In this particular conversation, we were talking about working a structured referral strategy. What I mean by structured is that you are actively “working” referral relationships and NOT to makeing them this wonderful surprise! Referrals are a result of your customers and contacts selling for you. Read more…

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What are you doing with all those digital or virtual relationships that you’ve built up over the months or years on social media?  If you’re still asking yourself the question of how social media is going to make you money or help you reach more customers, chances are you’re not doing enough to make that happen.  Not because you don’t want to – but because it takes a little practice to figure out just how social media can work and fit into your marketing plan.

In our tweet chat on the relationship between social media and PR, there was consensus that the two worked together, enhancing the strength of the other; social media with authentic relationships and PR with communicating a message and a story.

Yet we all know that social media creates a value beyond that, but we haven’t quite worked out the leverage formula.  I’m going to start one here.  Please feel free to add on and provide your tips in the comment area.

1. Set marketing goals around your social media tools.  First comes the goal, then comes the tool that helps you achieve it.  Once you’ve gone through that process, you can look at the tool and see in what ways you can leverage that tool to reach your marketing goals.  For example; one of my marketing goals is to be a resource of expertise for my clients.  I primarily use LinkedIn for this objective.  So, I make sure that I have some kind of relationship with my LinkedIn contacts. I want to know who they are, what they look like, what they are good at.  I’d like to have a conversation with them over the phone, etc.  I want to know who they are and how I can refer them.
2. Conduct “referral meetings” online or on the phone.  Social media will increase your sphere of influence – but not if you haven’t taken the extra step of getting to know the people you’re connected to.  The easiest way to do this is daily.  If you reach out to someone you don’t know and want to add them to your LinkedIn or Facebook account, then make sure you schedule a phone or live meeting if you can.
3. Look for opportunities to work together. This is something that’s often overlooked.  It’s one thing to talk about what each of you is looking for, but another to talk about what opportunities you can create together by merging your areas of expertise.

I’ve been putting this process to work over the last few months and it has yielding more opportunities that I can schedule in the short term.

How have YOU leveraged your social media relationships to create new opportunities?

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I just ran across an article that outlined the recent results of some studies that again show that more than 85% of our decision-making is EMOTIONAL and not rational. We’ve all known this to be true on a very basic level, but for whatever reason, we still cling to this notion that we need logical arguments to convince people of our point of view.

It’s no different when we are pulling together a sales and marketing strategy.  Even though we know that emotional triggers drive the decision, we continue to sometimes force our logic into the conversation.

Have you ever heard this phrase? “Most businesses sell things so that they can have customers.  We have customers so we can sell them things.” This is one of my favorite quotes (if you know who said it, let me know).  It speaks to the fact that selling more to existing customers is more profitable for your business, and for your customer because it reduces your marketing cost and their supplier complexity.

The best way to sell more to existing customers, is to build a relationship and a history with them.  And the best way to do THAT – is through direct marketing. Direct marketing doesn’t just mean Direct MAIL.  It can include personal visits, events, sales calls, social media as well as direct mail.

In this article I’m going to give you a task list that will get your customer audience started – so you can connect with them on an emotional level.

1. Get a list of existing customers.   This may seem obvious because “everyone has a customer list.”  This is a list I want you to start BY HAND.  Don’t just do a data dump.  Pull your team together and literally start listing people and companies that are top of mind for you. This should not be a HUGE list.  You might have 5 or 10 or maybe 50.  But not too many more than that.   This is the list of either great customers or crappy customers.  The great one’s you’ll want to create strategies for.  The crappy ones you’ll want to discuss and see if you want to make them great or refer them out.  Once you’re done with that, you can go to your database and pull down some more customers that might be in the “danger of losing” category.  And see what the deal is with that.  The question you’re asking here is – “Will building a connection with this person/company increase my sales and profitability?”
2. Segment and group these customers according to “benefit segments.”  These would be groupings that might include something like “Customers who like having stuff overnight, Customers who order in small quantities, Customers who use our product outside, etc….” Notice that these groupings are based more on how your customer experience and interact with your product or service and not just their demographics or location.  This kind of grouping or segmentation is KEY to increasing your profit margins and building great relationships and connections.
3. Develop a profile of these customer segments and the decision-makers in each one.  Think of this as literally developing a Facebook or LinkedIn profile for this personified customer.  Is it a man or a woman, what is their name, where do they live, what is their day like.  This is the best way to get into their world.  Start a list of what’s important to them in their personal and professional life.
4. For each group, make a connection between what’s important to them and what you actually provide that solves their problem or challenge.  Use index cards or sticky notes in two colors.  Use one color to list what’s important to these customers, then use the other color to list the offer that you provide that gives them that.

Whew – that was some work wasn’t it.  But it will be worth it when it comes to creating direct marketing campaigns that really connect.

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Today marks exactly the 33rd time this month I’ve told someone to get their brand online.  That’s an average of once a day that I have this conversation.  It all starts with how to connect with a targeted audience.  Then it moves on to the inevitable cost of marketing and finally ends with my asking how much time and effort they’ve spent in giving themselves, their name, their company name and brand — online.

Getting online USED to just mean having a web site.  But a web site is not enough.  You need a web site, a blog, a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  And there is so much more.

Check out my latest article on HPs Small Business Marketing Guide Blog for a detailed to-do list on how to give your brand a better presence online and get more, better, profitable customers as a result.

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We held out first #DIYMKT tweet chat on Monday March 30, 2009 from 11:30am -12:30pm EST.   I don’t know about the people attending, but I found it an amazing experience.

I was most surprised at the amount of energy that came through cyberspace.  I had this list of questions, but the group had questions of there own – and that was THE BEST part.

My intention for the weekly chat was to give the lone DIYMarketer the opportunity to connect with other savvy, scrappy marketers and share challenges, ideas and resources.

Here is a quick taste of some of the points we discussed (You can look at the full discussion here)

gotocasnet: How do I choose among the multitude of marketing tactics available? #DIYMKT

• stayingintouch: @gotocasnet I would start by focusing on what you are passionate about. From there you can then start becoming more strategic #DIYMKT
• bradfordshimp: I find that in order to better define and identify your market you should seek to better define your company. #diymkt
• burkonsconsult: I chose the mkt based on a grid of potential mkts, then listed characteristics I want in clients, gave ea a rating point, chose mfg. #DIYMKT
• DrKND: “looked at all my primary markets and determined which market” How do you do that? #DIYMKT
• smallbiztrends: Here’s which markets NOT to go with — don’t go with markets that cause you to stray too far from core competencies. #DIYMKT
• robert_brady: If you are finding success with local gov. why not move up to state and federal? #DIYMKT

thegagfactory: hello, what is the most effective way to generate Word of Mouth (aside from being excellent) for your club, event or show? #DIYMKT

• robert_brady: Getting referrals from current, satisfied customers is our #1 marketing strategy. People are extra cautious in this economy #DIYMKT
• stayingintouch: Focusing on retaining existing clients and reaching out to past clients with new offerings is proving to be very effective. #DIYMKT
• DIYMarketers: @thegagfactory I say have a referral program and system that you manage. WOM is not a gift it’s a byproduct of a system #DIYMKT

DIYMarketers: New question – what marketing strategy was most successful for you this year – in this economy (I hate using “this economy”) #DIYMKT

• CatMoore: @DIYMarketers Successful strategy: Using blog to attract best clients and filter out the ones who want a different approach. #DIYMKT
• thegagfactory: @DIYMarketers The Lunchtime Laugh, however it might be 4pm your time! It would have to be GMT!!! #DIYMKT
• CatMoore: @BusinessTherapy I’ve also started offering smaller consulting packages and quarterly instead of annual pricing. Seems to help. #DIYMKT

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If you’ve been building your business by referral, then you’ve probably been wondering how to fit in all these wonderful social media and connection tools into your system.  If you haven’t quite figured it out – don’t fret.  You’re not the only one.  There are probably hundreds of social and networking tools out there and you could spend a lifetime trying to figure them out.  But you don’t have to.  I’ve been playing with them for a while and narrowed it down to the critical few: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  There are my core social medida tools and here’s how I use them to complement my face-to-face referral system.

Use LinkedIn as Your Virtual Resume

If you haven’t already, then please go and create your profile on LinkedIn.  This is your virtual resume and when someone mentions your name in a conversation or e-mail, chances are good that this person will head over and either Google your name or search for you on LinkedIn — it would be good for them to find something.

• Fill out your profile 100% and post a professional looking picture (they have a little guage there that will tell you when you are 100% complete.)  Don’t forget to list the different roles you’ve held – you can post them as positions.  For example, I’ve written a book (Excel for Marketing Managers), so I have “author” as a position, as well as blogger.  So get creative.

• Write and call people with whom you’ve interacted online to bridge the gap between a virtual relationship and a “real” relationship.  A phone call or meeting is still more powerful than an online relationship.  I used to only connect with people I’ve met.  You can see how lomiting that is.  I’ve started calling and running referral meetings with people I only know online.  This brings them out of the virtual world and into reality.

• Let LinkedIn run through your outlook at search out any existing LinkedIn members. You’ll be surprised how many of your friends and collegues are already there.  I recommend you simply send an invite to all of them.  They’re already on there and they’ll be happy to connect with you.  LinkedIn will also ask you if you want to invite others from your book – check those people MANUALLY – otherwise it will spam your whole contact list.  I’ve done that – it’s painful.

• Search for collegues from companies you’ve worked with. Then search for people you went to college with.  This is a creative way to find and reconnect with old friends and connections.

• Join a Group or Create a Group. You can search groups that are in your areas of interest (like Marketing) or create groups for special topics or organizations.  Participate and connect with people you’ll be amazed at the referrals.

• Ask and Answer Questions. LinkedIn has a Q&A feature.  Ask questions, then connect with the people who answer by phone.  Answer questions and connect with the person who asked.  Be sure to share what you do and who your ideal client is — as well as asking them the same.

Have Fun on Facebook

Facebook is a more casual space.  If LinkedIn would be considered a work space, then Facebook would be considered Happy Hour.

• Make sure you have a photo – a more casual one. People want to see you being you.  This doesn’t have to be some fancy photo – in fact lots of people change theirs frequently.
• Get Personal. Facebook is where people want to know a little more about you – people who are connected to you will be able to see what you’re doing and get to know you on a more personal level.  How personal?  if you wouldn’t tell your husband, wife or mother — don’t put it on facebook.  Every now and then hop over to your facebook page and tell people what you’re working on, reading or doing.
• Link your blog posts and other feeds. Facebook has the ability to link your Twitter tweets and blog posts and posts from your favorite blogs on your page – so do that.
• Start a Group.  DIY Marketers has a group on Facebook – it’s more casual and conversational there.  People will join your Facegroup book that won’t join or subscribe online.  So it’s another way to promote and notify people that want to know what you’re up to.
• Have and Event.  Facebook has a cool application that will allow you to register events, promote them and invite people.  Take advantage of that.

Twitter, Tweets and Peeps

You’ve probably heard all you ever want to hear about Twitter.  And you’re still confused about answering the questions “What are you doing?” in 160 characters or less.  This is  a powerful tool for expanding your connections.  If you see a Tweet that leads you to an article on something interesting — then respond and connect with that person.  Get more information and get to know them.

• The Name is the Thing. Make sure you have a good Twitter name.  Use your personal brand name, the name of your blog, or your company.
• Write a keyword friendly bio. People search for people they want to follow.  That means they will use keywords.  So make your bio keyword friendly and searchable.
• Keyword friendly posts/tweets. People will also choose to follow based on what you tweet – so make sure to write tweets with great keywords and headlines.

Cross-Pollinate Face-to-Face with Virtual Networking

The recurring theme here is crossover.  If you are at a networking event and collect cards – search those people out on LinkedIn and Facebook – then invite them to connect.  Now you will always have them in your “rolodex.”

If you’ve met someone online – then make an effort to meet them over the phone or even Skype web cam.  Take a virtual contact and make them real.  This crossover activity will not only exponentially increase your referral connections, but people will become more memorable and stay connected if you invest the time to keep things updated.

Replace Your Business Address with a Virtual One

I’ve used Moo.com to create a new business card that has all my virtual ID’s on them.  I put my mailing address in my e-mail signature and all my digital addresses on my business card.

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“Snap out of it!” This is what Cher says as she slaps Nicholas Cage right after he tells her he loves her in Moonstruck.  It’s one of my favorite lines of all time.  It’s the reality check they both needed.  Without that 1-2 slap, they would have wallowed in self-pity.  But instead, they move on doing what they have to do to find true love.  Ahhh Hollywood Romance!

If you’re a DIY Marketer and you’re still stinging with that “What the F___” feeling of having  your strategy slapped, perhaps it’s time for you to pull out all the stops, get off your ass and give it the old 1-2 punch. For that, I’m recommending Guy Kawasaki’s new book “Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition” and Mike Michalowicz’s new book ” The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur“

How to Put “The Art of Schmoozing” Chapter to Use TODAY

In the book, Guy gives a short and sweet list of what to do – I’m going to expand with a how-to do it.

1. Understand the goal : “Discover what you can do for someone else.”  Start every conversation focused on what the other person needs and why that’s so important to them.  Tailor your offerings in those terms.  Have your first question to them be something like “What are you working on right now?” or “Is there something or someone you’ve been trying to get, but have been unsuccessful?”
2. Get out. You can’t schmooze from an office – meet people.  Harness the 1-2 punch of meeting real-life people and re-connecting with them using LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, or vice versa.  If you’ve connected with someone using social media – reach out to them first with an e-mail, then phone.  Respond to questions on LinkedIn, participate in your groups, help when and where you can.
3. Ask good questions then shut up. Ask and answer at least one question a week on LinkedIn.  Stop lurking in all your online groups and start a meaty discussion.  Build a conversation and see where it takes you.  In real-live conversations, ask and listen.  A group I interact with calls iit “Golden Listening”  – listen for the Gold.
4. Unveil Your Passions: Lead with your passion not just your business.  Find a way to combine a hobby with your business.  If you love photography, use your pictures in a creative way in your marketing materials.  HP Creative has wonderful templates you can start on NOW.
5. Read voraciously. You need a broad base of knowledge and the ability to access information.  You’ve already started this one, by picking up these two books.  Now, pick out just one thing (like I did here) and start implementing.
6. Follow-up. Great schmoozers follow-up within 24 hours. Most people don’t follow-up at all.  Get creative with your follow-ups.  Try a handwritten note. Send a song – I created a Valentine’s Day playlist from my iPod for my clients to use with their sweeties. Traveling?  Send post cards.  Make your follow-ups memorable.
7. Make it easy to get in touch. … don’t provide your contact info in gray 6-point type “This is great if you’re schmoozing teenagers, but if you want old rich, famous, and powerful people to call or e-mail, you’d better use a big font so they can read your business card.”  OK – there is not much more I can add to this.  Have more than one kind of business card.  If you work for a company, use your corporate card.  Click over to Moo and let some of your creative side shine through. They now offer full-sized business cards where you can use photos or text to differentiate yourself – all at a low price.
8. Give favors.  We’re right back to being other centered.  You have to give to get.  But giving to give is an amazingly empowering feeling.
9. Ask for return of favors. Don’t be afraid to ask.  I asked Guy Kawasaki for a testimonial.  He said no.  I asked him for a re-tweet, he said no.  I offered to write YET ANOTHER review/application of Reality Check worthy of a retweet – he said ok.  The only thing holding you back is your fear.  You can’t afford that.

Get Down to Business with Your Own 3-Sheet Strategy

I know a lot of you DIY Marketers have already done the tele-seminar that Mike Michalowicz and I did a couple weeks ago.  If you hadn’t, then you’re in luck because you can still download it here.  Just glance over to the right and get your on-demand session now.

The most powerful set of chapters in this book has to do with the powerfully simple, down and dirty 3-Sheet Strategy that Mike outlines.  The 3 Sheets are: The Prosperity Plan (your vision, mission, mantra) the “Tacking Strategy” – Your 90 day goals and actions, and the Daily Metrics, your very own leading indicator of success.

Get started on this TODAY – so that you can re-define and re-set that marketing strategy that isn’t working.  These sheets will get you focused on the current state of affairs and how you’re creatively going to succeed without spending very much money.

I’ve taken the time to pull a worksheet together that will get you through the process.  Mike has his current, real-life worksheets available as examples you can use as templates.

What do Guy Kawasaki and Mike Michalowicz Have That You Don’t?

Mike and Guy DO.  They don’t just talk, they turn their words into actions.  They ACT on ideas quickly.  They look for ways to bring their opportunities to life.  They come up with solutions and not excuses.  They even have a life and a family.  They have fun making money.  Do you?

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My @DIYMarketers Twitter account has been acting up.  And in my troubleshooting journey I discovered something BRILLIANT: A Twitter Policy.

My Twitter account hasn’t been sending me e-mails about the people who are following me.  In the process, I decided to go and search out some new people to follow and see if I get any of them to follow me and get the notification.  In my search for the term “DIY Marketing”  I discover Rob McNeely.  He’s apparently a famous guy that hosts a radio show called “Startup Story.”  SUPER guy to follow and I wasn’t following him.  Shame on me.

When I clicked over to his web site — I found that it went to a landing page called “Twitter Policy and Philosophy.”

When you realize that this guy has something like 30,000 people following him, you can see why he would have a “policy” for people who are on Twitter.  But why wouldn’t you have a process or policy for your social media anyway?

Create Goals and Objectives Before Policies

The wonderful thing you’ll notice about Rob’s Twitter Policy is that he is very clear on what he uses Twitter for and his policy reflects his social media objectives; he uses it to connect and meet new people.

That said, he’s taken the time to figure out how he wants to relate to Twitter as a medium and he goes point by point to explain:  Here are some snippets that will give you a taste.

1. Privacy

I will respect your DMs. Please respect mine.

2. Content and Subject Matter

Your screen time is valuable. I promise to make my tweets as interesting and non-boring as possible. I am a news junkie and read about a dozen websites and blogs from around the world on a daily basis.5. Spam, Self Promotion, and Commercialization3. Responses, Replies, and Pitches

I will do my best to respond to all @ replies and direct messages. However, due to my limited bandwidth, I may not always get to them, and sometimes, a few will slip by and I may not see them. Please do not take it personally if I do not respond.

I openly accept all pitches for Startup Story Radio, but please use the Startup Story Radio Contact Form to send them to me.

4. Following/Unfollowing

I am very Libertarian when it comes to following people. I look at Twitter like a large cocktail party, and the more people at the party the more interesting it is for me.

I am not big on Twitter spam. I will unfollow and or block you if you are DM spamming me or just keep following me to get me to follow you. I am pretty open to following most people. If I don’t follow you, there is a reason.

Why Stop at Twitter, Create a Policy for LinkedIn, Facebook and all your other Social Media Tools!

A common issue among small businesses and marketers is how little time we have for everything.  If you don’t have policies and rules set up around your social media channels, then you will either get sucked in – or your brand image will suffer.

Here’s a quick Social Media Policy How-To:

1. Define why you are using each social media tool and what you want to get out of it.
2. Tell people how you will behave and what to expect from you.  On Twitter, who do you follow, who do you not follow, etc.  The same thing goes for LinkedIn.  Different people use the tools differently – tell people how you will use this tool.
3. What’s your spamming policy and how do you want people to contact you?  Spam is everywhere.  Depending on how you use your social media channel – you’ll want to tell people where you stand.  We are all busy, tell people how you want to be contact, what you respond to and what you don’t.

Thanks Rob!  This is something we all do, but few have put out in public.

So, I’m curious, what’s your Twitter Policy?

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Regardless of what your product, service or offering is — the best way to get and keep loyal customers is by direct marketing to a list.

It’s not about the number of people you have on your list that will determine the success or failure of your campaign, it’s the relevance of your offer to the people on the list coupled with how much they trust and value your recommendations.

High Conversion = Relevance of the offer + Trust level in the Referrer

A really good source for this type of list is LinkedIn.  Because the relationships on LinkedIn are presumed (that’s a key word) to be real and based on some level of experience with the contact, they have a higher probability of converting to your offer.  But you really have to be careful with this.  So many people are treating LinkedIn like a numbers game, with no respect for the relationship to the list.  This just makes those LinkedIn contacts watered down and useless.  This is not a quantity game, it’s a quality game.

Here is how to get the most out of your LinkedIn Contacts.

1. Build your reputation by giving and helping contacts and groups.  The reciprocity and relationship building principles are key.  Yes, it takes time to go into groups, read questions, provide insightful and useful answers, but if building a responsive and targeted list is important, you will do it.
2. Leave Endorsements.  Spend a few minutes every week leaving endorsements for people you have worked with and for.
3. Join relevant groups.  Take time to join the groups that are relevant to your specialty and then take time every day or at least a couple times a week to help and contribute.  Also leave content that is helpful and not self-promoting all the time.
4. Ask and answer questions.  You literally promote yourself and your expertise by asking and answering questions.  Take time to do this a couple of times a week.
5. Connect other people.  Don’t just digitally connect, volunteer to put together people who can benefit each other.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool.  In fact, I prefer the free version because it forces you to talk to more people to connect to the ones you want.

Here’s a how-to tip you can use from fellow DIYMarketer, Jenni Cox has over 20,000 members in her National Network if Embroidery Professionals.  When she sends her lists information, they respond.  She earned that response the quality, hard way by:

1. Joining groups on embroidery(Yahoo and others)
2. She created an Outlook file for these groups.  Then she created a rule that sends all the discussions to that file.  Every day she glances through the list and answers a handful of questions.  She makes sure that she contributes helpful hints and content to every group at least once every two weeks.
3. From this process she gains  a handful of new trusting, responding members every week.

What’s your quality list building tip?  Tell me all about it and I’ll feature you in a future post!

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