Marketing Talk

This post is by Dawn Westerberg of Dawn Westerberg Consulting. You’ve heard me mention Dawn many times. She is a great teacher, she is passionate about business, and she practices what she preaches. In this post, Dawn reminds you how you can make sure you are putting your customers first.

This one stopped me in my tracks:  More people are on the Do Not Call registry than voted in the last presidential election.

This country is absolutely united in our fervor to tune out one another’s marketing message.  Avoidance wins in a landslide.  Oh, Mirror in the Sky what is love, and, while you’re at it, what is a marketer to do?
Let them know that you are interested in their story before you begin telling your story.  Or, put another way, get to know them first, and wait for them to ask you, “What is it again that you do?”
This really applies to anyone whose attention you want to have: prospects, customers, colleague, boss, prospective employer, influencer, Twitter friend.  A sincere, gentle, appropriate curiosity is infinitely more attractive than a formulaic, hammering, forceful pitch.

On a scale of one to a hundred, if you lead with the pitch, the listening score on the part of your prospect is in the single digits if not zero.  I’d be willing to bet on zero and that their thoughts are racing around devising all possible ways to detach themselves from your monologue.  However, if you get to know them first, demonstrate that you are interested in their story, in their business – after they are done sharing, they are very likely to ask you “What is it again that you do?” When they ask the question, their focus is on your answer.  They are actually listening.  And with each follow up or clarifying question or comment, they are inching towards the right and double digit interest.  Much better conditions for gaining mind share, don’t you think?

So how do you gain the information necessary to ask questions that demonstrate your sincere interest in them?

Google Alerts Set up a Google Alert on all customers, prospects and individuals  as well as the industry or sector they serve.  When you see something of general interest, you can send them a link with a personalized “I thought you might find this of interest” note.  When you see that they have won a key account or an award, you can send a note of congratulations.  When you see them quoted in an article, you can comment on the topic at hand.  I really like this approach because I’ve found that 70 – 80 percent of the time they had not seen the article mentioning them or their company.  It’s welcome news that lights up their day and you’re the one that brought it to their attention.

HARO, Help a Reporter Out Recently I signed up to be a “source” on this free site.  Three times a day I receive summaries of the various stories reporters, writers and bloggers are seeking input.  I read them first to see if any of my clients, prospects or referral partners would be qualified to respond (then I look for opportunities for me).  So far, I have found three opportunities for prospects and two opportunities for clients.  All five people that I contacted were very happy for the lead.  Give to get.

Handwritten note I look for any opportunity to send a handwritten note.  A card, hand addressed and stamped, tends to stand out from the rest of the pile.  Often it is a repeat or continuation of a thought conveyed via email (with the link from my Google Alert reading or the tip on the HARO story).  I include my business card in the notes.  If there is an occasion for me to call  instead of getting voicemail 80 percent of the time or being asked to leave a message, my call is getting through; and my handwritten note and email communications are always mentioned.

RT and a #FF It is a small kindness to ReTweet or give a Follow Friday mention on Twitter.  Most of the time, the folks who are on my lists are new or not so active on Twitter.  I look for their Tweets and look to provide encouragement in this very easy way.

Referral Because I do a lot of homework on the business of my contacts, I’m always on the lookout to provide them with referrals.  Granted these opportunities are few and far between, but when you are actively looking for these opportunities, youíd be surprised how many instances present themselves.

Margie has written a lot about The 7 Habits here, and this post is probably an example of making deposits into the emotional bank account.  More importantly, your relationships have at their foundation an attitude of service.  What are the ways you demonstrate that you are willing to listen and learn in order to develop relationships?

Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/amminopurr

Looking back on how I got started with Twitter, and then digging back into how to get started via these tutorials I’ve been doing, I have come to realize there are a few pieces of advice I would give without question to any new Twitterers. These are things that don’t seem to get a whole lot of attention, but I believe they are quite integral to getting started on the right foot. I wish I had known this when I was getting started! So, here you go. Ten Tricks for Twitter Newbies!

1. Do not depend on the people Twitter recommends for you: When I got started on Twitter, I clicked on the “business” category and went down the list, clicking “follow follow follow.” I thought, “OK, so if Fast Company *and* the Wall Street Journal retweet me in one day, I’ll be on my way. This is I think a common approach, but the recommendations Twitter makes are based on sheer numbers. It is difficult to get attention from those accounts because they are already being followed by thousands of people. This can make your journey seem discouraging.

2. Learn how to search for and participate in chats: I can’t emphasize enough how important I think chats are for getting plugged in with people of a like mind. When you hear about a chat, all you have to do is search for it in the search bar (#xyzchat). Participate, don’t just lurk. Even if you find just one comment to respond to at first, you’ll be getting to know people who have similar interests.

3. Do not worry about numbers: I know this is really hard. I’ve detailed many times how I used to watch my followers number like a hawk watches a family of mice. When you begin, numbers really don’t matter. You are looking for quality people to talk to and network with. When you are on your way, numbers matter even less 🙂

4. Do not worry about the silent treatment: It’s not you. People could easily see hundreds of tweets in just a couple of minutes. If they don’t know who you are, they will probably not respond at first. This is why chats are really important – people are in a conversation and you can jump on in. Find someone you can chat with, and eventually people will start responding. However, a little secret – most people don’t get responses to most of the tweets they do.

5. Have an avatar picture: People will feel more compelled to talk to you if they can see your face!

6. Fill out your bio: Fill your bio with a combination of important keywords and a touch of personality. Let people know that you’re not a bot…you’re a real person whom they should get to know.

7. Learn how to link: Linking is really important. You need to be able to do this for linking people to your blog, to a funny video, or to other posts you like. I cover this in my Twitter basics tutorial, btw…or ask me for help 🙂

8. Add comments to your retweets: It’s easy to just hit the retweet button and think you’re being engaging, but to really start showing your personality, add a one or two-word intro to your retweets, even if it’s just, “Great post.”

9. Promote others: Do this carefully and authentically. If you see a tweet or a post you really like, let someone know. If someone is newer than you and they just hit a milestone, lift them up. Participate in Follow Friday (#FF) but do it with thought. Instead of just listing lots of big names to try to get attention, list 1 person you genuinely enjoy following. Maybe it’s someone you met at your first chat or someone who wrote a post you really enjoyed.

10. Ask questions: Using Twitter is like driving a car. After awhile, you just start doing things and you don’t really think about it. It’s easy to forget how much there is to learn, and people will take it for granted that you just know how to do everything. Ask questions. You may not get a response at first, but that’s okay. When I was first getting started, new people like me would often say, “Yeah, I want to know that too!” You can meet people who have the same question as much as people who have the answer (and never be afraid to direct questions to me @margieclayman)

If you are new to Twitter, I hope you find these tricks useful. If you’re not so new, what would your ten tricks be for getting started?

So on Thursday, as I am wont to do, I sat down for #B2Bchat. The topic was speaking at conferences. As the conversation wore on, I found myself having my brain expanded. You see, I had always thought that interweaving a pitch (in an acceptable way ) into a speech was not only appropriate, it was to be expected. How else is the audience going to know that you are selling something? I mean, you don’t want to go up there with Vanna White turning your Power Point slides for you, but still…

Well, it seems that I am in the minority when it comes to this belief.

This is kind of funny, because when it comes to blogs and other forms of Social Media, I don’t expect to be pitched. This also puts me in the minority.

What’s the Difference?

To me, speaking is like a 3D, fully interactive Social Media user going out and into the world. Social Media best practices indicate that it is okay to do a very light touch on selling. You need to develop trust first, etc. When doing a speech, it would seem to me like the same would apply. After all, in both scenarios, you are:

In a position to educate your audience

In a context where it would make sense to lightly sell

In the seat of the expert (if you do things right)

In fact, when you are asked to speak at a conference, you are being given “social proof” that it can take months, if not years, to earn in Social Media. Someone is asking you to be the expert at their event. They are putting the fate of their audience into your capable hands. How much more trustworthy can you get?

Those Webinar/Seminar Things

Now where I get really confused is where webinars fall into this pitching schematic. How many times have you sat in on a webinar and heard the introduction of the speaker include information like, “So and so is working on volume 5 of “How I became the best at everything,” which will be covered in part here and which will be available on 11/11/11.” In fact, often times, you find that a person has built a webinar around a book so that the content can be re-purposed. Of course, the mention of that book is a soft sell.

So are webinars not really speeches? Are they Social Media exclusively? Why is it okay to pitch during a webinar but not during a speech?

Lines of Division

A few things were tossed out that indicate that pitching during a speech is bad.

1. If you’re getting paid, that really should be enough of a reward for you. You want to give back by sharing your expertise.

2. You don’t want to do a pitch because the sparks your speech creates will be very shortlived. As my friend Tom Moradpour said, nobody tweets out pitches.

3. When giving a speech, your audience is “captive.”

4. When giving a speech, usually your audience has already paid money, and the expectation is that they will get to learn.

OK, so…

I’ve heard that the Elevator Pitch is dead. Besides, we all should really take the stairs. It’s not really best practice to pitch via Twitter or Facebook, and pitching within a blog takes some finesse. Apparently, pitching during a live speech is frowned upon.

So when exactly is it okay to pitch your business?

I mean, we can all say that we’re totally not pitching anything, but really most people are, aren’t they? In this blog, I am simultaneously striving to educate, striving to learn, and gently reminding you that I work for an agency that can help you do an awful lot of stuff. If a speaker goes to a conference right around the time their book is due to be published, don’t you expect to hear about the book somewhere in the conference, if not necessarily during the speech?

In the end, there has to come a time when you make the ask. When you announce your call to action. When you make your pitch.

Right?

Image by Kriss Szkurlatowski. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/hisks

I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately about how I decide who I’m going to follow back on Twitter. As I mention in this weekend’s presentation, it all comes down to PFFT.

Yesterday afternoon, during my lunch hour, I was cruising my Twitter stream when I came upon a tweet that stuck out like a sore thumb. It seemed mean. It seemed bigoted. It seemed rife with prejudice.

In light of everything going on in the world…in light of my recent work on Social Media Safety and working on decreasing cyber-bullying, I felt it was right to nip this in the bud. Even though the statement was not geared at anyone in particular, it was the kind of thing that just seemed like it could only feed hate.

I responded to the person. I told them I thought that their tweet was really inappropriate and that I was blocking them as a result.

When I got back from finishing lunch, I looked at the person’s profile (we all have our doubts). Turns out, they were of the group that I thought they were prejudiced against.

As it turns out, my behavior in this scenario was the result of my own perspective, and the result of my not knowing this person well enough to know the context. As it turns out, this person’s single tweet defined them for me, and it defined them incorrectly.

I do not feel good about the situation even though I know that I thought I was doing something good. Out of this experience, I hope I can remind everyone that you can’t bank on context when it comes to Twitter. An inside joke, an aside, a sarcastic comment – they are all read individually and at different times throughout the day.

Be careful.

Image by frédéric dupont. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/patator

Another varied rainbow of topics this week. I am very happy that one of the recommendations I received was from a new Twitter user recommending a first-time post. That is what the giving spirit of Social Media is all about. All of these posts are insightful, thought-provoking, and rich like the best chocolate fudge. I hope you enjoy!

1. If you don’t get riled up and excited by this post, you need to check your pulse! Recommended by Amber Cleveland, Lou Imbriano’s post, “Believe in you and success will come.” What a great read!

2. Jessica Faye Carter wrote a really interesting article for Mashable called Why Twitter Influences Cross-Cultural Engagement. I saw this in a tweet from Kay Whitaker. The article points out that Twitter not only gathers people together culturally, but it also reveals in the open information about those cultures. Very interesting!

3. This post by @ajleon called Rise of the Cubicle Farmer is awe-inspiring in so many different ways that I can’t list them all here. Take my word for it. Read this post.

4. My friend @galactic tweeted out this article from Ad Age noting what agencies can learn about branding from Mad Men. There is some icy cold truth in those there parts!

5. @markwschaefer did a post that got me and a lot of other people thinking: What is Social Media’s Next Big Thing. Do you agree? Even if you don’t, what a great approach and post!

6. Dan Rockwell (@Leadershipfreak) wrote an important reminder called You Not Them. It’s probably not what you think. Give it a read!

7. Brian Solis offers another great read, this one regarding Twitter and its new (and building) ad network. Take a look at Twitter promoted to ad network. My friend @galactic tweeted out this post.

8. Jason Mikula (@Mikulaja) wrote a great post about what could have been a bad experience. In Customer Service in the Social Media Era,” Jason exposes the ultimate truth – if you know how to do customer service right, it doesn’t matter what tool you use.

9. Beth Harte tweeted out this post by William C Taylor, which was posted for Harvard Business Review. Why is it so hard to be kind? This post will make you think hard about business today.

10. Dan Zarrella recently told AMP Summit that content may not be the whole story. Jesse Stanchak reported for Smartblogs.com (@SBoSM)

11. My friend @wilsonellis pointed me in the direction of the Twitter Blog, of all places. Seems the designers of Twitter are going out amongst the people, @Ontheroad

12. One of the many reasons I want to be Beth Harte when I grow up is that she always manages to turn a point in such a way that you think, “Man, of COURSE!” Having read a post about how to send information out, Beth wrote a post of her own called Is Your Message Understood.” This is how you go from the “me” perspective to the “you.”

13. CateTV suggested I read this post by Kim Randall. Turns out, it’s a topic that has become near and dear to my heart. In the world is cruel, but we don’t have to be, Kim makes a poignant point for ending cyber-bullying, and bullying in general.

14. Reading The Referral Engine, by John Jantsch, was a great experience. I was so happy to find this great post, How Ducttape Marketing Legend John Jantsch Uses Social Media,  by Trey Pennington. The interview and post are about how John integrates Social Media into his approach. I like especially how Trey does a video interview but then adds his own content. Too often people let a video do all of the talking for them.

15. The people of Sterling Hope write 5 reasons they do not follow/follow back (otherwise known as automatically following back) on Twitter.

16. Few things are more fun than seeing 2 friends connect with each other on Twitter. Such is the case in this post by my friend Jeff the Sensei, wherein he is sparked to write a post by another friend, Tommy Walker. Check out A Sensei Perspective on Facebook. It’s a humdinger of a homerun!

17. Speaking of which, if you want a really fresh, new and brilliant take on Facebook, check out Tommy’s post about his new e-book, Hack the Social Network. I’ve read it. It’s fantastic. Read more! 🙂

18. I really enjoyed the mixture of humor and information in this post by @oneJillian: “5 words you should definitely always never say.” She always makes great points 🙂

19. My good friend @SMSJoe wrote a great post regarding What A Chilean Mine Disaster Can Teach Us About Leadership. Extending beyond the event, Joe pulls out some lessons for us to learn.

20. Matt Shaw talks about habits, and how creating habits can line the path to success, no matter what you want that end destination to be!

21. My friend Peter Osborne finds that sometimes, as a consultant, he runs into “problem clients.” Here’s some great advice on how to deal with those tricky situations!

22. @gagasgarden recommended this debut post from Sebastian St. George (@YogaArmy) regarding the Gap branding fiasco. Show some support to a brand new blogger!

23. Ever heard of the Oui Theory? I hadn’t either, but Gaga has us covered in this very interesting post!

24. @pushingsocial’s jewel of the week is on how to get your Tweets noticed. A must read. As usual!

25. Suzanne Vara once again does an outstanding job of not just updating her readers about what’s new on LinkedIn but also walking through how to make the most of new customization options in the profile. A great read, complete with screen captures!

26. This post by Amber Naslund (ambercadabra) got a lot of buzz on Twitter, and rightfully so! Social Media is more than a campaign. An important reminder!

27. My friend Heidi Cohen wrote a great post covering 5 tactics for improved trade show marketing. A great and thorough post!

28. Wondering what BlipTV is all about? My friends at eMentorMarketing have you covered!

29. Megan Knight, an intern for my friend Dawn Westerberg, wrote a truly amazing post about how Social Media can help nonprofits. Very well done!

30. Finally, a great post by @MayaREguru. Tool or Technique? Or said another way, does it matter which tool is better, or does it matter what you can do with the tools you have?