come alongside to help you launch your email marketing! Plus, right now, iContact is even offering a 15% discount through the end of the month so now’s the time to take advantage. Click here to start or contact us to get the emails going!
p.s. Don’t forget to register for our next FREE Double Take LIVE Broadcast with Beijing Olympic Gold Medalist, Stephanie Brown Trafton (Women’s Track & Field). The call is Wednesday, October 8th at NOON CST but is initially limited to the first 50 people to register so sign up NOW!
Sphere: Related ContentWhat a great week to learn from some great thought leaders!
ARE YOU REGISTERED YET FOR THESE EVENTS?
TO REGISTER FOR COVEY’S INTERVIEW WITH John Jantsch TODAY:
Go to the Duct Tape Marketing Webinar Registration Page HERE!
TO REGISTER FOR LYTLE’S INTERVIEW THE MARKETING TWINS on Thursday:
UPDATE - Monday at 7pm:
Sometimes when you want to share something, it’s often easier to draw from the good ideas of others. I always tell our clients that when blogging, you are not necessarily trying to create the most unique, most clever, most amazing blog post every single time. Rather, you are simply trying to engage in the online community. And as in any community, who enjoys the guy who likes to act like he’s got the very best, most unique ideas every time? No one … we all prefer conversation and community.
As in all social media, consider yourself sitting around at the coffee shop or even your family’s dining room table and exchanging ideas. At times, you really do have an opinion or thought that has never been voiced before and is worth hearing (so that others can share your idea with others who can share it with others, etc…). But most often, we simply are sharing what we’ve heard from others. There’s nothing weak about that as long as you participate authentically in the community with correct attribution (not trying to claim every great idea as your own).
One of the greatest tools in my arsenal is my Bloglines. If you are not familiar, try on this definition: “a web-based news aggregator for browsing weblogs and other news feeds via syndicated feeds utilizing technologies such as RSS.” In simple terms it is your bulletin board that is automatically fed updates on a variety of blogs and websites that YOU are interested in hearing about. In the old days, you would click on your “Favorites” and peruse all your favorite blogs only to find out “nothing new there.” But with RSS feeds, you can subscribe and be alerted when new posts have been made. It’s been around for years, but I have only started using it within the past 12 months. It’s transformed how I stay in touch, radically improved my efficiency when I am reviewing 70 different “favorite” blogs (yes, 70 and growing!), and opened up an easy portal of information that I can then repurpose on my blog or share with clients.
When my identical twin brother and I are interested in going out to lunch, it’s rare that we don’t end up at a Chinese food buffet. We love the choices and variety and I love to get something different each time. I look at my Bloglines in the same way when wanting to hear a variety of ideas. So when from time to time, I simply open up my Bloglines and look through the buffet of choices! Ideas are everywhere and it’s hard to choose, but there are some that just stand out. Today, I share these few with you:
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If social media hasn’t caught on with you yet, read Adrianne’s blog over at Tornado Marketing. I think she lays out pretty well some good reasons (ROI!!)
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David over at Marketing Integrity shows why he took up blogging. If you’re wondering why you should blog, see what David has to say.
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Are you out of ideas for blogging today? Need a jolt in the creative department of your brain? Chris Brogan offers 50 blog post ideas for anyone marketing their company.
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Copyblogger gives all of us bloggers a dose of reality: why saying “content is king” is NOT the way to drive traffic to your site! Find out what will do the trick (some great nuggets of information for everyone blogging and wondering why their Google Analytics is not smokin’!!)
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Austin creatives over at the Church of the Customer blog share this video for you to marvel at people’s ability to amazing things with video. Funny stuff!
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Here’s an interesting article … what are your thoughts? It raises an issue that’s been wrestled about in churches for years. As Marketing Twins who are all about doing GREATER THINGS, we believe in giving back. Not sure if I’ll ever win the lottery (guess I have to play more than once a year to increase my chances!) but if I did, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate in giving back to my local church or to local charities who could benefit. But how would I react if they rejected my donation? How would you?
Let’s dialouge … shall we?
Donny Vaughn - guest blogger
The Marketing Twins at 1429 Creative
p.s. Don’t forget that ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, we will be interviewing Dr. Rick Lytle from ACU’s College of Business. Register to get the FREE CALL-IN INFORMATION: www.1429creative.com/doubletake
Sphere: Related ContentToday’s a special celebration!
John Jantsch does a nice job on his blog explaining viral videos (I even made a comment in which I offer some of my own opinion as to the elements that make great viral marketing stuff …feel free to add to it over at John’s blog). You can also go to our site’s FREE REPORT page and download another helpful resource on viral marketing. Viral marketing are those images or videos that get passed around through emails, blogs, Facebook messages, Twitter, etc…and millions of people watch it. For examples and a good post from a while back, go here.Speaking of millions, John McCain gets a rebuttal from Paris (and she’s nabbing 1.8 million hits already at the time of this writing).
While not as many hits as Paris (yet), I’m a bigger fan of these guys! Talk about funny!
You got any good viral stuff worth sharing?
-Randy
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In the world of online retail, I’m not sure there’s a better model than Zappos. So many articles have been written that I don’t need to include my own. However, I will tell you that my mother-in-law was so impressed by their extraordinary customer service, that she saved to show me the HANDWRITTEN THANK YOU note that was included in the shoebox she got after ordering online. That took a few short minutes of their time, but that effort made a huge impact on one customer.
Watch this 9 minute video that tells how Zappos actually tries to bribe their new employees into QUITTING! That’s right, dangle some big cash incentives to have their new customer services walk away after a few weeks on the job. You gotta watch the video to see why they would do something like this! One quote from the accompanying article:
Companies don’t engage emotionally with their customers—people do. If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people.
Even our good friend Seth makes an observation about Zappos. And you know when Seth is impressed, it’s impressive!
So in this cluttered world of retail, what are you known for? How do you stand out in the crowd? What are people writing about you?
- Randy
* Speaking of differentiation, you need to reserve July 1st for a workshop on this topic - the workshop will be in the North Richland Hills area (details will be provided upon enrollment) and will be at 7a - 8:30a so that you can attend and then have the remainder of your day to implement all the great ideas you are going to get. If you are facing stiff competition (from direct OR indirect competing forces), you have to got to attend - there are only 13 seats remaining, so you need to reserve your spot today! It’s only $50 to enroll! TO START YOUR ENROLLMENT - GO HERE!
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Sure all the “big guys” are using social media more and more (generally, social media can be blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, email marketing, social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo … all the the “new ways” of marketing using the internet). But how does a small business use social media in their marketing strategy. Well, I will tell you that most small business owners that I have talked to are still learning to use a blog - so alot of the other Web 2.0 tools are not even in their marketing arsenal.
At one recent workshop, we asked the dozen participants and not even ONE small business owner was incorporating a blog into their web strategy. Do you realize what an opportunity you are missing? Blogs drive traffic to your site (increasing your search engine ranking) and they offer an incredibly candid opportunity for you to put a personality alongside your products! People can actually know (and start to like) you even before they start doing business with you.
Not sold yet? - listen to this podcast interview by John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, the world’s most practical small business marketing system! This is a guy who wanted to sell more fishing lures. Fishing lures. This is probably even considered “very small” business by some and look at the powerful return on his investment by incorporating social media into his SMART marketing strategy.
As a Duct Tape Marketing coach here in Fort Worth, I can help you do the same for your business. As a marketing coach, I am eager to see you implementing these important (and sometimes FREE or low-cost) tools into your marketing strategy.
-Randy
** Speaking of using the web to spread your message, have you seen what Mike is doing - it’s Father’s Day and he’s on a crusade!!! Check it out!
Fellow Duct Tape Marketing coach, Adrianne Machina, posts an intriguing article about the use of images on your website (or even in printed materials for that matter). Are your images communicating what you think?
I encourage you to read all the way to the end and then post a comment as part of the “quiz” - what do YOU think the picture that is mentioned on her blog is advertising? I think it’ll be fun to watch what people say. Please go to her site and participate.
To whet your appetite, I’ll copy her “quiz” idea and ask you to submit your comments HERE on my blog first:
What advertiser would use this image in their marketing materials? What are they trying to say? (*the image on her blog is different than this one so comment on BOTH my blog and hers, too!)
* I expect some feedback on this one. Have fun, too! (Just keep it clean or I will delete your comment in my moderating controls!) By the way, if you don’t see your comment posted immediately, it’s because I like to have complete control over comments, so I have to approve your comment. Don’t worry - I’ll only delete SPAM and anything offensive. Other than that, this is interactive, so let’s have some fun!
AND WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED POSTING A COMMENT HERE !
Sphere: Related Content
I was returning from visiting a client yesterday (I really love having a mobile office!) I just about ran off the road trying to jot down the web address advertised on this billboard (I’m sure they probably hoped I would memorize it, but with so much on my plate, I don’t trust my memory … for this I do use Jott to help).I love this style of creative marketing, but you rarely see it churches. Most churches do nothing in terms of advertising. Some churches are improving their visual communication design. But few employ creative arresting marketing strategies like this. I know I’m a sucker for good marketing strategies, but I find it hard to believe that this church won’t get a million hits to their website from “normal” people (that’s calling me “abnormal”!) I spend alot of my day on the internet, researching innovative marketing strategies that will help you, reading small business marketing success stories to share here, and following up on intriguing websites like this for UnscrewMyLife.com.
As you get into this posted site, you can eventually link to their church website which gives more detail behind the people hoping to bring hope to this city. You gotta click on “ScrewyStuff” and see the hiliarious video trailers.
Great job HOPE Church in Fort Worth - great church marketing!
I know we departed from the recent series on blogging, but I keep running into new posts out in the blogosphere that make some excellent points. Today’s is aimed at the CHURCH.
QUESTION: in your church/congregation/denomination, is the leadership engaging in any open dialogue (i.e., through a blog)? If not, the change and emerging shifts are going to pass them by. In the former culture, such challenges were discussed at leadership workshops, pastor conferences, denominational board meetings, etc…but we live in a different world today. To be a thought leader, one does not have to fly off to some hotel or conference center to sit around a table to debate the issues. The debate is happening. The discussion is taking place in social networking circles where blogs sit prominently. If you are in leadership, you need to be engaging the communication discussion. In churches, when we talk of marketing, essentially we are talking about communicating our message of hope to a world that needs to hear it. But marketing also involves the people proclaiming the message, the methods employed to do so and the environment in which such truth is proclaimed. Today’s church culture must bust out of the sanctuary walls and the leadership must be involved. Debate/discussion is like a virus - it’s spreading fast and if you want a voice, you better participate!
I read a post this morning from a group of Church of God ministers trying to influence the mission through a collective voice. The author of the post makes this observation:
Ignoring what is happening, boycotting it, or thinking that blogging is for another generation will only diminish one’s leadership ability… .We need to understand this culture’s communication means and participate, unless we continue to be dragged apart separated off into two totally different worlds.
I found particularly curious were the author’s suggestions under “Blogging Influence” and “Observations” !
Pastors, preachers, ministers and pastoral leadership, TAKE NOTE!
Well, for now, we’ll wrap up the series on business blogging today. I hope you’ve seen a few examples of blogs in a variety of industries - be creative and adapt a blog to your business or ministry TODAY!
In his 2006 book “BLOG WILD!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging” - Andy Wibbels shares some very practical reasons for blogging and frankly, a step-by-step guide in doing it. I picked up his book recently for less than $7 at Half Price Books and I’ve learned alot! A good investment. Wibbels, in one chapter, quotes from one web designer who suggests that blogs: (1) offer fresh content on a regular basis, (2) present an informal voice that visitors and prospect clients can respond to and resonate with, (3) blogs provide useful links. Wibbels goes on himself to suggest ways to us blogs in marketing and business:
1. Communicating with Your Team (internal blog)
2. Enrich your Clients’ Understanding of Your Business (educate)
3. Reach Out to Your Customer (build trust)
4. Build a Buzz - (generate excitement and attention - like free PR!)
5. Test Drive New Ideas (get feedback quickly)
6. Go Global (don’t be bound to local necessarily)
7. Create a Backdoor to the Press (exposure - again, free PR!)
8. Write Your Book (as an expert, you can preview your writings)
9. Highlight Success Stories (living testimonials give a voice to prospects)
10. Communicate in a Crisis (update news, products, changes quickly - without having to pay a web designer to do that on your static site)
OK here’s another post that could help if you haven’t started a blog (warning: the article was written 4 years ago so you may feel behind - and you should!). One last one if you have a blog but want to make it better. (These links go to a site that requires membership…they are good articles and the basic membership is FREE - so well worth it!)
Get blogging!
OK - it’s been a few days since I actually highlighted some real live businesses who effectively incorporate blogs into their small business marketing. Today we’ll look at one hot industry - kitchen remodeling. Let’s reinforce the idea that if you are in this industry (or a related one where you are going to be coming into my home and doing some pretty extensive … and expensive work), then I would like to know a little about you first. Testimonials from other users can be helpful, but I would like to know a little about your expertise, your style, and perhaps even a little about your personality. Blogs help do that!
In reading a great DIY web magazine, I found a link to Susan Serra’s blog who claimed to offer TOP TEN SECRET KITCHEN DESIGN TIPS … I felt compelled to check it out (and I’m not even in the marketing for a kitchen remodeling job … in other words, GREAT HEADLINE!) I found Susan’s blog appealing to the eye and also very practical. And at the top right sidebar, there is a clear link to her company’s website (this is the static site that tells more about her products and services). This is the perfect example of what I’ve been trying to show you. Susan’s BLOG is what captured the attention of the DIY web magazine and they in turn linked to her post that showed her expertise through a practical top ten list that would be likely be attractive to anyone about to embark on a $40K+ kitchen remodeling job! The blog acts as the doorway that attracts visitors to her company site. Great job Susan!
John Jantsch - creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing - shares a powerful testimony of another remodeling success story - you can read here and here for more on that. Schloegel Design Remodel is another good example of incorporating strong blogs into their marketing process. The owner has his own blog and the designers have theirs! This doesn’t just show a great deal of expertise but multiplies the amount of links back to their company site! Very smart!
Entrepreneur.com offers an incredibly practical article on the importance of having a good solid website for your organization. Since we are in the middle of a series on blogging for businesses, I thought I would share this with you. The author, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, shares this critical tip about blogging:
Your prospects are going online in increasing numbers to search for answers, products, solutions, referrals and relationships—not just to find and buy products. The more relevant content you can produce to address the types of questions your prospective customers have, the better your chances are of building trust. Blogs are the best tools for easily creating this type of educational content for your site.
Your website may not be suited for alot of content, nor an appropriate place for you to share your views on the value of certain products you offer. So create a blog and link to it from your static website and then go crazy! Think of it like the static website being the ad in the paper. The blog is like sharing a cup of coffee with a prospect who saw your ad in the paper. See the difference?
More in the series on blogging to come . . .
Sphere: Related Content
OK - instead of teasing you through post after post of samples before I show you how, I’m going to share this article with you today. It’ll give you the basic choices to make in setting up your blog for your business or organization. REMEMBER: you’re not setting up a silly new fad “just because the young kids are doing it”, this is part of your marketing strategy.Yesterday morning, I was working in my office. My 4-year old son came in with a paperclip. “Daddy, what is this?” I told him and he responded, “how does it work?” I showed him the benefits of this incredibly practical and affordable tool, and the ease of using it, and he said, “cool, Dad, I’m going to use this for everything!” He proceeded to spend his day figuring out how to incorporate the paperclip into his life … he paperclipped his masterful crayola drawing to some of the junk mail on our kitchen table, he paperclipped one of the Christmas photo cards on our fridge to the coupon we got for the pizza deal of the week, and even tried to attach his 3-year-old brother’s blanket to the back of his shirt (“this way Jonathan won’t ever lose his blanket”). Creative kid!
Blogging has so many uses and it is practical, effective and very affordable (just like …) Get started today!
Today I’ll try and offer up some good examples of preachers and pastors who blog effectively. Now “effectively” is a relative term - somewhat subjective. I’ll go back to our basic definition of marketing (based on John Jantsch - Duct Tape Marketing):
MARKETING is getting someone with a problem or need to know, like and trust you.
So in the world of church, most of pastoral leadership is trying their very hardest to communicate their message of love, hope, transformation, mission, purpose, etc….and share that message with as many people as possible. (The discussion of whether individual congregations should consider honing in that strategy for some niche markets is a topic for another post). Anyway, assuming you are trying to reach a local audience as part of your strategy, and you desperately want the non-church-goer to know-like-trust you, what better way than to blog!
In the culture we are in, where churches, pastors and priests are often characterized by the missteps of a minority, it is important to build some bridges to the relationships we desire. While you could spend your blog energy spouting off about theological and doctrinal beliefs (guess that might reach some), a blog can inspire, teach, educate, inform as if you had a DAILY PULPIT! And you could even begin to use this blogosphere as one of your primary venues for touching the heart of people. For many people in the teaching or pastoral role, your time in the pulpit does not permit an intimate level of transparency. Alot of people still want their preacher to preach about things we SHOULD do and not to be open and honest about his personal struggles. I would dare say that in the blog world, while perhaps not used as your own personal confessional, it is a place to remind people that you are human. And for those in church leadership, your Sunday morning “conversations” with members of your church (much less non-members you ultimately are trying to reach) tend to sound like this:
“Great job, pastor. See you next week. ”
“Great job, preacher, but … (insert complaint)”
“If you preach like that again, you’ll be out of a job!”
Where’s the relationship building? Following a traditional model, you get about 30 minutes of instruction once-a-week. That’s insufficient and likely the reason why churches, by and large, are not growing in the U.S. (different story around the world … by the way, where teaching is much longer and relationships are not so fragmented as in the U.S.). You need a venue to perpetuate the ideas you present on the weekend. As a pastor, you will find a great energy in the interactive environment of a blog (yes, you might get some critics, but you might find a world of support as well).
Blogging allows transparency for any small business, organization or ministry where people are perhaps skeptical of the players involved…isn’t that alot of people’s problem with the church today? So blog your heart out (I would advocate you not trying to usurp your pastoral or shepherding leadership … blog in a way that honors them and the mission of your congregation). You are not trying to lift up yourself here … you are attempting to further the mission of your church by stretching out into the homes and personal computers of members and potential “prospects.”
When my wife and I were living in Africa, not only did WE find our blog as a way to communicate with a world from which we were simply geographically cut off, but there are so many people who said our blog kept them in touch with us, praying for us and even giving to us. We were not some forgotten missionary; we were on the minds of people.
In the church world I am a part of, this guy has held a loyal following for years (and 30-100 comments is average for his DAILY posts)!
I find this pastor’s blog intriguing and engaging (the photo at the top of this post is just one of the photos he likes to use to arrest your attention!)
A few other blogs that can show you some different formats you can use: Pete Wilson, Andrew-Missionary in Brazil, CC3, Gary Lamb, LifeChurch pastors, and on and on and on . . .
IF YOU WANT TO RECOMMEND A BLOG in this category (broadly defined as “church”) please leave it in the COMMENTS section!
Today, in our series on “Why You Need A Blog NOW!” (not the real name, but that’s what I’m trying to tell you!), I thought I would turn to the business services like PLUMBING. I picked this because I would assume that this is one industry where there are few business bloggers…there’s a market for you to be the new plumbing expert in your area! Perhaps you also might be a painter, a carpenter, a handyman, etc…these are similar types of businesses where I, the consumer, call you to come to my house to fix something. For me, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW I CAN TRUST YOU BEFORE I LET YOU IN MY FRONT DOOR! So a static web site can provide information but a blog can give me a little insight into who you are (I know, there are ways to fool the consumer with this, but if you are blogging consistently and there are comments from your friends, family and happy customers, I’ll likely tend to believe it). If you blog and throw around filthy language or crude jokes, then I’ll have a better insight into whether I will call you or NOT. If you blog and I read things that show me we share similar values (even personal blog posts scattered or a link to your family’s blog), then that resonates with me and I’ll make the call.
John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing adds:
“Effective bloggers kind of let their guard down….and the marketing speak goes away and people really get to see who you are and I think feel a much greater connection to that.”
Some blogs are not periodic updates, but rather answering common questions (this is not my favorite way to suggest you do it, but I guess it offers some insight into your personality and shows that you are willing to share some of your free advice…this does build trust. Even if you offer some advice for me today, the fact that you are MY expert on plumbing, I’d likely call you when something bigger goes wrong). In some industries, you could show pictures of your work (before and after pics).
I’m not an expert (yet) on SEO, search engine optimization, but I do believe that having a regularly updated blog, that links to your business web site, increases your page ranking because the search engines like Google and Yahoo index these blog posts as individual web pages. So the logic, to be super simple, is that the more web pages (from your site or your blog) that talk about you and link to your business web site, the higher ranking you will be. So those who think “I’ll put a one-page website about my business on the internet so people can find me when they Google our industry” - I’m sorry to say that’s likely not going to get you anywhere. In the Yellow Pages day, businesses would call themselves AAAAAAAPlumbing or 123Plumbing because why? SO THEY COULD BE AT THE TOP OF THE LIST when the customer goes searching. In today’s Google environment, this is the equivalent of getting in at least one of the top 10 rankings (the first page of Google search). If you are a plumber in Southlake, and a customer in your area googles “Southlake plumber”, you want to show up on top. There are MANY factors that determine your page ranking (I will likely be inviting an SEO expert to be a guest blogger on that topic some day). But I do know that while a blog can help teach your customer about you (builds trust), the blog also serves as a necessary tool in determining your page ranking on the internet search engines.
*OK - I tested “Southlake plumber” and I found lots of plumbing sites, but on the first 10 rankings (first Google screen shot) there were lots of plumbers, but where’s one with a blog? NOWHERE! If you are reading this in Southlake, and you’re a plumber, take my advice and start a blog. While some people don’t shop the way I do, if you had a blog, I would skip over some of the other plumbers in higher rankings, and read your blog to get to know you more.
MY FAVORITE: If I were in Austin, Texas, I think I might know who I would call…a great plumber’s blog (be sure and click on the “Meet Brad and Sarah” video….this is masterful! Great job Brad and Sarah…and NO, I don’t even know who they are, so I’m not getting any referral fees…)
Start blogging people….this article highlights the importance of a blog in your marketing (note it was written 2 years ago!!! Where’s your blog?????)
DO YOU HAVE (or know of someone who does have) A BLOG THAT FITS IN THIS TYPE OF SERVICE OR INDUSTRY? Please share it in the comments (post the URL so we can check it out!) I pick on some different business sectors over the week.
-Randy
OK - since yesterday’s post, I decided to start a series about the importance of YOUR BLOG in today’s marketing…whether you are doing small business marketing or in other cases, you are marketing your church, ministry, or even non-profit.
YOU NEED A BLOG.
This week, we’ll look at some effective uses of blogs. Some will be entertaining, some will be informative. I hope this inspires you to learn how to incorporate a blog into your marketing strategy.
One of my favorite church marketing blogs is one from the Center for Church Communications. Click on the logo above and you’ll see what they have to say (oh - be warned - they don’t use Center for Church Communications as the title of this blog … “shock value” is another marketing technique and a discussion for future posts. Be warned if you are a traditionalist when it comes to church stuff.)
There was a USA TODAY article this week about the power of blogging … in business. Perhaps you or your kids have been blogging about your personal lives for a long time (my wife and I have been since 2004, even while we lived in Africa!)
But if you think blogging is only some diary of your PERSONAL life, your pictures, your kids, etc….then think again. Hopefully that is one reason you are here at MarketingTwins.com!
There are lots of reasons and ways that a small business owner can incorporate a blog into their comprehensive marketing strategy. Among many, the article highlights the importance of being “conversational” - (DTM’s John Jantsch is their reference on this!) This allows you to have your blog be active and dynamic like a kitchen table conversation at the holidays. Your website, even stocked with good info as it is, is kind of like the guys laying around watching the Thanskgiving day football. Nobody’s talking. They are just sitting there. No interaction. Even a few nodders. A blog provides for ACTIVE participation, opinions, idea sharing, and story telling. It is a way for your clients to get an inside look into who you are (you’re ABOUT US page on your website is usually filled with boring stats and history about yourself, but nothing of personality). YOU NEED A BLOG!
My new website at 1429 is LIVE! Check it out….on the page called “Marketing Products” (under the Marketing Solutions tab), you can find a great audio series by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing called “Harness the Internet”. You should really look into getting this and understanding how your small business can make the internet a successful part of your marketing strategy.
* Blogs are ideal for small business owners as well as churches who want to put a personal face on their church. Most church websites are informational…but where does an outsider learn about the people. We used to say, “come to church and get to know us.” That’s archaic and ineffective. TRUST is built…or at least cultivated PRIOR to someone stepping one foot into your church sanctuary. A blog is a great tool for this. Your church members have tons of personal blogs, but you as a pastoral leader need to be doing this as a marketing tool for the church. Non-profits can benefit as well because it builds trust…and if money-raising is critical to your non-profit’s success, then TRUST must be there before the checks start coming in. BLOG and BUILD TRUST!
John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, shares on his blog this new valuable resource for small business people interested in staying current on innovations, thoughts, strategies and ideas for small business … this targets you folks who are too busy running your own business to read 50+ small business focused online magazines, so this summary tool is perfect!!!
AllTop collects the last five posts from dozens of blogs and puts them all on one page, kind of like a feed reader all done for you. John adds:
It’s a great place to start your day and find lots of new reads. Because it lists only the title of each post … I find that it’s also a great study in the writing of blog post titles, which are much like headlines or ads for the post.
While MarketingTwins.com is not yet on this site, you’ll see John’s Duct Tape Marketing site for sure!
