3 Months, 400 tweets, 100 Twitter Followers - What I've learned so far

What's Twitter Anyway? (taken from their site)

Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets. It's a new and easy way to discover the latest news (“what’s happening”) related to subjects you care about.

What I've done (in social media)

• 3 months ago I started content marketing almost daily on multiple social media platforms (facebook, linkedin, twitter, youtube, blogspot, digg) 
• I've tried to link most of these platforms together 
• I get much of my twitter content from iPhone apps called Mashable, Ad-ology, Mprofs and tweet google articles
• have built a database of about 300 clients that I email with articles that I write every 3 weeks or so

Why I'm doing it (social media that is)

• SM is a new marketing platform that I need to know as a marketer
• i'm hoping to use social media to develop new prospects
• to be able to integrate social media strategies for my radio clients
• when someone googles "calgary marketing" I want to show up 1st in the results

What I've learned so far (in no particular order)

• Social media isn't a magic bullet
• it takes lots of work to maintain social media sites 
• i don't really like using facebook for business
• My blog is the best place to post my ideas
• getting recommendations on linkedin is important.  it's akin to an online consumer review
• it's been 3 months and I've just started to meet some people
• I'm having better conversations with my regular clients and feel like I'm being seen as a resource
• I've learned LOTS about marketing and communication
• "tweeting" hasn't replaced cold calling, I still have to do it
• More and more prospects say tell me that they appreciate my articles & ideas
• I've got more ideas & am building better marketing plans for clients
• ping.fm, seesmic, tweetdeck are useful programs to help access & contribute social media content 
• twellow is a cool site to find local twitter users in your area
• http://bit.ly/ is a site to shrink links for twitter

What I'm going to learn (in no particular order)

• use more #hashtags
• tag more people in twitter
• How to better leverage my existing SM platforms
• how to use twitter lists
• how to connect with more people

My Elevator Sales Pitch REVISED

As I was preparing for my first "elevator pitch" last night, I came across a brilliant guy named Simon Sinek on Youtube who spoke about how great companies/brands communicate.

Simon argues that most advertisers start from the outer circle and work inward.  Take for example a car dealer ...
WHAT - great deals right now on all remaining 2010 models
HOW - our cars are the most reliable and have the highest customer satisfaction rating
WHY - you should by a car from us because these prices can't be beat

Simon then goes on to say that the best companies have all the exact same resources as their competition, yet they seperate themselves by reversing the order of their message.  These innovative companies do this because they understand that the recipie for success is to sell to people who believe what you believe, not just buy what you have to sell.


So, with that in mind, I rewrote my 30 second elevator pitch and would love any feedback you have on this one.

Hi, my name is Marc Binkley.   I believe that marketing is about communication; that marketing is fun; that marketing can be measurable and most importantly I believe that the best ideas are the ones that are shared.  Typically, I like to meet with clients in person so that I can get a better understanding of their marketing goals, their business objectives and their customers.  Based on that information, I build a customized multiplatform marketing plan for my clients.   I happen to sell radio, but what my clients buy is a resource.  My name is Marc Binkley and you can find me on google, I'd love to meet with you.

My Elevator Sales Speach

This is one example of "the perfect elevator sales pitch". Seeing as I need to do my first tomorrow, I figured I give it a shot.

Hi I'm Marc. I'm an integrated media consultant for Rogers Media in Calgary, Alberta. I work with clients in all types of industries to collaboratively develop, implement and execute multi-platform marketing plans. All of these marketing programs are designed to create measurable results for your bottom line and include one on one coaching on social media platforms that can help my clients (and you) get a headstart with these new and exciting marketing tools.

If you're interested to hear more about how I can help your business grow and venture into the social media world, I'd love to chat with you more about this later.

Would you like to set up a meeting with me next week?

Trust Me. I'm an honest Sales Person.

In conversations I’ve had with many clients I understand that Word of Mouth (WOM) advertising is the best kind of advertising.  (irony noted) 

So I asked myself, Why?

In short it’s because of trust.  According to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, WOM advertising is important because it is the most trusted form of advertising.   Interestingly, right behind WOM, sits online reviews posted by strangers.  You can have a look for your own business here http://www.yelp.ca/calgary.  It’s a relatively new site but I’m sure the customer participation will grow quickly.

Online review sites are everywhere www.travelocity.com, www.urbanspoon.com, www.rottentomatoes.com, www.ratemymd.ca name only a few an cover all industries.   Because of these sites, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a brand to convince a consumer that it can be trusted.  For most consumers, the brand has to earn that trust.  Here’s an article that highlights my point. - http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/09/10-am-4pm-service-guy.html

So I asked myself another question, why is trust important for a brand anyway?

According to one source, when consumers trust a brand they

• Recommend it to other people
• Use those products and services frequently
• Will look to it first for things they want
• Will give it’s new products and services a try first
• Pay more for it’s products and services

Basically when consumers trust a brand, they buy more, try more and pay more for it.

If you’d like to chat about how I can help you build & track your brand’s trust, please let me know 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

The 10 am - 4pm Service Guy

I was listening to Matt & Eric today on JACK FM 96.9 talking about the absurdity of the 10-4 service guy.  Matt & Eric asked for some service guys to call in to help explain why companies can't give their customer a narrower window of time when making service calls.   Surprisingly, a couple of service guys did call and the general consensus was that they don't know how long the prior appointments will take so they can't accurately provide a narrower time. 

garbage. 

There are far too many companies that claim to have "the best customer service" for that to be real reason anymore.  In reality, it doesn't mean anything if they say it.   What matters most is whay I say about their customer service.  The real reason that companies fail at living up to their brand promise is that they just haven't integrated their brand promise across all consumer touch points. 

Let me explain. 

A marketing person decides that ABC Cable should be know for customer service. They buy commercials that say ABC Cable is number 1 in customer service.    I call to set an appointment.  They ask if someone will be home between 10am-4pm to set up my cable box.  Then by definition they can't be #1 in customer satisfaction because I'm not satisfied with waiting at home all day for some guy to show up.  And what if they don't show?  It's happend to me.  In fact it happend to me 3 times with one company.  The result?  Their radio commercial lies and I tell everyone I know about it.

With an integrated brand promise across all consumer touchpoints, this is how it should work...

The ABC Cable radio commercial says they're number 1 in customer service.  I call to set an appointment.  They agree to a 1 hour time window that's agreeable to both of us.  Like normal people do, the ABC service tech calls my cell to confirm our appointment ahead of time.  If they're running late, they let me know.  They meet me at home, do the work and ask me to fill in an online review on YELP or someother public review site.  The average review rating from all posts confirms or confronts their brand promise.  Most reviewers say that ABC Cable provided great service.  In fact, when I compare to other cable companies in my area, they are number 1.   I believe it because other people confirm it.  ABC cable has a lot to be proud of and should encourage all of their staff to keep striving for excellent customer service in every interaction with a customer.   In this scenario, the entire company becomes part of the marketing plan.

Google - Creativity in Display Ads - WATCH THIS SPACE.

Online Display ads are increasingly more social. Rich media ads (with video)

- lift purchase intent 4x better than standard flash ads

- raise awareness 5x better

- increase brand favorability by 15x more

Secrets of Integrated Marketing

The amazing part of this video is that it has been viewed over 700,000 times.

Imagine your business. You've got computers. You've got a cell phone with a web cam. Maybe even a staff member who's got a modern computer and has put a video on facebook or youtube. You may have even published a video of a wedding, a party, a hockey game yourself. You've got a marketing budget.  you know some of your traditional media works, but are questioning if your marketing mix is the best it can be. 

In my opinion, you've already got a couple of holes punched on your social media VIP coffee card. what you really have are... resources.

1. You understand that business is about relationships. 
2. you have the digital and human resources to build, connect to and create a social network of business connections
3. you have the ability to use radio and/or television as accelerators for your business & social networks

as of 2010, we know the average consumer spends their daily media time pretty evenly in an average day.  1/3 TV, 1/3 Radio, 1/3 internet.  In less than 10 years, (yes the same 10 years you plan on being in business)  the average 35-54 year old will probably be spend between 50-80% of their daily media time connected online.

TV and Radio are the best traditional media platforms to launch the next 10 year phase of your social  marketing & consumer communication plan.    use traditional media to as an accelerator to grow your social media network.

Here is why I think social media will be so great.  Social media allows you to broadcast yourself on 2 way communication platforms...in writing, on video, voice, or images.  Eventually, you could bypass paid traditional media platforms.  it allows anyone to selfpublish on a scale as big or bigger than a Superbowl, NBC, National Rogers Radio, The New York Times or the Calgary Herald.   A growing majority of consumers use social media platforms like Urbanspoon, rate mds or youtube to access content and reviews about virtually every single consumer choice on the planet.

Very soon, I will have access to the worlds collective knowledge in one hand.  Google has just launched a mindreading software application called instinct to make it easier & faster for me to find the exact information that i want.  any idea, thought, opinion, personality can be found on my iphone.  I can connect with any community for business.  Consumers like justin Beiber, the Julie & Julia girl, the shit My Dad says guy have created brands. In the reverse communication direction, the Old Spice guy connected the brand to consumers.

People like raywilliamjohnson,  mysteryguitarman and charlie will be next.  Wait, What, WHO?  tone is really hard to pick up in righting, so read this next sentence with as much attitude as you can muster.  seriously, who are they?

well, they all look like their around 25.  They all look like they make videos of themselves in their bedroom.   Combined they have over 630,000,000 views and 3 million subscribers.  And it looks like they all did that from their house.   Here's what I asked myself...Seriously?   all of us have those same tools.  the only real difference is that they are (what Seth Godin would call) doing marketing

Now back to me....I've got 2 tickets to that thing you wanted and NOW,  they're diamonds.

I want to talk to you....if you're interested.