Archives for October 2015
Improve Your Chances to Make the Most of Events you Attend
Speakers, coaches, consultants and business development professionals often network face-to-face at conferences, conventions and trade shows. Yes – in-person meetings and networking is still a thing.
I have grown up in the business world working and interacting directly with people for three decades. I enjoy it, I look forward to it and I still say it’s where the magic happens in relationships. But today, we have two worlds that are learning how to blend, balance and work together: online and offline.
In 10 minutes I can learn more about someone, and they about me, in person than in six months online! The energy that passes between people finding out that they have a hobby, favorite book, peer or life experience in common can be profound. Conversely, it can be expensive, especially if you aren't prepared. Yes – I am well aware that my automated marketing system can outsell me and it does. I am saying the physical connection has a place. People do business with people.
At live events, how can you improve your chances to make the most of events you attend?
- Know who will be there. Most events publish a list of speakers and presenters. Facebook groups are common for events. Check out who is going and research their value to you, and likewise you to them. This is being smart, not nosy. However, do not go head hunting and do not be an annoying leach.
- Practice your introduction. You should have a Position Statement. This should answer the question of who you are and what you do. However, it should tease the person you are shaking hands with. You want questions that dig deeper. You also want to be shrugged off, you do not have time to waste.
- Relax and be YOU! In many situations, face-to-face networking can feel a bit odd at first. Too many people have a hardcore objective going in. If you go in with an open mind, an open heart, a giving first mentality – that can help immensely. It's alright to go with the flow. Relax and enjoy yourself. Get out of your comfort circle and expand your horizons. Networking is
 fun and full of opportunities. - Follow up. It is your job to keep in touch with legitimate interests. Anyone that collected your business card is just making you feel good. Not you, business cards you collect can be used to trigger automated marketing before you throw the card away. We love Snap for our Infusionsoft application.
- Snap by Infusionsoft makes it easy to add contacts to Infusionsoft from your smart phone so you can follow up immediately. Snap also eliminates the hassle of manually adding contacts to Infusionsoft. Just take a photo of a business card with your smartphone and Snap will use that data to create a new contact record in Infusionsoft.
Never lose contact information again and stop collecting business cards. Capture first name, last name, phone, email, company, address and notes right from your smartphone—anytime, anywhere.
Keep your business card to yourself. DO NOT hand out your business card to everyone you see as if you are passing out $20 bills. If I am interested in connecting with someone beyond an event, I will ask for a way to contact them. Notice that I did not say I will give them my card or give them my contact information. Why? If I give them my card, I have no control over whether they will contact me or not.
Features:
• Add contacts by taking a picture of a business card
• Or add contacts manually in about a minute
• Makes a contact record directly in Infusionsoft
• Add tags in the Snap app
• Kick-off campaigns from your smartphone
• Human transcription for better accuracy
Install Snap by Infusionsoft and make adding contacts on the go a snap. Each user can scan up to 250 cards each month for free. Available for iOS on the App Store and Android on Google Play in the US.
Here is what separates the rookie from the professional. We've discussed being prepared for the in-person meeting at a live event. We've talked about my favorite tool for collecting business cards. The features of Snap by Infusionsoft hint at the possibilities. Have your campaign built in Infusionsoft before your event. Have it ready for email delivery and delivery directly to a smart phone using an HTTP Post. When you present your Position Statement, be ready for some Q&A with prepared questions. Have those answers tied to a set of variables, in Infusionsoft we call them decision diamonds tied to sequences. Memorize the tags to trigger a given “thanks for your time response” that is appropriate and feels personal. Use Snap by Infusionsoft, upon return of your scanned card's data, to trigger that automated email or text message.
No two small businesses are exactly alike. If you use multiple software systems in your business, you'll find hundreds of integration's in the Infusionsoft Marketplace. It's a growing platform of service and technology partners that will help you extend the value of Infusionsoft and streamline your business.
If you haven’t been out and about enough, set some goals this year to reconnect in person in your community, business world or hobbies. Go where you already have commonality and know people. It’s a much easier and faster way to get connected, get personal and make some new friends and connections–and you just might get that job, interview or new customer.
Take it from the pro. “Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are an efficient way to establish initial business relationships, but using them too much can cost you a job”. ~ Gary Vaynerchuk. The same can be said for the reliance on collecting business cards. Handle the exchange correctly and use it for follow-up like a pro.
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner, an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant, a Google Partner – Certified in AdWords and a Mobit Certified Partner.
What makes Images worth sharing on the Internet?
Most people are very visual by nature. As the cliché goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So why not place an emphasis on visual media when engaging in digital marketing?
A good picture can draw a lot of attention when you share it on social media pages because it is easily noticed in followers’ news-feeds and contains information that can be digested much quicker than a standard text post.
Brands that properly use images in their social media marketing will find they get a lot more engagement out of posts containing them.
An Internet meme is an activity, concept, catchphrase or piece of media which spreads, often as mimicry, from person to person via the Internet. Some notable examples include posting a photo of people lying down in public places (called “planking”) and uploading a short video of people dancing to the Harlem Shake. A meme is “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”.
That’s not to say you should share every image you find on the web. Remember: you still have a brand image to uphold, so you need to make sure the image aligns with the vision you want your followers to have of your company.
Additionally, you should make sure images you share have the following qualities:
• New. If you’re creating an info-graphic, for example, make sure it tells people something new. By now, everyone knows the basics of SEO and link building. You should also refrain from sharing pictures or memes that have already made their rounds across the internet.
• Relevant. Again, you want to make sure any content you share is relevant to your company and what your target audience might be interested in.
• Emotional value. Images you share could be funny, sad, uplifting or meant to incite anger (to an extent). You want your followers to feel something when they look at images you share.
• Interesting. People should actually be interested in looking at the content you share. It could be helpful, contain new research or opinions or simply depict something really cool. Just think to yourself, “would I actually care about this image?”
• High quality. This is especially important for original images. If you’re creating some sort of info-graphic, make sure it’s been done professionally. The last thing you want is a graph that looks like it was made in MS Paint.
Need more tips about using visual content in your social media marketing? Contact our team at Viral Solutions today!
by Christine Kelly
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
Building Links in a “Boring” Industry
Some industries are much better suited to fun and creative marketing than others, featuring content that’s easy to share. Building backlinks is important for driving online traffic but can be hard in an industry with a niche audience, like in B2B marketing.
First, let's make sure we understand current day link building. According to Joost de Valk, most people understand by now that links have a very real influence on rankings in search engines. How it works and in which ways a link can influence your ranking is often unclear though, resulting in many myths.
How does a link help your site?
A link to your site “helps” in four ways:
Are there any rules about links?
There are two kinds of rules that influence SEO and thus link building. First of all, there are the rules of the search engines, with Google having said most about links. Then there’s the law about advertising, these laws differ per country.
- It adds value to the “receiving page”, allowing it to improve its visibility in the search engines.
- It adds value to the entire receiving domain, allowing each page on that domain to improve its rank ever so slightly.
- The text of the link is an indication to the search engine of the topic of the website and more specifically the receiving page.
- People click on links, resulting in so called “direct traffic”.
The value of a link for the receiving page is determined in part by the topic of the page the link is on. A link from a page that has the same topic as the receiving page is of far more value than a link from a page about an entirely different topic.
You can utilize a smaller audience to build links and leverage connections by following these tips.
Ask clients to include links to your site in their content
If you have a client with strong content marketing, ask them to include links to your site in relevant content. If it’s a good client they’ll likely be happy to help refer business, and will also understand the importance of back-links. Be sure to return the favor and include testimonials from satisfied customers featuring links to their sites.
Comment on client and vendor content
If you helped a client create a new product, spread the word by sharing and commenting on any of their social media or posts about it. You can also ask clients to leave reviews for your business on third party sites, perhaps linking to examples of your work for them. Again, always return the favor and review their business (while referencing back to yours.)
Watch what your competitors are doing
Begin by searching keywords related to your field. Hopefully your business is the first result, but look at the rest of the list. Results are driven by SEO and links from authoritative websites. Search your competitors and note which sites are mentioning them, and in what context. Use this for inspiration on building your own links.
One way to see which sites are linking to you or your competitors is to type “link:” then the name of the website in the search bar, then see which sites link to that specific page. For example, enter “link:google.com” to see sites that link to Google.
Create shareable content
The best way to get people to link back to your site is by creating content people want to share. Info-graphics are a popular tool for making information visually appealing and easily shareable. Create an infographic on a topic in your field and include links to your site in the image and accompanying text.
You can also offer to guest blog for a publication related to your industry. Invite a respected, complimentary networker to guest blog for you. Not only will you spread awareness of your industry to a wider audience, but you can also link back to your own site in the byline.
What Google says about links and link building?
“In their article on link schemes Google gives some examples of links that can influence your ranking negatively. This deals with both links to and from your site (f.i.: don’t link to spam sites). They’re most clear about paid links though: they’re a violation of their guidelines and can lead to a ban of your website.” ~ Joost de Valk
Work with us at Viral Solutions to help build your digital profile!
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner, an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant, a Google Partner – Certified in AdWords and a Mobit Certified Partner.
Common Misconceptions about SMS Marketing
The SMS/text messaging market hasn’t been explored by businesses nearly as much as other forms of mobile marketing. Therefore, it’s not particularly surprising that there are a lot of misconceptions related to the process out there.
Here are a few of the most common misconceptions about SMS Marketing, as well as the truth behind them:
Advanced SMS features
You won't believe how easy it is to create rich content text messaging campaigns with MOBIT. With our easy to use campaign builder and mobile web pages, we take you and your audience well beyond the simple text message! You will wonder why you ever bothered with plain text messaging. Extend your marketing reach and build your mobile lists with MOBIT.
Misconception: SMS marketing is nothing more than spam.
Fact: An inherent aspect of spam is that it is unwanted. A lot of spam emails or direct mail comes without the permission or interest of the customer. SMS marketing, on the other hand, allows consumers to opt in to receive these messages, meaning your customers never get messages that they haven’t consented to and that everyone who receives your message has already demonstrated some level of interest in it. Furthermore, brands that use SMS marketing can smartly determine how often to send messages to avoid bothering their opted in customers.
Misconception: SMS marketing is ineffective.
Fact: There’s a lot of reason to believe it’s significantly more effective than other forms of mobile marketing. For one, text messages are much more likely to be opened than emails, meaning that your targets are in turn much more likely to read the message you’ve sent. For another, the fact that it is an opt-in system means that you are inherently more likely to find success because you are only delivering your message to interested consumers.
Misconception: SMS marketing doesn’t offer much room for creative messaging.
Fact: There’s a lot that you can do with an SMS marketing campaign. You could advertise special promotions, follow up with customers that have made purchases, send birthday greetings, send delivery notifications and much more. You can also include links to special landing pages, promotions, surveys or social media pages.
Misconception: SMS marketing doesn’t allow for interactivity.
Fact: There are plenty of ways you can get engagement out of SMS marketing. You could run polls or surveys, telling targets to text back a certain word to indicate their response. You could run contests in a similar way. You could link people to locations where they can leave a review or share a special deal with their friends. When used creatively, there’s plenty of opportunity for engagement in SMS marketing.
Don’t let these misconceptions turn you off SMS. Turn to Viral Solutions for more information about SMS marketing and how you can make it work as a part of your overall mobile marketing automation plan.
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer