@Spirocks

small business marketing

The Only Way to Put Your Business in the Center of Attention

The time to deny it, IS OVER, mobile internet rules the day.

If you question this, do the following:

  •  Look at any child with your iPhone or iPad.
  • Look at your spouse across the table from you.
  • See what people are doing on the train.
  • Check out what gets the attention of people in line at Starbucks.
  • what was the driver of that car that swerved at you on the highway today doing?

Ignore it at your own peril, the future is in the pockets of all of your customers. Is your marketing online? Do you give it the credit it deserves? Is your website usable on mobile devices?

If you are using flash, do not have a mobile ready site, or spend your time and dollars on offline marketing only, the answer is no, and you are losing out regardless of whether you feel it or not.

Mobile is an Opportunity not a Threat.

Can you deliver more than your competitors via online content, mobile access, and social integration? Are you ready to allow your customer to know you, the real you? If you are you will be the new king of your market before long, as the customers you seek will be found here.

Where is Here?

Here is everywhere now. Here is where ever they are when they think they need what you sell. Here is on the toilet. Here is on top of the Empire State Building. Here is in an airplane. Here is in a Doctor’s Office waiting room.

People buy diapers on Amazon from a bar at 1Am, and you don’t think they are going to search for an eyeglass shop while they wait for their coffee in the morning?

Ask yourself if you have done enough to put your business where people are looking for you. THEN DO MORE.

Find Me @spirocks on Twitter, I hope you enjoyed this pep talk.

Business Communications with Google Plus

Google Plus for Company Communications

I thought I would share an example of the way that I am using Google Plus to strive for better communication with the employees of one of my restaurants. I created a circle in Google Plus and added all of the employee emails that I knew (I am hunting the rest as we speak), and set out to use that circle as a way to connect with everyone. When something new is added to the menu, when we run into and issue during service that needs to be addressed, when I decide to open or close for a holiday, and any other time that I want to contact the staff this will be the method. Of course I will still be managing verbally while I am present at the restaurant, but this is not a business where everyone is there from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.

Some Employees work two shifts a week, and it has been up to me and a few managers to convey all the changes to each member of the staff when they came in. Until now.

Google Plus employee communications

This is the first message I sent to the staff to introduce them to the fact that I am going to be using this tool to communicate with them. It is my hope that I will be able to create learning moments from any snag we hit during service by bringing it to everyone’s attention as it happens with the hope that I can prevent the rest from stumbling over the same issue before it is resolved.

With access to this circle via my mobile and desktop I will be able to communicate with the entire staff when the need or solution arises, and that convenience is something that I believe will allow me to be better at what I do. With two restaurants and a growing marketing company my time is in demand and having the ability to communicate like this is a godsend.

Why Google Plus?

Well the greatest reason is that I can create the circle with just their email addresses and whether or not they are using Google Plus already I can contact them. It simply emails the contents of my messages to them if they are not G+ users already. You can’t do that with the friend request format of Facebook, and though I love Twitter it’s short messages and lack of a true group messaging function eliminates that as well. So Google Plus races to the forefront. The ease of setting up a circle is very key as well.

In the future I anticipate the ability to incorporate other Google properties such as: (Google Calendar – Scheduling and Google Documents – Training Materials) With Photos and Youtube there really is little limitation to where you can go with this.

Waiting for an Invite? Here You Go

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How to Use Twitters New Features for Business

Yesterday Twitter unveiled some enhancements to its service which have been just about universally welcomed. On the heels f its native photo service it seems that Twitter is intent on finally building on its simple but addictive base. I am going to go over a few of the ways that these new changes can and should affect your marketing.

What Do Twitter’s New Features Mean for Marketers?

The first change is the new @mentions tab, which not only lists the tweets that mention the profiles twitter handle but also shows any of its tweets that have been favorited, and the handles newest followers.

The ease with which this new tab allows you to track and respond to these things is a great improvement, and you should actively monitor the mentions already. If you have not been doing that, get on it now. Yeah stop reading this and start looking at who is trying to interact with you. That is what this is all about.

I think the greatest addition here though is the newest followers listing. What a help. Sometimes I get over a hundred followers in one day, like when I recently had a back and forth with @ochocinco.

 

I typically try my best to follow everybody that follows me and then try and form lists etc after the fact. But sometimes it is really hard to keep up with it, this new tab will allow you to know who is following your business on Twitter and allow you to start a conversation with them right off the bat.

Don’t Do This:

Please refrain from doing any of the following with new Twitter Followers, it is a horrible idea to:

  1. Send a DM thanking them for being a follower. Waste of their time, and so many people do it that it is not special. It is annoying.
  2. Ask them to Connect on Facebook Too. Right of the bat? You are connected, on twitter, talk to them there. Later they may find you on Facebook if you are compelling, or maybe not. Just don’t be one of the people that tries to get a like on facebook with immediately after getting followed… You can lose them forever right there, besides it’s Gross.
  3. Automated responses of any kind are generic so they sound generic. It is way better, way way way better to not say anything at all than to send an automated “Hi I strive to continuously help better the profit of your business. Need help?” message. Just don’t do it.

Twitter Activity Tab

The second change twitter made today is the addition of the activity tab, and this is brilliant because now we finally have insight into how others are using Twitter. The new Activity tab lists the latest favorited tweets from your Twitter Circle, the latest RTs, and new following activity.
What stands out here? To me it is the ease of having all three of these activities collected and curated for you under the tab, and secondly the new following activity details. Right off the bat the you can imagine how helpful this will be in learning more about the people you follow and their conversations on Twitter. A savvy business could monitor this new resource for conversations, retweets, and follows that may indicate a potential business opportunity.
In addition it provides a chance to learn from the greats, to better understand the way they use Twitter as a tool to succeed. I hear comparisons to the Facebook NewsFeed and obviously Twitter took a step in that direction by creating a feed of sorts, but I think you would miss out on some strategic implementation if you just thought of it that way.

Do This:

  1. Have a business that sells big ticket items? Identify the people you follow that could be customers, and pay attention to their conversations, offer help and advice when you can and start a relationship. When they are ready to buy, you will have a head start to get the sale.
  2. Getting up to speed at a new job, in a new market, or industry? Find those who are the most successful and pay attention to their connections, conversations, and overall activity. What they share, who they talk to, who they follow are all at your fingertips with this new tool. Use that info to excel and learn about the community in your field.
What ways are you using the new features for business?

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Google Plus Customer Management

So I am embarking on a new project with my clients, to utilize the tools google has given us in Google plus to organize and market to their customers, prospective customers, and the world in general. First we are using gmail to maintain customer database, and then we are organizing these customers into circles by things they have in common. For instance a realtor is grouping buyers into price range circles, and town circles. In this way she will be able to share only that which is relevant to each group and never be intrusive.

Here is a video explaining a bit more about circles:

Even if the customer is not using Google Plus she will receive an email notifying her of what the realtor is sharing, the versatility of Google Plus will allow my client to share the stunning photos, videos, and written work we do with her in a variety of ways. Gmail will allow her to record all pertinent contact details both at her computer and via her smartphone. Here is the variety of information that Gmail will manage for each customer:

Gmail Contact Information Capabilities
Gmail Contact Information Capabilities

As you can see for a small business or professional the contact data is clearly sufficient with multiple notes sections that can be added for further customization. Couple that with the amazing google plus sharing technology, including video chat, and you have a dynamic FREE CMR and Marketing solution for the mobile entrepreneur and professional.

I will explain further in this video:

Let me know what you think in the comments, or hit me up on twitter: @spirocks

TTT: Two Twitter Tips

I love twitter, it has put me in touch with amazing people related to my businesses and connected me in ways I can not be thankful enough for. It is a service that is under appreciated and misunderstood by many. It drives incredible amounts of traffic to websites and blogs. In many ways that traffic has been mis-calculated as evidenced in this recent TechCrunch post: Twitter Drives 4x as Much Traffic as You Think. Here’s Why … all in all it is a very important piece of your marketing puzzle.

Here are two twitter tips to get the most out of your effort:

 

So remember these two things:

1) Know your twitter character limit

Here is the formula: 140 – # of characters in your twitter username – 4 = Your character limit

So for me: 140 – 8 (spirocks) – 4 = 128 which is my character limit.

2) Be aware of how your tweets come out of third party apps

If you use third party apps that are linked to your twitter account, specifically news readers, rss forwarders, smartphone photo apps, etc make sure you vet out how the tweets are composed. Some do better jobs than others, they may be annoying for your following to click through, they may not respect the 140 character limit, or other less than ideal results.

Here is a humorous one I saw this morning:

Unfortunate tweet image
2900 pounds of Ass

 

 

Can You Bijou?

Create a Market

Defining and Creating a market are too different things. In order for one to be defined it must exist, if it does not yet exist it must be created. Bijou, the next generation of Boston nightlife, is about to create a new market. Lets take a look at some of the ways it will do so.

Custom ‘Beam to Rafter’ design and construction.

Boston is blessed with many things, spaces designed to be clubs is not one of them. Bijou is different. Every inch of the space is designed with an eye toward the nightlife future that is in store for it. There are custom built led light arrays that are artistically designed and stunning, such things are the first things you notice when looking over pictures like these: 

Bijou BostonBijou Boston Banquet

But look closer and you will find the little touches that can only be created when you fuse together the two most important, costly, and rare elements of a nightlife venue. The first is the experience and knowledge gained from years of competing, err dominating, in the nightlife industry. The second is the ability (read: combination of funding and patience) to create a custom design and see it through the painstaking and lengthy finished product. Want an example? Take a look at the banquet seating design, there is the traditional seat and back, but with an upper flat area. Sleek and modern looking but designed with a specific purpose in mind I would guess. This is a club, and in clubs people like to be seen, one of the best ways to do so is to get up on furniture and dance. I will venture to guess there will be two tiers of beautiful women dancing on those banquets as soon as the vinyl disciples get a chance to take control of Bijou’s sound system. It would have been cheaper and faster to buy pre-designed seating, but in the end it would not be as good. that detail is one of a thousand that have been contemplated and built into this place from day one, this space was designed to be a club from the core. That is the gauntlet that Bjiou is throwing down in Boston. This will be the best nightclub in Boston, and it won’t be close.

Bijou Boston room 2
That is an example of creating a market. How? Just go to any other club in Boston, and look around. No not at the well endowed bartenders, or the girls dancing on the stage, but at the physical club. Most are in some state of decay, most are retrofitted for the third time, and with each new coat of paint they are reborn. With awkwardly inserted DJ booths, that are sometimes not even in sight, or Air Conditioning units and duct work jammed in and painted to kind of disappear. That is not Bijou’s market. Their market is meticulous design, with the mechanical bullshit behind the scenes. Their market is sumptuously designed rooms created to host guests during many hours of the day and to allow them everything from an after dinner drink and bite to eat; to a raging night of dancing on the furniture until our city decides they must go home. Its a new market, and you are going to like what it is selling. 

Eat all night.

Live in Boston? Go out much? Well Bijou is going to do something that you can’t find anywhere else. Bijou is going to be the first top club venue to serve food all night. Yes the kitchen will be open as long as the bars are. Better yet the menu is smartly designed to require no utensils so that it can be enjoyed with minimal formality and maximum portability. This isn’t a thrown together menu of bar food classics, it is a re-invented international mix that ranges from sliders that include pulled pork, new england fried clams, and chickpea with tahini mayo, to cumin grilled lamb chops with yogurt and mint. 

So why is this a new market? Because it is an evolution of the nightlife scene in Boston that is sorely overdue. It is a higher level of service, a more complete offering, and a first for the city we live in. There is a reason so many of us have ended up at the intestinal challenging Chau Chow City, the heartburn capitol of Boston Cafe Pompeii, or stood in line trying to talk our way into the South Street Diner. The reason is wherever we were had no food.

Bijou will be its own market because it does things that no other place will do. The next step means a new first class, and for those that want to experience what first class in Boston means there will be only one choice. Bijou.

So can you Bijou?

Are you capable of doing what hasn’t been done before? Take a moment and look at what you do, who else is doing it and think of what you could do to create a new market. To do so you will have to offer things that have not been offered. Bijou did it by assembling Boston’s best cast of nightlife professionals, (George Aboujaoude, Mete Aslan, Kevin Fitzpatrick) and covering all the bases from the business maneuvering, to the musical genius of the Vinyl Disciples, to the on scene creative energy and presence they bring. This group went on to assemble an experienced operational management team led by Demetri Tsolakis, which promises that Bijou will not taint you with the in-experience of a rookie if you visit at its opening, rather it will leave you with the feeling you just saw how things should and can be done. 

To do that for your business you have to think free of the boundaries that surround what is ‘normally’ done, and strive to deliver something to your guests that they truly can only get there. Its a steep challenge, but one you will have to rise to, if you are going to Bijou.

 

 

Small Business Online Marketing Blueprint

Steps to a RockStar online Presence (part one)
Rockstar

1) Create or Invest in a Modern Well Designed Website that has conversion pages and easily updated information, as well as an email opt in for updates regarding your products or services. Your website can not be an ugly brochure online any longer, it is turning away business. If you do not have a form for customers to request more info, a way to make a reservation, an email subscription box, and multiple up to date answers to the questions everyone asks about your business you are missing out on sales.

2) A Blog with consistently created content about your business that is written in a way that will result in search engines finding you and ranking you highly. Your blog is your chance to talk to your potential and current customers in your voice, to do the sales pitch of your dreams, to explain a new offering, and so much more. You should be using it to define your company’s personality, and to create identification between your customers and you. It is a tool that requires time, consistency, creativity, and a willingness to share. It should be written both for the current sale and as a permanent part of your online presence which will continue to show up in search results as long as you host it on your site.

3) You should employ a professionally scheduled system of sharing the two types of content listed above so as to maximize traffic to your website from social media outlets. This includes facebook and twitter and google plus, as well as the creation of Flickr and YouTube accounts to ‘Curate’ your photo and video content for the long haul. Search is only one way you will be found, if you develop a strong social presence you will be able to share the above two content sources with your social network and get them off your profile and onto your website, thus into your ‘selling zone’. You should have a well thought out schedule for sharing your content and it should be followed. This is not the time for randomly thinking about it and posting a bunch then forgetting about it for another week.

4) An informative email newsletter which is sent to a segmented list according to recorded click through data from your own campaigns. Your email newsletter should not be a series of buy this links, it should be a chance to share information your customer would be interested in. Monitoring who clicks on what in your emails will allow you to create segmented sub-lists that indicate peoples interests. From there you can send more specific topic emails to people who are interested in those topics. This segmentation will increase open rates and responses.

5) A willingness to be responsive to requests received from your website, social media accounts, and email newsletters. If you do all the above and your customer responds, you better be ready to be responsive yourself. Why waste all the effort and then leave a customer hanging. It sounds crazy but I see this a lot so I added it to what I first thought was going to be a four step list.

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Where to start?

I do all these things for my clients everyday (and a lot more), some of you have the time and computer skills to do this alone and I hope this gives you the framework to find more success marketing online. For those of you who need help, and want to hear what I would do for your particular case, contact me HERE.

Attention Currency

With The Boom of Connectivity Remember:

Humans Have Limits

I love hearing about the boom of internet communication platforms, and how they have created a million new ways to connect to people. Ways that a decade ago were non-existent. Its cool to hear about the evolution at the big guys we all know and the little known players that are bidding to be the conduit that takes Facebook and Twitter’s mojo in the coming years. Its my thing to see how the human element is twisted around each new technology to deliver the marketing success being sought. The bottom line is, understanding how people get turned on is still the key to success.

It Is Simple:

Do Epic Shit

THINK: If You Were the Target of the Campaign Would you?:

  1. Think it was cool enough to tell a handful of your friends at separate times
  2. Think about how or why the business was making such a crazy offer
  3. Be compelled to CHECK IT OUT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If so there is a good chance that in its own way, the offer is epic. It takes balls to stand out of line and call real attention to yourself or your business, to offer something that seems too good to be true, to fly in the face of what has been done.

In your business and in your marketing, stand out from the crowd and make people talk. Forget what you need out of a marketing effort and think about what you would do if you were exposed to your campaign.

EPIC

WHY?

Because with all the tweets, status updates, blog posts, emails, text messages, etc that people are bombarded with today you have to compete for their attention. You want people to SPEND their attention currency on you, they only have so much and have to choose what to spend it on. It is natural selection of 2011+, if you offer dim witted content, boring ideas, lame conformist offers, you will be rewarded with a slow fade into the background noise unworthy of spending attention currency on.

Make a choice to do epic shit, cause a stir, and send some god damn ripples out.

I will try to send you Epic Shit all the time, subscribe to my updates HERE