3 Business Tips that don't involve Marketing Content

As content marketing professionals go, I've been told I'm...different. (OK; the word "weird" has come up a time or two.) I'm perfectly happy to play to that crowd.

While I'm a BIG fan of (good) content, there are many other pieces of the puzzle to making your organization a whole and happy one. Here are three to consider:

Find out how working with other organizations can help yours (and theirs). In other words, talk to other people. It's painfully obvious and simple, and there's absolutely no guarantee of immediate payback. Try it anyway. A meeting about your business and someone else's can lead to wonderful opportunities for both of you. Be straightforward about wanting share ideas and learn from each other. Start by asking: "Any chance you're free to discuss areas of potential collaboration?"


Require your employees to use good manners with each other and with everyone who interacts with your business or organization. I wrote about HR and employment law for 12 years. Trust me, there are a lot of things you can't require of employees. Making it mandatory to say "thank you" and generally be helpful and courteous while they're representing your company is still TOTALLY legal. If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you write it into your employee manual.



When you buy promotional items, buy good ones. Cheap pens! Thin t-shirts! Ugly mugs! In a word, NO. If you're putting your logo on it, it should work - and look good.

    ___________________________________              

Looking for a writer who "gets" business? I'm that kind of different. 

DianeStresing.com

Picture Yourself Not Plagiarizing

Plagiarism is theft, it's wrong, and it's rampant. In 2016, it's hard to sell the ignorance defense convincingly. It's 2016. We've had Google for a good long time. Google images, too.

And for several years now, Google has had a tool at our fingertips to help us stay legal. So, use it.

Screenshot: Google.com

Also, your mom just called. She wants me to remind you that just because "everyone" is doing it doesn't make it right.

More opinions on the subject, and a nice explanation from a lawyer, can be found with a quick - what else? - Google search. Although it's not the freshest piece on the subject, I'm fond of CNET's article on the subject.
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I don't like thieves, and I definitely don't want to be one. When managing websites and social media accounts for my clients, I opt for original art first, vendor-supplied art second, and then search for images "labeled for reuse" - and credit the source in most cases when I use them. Need some help managing content that will get you more sales - and no letters from lawyers? Get in touch. 

Delicious Content: Do You Know it When You See it?

I'm not a fan of fast food, but I am a content carnivore. And in that regard, Taco Bell satisfies me.

Many have recognized the company's excellent marketing content. Although Yum! brands labeled social media as a "side project" in 2007, it's done a helluva job since then. In my opinion, it's excellent because the company -

• Knows its demographic (audience/market)
• Knows itself (strengths/weaknesses)  
• Uses humor to make its case...
• ...and delivers on what it promises

Don't Over-Indulge in Content

It's fast-food marketing, folks - not rocket science. And either way, there's such a thing as "too much." Taco Bell doesn't blog at length about how its recipes were developed based on extensive anthropologic research or get overly cute by making us guess which Aztec God ate chalupas.

Taco Bell gets the message just right. It's short. It's cute. And it works, on an emotional and a practical level.

Emotional Content: It's in the Bag

While Hallmark (and lately, gum) commercials aim for our tear ducts, Taco Bell's content hits us in the emotional funny bone.  Which works, because we love to laugh almost as much as we love to eat. We especially like to feel like we're "in" on an inside joke. Taco Bell delivers, from pithy puns on sauce packets to its Secret Menu.

What Can Your Small Business Marketing Plan Steal from the Bell? 

While my local taco place serves far better food than Taco Bell, it doesn't have a Yum Brands-size  budget. Here's where social media helps level the playing field:

Twitter feeds are free. Snapchat marketing works. And if your customers love you, they'll Like (and Love, LOL, sticker and Share) along with you on your Facebook Page. Or Instagram feed. Or...whatever tool comes next.

Figure out your business niche, highlight your strengths, deliver them with personality and humor (as appropriate), and one day your customers might blog about you, too. 

Don't Forget about Operations

Taco Bell's marketing campaigns are not the most elaborate or expensive in the fast-food world, and that's OK, because what the company does works. It's clear that what you see/hear/share about the brand is well-communicated inside, to its employees, as well. The company's online survey program is - like its marketing message - interactive and responsive while being short and to the point. 

If the commercials made laugh and the sauce packets said the most adorable things but the in-store experience stunk, the marketing would fall flat. 

I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to customer service and operations. Small companies don't get to be big companies unless they have the training, systems, and operational follow-through to take care of their customers, consistently and well. 

So go on, create great content and share it with your prospects. Just don't expect them to become repeat customers unless you've got what it takes to make them happy. 

_______________________________________

Need help making your content a little more palatable? I can help you dish up the right message, and make sure it serves your customers. I'll also test it (and test you) to be sure your message is operationally sound.  Ready?  Get in touch. 

Words & Pictures & the Blurred Lines of Communication

I've written often and recently about (my perception of) the state of journalism and the blurring of the lines between marketing communications and "trusted" editorial content. 

As journalism continues to change, sometimes I cringe; more often I say "hmmm." 

Three articles that have given me a lot more food for thought this week:

How National Geographic spots altered photos

Is Chris Arnade a journalist? I say yes. 

Was the disclosure enough in this newspaper "article?" I say no. 
___________________________________
What do you think about journalism circa 2016? Do you agree with or bristle at the continuous barrage of insults Donald Trump hurls at the press? I'd love to hear your opinion. 

From Facebook.com/HeavenNow

Content Marketing World - May Common Sense Be With You

YAY, I love content. I love content marketing. And I love Star Wars.

Now can you help me understand what Mark Hamill can teach me about the first two?

Disturbance in the Marketing Force? 

Content Marketing World 2016 comes to Cleveland this fall, and I'd love to go. But it would be a little bit like overdosing on ice cream: Sweet, sure. But a love affair with content can really pack on the pounds and bog down your marketing efforts.

I know that sounds weird, coming from a content marketing type like me.

But as I've said before, I'm a big believer that content marketing is really just marketing, and marketing communications is really just communication.

If you're going to Content Marketing World, by all means, I hope the Force is with you (and Mr. Hamill). Send me a post card, brochure, link to your landing page...and if you figure out why Luke Skywalker should headline the event, please let me know.

#ThingsThatMakeMeSayHm

#CommonSenseContent

The King Lives: Content's Gone Retro

Readers (you know, human people) overdosed on social media channels and content long ago. Marketing departments are about to figure it out.

GOOD Content is Still King

I completely agreed with the gist of an article I read on this subject last week. Unfortunately, it used a grabby but misleading headline: Content is No Longer King. Sadly, the author's very sound recommendations were cheapened by this silly tactic.

I say, content is still (has always been) King in the marketing game, but the King's robes have changed.

And the article in question supports that. The author suggests mastering 2-3 channels, and publishing two 'epic' posts a month. That's still a content management approach, folks. In fact, it's a very good approach - and 20+ years ago we called that 'Marketing Communications.' And we created it for people.

Whether it's online, printed, or read from a telemarketing script, content sells, baby. Always has, always will.

People - your standard human being types - need information to make decisions. A little emotion (humor, fear, love) gets those decisions rolling a little faster.

Hello, that's content.

Too many firms (content marketing firms and businesses of every ilk) have started spewing content just to publish regularly. Just because they think they're supposed to. Just because it's a habit.

GOOD marketing content has a purpose, and it's not "publish every Tuesday" or "keep your Twitter feed busy." Good marketing content educates, compares, promotes (a little bit) and sells.

Most small business owners know that, and a great many more knew that before online marketing made a monster out of itself. I suspect it's why a lot of small business owners (who are typically very common-sensical types) distrust content marketing in general.

I say Common Sense Content is King - so stop overdosing on marketing content and start making words work for you and your business.

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Check out some more great ways to use content to sell from Duct Tape Marketing. 

Press Releases: So 1995 or still important in 2015?

I love it when something I wrote a year or more ago sounds fresh. (OK, sometimes I hate it.)

I last wrote about press releases in October 2013. I'm tempted to simply re-share the whole piece; it still works.

But that wouldn't do my blog any favors, now would it? (Wink, wink)

Press Releases Still Matter. 

Press releases are sort of like phones. They still matter, we still need them, but the way we work with them has changed a little bit. Here's how to think about them, and how to use them effectively, in 2015.

Press releases were built to do a job: that is, to let the press know about something that maybe it (the press) should tell the world about. Closely related: press releases were the original spin machines.

They can be read at a press conference when something bad has happened, for example. They can announce that something good has happened. Or they can ballyhoo a new product.

Press releases once worked pretty well at getting the press's attention. Has that changed? No, not really. What's changed is the press, which is a rather archaic word, so let's say "media." Roughly eight billion channels and the internet have appeared since the dawn of the press release.  Each news outlet has its own agenda.* So, how well do they work? Ah, that's a good question. The answer is, they work great, when you have a great plan. (See Marketing 101, specifically as it relates to goals, audiences, targets, testing, and - well, you get the point.)

At some point, press releases got a little too big for their britches. Or maybe that was a mixup at the office party when PR and Marketing got confused and tried on each other's job descriptions and everyone went home in the wrong hat.

Ah-um, yes; that belongs in another post too. Back to press releases.

They can't do everything. But, when you design them to do a specific job, they do it well.

Who needs press releases in 2015? Large organizations

One way to characterize a large organization - whether it's a public university, foundation, hospital, or everyone's favorite corporation - is as an information center. Most large organizations produce enough internal news to publish a daily newspaper. And the people who work there might, at some point, be expected to know what's going on in any given department. Which is silly, because people who work in a university's biology department really can't know everything that's going on over in the agriculture department (although it would be nice) or public health (that would be nice too) or history departments.

One thing press releases do really well is serve as a news archive of sorts for accomplishments. And other things that happen. And not just in public institutions, but also in corporations. Particularly since employees often are also shareholders, I hope that many of them read their company's press releases regularly. Hint: If I were in charge of a large organization, I would require employees to read every press release the company issued, the PR department would be stellar, and very well paid.  ;)

Who needs press releases in 2015? Small organizations

Remember that party I mentioned, where marketing and PR got a little too cozy? Yeh, well, it's not exactly an incestuous relationship. The fact is there's a huge gray area where Marketing and PR both need to work closely together. We could say they're cousins. It might be a good idea for me to kill this analogy now.

To clarify, when I said "press releases got a little too big for their britches," what I meant was we all got confused about how much a press release can do. Press releases by themselves simply cannot replace sales, marketing, and paid advertising.**

Small organizations rarely have healthy marketing/pr/ad budgets. And while press releases can't make up all the difference, when used well, they can garner a lot of attention. Not "a lot of attention" in a headline news kind of way, maybe, but that's not necessarily what a small business or organization needs.

As PR and marketing both know, the right kind of attention, from the right audience is priceless for a small organization. (And some large organizations.)

A well-targeted press release can function as a productive cold call, generating awareness, interest and when you're lucky, leads.

Why bother with press releases in 2015? 

If you have a message to share, press releases are one way to share it. Whether or not a press release is the best, most effective way to share it...is questionable. But sometimes, under some circumstances, press releases are a perfect fit, britches and all.

~Diane Stresing

*Sadly, none that I know of are out to purely inform us minions with "all the news that's fit to print;" but that rant belongs in a different post.
**Gasp! Can we still say "advertising" in 2015? I may never run out of blog topics...

Content Overload!

Augh. "Fill in the blanks" storytelling. Sorry, but "Pick your story, fill in the blanks, then share it" isn't what I envision when I hear "good content."

In my opinion the problem isn't that there's a content void to fill. It's that most content isn't worth reading. And there's a lot more crap than there used to be, ergo, big ball of wax. While TheNextWeb seems to address the wrong problem (so great a need for content! so little time) generally, I think the advice it offered last month regarding managing messaging on a variety of social media channels was pretty sound.

I'll admit one of the subheads rubbed me the wrong way. IMHO, "How to max out each social network" really isn't the point.

I think marketing content overload is the problem, and I don't think it can be address with more - even better - content.

OK, better content helps. Better content appeals to more readers. But here's a crazy concept: so does better customer service. So does better product design. So much so that - hang on to your thinking caps - it can actually drive content. User-generated, believable content. Wow.

Now that's a concept worth tweeting about - don'tchathink?

Press Releases Had Value Before SEO Existed (and they still do)

Let's say you want to get the word out about your product, invite the world to your website, give current customers a reason to talk about your business, and generate a little buzz in the media. Are press releases worth the time? Twenty years ago, the answer was YES. A total no-brainer.  

Because, of course, the fundamental purpose of a press release was to generate awareness among potential prospects.

Today, the Fundamental Purpose of a Press Release Is... 

Then web 1.0 arrived and we started stuffing keywords into places we'd rather not talk about now. A few (bajillion) revisions of SEO rules and Google updates later, it's worth asking again: Are press releases worth your time? 

The answer might be, IT DEPENDS. On your marketing strategy and the success of your other lead-generation tools. IT DEPENDS on the news you have, the audience you've identified as most receptive to your release, and other means you have to reach them. 

However, my answer, generally, is still YES. It's a no-brainer.  

Primarily because, of course, the fundamental purpose of a press release (still) is to generate awareness among potential prospects. 

What PR Experts Say about Press Releases and SEO in 2013

"Press releases are more than simple SEO tools. Press releases [still] reach journalists, influencers and consumers.  ... Press releases drive social interaction.  They meet financial disclosure.   In short, they drive broad discovery of your message.  None of this has anything to do with linkbuilding and SEO. This is all about building awareness."

-- Sarah Skerik, writing in Beyond PR

In spite of Google's latest changes to link weighting and algorithms, press releases (still) can include inbound-link-building, but Google will penalize you for trying to pre-build the inbound links. Instead, the link-building will have to develop organically. 

In other words: In fact, the only true potential SEO benefit of press releases is if a journalist or blogger thinks the content of the release is compelling enough to write about and links back to you naturally. This also means that, as I said, the content of the release needs to actually be compelling." 

-- Pamela Vaughan, writing for Hubspot

All of which brings me back to my initial assertion - the point of a press release, really, is to generating interest among qualified leads or at least well-identified prospects. 

If you've got news to share, by all means, a press release is in order. 

Don't Write Like That Guy

I think good writing should communicate, not call attention to the ultra-stiff and serious way it communicates. Apparently, that's not how everyone thinks.

Want an example? Here:
 

Collaborate closely with multiple cross-functional leaders to establish and ensure new communication campaigns and programs are aimed at reaching defined metrics and Key Performance Indicators.  

^ This is from a job description. Can I do that? Yes - I can, I have, and I will - if you pay me enough.  

Sorry; I don't make this stuff up. It's real and it's everywhere. While I highly recommend that you don't write like this, I also suggest pretending that someone did make it up, just to make you laugh. And then, laugh. It's good for you.

~Diane Stresing

Content Rules, She Says, But Content isn't King Anymore

The crown has moved over one seat. And Roxanne Divol says it's good to be queen.

I think she's write. Er, I mean, right. But creating good content isn't all marketers need to do. (Ha! "All Marketers Need to Do" would be a pretty long list!) One thing most seem to agree on: they need to understand, be successful, in the publishing business.

Honoring Dads (through better marketing)

It's not quite Father's Day but it IS high time we (copywriters) started showing Dads a little more respect. Ashley Silverman of Playground Dad offers a well-crafted post on marketing to the "other" parent and gives us a few reasons to pay attention.

Blog On

A week after Twitter introduced Vine, its tool for sharing 6-second videos, business blogs sound almost hopelessly out of date, don't they?   But Website magazine doesn't seem to think so - and I don't either.

Thanks for reading my quaint little opinion on the subject, and if you're of a similar ilk, please note: guest bloggers are welcome here. Let's do our best to stay current, and connect via Twitter, hm?

~Diane Stresing

Bad Advice (But I know better)

Ick. I just read a blog post by a "marketing expert" that convinced me she's not. The article took a contrarian viewpoint that content isn't king. Such headlines are gimmicky, sure, but they often work - and well-written contrarian pieces typically offer a different perspective. I like that.

That said, the blog in question (and you'll notice I won't link to it) used as its hook research from 2004.

Folks, that was nearly a decade ago.

Calling yourself an expert based on data collected when Pluto was still a planet is rather old-hat. 

The writer's premise was that design matters, more - or at least as much as - content, because if viewers "don't trust" a site based on looks, or it loads too slowly, they'll click away and never read your content. Unfortunately, the writer did a great job showing how NOT to illustrate that point.

The formatting of the blog was clunky; the graphics didn't enhance, but distracted from, the message, and the grammar was sloppy.

Don't be that guy. 

I had to giggle at another writer's Tweet last week about a blog from a professional writers' group - that had a typo in the first 'graph. (Whoops.) The writer's kind comment lamented the fact that whenever she posts about someone else's bad grammar, guess what? She's sure to include a typo. Hey, it happens. Fortunately, a single typo or clunky transition doesn't mark you as a wanna-be writer.

The blog I read last week was thoroughly sub-par.

It's been my experience that those things happen, too, but they're less likely to happen if you write, wait, and then read it again with fresh eyes. It's not rocket science, folks, it just takes a little patience and self-discipline. Which brings me to my last piece of advice:

Do your homework, write once and edit twice. 

In other words, try to be that guy. 

~Diane Stresing

Bloppers, or why you need a little help

Recently seen in a real magazine, with ellipses placed to protect the identity of the writer:   

"They made there first record... and I was fortunate enough to do their first official shoot." 

(I couldn't help thinking, if they're really fortunate, you won't be their English teacher.) 

Look, if you don't make mistakes, you're not human. But the reading public - meaning your customers and prospects - will judge you by your mistakes. 

You can argue some mistakes are OK - if they get you noticed, for example, and you're of the any-attention-is-better-than-none mindset. Of course in business, that's a pretty lame operating principle. 

Sure the bible's had several famously flawed editions, and we're still reading those.* While you can take a few cues from religion and history when you're developing a PR and marketing strategy, I highly recommend you toss in some tips from folks with more practical industry experience. 

*Copywriters, note: word has it the biblical scribes were flogged or otherwise severely reprimanded for their errors.

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~Diane Stresing                             

Some mistakes are more expensive than others.


Know any copyeditors who charge $25,000/minute? Now there's justification.

"I'm sorry this is so long. I'd have written a shorter blog post but I didn't have time."

Or so I paraphrase what many have said before (some in fewer words) - and what is one of the most telling bits on writing ever written, IMHO.

Which brings me to Twitter, Reddit, and the all-too-human tendency to search for a more complicated answer when a perfectly good - if unbelievably simple - answer is sitting right there, in plain sight. SMH.

In a weak moment, I waded in to the silly media stories of the day to find out if Twitter has The Magic Formula for social media success and What Newspapers Can Learn from Reddit and was disappointed in both. The Twitter article disappointed me more, because it points out how myopic many (most?) advertising industry pundits are. It's possible people read/like Twitter because it's short and easy to read, right? No, that's too easy. Let's search instead for a new, improved, 2012 answer because it's no longer fashionable to use the 2010 answer. It's also possible people respond to Twitter's ads because there's a higher proportion of good ads and/or they're targeted and/or timed better and/or they're not lost among quite so many distractions as Facebook, where you can plan your family reunion, have a virtual high school reunion, lose your job, and run your own business? Augh. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. And when it's not a cigar, it shouldn't take a semester's worth of discussion to figure out what it really is.

The second article, about newspapers and their impending doom (not) ticked me off because the headline is a sell-out for an article that's quite worth a read.

Here's my crazy, all-too-simple answer for the industry watchers: news outlets that offer news - aka important information that has nothing to do with what Snooki named her baby or how Nicki Minaj will vote - will have an audience. Advertising that's good, and seen, will work. In the newspaper, on the evidently nearly dead Facebook, or on today's SM darling.

If your ads are good, in front of the right people, when they're not too terribly distracted, they'll work.

I repeated it because that ups the odds that you'll get the message.

Which is something that was once taught in advertising 101, before distractions were born, right after Al Gore invented the internet.

Hey I read it online. It's gotta be true. Source? I don't need no stinkin' source. It was on ABC News, and they got it straight from Twitter.

So back to ads on Twitter, or anywhere.  Here's a tip: No matter how good your ads are, they won't return well this month/quarter for folks interested in the DNA ENCODE reports or cool photos of Mars. Those are called distractions. Both of which are undoubtedly better and probably more important than one election on a planet that supports more than one country.

Thanks for reading and by all means keep thinking out there. I'll edit this down to 140 characters when I get a round tuit.

~Diane Stresing

~ the links, in case you want them ~

http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/04/12/more-time-shorter-letter/


http://pandodaily.com/2012/09/04/will-twitters-uncanny-luck-ever-run-out/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=rightrail&utm_content=2&utm_campaign=recirc

http://gigaom.com/2012/09/04/what-newspapers-and-other-media-could-learn-from-reddit/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=rightrail&utm_content=3&utm_campaign=recirc

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=junk-dna-encode

http://www.space.com/17474-mars-rover-curiosity-longest-drive.html

The short of the DNA ENCODE story:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/05/dna-database-unlocks-map-to-genetic-disease/

The long of it:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001046

And the medium but digestible for the liberal arts crowd version:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=junk-dna-encode

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMG5fkiY_-ZH9wjRm8UgfS07Kb-kN5iKUPLdKnOdWer4QhOah491nTehm2q8O_nIgiB3awvWX_Vo6fVAQJ2wLAJZRAwuP1JBBKy1EgVXOoRH7VzG3747fr9LqJ39qEJo6ToN9RXTK941sp/s1600/A_Round_Tuit_Picture.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mouthmotions.blogspot.com/2011/03/round-tuit.html&h=1104&w=1144&sz=216&tbnid=ExrYxeZ4N6wbCM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=94&zoom=1&usg=__lLJ-I0XH6GTQkylPD1kTXVdHtgY=&sa=X&ei=WsJIUL6tL6rO2AW_sIHQDQ&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAQ&dur=1265

Local Gets Social: It's about time

When it comes to media, messaging, social media, branding and business communications in general, I think there are several distinct, parallel universes. (Corporate giants may qualify as a couple of different animals in their own right.)

I also think most of us will agree - by us, this time I mean consumers - that the question isn't IF a small business should use social media, the question is HOW?

>>> Why I'm convinced small businesses need social media
>>> ...and yet another convincing argument

The short answer is, just (about) like anyone else. If everyone on the 'net is all a-twitter about Mother's Day, you probably should be too. But your comments don't need to trend worldwide. They need to reach your local audience, your followers, and entice them to share. (In case you're so busy running your business you haven't noticed, in 2012 "share" means "recommend." And "recommend" still means "new business.") 

If you're a worldwide brand, maybe your Mother's Day comments should ride the coattails of a celebrity story, a la "Do you admire Angelina Jolie's maternal style?". If your business focuses on a 25-mile radius, though, leave Angelina alone. You can focus on something much more personal, much more real.  A bring-a-friend offer is the ideal engagement tool for you and your customers. For example, "Bring a friend who's like a mom to you" or "tell us what your mom did that drove you crazy, that you do now and both of you get 20% off your next service."

See? It's easy. And it's important, because no matter how small your business, you don't want it to get any smaller! The hard part about any form of marketing is finding the time to do it. The next Local Gets Social Tip will focus on finding the time to reach your market and attract new customers.

~Diane Stresing

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Don't let the Pepsis and Cokes of the world define your marketing plan. Yours is probably better, anyway. Need a little help getting on the right social media track? Find out what a professional copywriter can do for you.
  << it's a safe! Isn't that cool?!

Say it in Pictures

Is Slideshare the new content marketing king? And if a picture on Pinterest is worth more than a thousand words, what's Panasonic trying to say?

 Social media expert?

Yeh, well, I don't know either. I've about reached the point that I automatically discredit anyone who claims to be a social media expert. (Really, how long can a person claim a title like that? Twenty minutes?)

Repeat after me: don't confuse the tools with the trade. Marketing, advertising, and brand identity still have more to do with words and customer service than they do with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Foursquare or even MySpace. And you can +1 this, or pin that to your wall.

~Diane Stresing

If Your Business is Local, Why Go Social?

Does your small business need a social media presence? Yep. If you don't have one, you've already lost more than a handful of sales. Don't waste any more time asking this question.

Phone books are dying (faster than newspapers; at least something is) and if a quick search doesn't result in a nice, clean page or full-blown site about your business, your prospect moves on to a business that does. Click, click is the opposite of clink, clink - the money drops in someone else's jar.

The good news is you don't need much. A Facebook page will do. So will Twitter, or another free/low cost option. But it's gotta be all YOU. Your business, that is.  If 'everybody' in town knows John Doe has the best cheese biscuits, that's great. But your personal Facebook page isn't going to introduce others to your talents, snag the catering order, or be top-of-mind when the gang's going to lunch. (Unless the gang's office is next door to your biscuit bistro.)

Case in point: a friend of mine was looking for a craniosacral massage therapist. She'd heard of one in town. A quick online search didn't reveal the local practitioner's name, but it listed several others. My friend called a therapist across town - 35 MILES across town - and has been there several times. That's called a lost opportunity, and it shouldn't have happened.
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New to Fan Pages, need help managing yours, or determining how to use the right keywords in the right places? want to establish a free website or establish your business presence on Twitter? It's time - get started now.
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If your business is local, HOW should you use Social Media? < next Local Gets Social tip.

~Diane Stresing

What's your newsletter done for you lately?

How many newsletters did you read this week? One from your local winery? bike shop? Did your corporate wellness program send you one? And did you read them?

I'm guessing you received more than you think; you read (at least the headline and possibly first graph of) almost every one. And even if you "just" touched delete on your slick phone screen, you thought - for a brief and shining moment - about the sender.

That's called mindshare. Get enough and you've got a brand. Do it right and you've got a valuable brand. 

But newsletters can do so much more than occupy an atom of your prospect's mind for a moment.

What else can newsletters do? 

Glad you asked.

Well-crafted newsletters can help train and develop employees, get new customers, retain your current clients, and improve your employee satisfaction rates - for a song.

Now I sound crazy, right? Well, give a crazy idea a chance. Done right, newsletters can help you reach your goals.

Regardless of their intended audience, the most effective and cost-effective newsletters are both timely and evergreen. Sound like a tall order? Well, I invite you to stretch with me.

Your newsletter can (and should)...

Be practical and just a tad inspirational. Employee newsletters reinforce (and sometimes replace!) training initiatives and remind everyone on the team that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Increase sales. Newsletters directed at customers can increase sales, encourage referrals, and deliver coupons. Beyond that, they educate your clients, reduce unnecessary calls, and remind customers why they chose to shop with you in the first place – why they, too, are part of the team. But customer newsletters aren't the only newsletters that should add to your bottom line.  Employee newsletters can also increase sales. How? Have you ever been convinced (or just plain pressured) into buying an extended warranty for a new product, because the salesperson simply wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Maybe that contest was in his company's newsletter. Maybe he wants his name in the next newsletter under the "winners" column. And maybe, just maybe, an underperforming salesperson (or two) will read the list of winners and think, hurumph. I can do better than that.

Newsletters can tell stories, and stories build relationships. Remember newspapers? I bet you read the features, didn't you? The ones with a photo and a headline like, "The Reason I Became a Bottle Washer." Good stories - ones that ooze good news about your brand and have a human interest factor, to boot - are likely to get shared. Go viral, in other words. Another word to say viral advertising is "free" advertising. I bet you see where I'm going with this. Maybe you'll even share it :D

Do you have a newsletter? If you do, is it current? Is it working for you?
If you don't have a newsletter - does your competition?

~Diane Stresing

Related & really interesting
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