So I've got this IDEA to set up flash networks.
It's simple, really ...
You want to get together with a group of people interested in a subject.
You set up a flash network.
Like a flash mob ...
Using online channels to find each other, get together, share and then let go.
Flashnet!
You can meet online, face to face, telepathically
You can text, tweet, podcast, webinarate, #hash tag together
Leverage your network. Share you're passion. Lunch, learn and then leave!
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Sunday 14 June 2009
you got to kiss a lot of frogs...
If you are serious about creating business through 'in bound' marketing techniques then you have to be realistic about the time you have to spend on it.
Twitter takes time, you have to build a large following, move them around your social network and develop your online customers by creating a sense of intimacy and friendship, and lets be really clear here - these people are not our friends.
Perry Belcher is a marketer who is using his twittergang to put his work out there and he works damned hard to create his powerbase. He has over a million followers and I noticed this morning he follows nearly the same amount of people.
So thats it! He uses the you follow me, I'll follow you back principle, and its working for him.
Check Perry out, he does great little 'quick and dirty' videos online - helping us all understand the basics of successful communication - in fact if you really look closely, you'll realise that you know this stuff.
Its great to have it spelled out for you by a confident, american with a big personality and hip specs though isn't it?
Marketing online is not hard, it takes time and with a bit of common sense and a clear vision for what you want to achieve across your whole campaign; Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and other social media applications can add value to your marketing mix.
Don't loose sight of what you are trying to achieve - if your business typically depends on excellent pitching to get you the work - then spending 3 hours a day working your social media network might not be the go!
For more sharply targeted advice about your business marketing campaign - get in touch or go to my website www.copymojo.co.uk.
Twitter takes time, you have to build a large following, move them around your social network and develop your online customers by creating a sense of intimacy and friendship, and lets be really clear here - these people are not our friends.
Perry Belcher is a marketer who is using his twittergang to put his work out there and he works damned hard to create his powerbase. He has over a million followers and I noticed this morning he follows nearly the same amount of people.
So thats it! He uses the you follow me, I'll follow you back principle, and its working for him.
Check Perry out, he does great little 'quick and dirty' videos online - helping us all understand the basics of successful communication - in fact if you really look closely, you'll realise that you know this stuff.
Its great to have it spelled out for you by a confident, american with a big personality and hip specs though isn't it?
Marketing online is not hard, it takes time and with a bit of common sense and a clear vision for what you want to achieve across your whole campaign; Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and other social media applications can add value to your marketing mix.
Don't loose sight of what you are trying to achieve - if your business typically depends on excellent pitching to get you the work - then spending 3 hours a day working your social media network might not be the go!
For more sharply targeted advice about your business marketing campaign - get in touch or go to my website www.copymojo.co.uk.
Use twitter to manage customer complaints
Did you know that you can find out what your customers are sharing with each other about your business by using the fantastic tweetdeck client? Go to www.tweetdeck.com and check it out now.
I confess that I am still getting to grips with the application, but I love the layout. Tweetdeck makes it much easier for me to keep tabs on my tweets, replies and direct messages, and I am using it for research too.
You can use the search facility to find out what people are saying about your business or your sector. You can even find out if people are looking for a service or product that you can provide them with and respond immediately.
It's great for a quick bit of 'vox pop' research - but the real power lies in the opportunity for you to hit reply and deal with a customer issue or lead prospect immediately.
Your search can be constantly updated - just like an RSS feed, so you can keep tabs on the shifting moods of your customers or potential clients and get information out there fast.
Don't forget if you are going to use twitter and other social media to put your business out there, you'll need to treat your profile as an extention of your brand and watch what you tweet about, your customers may be following you too.
To find out more about how to raise your profile online and boost your business go to www.copymojo.co.uk, I'd love to give you a hand.
I confess that I am still getting to grips with the application, but I love the layout. Tweetdeck makes it much easier for me to keep tabs on my tweets, replies and direct messages, and I am using it for research too.
You can use the search facility to find out what people are saying about your business or your sector. You can even find out if people are looking for a service or product that you can provide them with and respond immediately.
It's great for a quick bit of 'vox pop' research - but the real power lies in the opportunity for you to hit reply and deal with a customer issue or lead prospect immediately.
Your search can be constantly updated - just like an RSS feed, so you can keep tabs on the shifting moods of your customers or potential clients and get information out there fast.
Don't forget if you are going to use twitter and other social media to put your business out there, you'll need to treat your profile as an extention of your brand and watch what you tweet about, your customers may be following you too.
To find out more about how to raise your profile online and boost your business go to www.copymojo.co.uk, I'd love to give you a hand.
Friday 12 June 2009
all the little birdies on jay bird street...
... love to hear the birdie go tweet tweet tweet! My gosh there is so much twaddle about twitter online, it's a wonder any sane person signs up at all.
Get past all the celebrity nonsense or the silliness talked about the possibility of generating building millions of dollars worth of business in a week and what have you got? People talking to people about the stuff they like or don't like. It all depends on whether they fancy themselves as 'love puppy' sharers or net savvy debunkers on a mission to give us all a dose of their personal reality.
There's a growing number of businesses that are using twitter and other social networks to create genuine interest in what they have to offer, simply by engaging their customers where they like to hang out.
Whatever they're up to - the trick is to get the twitterati to like you! If they like you, they'll tell others about you by retweeting your tweets and then maybe they'll follow you some more and after a while, if you keep them interested, they'll want to know even more about you. That's when they'll leave twitlandia and come and find your blog or your website.
People like free stuff. They like it even more if its the really good free stuff. So all you have to do - is figure out what you have that is good and useful and that people will really like and start twittering about it.
If people like your stuff, they'll tell other people about it and before you know it - they'll all be wanting more of your really good stuff!
Hang on a minute - that's like the old days - when word of mouth was king - and brands like Ben and Jerrys created a buzz by doing what they did best - really well. People liked it and told other people about it and soon thet got to show loads more people their good gear.
Can't be that hard then? Here's three things to figure out today, to get you started.
1. First off before you start, ask yourself what it is that you are really good at? Think about what you are really passionate about? Is it something you could give advice and help about online? That's great. Your in bound marketing campaign can begin!
2. Figure out a good way to share this good stuff with your social network buddies for free! Don't forget to invite them to find out more about you and your other good stuff.
3. And now you need to keep up the momentum. Make sure that if they do love your advice, your funky little art sketches or your wonderfully useful widgets, you're ready to offer them more. Once you start this 'make 'em like me by giving them freebies' malarky - you'll need to keep it up, don't worry it will pay off.
Experiment with this in a small way for a few weeks and notice how many more followers you pick up - and who they are. Come back and tell me how you got on, and what cute things you came up with to get retweeted.
I'm betting that your new friends will all be people interested in your your products and services too. Now you need to turn that new twitter follower into a customer.
Communciation and marketing types call that lead conversion!
See - you can do it. It's easy...
Get past all the celebrity nonsense or the silliness talked about the possibility of generating building millions of dollars worth of business in a week and what have you got? People talking to people about the stuff they like or don't like. It all depends on whether they fancy themselves as 'love puppy' sharers or net savvy debunkers on a mission to give us all a dose of their personal reality.
There's a growing number of businesses that are using twitter and other social networks to create genuine interest in what they have to offer, simply by engaging their customers where they like to hang out.
Whatever they're up to - the trick is to get the twitterati to like you! If they like you, they'll tell others about you by retweeting your tweets and then maybe they'll follow you some more and after a while, if you keep them interested, they'll want to know even more about you. That's when they'll leave twitlandia and come and find your blog or your website.
People like free stuff. They like it even more if its the really good free stuff. So all you have to do - is figure out what you have that is good and useful and that people will really like and start twittering about it.
If people like your stuff, they'll tell other people about it and before you know it - they'll all be wanting more of your really good stuff!
Hang on a minute - that's like the old days - when word of mouth was king - and brands like Ben and Jerrys created a buzz by doing what they did best - really well. People liked it and told other people about it and soon thet got to show loads more people their good gear.
Can't be that hard then? Here's three things to figure out today, to get you started.
1. First off before you start, ask yourself what it is that you are really good at? Think about what you are really passionate about? Is it something you could give advice and help about online? That's great. Your in bound marketing campaign can begin!
2. Figure out a good way to share this good stuff with your social network buddies for free! Don't forget to invite them to find out more about you and your other good stuff.
3. And now you need to keep up the momentum. Make sure that if they do love your advice, your funky little art sketches or your wonderfully useful widgets, you're ready to offer them more. Once you start this 'make 'em like me by giving them freebies' malarky - you'll need to keep it up, don't worry it will pay off.
Experiment with this in a small way for a few weeks and notice how many more followers you pick up - and who they are. Come back and tell me how you got on, and what cute things you came up with to get retweeted.
I'm betting that your new friends will all be people interested in your your products and services too. Now you need to turn that new twitter follower into a customer.
Communciation and marketing types call that lead conversion!
See - you can do it. It's easy...
Tuesday 9 June 2009
5 Top Tips to evaluate your marketing
Ujima radio are calling for sponsorship for their sound stage. They'll be at this year's carnival at St Pauls in Bristol. Well they will be there - if local businesses hand over the quite modest sum of £30.00 for some on stage/on leaflet promotions. I'm right at the start of my new adventure, and I'm wondering if I should take a punt?
This 'out of the blue' opportunity got me thinking about flexibility and planning. Its all very well spending weeks crafting your killer marketing strategy as you ramp up to launch your latest business campaign, but what do you do when a gift horse wanders into your yard and offers you some cheap advertising?
I don't know about you - but I look that nag right in the kisser and I evaluate!
Here's copymojo's five top tips for figuring out if that marketing gift horse is really a sure bet for the Derby. Ask yourself some questions...
1. Will it reach my target audience?
Marketing is largely a numbers game. The more people you reach, the more opportunities you have to convert them into customers, clients or supporters. With something as simple as a logo on the side of a sound stage - you'll reach a lot of people, but you won't have much of an opportunity to tell them what you do. You will start to build some brand recognition. So it might be worth the investment as part of a branding campaign. hmmm so far so good. This brings us neatly onto the next question to think about.
2. Will they be in the right mood?
Marketing and advertising is also about creating a mood, or capturing the mood and saying - 'We feel the same way, lets get together and share.'. So reaching your audience in the right mood for buying what you have to offer is a great start. If they're not in the right mood, then your marketing will be aiming to change that. See its easy! I'm thinking for our sound stage at the carnival, most businesses would be happy about the mood the audience is in all day. You might not consider this if you're a local funeral home for example- unless you have a really out there approach to dealing with the bereaved.
2. What will it 'say' about my brand?
Now you need to check that your gift horse isn't going to adversely affect your brand. In fact what you want to achieve is a positive brand endorsement which will make your audience feel good about you, your company and your products or services. So your marketing activity needs to 'fit' with your brand values and be authentic. Local sponsorship is an excellent way of communicating brand values of community and local commitment for example. If you haven't already thought about what your brand is about then its worth taking sometime to do so.
Copymojo! is about sharp, creative communication and its my company, so it reflects my values of sharing talent, supporting other businesses to fly and offering cost effective, high value service every time. So creating some brand awareness at a local carnival might be worth the investment to me, you might need to think about the next question though before you commit your hard earned cash.
4. Does it fit with my overall campaign?
Local sponsorship is a great way of building brand awareness. Clearly on its own, it will only have partial impact, the recognition of your brand will soon fade, unless you give your audience more opportunity to experience your brand.
In fact any one marketing activity on its own is rarely enough to drive sales or even long term awareness of your brand. You will need to build a campaign of activity designed to get the best for your company out of your budget. Leaflets, brochures, local advertising, press and pr activity and local sponsorship are all examples of elements of a good marketing campaign and they don't all cost major cash. I also have an online marketing strategy and a network plan and these things all go to driving business my way.
5. Is it cost effective?
The killer question. For most of us we're really asking ourselves can we afford it? You will need to build up a clear picture of the cost effectiveness of your marketing activity over time. You need to know where your investment pays off for your business. If you don't have the luxury of a few years experience of marketing costs then one of the best ways to evaluate value for money is to ask.
Other businesses with a similar profile may have already tried it out. This is where your network plan comes in - if you are meeting other business owners and entrepreneurs you should never miss the opportunity to find out what works for them. You'll need some budget for advertising but its free to get most of the advice you need on how to spend it!
Also quite a lot of excellent marketing activity costs little more than your time to get great results. I'll come back to that in later posts. In the meantime...
If you need help building a marketing strategy, or writing materials for your website, marketing leaflets or any other business communications contact me at louise@copymojo.co.uk.
I'm a business communications whizz and I'd be delighted to help you and your business win more customers and build profit and growth into your future.
This 'out of the blue' opportunity got me thinking about flexibility and planning. Its all very well spending weeks crafting your killer marketing strategy as you ramp up to launch your latest business campaign, but what do you do when a gift horse wanders into your yard and offers you some cheap advertising?
I don't know about you - but I look that nag right in the kisser and I evaluate!
Here's copymojo's five top tips for figuring out if that marketing gift horse is really a sure bet for the Derby. Ask yourself some questions...
1. Will it reach my target audience?
Marketing is largely a numbers game. The more people you reach, the more opportunities you have to convert them into customers, clients or supporters. With something as simple as a logo on the side of a sound stage - you'll reach a lot of people, but you won't have much of an opportunity to tell them what you do. You will start to build some brand recognition. So it might be worth the investment as part of a branding campaign. hmmm so far so good. This brings us neatly onto the next question to think about.
2. Will they be in the right mood?
Marketing and advertising is also about creating a mood, or capturing the mood and saying - 'We feel the same way, lets get together and share.'. So reaching your audience in the right mood for buying what you have to offer is a great start. If they're not in the right mood, then your marketing will be aiming to change that. See its easy! I'm thinking for our sound stage at the carnival, most businesses would be happy about the mood the audience is in all day. You might not consider this if you're a local funeral home for example- unless you have a really out there approach to dealing with the bereaved.
2. What will it 'say' about my brand?
Now you need to check that your gift horse isn't going to adversely affect your brand. In fact what you want to achieve is a positive brand endorsement which will make your audience feel good about you, your company and your products or services. So your marketing activity needs to 'fit' with your brand values and be authentic. Local sponsorship is an excellent way of communicating brand values of community and local commitment for example. If you haven't already thought about what your brand is about then its worth taking sometime to do so.
Copymojo! is about sharp, creative communication and its my company, so it reflects my values of sharing talent, supporting other businesses to fly and offering cost effective, high value service every time. So creating some brand awareness at a local carnival might be worth the investment to me, you might need to think about the next question though before you commit your hard earned cash.
4. Does it fit with my overall campaign?
Local sponsorship is a great way of building brand awareness. Clearly on its own, it will only have partial impact, the recognition of your brand will soon fade, unless you give your audience more opportunity to experience your brand.
In fact any one marketing activity on its own is rarely enough to drive sales or even long term awareness of your brand. You will need to build a campaign of activity designed to get the best for your company out of your budget. Leaflets, brochures, local advertising, press and pr activity and local sponsorship are all examples of elements of a good marketing campaign and they don't all cost major cash. I also have an online marketing strategy and a network plan and these things all go to driving business my way.
5. Is it cost effective?
The killer question. For most of us we're really asking ourselves can we afford it? You will need to build up a clear picture of the cost effectiveness of your marketing activity over time. You need to know where your investment pays off for your business. If you don't have the luxury of a few years experience of marketing costs then one of the best ways to evaluate value for money is to ask.
Other businesses with a similar profile may have already tried it out. This is where your network plan comes in - if you are meeting other business owners and entrepreneurs you should never miss the opportunity to find out what works for them. You'll need some budget for advertising but its free to get most of the advice you need on how to spend it!
Also quite a lot of excellent marketing activity costs little more than your time to get great results. I'll come back to that in later posts. In the meantime...
If you need help building a marketing strategy, or writing materials for your website, marketing leaflets or any other business communications contact me at louise@copymojo.co.uk.
I'm a business communications whizz and I'd be delighted to help you and your business win more customers and build profit and growth into your future.
Sunday 7 June 2009
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