At the recent GrowSmartBiz Conference in Washington, DC, I attended “What’s the Buzz?:” with Steve King, Jason Falls (SocialMediaExplorer), Jeremy Epstein (six components of creating a “Dandelion Marketing Culture), Duncan Alney (Firebelly Marketing), and Prabakaran Murugaiah, (QFetch, LLC).
What follows are notes I took during the presentation.
Jeremy Epstein, Dandelion Marketing
We’re all marketers. Some of us just don’t know it.
He is concerned about the arrival of social media tools. They’ve created an abundance of marketing channels. Every abundance creates a new scarcity. In this case, what is scarce is your attention. Various tools have made it easier to block out what we don’t want to see. He asks how do you get the word to spread on your behalf?
The dandelion lets loose a number of seeds, knowing many of them will fail. Do the same with marketing. He advocates putting a bunch of chips all over the board to see which ones work. Think like a dandelion marketer.
Duncan Alney on Communities and Content
Conversations are critical.
You all have a real-life community around you. You’ve got bankers, lawyers, brand consultants, customers, prospects, etc. You should move your real life community online. The platform isn’t important.
1. Content leads to conversation.
2. Right conversations turn to affinity.
3. Affinity leads to relationships.
4. Relationships can be mined for community.
This is your community…
Conversations must be:
1. Relevant
2. Inclusive
These conversations can influence behavior. He says content must be about your brand and the people. People only have time for what they find important.
He says that, if you do the above, it’s important to maintain content, update regularly, ask for different perspectives, utilize questions, offer incentives, and build in call to actions. Measure goals and always work for trust.
Get Duncan Alney’s social media presentation.
Jason Falls
Social media is the best innovation you can bring to your company.
We had Enron, etc. People don’t trust companies anymore. Social media marketing is some of the best innovation we have.
What is the first thing you should do if you are trying to get customers? Make sure you and your product don’t suck. Beyond that, you need to do what works.
Blogs: If you blog for a reason, one reason should be to win search results. Blogging DOES drive traffic to your site all the time, because they attract search engines and, hence, people. Blog with a purpose to attract people to your website.
Prabakaran Murugaiah
Identify your core strength.
He says marketing is difficult, and we must plan and execute. We need to figure out which will work with the least investment. He says identify your core strength, and put your marketing dollars there. Identify your high-value customers. Which customer will give you the revenue by taking fewer of your dollars?
Build a tracking system so you know what works best.
Video of marketing and social media presentation.
Q&A on Social Media, Marketing
Just do a video and get it up there..don’t worry about polishing it…some people will be turned off by your personality. Some people are turned off that I don’t sound like I went to an Ivy League school but those are the people I don’t like working with….—Jason Falls
On Facebook Marketing
I wouldn’t say FB is successful. Most people don’t know what they’re doing there. It’s attractive because it’s easy to use and add videos. Eveyrone is riding the wave of FB has XX million people and those people could become my ustomers. We’re never actually going to interact with people or ask/answer questions. Kinda like shooting fish in a bucket. — Jason Falls
Facebook can be for some businesses. Some biz are using it for primary contact method…they ask people to post problems on the Facebook wall. — Duncan Alney
Just because someone likes your Facebook link means they clicked a button but it doesn’t mean they are part of your community. It DOES give you permission to talk to them more frequently. When you talk to them via Facebook page, it will show up in their stream. If you talk with them more frequently, in a meaningful way, they are going to like you for real. — Not sure who said this
Customers
80% of biz will come from 20% of people so focus on that 20%. Let people know if you don’t have an answer. But let them know you are looking for it. — Prabakaran Murugaiah
On Blogging
Blogging is a marathon and not a sprint. — Jeremy Epstein
On Social Media Marketing
I’ve seen small businesses monitor Twitter for key words. A mechanic in LA monitors for the word “accident” in a 50 mile radius. Search and response is a great opportunity. An apartment company does the same thing. Social media is not just for acquisition of new clients. It’s probably better for retention of existing clients. — Duncan Alney
Final Marketing Points
Sales you call them. Marketing they call you. Never stop marketing. — Jeremy Epstein
Make marketing your lifestyle. Use your story beyond social media. Embed your story in what your doing. Extend conversatin you have in social media into the real world. — Duncan Alney
Passion, patience persistence. — Prabakaran Murugaiah
We are all beholden to Google first and not FB. Mobile more imp than FB. Twitter and FB can drive traffic…Blogs DO traffic. Treat blog posts as landing pages with clear calls to action. — Jason Falls
Do you have notes to add? Questions? Please share them in the comments.
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Very solid recap. Thank you for doing this and sharing it.
If you want the ebook, check out http://www.dandelionmarketing.biz
Thanks for stopping by. I have your ebook open on my screen and have already started reading it. Who designed it by the way?