5 Comments Posted in business, content, Marketing, relationship, Reputation Management, small business June 22, 2009

Using Social Media to Sell Yourself

Daryl Mather has a great post about frictionless selling over at the Consulting Pulse. It was such a great article and I wanted to take the concept of frictionless selling and apply it to social media marketing and blogging. It is extremely important to understand the concept of frictionless selling. To say the least:

Frictionless Selling surrounds the understand that the least amount of barriers between a person and a purchase… the better.

This means that you should not have massive forms to fill out in order to sign up for a newsletter. This means that it is better to have your phone number than a contact form (this can be debated).

Frition based selling has no place in social media. The speed of conversation and the amount of personality … Read more

5 Comments Posted in business, My Life, social media June 19, 2009

We Do What We Do and Why We Do It

Why do we do what we do? How many times have you asked yourself this question? Do it.

Why do WE do what WE do? There are a multitude of different answers depending on the person. We do it because we love what we do. I do it because of the challenge of running a business. Maybe, it is to be an employer and give people jobs.

When it comes to running a social media education company in Indianapolis I haven’t quite pinpointed the main push that drives me to work everyday. I love what I do, I love the people I work with, and I love the concept of educating people on the wonderful world of social media. However, there is one thing that always pushes me passed the … Read more

10 Comments Posted in Advertising, blogging, business, content, corporate blogging, Corporate Strategy, customer evangelist, Public Relations, small business, social media, Social Media Community, social networking, Social Strategy June 17, 2009

Authenticity is Life. The Rest is Just Details.

How do you creat great content that is alluring to the general public and your potential clients? The simple answer would be keyword rich content and industry news. Oh yes, keyword rich writing. We all love it.

There is something deeper that tends to push one blog past the other in terms of the public attention deficit disorder: Authenticity.

Authenticity should be one of the driving focusing of your blog, your use of social networking tools, and your business. We are now in a customer centric world where people want to deal with… you guessed it… people.

Staying authentic with your content means you do not sound like the back of a brochure. It means you do not sound like the news anchor on the Fox Business Channel droning away … Read more

5 Comments Posted in blogging, Corporate Strategy, innovation, Marketing, productivity, relationship, social media, social media marketing, social networking, twitter June 16, 2009

The Value of Thought Leadership for Your Business

Is thought leadership valuable for a small business? That is the question that is being asked around the blogosphere as of late. Is it important for an owner, sales director, or a sole proprietor to be involved and have their “head” into the concept of thought leadership?

Well. I would say yes but what is the definition of a thought leader?

Thought leader is a buzzword or article of jargon used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights (thinklets)

Now, I don’t have a clue what a “thinklet” is but there is the definition of thought leader from wikipedia. Does this strike you as something important for … Read more

1 Comment Posted in Marketing, small business, social media, social media marketing, social networking, Social Strategy, Viral Marketing June 15, 2009

Clinging to the Past and Destroying Your Business

I am reading the book Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew Grove (Co-founder of Intel) in the book he talks about the inertia of success and how in some ways… it can lead to the defeat of your business in the long haul.

We are all searching for success in our businesses and when that success happens there is a tendency to wade through the water and not try to swim again.

“When the environment changes in such a way as to render the old skills and strengths less relevant, we almost instinctively cling to our past.” -Andrew Grove

There is danger in becoming complacent with success. This danger is unforeseen and will wreak havoc on any company that decides to wade into the water of success and not look … Read more