The Bulls Roar » Marketing plan

Some things you just can’t fake!

Samyo Dalgarno — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 02:22:11 +0000

Woohoo!!!

Well Annie has gone & got herself productive on other things and she has given me back the keys to the ute (“the pick-up”, if you’re one of our American friends)

So I am left wondering where to go for my first drive. I could go downtown on some practical internet marketing mission or I could wander off into the scenic wilderness of cyberspace, on a Quest to discover something deep, meaningful and ultimately useful.

I like Quest’s …

So where to begin.

There is a lot of talk about authentic marketing, I know, we started it more than 3 years ago, but what does it really mean to be authentic?

To give you a background, I left the mainstream world in 1999 off on a personal quest to discover the answer to Life, The Universe & Everything. During that journey I came to understand and experience a lot of things about energy and about how we create and un-create our lives.

Everything is energy, this is a scientific fact. Deeper into that, like people and places, businesses also have an energy you might call it a vibe or a feeling. That vibe or feeling we get about a business is its most important asset and comes from several places.

Like a child, a business will have had an inspiration a first moment of conception, a seed or kernel that will contain the idea or possibility that is a business. Did that inspiration come from a desire to be of service, a desire to create a better widget, a desire just to make money or maybe a genuine place of interest or enthusiasm?

This is the first & most important question to ask yourself. What is the root of the tree that is your business?

Next it will be influenced by the people involved, the core group of players that are nurturing the tree to life and growth. Then the people you bring in to work with you, either as partners, employees, web designers or external contractors. The imagery the logo’s the furniture the building, and on and on .. (You get the picture).

Each and every piece of your business comes together to create an energy or entity that is a business, and your business is a reflection of the core, the inspiration, the conscious and the unconscious. That energy or vibe, we all feel to varying degrees, wether we know it consciously or not, it is this energy that will mean success or failure.

Sadly what I have seen in the last 30 years in the area of marketing & modern business is that the root or the core energy of a business gets lost or forgotten in the rush for profits or expansion. That is why we are now seeing major players in trouble and issues like the Global Financial Crisis.

What’s worse is that in recent times, major and minor marketing companies are jumping on the back of the shift in awareness and hijacking it in the rush for a new idea or an “Edge”. What happens is that some people take on the concept of “Authentic Marketing” but they do it with their head, so it is not real, they see it as a tool or a clever marketing trick.

I can tell you that you cannot fake authenticity, it does not work like that, authenticity does not come from your head and it is not just an idea, it is soooo much deeper than that.

I often hear business people scoff at many “New Thought” ideas and concepts, but let me assure you if you do it properly and in integrity with yourself (as a business leader) it works.

My current poster child for this is my good friend Tony Oliver of www.sacredskin.com.au . Tony currently runs two very successful Tattoo Studios and has online business selling Swashdrive tattoo machines www.qualitytattoomachines.com , he has become so successful, that he has to open a 3^rd studio. Tony has done this in a downturned market in an industry that most people might consider a luxury item.

His website traffic is growing daily, his statistics are enough to make any web developer or online entrepreneur shine with pride. (that’s why I am telling you his story)

How as he done it?

He has done it by ensuring every step is in alignment with his core values and his vision for his business and his life, and I don’t mean ideas in his head.

Authenticity is not a mental idea, it is not a concept or clever tool it is a genuine place of really understanding yourself and what motivates you at the deepest levels.

You cannot “do” authentic you have to “be” authentic, even when it is not comfortable.

To get there you have to peel away the layers of inner noise, the should’s and should nots, to discover that which genuinely sets you apart from the herd. Then you have to have the courage and the willingness to expose that aspect of yourself, take the steps and follow that energy for all it is worth.

How do you do that? ….. well that’s another post.

Stay Shiny
Samyo

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Post tags: Branding, Business, Marketing, Marketing plan, mission, Social Media, vision, Website

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Do You Have a Plan?

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:21:50 +0000

: Image by Linda Nowakowski via Flickr

Well do you?

By this I mean a plan for your business? a plan for your website? a plan for your marketing? for your social media?

Planning means you get to take in both the big picture and the smaller steps it takes to achieve those long term goals, it also allows you to track your success!

Creating a plan for a business means knowing where your going by creating your vision and mission statements, have you done yours? Your vision and mission statements don't have to be on display to anyone, however they servce as a reminder to you about why you are in business, and as a road map to where your business is going.

A website plan is so important, we so often have people who come to us with no plan at all, we love to know your branding colours, taglines and branding statements – you do have branding don't you? Your vision also helps us to create the design that reflects your vision and passion out into the world. Know what you like not necessarily what you want, as your website designer can often come up with something far more amazing than you could dream yourself. However some very important things you must know about your website and structure into your plans are what you want your website to do!

Your marketing plan can include all your marketing, your branding statements and colours, your taglines, your marketing statements and words to use when marketing and it can include your where's as well. Where are you going to market? Where can you get the most bang or BUZZ for your buck? This takes research.

Your social marketing plan can be included within your larger marketing plan, however it also need to have planning in and of itself. Which social sites and types of site you will use, why you are going to use those, how often and how much time you will spend. Will you have a social marketing manager? Will you do it yourself? Where you will get the training you need to use social media efficiently.

Planning must of course include targets, goals and accountability. How else will you know whether you are on course and whether you are being sucessfull?

Make some plan and put them down on paper, draw up a mindmap of how all these plan fit together and help make you successful, then put the mindmap and your vison and mision statements up where you can see them every day.

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Post tags: Branding, Business, Marketing, Marketing plan, mission, Social Media, vision, Website

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What’s Your Social Media Marketing Plan?

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:36:20 +0000

When first starting out in Social Media Marketing our enthusiasm often gets us a little carried away, please don’t get me wrong enthusiasm is great, but as usual in life if you don’t have a map you cannot possibley know where you will end up.

Most of us are marketing to create more success for our business, and even with social media we can have a plan and a map and set goals. So now I ask you What’s Your Social Media Marketing Plan? Do you have one?

Would you like to have the steps I use to create my plan?

You would! Sure, here they are:

My first step is to go to the sites I use the most and any more targeted sites around my niche and secure my brand name on those sites, even if the profile sits idle for a while at least now you know that when you get around to using that site your brand name is there waiting to be used, not taken by someone else. The easiest way to do this is namechk.com
Define your goals and write down your definition of success around those goals. Do you want to build BUZZ? Increase brand awareness? Do you want more traffic to your site? More Subscribers? Increased knowedge about your customers? etc..
Define how you will measure your success. Measuring your success will largely be defined by your goals and definition of success; for increased traffic you will measure your site visitors, for brand awareness how often are you retweeted or mentioned by others on social sites..
Write out your ’story’. Social media is all about having conversations and the story of you and your business, write out what you want to say, how you want to be branded, what you want to be known for, what you want people to say about you and stick to it.
Focus your time on sites that are busy and having lots of conversations. To do this you must know; who your customers are and what kind of community you are getting into – will is serve your purposes?
Know your customer profile/s well enough to be able to predict what they want to hear, what they want to see, what they respond to and what they want – they will be asking “What’s in it for them?” even if there need or want is to save the earth or donate to a worthy charity.
Once you have found several appropriate communities, get to know them well, do your research into who has a big voice on that community, who is listened to and respected, how they communicate, what kind of content is responded to etc.. Become an expert on that community so that you can use it well and build your brand name through respect and adding value in the way that is expected on that community.
Prepare what you will say on your communities. Know not only your story, but how you will respond if someone challenges you, if they start a heated debate, if they plain don’t like you etc.. Once you have the worst case scenarios worked out, you will be able to rise (yes rise) to any occasion with gentle, respectful assertiveness when needed and these moments can actually work in your favour if you handle them well.
Know how social media will best be incorporated into your business or organisation. Know how much time you wish to commit to it and create a strategy around that time that creates flow. Map out your core strategy, vision, mission, time commitment both in daily time and how long to test a community before moving on, and protocols. You will also need to know who in your company or organisation will be using SMM and what they can and cannot say.

Some of the most important hints around building a Social Media presence:

* Always Add Value
* Engage and converse in genuine ways
* Listen really listen to what is being said and respond appropriately
* Answer questions with no alterior motive
* Be helpful
* Share knowledge
* Educate
* Be a regular face and contributer
* Stay honest and avoid hype and most of all avoid being a spammer

For more information on this topic download our free eBook “The Definitive Guide to SMM”

Social Media Marketing Plan (opencircle.co.za)
Content marketing with Squidoo (opencircle.co.za)
Six Types of Social Media Tools (dorai.wordpress.com)
Small Business Marketing Plan (myventurepad.com)

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brand, Business, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Marketing plan, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

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How To Know Your Marketing is Working

AnnieInfinite — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:20:30 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

I know that you think this post is going to be all about statistics, graphs and metrics – it’s not!

That doesn’t tell you why your marketing is working or not, it only tells you what isn’t and why is so much more important!

The truth is – and many people will not tell you this – your marketing either works or not because of you. What you’re thinking, what you’re doing, why you are doing it and how often you are doing it.

1. You think more about the money you are going to make – without giving consideration to how you’re actually going to make it. Big mistake on so many levels. First of all, unless you have prepared a roadmap to your goals how are you ever going to find your way there? Secondly, if all you are thinking about is money and you are not doing something you are passionate about, you will lose momentum. It is passion that drives our goal seeking momentum.
2. You haven’t thought about your customers needs. We get this all the time, clients who say but I want this on my website (when they really, really shouldn’t), I need this to happen, I like it better this way – marketing is NOT about you. There is no point marketing to yourself you won’t make any money that way and you will not have an audience for your passion either. Your market is everyone who is not you. You need to find out what your customer or client wants and then find a way to give it to them.
3. You blindly believe that every one is a potential customer. This means you have not thought about your demographic – in other words who are you selling to, who is your market? Another mistake we see all the time is our clients trying to make their website and their product or service meet all needs. This is an impossibility so now is the time for research, research, research into who your customer is, what they like, what they are saying, what they are buying and what are their unmet needs.
4. You think marketing is easy and you have decided you are an expert, because after all anyone can do it. Hmmm.. that one speaks for itself.
5. You believe that marketing is advertising… again that one speaks for itself.
6. You have no idea what your desired marketing outcomes are for your business or your website. Did you know that each page on your site should have its own outcome? Perhaps most importantly a call to action.
7. You know your business really well, but don’t know how to be in business. I see this a lot, lovely people who have worked in a field for a long time, who know how it should be done right who have no idea how to run it as a business. They struggle with the small things like how to tell clients and prospects about what they do, or bring in customers for their business.
8. You have no idea what your ’super power’ is, also known as a 45 second elevator pitch. This relates to #7 as well.
9. You have never actually listened to what your customers and clients have to say about your product or service, you use the same pitch you always have. Listening to feedback about your business is so important, it can tell you what your marketing should say. Giving your clients and customers what they want means finding out what it is about your business they find valuable and enhancing that, and using it as a marketing pitch of course.
10. You have no idea what Social Media Marketing is and when you find out, you discard the notion as not worth your time.
11. You never think outside the square, after all business is serious stuff. If you ever want one of your videos or ads to go viral thinking outside the square is a pre-requisite.
12. You don’t use video as a promotional tool, you don’t use video as a way to connect with your clients or customers. You think video is too “Techie” and for younger people.
13. You think a live web cast is over the top and there is no way that is going to help your business grow anyway.
14. You think a ‘pretty’ website is all you need.
15. You’re thinking “My marketing isn’t going to work now that I have read this post.”

Maybe, it is time to review your marketing plan (if you have one)…

© AnnieInfinite for The Bulls Roar, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Marketing plan, Promotion, Website

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The Bulls Roar » Marketing plan

Some things you just can’t fake!

Do You Have a Plan?

What’s Your Social Media Marketing Plan?

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How To Know Your Marketing is Working