The 15 Basic Marketing Tools You Will Want to Use - Part 2

The 15 Basic Marketing Tools You Will Want to Use - Part 2
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NOTE: Hear an audio version of this blog about the 15 Basic Marketing Tools on our radio show: The Marketing Checklist
http://www.starworldwidenetworks.com/index.php/Audio/marketing_checklist#2

I am beginning this series of blog posts with the same question which people want answered:
"What are the basic marketing tools I need?"
We hear it all the time with someone who is going to hire us, or is thinking of hiring us, or honestly, wants to get some nugget of something from our conversation that he can use after we part.
I began to write this when I was sitting in the back of a marketing seminar. I was going to be teaching the last hour of the day, and was hearing things said from the front of the room which were hard for the average business person in the room to implement if they did not hire the person presenting. Many of these basics have made themselves known throughout the writing of my last two books: "The Marketing Checklist... 80 Simple Ways to Master Your Marketing" and the soon to be released "The Marketing Checklist 2... 49 MORE Simple Ways to Master Your Marketing."
So what are the basics? In this blog, my last blog and my next three, I am going to take a look at The Basic 15, three at a time.
BEFORE WE START - This is important: In order to use any of these Basic 15 Marketing Tools, you MUST have a VERY clear idea of who is your main target market and who is your secondary target markets. Failure to know your audience is going to make most of this an exercise in futility. I have written extensively on demographic targeting of your markets, so you should take a look for those blogs before you begin here.
Now on to the next three: Social Media, Your YouTube Channel, and having a Follow Up System

4. Social Media as one of the Basic Marketing Tools

For the last 8 years, this has become a catch phrase in marketing. The magic elixir. The Silver Bullet.
An entire industry has popped up comprised entirely of people who will tell you what to post and do it for you. Most of them have zero background in marketing, advertising, public relations or any other method of promoting a business. But they like Facebook.
You might gather that I have a different view of social media (SM). You are right. I define SM as an online method of communication separate from your website. I think that you have to treat SM like any marketing tactic, which means you have to use my same marketing rules in using SM as you do any other marketing tactic: How you use SM for your business depends on your marketing goal.
Here are 5 Marketing Goals for Social Media:
1. Communication with clients. Let them know what is going on with your company. You should also share links to your blog posts on your social media. We always want to bring our clients off of
to our website, where they are more likely to buy or at least engage with you in the buying process. Pulling the curtain back, I am hoping that you were brought to this blog post from a link I shared on my social media. I invite you to stay awhile. Look around. See how we can help your business.
2. Develop new business. The rule of thumb on a PERSONAL profile is that no more than one in 5 (I think it should be no more than one in 10) of your posts should be about business. On your BUSINESS page, it is the reverse. If you look at my
, it is VERY different than my Sedona Marketing Retreats page.
3. Act as a trusted referral source. I love it when I see someone on SM asking for a plumber. Or a real estate agent. Or a web developer. Or anything! I jump right into my "Rolodex" and put up some names. You want to be seen as a problem solver for your friends and clients. It has taken awhile, but I get calls and emails all the time from people asking me "Who Do I Know?"
4. Share business tips. - In the online world, something that helps people live an easier life is now called a 'hack.' So giving business hacks, tips which will make their business more successful is a great thing to post.
5. Amuse your community. - The first word in social media is SOCIAL. Always remember that this is a social interaction. People want to be amused by what they read and this is a great use of SM. For the last 5 years, each night at 8:30 pm PST, I have posted a question on facebook called the OK LATE NIGHT FACEBOOKERS question. It's purpose is to generate conversation between me and my audience and between my audience members themselves. Check it out at
. What do I post about? This brings us to another SM discussion: Content!
One of the biggest comments we get when it comes to SM is "I don't know what to post." This leads to some mistakes being made. Let's talk about what NOT to post. They are the Basic 5 Rules of What NOT to Post on Social Media. I originally heard this list from a good friend,
who was a social media expert before there were social media experts. FULL DISCLOSURE: I have knowingly broken every rule but at least it was with full
1. We do not want to hear about who you are having sex with. Or your preferences. Or any of it. And for goodness sake, avoid anything more than PG-13 rated photos.
2. We don't care about your political aspirations. I recently had one friend post "Thanks, Hank - you just gave me my first reason NOT to vote for X." That I remember that post is reason for me to be reminded that my posts about politics (especially in a Presidential election year) are just to make ME feel better, but does not gain me any business.
3. Your posts will never change anyone's religious beliefs. Your relationship with the Universe, however you define Her, is up to you. Did I just make you say "HUH?!" You see my point.
4. Even if they always win, let's not talk about our favorite sports teams. This does not include your child's Little League team. Or YOUR bowling team. But when it comes to institutional, or professional sports, just know you can turn off as many people as you excite. Example: in Los Angeles there is a big rivalry between UCLA and USC. Having gone to
, I don't take part, but when the graduates take to SM and scream their loyalty, and worst, how much the other university's sports teams, in their opinion, stink, it only causes negative feelings. Which brings us to...
5. We should strive to avoid NEGATIVITY at all times. If you have a beef with McDonald's beef, restrict it to the letter you send to the corporate office. Hate your cable company? Don't share it on SM. People who do business with you will wonder what you will say about them if something ever happens in your business relationship.
This part of the blog was taken from a several hour presentation which Sharyn is an expert at delivering - I hope you get to hear her give it soon!


5. YouTube Channel as one of the Basic Marketing Tools

If you have a G-Mail address, you have been gifted by Google a free YouTube channel. This is a place you can store all your business videos and share them to your website, your blog, and your social media. Since YouTube has become the number 2 search engine, it makes sense to have videos talking about what you do and sharing tips. THEN you are also inviting people to do business with you.
Here are some tips dealing with YouTube.
1. Do not just upload your videos to the site. Keep them backed up on your hard drive. If the video disappears from YouTube and you do not have it backed up, you just lost a permanent video asset.
2. When you use a video in your blog, add the written blog into the description of the video. This gives you extra exposure because the search engines see your key words which you have included in your blog.
3.
. This means use similar cover art. Make all your pages, social media, website, YouTube look the same.
Video is not going away any time soon. We have seen statistics which show that it will continue to gain importance in how people find you.
And, in case no one has told you, I have seen how you look on video and I am VERY impressed!

6 Follow Up System as one of the Basic Marketing Tools

We have all heard the expression that the fortune is in the follow up. What is incredible to me is the number of sales people who never make a follow up contact. If you are one of the sales people who DO, you are going to love these statistics:

Pretty amazing, huh? If you would like a hard copy of this card to hang in your office, send me an email with your MAILING ADDRESS and we will get it to you.
These statistics show how important it is to have a system. There are tons of systems available. Most are electronic, but let's say you are an old fashioned business person who wants an off line way of doing it. Here is the most simple method:
But one of those accordion style pendaflex folders like this:

When you meet someone and they say to call back on the 10th of the month, staple their business card to a 3x5 card, add some notes, and slide it in to the spot for the 10th of the month. On the 10th, you will pull out all the cards for that day and call them. If they put you off, or you leave a message, you drop the card into the 11th. This way you stay on top of who you have to call on.

[caption id="attachment_3828" align="alignleft" width="300"] Simple Monthly Follow Up System[/caption]

For longer term call backs, buy a month accordion file and drop the same card into the proper month. When you get to that month, pull out the cards and drop them in to the proper day.

We also use a follow up system based on greeting cards. We meet someone, add them in to our system, and have an 8 card "drip system" which we send them over a 3 month period. It is incredibly effective and costs less than $2 including postage. That is 8 touches (remember the statistics card from above?) for about $15. If you want a preview call us or click on this link to go to IDeserveItAll.com Full disclosure: If you buy it, we make a 20% commission. AND there is an opportunity for YOU to make 20% when YOUR clients use this system.

Would you like help with some of these basic marketing tools? Call me at 800-705-4265 and let's get you started down the right marketing path. You can check out more of my marketing blogs at www.SedonaMarketingRetreats.com. You may even want to read my book, The Marketing Checklist, which is available on Amazon. This blog was previously posted on my blog at www.SedonaMarketingRetreats.com

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