Posted by Darion Miller on Thu, Aug 12, 2010 @ 07:06 AM
Old School & New School, Vintage & Modern. From a design element these can go well together if used correctly. From a marketing effort, it will allow you to connect with people who didn’t know you were on social media and further your transition from traditional outbound marketing to inbound ‘non interruptive’ based marketing. Meshing old school marketing with new school marketing puts an interesting spin on how you can generate leads and reduce your cost of customer acquisition. Here are a few ideas to think about when combining Old School and New School Marketing:
Social Media Addresses on Flyers, Door Hangers, and Brochures
You see social media icons everywhere now a days; paper materials, brochures, business cards, and emails. Take advantage of your online presence and put your social media links on your marketing materials. By doing this you will create a fan base that you can nurture and keep involved in your products and services. It will also keep you involved in the community and have more opportunities to get more exposure.
List Your Social Media Addresses in your Commercials
If you are making commercials, whether they’re radio or television, it’s always hard to gauge the effectiveness of the commercial. No analytics tool is going to tell you that someone came to your site because of a Television or Radio commercial, so how can you measure its effectiveness? One way to gauge the effectiveness of these types of marketing efforts is to give your targeted market a place to go online to follow you. List your Facebook or Twitter Handle on the commercial to drive people to your site. Once they are following you, keep them there by telling them more about your products and services.
Give-A-Ways or Promotions in Social Media
An effective and fun way to keep people engaged in your social network is to have Give-A-Ways and Promotions. Once you have a following you’ll want to market to these potential clients in non-sales ways. Offer give a-ways unrelated to your business. Remember keep it fun and engaging. Here are a few ideas:
■Gift Cards
■% off your services for answering a questions correctly
■Milestone promotions for reaching a certain amount of followers
■Buy this get this for free promotions
The take-a-way here is to use mix the older forms of marketing you are currently using and combine them with free marketing like social media to keep your target audience engaged. Remember to have fun with it and keep in touch with your audience
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
13 Ways to Find Your Blog Inspiration
How do you generate ideas for your blog? It’s a question I hear often from friends, fellow bloggers and clients alike.
Let’s face it. Everyone runs into writer’s block from time to time–some more than others. But, if you have systems and processes in place to mine post ideas on a regular basis, you should have a full “draft” folder at all times.
Here are 13 ways to come up with blog post ideas on a weekly basis:
* Hop on your favorite Twitter chat for 15 minutes. You’re bound to uncover a nugget or idea you can explore further in a post. My favorites include #pr20chat, #journchat and #blogchat.
* Scour the daily news. Review your daily news sites and look for nuggets, news items and angles you can play off in a post. I’m constantly looking for a digital PR angle in current events (witness last week’s Brett Favre post).
* Bookmark, bookmark, bookmark. I find that 10 minutes with my Delicious account at the end of the week is a great way to look for post ideas. I bookmark so many great posts in my regular reading over the course of a week–my Delicious account is just full of nuggets by week’s end.
* Live blog conferences and events. Chances are you’re going to take notes at that industry conference anyway. Why not make it into a blog post in real time. Easy content opportunity!
* Pay attention to your daily interactions. It’s amazing the ideas that come to you when you always have your blog filter on. For example, the other day I was having lunch with my family at Jimmy Johns. The posters in that store always kill me–and they had one that read “We’d love to see you naked” in huge letters. Of course, the small print read: “But state code requires shoes and shirt.” Gave me a spark for an upcoming post about the impact of a good headline.
* Look for ideas in your email chains. Ever go back at the end of a long day and browse through your email? I do–and it’s a great way to mine post ideas. Conversations with clients (you don’t have to name the client, remember–talk about the concept you’re discussing instead). Discussions with colleagues about professional development. Or, a back-and-forth with a friend about a news item. You might be surprised what you find.
* Don’t forget the comments. Danny Brown recently talked about mining for gold in the comments section of your blog. I couldn’t agree more. After all, the comments are frequently more compelling than the actual post. Browse the comments in your own posts–and a few of your favorite blogs–for post ideas regularly.
* Take a favorite post and giver your perspective. Friends Scott Hepburn and Gini Dietrich just did this last week as they built off Jason Falls’ initial post about consultants offering incentive-based pricing. Great idea–wish we saw more of this “continuous conversation” post strategy.
A few additional ideas from friends and colleagues across the Web:
* See a random word, question or headline and twist it into a blog post. For example random words like “recipe,” “clash,” or “pyramid” could all be something to wrap a blog topic around some day. I push myself to find inspiration far outside the usual “echo chamber” – even through art and music — because I want to blog where no one has blogged before. (fantastic suggestions from Mark Schaefer)
* Check your Google Analytics. The phrases people search to arrive at your blog can be fascinating sources of ideas. Make sure to stop by Google Analytics regularly for a good look. (Great idea from Becky McCray)
* Reflect back on your week. Think back on the problems and challenges you faced during the workweek–and consider the solutions you came up with. Was it a particularly creative solution? If so, it would probably make a compelling post. Great idea by Christina Khoury.
*Insights from current projects. Think about your current client work. Is there a particularly interesting ethical challenge you’re facing? Or, maybe you took a different approach to a common problem. Whatever the case, there’s probably a post or two each week just in your everyday client work. (Nice add by Alison Lewis)
I’d like to close this post with a thoughtful comment from Edward Boches, chief creative officer at Mullen. I asked Edward what inspired him when it comes to posts. Here was his response:
“I find inspiration everywhere: industry news, new technologies, consumer behavior, the social dialog among the community of thought leaders I follow. I try not to make my blog a simple stream of what I’m seeing, hearing, reading, watching. Rather I want it to add real value to readers, peers, employees and clients. So my preference is to look for interesting things to dissect and take lessons from. For example, what can we learn from the NY Times use of social media? How can marketers obsession with Facebook teach us to be better at overall strategy? What does consumer participation in news events and story spreading tell us about how to mobilize our followers? What does it mean for the future of crowd-sourced video if the iPhone 4 lets you edit and post movies directly to YouTube. In short, I look for things that I can turn into lessons or meaning. That way I don’t simply regurgitate, but add value and clarify my own thinking in the process.”
Well said, Edward.
What inspires you when you’re trying to brainstorm post ideas? I’d love to hear more about your process.
Let’s face it. Everyone runs into writer’s block from time to time–some more than others. But, if you have systems and processes in place to mine post ideas on a regular basis, you should have a full “draft” folder at all times.
Here are 13 ways to come up with blog post ideas on a weekly basis:
* Hop on your favorite Twitter chat for 15 minutes. You’re bound to uncover a nugget or idea you can explore further in a post. My favorites include #pr20chat, #journchat and #blogchat.
* Scour the daily news. Review your daily news sites and look for nuggets, news items and angles you can play off in a post. I’m constantly looking for a digital PR angle in current events (witness last week’s Brett Favre post).
* Bookmark, bookmark, bookmark. I find that 10 minutes with my Delicious account at the end of the week is a great way to look for post ideas. I bookmark so many great posts in my regular reading over the course of a week–my Delicious account is just full of nuggets by week’s end.
* Live blog conferences and events. Chances are you’re going to take notes at that industry conference anyway. Why not make it into a blog post in real time. Easy content opportunity!
* Pay attention to your daily interactions. It’s amazing the ideas that come to you when you always have your blog filter on. For example, the other day I was having lunch with my family at Jimmy Johns. The posters in that store always kill me–and they had one that read “We’d love to see you naked” in huge letters. Of course, the small print read: “But state code requires shoes and shirt.” Gave me a spark for an upcoming post about the impact of a good headline.
* Look for ideas in your email chains. Ever go back at the end of a long day and browse through your email? I do–and it’s a great way to mine post ideas. Conversations with clients (you don’t have to name the client, remember–talk about the concept you’re discussing instead). Discussions with colleagues about professional development. Or, a back-and-forth with a friend about a news item. You might be surprised what you find.
* Don’t forget the comments. Danny Brown recently talked about mining for gold in the comments section of your blog. I couldn’t agree more. After all, the comments are frequently more compelling than the actual post. Browse the comments in your own posts–and a few of your favorite blogs–for post ideas regularly.
* Take a favorite post and giver your perspective. Friends Scott Hepburn and Gini Dietrich just did this last week as they built off Jason Falls’ initial post about consultants offering incentive-based pricing. Great idea–wish we saw more of this “continuous conversation” post strategy.
A few additional ideas from friends and colleagues across the Web:
* See a random word, question or headline and twist it into a blog post. For example random words like “recipe,” “clash,” or “pyramid” could all be something to wrap a blog topic around some day. I push myself to find inspiration far outside the usual “echo chamber” – even through art and music — because I want to blog where no one has blogged before. (fantastic suggestions from Mark Schaefer)
* Check your Google Analytics. The phrases people search to arrive at your blog can be fascinating sources of ideas. Make sure to stop by Google Analytics regularly for a good look. (Great idea from Becky McCray)
* Reflect back on your week. Think back on the problems and challenges you faced during the workweek–and consider the solutions you came up with. Was it a particularly creative solution? If so, it would probably make a compelling post. Great idea by Christina Khoury.
*Insights from current projects. Think about your current client work. Is there a particularly interesting ethical challenge you’re facing? Or, maybe you took a different approach to a common problem. Whatever the case, there’s probably a post or two each week just in your everyday client work. (Nice add by Alison Lewis)
I’d like to close this post with a thoughtful comment from Edward Boches, chief creative officer at Mullen. I asked Edward what inspired him when it comes to posts. Here was his response:
“I find inspiration everywhere: industry news, new technologies, consumer behavior, the social dialog among the community of thought leaders I follow. I try not to make my blog a simple stream of what I’m seeing, hearing, reading, watching. Rather I want it to add real value to readers, peers, employees and clients. So my preference is to look for interesting things to dissect and take lessons from. For example, what can we learn from the NY Times use of social media? How can marketers obsession with Facebook teach us to be better at overall strategy? What does consumer participation in news events and story spreading tell us about how to mobilize our followers? What does it mean for the future of crowd-sourced video if the iPhone 4 lets you edit and post movies directly to YouTube. In short, I look for things that I can turn into lessons or meaning. That way I don’t simply regurgitate, but add value and clarify my own thinking in the process.”
Well said, Edward.
What inspires you when you’re trying to brainstorm post ideas? I’d love to hear more about your process.
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