CP_ZiNE Master_ Nove..

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NOVEMBER 2007
Z i N E
TM
M a s t e r
Premiere Issue
In this issue:
BNI’s Dr. Ivan Misner
Victor Donselaar MOVIAL
@
Lyn Mettler
Dr. Drew Stevens
VistaPrint’s Chris Kenney
Gold Lasso’s Elie Ashery
Beth Shaw
Yoga Fit
from
Ponn Sabra
Raj Khera
Introducing:
The Geek Girls
Lauree Ostrofsky: Grounded in Potential
Marketing Strategies for
the Online Guru in You
ht 2007. All rights reserved.
Premium
Web-Based
Networking
Quarterly
Magazine
www.NetworkAbundance.com
Published by Sensitive Pie Productions, a division of Tribeca
NOVEMBER 2007
TM
SHARE
YOUR
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©
Copyright 2007 Designed by Sensitive Pie Productions
ZiNE Master
O N S A L E N O W.
D O W N L O A D O N LY.
Intelligent.
E c o - F r i e n d l i e r.
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Published by Sensitive Pie Productions, a division of Tribeca Nine, Inc
ZiNE Master
NOVEMBER 2007
TM
Fo r t h e O n l i n e G u r u i n Yo u .
Marketing Strategies.
5
6
Editor’s Indulgence
29
18
Innovative Ways to Web PR Success
7
7
Online Strategies from a Yogi Guru
33
20
Top 5 Internet Branding Techniques
13
10
M a k i n g S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n g : Social.
35
21
Create Spam Free E-Commerce Mail
17
12
Dr. Drew’s Marketing Strategies
41
24
Geek Girls’ Clockwork Tactics
19
13
Trends in Professional Networking
45
26
25
16
27
3
Search Marketing
For Dummies
Inner Work: Grounded in Potential
We are All Seeking Balance,
Harmony, Peace & Abundance
on the Path of Wonder.
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Getting the Most for Your Money
RE: PAGE NUMBERS. BIG numbers denote the publication page #, exponentially placed numbers denote PDF reader PG # using an Adobe PDF reader.
When viewing our magazine, remember that
perception isn’t always ‘reality’. In PDF- mode we publish in a twopage spread. This issue does not have a “back
cover”; only a front “cover”. Your PDF reader is
likely to tell you there are less pages than there
really are. Think of it as a 2:1 ratio of PDF pages:)
Enjoy your journey!
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NOVEMBER 2007
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Web-Based Attitude.
Heart-Centered Gratitude.
NOVEMBER
2007
I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT IT FREQUENTLY OCCURS TO ME
THAT IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE, AS INDIVIDUALS, WORK A LITTLE
HARDER TO ALIGN TO OUR TRUE MISSION IN LIFE. FOR YEARS
I’VE WATCHED THE INTERNET GROW UP. IN THE EARLY 90’S MY
EX-HUSBAND WAS WORKING FOR A UNIVERSITY COMPUTER LAB
AND WOULD COME HOME EVERYDAY TELLING ME, “WE NEED TO
BUY A BUNCH OF DOMAINS!”. AS THE FAMILY FINANCE DEPARTMENT & A SENSIBLE CORPORATE CREDIT MANAGER, I WOULD
GIVE HIM ALL OF THE REASONS WHY HIS IDEA WAS “UNSOUND”
& WOULD REMIND HIM THAT “DOMAINS” JUST WEREN’T IN MY
BUDGET, NOR WERE “DOMAINS” IN MY PLAN FOR OUR FAMILY’S
FINANCIAL FUTURE & WELFARE. SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE
MID-90’S AND “9/11”, AS A SENIOR NETWORK MANAGER FOR A
MAJOR UTILITY, MY EX-SPOUSE WOULD COME HOME AND URGE
ME TO INVEST IN “DOT.COM” STOCK. MY REPLY, “ARE YOU
CRAZY? — HOW WILL THEY EVER PRODUCE A DIVIDEND?”
TODAY, I OWN MORE THAN 100 DOMAIN NAMES. GO FIGURE.
BY 2002, DURING A 3 MONTH RESPITE ALONE IN SEDONA, ARIZONA, I SAT FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK IN MY LITTLE CONDO WORKING ON MY OWN “WEBSITE”, IT WAS MAGNIFICENT— AT LEAST
TO ME. THE PROBLEM BACK THEN WAS…. ONE COULD BUILD IT,
BUT NOBODY WOULD COME TO SEE IT. AS A SEASONED ADVERTISING GURU, I TOOK THE USUAL STEPS IN PROMOTING MY 2002
WEBSITE. I TRADED “AFFILIATIONS”, WHICH WERE STILL RATHER
INFORMAL BACK THEN —- “I’LL GIVE YOU MY BANNER IN EXCHANGE FOR YOURS”.
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WHEN I RETURNED HOME TO NAPA IN 2002, I ABANDONED MY
LITTLE WEBSITE AND IT FELL INTO THE ETHER-ABYSS.
EASILY FORGOTTEN BY ME & EVERYONE ELSE:)
THIS IS WHAT I KNOW.
THE WORK THAT GOES INTO BUILDING A SITE COMES FROM
THE DESIGNER’S SOUL. IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN PRETTY PICTURES AND IDEAS AND BUTTONS AND “BUY NOW” SLOGANS.
A REAL WEBSITE IS DIFFERENT THAN THE OVERNIGHT “I GOTTA
SECRET & A USED CAR TO SELL TO YOU” TYPES. KNOW WHAT I
MEAN? A REAL WEBSITE IS A CREATIVE EXPRESSION THAT
GOES FAR BEYOND MAKING A QUICK BUCK. IN FACT, IF YOU
LOOK AROUND AT WHAT SUCCEEDS & ENDURES IN THIS
WORLD VS. WHAT DOESN’T, ONLINE OR OFFLINE, I THINK
YOU’LL FIND THAT A SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE DOES MORE
THAN FILL A CONSUMER “NEED”. SOMEWHERE IN THE PROCESS A CONSUMER’S DREAM IS BEING REALIZED. YES, EVEN IN
A CAN OF SODA, THE DREAM OF ‘CONVENIENCE’ & ‘INSTANT
GRATIFICATION’ IS BEING REALIZED. I COULD BE WRONG, OF
COURSE—BUT COMING FROM AN ONLINE PERSPECTIVE, AS AN
AVID CONSUMER AND PRODUCER, I THINK I’M CORRECT IN MY
ASSUMPTION. NO SURPRISE THAT ALL MAJOR MEDIA IS ALL
ABOUT “EMOTION” … RIGHT?
IT’S THE “DREAM” THAT KEEPS THE PRODUCER AND THE CONSUMER COMING BACK FOR MORE. FOR SOME THE DREAM IS
“GETTING RICH”, FOR OTHERS THE DREAM IS “BEING FAMOUS”
AND FOR SOME THE DREAM IS SURVIVING THROUGH THE NEXT
MONTH TO GET TO THE NEXT “DREAM-GROWTH-STAGE”.
FOR ME, THE DREAM IS ABOUT FREEDOM, SELF-EXPRESSION &
A STRONG DESIRE TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE REALIZE THEIR
OWN DREAMS. AFTER YEARS OF MANAGING & CONSULTING, I
LIKE THE “QUIET FREEDOM OF LIFE ONLINE”.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS & DREAMS WITH OTHERS IN A MEANINGFUL
WAY, EMAIL US & TELL US WHAT YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT LIFE ONLINE:
[email protected]
Our Best Wishes to You & Yours for a Safe, Happy, Healthy
& Abundant Holiday Season!
M. Joyce McMenamin, author of The Integrity Channel ®and President/CEO of Tribeca Nine, Inc, Publisher & Senior
Editor of NoNicheTM remains the creative catalyst of the corporation she founded in 2006, after 25 years as a corporate finance manager, small business owner and consultant. She writes under the name, m.j.m. estrada & blogs at
www.sedonagypsy.com; Joyce is a regional advocate for Asperger Young Adults. She is married, has one adult child
& resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a person on a mission.
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Online Marketing
Strategies from a
Yoga Guru
Insights from Beth Shaw
The practice of yoga has certainly made a
comeback as it is the 6,000 year old secret
to health and vitality . In a society of high tech, fast paced
overachievers we all need to reconnect with ourselves: Body, Mind and
Spirit. But how does one take an ancient practice and combine it with the
modern technology of today in order to increase business and profit without losing its’ authenticity?
My Passion.
My Business. Beth Shaw explains it simply: “Yoga became
my passion, and my passion became my business.” Since its inception in
1997, her business, YogaFit, has revolutionized the fitness industry and
brought yoga into the mainstream. Born as an instructor-training program, the company has trained more than 50,000 yoga instructors in the
United States and several thousand more in Europe, Asia, Australia, and
South America, YogaFit teaches a unique, dynamic style of yoga that
combines traditional fitness training, focused breathing, and strength
building. While she attributes much of her company’s success to reputation and word of mouth, the creation of her website www.yogafit.com was
a key element in successfully establishing her business and creating opportunities for company growth.
Accessibility. By creating an online presence, Beth also
increased YogaFit’s presence in the fitness industry and the business
world. By forming www.yogafit.com, Beth made YogaFit accessible to the
rest of the world, and she found herself with new devotees and customers
from Japan to Germany that wanted to purchase YogaFit merchandise in
bulk quantities. Her website also offered YogaFit enthusiasts the opportunity to sign up and register for trainings via the website as opposed to
making that expensive overseas call or having to deal with the instability
and unreliability of regular mail.
Accommodating Client’s Needs. As YogaFit
grew in popularity, so did the client’s demands for it’s’ merchandise and
trainings. Beth had originally sold her YogaFit clothing out of the trunk of
her car, but as her line of clothing and the demands for it grew, she knew
that she needed to find another way to make her products available to the
general public. By creating an online website, YogaFit can “come to the
customer’, instead of the other way around. In addition, she wanted to
make her products available to all other individuals that wanted to buy
YogaFit merchandise but weren’t quite ready to commit to a full-time yoga
practice.
Continued on next page
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Instant Gratification. Establishing YogaFit’s website allowed the customer to obtain that instant gratification they desire. The website
offers the individual one-on-one attention without delay, and there is no wait
time or other inconvenience that would put the client on hold. Registration and
purchases are simply a click away, and in the course of a few minutes, the customer can place their order and sign up for trainings without any obstacles.
Their requests are processed more quickly and efficiently, and their satisfaction level is further increased.
Keeping Track of What Works...
and What Doesn’t. Another benefit of having an online data-
base is the ability to keep track and monitor every move that is made. After a
thorough analysis of what products sold the most and what products weren’t,
Beth was able to make several tentative decisions in discontinuing part of her
YogaFit clothing line, and also made the decision to expand her clothing line
into an environmentally-friendly division as well. This was economically helpful
in that it saved YogaFit thousands of dollars and also increased profit.
Sampling For Satisfaction. Another method that Beth incorporated into her website was the opportunity to view and sample merchandise before purchasing. YogaFit sells an array of musical cds and accompaniment for workouts and customers now have the option to sample and preview
the music before they buy it. This saves them the risk of an unsatisfactory purchase, and the possibility of return. It also saves YogaFit the cost of having to
ship the item and then having it sent back.
Friendly Links. One great way of getting free advertising is offering it. YogaFit has relationships with numerous companies and high profile
organizations, and when Beth receives press or recognition on one company’s
website, she then recognizes them on hers, often by providing mutual links on
each other’s web pages. One link can lead to thousands of hits a day, which
adds to the company’s financial growth.
Incentives. YogaFit always offers monthly specials and other bonus incentives, such as a free CD valued at $15.95 with an online order of over
$50. Certain incentives such as these serve as reward bonuses for the dedicated customer, and they also promote YogaFit’s business.
Keeping It Personal. YogaFit prides itself on its’ personal relationship with its clients and trainees. Despite being thousands of miles away
from a client, YogaFit strives to maintain that sense of connection with each individual. If someone has questions or concerns, YogaFit representatives are
available over the phone or via email and are easily accessible. Customers
know that when they’re making a purchase through the website, they’re not just
dealing with a compute - they’re dealing with real people that care about their
needs and satisfaction.
Beth Shaw is the President of
YogaFit® Inc., The Leader in Mind
Body Fitness Education.
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NOVEMBER 2007
“Modern life is
a life full of
choices, for
good or for ill.
Those who
make
conscious
choices live
richer and
more
purposeful
lives.”
YogaFit
YogaFit
uses its’ online presence to
promote the company and spread the
word, but by no means does that take
the place of quality of service. Nor does
it affect the authenticity of the ancient
practice of YogaFit teachings.
© Copyright 2007 Designed by Sensitive Pie Productions
is committed to serving its
client’s and trainee’s needs. Customer
satisfaction is the number one objective.
Rob Bennett.
A u t h o r.
By putting more emphasis on service
quality and customer satisfaction, all
else will follow and the good business
comes naturally.
w w w . Yo g a F i t . c o m
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"Passion Saving: The Path to Plentiful
F r e e Ti m e a n d S o u l - S a t i s f y i n g Wo r k . "
A p p e a r i n g In N ove m b e r ’s
NoNiche
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ZiNE Master
NOVEMBER 2007
TM
Uploading a video to YouTube and
hoping someone will bump into it, isn’t exactly social behavior as much as it is "broadcast(ing)
yourself" (YouTube's slogan). Real social media includes the
element of sharing. If I send a link to you -- my friend, and
the content is interesting, social media sharing would enable us to easily talk about it instantly. We’d share watching
a video, invite other friends to join us, watch it, chat about
it, send SMS and place voice calls about it, enabling all of
us to have a much richer experience. This kind of real social
media sharing is soon becoming a reality.
There’s a second Internet wave that’s
about to hit and operators are standing
by to ride the crest. Operators are in a key position to use their fixed and mobile assets to bring the
REAL social part to media by enabling people to easily
share social media content to anyone, at any time,
enabling users to instantly share the moment.
In order to make social media really social, operators will be
utilizing Internet content to facilitate person to person communication, bringing online and offline users closer by enabling them not only to look at content, but also share content experiences. Today, FMC operators have an enormous
opportunity to expand their existing assets to enable Internet users and content to be shared instantly and in ways
that are truly social.
Making
Social
Media.
..
“Social”
with Victor Donselaar
President
Movial
Sending, receiving, consuming, and
sharing of social media content won’t just
be an "online" experience where the user
has to go to an Internet browser, but rather
a ubiquitous experience where media is
delivered instantly, personally, to a user,
anywhere and anytime.
Continued on page 15
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With the emergence of mobile web technologies,
fixed and mobile operators are now finally seeing
new opportunities to remove some of the “walled
garden” aspect of their business and pursue new
revenue opportunities. The key to their success
will be predicated on their ability to focus on the
end-user needs and their ability to abandon silo’d
services.
A good example of the kind of silo’d thinking that the industry needs to move away from is availability of certain
services in one device environment (e.g., the PC) but not
in another device environment (e.g., the mobile). This is
exactly the case with video calling, which can be done
on the PC but not the mobile device . . . yet! But with
new web technologies and mobile bandwidth, these capabilities will be available on next generation handsets
and offered by the more progressive operator networks.
“ To d a y p e o p l e t a l k a b o u t
social media
as being
truly social.
But, in fact it's
really anti-social.”
- Victor Donselaar
President, Movial
The key to making this converged environment truly social is the industry’s ability to understand end-user needs
on each device. Yes, the service set needs to be available across devices -- PCs, mobile, tablets, cars and
even Set-Top-Boxes but the priority of the service set will
change dramatically based on the device and the environment in which that device is used. If done properly,
the user experience on each device will be complementary to a larger, more pervasive social experience.
Carpe Diem – operators and marketers alike
have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on the exploding user generated content on the Internet by making social media
really social, and delivering the shared content easily, instantly to any device and more
importantly, by making it very easy to start
communicating about shared content.
Movial inspires rich, intuitive Internet ex-
periences for companies embracing transformational technologies. Leveraging its deep expertise
in Internet, Linux and m obile devices, Movial seamlessly enables its customers to deliver richer user experiences to millions of people on PCs
and on mobile devices. Movial's device creation, Internet communications applications and design for digital services are generating revenue
for industry leaders like ARM, Ericss on, Nokia, Telefònica and O range. By
delivering highly intuitive and compelling user experiences, Movial has
become the trusted source for enriching the way people interact everyday. For more information visit:
www.movial.com .
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NOVEMBER 2007
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Drew Stevens Ph.D.
Many mentees and clients call me each day seeking methods to increase their marketing success. Eventually, fundamentals contribute to success, yet there are motives that
one can take to address concerns in the vast enterprise of the Internet.
Search Engine Optimization – Search engines such as Google and Alta Vista
contain numerous methods that discover websites. While there is much banter on the
subject and typically much ado about technology, SEO as it is technically named is an
organic method based on algorithms created in searches for people to find you on the
Internet. Think of this as a technological Hide and Go Seek. The value of SEO is that
clients find you easily and hastily. The needed tactics include using typical words and
phrases congruent with your industry. If you sell lawn mowers, the technique would be
to use the words lawn, green, fertilizer, etc. on your website so that clients can find you.
The more often the word the more often it is indexed by a search engine.
Free – Prospects, clients, you and me all love free stuff. Review your web site and decide how you might offer something of value in exchange for an email address that can
be used for a future marketing campaign. If you sell paint, yoga, Pilates, stamps, suggest for an email address that you provide “10 Tips for Proper Relaxation”. The more
you offer the more traffic you will derive.
Differentiation – Seth Godin in his book “Purple Cow” suggests the use of being remarkable, nothing in marketing is further from the truth. Your website requires difference from competition and difference from the industry. Provide audio, video,
downloads, product sheets, “free smells” whatever is necessary to create a buzz.
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Exemplars of differentiation and buzz are Facebook and YouTube.
Believe it or not the more variety the more they speak about you.
Expertise – Prospects and clients are coming to you for your expertise. Provide
articles; tip sheets and industry reports when possible. A recent client provided industry reports on the up coming golf season for his industry and gain an additional
million dollars in business! Clients will find you for the value that you provide.
Internet marketing is not different from traditional marketing. Internet
marketing is simply quicker and more malleable. Nascent ideas today might be next
week’s buzz. Yet, Internet marketing requires daily nimbleness and flexibility. Marketing that is hurried, rote or without meaning is useless. Prospects need to find you
and you must maintain current on the ideas that bring your business to the next
level.
About Drew Stevens PhD
Drew Stevens PhD is known as the Sales Strategist. Dr.
Drew helps clients create more revenue in less time. He
is the author of seven books including Split Second
Selling and Split Second Customer Service and Little
Book of Hope and is frequently called on by the media
for his expertise.
Sign up for Dr. Drew's newsletter The Sales Strategist
at ([email protected])
Review his new book Split Second Selling at:
www.gettingtothefinishline.com
Also visit Dr. Drew’s Blog located at:
http://drewjstevens.blogspot.com
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Dr. Ivan Misner
is the Founder & Chairman of
BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization. BNI was founded in 1985. The organization now
has thousands of chapters throughout every populated
continent of the world. Each year, BNI generates millions of referrals resulting in billions of dollars worth of
business for its members.
Dr. Misner’s Ph.D. is from the University of Southern California. He has written nine books, including his New York Times
bestsellers, Masters of Networking and Truth or Delusion?
Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths. He is a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur.com and is Chairman of the Board for
The Referral Institute--a referral training company with trainers around the world. He has taught business and social capital courses at several universities and sits on the board of directors for the Colorado School of Professional Psychology.
Called the “Father of Modern Networking” by many organizations and the “Networking Guru” by Entrepreneur magazine,
Dr. Misner is considered one of the world’s leading experts on
business networking and has been a keynote speaker for major corporations and associations throughout the world. He
has been featured in the L.A.Times, Wall Street Journal, and
The New York Times, as well as on numerous TV and radio
shows.
Tre n d s i n
Professional
Networking
Dr. Misner is on the board of directors for the Haynes Children
Center. He is the founder of the BNI-Misner Charitable Foundation and was named “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Daily
Bulletin.
b y D r. I v a n M i s n e r
Dr. Misner resides in Southern California with his wife and
three children.
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In the early 1980s, John Naisbitt wrote in Megatrends about the emerging importance of the networking process in society. Later, Tom Peters
wrote in Thriving on Chaos that this “process
can be systematized.”
When you stop to think about it, these two statements weren’t made all
that long ago. Networking and relationship marketing is a fairly new kid
on the block. From the mid 80s to the 90s, systems and structures began
to emerge that shifted a lot of business owners from a single-minded focus of direct selling to a broader scope which included relationship marketing and networking.
There are several emerging issues and trends surrounding the process of
networking that are being created out of the need to find an effective
way to develop business for entrepreneurs and sales people in this new
century. The following are three of the most prominent trends that look
to become more important in the coming years:
1. Online AND Face-to-Face Networking will BOTH Continue to
Flourish
I’m a proponent of online networks like Ecademy.com and others. I
think they will continue to grow successfully and help many of
their members; however, they are not the final answer to business
marketing or to networking, but simply another great tool for people to connect with others (especially outside their local geographic
area).
On my Referrals For Life Blog: http://referrals.ducttapemarketing.com , I
recently had someone who said: “I don’t know that it is true anymore that referrals are about relationships.” He went on to say that
technology is changing the rules and that just participating in a
website should be good enough. Well, in one word, I’d have to
say…. WRONG!
Referrals are, and will be for the foreseeable future, all about relationships. Whether they are relationships built online or in face-toface connection – they will still involve relationships. People refer
people they know and trust. They will not regularly refer someone
simply because they are listed on a website – that’s called advertising, not networking.
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Online networking works, but relationships must still be part of
the process. Using the Internet to exchange ideas, share knowledge and increase your visibility will be imperative in the coming
years. Virtual networking is a catchy trend in many circles. Some
people involved in face-to-face networking feel threatened, as if
online networking is going to replace their tried and true system.
Those who foretell the demise of face-to-face networking fail to
note one important thing… the facts. Face-to-face networking
groups continue to expand. The growth rate of my own referral
networking organization, Business Networking International:
www.bni.com, bears proof. Since the Internet first became popular
in the mid 90s, BNI has experienced a 1,186% growth rate. That is
NOT a typo!
The more “high tech” business owners become, the more and more
they really need to foster those “high touch” opportunities that
face-to-face networking affords.
Virtual networking can be an effective way to increase your business and the Internet can certainly be a great tool for staying in
touch with those with whom you are currently networking, but I
don’t think it will replace face-to-face networking in our lifetime.
Technology flattens the communication hierarchy and provides
opportunities to improve your networking efforts – not replace
them. I believe people who understand this will begin to effectively utilize technology without replacing relationships to take
their marketing to new levels in the years to come.
2. Networking & Social Capital Education
Don’t hold your breath for the colleges and universities of the
world to begin teaching networking and social capital. At this
point, there are only two colleges in the world that offer regular,
core-curriculum college courses on networking and social capital:
1. Davis College in Ohio (taught by Debby Peters), and 2. The University of Michigan (taught by Wayne Baker). That’s it – two colleges!
The college and university systems are behemoths of bureaucracy
so far behind the curve of small business development that I’m beginning to despair that they will ever catch on. Most professors
have never had a real job in the business world and are completely
out of touch with what is happening in real life, especially in
small business.
I predict that the current trend in networking and social capital
education will emerge in the form of private professional training
organizations in much the same way that private industry has controlled the educational market on “sales techniques” (another area
that colleges fail miserably). Companies like the Referral Institute:
www.referralinstitute.com, offer a series of trainings specific to
the techniques and systems of networking, social capital, and referral marketing are starting to pop up with a very refined and
polished slate of seminars and trainings for those business owners
who want to learn how to harness the power of word-of-mouth
marketing.
3. Small Companies will Continue To Have the Edge Over Big
Companies (Relating to Business Networking)
For the most part, big companies are clueless about building sales
through the networking process. They perpetually teach sales personnel traditional methodologies while relying heavily on advertising to create buzz. Mind you, there’s nothing inherently wrong
with these strategies. The problem is – big companies don’t effectively add referral marketing into the process.
When it comes to developing social capital and
the networking process, small business is king.
Big business is slow to move out of the mindset of
splashy ad campaigns, big dollars spent on traditional marketing, and the same-old, same-old.
If big corporations ever get it, watch out. But so far, they have
been slow to act. Even programs like the USA’s “Do Not Call” registry, have not moved big companies into understanding how to
train their people to network effectively… yet.
If big business does ever get “it,” they are likely to run over the
little guys. They will learn how to develop social capital and will
teach their people how to do true relationship marketing. Most big
business is just a notch or two above the universities in the “you
can’t tell me anything new” department! For now, there are only a
few forward thinking big companies who consistently apply these
concepts (and I mean very few). For the rest, it’s a trend to watch
for in the very distant, distant future.
Continued on Page 40
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NOVEMBER 2007
FROM THE FOUNDER OF GROUNDED IN POTENTIAL
I n n e r
W o r k
to Increase
Online
Aw a r e n e s s
and
Success
Yo u k n o w t h e c o n c e p t o f
I n n e r Wo r k , b e c a u s e y o u ' v e
l i v e d i t . It means looking inward to understand yourself on a deeper level and to
know your purpose. It's what likely helped
you create the life you're living right now
and prompted you to read this magazine.
O n t h e p r o f e s s i o n a l s i d e , I n n e r Wo r k i s
about tapping into what you innately know
about your business and the customers you
want to target. Accessing that knowledge,
and using it to your advantage, brings you
into alignment with yourself and means work
becomes a natural extension of you (and
therefore not work at all). It also gives you
valuable information to use when marketing
your business to customers.
So you have this great business or idea for
a business and want it to take flight. Just
like before it takes digging below the surface to connect to who you are, this time as
a businessperson, and what you know already about your ideal customers – the ones
you want, not necessarily the ones you
have.
Lauree Ostrofsky, CPC
This article is continued on Page 43
Learn more about Lauree & walk through her exercise for creating
successful and purposeful customer profiles on Pg 44
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NOVEMBER 2007
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Raj Khera
If they were looking for "museum exhibit design", put "Museum Exhibit Design" as a headline and then get into the benefits you provide. Include a picture of someone smiling looking directly at the
reader – numerous eye tracking studies report that this increases response rates.
on
Getting the Most From Your
Online Ad Dollars
Department store mogul John Wanamaker once said, “I know that
half my advertising works, I just don't know which half.” The Internet
changed this – in a big way.
For $50, you can use search engines to get hundreds of
leads. Google, Yahoo, and most other search engines allow companies to bid for rankings by keyword. When someone enters a
search term, the “Sponsored Listings” you see are paid placements. The best part: you pay only when someone actually clicks
on your ad. Plus, you can tweak your ads constantly to measure
changes in response rates.
Buying well-defined keywords increases the quality of your
leads. For example, if you specialize in construction for museum exhibits, do not buy terms like "construction" or "museum" by themselves. You will get a lot of unqualified leads and rack up quite a
bill. Instead, use terms like "museum exhibit design" and "museum exhibit construction" to attract qualified leads. SEOBook.com has a
keyword research tool to help you identify keyword variations and
get traffic estimates on each term.
Your next step is to write compelling ads for each keyword. Ads that
contain the keywords in the headline and text get a much higher
click rate than those that do not. If you serve only local customers,
several search engines offer geo-targeting capabilities to display
your ads only in your local area.
Once someone clicks on your ad, show them a
"landing page" that includes the keyword they
used during their search.
Your landing page should also include a clear button instructing the reader to take action to try out your service,
download a whitepaper or coupon, sign up for your email
newsletter, or anything you can offer to create a relationship.
Keep track of your results. Tweak your ads and landing pages and
you will find the magic formula that works for your business.
Raj Khera is CEO of
MailerMailer, a leading opt-in
email list management service
that enables customers to create, send and track email
newsletters and marketing
campaigns, and hosts a small
business resource center at
www.MoreBusiness.com.
Visit Raj's blog at:
blog.MailerMailer.com
For a free trial of
M a i l e r M a i l e r, g o t o :
w w w. M a i l e r M a i l e r. c o m
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Web PR
Success
Blogging With a Purpose.
Innovative Ways to Use Web
Technologies from Lyn Mettler
It seems you can’t turn around
these days without hearing how
traditional media are in a severe decline. Newspapers’ readership
is declining, radio is battling iPods and
satellite radio for the listener’s ear, and
digital video recording has taken the wind
out of TV’s sails.
I personally have been disappointed to see
articles I have earned for clients in major
outlets like the New York Times and Chicago Tribune yield little to no response. In
the past, such a “hit” would result in
countless inquiries that could almost turn
a company around overnight.
So where do you go from here if you want
to engage public relations to help expand
awareness of a new product, initiative, or
simply just to maintain your company’s
reputation? Where else but the Web?
The same client who had little feedback
from those national newspaper “hits” actually experienced a huge response to an article posted on CNN.com.
29
But it’s essential that you think creatively,
strategically and consider your company’s
message when you begin to explore the
many tools now available online to help
you spread the word. Below I’ve outlined
four examples of companies who creatively
used a Web technology as a public relations tool and saw great results.
Everybody and his brother appears to be blogging these days on
everything from their favorite sports team to their pet. And many
companies are jumping on the bandwagon too quickly without a
solid strategy in place to use their blog to reach their target audience.
Breakaway Adventures, a company who books walking and cycling
tours of Europe, worked with my public relations firm to create a
blog that would engage their potential and existing clients and provide them with helpful information.
Last year, I led a group of journalists on one of the company’s cycling tours to the small island of Gozo, part of the Malta archipelago, and I suggested that I do a daily blog detailing my experience
and posting photos of our trip. This allowed potential clients curious about this little-known island to follow my trip live or read it afterward and get a firsthand account of what the trip was truly like.
The blog went much further than a typical brochure blurb and presented real-life issues and a taste of the culture, while providing
them with photos of exactly what they would see.
The blog was a success, with several readers following it live and
posting comments. To date it has resulted in more than 1200 page
views. The idea is for the company to encourage future travelers to
host similar blogs that will then be archived on their Web site for
visitors to read.
A Video for the Dogs
For a client who wanted to quickly expand awareness about a new
product they had developed, a tooth-brushing kit for dogs, my firm
encouraged them to produce a video they could post online. Since
brushing a dog’s teeth can sound daunting to some, we recommended they create an instructional video to walk pet owners
through the process and convey the message that brushing a pet’s
teeth can extend its life.
It was important that the video be conversational, simple and
pleasant to watch so it would appeal to a variety of folks online.
The video could also be used for a variety of marketing purposes,
such as trade shows, giveaways to clients and more.
In addition to posting the video on their Web site,
www.keepitcleanusa.com, we also posted it to some 20 free videosharing sites, such as YouTube, Yahoo Video and Break.com, and
sent it virally by e-mail, encouraging anyone and everyone we
knew to forward it along in the interest of promoting pet health.
Since its posting, more than 1200 people have watched the video
on YouTube alone.
More on Page 31
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ZiNE Master
NOVEMBER 2007
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Lyn Mettler
Sending Fans to Facebook
W i th M i c r o s o f t r e ce n tl y b u y i n g a s ta k e i n F a c e b o o k , v a l u i n g i t a t
$ 1 5 b i l l i o n , t h e c u r r e n t b u z z i s a l l a b o u t s o c i a l n e tw o r k i n g . M i l lions of people are flocking to sites like MySpace, LinkedIn and
Facebook to interact with friends and business colleagues by
s h a r i n g p h o t o s, v i d e o s a n d i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e m s e l v e s , a s
well as joining groups, communicating through messages and
p o s t s a n d n e tw o r k i n g .
G i l l e t te c a m e u p w i t h a c r e a t i v e co n t e s t to e n g a g e F a ce b o o k
u s e r s , w h i c h n u m b e r a b o u t 5 0 m i l l i o n , a s p a r t o f t h e i r G i l l e t te
F u s i o n P o w e r G a m e F a c e C o l l e g e T o u r . S p o r t s fa n s a r e d i r e c te d
t o g o to t h e w w w . g i l l e t t e g a m e fa c e . c o m s i t e w h e r e t h e y c a n
w a t ch a v i d e o o f C l e v e l a n d B r o w n s q u a r te r b a c k B r a d y Q u i n n o f fering advice on how to get your “gameface” on. Fans are then
d i r e c te d t o F a c e b o o k w h e r e t h e y c a n j o i n th e G i l l e t t e G a m e fa c e
g r o u p t o u p l o a d a v i d e o o r p h o to s p o r t i n g t h e i r b e s t “ g a m e f a c e . ”
Once you join the Facebook group, you can get shaving tips,
v i e w o th e r s ’ su b m i s si o n s , p o s t y o u r t h o u g h t s o n t h e d i sc u s s i o n
b o a r d o r “ w a l l ” a n d m or e . T h e p r o m o t i o n a p p e a r s to h a v e b e e n
a s u c ce s s w i t h m o r e t h a n 1 8 0 0 g r o u p m e m b e r s o n F a ce b o o k .
A Little Bit of Everything
O n e o f m y f a vo r i te e x a m p l e s o f s m a r t u s e s o f W e b t o o l s t o e n gage an audience is NBC’s “The Office” television show. “The
O f f i c e ” h a s c r e a t e d l o t s o f d e d ic a te d f a n s w h o a r e t r u l y l o o k i n g
f o r w a y s t o s t a y i n v o l v e d w i th t h e s h o w b e y o n d i ts r e g u l a r
Thursday night air time.
S o N B C c r e a t e d a w h o p p e r o f a W e b s i te , s p o r t i n g a l l k i n d s o f
cool tools that can keep fans busy for months. One of the most
creative applications is the Dunder Mifflin (the name of the comp a n y i n “ T h e O f f i c e ” ) I n f i n i ty s i t e , w h i c h i s a s o c i a l n e tw o r k
where you can do all kinds of fun tasks related to the show. You
c a n "a p p l y " t o b e a n e m p l o y e e o f t h e c o m p a n y a n d g e t a s s i g n e d
a n o f f i c i a l p o s i t i o n . T h e n , y o u c a n p e r fo r m v a r i o u s j o b s , j u s t
l i k e t h e c h a r a c t e r s d o o n t h e s h o w , s u c h a s d e ve l o p i n g a l o c a l
a d c a m p a i g n , a t a s k th e y c o m p l e t e d o n a r e c e n t e p i s o d e . A c c o r d i n g t o a r e c e n t a r t i c l e o n M e d i a P o s t , th i s n e tw o r k n o w h a s
100,000 "employees." Not bad.
is the
President of
Step Ahead
Web
Strategies
a company that offers clients a comprehensive online
strategy from a public relations and
marketing perspective. The company
helps businesses
and organizations
expand their Web
presence beyond
their Web site, engaging the latest
and most innovative
technologies, including online video,
social networking,
search engine optimization, blogs,
Podcasting and
more, to reach their
target audiences
with the right message. She also
owns Mettler Public
Relations, a
Charleston, S.C.based PR firm, and
is a freelance writer
for a variety of publications.
www.StepAheadWeb
Strategies.com
Continued on Page 40
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Top 5 Internet
Branding Techniques
NOVEMBER 2007
Ponn M. Sabra
While there are hundreds of internet marketing techniques
you can utilize to harness the power of your internet
brand; after three-years of creating my Name-Brand-Blog,
& scoring a 10 out of 10 in the Online ID Calculator , I
learned through much trial and error that the Top 5 Internet Branding Techniques guaranteed to catapult your
search engine rankings in your target market (keywords
are phrases) today are:
1. Article Submission - Positions you as an expert even before you have your own website/blog up and running.
These techniques
are surprisingly
economical and
simple as well.
Internet branding is basically taking
your company’s unique selling
proposition and/or your personal
brand onto the web.
With the interactivity of Web 2.0,
you can generate your very own
user-generated community around
you and your products and services.
D
2. Blogging - Brings conversations to your expert voice, tone
and personality.
3. Social Media/Networking/Bookmarking - Web 2.0 in-
Ponn M. Sabra, bestselling au-
4. Search Engine Optimized Press Releases - Captures
the attention of search engine spiders and traditional media outlets.
thor of "Empowering Women to Power Network",
syndicated columnist ( WomenEntpreneur.com ),
writer, and a home based entrepreneur with partial
paralysis, empowers women entrepreneurs to action at http://www.EmpowerWomenNow.com - the
leading Internet Branding Online Resource for
Women Entrepreneurs, Home Based Entrepreneurs
& Small Business Owners.
5. Joint Venture Partnerships – Generates and capitalizes
on word of mouth marketing and viral buzz!
Logon http://empowerwomennow.com/newswomen-entrepreneurs/ for free tips, tools & resources today!
teractivity allows your online presence to be scored, rated and
ranked by personal testimonials, endorsements, and much more.
In upcoming columns, I will teach you how to apply
these Internet Branding techniques to your business - so stay tuned! Meanwhile, find out how you
score on the online ID calculator at: http://
www.careerdistinction.com/onlineid and get prepared to bring your score up or maintain-it-together!
Intuitive
Feng Shui:
American
Style.
A New Age
Niche arrives
January 2008
NoNicheTM
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NOVEMBER 2007
TM
Contrary to popular belief, creating spam free commercial email
does not begin with your message but rather your list. Avoiding
spam accusations has mostly to do with how and where you compiled
your list of email address than the types of words and graphics you
use in your message. Over the past few years, most Internet service
providers (ISPs) have mitigated their use of content filtering in favor
of reputation-based scoring systems. This means the likelihood of
your commercial email making it to the inbox is determined by your
previous sending patterns and the number of complaints lodged
against your domain and IP address, whether your message contains profanity or objectionable content. This doesn’t mean that
avoiding content filters isn’t important, it’s just not as important as it
used to be. ISPs have put the power of complaining into consumers
hands by easily allowing them to report your email as spam. This is
accomplished when consumers use the “Report as Spam” or “Mark
as Spam” button conveniently found in their email clients. Therefore,
consumer perception of your email is tantamount to ensuring it is
considered spam free.
So what’s a legitimate marketer to do? Influencing consumer perception of your email starts with your relationship with intended recipients. Do the recipients view your organization as credible? Is
your brand recognizable and compelling? Do they even know who you
are? I always find the last question most amusing when I speak
with a marketer who purchased a so-called opt-in list. They claim
the people on the list have opted-in. “Opt-into what?”,I always ask. If
you purchase a list, no matter where it’s from or how it was compiled, you run a huge risk of being labeled a spammer. There’s no
easy way around building a solid list and establishing a good relationship. You have to earn it. This means creating opt-in forms on
your website and convincing visitors to complete it by offering them
Goto page 37/
access to compelling content via email.
How to Create
Spam Free
Commercial Email
By Elie
Ashery
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Once you have permission and have built a solid opt-in
list the second step is keeping permission by providing
relevant content in your email messages. Relevancy is
an important concept in email marketing because it is
often synonymous with value. For instance, if you sell
shoes online and simply send advertisements for running shoes to your entire list when half the list purchased dress shoes, your message contains some relevancy, however its value will be perceived as being low.
In contrast, if you segment your list by types of shoe
purchases and send advertisements with content
geared to their respective purchase coupled with information about a frequent buyers program, your message’s perception of relevancy will increase along with
its value.
Gone are the days of the pure opt-in play for email
marketing since spam is in the eyes of the beholder. Not only does the term “spam free” refer to
your list gathering practices but also what you do
once you receive permission. In a risk-free world
email marketing is a paradox where relevancy can
trump permission. Since it’s not practiced in a vacuum, finding the perfect balance of the two is the
spam free challenge.
Elie D. Ashery,
President
& CEO, is a true entrepreneur who
has dedicated his career to technology and the Internet. He is responsible for the vision and strategy execution for Gold Lasso
(www.goldlasso.com) and drives the
innovation behind Gold Lasso's products and services. He also is the
founder of Dotmemail.com
(www.dotemail.com) a pioneer in creating an open source community for
professional email marketers. Elie
started his career as a financial analyst and investment researcher for the
Internet media sector at Newby &
Co., a special situations investment
research and investment banking
firm. In 1997 he co-founded Newsletters.com, a subscriptions reseller of
industry trade publications and market research. While President of
Newsletters.com, Elie helped raise
equity financing from prominent angel
and institutional investors in the
Washington, DC area. In addition,
Elie helped to implement a partnership marketing strategy that that
made Newsletters.com the premier
subscription reseller of industry periodicals on the Internet. Newsletters.com was sold in August of 2000
to MarketResearch.com a subsidiary
of The Tribune Companies. After Newsletters.com, Elie served as the Vice President of Business Development for IncenSoft, a State of Maryland funded software
company that specialized in the development of incentive compensation management programs. At IncenSoft, Elie implemented a successful email marketing
strategy that netted business from Fortune 1000 companies. IncenSoft was acquired by Synygy, Inc. in September 2002. Elie holds bachelors degrees in finance and accounting from the University of Maryland.
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Dr. Ivan Misner, continued from Pg 24.
On Sale Dec 10th
Lyn Mettler on PR Success Stories,
continued from Pg 31.
When The World’s Best Known Marketing
Secret came out in 1994 it was one of the
few books in the bookstores that talked
about networking. Now there are dozens, if not hundreds. An entire industry
has been born over the last decade that
is just now being codified and refined.
Over the next several years, you will see
more and more about the importance of
networking in building your business. It
is developing into a science as well as a
way of life.
Our desire and need for Myth
Take Joy! A Christmas Classic.
Holiday Healing: A Celebration
These trends are not just an American
phenomenon, but an international one as
well. The introduction of “International
Networking
Week” (www.InternationalNetworkingW
eek.com) is a prime example of how this
approach to doing business is growing
worldwide.
Another Year. Another Niche.
Evergreen 360º.
New Year’s 2008: Will it be a “10”?
Dr. Drew Stevens was on the
cover of our November Edition.
Who knows?
Next month it could be “you”!
But it can’t be if you’re not part of
our special network.
You need to be seen in NoNicheTM
Contact us & we’ll show you the way.
Small business development through the
process of building social capital will
continue to grow in the global market
we are currently experiencing. No one
has a crystal ball, but based on what I’m
seeing and what I’ve seen in the past, I
believe these are some of the key things
to look for relating to networking and
referral marketing over the next few
years.
Called the father of modern networking, Dr.
Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling
author and Founder of Business Networking
International (www.bni.com), the world’s
largest business networking organization.
His latest New York Times bestselling book,
Masters of Sales, can be viewed at
www.MastersBooks.com. Dr. Misner is also
Senior Partner for the Referral Institute, an
international referral training company
(www.referralinstitute.com). He resides in
Southern California with his wife and three children and can be reached at [email protected].
Two of the quirkiest characters
are Dwight Schrute and Creed,
and you can read their deepest
thoughts on the Schrute Space
or Creed’s Thoughts blogs
regularly updated on the site.
The show also offers plenty in
the way of video, allowing visitors to download past episodes, watch deleted scenes
and Webisodes only available
online, see interviews with the
characters and more. They
also offer a real hodge podge
of other nifty activities to keep
you returning, like chat rooms,
silly contests, virtual office
basketball and subscribing to
the Scranton (the city in Pennsylvania where their fictional
office is located) newsletter
and more.
The same MediaPost article
reported that “The Office” section of the NBC Web site has
had more than 800,000 unique
users visit to date. I’d say it’s
a hit.
All of these
examples
provide
great lessons and hopefully inspirational ideas for the wide range
of possibilities you have when
marketing yourself on the
Web. So, don’t just blog to
blog, post any old video on the
Web, or create a profile on
MySpace which you never go
to again. Be smart, strategic
and innovative, and you will be
rewarded with new and better
customers.
www.StepAheadWebStrategies.com
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Simply creating a profile on a
social networking site is not a
recipe for success. There needs to be an idea behind it that warrants a social networking presence, a compelling reason why someone would "friend" whatever entity is on the social network, and an impetus for these friends to create a community together.
When done right, the social network spreads the word about your
brand in a very low cost way. This is not a new idea; think of the classic Faberge commercial, "You tell two friends, then they'll tell two
friends - and so on, and so on and so on...."
Look at a recent campaign by General Mills and Pink for the Cure:
pinktogether.com. They've created a community of people affected by
breast cancer. In this case, doing a MySpace page makes sense because these survivors are already there . Users can share their stories
and photographs, they can exchange comments with each other. They
are bound together by a shared experience, and Pink Together gives
them a venue in which to connect. They can download themed elements for their computer and purchase t-shirts, caps, etc. This works.
So far they have over 6,000 "friends" to prove it.
Cherry Coke's MySpace profile has over 57,000 "friends.” Who knows
whether or not this really adds sales for Coke, but it is successful in
that they're extending the Coke brand -- via music visualizers, videos,
and wallpaper -- to consumer desktops at their request .
But for large brands like General Mills and Coke, there is a preexisting loyalty among consumers and a desire for them to feel a part
of the marketing message. Putting up a really cool, customized profile
page full of downloads powered by a huge brand will almost certainly
garner attention in a social network with little additional work required. Will this same tactic work for Jim Bob's Tires? Highly unlikely.
Jim Bob better have a compelling message -- a reason for me to add
him to my friends list and to pass him along to my other contacts.
A couple of years ago, the buzz was blogs. Suddenly, every company
was convinced it needed one. For some, it worked and became a powerful way to communicate with their audience. For others, someone
posted once or twice and then the blog quietly died. The difference between those that succeeded and those that failed was strategy. Those
that thrived had something interesting to say, a reason to say it, and
an honest voice. Those that did not add value to the user, or spoke under pretense, failed (anyone remember Captain Morgan’s blog?) Social
networking initiatives that are not driven by a solid strategy, and that
have nothing interesting to communicate, will most certainly die a
similar death.
“Social networking is not
a strategy. It is a tactic.
When used well, it can
pay off.”
-
Nancy Lyons and Meghan Wilker
Clockwork Active Media Systems
Nancy Lyons is
President and CEO
of Clockwork Active
Media Systems:
www.clockwork.net
Meghan Wilker
serves as Managing
Director. Clockwork
designs and develops web applications that market,
sell, streamline,
automate and communicate.
In both 2006 and
2007, Clockwork
was one of the Twin
Cities Business Journal's "Great Places to Work", and in 2007 were named a Psychologically Healthy Workplace by the Minnesota Psychological Association. In their nonworking hours, Nancy and Meghan formed the The Geek Girls, who later this year will
launch a web site: The Geek Girls' Guide: www.geekgirlsguide.com.
One of the Geek Girls' goals is to demystify technology for women and girls, and to encourage them to be a part of the web and interactive industry. Profiles for Nancy and
Meghan can be found on just about any social networking site you can think of.
41
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ZiNE Master
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A jumping off point could be a few
well-chosen questions. I use these in
I n n e r Wo r k , c o n t ’ d f r o m p g 2 6
Putting It Out There
The Inner Work principle can also be useful in finding the words to communicate about your business. You may have the best business under the
sun, but the proof comes in how well people understand what your business is and what it means to them.
Most of us don't feel comfortable being sales-y. What's required is succinct language to grab their attention, that doesn't make you wince. In
other words, an elevator speech or pitch. You should able to get your
point across within an elevator ride, or in less than one minute. That usually translates into three or four sentences answering the age-old question, “So, what do you do?”
D o i n g t h e I n n e r Wo r k I a l r e a d y m e n t i o n e d h e l p s y o u k n o w w h o y o u r t a r g e t
customer is and what makes them tick. In the short amount on time you
have to reach them with this elevator speech while networking, or on the
homepage of your website, they need to understand a few things very
clearly:
coaching my clients to get them thinking
and searching for the answers from
within.
e Who are you when you're at your professional best?
e What sets you apart from others in your field?
e What do you bring that no one else can?
e Who is your ideal customer?
e What do you know about them?
e What are they most passionate about?
e Where can you find them during the day or in their free time?
e Why would they choose you/your business?
1 – That you are speaking to them.
That means using words that they relate to and that speak to whatever
they have going on in their lives.
2 – What you are offering.
This goes back to your answers to what your business does, and how it
uniquely serves this ideal customer in a way that no one else can.
3 – Why they want to work with you.
T h e r e a r e l o t s o f p e o p l e o ff e r i n g t h e s a m e k i n d o f s e r v i c e s a n d p r o d u c t s
t h a t y o u d o , b u t t h e y a r e n ' t y o u . To e x p r e s s t h i s e ff e c t i v e l y t a k e s u n d e r standing your unique attributes, and what your target customer needs that
is driving them to look for you in the first place. Refer back to the words
used by the people you know who fit this ideal customer profile.
Going through these questions, you may be surprised just how much
you know – not only about yourself, but about the kind of people you
want to work with. This is only the beginning. Keep asking questions
about this person and you can start to create a profile. This profile
then becomes part of your marketing toolkit.
As a tool, the customer profile is how you test the messaging on your
website, your products and service offerings. Will he like this? Will
she understand if I word it this way? Consider people you know who
fit this ideal customer profile. Then you can interview them for market
research, using their words and descriptions in your conversations
with new customers, in your advertising, etc.
4 – H o w t h e y c a n s t a r t r i g h t n o w.
Be direct about what you want them to do: for instance, set up an appointment or tell their friends about you. You want them to act in the moment while you have their attention. This can mean offering your business
card if you're in person, providing a web address and contact information
in your emails, or touting a specific offer that you think will interest them.
Yo u r c u s t o m e r s ' d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g p r o c e s s c a n h a p p e n f a s t , t h o u g h t h e l e g w o r k r e q u i r e d t o c h o o s e t h e r i g h t w o r d s t a k e s a b i t l o n g e r. M u c h o f t h i s
y o u c a n t r y o u t o n y o u r o w n , u s i n g t h e I n n e r Wo r k q u e s t i o n s t o g u i d e y o u ,
or by working with someone who can call this information out – whether
it's a life coach, a marketing specialist, or those people you identified who
fit your ideal customer profile.
Best of luck!
Lauree Ostrofsky,
CPC, is a Communications
Consultant and Certified Coach working with women and
small business owners on negotiating milestones in their
personal and professional lives. As a veteran of the public relations and marketing worlds, Lauree made the
leap into consulting to pursue her passion for helping
people realize the vast, limitless potential within them.
Lauree offers an Elevator Speech Service for small businesses to communicate succinctly and effectively to attract the right customers. For more information, visit
http://www.groundedinpotential.com/small_business.
See next Page for an exercise in developing customer profiles
43
44
NOVEMBER 2007
TM
There are over 200 million searches per day on the major search engines according to COM Score, forcing advertisers and small businesses to jump into the Paid Search space.
Many companies outsource their paid search efforts, others neglect it completely, and some
just can’t afford to compete in their given area. The truth is companies of all shapes and
sizes should have a paid search strategy and long term plan.
You can sign up for Adwords at http://Adwords.Google.com Once you set-up your account
you can start creating campaigns using some easy to follow rules of the game.
Account Set-up/ Keyword Selection
First, select the keywords that are relevant to your products and then start to build them out
with all plurals, misspellings, and different variations, so that any kind of search term will help
bring your page to the top of the results.
Creating Ad Copies, Testing Results
Once you have gotten through the creation of keywords, campaigns and ad groups, then it is
time for writing the copy of the actual ads. Be sure to call out any promotions or competitive
advantages that your product has to offer.
Test multiple copies against each other to see which one performs the best and generates
the most tangible results. AB split testing allows you the controls to test run multiple different
paid ads against each other in current time. Both Google and Yahoo allow for A/B split testing.
Tracking and Targeting
Whether it’s in house reporting or an analytics package offered by the search engine you
choose to buy ad words from, you MUST track everything. Tracking results provides you all
the insight to accurately determine test winners, move bids up and down and add negative
keywords.
At the very least you should get conversion tracking (a service that is offered by Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Budgeting
Budgeting is right behind testing and analyzing in terms of importance when it comes to paid
search campaigns. Make sure you set daily budgets to prevent a certain campaign from
spending too much. These can often discourage or even outright kill a small businesses desire to stay in the space. Depending on your industry clicks can range anywhere from a few
cents to as high as $10 dollars.
Christopher Kenney
is a Search Marketing Specialist at VistaPrint: www.vistaprint.com a leading online supplier of high-quality graphic design services and customized printed products to small
businesses and consumers.
Search Marketing
ZiNE Master
for Dummies
B y C h r i s to p h e r Ke n n e y
45
46
ZiNE Master
NOVEMBER 2007
TM
Strategies for the online Guru in You.
In Ancient times
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courageous men and women
crusaded for causes they believed in
and went to war for the freedom to
think, believe and begin learning
how to live a more harmonious life
together. In recent times, we’ve begun another type of crusade.
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It’s time to get wise.
Warrior WISDOM Weekly
TM
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We value and appreciate your opinion,
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© Copyright 2007 Designed by Sensitive Pie Productions
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Tribeca Nine, Inc is a young, dynamic California corporation with a mature vision. We
have many strategic goals. One of which is
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