Don’ts For Blogs: Too Much, Too Fast, Too Self-Conscious

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Indianapolis Business Journal technology columnist Tim Altom isn’t a fan of "Power Point fashionistas" who use all the animation trickery the program can provide.  "Too much, too fast, too self-conscious" is how he describes many of the presentations he’s had to sit through.

I couldn’t agree more, as I brought out in "Blogs, Like PowerPoint Presentations, Can Be Boons or Banes". I suggested thinking of each blog post as one slide in a PowerPoint.

Even Robert Gaskins, co-creator of PowerPoint, explains that the technology was never intended for showing an entire proposal – just a quick summary, and that relationship is precisely applicable to a business’ blog posts relative to the corporate website.

Business bloggers would do well to pay heed to several of Altom’s suggestions about effective use of Power Point slides:

1.   Slides should be used to set the stage for a conversation…Slides.work fine if they’re meant only to cue and remind.
Blog posts can cue and remind as well, with each post focused on just one new piece of information, a unique approach to a subject, an anecdote, a myth busted or a problem solved.

2.   Altom put together charts from a client’s own data, but in ways the client had not thought of, revealing things the customer hadn’t seen before.
One excellent use of a business blog post is to do the same, presenting a new approach to familiar information.

3.   Most speeches can do just fine without slides. But there are occasions when you’re not able to dialogue…
In fact, blogging for business is exactly such an "occasion". Pull marketing is all about attracting attention from the right kind of strangers, those unaware of the name of your business, who arrive at your blog because they are searching for something that relates to what you do. The dialogue cannot begin until those strangers find you online. 
 

In online marketing, then, what you cannot do is follow Altom’s ideal of "teaching naked", i.e. without technology).  You can, on the other hand, avoid Altom’s Power Point "Don’ts".

  • Too much: (keep blog posts short and focused on one idea)
  • Too fast: (keep posts conversational and informal in tone)
  • Too self-conscious: (keep it about them and their needs, yet don’t be reluctant       to include calls to action in your blog posts)

Power blog posts can be the best PowerPoint slides of all!

 

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Don’t be stupid by cutting marketing budgets

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by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded

I know that in today’s economic environment, most businesses are cutting back in many areas. Unfortunately, the first area to get cut is marketing and advertising. Excuse my French, but "How stupid is that?" Do you really think that telling less people that you exist, what value you bring, or how they can benefit from your company will really help you grow or increase your revenue? Do you really believe that by cutting back on marketing your products/services will increase business? In effect what you are saying is "lets put less gas in the car so we can drive further and save money."

If you believe that marketing and advertising is not the life blood of your business then, I must say that you don’t know business. Either that or you’re just a commodity, and if you are, I feel sorry for you because you’re on your way to becoming extinct. By cutting your marketing budget, you’re telling your customers that since they know you so well, you don’t need to market to them any more because they’ll buy from you anyway. You are also letting the world know that you have more than enough customers, so don’t bother trying our products. If that’s the case,  you are more superior at business and I should pay you tuition just to learn at your feet.

We’ve all either have heard or have said, "You need to do more with less." I will agree that there is often fat and inefficiencies that can be cut. But once you’ve gotten rid of all the waste, then you’re cutting into meat and bone. In the end  you’ll be squeezing out any real value your company may have to where if affects your end product. And once that happens, your customers will begin to slip away. Then you begin a harsh cycle of falling revenues and cutting budgets even more, resulting in less people are exposed to your brand, resulting in less revenues, resulting in cutting budgets, and on and on. Financial physics will tell you that you can only cut so much before you start affecting your brand, exposure, and image (or the lack there of). By having the "do more will less" mantra, you are setting your company up for failure. Over time, businesses such as Hardees and products like Sony’s e-reader have felt the pain of the lack of marketing budget. Hardees rested on their reputation for great breakfast. They felt they no longer needed to market or advertise. Surprise, surprise, they went from the U.S. #2 burger chain to almost bankrupt in 3 years. The Sony e-reader was the first and best e-reader in the market. They felt their lead was so substantial, they cut back on their marketing. Surprise, the Kindle came along and kicked its ass. Amazon put a ton of marketing might behind the Kindle launch and it wasn’t long until Sony was playing catch up.

I understand that when the economy gets tight and companies need to conserve capital to make it through the downturns, but come on, cutting marketing budget and STILL expecting growth is down right stupid. How can you expect splashy results when you only dip your toe in the water? Eventually, a competitor will come along, pour marketing might behind their brands and leave you standing still wondering where it all went wrong. The day you begin to cut marketing is the day your competitors make up ground and possibly surpass you. Their continuous marketing efforts will snag your customers because  you don’t exist anymore in their hearts and mind. Out of sight, out of mind and heart. Brands are easily forgotten without consistent reminders that you exist and that you bring value to their lives.

So, I ask all marketers that when you are planning next year’s budget, keep in mind if you’re standing still, you’re already behind.

www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226

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Blog Selling 101 For Social Media Purists

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Social media consultant Jason Falls is a self-proclaimed purist-turned-realist when it comes to blogging for business.

Falls admits he may be falling from social media "grace" (which consists of engaging readers in "conversation", but never outright asking for the order), because, when he’s discussing with business owners why they want to use social media, the answers come down to one thing – selling more stuff. "I’ve got news for you", says the born-again realist Falls: "Conversations do not ring the cash register."

So now what? "Make your company blog drive search results to the keywords you want to win," says Falls.  "Present calls to action for purchase."

Purchase? Selling with blogs? Not so long ago, wryly remarks internet marketing consultant Chris Garrett, he might have gotten himself lynched for merely suggesting such a thing.  "Slowly, though, the blogosphere is coming around to the idea that commerce is not necessarily evil, that in fact businesses need to make money and they do that by selling stuff."

So where does Rhoda Israelov of Say It For You stand on the issue? No social media purist I, when I’m meeting with business owners to discuss their corporate blogging strategy, the conversation’s all about their "getting found online" and  ringing the dickens out of their cash register! 

In fact, some business owners (professional practitioners are particularly prone to voice this concern) are so revenue-conscious, they express fear that, if they share too much information about their field in the blog posts, clients won’t pay them to provide expertise. At the other extreme, I find business owners who express to me that they don’t want to come off boastful and self-serving in their blog.

There are, I think, no wrong answers here, but Steve Wamsley’s sales training book, Stop Selling and Do Something Valuable, which was reviewed on the Financial Planning Association website, has something to say that should resonate with reluctant social media realists.

"We have to sell ourselves to potential clients so that they choose to work with us rather than the competition… Wamsley’s next words are directed to financial planners, but this is the  part I think is so germane to the social media debate:  "In our role as advocates, we need to persuade people to act."

As a professional ghost blogger, being an advocate for my client’s business sounds like exactly the role I want to play!



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Brand Tiger Woods

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by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded

This blog is a bit different, though, in the end, it is about branding. The news about Tiger Woods is all over the media. His transgressions are becoming more and more public. His image and personal brand is taking a hit. Almost all of the marketers who are using Tiger (the brand) in their marketing campaigns have gone dark. In fact, there’s been only 1 ad to air on TV and that’s for Gillette. This is such a drastic dip from a few weeks ago when you couldn’t watch or read anything for a length of time before seeing an ad with Tiger Woods as the pitchman. I know some believe that his personal business is his own private business and it should stay that way. I don’t agree with that viewpoint. Here’s why:

• Tiger Woods is a brand – Tiger gave up the "personal" part of himself when he decided to market brand Tiger and sell that brand to other marketers. When Tiger signed his first endorsement deal, he became a public brand. As with other brands, we as consumers, expect the ones we believe in and buy from to always fulfill their promise and to never do anything that is contrary to what that it stands for. Personal brand is no different than a company brand.

• Brand Tiger affects his partners – Once he agreed to represent another brand and accepted a fee, he is responsible on how is actions affect his partners. You are judged by the company you keep. It’s no different when two brands decide to partner in a joint promotion or marketing campaign. For example, if McDonald’s offers a toy from Mattel, but the plastic parts contain a chemical that exposes children to high levels of toxins, McDonald’s takes the lion’s share of the hit in the public’s eyes while Mattel escapes with minor damage.(This example is completely hypothetical.) Brand Tiger does affect his partners, so he is no longer afforded the luxury of keeping personal issues private because his issues becomes his partners’ issues.

• Tiger Woods’ actions affects his value – When that happens, you know you’re a brand. When you’re a brand, you’re actions have value, both positive and negative. In 2008 Tiger Woods made about $12 mil. playing golf and about $110 mil. in endorsements. This also has a direct correlation to his advertising partners. Their value rides on his actions as well. That is another reason why his personal actions are open for review, especially by his partners.

I don’t wish any misfortune on Tiger Woods. From hearing opinions from various people about whether his personal business should be off limits by the media, it got me thinking about whether is that really true or not. I my opinion, an individual gives up the privacy card when they decide to sell their personal brand to other partners. As soon as you hit the marketplace as a brand, you are treated like one and held to the same expectations and judgement as other brands, corporate or otherwise. All brands must live their brand promise 24/7/365 or you will lose one of the most important thing you’ve been building over the years, credibility.

www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226

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Statistics Help Your Blog Become More Than A Number

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Nothing speaks quite as loud as numbers.

Career Rookie Magazine says using numbers may be one of the most underutilized strategies in cover letter writing. As a professional ghost blogger who teaches business owners how to create content for blog posts, I think numbers tend to be underutilized in blogs as well.

Like myth-busting in blog posts, which I talked about in my last post, opening your post with a startling statistic can be a way to grab visitors’ attention. Statistics can actually serve as myth-busters in themselves.  If there’s some false impression people seem to have relating to your industry, or to a product or service you provide, you can bring in statistics to show how things really are. Statistics can also serve to demonstrate the extent of a problem.  Once readers realize the problem, the door is open for you to show how you help solve that very type of problem for your customers!

Here are a few examples:

  • CNNMoney offered fascinating tidbits about the 2009 MTV music awards.  If you’re an event planner in Omaha, sharing the fact that MTV crew members needed to arrange for 600 tables, 2,000 chairs, 550 walkie-talkies, and 32 copiers brings out the importance of having a professional (like you) handle event details.


  • “An average woman, over sixty years, can absorb into her bloodstream thirty pounds of ingredients in moisturizers.  She can also consume four tubes of lipstick in a lifetime.” (You’re blogging about the importance of using only all-natural skin care products).


  • “A recent study found that raisins and grapes can lead to kidney failure in pets” (for veterinarian or pet supply store blog).


  • “Around 200 B.C., the Chinese were able to make recycled paper by processing old fishing nets (for recycling company blog).

Statistics add power and focus to your blog posts, giving you the chance to showcase your knowledge and expertise. Skillful use of startling statistics can keep your blog from being just a number!

 

 

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