Relationship Building | Marketing Muse

Interview With a New Media Director

March 5th, 2010

I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let… okay, I can’t keep a straight face while typing lyrics to the Whitney Houston classic, Greatest Love of All.

I was approached this week by a college student I know who needed to interview someone currently working in the field he wants to pursue after he graduated. It’s a class project. (Three more classes to go. Nose to the grindstone, Joe.) The questions were pretty good, so I thought I would share them here. The answers give you a little insight into what I value and what it’s like to work with me and the rest of the Silver Square team.

What kind of training and or education would best prepare me for this type of work (New Media Director)?

I learned most of what I do every day by diving in and getting my hands dirty. Find a cause that you care about that you want to volunteer to help with their website, social media, or an email campaign. If no opportunity is speaking out to you: make one. I built a site about movie reviews for no other reason than I wanted to. I developed a lot of skills and a valuable portfolio piece in the process.

How do you and/or your team approach each project…do you have any specific steps that you follow during the creative process or development of a project?

You have to be flexible with your process because every project is going to have different demands, but there are some common threads. Start with identifying the goals for the project. If you are creating a website, what do you want to see happen? Should a visitor be making a purchase? Giving you their email address? Leaving a comment? If you don’t figure this out first, you’re mostly just creating a site to amuse yourself.

Once you know that, you can create a design to help you meet that objective. Then you get approval from the client. Build it. Measure if what you created is successful at meeting the goals you set.

How involved are you in the creative and development process?

I work on a small team where everyone is involved in identifying goals and brainstorming solutions. We have a couple of jaw-droppingly talented designers who take the ideas and turn them into a tangible design that marries beauty and functionality. There’s a little back and forth as we talk about how the elements of the design can be translated into web, email, or whatever medium we’re using. Then I step in and code out the final design.

What financial risks if any did you take in starting your own business in this profession?

I first started working with Silver Square as an outside contractor. I was still operating under the web design business I had created. When I first started that business, though, I took an enormous pay cut. For the first year of my business I was pulling a lot of money out of my retirement accounts and paying some painful fees in the process. It was brutal.

How have you or the company changed or improved since it was first established?

We’ve had to keep up with the ways rapidly advancing technology has shifted the world of marketing. Social media has certainly been a part of that, but I would place just as much (or more) of the blame/credit on streaming video becoming easier and more practical and the strides made with online analytics.

We’ve had to learn how to pick up and implement new ideas very quickly. It just keeps happening so fast. I have to study and learn more now than I did when I was in school.

How do you view competition?

If you are viewing someone as your competition, it means you haven’t dug deep enough to find out how you’re different. Everyone has a different offering. You have your own skillsets, style, and resources.

Now potential customers are going to view you and some other people as competitors. It’s your job to help them see how you’re different and why those differences are important. Otherwise the job is just going to go to the lowest bidder. You definitely don’t want to be lowest bidder.

Any advice on networking?

I advise quality over quantity. You don’t need to know a ton of people if you know the right people. Part of that is my personality. I’m not someone who enters a room shaking hands and kissing babies. I’m a little more reserved, but I know of people who are happy to network with anyone and everyone.

Knowing someone isn’t enough, though. You can collect a fistful of business cards at a networking event, but then what? How do you make someone want to help you and send business your way? You help them first, of course. So when you’re meeting people, be listening for what their problems are and try to connect them with people that can offer solutions.

What skills or characteristic traits do you feel have best served you in this type of work?

I’m willing to teach myself. I’ve taught myself new programming languages when I had the opportunity to work on a project that just had to be in a certain language. When I don’t know how to do something with Javascript or a database query, I just keep hammering away until I figure it out. I search on the Internet. I do trial and error. I’ll do whatever it takes to make the code do what I want – or something else equally cool.

You can’t always sit back and wait for someone to publish a book on how to do something. Once it’s easy to learn something, everyone will be doing it.

Clay Mabbitt

business smarts

competition, metrics, relationship building, small business, starting out

no comments

Big, fabulous ideas you take and use how you like.

How to use Twitter in Sales

February 14th, 2010

We talk a lot about how your marketing and sales must mesh together well. In fact, this month on the 25th, we have a workshop to help you align marketing and sales. Likewise, we talk a lot about Twitter (you can follow me @silversquare if you’re not already). So, I thought it would only be appropriate to give you some tips on using Twitter for your sales effort. Here are some easy places to start thinking about how Twitter can help you sell.

Research. Yep, I love using Twitter for research. I use it for sales, personal, marketing, business advice. I use Twitter more often for research than I do google. The minimal effort of deciding if I want to read more (ah, the true beauty of 140 characters or less!) before hitting a link is great. The fact that just about everything is recent and relevant to what’s happening in the world right now is even better.
Industry news. I have admitted I am a news junkie, but Twitter makes it a lot easier to stay up on what trends are taking place in my industry, or a client’s industry I’m monitoring for them, or, an industry I’m trying to break in to. We all know knowledge is power. Take that power in small, relevant doses and who knows where you’ll go.
Best time to call. Oh yes. Once you start following people, you’ll learn where they are traveling, what time of the day they are most often on Twitter, i.e. what time they may be at their office in front of their computer, and if they will attend or be somewhere you can connect with them or share in an experience. Learn about your prospect, professionally and personally.
Job change. I recently learned of a friend’s super big job change from Twitter. It’s where they decided to put the news. I also see what other friends and clients are jumping around from place to place. I have worked with clients as they have moved from business to business, so keeping up on where they are and what new needs they may have is important.

I’m sure some of you can think of other ways you’re using Twitter in your sales process. Drop us a comment and let us learn from your greatness!

Raquel Richardson

marketing & sales, social media

ideas, marketing, relationship building, social media, twitter

1 Comment

Catch Jeff Heinzmann on Silver Square's Intimate Invasion

Being Funny on Twitter is Good

February 12th, 2010

Raquel recently wrote a post about using humor in your marketing – especially your online marketing. That principle doesn’t just apply to your big campaigns. You can also inject humor into your bite-size marketing endeavors. Case in point: Twitter.

Earlier today, Indianapolis-based Twitter aficionado Kyle Lacy ( @kyleplacy ) wrote the following tweet:

Follow @claymabbitt : It is very rare to find an individual that can make you laugh through Twitter. This guy does it.

Do I make people laugh on Twitter? Well, I certainly think I’m pretty funny. Apparently Kyle does, and I imagine there are at least a few others out there. Is it the tweets about the songs playing in the bathroom where I work? The inappropriate things I say to my wife? Road rage? Maybe it’s just because I make a point of following very funny people and retweeting their best stuff.

Would Kyle have told people to follow me if I had never made him laugh? Well… hmm… maybe? I do also tweet about serious stuff in the online and social media spheres, which are areas most of Kyle’s audience probably cares about. But it certainly isn’t “very rare to find an individual” who does that. (Actually Twitter is crawling with us.) Kyle decided to endorse me because he thinks some of the stuff I’ve put out there on Twitter is funny.

That endorsement had a positive effect. My new followers have spiked in the last few hours. That’s more people who get to see me be funny on Twitter. While they’re chuckling, they also get to see my occasional tweets about upcoming Silver Square seminars and new resources we have available. Because I’ve made them laugh, they like me a little bit. Because they like me, they’ll be more inclined to look for the value in the seminars and resources I’m talking about.

Does that mean everyone I’ve made laugh will become a paying customer? Not even close. My product or service still has to address some pain they have, be appealing, be in their price range, and fit dozens of other variables that go into a buying decision. But I have a bit of their attention, a bit of their interest, and a bit of their goodwill.

And that’s a good place to start.

Clay Mabbitt

branding, business smarts, just for fun, marketing, social media

humor, ideas, indianapolis, relationship building, social media, twitter

2 Comments

2010 is a Great Year for Using Humor in Marketing

February 1st, 2010

I have been thinking about quite a few marketing ideas for a few clients who have marketing plans in the works, and I keep coming back to a common theme – humor. I am pretty sure right now, 2010, is one of they best years to have some humor with your marketing. At a minimum, it’s one of the best years to test how well the funny works with your audience. So why do you ask is 2010 one of the best years to have fun with your marketing? There are many great reasons, but this one’s the best: It’s easy to test.

Social media often gets a bad wrap for things like… it’s time consuming, it’s always changing, there are too many mediums, I don’t know how to get started, etc. but in my opinion, it’s one of the best places to throw out new ideas and tactics and see if they stick. Think of 10 years ago, or let’s take five, even, and how quickly would you test out a new marketing campaign? How would you test ? People were a lot less willing to try multiple new marketing ideas in a given year. I think that mindset is gone, and hopefully gone for good.

Let’s discuss an idea I know a bit about. The Proust spoof we have been doing at Silver Square, launching with the new year, was a new marketing tactic for us. We came up with it to show and tell the great people in our network, whether they be clients, friends, family, family friends, peers, etc. and to also bring new people to our site. We can already tell this tactic is working. In 30 days, we know a spike comes each Tuesday, when our Proust appears on our blog, and typically visitors read three more additional posts. They come, they stay, they read, they get to know us. Exactly the point. Even more to the point we get a few people signing up for the blog, interacting with us, signing up for our newsletter… you see how this works? Had this marketing idea cost $10,000 to implement do you think we would have thrown it up there for kicks to see what happens? As the driver of this bus, I can tell you most definitely not. This idea is fun, is interesting, and brings about a personal side to our marketing mix.

Another way using the web makes testing for humor easy is that you can change it and make updates on the fly. Can you imagine how loud you would gasp if a promotion in a printed magazine went out with the wrong phone number or web address? Well, if you do that on a Facebook ad or on your LinkedIn status, you just go change it. Ta da. It doesn’t live forever wrong.

So your challenge for this week is to come up with some humor for your marketing. Have an extremely fun brainstoming session, have some of your employees play like your clients to make sure your humor is actually on target with your audience, and toss out some fun campaign ideas. Pick the best and decide which medium(s) you’ll post your greatness. How will you get people to your funny? Do you want them to interact? Do you want them to go to an event? Think through the idea, give it some legs and run with it. If it didn’t work, it cost you an enjoyable brainstorming session with your team, and a step further in learning about what works for your audience.

Try again. Measure, repeat.

Raquel Richardson

business smarts, marketing, social media, web

ideas, relationship building, social media

1 Comment

Etiquette of the Twitter Follow

January 28th, 2010

It’s an almost daily occurrence. I get a notice that someone has stopped following me on Twitter. I don’t recognize this person or organization that has decided they aren’t interested in my tweets any longer. I hadn’t even known they were following me until they stopped. My total number of followers (that all important number on which hardcore Twitter users hang their self-esteem) remains steady because some different person that I’ve never met or heard of has started following me… at least for a few days.

So what’s happening here? In all likelihood, these people are following me in the hopes that I will follow them back. From what I can tell they don’t care about hearing what I have to say or starting a conversation with me. But when Twitter was still a fledgling social media startup, it was customary to follow anyone who followed you. Some would say that reciprocal following is still the appropriate etiquette today.

Ultimately you will decide how you want to use your Twitter account, but you have some options when deciding how you want to dole out your Twitter follows. Spoiler alert: my recommendation is the third option mentioned below.

1.) Auto-follow

With this approach you reciprocally follow anyone who follows you. You can even set up third-party Twitter add ons that will take care of the following for you. Perhaps appropriate when Twitter was just starting out, I’m not a fan of auto-following these days. Not only do you get inundated with a stream of tweets from people you don’t know or care about, you’re also rewarding “Twitter spammers” who follow thousands upon thousands of accounts just to inflate their own number of followers. It’s not too melodramatic to say this practice is bad for the social economy of Twitter.

2.) Ignore New Followers

On the other end of the spectrum you can simply ignore any stranger who follows you out of the blue. That’s not to say you don’t follow anyone, but when you add a new follower it’s because you found them and are interested in what they have to say. It doesn’t matter who is following you. I personally feel like this devil-may-care attitude is a step above auto-following, but it certainly doesn’t leverage the power of a social media network like Twitter.

3.) Selectively Follow

When I learn someone new is following me on Twitter, I’ll usually check out their Twitter page. I’ll look at the quick bio and read some of their latest tweets. If I find value in what they are talking about, then I follow them. At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that new people follow me all the time that I don’t even know about. But there are a very intelligent few who don’t just hit the follow button and call it a day. They mention me in one of their tweets. Something like…

if you want a good web guy in indianapolis, you could do worse then @claymabbitt

When I see that tweet, of course I go check the sender out.

I think selectively following is hands down the best approach. The power of a strong social media network like Twitter is you can make connections and start a conversation with new people. You just have to be smart about it.

Clay Mabbitt

social media, web

relationship building, social media, social networks, twitter

2 Comments

Raquel Richardson

branding, marketing, social media

branding, relationship building, relationship management, twitter

no comments

Want to increase your web traffic? Just blog.

December 1st, 2009

I’m thinking I should lead with some hard facts…

Companies that blog greet 55% more visitors than companies that don’t
They generate more external web links, in some cases 97% more web links
This adds up to an insane amount of indexed pages (legal term, i.e. insane)
Which means the search engines like your company a whole lot more than those lame companies who aren’t blogging

These facts (from Hubspot, 2009) help me reiterate what I’ve been saying for at least two years – you need a company blog. Especially in light of our economic times, where marketing budgets are haulting or maintaining at best. Looking to resources that give you the big boom for your investment, and in a blog’s case that may potentially only be time (and trust me, I know the value of your time, and mine), you cannot ignore the potential, the facts, and ultimately the increase in traffic.

Another big push back I hear often is that you don’t have enough to say, or what would you say, or who would write it as your biggest concerns in accomplishing this task. Let’s take a step back here and look at the larger picture. Do you want your company to grow? Are you looking to establish, build or create loyal audiences to your brand? Has your web traffic hit a nice dull, low riding line on your analytics report? If you answered no, no, yes then by all means run far, far away from considering a blog. If you answered yes, yes and no, well then, let’s pretty much say the rubber is meeting the road.

In our blogging seminar, I use a video that has two of my most favorite business leaders. Seth Godin is a big marketing guru, and Tom Peters is a business thought leader. Both individuals can pretty much use any tactic they could dream up to reach out and communicate with their audiences. Tom Peters says, however, that blogging has had the biggest impact on his buisness and media presence than any other medium. Then they note together that… it’s free! So ignore me if you wish, but again, step back and see the global community we’re all playing in and take note to who is blogging and who is not. Which companies are thriving? Which are introducing new services and products? You will see a reoccuring ring to these successful companies. It’s humming a bit like a blog.

Raquel Richardson

marketing

blogging, google, relationship building, relationship management, sticky

2 Comments