My buddy Jim is a member of the First Collaborative Credibility Cluster, the very same CCC I’m in, the very same one that’s one of many brainchildren of Russell Cox, who’s… you guest it, another member of CCC#1!
Jim wrote a post at Community and Business on the CCC’s shared community website. Jim’s got a great sense of humor and he loves puns. In this post he’s asked, “What is the Web 2.0 Refrigerator Magnet?”
Great question, Jim. And I’ve got an answer for you…
Ah, Jim, there will always be a place in the world for ‘old fashion’ marketing! The answer to becoming known as an expert in your field or an authority in your niche is not an either/or, yes/no answer. It’s “Yes, and…” You want what I call a “HI-5 Marketing Message.” Imagine you could ‘Hi-5″ all your ideal prospects and clients in all your communications with them. Imagine you could deliver a message that’s Heart-Inspired, Integrated, interactive, Internet and Information-based.
How does HI-5 messaging relate to Web 2.0? For Jim’s post, the key word in the explanation of what a HI-5 message is Integrated. An integrated message platform weaves together traditional media channels with ‘old’ Web 1.0 tools, techniquest, technologies, and winning strategies with the new Web 2.0 and the coming Web 3.0 ones.
I want to get back to answering the question Jim asked in his post: “What is the Web 2.0 equivilant of the refergerator magnet?”
Hey, I think this is a great question to ask the LinkedIn community. We’ll get great ideas. And we’ll be building the web of links we’re weaving in Web 2.0.
By the way, in the spirit of taking a HI-5 message to the next level, I’d trade my refrigerator magnet in for:
- a bumper sticker with a URL that’s easy to read from the car behind
- a series of Tweets and re-tweets
- a conversation in Facebook or in your vibrant online community
- a continued asynchronous dialog among members of our CCC and anyone else who wants to participate
- a banner ad on your site and those of your strategic alliance partners and raving fans
- a real time conversation…
- on the phone, of course, as we live thousands of miles apart.
- We’ll record our conversation so we can turn it into
- a podcast which we’ll submit to podcast directories so anyone can find it and listen to at their convenience.
- an audio on each of our websites and our community groupsites.
- We’ll also transcribe the audio track and turn it into an article, a blog post, an e-book or e-course.
- a YouTube video of two or more someones who looks like a present day average Joe or Jane. In fact, they’re wearing T-shirts with the refrig magnet’s message on the front and back, with logos, of course.
- First this person goes to their mailbox to get and open the envelope with a refrigerator magnet inside, then
- Then he walks to their refrig where they place the magnet.
- Then she walks to their computer and looks at the banner ad, the blog post, and clicks on the audio play button to listen to the conversation.
- Then they walk to their car, T-shirts clearly visible and read-able, they get into the car, and as the car drives away with them waving, the camera zooms in to focus on the bumper sticker.
- What’s the bumper sticker say? You guessed it. The same message that’s on the magnet!
So, all of the above are my suggestions for the Web 2.0 equivalent of refrigerator magnets.
What are your ideas?
And what about your suggestions for what would appear on those magnets, bumper stickers, T-shirts, titles, and such?
Here are a few of mine:
“Want to make more money? HI-5 your audience.” www.MarketingToYOURworld.com
“Want to grow your business? Trade your refrigerator magnet in for a bumper sticker.” www.MarketingToYOURworld.com
What’s your HI-5 marketing message? Share it here and you’re building your audience. in Web 2.0. In fact, you’ve made your Web 2.0 refrigerator magnet. Now pass it on wherever you’re communicating with YOUR ideal clients and prospects.
“Whether you’re doing business around the corner or around the globe, take YOUR message to YOUR World!” www.MarketingToYOURworld.com
Tags: Develop Your Audience, Hi 5 Marketing message, Information Marketing, Internet Marketing, Web 2.0
December 21st, 2009
I’m still reading Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. My business partner and friend, Russ, had been recommending it for a while now. I’m glad I am. It’s one of those pivotal books for me.My dear friend and business partner, Russell Cox, has been talking about Blue Ocean Strategies for some time. He brought it up again during a recent conversation with Rick Hadsock, the third in our team.
What’s a Blue Ocean and why is it important to you and me? “Blue oceans are defined by unknown, and therefore, untapped market space, demand creation, and the opportunity for highly profitable growth.”
This is compared with Red Oceans which represent all industries in existence today in which “industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here, companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the red ocean bloody.
“Although some blue oceans are created well beyond existing industry boundaries, most are created from within red oceans by expanding existing industry boundaries. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules are waiting to be set.
“It will always be important to swim successfully in the red ocean by outcompeting rivals. Red oceans will always matter and will always be a fact of business life. But with supply exceeding demand in more industries, competing for a share of contracting markets, while necessary, will not be sufficient to sustain high performance. Companies need to go beyond competing. To seize new profits and growth opportunities, they also need to create blue oceans.”
If you want to learn more without (or before) reading the book, click on this link. You’ll be taken to a website from which you can download files about Blue Ocean Strategy ~ a few summary slide presentations,
The best files start with Blue Ocean Strategy. Start with them.
Enjoy and happy sailing!
Tags: Become an Expert, Information Marketing, Marketing for Consultants
December 3rd, 2009
You want to serve more people, more businesses and organizations, right? You want to be more profitable, too, don’t you? You’re paying attention to what’s going on in the world around you to know one way to become more visible and credible to more people is to become a Social Media Marketer.
My business partner and I identified significant differences between Social Media Marketing (SMM,) a relatively new method of becoming well seen and well known that’s evolved because of Web 2.0, and traditional marketing, specifically advertising.
We also realized many people believe in a difference that’s really a myth: while traditional advertising is expensive, SMM is free or nearly so.
The first statement is still true. I hope as you read this article, you come to agree with the growing number of people who are discovering the second statement is a myth.
Why is advertising through traditional media channels expensive? You’re paying for everything that goes into creating and delivering your message.
Let’s say you want a print ad in a newspaper, magazine, or the Yellow Pages. You pay for the ad. Then, especially in the “the good old days” before technology empowered so many the ability to create print-ready ads, the media organization’s experts do what needs to be done to create and modify copy, graphics and layout until your ad is ready for printing. They help you decide where and when to place the ad. Then they take care of printing and distributing the media in which your ad appears.
All the people who contributed their area of expertise are paid by the media organization. That’s why advertising through traditional media channels is so expensive.
Guess who really pays all these experts? You!
That’s why while the experts are doing their thing, you’re doing whatever you do to make the money to pay for your ad.
Now let’s take a quick look at what’s involved in social media marketing. I’ll bet you’ve heard that many channels for SMM, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, a blog, ezine, and such, are free or almost. From one perspective, that’s true.
You can do the research to choose which platform to use and why. You can take a free class, listen to a free recording, or watch a free video to learn how to do what you need to do. You can get a free page in most social networks, create your own profile, upload your own picture, invite and accept invitations. You can get a free blog, and start your own ezine.
Now who’s got to have the expertise in all the above mentioned areas? Now who’s got to have the time, skill, and know-how to research and develop all that expertise? You!
You could do it all, if you had the time, tools, technology, talent, expertise and inclination… And if you truly believe you could do it all for free.
I’ve tried to do it all. So have many others. Have you?
Here’s what I’ve discovered. I don’t have the time, the inclination, nor the expertise to do it while I make a living and have a life.
So what have I decided to do?
I get experts to handle technology and graphics, especially because these often need to get done only once. And I get experts to train me.
Who pays for that? I do!
What happened to free? There is no such thing as a free lunch. And no matter what some want you to believe, Social Media Marketing isn’t instant pudding.
Is Social Media Marketing worth it? I think so. So do millions of others. Why?
Social Media Marketing is still one of the best deals in town, especially compared to the cost of traditional advertising. In fact, now that I’m up and running, SMM is free, or almost.
I do have to continue to invest my time and energy if I want results.
I’ve still got to learn how to use the social media I’ve selected, identify my target marketing, niche, and ideal client; create and distribute my message, and share my expertise with those who want and need it.
You’re ready to become the right person sharing the right message with the right people in the right time in the right way. That’s how you become known as an expert in your field. And that’s the quickest way to become more visible and credible so you can serve more people and become more profitable.
And that’s what you said you wanted in the first place, isn’t it?
So roll up your sleeves, gather your resources, and do what you must to get started. Craft and implement your Social Media Marketing (SMM) strategy and plan. Identify your ideal clients. Design your Irresistible Offer and Call-to-Action messages. Choose the best media channels to reach them. Decide what to outsource and what you’ll do yourself.
Then “just do it.” Be willing to learn by doing and learn in public. Repeat what works; modify or stop what doesn’t, and try something else.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, if you’re suffering from Marketing Resistance Syndrome, if you don’t know where to start or what to do next, there are people all around you who are ready to help as you learn how to swim. And as a trained lifeguard, I’m here for you.
So come on in. The water’s fine.
Tags: Social Media Marketing, Web 2.0
November 4th, 2009
