McIntosh Marketing Blog

Recessions and tough times are good for marketing opportunities. But unfortunately most business professionals, entrepreneurs and even marketing experts have a counter-intuitive reaction to this statement. You know the old saying, “Buy low, sell high.” There is a corollary to this adage in marketing: “Economy soft, market hard.”

Now while I can send you a White Paper that substantiates this proposition so clearly and so emphatically, unfortunately it would not really matter how many reports, statistics or evidence I produced for many. What many of these businesses professionals are running into is not lack of evidence, but an abundance of preconceived and fixed ideas that disallow the ability to view new and more effective methodologies.

Case in point #1: Yesterday I was calling on a prospective client. I informed her what I did in that I helped small businesses like hers to effectively market themselves with internet marketing tools, such as social media and local search. She rapidly replied, “We don’t do marketing because we are a small company.” I had to suppress the laugh. Maybe it’s the other way around.

Case in point #2: Having worked for years with CPA’s, Accountants and Enrolled Agents, I have noted an epidemic amongst their industry members when it comes to a fixed idea that is literally stopping them from adapting to the new world of online marketing and social media. “We are a referral business only.” One CPA went onto tell me, “Although CPA’s are traditionally seen as having very little personality, our business is built on relationships.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this is the case with all successful businesses.

In these two case point above, it was not that there was lack of evidence or a lack of statistics to utterly prove that social media is referral ginseng: organic fuel for their most trusted source of marketing themselves and developing new business.

And this brings me to an important element that has been missing in the education system, our universities and within the various agencies and organizations established to help businesses. That good marketing is not an expense, but an investment; an actual part of conducting business. To succeed, any business person must not only know how to market, but must also know how to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in marketing, as there will always be better and more effective ways to market. As the world evolves, the ways of reaching, motivating and selling also evolve.

In its day, the Pony Express was pretty slick. It was the social networking of 1860. But then came the telegraph. Ponies and the adventurous men who rode them were now suddenly outdated. What was innovative one year was completely disregarded the next.

Get off the pony and learn to telegraph. Today, learn internet marketing tools and how to use them.

McIntosh Marketing’s Chief Brand Officer, Edwin Dearborn, has authored a new white paper titled, Using Social Media to Effectively Market Your Brand, Developing A Common Sense Plan. It is being broadly issued for its first time. Here is the link: SEO White Paper

This white paper details how to develop a common sense plan for any business on how to use social media to effectively develop a powerful presence on the web. This white paper also provides key web marketing tips that any business can utilize and implement to become more comprehensive, effective and thus more profitable through internet marketing tools.

McIntosh Marketing alos offers a free web marketing analysis for any business.

Facebook is now generating more user traffic than Google.  YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the internet. 80% of companies use LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees. A US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction. Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé. In fact, In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen.

• There are over 200 million Blogs
• 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
• 77% of women are more likely to look for a product in a store after reading about it on a social site
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
• Only 14% trust advertisements
• Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

The fact of the matter is the question you should be asking is not if we should develop and engage a B2B social media marketing strategy, but how fast can we become effective at it. You have three options, either one you need to initiate right away before your web savvy competitors leave you behind.

1. Start educating yourself with books and seminars, so you can start a cohesive and effective social media plan.
2. Designate a person within your company, group or religious group to become your in-house social media expert.
3. Hire a SEO company with proven results in developing a comprehensive and profitable social media strategy.

You may have never heard of John Caples, but the biggest name in advertising history, David Ogilvy, considers him to be the author of the most useful book Mr. Ogilvy had ever read on the subject. In fact, it just may be the best book ever written on the fundamentals of copy writing meant to sell. That archetypal book is entitled, Tested Advertising Methods, which is now in its fifth edition.

While it is quite a complete read, and at times can become quite technical, chalk-filled with facts based on rigorous market research, it truly has elevated itself into a timeless reference bible for anyone desiring to improve their writing skills. The business world will alway be pining for the writer that can convince readers to become ardent followers and paying clients.

Many professional bloggers, SEO writers and website content writers are constantly trying to improve their writing abilities, procuring more work as a writer or blogger, as well as having their work being found on the internet. The basics are timeless, no matter the medium in which they are transmitted.

So influential was the work of this direct marketing pioneer, that still today there is an award that is given in his name. The John Caples International Awards, honoring the best in direct and interactive marketing around the world, was founded in 1978 by Andi Emerson. With international chairs in 50 countries, it is funded by industry agencies, clients and suppliers. Moreover it is avidly supported and run by industry volunteers and is judged by more than 100 active, senior-level, international creative professionals. Between 200-300 creatives and marketers from around the world attend the annual dinner and presentation each and every year.

As more and more companies adapt to the new internet marketing tools and technologies, gifted writers who can move people into action will always be in high demand. Obtain for yourself this perennial reference book and let me know how it is transforming you as a writer and  a blogger.

The world of social media can be so daunting that the task to get motivated and to persist in the first 6 months to a year is the most challenging task for the neophyte. One could comment here on tactics, but the skills of the “How To” in social media will take time to learn, develop and to perfect. I take that back. To be excellent, you will always be learning, if you want to stay ahead, and even then perfection is never truly reached. Social media marketing, like life itself, is a journey, not a destination.

I have often told people, “Just like your business, your efforts in social media will take some time to establish a presence and become a success.” This pithy statement makes sense and they usually see the point.

Ask any person if they expected instant and amazing success in a few weeks or even in a few months. Other than those few who are highly delusional, most business professionals and entrepreneurs know that success takes hard work, persistence and adapting to new elements so as to take advantage of opportunities, self-generated or those that appear as lucky break.

Too many jump into social media usually establishing a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Even fewer blog, and even fewer still go beyond that. When I ask how are their results, I usually hear that they are trying to get it up and running or that they do not see how it will produce a measurable result. They look back confused, yet hoping somehow that meandering within the social media circles will cure their economic ills.

I’m sorry, but social media and your blog is not snake oil, voodoo or black magic. Social media is serious business that represents real opportunities. Given a commitment to excellence, you will learn the knowledge, develop and retain the necessary skills and demand of yourself to persevere until a result is achieved. Hard facts, simple truths.

Green Bay Packer coaching legend, Vince Lombardi, once said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

There is no book we could share with you, nor any words or wisdom or technique that someone could teach you to replace your own outright determination to commit to excellence. Either your in and will commit or you will ultimately fail, all self-induced of course.

BP is a prime example of what not to be and what not to say when you screw up at Biblical proportions.

No amount of social media tactics or reputation management will cover up when you really don’t care. Tony Hayward is hopefully the last of a dying breed: uncompassionate CEO’s who cannot conceive of anything more important than the next quarterly report to the investors.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for free enterprise, democracy and the American way. But Tony’s, and apparently BP’s, arrogance is hard to not notice even amongst all the trivial attempts to sound caring and comprehensive. Tony is dying faster than the pelicans in Louisiana. Tony’s daily statements are perfunctory and show no understanding of the heart-wrenching feelings that Americans have for their country, for animal life and for our eco-systems.

No, Tony and BP are beyond the help of Google, Yahoo or even spiritual redemption. BP’s slick “Friend BP on YouTube” is about as slick and gross as the oil that lines our Gulf Coast. Friend? Sorry, but your attempt of reputation management is bereft of the one most basic element of PR: Real concern.

Hey BP and Tony, pack up your YouTube video team and have them clean up the oil.  The world is watching.

Here is a parady to BP’s effectiveness, or lack there of, in handling a dramatic evironmental disaster:

Although I have had the pleasure to read many helpful books on marketing, this is my first book review on our company blog. And I am quite happy to announce that I had a great time reading Halligan & Shah’s newest book entitled, Inbound Marketing: Get Found using Google, Social Media and Blogs. The foreward was written by internet marketing author David Meerman Scott, so I knew that I was in for a treat.

Both authors are top executives at Hubspot, a true industry leader in internet marketing and social media. For the last few months I have been following Hubspots’s blog postings via Facebook.

Not only was this book an easy read, it was highly educational in that it provided contemporary examples and several analogies that made their point come across with little effort on my part to discern any aspect of what they were describing. I purchased this 215 page book last week and had  it read, cover to cover, in 5 evenings of part-time study. Yet this book was full of many applicable ideas and technologies.

What I really loved about this book were the checklists at the end of each chapter. This added a simple “To Do” list that I feel inspires others to act within the pragmatic aspects of internet marketing tools that they clearly lay out in their book.

The book is simply about the basics and how to get them implemented to achieve results, namely being found. I learned a tremendous amount regarding:

• How Barack Obama really won, using social media successfully.
• How The Grateful Dead served as an excellent prelude on how to succeed as an internet marketer.
• How to build a “content factory”.
• How to do a blog correctly and how to get found, as well as knowing the #1 reason why they fail.
• How social media can fit within the B2B sales model to increase customers and sales.
• How to pick keywords and using PPC as a beta-testing method to narrow the right terms.
• What affects link value and what not to do so as not to become banned by Google.
• Basic usage tips with social media giants, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Digg, YouTube and StumbleUpon.
• How to covert visitors into leads, and leads into sales.
• What one should look for in a PR agency.

And lastly, I was highly appreciated the last chapter entitled, Tips from the Trenches for Startups, that gives 26 steps on how to implement all that was detailed about in their book. I consider this book more than just a great read, but an important resource in helping any trying to increase their B2B results with internet marketing.

Out of the blue my wife purchases a book on how to use a map and a compass in rough terrain. The book is authored by a well-known mountaineer and sherpa who has helped to lead expeditions in the Alaskan wilderness who has also been called to find lost hikers. As I was reading this manual, too many similarities came to mind for those involved with internet marketing strategy.

This navigation book concerns itself with one major problem: Being lost.  The book clearly demonstrates on how to easily and effectively learn to use three important elements to getting back home or getting found by someone else:

• Observation of the environment around one; establishing the lay of the land.
• A compass or some form of determining direction, such as the sun or stars.
• A map.

If one posses all these three things, then one is in control, can take effective action and thus survive. In business, as well as with internet marketing, we need these components at our disposal at all times.  But what are these in reality in the business world?

1. We first have to have a lay of the land. This is accomplished with marketing surveys, metrics, reading top industry blogs, listening to people and a myriad of other tools that help us gain a thorough reality of where we are. To get to point B, you must have a firm and honest grip on where you are as a point A. In business and with internet marketing strategy the correlation is knowing one’s positioning.

2. In business and in utilizing internet marketing tools, we too often get so involved in the tactics and technology of social media that we forget to establish a direction to get where we want to go: The goal.  The key is to have a clear goal to arrive at, in which our actions can be directed towards so that we do survive.

3. A map. In internet marketing, this can be likened to any tool that gives one perspective, understanding and objectivity. With an accurate map there is no guessing. In business, this is accurate know-how and acquired skill.

With a firm grip of your positioning, a known goal and the know-how and skill to get where you want to go, you are never really lost. You have the survival skills in which to make it through any economic situation and how to overcome barriers and competition.

I look forward to your views and comments.

Here are some statistics from TrendWatching.com illustrating the ever-growing popwer of social media in our world:

• Twitter has more than 100 million users who send 50 million tweets a day.
• Facebook has close to 500 million users with an average of 135 friends each.
• LinkedIn has more than 65 million users, with a new user joining every second.
• Meetup, a social networking engine that creates real world events for members of virtual networks, has 6.1 million members.
• Nearly three quarters (73%) of online teens and (72%) young adults (72%) use social network sites. Seventy-three percent of adult profile owners use Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% use LinkedIn.

The challenges that social marketers and businesses face is the utilization of this massive network of potential clients and converting them into actual marketing ROI. What we are seeing are a face paced growth of social networking, but yet a lack of education at the most basic levels of the brick-and-mortar businesses on how to harness its power and growth.

While the numbers from this market research report are absolutely staggering, so is the disproportionate numbers of how few businesses are using social media correctly and consistently. But when it comes to blogs, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, 71% of bloggers have increased positive visibility for their company. When utilized correctly, a blog can automatically feed its posts into the various social media outlets.

With your blog providing original content that is informative, educational and even entertaining, one now has a voice and a positive means to generate interest, new customers and eventual ROI. Social media can be a powerful means in which to distribute that message to literally millions when you know how.

I look forward to your comments or questions on this new research.

I have noticing a current trend in several online marketing books and blogs that I find dangerous. The idea is that your blog or article has to be only informational and does not need to sell. This is misleading and not based on historical or statistical fact.

Of course your blog post or your article has to educate. But if there is no call-to-action, then you leave a person lost, not knowing where to go or what to do. True selling is about solving a perceived or real problem and then directing your prospective client to DO something, so as to overcome, alleviate or solve that problem.

Whether through the pages in a book, or in person, having a rich background in sales always results in better writing, and this makes for a better company blog. Your selling skills establish not only a foundation for business acumen, but those skills will far exceed punctuation, proper grammar and descriptive adjectives in getting more people motivated to do business with you. Don’t get me wrong, writing skills will more and more be in demand. To maintain a steady stream of original content, one will have to have strong writing skills.

But nothing will ever replace the advantage of having been in the trenches and having to truly listen and understand another person’s problem, really get into communication and then to help them overcome their fears, ignorance or misconceptions to the end results of a closed sale. When one can really achieve that, added to great writing skills, you have the ultimate combination in any writer or blogger.

So many businesses are asking how to achieve improved marketing ROI on the dollars they are spending. And while talking about educating the masses and inspiring the tribe, any business person needs to see a return. Otherwise, the business will not last or the business person will lose interest and thus the blogger their source of income.

And what I say is not a matter of opinion. Check out the following experts in marketing and advertising, all of whom learned how to sell people, in real life, and all who went onto to build huge marketing organizations. All of these professionals were result orientated and that came from learning how to sell and close a sale.

David Ogilvy On YouTube

Sergio Zyman’s Website

Grant Cardone’s Site