Have you taken my content marketing quiz yet? Be my guest:
Author Archive for Patsi Krakoff – Page 49
Free Webinar event: an interview with Survey Expert Dr. Jeanne Hurlbert:
Thursday, March 25, 4 p.m. EDT
Register here: How to Use Surveys to Attract, Sell & Profit
Bonus report for signing up: “How to Avoid the 10 Mistakes that Cost Marketers Millions and Double Your Profits in 90 Days or Less”
News Flash: Extra Bonus– Get 20 free videos on doing surveys, featuring Jeanne and Mike Koenigs.
Social media is great for some things, but it's got a big flaw… and if you aren't aware of this flaw, you could make costly mistakes in your business. I've asked Jeanne Hurlbert, Ph.D., from MySurveyExpert.com to explain….
Social media, online social networking, is hot — and with good reason. Used effectively and wisely, social media can reap HUGE profits for business owners.
But those who don’t know the limitations of social media are falling into a trap that can cost them millions by making them THINK they know their markets, when they really don’t.
Let’s start with what social media does well. Social media — sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, content sharing sites like Hub Pages or Squidoo — offers powerful ways to connect with people, build trust, build a brand and drive traffic to your website and blog.
But what social media CAN’T do is tell you:
- Who your customers are
- What products and services they want
- When they’re satisfied
- When they’re NOT satisfied
How do you drive traffic to your blog? Everybody wants more traffic. But Michael Martine of Remarkablogger makes a really good point:
Most of us don't have a blog traffic problem. What is really going on is we are:
- Not clear on who our market is
- Not clear on what problem we solve
- Not clear on how we're unique/different/better than competitors
- Ignorant about our market's hopes and fears
- Ignorant about what motivates our market to click on a link
- Ignorant about how search engines work
He's recently published a series of five free videos called Blog Traffic Fisher. I suggest you register and get it.
His point: most of us don't have a traffic problem. We get traffic, we just don't get traffic that brings great results. What we want is new business, not bigger numbers of visitors.
In 2006 the first of the demographic cohort called the Baby Boomers turned 60. Usually with milestone birthdays people stop, reflect and take stock of their lives. And the BIG Six-OH! really sends people into reflection and introspection.
After looking in the mirror and asking, "How did that happen?" …followed by "Wow, I don't look 60, and I sure don't feel THAT old…" the next thing that follows is usually "Oh! My! God!… that sure happened FAST!"
Meryl Streep in the movie "It's Complicated" is redefining what 60-year-old women look like. Thank goodness, it was about time.
This actually happened to me a few years ago, so I know what I'm talking about. Frankly, it's all good, a little better than I expected, and fortunately, the down-hill part hasn't hit yet.
The most frightening thing? Seeing a few older friends start to fade, health-wise. The next scary thing is seeing a few Boomer friends who do not know what to do next. When they realize they still have 25-35 good years ahead, they are increasingly concerned about meaning, purpose, and energy.
Dan Pink in his new book, Drive, points out there is a possible tsunami coming as the Baby Boomers face questions like:
- What can I do that really matters?
- How can I start to make a big difference in this world?
- How can I live my best life in this next part of it?
Freud divided the brain into three parts: the ego, the id, and the superego. When scientists started using brain imaging, no one was able to locate these three parts, so we assume he was speaking in metaphors.
Now that we can peak inside the living brain, scientists tell us there are 3 parts: the cerebellum (the snake brain), the limbic system (the rat brain), and the more evolved human brain or the prefrontal cortex.
What about your Mojo? Where’s that located? Some of you have lost it, maybe you had a glimpse of it back in 2006 and have been looking to get it back ever since.
I’m talking about motivation, drive, juice, however you want to call it. Mojo is something no one has yet located in any MRI’s or brain scans. We know it exists because we’ve felt it profoundly, some would say as profoundly as sex.
When's the last time you asked your readers what they want? What do they want to read about, learn about, and what products or services should you be offering?
My colleague Jeanne Hurlbert, Ph.D., conducted a survey with Internet marketing expert Mike Koenigs and discovered that almost 47% of the marketers who responded said they never use surveys for product creation.
Here's what Jeanne says:
"That’s missing a huge opportunity! If you ask your customers what products they want, create those products, and then tell them that you’ve created the exact product they asked for, they’ll love you for it. They’ll feel part of your community, they’ll feel invested in your business, they’ll feel connected to the product—and they’ll buy it."
Dawud Miracle posted about this problem the other day:
At Last, Discover the Ultimate Secrets of Proven Power Words, Now! … a guest post by Cheryl Goldberg, of High Tech Communicator.
How many power words are stuffed into this headline?
Six!
Power words are words that allegedly boost the readership of an ad, document, or white paper dramatically and compel people to act. Articles and blog posts abound that claim these words are virtual hypnotists, commanding people’s fingers to click and read further or, even more astoundingly, get people to “throw money at you.”
Research Studies
I have to admit, anytime someone says that something as simple as words like proven, at last, discover, ultimate secrets, and now will compel my customers to not just cautiously call me about my services, but “throw money at me,” my skepticism meter hurls into overdrive. So I looked into the proof points that these articles gave for these words working so well.
The proof points generally fall into two categories:
There is a trend online to offer membership programs where people sign-up to get access to training and networking for a recurring low fee. I personally know of several online businesses that have bought into expensive membership software only to be disappointed.
There are three reasons a membership program can be difficult:
- You don't have a huge database (50,000 on list)
- You aren't well-known, well-branded
- You don't have compelling content
Unless you've got a huge database, a highly recognizable brand, and unique compelling content, a monthly membership program will probably fail. Unless, of course, you circumvent these issues. There are ways to be smart and make a membership site work like a charm.
This was also the message communicated by Marc Manieri of JournalEngine on last week's Webinar.
Part of the problem is beacause there is so much free information available on the Web today. Also, you have to have access to large numbers of people to get enough members into a low-fee program to make it profitable. It is also time-consuming and work-intensive to keep people's attention, to keep them coming back for more.
If you've invested a lot in rebuilding your website, I congratulate you for keeping fresh content published about your business. Congratulations, and may I ask, how's that working out for you? Oh…
May I make a suggestion? Your website is probably great and all, but if you're not getting your visitors engaged, if they're not taking action and participating in some way, then you need more than just a well-designed site. You need an "engagement platform." Let me explain…
Recently I've been thinking a lot about the engagement problem. I love teaching smart professionals about content strategies and how to make good use of business blogging.
But the biggest challenges in teaching are:
- Getting their attention
- Keeping them engaged long enough to learn
- Getting them to take action and apply the learning
- Retaining the learning
These are the same challenges you face with marketing to new clients:
How do you get their attention, keep their attention, get them to take action and become loyal clients?
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