Influential Professionals in Sports Marketing
In: Advertising| Marketing| Starting a Business| Success| Website| Winning Customers
15 Jan 2010On January 13, 2010, the Second Annual Women in Business event was held, with a sold out crowd of over 200 women and less than 5 men, at the Red Bull headquarters in Santa Monica.
The hosts of the evening, Tadpole Marketing and Stanton & Company, designed the event to inspire and transform individuals through the contributions of influential women in the sports marketing industry. The panelists shared stories of their personal lives and work related accomplishments in sports marketing. The evening opened with a networking reception and a special performance by musician, Daphne Willis who is a true inspiration to female artists. The event continued with six influential women panelists, with a Q&A, followed by small discussion groups, allowing the attendees to get more personal and ask more questions.
Panelists included these women in sports marketing:
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Laura Gentile: Vice President, espnW for ESPN
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Jessica Mendoza: Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist/President of the Women’s Sports Foundation
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Mary O’Connor: Director of Olympic Marketing for the Marketing Arm
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Julie Solwold: VP of Global Sports Marketing for John Paul Mitchell Systems
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Amy Stanton: Founder and CEO for Stanton & Company
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Diane Thibert: Global Director PR for Oakley
Each of the panelists had a truly amazing story to share, including inspirational moments in their own sports careers to landing a job only some of us have ever dream of. Jessica Mendoza captured my attention the most; as she was a Division 1 college athlete like myself, but her resume is much more extreme and fascinating than my own. After playing softball at Stanford University, Jessica’s career sky-rocketed when she began playing for the USA Olympic Softball team, and shortly after being awarded with Olympic Gold and Silver Medals. In addition, Jessica is also the President of the Women’s Sports Foundation, helping to improve girls’ lives around the country, by motivating them to be involved in physical activity. Mendoza helps market, support, educate and spread public awareness through networking. She now balances her work and sport with her newborn son, Caleb Ashton. Jessica believes that you have to follow your passion with whatever you choose to do in life. She has done a great job cross marketing herself, through sports, her sponsors and now her work with the Women’s Sports Foundation. An inspiration too many females, Mendoza is very knowledgeable when it comes to sports marketing and can teach us all a lesson on how to do it the right way.
The panelists made the attendees very aware that we must follow our hearts in whatever we choose to do, in life and in our careers. The sports marketing industry often involves people who have a passion for sports, are athletes or sports fans. Although, for some individuals they may not even know it until they are given the opportunity. Mary O’Conner was one of those individuals; and she was given an opportunity in her early twenties, to be a spokesperson for the company she worked for, in front of thousands of people. This nerve racking experience soon became an adrenaline making role, that she quickly loved, which led her into her passion for sports marketing. Her employers realized that she loved what she was doing and allowed her to succeed in doing so. She climbed the corporate ladder quickly and soon landed a dream position. Mary is the Director of Olympic Marketing for the Marketing Arm. During the panel discussion, Mary gave great advice when she said, “Do what you love. Do what you’re passionate about. Create your own destination of what success is to you. Be happy with the role you are in, or you aren’t in the right role.” Mary couldn’t have said it any better. Therefore, if you put yourself in a role that you are passionate about, you will most likely thrive and succeed in that position. For those of you in the sports marketing industry, you have to know who your target audience is and capture their hearts in a way that will attract them back to you again and again. If you are passionate about what you are doing, it almost always shows through the work that you produce.
There are two sides to every story.
Although the Women in Business panel consisted of all women, I wanted to get a man’s perspective of sports marketing. We sat down with Mike Egan, the Manager of Design and Marketing of 71 Magazine, an interactive bodyboarding magazine, published in Australia. It’s a small business, consisting of three people based in Australia, a US News writer/photographer based in the US and many contributors worldwide. It’s a new online publication, driven to inspire, motivate and document the stories of bodyboarders (professional & amateur male and female riders) from Australia and from around the world. Mike and I sat down for a short interview to give you his story in the sports marketing industry.
Mike got into the world of sports marketing while he was doing graphic design and over the years he became more interested in the marketing side of things, as he likes how they both interact with each other. Often we find artists getting involved in marketing because both sides of the business do actually cross-market each other.
In 71 Magazine there are stories, photos and videos published. I asked Mike, ‘Since the consumers are mainly men, is the material in the magazine focused on men, or is there some women material included?’ Mike answered, “We have a section in the magazine devoted to the girls, the girls are only about 10% of our market and we do have to cater to the advertisers in the products they want to sell. We are trying to allow more and more girls to be seen, and allow more for the women’s market- which is a really untapped market; which is why we want to push women’s bodyboarding if we can.”
It shouldn’t be that hard to tap into a market that hasn’t really been touched upon though. Mike expressed, “Hopefully the more we show the girls in the magazine, there will be more girls out there willing to try bodyboarding and getting into it. Therefore more products will sell in the shops and we will then get more advertisements, which will allow us to run bigger and bigger sections in our magazine.” It’s obvious that advertising and marketing always cross paths in the sports industry. In sports marketing, when you run an ad, for example in 71 Magazine with a professional bodyboarder, the consumer reads the articles, sees the ads placed by product sponsors, scans all the photos and videos. Soon after, the consumer might go shopping and buy the products that are advertised and worn by those professional bodyboarders. To be even more like their role models, the consumer might even travel to the same wave locations as the riders in the magazines surfed at. You get my point I hope, therefore sports marketing is all around us and we thrive off of it constantly.
I asked Mike, ‘Do you find it harder to get female product sponsors for your magazine vs. male product sponsors?’ Mike said, “Yah, there aren’t many. There are probably one or two girls’ only bodyboarding brands, which is Milkshakes Designs and one other one. There’s not a lot of money in it, so it’s quiet hard for them to afford advertising.” The female market in any male dominated sport is usually almost always like this. Women have to basically fight their way into a male industry, because the market for them is so slim.
The conference was summed up in 3 words; Passion, Patience and Perseverance. We asked Mike to give us his definition of these words, and relate it his own experience and inspiration in the small business and sports marketing industry. “Passion came from growing up at the beaches in Australia, and growing up riding a bodyboard which is something that I love to do. Patience is sitting back and having a broader look over the whole project as a whole, and not expecting things to happen too quickly. I think that patience and planning are very closely related. You have to do your planning really well and be patient to make it work. Perseverance is sticking with it, with a new project because most businesses aren’t going to go really well for the first couple years; and I think that about 75% of new businesses even fail. If you really commit to it and really want to do it, you really have to stick thru the highs and the lows. And the lows are being not getting paid, and just doing it because you want to do it because you want to make a difference.” Therefore, you have to choose your career path based on something you are interested in, because your passion and love for what you do will always be within your heart.
To close, the experts in the sports marketing industry taught us that we can improve the industry if we can become more aware of our audiences wants and needs. Athletes are always passionate about their sport, in every aspect, whether it’s in the actual game, in the uniform they are wearing or in an advertisement. They will always show love for the sport and will always be demonstrating cross marketing. If you can take your own passion and develop a career with that passion you are more likely to succeed at what you do, or want to do. Do what you love and love what you do.
Treasure Secretary Tim Geitner announced on 12/9/09 his decision to extend TARP through October of next year, and with a focus on small business loans, preventing more foreclosures, and freeing up more credit for other loans.
If true, it may be the time for many to get that start-up business loan, and for thousands of other struggling businesses to keep an existing business alive.
It’s been pointed out by people on both sides of the aisle that this is the same platform used for TARP in the first place. But the banks hoarded the money.
On how the government will ensure this bailout money goes to where the they say it will, the specifics haven’t been provided.
Will this time really be different?
Will there be incentives or penalties to get the banks to start lending?
How will the houses going into foreclosure be helped exactly?
The administration is being vague about the answers, casting a palpable shadow of doubt over Geitner’s declaration.
So for now, what should a small business and those about to enter foreclosure do?
The only way to see what the banks will do is get it from the horses mouth. Contacting the bank with questions about when this new lending is planned to start will produce the fastest answers.
The bottom line is that banks make money by lending, so to assume this declaration from the White House is all hot air could end up biting the small business owner in the long run. Those that move quickly to decipher the real situation will be first to benefit, or at least realize the harsh truth, should that be the case.
The news should be looked at with cautious optimism. Proactive research on the part of people looking for a loan will soon part the clouds on how realistic Geitner’s announcement is.
What about the Republicans saying the deficit should be paid down instead, to prevent an economic downturn in the long run? Will they stop this?
While they may have a point, the fact is, Obama and most Dems are set on continuing the plan to “spend our way out” of this recession.
Time will tell. And unforntunately, that’s the thing most people who need these loans don’t have. All the more reason for those seeking loans to get on the ball and weigh their options, and not wait around to hear it from someone else.
The Bank Reform Bill and the Creation of the Consumer Protection Agency - What’s It Mean for the Small Business World
In: Uncategorized
31 Dec 2009The Obama adminstration is adding another layer of protection for consumers from potentially shady practices from Wallstreet. Under the agency, things like credit cards, overdraft fees, and other banking issues are being addressed.
Another major factor to the Bank Reform Bill is the law about being “too big to fail.” No longer will the bailout of large institutions be legal. Under this new law, all would be allowed to fail. And companies that grow too large to fail without hurting the financial stability of the country would be broken up.
President Obama said in a statement, “This legislation brings us another important step closer to necessary, comprehensive financial reform that will create clear rules of the road, consistent and systematic enforcement of those rules, and a stronger, more stable financial system with better protections for consumers and investors.”
With the “better protections for the consumer…” Obama is talking about, the potential effect on the small business world appears to be a positive one. Why? Because if people are spending less money on credit card and banking fees, they will have more disposable income to use in the consumer markets.
The creator of Twitter has developed another product that is available for free, and will surely spread like the Twitter wild fire.
It’s called the Square.
The small, one inch long, square device, referred to as a dongle, plugs into smart phones and computers’ audio jacks and reads credit cards!
In addition to merchants that use the Square, people will be able to use the devices to give each other money. It will come in handy for things like giving your kids some money, or for purchases from people, like selling something online or in a garage sale.
The application for your smart phone, the transaction, and the dongle itself are all free. The company is using the same formula as they did for Twitter: create a huge following, and worry about monetizing later.
The Square will debut in March of 2010.
So how will this new mini-gadget affect your small business? Simple - more customers!
1.) The likelihood of your potential customer being able to pay for your product or service will go way up if you have the Square. The vast majority of people have credit cards, and now you can accept them at no cost to you.
2.) With every purchase a penny will go toward a charity of your choice. This helps the less fortunate and gives your company positive PR for using the device.
3.) As with many trends that turn into a social standard, like Facebook, getting in early will establish you on the ground floor. The benefit of this is giving the impression of being informed and up-to-date on technology.
4.) People wil be impressed with your staying ahead of the curve; not to mention that they’re cool little gadgets, and people love cool little gadgets. And being associated with what’s cool is always good for business.
There are definitely some benefits to the current recession affecting the world, a silver lining that can help your small business if utilized correctly. Whether or not and how these potential benefits will help obviously depends on your business, the industry, and your business’s current state.
1.) A wide selection of potential new-hires. With the thousands of qualified people being laid off each day, there is a surplus of talent out there waiting to be tapped. Casting a wide net is a good start- post the position on several online job boards, including craigslist.org, monster.com, and industry specific sites, such as entertainmentcareers.net. You will have many responses, so keep your priorities in mind when the resumes start pouring in. TIP: It is a good idea to have the screening process down to a science; bringing in an excessive amount of applicants is a waste of time for you and the candidates. Keep the interviews to around 7-10 of the best potential employees, and get them in and out to keep the process moving.
2.) Take the cream off the top of your business model and go with it. What is and what isn’t working for your business model will make itself most evident in a recession. Depending on the industry, this may be easier to do in some than others, but the philosophy is the same: make the cuts where you see loss, and invest where you see growth. Streamlining your operation is the name of the game. You may just discover a profitable path overlooked before considering your possible options. A PRIME EXAMPLE: Construction has been especially negatively affected in this recession. Finding work in any capacity in this industry should be considered. With new construction down, a focus should be put on remodeling work etc. Admittedly, if everyone is doing this, the competition will be a constant factor- persistence and innovation are key!
3.) Office space- move on up! With the collapse of the real estate market sparking this recession, there are many great deals to be had on office space all around the country. A space you may not have been able to afford before might be within your range now! TIP: Consider the pros and cons to your current work space. If there are things on your cons list that you can address with a new address, go for it! Get that better location- move into a more aesthetically pleasing place! But always remember, every investment you make needs to have the real potential for a nice return. EXAMPLE: A stylist stands to gain much more from a nicer locale than a telemarketer. If your clients will feel more comfortable in a nicer building, you are likely to see them again, while if your potential customers never see your digs, don’t waste the money!
Three Ways to Effectively Brand Your MLM Business Online
In: MLM
16 Nov 2009A guest post by Vicki Berry
For most people, starting to do business online is nothing short of overwhelming. As research begins, the number of topics and sources quickly increases exponentially.
With MLM in particular, there are many ‘funded proposals’ which will quickly have you draining your wallet while you chase after the elusive 30,000 leads per month you will probably see advertised.
And you may feel that there’s no way out other than to spend hordes of money learning all of the best tricks in short order, but without a bit of due diligence there is no short cut.
However, you do not need to go broke in the process.
The first thing you need to know is what you actually do need in the way of skills to be successful at MLM. For the purposes of this post, we’ll assume for now that you already know what these skills are and are actively pursuing them (personal development, a clearly written set of goals, or your ‘Why’, and the willingness to talk to people, build relationships and become a leader).
But if you want to take your prospecting online, you really want to know how to generate your own leads. That is the reason you’re here. And that is where social media comes in.
You will want to do these three things in conjunction, but start with the first and establish yourself first. Then as you get good at doing what you are doing, move on to the second and so on. In a few months time you will have learned more than you thought, and without spending a dime.
1) Brand Yourself. Yes YOU. Create a profile on Facebook or Twitter, only one to start with, and use YOUR name and YOUR picture on your profile. If you are in MLM, known to be a relationship business, how can you expect people to get to know you if you use some icon for a profile pic, and your company name or some cute phrase as your userid?
The point is that you are NOT going to be leading with your product or opportunity. Do NOT start posting messages for everyone to get in on the ground floor, or that your product is the best thing known to grow limbs back. There is so much of this out there that everyone immediately tunes it out (don’t you fast forward through commercials on your DVR?).
If you don’t already know it, people join people, not companies. The first rule of sales and marketing since the beginning of time is that you need to build ‘Know-Like-and-Trust’. You do that by being yourself, being genuine, getting to know people you like and who like you, and above all, offering something of value, whether it be funny, enlightening or educational.
Which brings me to the fact that you should be making contact with people in your target market, and the value that you add should offer something to them which will help them in their business (e.g., network marketing). This brings me to the 2nd step.
2) Contact People in Your Target Market. Assuming that you have identified people in your target market, in this case, network marketing, these are the people you want to be making friends with.
Make 20 friends a day. That is not to say you need to have full fledged conversations with them (you don’t want to chase people away), but just make contact. Follow people based on keywords (for example with Twitter you can use twollo.com to automatically follow people based on keywords, and use socialooomph.com to auto-follow them back. Do not use auto-DMs to spam them with links!).
Another way you can find people in your target market is to join groups in social networking sites. You can search for groups with ‘MLM’ or ‘Network Marketing’ in the name, and once you join, make contact with people in those groups. Post comments on the groups and engage in discussion about other’s posts. Be sure to respond when others comment on your posts!
3). Use a Simple Duplicatable Training and Lead Generation System.This will help you to qualify your leads (you want people who are coachable!) and who don’t have to be explained to why network marketing is not a pyramid scheme.
You may wonder why you would target a market of people already in business for themselves. But first of all, 97% of network marketers fail in the first few years (or just quit), and 97% of MLM companies don’t make it 5 years.
When you build relationships with people in the business, a few of those will already be looking or considering another company when they find you, and a few more will change companies after you have built a relationship.
You may find many MLM lead generation systems out there, but keep in mind the duplication is key to success in MLM. You may find systems that teach you how to create your own capture pages, write ad copy for up to 45 emails that you will have generated from an auto-responder system that you will also have to set up.
The cost of many of these systems (which do offer great training in these skills) are around $50/month, and that does not include web hosting (about $9/mo) and an auto-response system (about $25/mo). Though many of them will have you promoting the system as an affiliate, your efforts will be diluted as your motivation to get people into the system not just to help them and provide value.
There is however a simple, duplicatable system which does not require someone trying to get their MLM business going to do all of this (which isn’t really all that duplicatable) and provides the auto-responder, ad-copy emails, and web pages with hosting and generic training in all the skills needed for success in MLM for $19.95/mo. (You can find out more about this system by downloading the free eBook “Success in 10 Steps” from http://SocialMediaAttractionMarketing.com)
With any network marketing business, you do have things to learn in order to be successful, just as with any industry. But taking your business online does add to the challenges, despite what people may try and have you believe. Nothing worth having is ever easy, but it should be simple, and should your desire be strong enough there is nothing that will keep you from succeeding.
Discover the Value of Your Company and Brand Like a Pro
In: Branding| Build Value
26 Oct 2009Branding is one of the most important aspects of marketing your business - it helps create trust between you and consumers, which is key when setting out to attracting customers.
The more consumers see your brand and value, the more likely they are to return to you when in need or recommend you to friends.
One place to focus your attention …
Brand name - while it’s possible to brand pretty much anything, it’s definitely less time consuming to start with a name people will remember - that is, a name that’s unlike anything else. Consider these top few brands :
- Starbucks
- AOL
It’s safe to safe those companies started with a name unlike anything else in the market at the time.
If you’re brand name shares it’s name with other companies in other industries, don’t worry; there’s been plenty of success with this type of brand as well. The key here is value. Perhaps the best example of this can be seen with a little company in Silicon Valley.
- Apple, Inc. (originally Apple Computers)
Apple, Inc. started up in the wake of Apple Records, the company behind The Beatles, yet if you ask anyone what Apple is all about, they’ll most likely tell you they’re the makers of the awesome computers and phones and iPods.
This is because between the two brands, Apple, Inc. and Apple Records, Apple, Inc. is responsible for providing the most value to our daily lives. This is not to be confused with saying “The Beatles are less.” The Beatles is a whole different brand.
When first starting out, consider the brand you hope to build and whether or not it’s similar to any other companies out there.
Regardless if you share a name with another company, you need to consider the value you’ll be bringing to the table with your company - it’s what will make all of your branding efforts worth while.
10 Ways to Beat the High Cost of Advertising
17 Oct 2009Most business owners will most likely think about advertising when talking about increasing the exposure of their brand, product, or service - probably because we live in world in which we encounter hundreds of advertisements daily.
If you’re like most business owners, you’ve probably explored a few options here or there, such as print ads or search engine ads. The possibilities are endless, right? Not so much.
Advertising is expensive.
Don’t let the cost of advertising discourage you from marketing your business - advertising is only one of the many facets of marketing.
Ways to Beat the High Cost of Advertising
There are plenty of free alternatives to advertising that effectively increase the exposure of your brand, product, or service.
1. Launch a website or two or three
The first thing you need in order to beat the expense of print advertising, is an online presence - the best place to start creating that presence is with your own website.
For those new to the web, there are a few major attractions a business site should host for its visitors.
- The front page - this is where you’ll be promoting your various services or products. This area is designed to hook your visitor’s attention and get them to click further into your site for more information. For an awesome example, check out Apple’s website.
- The about page - this is usually the second most visited page on a website, so it’s important to create one. They key here is to create the tone of your company. For small business owners, this page is a chance to win a customer from a larger brand. The way you do this is by being transparent yet professional - reveal who you are by including a tasteful picture (preferably one that makes you look successful), a little background, and what you do. In addition, you might want to consider creating a mantra or mission statement for the company - especially if you’re trying to do something in addition to make money.
- The product or service pages - If you’re promoting your goods to visitors on the front page, then you’ll want to have a place to send them when they click your promotions with interest - this place should be your produce or service pages. Here, you will reveal the specifics about your goods. For an extensive example, check out Apple’s product page for the iPhone 3GS.
- The contact page - This is perhaps one of the most important areas on a website; without it, you wouldn’t be hearing from customers no matter how exciting your products or services were. The best way to put yourself out there is to include a contact form with a captcha image (a test robots can’t pass)- this way, you don’t risk the chance of encountering debilitating spam. In addition, you might consider making it known where else you can be contacted or found online, such as Twitter, Facebook, or Digg.
- The blog page - Whether you host your blog on a third party site, such as WordPress or Blogger, or on your own site, you should make it available and known to your visitors. Including a link from your front page can increase the page rank of your blog, so be sure to include one either in the header, sidebar, footer, or body of the page. A common method of linking to a company blog without distracting visitors from product or service pages is to place your link in the footer of your website - visit our front page to see the link to this blog in the footer. This brings us to the next step in creating your online presence.
2. Write a blog or two or three … regularly
There’s a lot of debate as to whether or not blogging is an effective way to attract readers and customers - I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t blame the blog, you should blame the blogger.
Blogging opened the doors for everyone to publish to the web - it’s both a gift and a curse because not everyone is qualified to be publishing work.
The key to blogging successfully is to write high quality posts that help the reader (your customer) by offering a solution to a problem … on a regular basis. Providing value is what it’s all about in the blogosphere, so once you understand what your customer wants you’re ready to start providing help through your blog.
A few things you should know about blogging:
- Blogging takes time - Simply because you built it, doesn’t mean they’ll come in the blogosphere. It takes time to get use4d to the medium; it takes time for Google to index your content; it takes time for visitors to find your site. Blogging takes time, requires dedication, and requires patience, so be sure you’re prepared when embarking on the long journey. Keep at it and you’ll taste the rewards of free brand exposure, high traffic levels, and additional customers.
- Search Engines - Google just reported that 82% of people use search engines to find what they’re looking for - you need to understand what search engines like in terms of content. Check out Google’s webmaster guidelines.
- SEO - Once you have a good idea what the search engines are all about, you can then decide where you stand in terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Do you think it’s necessary to hone your content for the search engines, or hone your content for your readers? Perhaps a balance of both is best.
- Driving Traffic - Naturally, this is what you’ll be after when learning about SEO. The secret here is to create valuable content your reader needs and wants, create compelling titles they can’t resist, and let them know through various outlets, including social profiles, social networking, and email.
Blogging is a lot of work, but it’s one of the best ways to get your brand and profile out there organically. The more you blog, the more likely you’ll see more traffic. Remember, blogging is all about value to the reader. Provide people with free help upfront and they might just become paying customers some where down the line.
3. Build an email list
Email marketing has become one of the most effective methods of advertising, second only to search marketing, due to affordable cost, speed of delivery, and the ability to build a list of targeted leads.
The idea behind an email marketing campaign is simple - capture email information from people interested in learning more or hearing from you in the future and send them compelling information designed to get them to do what you want (buy a product, visit a website, donate, etc.).
The more emails you capture for your list, the better the chance your message will reach the right pair of eyes and you’ll succeed in reaching your goal motivating your email campaign.
There are three popular ways to do this: the opt-in, the newsletter sign up, and the email feed subscription.
Here are a few advantages to email marketing:
- Its inexpensive compared to direct mail or newsletters
- You can track statistics and response metrics
- Delivery time usually takes seconds
- Exact ROI (return of investment) can be tracked
- It supports the green movement
- Advertisers are able to push their message with publishers
- Email lists ads value to a web publisher’s advertising worth
- Email marketing is paper-free
- Email marketing helps build your brand with repetition
- Allows people to unsubscribe easily without hassle
4. Create a social profile or two or three
Chances are you’ve heard all about social media and why it’s important to get involved as a business owner - but have you? A recent study reveals up to 76% small business owners have yet to get involved with social media. Here are two more numbers that might encourage you if you’re wondering what all the hype is about:
- Twitter has over 12.1 million users
- Facebook has over 200 million users
Those are just two of the many social sites online - think of those user numbers as potential customer numbers.
While 76% of small business owners have yet to get involved with social media, Google recorded roughly 82% of people (as a whole) user search engines to find information. The bottom line here is that people have adopted the web as a form of major communication they use on a daily basis.
Creating a social presence for your business is crucial if you hope to connect with your customers in a more personal way, which is something people value about companies today more than ever - this is what transparency is all about.
In addition to connecting, your social profiles will also increase the exposure of your brand and your profile as a pro in your field, so it’s a good idea to explore a handful of social sites when getting involved - just be careful not to go overboard by joining too many sites to manage … start with three.
There are a few types of social profiles, each focused on a certain function in the social webosphere - take a glance:
- Networking - This is probably the most commonly known thanks to sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and more. This type of social site enables its members to connect with each other, send messages, post links, publish photos, and more. This is the best way to connect with people and build a following - especially with such functions as Facebook Pages and Groups.
- Micro-Blogging - This is the runner up thanks to one site in particular … Twitter. This type of social site enables its users to post short updates, jokes, pictures, videos, and more and puts the micro in micro-blogging by capping how many characters a user can use when posting - in Twitter’s case, the cap is set at 140 characters. This type of site is great to spread the word about new posts, what you’re reading or watching, what you’re up to (if exciting … no one cares that you’re eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich), and what you’re doing. Keep it fresh, compelling, and regular to effectively harness the power of the micro-blogging medium.
- Bookmarking - For business owners interested in driving traffic, this type of social site will interest you. Sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and more enable users to post links to interesting content from around the web, including news stories, blog posts, services, photos, videos, and more. Post your blog content or article links on these sites and you might just see a spike of traffic. The more people “Digg” or “like” or “thumbs up” the content you added, the better the chance it has of reaching the front page, which has been known to send hundreds or even thousands of new visitors your way.
Reach out to the millions of people using social media and provide them with value - the more you help people for free, the more likely they’ll see you as a dependable source for information and help, which will lead to more paying customers in the future.
Avoid spamming people with advertising or sales pitches - this is a fast track to damaging your brand, your business, and your online presence.
5. Add your website to directories
Once you’ve created and launched a website or web presence of some sort (social profile, free blog, etc.), consider spreading the news to those interested in your niche by adding your website to directories.
There are all sorts of directories online, including our very own yellow pages directory here at Dapeem.com, so do your research. The key here is to find smaller directories that rank well in the search engines - adding your info to one of these might actually increase your traffic.
Here are a few types of directories that can be used to increase the exposure of your brand or profile:
- Website directories - Host to a wide collection of websites and blogs.
- Blog directories - Specifically for those contributing to the blogosphere.
- Article directories - Host to an array of articles in all categories - usually uploaded by those interested in article marketing. Uploading an article to one of these extends your reach, exposes your brand and profile, and builds an incoming link to your web presence.
- Business directories - Host to business and organization listings organized by category and location - add your business to the Dapeem.com yellow pages!
Browse around the web and consider all the different directories and their purpose - similar to social profiles, the best way to yield the power of the directory is to choose one, two, or three to start.
6. Publish a PDF or eBook
If you’re interested in extending your reach beyond the article here and the blog post there, consider producing content packages, such as PDFs, official reports, and eBooks. This might sound like a major process, but it doesn’t have to be - one way to do this is to package a few related posts from your blog together and make it available as a downloadable PDF.
While a reader could easily visit a tag or category page to view this content, the chances are slim that they will. In addition, packaging content adds additional value, even if it’s recycled content. Packaged content feels more substantial to readers because it’s something they can easily print, take with them, and share.
Here are the basics:
- PDF - This is a file format created by Adobe - for more on this, learn more about PDF on Wikipedia.
- eBook - This tends to be more extensive than a basic PDF report - including everything from a table of contents, chapter list, and forward by the author.
PDF reports and eBooks work best when made available without charge - at least in while building your brand and profile online in the beginning. By making these helpful supplementals available to those interested for free, you’re positioning yourself as an expert in the niche - this can pay off down the road when the people you’ve helped along the road become paying customers.
7. Produce a video or two or three
You can do some pretty amazing things with video these days - the most obvious being the ability to share and spread video online.
With social sites focused on video sharing and hosting, people can upload their videos (or even record directly to the website), customize the page on which the video appears, and start sharing it using the auto-generated link or embed code.
A few video sharing sites you should check into:
- YouTube - duh
- Google Video
- Vimeo
A few video ideas for businesses might include the following:
- Promotional videos - This will be most effective when embedded into your own site. Check out the promotional video for Google Wave here. These videos are designed to show the viewer what something is all about, the motive behind the subject, and how the viewer can get involved.
- Viral videos - These are hard to pull off, but if you can manage it you’ll experience an awesome amount of traffic if your campaign is carried out carefully.
- Video tours - Usually led by the CEO, owner, or other member of staff, these focus on sharing the work space, office, or restaurant with the viewer in a personable way similar to a behind the scenes featurette.
- Video podcast - This involves an dedication to produce and release a series of videos about a certain subject. Unlike a collection of videos uploaded
Video is the hot spot on the web these days - it requires less work from the web viewer searching for info, it’s more visually interesting than an article of text, and it’s spreadable.
8. Share compelling images
Much like video sharing sites, image driven sites can increase your brand’s exposure, your personal profile as an expert in the field, and even act as a viral ad for your services or company.
A few things you can do to increase exposure with images:
- Controversial ads - create a bit of viral imagery
- Eye-catching design - simple, different, compelling
- Logo - spread your logo around the web to help brand your company
- Share photos of your work place
Overall, creating images to increase the exposure of your brand or profile is effective thanks to such services as Google image search, Flickr, and others.
9. Create an affiliate program
One way to spread your brand around the web is to create an affiliate program for one of your products or services.
An affiliate program is something that enables other web publishers, including bloggers, website managers, and even the regular social profile user, to make a little money by recommending your product or service to their network of contacts.
Here’s how it usually work:
- Business owners create an affiliate program
- Web publishers sign up and promote your product or service as an affiliate member (usually in the form of a recommendation)
- The affiliate’s network listen to their recommendation and follow unique affiliate links back to your site
- When a customer arrives at your site via affiliate link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a percentage for their contribution to make the sale possible
Affiliate programs are particularly attractive to web publishers interested in making extra money for helping promote a product or service they believe in.
For the business owner, affiliate programs help achieve two major goals:
- Sell your product or service
- Brand your company
Imagine the extra exposure you could get with the help of five affiliate program members - then imagine the massive exposure your could be getting with 20, 50, or even 100 affiliate program members!
Consider this method like a marketing “street team” dedicated to promoting your products or services all around the web - the higher the percentage you pay affiliates, the more affiliate you’ll attract; and the more affiliate you attract, the more product and service you’ll sell.
You might want to consider getting your attorney involved with this method when drawing up the legal and financial agreement for your future affiliate members.
10. Design an app or two or three for the App Store
The Apple App Store exploded onto the scene in mid 2008 and created a billion dollar industry with the help of affiliate developers in little over a year. With the ever growing popularity of Apple’s products, including the iPhone and iPod touch, it’s time for business owners to hop aboard the app train and bring something new to the table - you never know, it might be the next hit app.
While there are several platforms to develop your app for, Apple’s App Store is the original and by far most popular - with over a billion (1,000,000,000) apps downloaded in just one year.
Apps are designed not only as an alternative revenue stream, but as a way to brand, attract, and make your services or products available on a mobile device.
Some call this web 3.0 - the ability to use an app on your mobile device to achieve something or get the value of a site without having to visit the site.
Starbucks recently published their app, which enables users to build their custom drink, find nearby stores, explore different drinks, and share your favorite drinks with friends. In addition the app reveals the nutritional value of your creation and enables you to save your friends drinks as well, which can come in handy if picking up for a friend, co-worker, or boss!
There’s been a long-running rumor that customers will even be able to place their Starbucks order using their mobile device.
The best way to get involved with this is to hire a professional developer - they’ll know the ins, out, and what’s hot. consider browsing the App Store on your Apple device for an idea of what developers and companies are publishing. Every app usually includes developer information - if you see one that sparks your fancy, contact the developer for more information.
To give you an idea of what’s out there, here’s a quick list of categories:
- Games
- Entertainment
- Utilities
- Social Networking
- Music
- Productivity
- Lifestyle
- Reference
- travel
- Sports
- Navigation
- Healthcare & Fitness
- News
- Photography
- Finance
- Business
- Education
- Weather
- Books
- Medical
Overall, the success of Apple’s App Store goes to prove that people want more not only from their mobile device, but from companies and websites as well.
For more on this, check out the App Store page at Apple and see how your iPhone gets better with every new app.
So many possibilities!
I hope this post proved there are plenty of alternatives to advertising for those interested in marketing their business.
Start your marketing campaign simple - a profile here, a business listing there - and take it from there.
Get started right here on Dapeem.com - add your business to our yellow page directory - with a team of SEO professionals, content specialists, copy editors, and administrative staff, it’s one of the best directories online.
How are you marketing your business online?
Share how you’re marketing your business online in the comments form below and whether it’s working!
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