Archive for March, 2010
Generation and Gender Gaps: Outbound vs. Inbound Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsThe Generation Gap
Many older business owners are still relying on traditional marketing methods, and losing ground to their competitors
These business owners see the internet as “too big” to get involved in, and don’t understand the value of engaging potential customers/clients in any way until they walk through the front door, money in hand.
Where Traditional Marketing Often Fails
It doesn’t matter to them that an entire generation of people — I’d venture they range in age from teen to early or late 30’s — use DVRs to fast forward through television commercials, or that they simply watch their programs online. This same younger generation uses iPods and satellite radio in their cars so they don’t have to be bothered with advertisements. They get their news online and will never see a print ad, and they’ve learned to tune out banner ads while they’re at it. This tech-proficient generation is so inundated with information, when they get “junk mail” most of it ends up in the recycling bin without ever being read. They want the older business owner’s services and products, but unless the business can reach them, they have little or no idea the business even exists.
In a nutshell, a business using outbound marketing tools will rarely reach anyone of the tech-proficient generation.
I’m in my late 40’s, and they won’t reach me. But that’s because I belong to a subset of the “older business owner” world, a subset who spends almost all of their free time online, building relationships, and often building them with that younger generation. We’re women. Women of all ages. We use the internet’s relationship-building strengths to drive business to our own doors, and we’re doing so in droves. And if you want to reach us with your marketing message, you’d better be doing it online, because that’s where we already are.
You’d better be using inbound marketing.
Inbound Marketing and Relationships
Older women who own businesses understand the power of inbound marketing on the internet
Women understand relationships and seek them out. It often comes naturally to us, so inbound marketing is a no-brainer for this subset of business owners. We also see inbound marketing as a great way to combine our natural bent for relationships with making a living in our businesses.
Yes, we get paid to be online, if we’re using our time wisely and we understand at least the basics of inbound marketing.
Inbound Marketing Tools
Inbound marketing tools include blogging and social media, especially on social media platforms where your market congregates. For most small businesses and their markets, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the big guns right now. Use social media to build relationships, then drive traffic to your blog or website, where you can show off your services, products, and expertise further. A well-written, thoughtful blog is a powerful tool for targeting your market even more directly, and building your online credibility and visibility.
Using video on your website offers interactivity with the person who’s found you through your outbound or inbound marketing efforts, and puts a face and a personality behind your brand. There are hundreds of ways to use video to increase your credibility and visibility online. Read “Using Video To Inspire Confidence In Your Brand” to see how Steve St. Onge, owner of Rhode Island Kitchen & Bath, uses video to drive sales once web traffic comes his way through his other marketing efforts.
I love the way KayakFishingSupplies.com uses web video on their own YouTube channel to give tips and show off their expertise, at the same time they’re increasing their search engine ranking and establishing their brand online. (Thanks to George Ross, a web designer, photographer, and SEO pro, for sharing!)
For businesses of any size, a critical inbound marketing tool is search engine optimization, to make sure your brand is on the radar when a potential customer is searching for your services without having the benefit of having seen your website address anywhere. Blogging, video and social media all work together to increase your website’s SEO rankings, when they’re done with SEO in mind. Small businesses who use the relational power of inbound marketing, combined with SEO and search engine marketing efforts, have an immediate and incredible advantage over those who don’t.
Again, women of all ages lead the pack in this arena of marketing, except among younger people who inherently understand that since the internet is home to their generation, that’s where their heaviest marketing efforts should be targeted. Sadly, an entire generation of business owners is missing out and falling by the wayside, unless we can get across to them that there are millions of people online who are interested in learning more about them.
But how do we do it?
Have you seen this generation and gender gap yourself when talking to people about marketing their businesses? How do you get across to the older generation of business owner that they’re missing the wave and paddling in shallow waters when they only use outbound marketing tools?
Note: Because I want your comment to stand, please read our simple comment policy before replying! Thank-you!
Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.
Why You Shouldn’t Hire An Outsider To Do Your Social Media — With One Caveat
Posted by: | CommentsSocial Media Could Be Lucrative For A Scheister
I just read a blog post by an irritated Mark Schaefer, owner of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He called the post: “We’ve hit a new low: The shittiest social media marketing plan ever.”
Mark is ticked off that a traditional media company is trying to shore up their sagging revenue streams by offering cookie-cutter social media campaigns to businesses who don’t have the time, money, or know-how to do it themselves. I looked over what the media company is offering and got the same sick-to-my-stomach-someone-pass-me-a-bucket feeling I’m sure Mark got. Right before I published a long comment in reply, I thought, “This has to be a blog post on Q Web Consulting, so our followers can read it. Then maybe they’ll understand how easy it is to get ripped off by ‘Social Media Marketers.’”
Truth is, I could make a lot of money doing social media campaigns for other companies. But you know what? I’d be selling them a counterfeit that’s not going to hold up long-term, and may actually hurt their reputation in the end. And Mark and every other ethical social media marketer knows it’s true.
What Is A Social Media Marketer?
I hesitate to even call myself a social media marketer, even though that’s exactly what I do. I’m relatively new to social media marketing for our internet marketing company, New England Multimedia. Scott, New England Multimedia’s president and technical/creative director, never had time for social media, since his days are spent on the phone and in face-to-face meetings with clients he creates marketing collateral and web marketing tools for. I’ve been handling our social media campaign since the beginning of the year, when we realized my relationship skills, social media addiction (haha!), and writing gifts were a powerful package just waiting for the right channel.
Since I already loved everything about social media, I decided to jump in feet-first and start swimming. I had a lot to learn, and still do, but the positive results we’ve had in conversions, inquiries, and word-of-mouth market growth are powerful proof to our clients and friends that social media works. We’re climbing the ranks of the social media success stories, and we’ve hardly begun to leverage all that I’ve learned. And oh, have I learned a lot. Seriously.
They Want A Magic Pill
But now, because they see our results, our clients and friends both old and new are clamoring for us to give them what the media company Mark wrote about is offering. Scott comes back from meetings and reports that business owners are hungry for the results and they want to know if we can do for them what I do for New England Multimedia.
Here’s the problem, in a nutshell:
Social media works best when the relationship-building aspect between a brand and its market is the focus. Social media is one giant networking meeting that’s going on 24/7/365, and relationships — real relationships, where people talk to and care about one another — are the lucrative oil in the gears of the “machine.” Scott calls it “mutual buzzing.”
That’s lost if an outsider is hired.
As an example of why social media done by an outsider loses its power, imagine going to a networking meeting at a local restaurant or bar and striking up a conversation with a business owner you’ve been talking and listening to for weeks or months online, only to find they have no idea who you are or what you’re talking about, because they never wrote a single word of anything you read. You were just a number, a dollar sign. The relationship was a fraud from the start. They were never interested in you at all, except to get your business and your money.
However, A Caveat:
I think a company CAN hire an outsider and have a decent campaign IF they hire someone who:
1) has a passion for the company’s industry;
2) knows that industry like the back of their hand, from personal experience;
3) can write about that industry from a personal POV;
4) knows how to leverage social media, including bookmarking and blogging;
5) can write well (nothing worse for a business than poor writing);
6) has at least a basic understanding of SEO, or search engine optimization;
7) has a student’s desire to continually learn new ways of doing SEO, marketing, and social media;
8) is open to change and remains humble in their pursuit of better ways of doing things;
9) has great relationship skills; and finally,
10) makes it very clear on social media profiles and blogs that they write FOR the company, not AS the company.
It’s not the best case, but it’s better than no social media campaign at all.
What do you think about companies hiring outsiders to do their social media campaigns? And what would you add to the list?
Note: Because I want your comment to stand, please read our simple comment policy before replying! Thank-you!
Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.
Dealing With Negative Comments and Publicity Online
Posted by: Michelle Quillin for New England Multimedia.com | Comments (12)Greenpeace vs. Nestle: A Social Media War
What will you do if someone launches a social media grenade?
Witness the public spectacle that developed as Greenpeace supporters became Facebook fans of Nestle in order to flood Nestle’s wall with hateful comments. Nestle’s Community Manager’s attitude toward the first wave of attackers inflamed a whole army of haters who descended on Nestle’s Facebook Page like a swarm of killer bees while the rest of us watched to see how Nestle would respond.
If you’re new to the Nestle-Greenpeace brouhaha, read this blog post detailing the timeline of events, which started March 16, 2010.
There are companies who become fearful of taking their business online through social media after seeing PR nightmares like the recent one Nestle suffered. But since the marketplace, your competitors, and your market have moved online, to refuse to tap into the marketing potential of social media is akin to being afraid to drive a car because you might get into an accident. Yes, there are risks, but if you’re alert and aware of the potential dangers, you can greatly reduce those risks and enjoy considerable rewards. Having a game plan in place for difficult social media situations is like having an up-to-date AAA membership, a good spare tire and a fully-charged cell phone.
We started a discussion about Social Media Wars on New England Multimedia’s Facebook Page and got great feedback from a member of Greenpeace who supported the attack, but didn’t take part. We also heard from the Community Manager for the Rhode Island Blood Center, as well as a social media marketer for a brand whose Facebook Page fans number in the tens of thousands, a blogger, and a consumer.
Some questions we’ve asked, and want to hear your thoughts on:
If you’re on Facebook, feel free to cross-post your comments between the Social Media Wars Discussion there and the comment section here.
Note: Because I want your comment to stand, please read our simple comment policy before replying! Thank-you!
Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.