Business owners know that online messaging channels like mobile, email, blogs and social media aren’t optional in 2010; they’re an essential part of the marketing mix. With new online marketing avenues constantly emerging and continuing to diversify, it’s all big companies can do to keep up.
However, small businesses, solopreneurs, coaches, consultants and authors are often overwhelmed about how to get these channels up and running, properly use them – and especially – synchronize them to attract new customers and online sales. High Altitude Marketing Academy, the new venture between digital marketing experts Karen Talavera and Mande White, aims to change that.
With over a decade each in online marketing, Karen and Mande know the secrets to leveraging online conversation channels to increase visibility, deepen customer relationships, and grow revenue. As three quarters of small businesses increase their spending on email marketing in 2010 and nearly seven in 10 plan to put more dollars toward social media marketing (according to eMarketer) it’s not enough to know how to use individual channels separately. The key to true online success is weaving them together.
In their first free teleclass for High Altitude Marketing Academy, Karen and Mande will share the number one essential that today’s online marketing must include for success in 2010 and beyond: making emotional connections with prospects and customers to keep them engaged.
“Most business owners and marketers think that merely participating in a new online marketing channel is enough,” says Talavera. “They send email, post Twitter updates and have a Facebook page, but they’re not talking WITH their target market, they’re talking at them or worse yet, talking to themselves. This isn’t a viable strategy because it lacks resonance.”
White adds “What most business owners don’t know is that regardless of motivation, our human nature is to buy from our hearts, not our heads. When all is said and done and the pros and cons weighed, most buying decisions can be traced back to emotions. What that means for online marketing programs is more two-way conversations and real human connections.”
Their free 75-minute teleclass, From Stalled to Soaring: The Five Essential Secrets to Emotionally Connecting with Your Target Audience, is offered on Thursday February 4 at 2:00 pm Eastern/11:00 am Pacific time. When participants sign up they’ll learn how to create authentic emotional connections online, the importance of online community, top ways to develop a loyal following and much more.
As active leaders within South Florida marketing associations, Karen and Mande met a few years ago when Mande became the President of the American Marketing Association’s South Florida Chapter and Karen was serving on the board of the Florida Direct Marketing Association. Now they’ve teamed up to reach and teach the millions of solopreneurs, coaches, authors and independent professionals with an online presence how to harness the power of digital marketing channels like email, social media, blogs and mobile together to maximize emotional connections that result in a whole new level of marketing – and sales.
Since 2003 Karen Talavera, the “Queen of Email Insight” has led Synchronicity Marketing where she has taught thousands of businesses small and large (including big brands like ServiceMaster, Texas Instruments, AAA and American Express) how to use email marketing legally, strategically and better than the competition in both public seminars and private trainings. She recently played an integral role in designing an email marketing online education series for the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CCTB)’s clients and members and in designing email messaging programs for the Bureau itself.
Mande White is the founder and social media expert behind FreeSocialMediaHelp.com which provides resources and videos to help authors, speakers and coaches navigate the world of online marketing and social media. She has over a decade of experience implementing direct response marketing, and lead generation campaigns for solopreneurs and small businesses. Her coaching programs give busy entrepreneurs the skills they need to create campaigns that meet or exceed annual business goals.
Marketers, business owners, coaches and solopreneurs are encouraged to join From Stalled to Soaring: The Five Essential Secrets to Emotionally Connecting with Your Target Audience on Thursday February 4 at 2:00 pm Eastern/11:00 am Pacific time. Even if they can’t make the live version of the free call, by registering at High Altitude Marketing Academy, subscribers can receive the recording afterwards.
About Karen Talavera
Karen Talavera is founder and principal of Synchronicity Marketing. As an entrepreneur herself, she is passionate about teaching solopreneurs and independent professionals the top performing tactics and strategies in digital marketing. Since 2000 Karen has taught email marketing to thousands of professionals through seminars offered by the Direct Marketing Association. She has also taught for MarketingProfs, the Association of National Advertisers, and numerous regional marketing groups. In addition to public events, Karen has trained and consulted for well-known brands like Applied Materials, ServiceMaster, AAA, Texas Instruments, and American Express. Karen holds a BA in Communication from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. She is a certified expert on Solo Entrepreneur (www.solo-e.com), a member and speaker for the Email Experience Council, a recent board member of the Florida Direct Marketing Association, and a member of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG).
About Mande White
Mande White is the Founder of FreeSocialMediaHelp.com which provides resources and videos to help authors, speakers and coaches navigate the world of online marketing and social media. Mande served from 2007-2009 as President of the American Marketing Association – South Florida Chapter. She holds an MBA from the University of Texas graduating Magna Cum Laude. She recently took the role of Social Media Advisor for the prestigious national marketing group, Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, Miami Chapter.
2009 was a “watershed” year, packed with transformation and shifting, all happening to clear out the old in order to make way for the new. In watershed years, a lot of activity and change which has been slowly building over previous periods finally moves through all at once.
And so it goes as the pace of change continues to accelerate in the world at large – more and more gets packed into the same seemingly-finite amount of time and space. Mentalities change faster, evolution happens at a heightened rate. You know where I’m going with this – it all impacts your marketing too. Not just how you market, but what you say and do. And it’s coming to a head in 2010, likely a waterfall year. Expect to see the flow of change speed up even more!
Inspired by the emerging shift in human consciousness already occurring and fueled by everything from environmental awareness to the rise of social media, doing business will become as much about serving as selling (and pardon my bias, but I say it’s about damn time!).
In fact, successful marketers during the economic downturn discovered ages ago that when you sell by way of serving, you develop a loyal following that sticks with you through thick and thin, which is why they’ve remained successful even during recent tough times.
A major ramification of “service” is that you should be prepared to provide it. I’m not talking about lip service, but instead about genuine customer engagement. Go from just talking to also listening. Incorporate the ability for your customers to respond to your messages – both from within and without the message channel.
This means they should be able to reply to your email marketing messages, for example, rather than run smack into a “do not reply to this email” wall. The same goes for social media, where in-channel dialog is not only desired but the norm. Make sure someone’s listening and gathering feedback.
The logical extension of conscious business practices into marketing also involves this same emphasis on contribution and respect. If you’re asking for someone’s attention, give them something worth paying attention to, like free information, free assistance, information or savings. Give before expecting to receive, give unexpectedly, and give even when you’re not asking to receive anything. Listen and talk. Be human, be conversational. CONNECT. Then, when you do present opportunities to buy, your people will have a foundation of trust and loyalty to stand on, and will engage with confidence.
What better time than the start of a new year to crystallize your intentions for 2010 and prepare for the shift toward conscious marketing?
Reserve your seat now on our next 5 Secrets to Emotionally Connecting with Your Target Audience to Increase Visibility, Deepen Customer Relationships and Boost Revenue in 2010.
I love this definition of leverage:
Power or ability to act or to influence people, events, or decisions; sway.
and this one:
The use of a small initial investment, credit, or borrowed funds to gain a very high return in relation to one’s investment, to control a much larger investment, or to reduce one’s own liability for any loss.
Both definitions are highly relevant to digital marketing these days. But, you’ve got to know how to use the tools to wield the power of leverage. And the perhaps obvious – or not – key to wielding that power is an emerging theme not only in the evolution of marketing, but of humankind:
Leverage goes beyond influence. It creates advantage, ascendancy, and authority. It allows you or your business to be of greater assistance and benefit to those you serve. It connotes eminence, improvement, and mastery.
Creating leverage online and in conversational marketing is about allowing for the creation of a whole greater and more influential than any of its individual parts, and certainly greater than what happens in a single channel. Your customer relationships likely already span marketing channels, and now the conversation you have with those customers and groups of customers needs to as well.
A thorough understanding of how to not only use but maximize the value of individual channels like Facebook, Twitter, mobile messaging, and email is a prerequisite to recognizing the possibilities for integrating and leveraging them together. There’s no substitute for basic training.
So, ask yourself if you’re thinking about leverage in your marketing, promotion and customer communication. For example, have these simple digital marketing tactics occurred to you?:
- Repurpose your blog content in your e-newsletter?
- Tweet a link to each new blog post and e-newsletter when published?
- Include a “Share to Social” feature in your emails?
- Launch a mobile-friendly version of your email program? Or if relevant, a mobile alert service?
- Create component exclusivity and change it up frequently. What do Twitter followers receive that they couldn’t find anywhere else? Which exclusive content or offers are available only to email subscribers or Facebook Fan Page members?
Marketers who have put these and other simple steps into practice understand leverage is not about working harder, but working smarter. It’s about using all resources and advantages available to you in order to be of greater service to your customers, your market, and the world.
Reserve your seat now on our Thursday, February 4 FREE Teleclass
Integrated marketing. Multi-channel marketing. Interactive marketing. You’ve heard the terms but what do these really mean for the average entrepreneur or independent business person?
Today’s reality goes beyond merely connecting tactics and conducting multi-media campaigns (say, doing email and postcards). What’s occurring is a convergence of both online and offline marketing methods as well as a fusion of digital channels and tools. What’s driving it is the evolution of the Web, dominated by user generated content, social networking, citizen journalism and growing access to and transparency of content – personal and otherwise.
Here’s a critical lesson for succeeding in this context of conversation marketing: In the intrusive, immediate realm of the Internet, service – not sales – is the name of the game. Be prepared to educate, inform, entertain, and assist. Give freely in order to receive in abundance. Plan to build and earn trust, and don’t intrude uninvited. If you play by these rules, you’ll have succeeded in doing what authentic marketing is all about – not just selling, but building loyal, long-term customer relationships.
And remember, today the desktop computer email inbox has morphed and people expect proven and new ways of communicating with your business – anywhere, anytime, from either stationary or mobile devices. Email, social and mobile messaging, or tri-messaging, is now a force in the multichannel marketing landscape. Such multi-pronged messaging needs to be intentionally well-orchestrated. Digital messaging is no longer a slow moving, one-way street. We’ve got to think dialog rather than broadcast, and be prepared to cross messaging device barriers and permission thresholds that are constantly proliferating.
Reserve your seat now on our Thursday, February 4 FREE Teleclass
Marketing isn’t about singular tactics, tools and channels anymore, each managed neatly in its own silo (as if it ever was). Don’t limit your perception of digital marketing to adding the latest Web 2.0 gadget to your site or playing in the newest online community. It’s not about figuring out the newest tactic or community although there are plenty, ranging from YouTube to Twitter to video, blogs, Facebook and Second Life, and then going on to the next one on the list.
Instead, successfully generating interest, engagement (the hot new goal for 2010), buzz and new customers is now about creating marketing fusion – integrating a fluid and growing constellation of components together in an intentional ordered chaos I call “digital convergence”. It’s about creating – or allowing or both – a whole greater and more influential than any of its individual parts, and certainly greater than their simple sum on a list.
And yet, a thorough understanding of how to not only use but maximize the value of the singular components is a prerequisite to recognizing the possibilities for fusing them together. True, there’s no substitute for basic training.
So, taking two specialties near and dear to my heart – email marketing and social networking – here are just a few ideas for how to optimize them in tandem:
- If you have an e-newsletter, Tweet the link to each issue as it is published.
- On Twitter, always come from a place of service or inquiry rather than blatant self-promotion.
- Include the link to your email sign-up page on all social media Web site profile and fan pages. (Twitter, for example, allows you to upload your own custom background design).
- Include your Twitter handle and URL to Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace or other environments in your email template(s).
- Use reader praise, questions and experiences (with permission) gathered from social networking sites in your emails, marketing materials and on your site.
Marketers who have put these and other simple steps into practice begin to notice exponential rather than linear increases in subscribers, brand recognition, leads, buzz and sales – increases which can’t be attributed to a single digital channel or tactic. It’s as though once given enough space, digital marketing sprouts shoots and branches we can’t anticipate. Plant your seeds, nurture them regularly, and watch them grow!
My biz partner Mande White and I will be exploring these and more secrets to leveraging email and social media on our free call “From Stalled to Soaring” on February 4.
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