Six Key Strategic Priorities for Better Online Marketing in 2017
It’s a New Year, and the online marketing landscape is ever-changing. So I took to the video “airwaves” to share what I think are the six most important areas where your efforts online can bear meaningful “fruit.” Watch now:
I am putting the full text of this video below for your convenience. If you’re interested in considering being part of my Tribe, my Patreon channel is now live here: http://www.patreon.com/jonleland
My Recommendations: Six Online Marketing Priorities for 2017
Happy New Year everybody, and welcome to a brand new year of online marketing. My name is Jon Leland and I’m an online marketing mentor and strategist, and I’m committed to your success online. I’ve got six priorities that are my priorities and they might well be yours for the new year. Let’s get to them.
#1: Consistency
I have to tell you that this has not been my strong suit in the past, but everybody says that this is what you have to do, and I couldn’t agree more. I’m going to be walking my talk this year to be consistent, to do weekly videos, to do regular blog posts and to continue a strong online social presence. Without consistency it’s too hit and miss and you don’t establish a real connection with your audience. That really is a key priority.
#2: Intimacy vis Mobile
We all know that websites need to be mobile-friendly these days, and responsive design has been a main thing for a number of years, but I’m saying you need to be more than mobile-friendly, you need to be intimate. What I mean by that is really thinking about the mobile experience as a primary factor, not just to have Google rank you better but because more than half your visitors are now visiting on some kind of mobile device, and your experience, what you’re communicating and how you’re communicating in a mobile environment, is really a primary factor in how you’re connecting with your audience. Get it together in mobile. Get your website truly mobile-friendly in you could say an intimate kind of way.
#3: Video Proliferation
I’m sure that you’re aware that Facebook Live has become a big thing, but I’m surprised how many people think that online video is still just YouTube. You need to upload your videos native to Facebook, run-and-gun videos on Instagram. Video is everywhere, and not just at the top of the funnel either. It’s frequently thought of just as something that you attract people into your funnel, but at every stage of the funnel you really want to have video be there and create this kind of one-to-one, eyeball-to-eyeball connection that’s possible with video. Think about video through your entire funnel. Think about video on every platform, and do it more often, the way I’m starting to do now.
#4: Be Agile
With mobile technologies, with the ability to shoot video on a smartphone, you can do video anywhere, anytime. I also mean be agile with your websites. I’m doing more and more Squarespace websites because I can do them quickly, I can collaborate with clients, it’s far less complicated than a lot of other platforms. That kind of do things quickly, do them simply, do them well. Don’t turn them into big elaborate game-stopping productions like the way print brochures used to be, or even that websites used to be. Keep it simple, be agile, keep moving, keep creating.
$5: What Happens Next?
A lot of people talk about you get Facebook likes; what happens next? How do you actually engage? I’m thinking about it as a strategist, that conversions are really where the rubber hits the road. Not enough people think strategically in terms of that intention. How do you move from whatever you’re doing in terms of content, from whatever you’re doing in terms of being creative, move that through the channel, move that through the funnel so you truly engage, truly create authentic relationships, and at the end of the day have conversions that you can literally take to the bank?
#6: Build a Tribe
Number six is probably the closest to my heart. I really am going to be engaging with community. I’m going to be creating a Patreon channel. I’ll put that in the description in YouTube or in Facebook or wherever I upload this video ( http://www.patreon.com/jonleland ). Those of you that have heard me speak or have done any of my workshops or playshops know that the bottom line as far as I’m concerned is creating authentic, sustainable relationships. It’s not just about selling stuff, it’s about creating community, about generating a tribe. I’m trying to be as valuable as I can be for free. I want you to give me your feedback, tell me what you want to hear more of. I look forward to your comments and feedback. I hope you’ll become part of my tribe, my virtual community, and I really encourage you to build your own.
And, In Conclusion
I’m wishing you the happiest, most successful 2017 possible. May all of your marketing bear real fruit and may you keep going and keep generating and have fun every step of the way. I’ll be back with more. Thanks for watching.
Social Media Strategy: So Much More than Tips & Tactics
Have you been seduced by promises of “get rich quick” formulas? If so, you are not alone. However, the truth of long term success is more of a “road less traveled.”
I wish I was here with a quick fix, but I’m not.
My experiences as a social media strategist and web marketing mentor tell me that if you want to make a real difference—both for our world and for your business—it’s going to take a commitment to a process, a journey involving experimentation and missteps, and perhaps most of all, a willingness to do some serious inquiry about why you are in this game in the first place.
Finding Marketing Inspiration
On my own journey to online marketing “well-being,” a couple of things have inspired me recently. They also inform the nature of the journey to meaningful, long term success.
The first inspiration came via a podcast that is also a Creative Live video. In this episode shown below, host and Creative Live founder Chase Jarvis interviews one of the true Internet marketing thought leaders, originator of the term “permission marketing” and author of 18 NYTimes best selling books, Seth Godin.
The part of this interview that jumped out at me is where Seth says at the end of the segment (15:51-21:09):
“We are living the most crowded creative universe in history… You are NOT entitled to ANY attention. You are NOT entitled to ANY leverage. BUT, if you dig ever deeper into the stuff that truly matters, you may EARN some attention.”
Ah, I love that phrase, “earning attention.” More noise, more content or even following some supposedly “magic” formula will not cut it in today’s marketplace.
Digging deeper in order to determine, over time, “the stuff that truly matters” is pretty much the only thing that will create authentic engagement.
In other words, if you’re not offering a product or service that is truly valuable and/or if your content doesn’t stand out as something exceptional, then it’s virtually impossible to be successful—no matter whose formula you follow. Even the most brilliant tips and tricks will not win you meaningful success.
Making Social Media Marketing Meaningful
The second inspiration that has uplifted me recently is the book, Get Some Headspace by Andy Puddicombe, founder of Headspace.com and the “how to learn to meditate” app with the same name.
What impressed me about this book was the way that Puddicombe talks about what it takes for people to learn meditation and develop a meditation practice. I made an immediate connection to the way people try to learn social media marketing. Just like with meditation, people often give up quickly. In both cases—learning online marketing and learning meditation—people are required to become engaged in a process, take a journey. Again, no quick fixes, no “silver bullet.”
Usefully, Puddicombe breaks this process down into three stages so that people know it’s not a “one and done” kind of thing. First, he talks about learning how to approach learning mediation. Kind of like learning how to learn, but more explicitly he encourages people to think carefully about how they want to approach this kind of learning.
Then, in a second stage, he talks about how to develop meditation as a practice, how to implement it. And finally, he pulls it all together in a third stage, which is how to integrate your learning into your long term way of living.
In the case of social media marketing, this would be analogous to learning how to integrate your blogging or your social media posts into your ongoing business practices.
As a social media mentor and strategist, it seems to me that this kind of three-stage, realistic approach makes very good sense. Especially because I see so much of what’s going on as being based on an expectation that goes something like this, “Hey, here’s a strategy (a formula etc). I’ll just sign up for this program; and before you know it, I’ll have a six figure income.”
That’s clearly bullshit, but even more than beyond those kinds of bullshit offers is the idea that we are committing to a process. It needs to become a practice. For example, Seth Godin recommends that people blog daily, and pretty much everyone says that meditation or exercise needs to be practiced regularly.
So, how do I recommend that you approach learning to do social media marketing?
I believe that ONLY with this kind of approach, will you be able to be who you truly are, communicate on a sustainable basis, and build the authentic long-term relationships that are necessary for meaningful success.
Inspired by Puddicombe’s approach, here’s my first draft of the three stages of how to develop a social media marketing practice:
- Learn How to Approach Learning Social Media & Your Messaging:
- What really matters to you?
- What meaningful value can you offer?
- How is what you are doing different and an expression of your unique gifts?
- Work with a coach or mentor to get started on the right foot, inspired by your own Authentic Voice.
- Get to Work by Experimenting Consistently So Content Creation Becomes a Practice:
- Experiment in ways that nurture and develop your Authentic Voice.
- Explore ways to enhance your value. Try blogging. Try video production. Experiment with webinars and video chats such as Facebook Live or Blab.im.
- Develop a content calendar, a schedule and stick to it. Consistency is key.
- Get feedback. Make requests of your audience for feedback via surveys. Develop a community or tribe of supporters you trust to give you useful input.
- Discovery How to Integrate Content Creation into Your Business Processes:
- Allow content creation to evolve into a team effort.
- Create alignment amongst your team—virtual or otherwise—so that your online marketing efforts are sustainable, easy and fun.
- Establish business systems, “playbooks” and processes so that the high quality of your content can be maintained and continually improved.
The Marketing Road Less Traveled
As Robert Frost famously wrote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
My commitment is to your success, not just more money (that too), but most importantly the invaluable opportunity to make our world a better place.
May all of your success be well-earned with the icing on the cake of enjoying the journey.
I welcome and appreciate feedback via my various social media accounts. I look forward to hearing from you.
Finding Flow, A Higher Purpose & The REAL Bottom Line
There’s more to New Marketing than the traditional bottom line.
When I speak and lead workshops, I use terms like “New Marketing” and “Humanistic Marketing” to differentiate what is truly alive online from what is all too often useless noise. In my view, the “Alive Web” is empowered by the people power. I experience this humanity as the heart of social media.
This is clearly different than content where the focus is how to make more money. This difference is important to and underscores the dimensions of what I do that are most important to me. And, from a marketing perspective, this is a meaningful dynamic that leads to authentic engagement, meaningful value exchange and real relationships.
And, I think it’s also worth noting that all that noise and manipulative selling is what gives the ideas of marketing and engagement a bad name.
In this post, I want to focus on the “what’s most important to me” part; but, I’m not doing that just for me. If you are in my Tribe (and I’ll get to that), it is very likely to be what’s most important to you too. And, that is actually my point.
As my hand-drawn “Attraction Engine” iPad sketch shown to the right indicates, I’m a believer in the power of enthusiasm, authenticity, and leading with value. Those are the ingredients that lead to the kinds of meaningful connections that are beyond the more traditional marketing creative’s superficial positioning and messaging.
An Awakening & Authentic Truth-Telling
I realized in conversation with a dear friend today that I need to reach out specifically to you all, My Tribe, more often. I need to do this in order to expand my work in the direction that I want it to evolve.
The truth is that despite my own enthusiasm and the real value that I know I provide, like the rest of humanity, I can personally fall off the social media marketing communications track. I get derailed by my own resistance. We all know this truth: Resistance happens. And it’s important for me to name it by telling the truth about it when it happens.
My blog doesn’t lie. This is my first post since late January. Yikes!
Stepping into the Light
Thus, this new blog post (and the new content which will follow) represent the beginning of another reinvention or refocusing of my work and offerings.
Yes, I will continue to share about innovative social media and video marketing strategies, tips and insights; but the real fuel for what I consider to be meaningful success is my authentic connections with other like-minded people. I find those to be more important and valuable than I can express. So, while I’ve always been about better communications rather than just being about the exciting new technologies (as much as I love them too), I’m refocusing on the real bottom line.
The real bottom line for me is making the world a better place. I’m clear that that doesn’t come from more “noise,” nor fresh eye-candy, no matter how well crafted, no matter how efficiently delivered with the latest technological innovative automations, etc.
Successful communications (at least by my definition) connect people in meaningful ways and thus lead to collaborations and/or authentic relationships where real value is exchanged.
Are You In?
My personal intention is to shine in a way that inspires and supports others to shine from their soul, reflecting their own Divine Purpose. (FYI, I’ve never spoken this spiritually in a business context.)
Ease and grace ARE present as animating forces when you allow them to be, but the necessary resting in and allowing of the “Sounds of Silence”—the slowing down and deep listening, the actual prayers for guidance—can be uncomfortable and require the development of a new skill. I’m working on that. Are you? If so, how can I support you? I’d love to hear from you about this.
Thus, what I am putting more front and center in the services that I am offering—albeit through my online marketing communications support—is fundamentally NOT about the “stuff,” i.e. the technology, nor the material success. It’s about the connections, the communities and the relationships. Truthfully, that’s the kind of abundance that I care about and value most.
Playing with My Tribe in Order to Truly Thrive
This expression, “Play with My Tribe to Strive” jumped out in another conversation recently, and it kind of summarizes what I’m talking about here.
First of all, I want to play. In a business context, what that means to me is that when I’m at my best and offering my greatest value, I’m having fun, playful, joyful and free. That’s the kind of relationships I want to have. Personally, professionally, and via social media. Wanting to have fun every step of the way is a quality I’m looking for in my ideal clients as well as in friends (both virtual and otherwise.)
Secondly, I know that what I’m doing and where I’m coming from won’t appeal to everyone. That’s GREAT! I’m interested in nurturing my relationships with authentic members of my “Tribe.” What I mean by that is an informal extended network of people who are also aligned with these same values (see above), who want to play together, i.e. collaborate joyously and communicate for mutual benefit and the highest good of all.
The thriving part then emerges through the soul-nurturing flow of acting in alignment with Spirit/Higher Power/Love/God (or whatever you want to call Her/Him/That).
I love the expression that some NBA players use: “Let the game come to you.” This approach is not about “making things happen.” It’s about opening, softening and allowing something even better than we can imagine to unfold. In my experience, when that Game comes to you, not only are ease, flow and fun readily available… “Resistance is Futile!” 😉
Are you in?
I sincerely look forward to hearing from you with your thoughts, encouragements and/or suggestions. Thanks!
What Pooping Unicorns Won’t Tell You About Video Marketing
It’s a New Media, New Video World.
Video is a communications technology that is changing everything. I ought to know. I have been thinking, writing and speaking about the digital video revolution for decades, literally.
This blog post includes the following content, all of which is designed to give you a fresh perspective on how digital video is changing our world:
- A very successful viral video (with pooping unicorns) that I think is exemplary
- The link to the audio recording of my Commonwealth Club presentation on “Understanding Digital Video & The Future of Social Media”
- The SlideShare of that same presentation so you can click along as you listen
- The recording of a Blab video interview session that I did with Nick DeMartino, former head of the AFI Media Lab and Hollywood new media insider that provides additional insights and resources
1. What Pooping Unicorns WILL Teach You About Video Marketing
Stellar creativity, an approach that grabs your attention right from the start, and crisp, on-target writing (for example, “the stool for better stools”) make this marketing video a true stand out.
There’s no question that this video works amazing well. The close to 9 million views at the time of this writing, place it head and shoulders above almost every marketing video of a similar length in terms of performance and reach. And, it’s fun to watch, which is obviously a big part of why it’s working so well.
But the pooping unicorns video WON’T teach you about the ways that authenticity, human connection, relationship building are at the heart of video marketing. To me, that’s the important stuff; and you will find more about those kinds of things below.
2. Audio Recording “Understanding Digital Video & The Future of Social Media”
[testimonial author=”Gerald Harris, Chair of Science and Technology Forum for the Commonwealth Club”]”Jon, great job! I want to personally thank you for a brilliant, engaging and thoroughly informative presentation at the Commonwealth Club of California.”[/testimonial]
It was my sincere pleasure to speak at the prestigious Commonwealth Club of California in late October. People have asked me for the audio recording. Here’s the link with the slides below that. The Club controls the recording so the only way to listen is to click this link and listen on their site:
3. SlideShare of “Understanding Digital Video & The Future of Social Media”
If you’re in a hurry and just want an overview of what’s covered in my talk, or if you’d like to enhance your listening to the audio recording, here’s the exact slide deck that I used during the talk, via SlideShare:
4. My Video Interview: “Future of TV, Video Delivery & Digital Media” with Nick DeMartino
Nick DeMartino has been a video innovator for decades and we’ve shared information and a friendship that spans his whole career. It was a pleasure to spend more than an hour with him via a Blab.im video chat discussing, among other things, some of the trends that I illuminated in my Commonwealth Club talk. This interview includes lots of resources as well as insights. For your reference, most of the URLs discussed are in the YouTube description. Enjoy!
I’m confident that all of this information will tell you lots that the pooping unicorns could never express, no matter how creative they are 😉
I look forward to your feedback either directly via our contact form or via the social media links above.
And if you are ready for support with your video marketing, your social media strategy or your web presence, please contact me. I look forward to hearing from you and to answering any questions that you may have.
Thanks for reading and/or listening and/0r watching 😉
Having a Blast on Blab: Learnings from the Launch of My New Social Media Video Show
I’ve been doing social media since the beginning of social media and I’ve never had a more uplifting experience of community and connection than the one I’ve had getting to know the new video conversation platform called Blab (http://Blab.im).
I created this graphic to promote last Friday’s Blab session.
Getting Started with Blab
Last Friday, I did my first regular Blab show (“Fridays@4”) and it was surprisingly easy to do and successful. Word spread by social media, and we had people join in late in the show who said that they had heard buzz that we were “killing it” and that they should check it out. Unexpected delight. 😉
We had about 280 viewers who watched live at sometime during the 90 minutes we were on, a pretty steady audience of 60 or so more during the webcast; and, as of this writing, this program has now had over 308 viewers counting the Replay on Blab.im. And, as you will see below, I’ve also posted the recording to YouTube and thus the exposure continues to grow.
Those are just some of the reasons I’m excited.
Spontaneous Community
Part of the reason for this success was that I was honored to have author/speaker Joel Comm (“Twitter 3.0” and other books) as my featured guest. It was Joel who first told me about Blab… Well, actually I got the info from a post of his on Facebook. Joel has become kind of Blab Ambassador. If there’s a Blab “star,” Joel would be on the short list of “nominees.”
Then, to my surprise, as the Blab progressed (may I remind you that this was a live session), I was delighted to have blogging business veteran Darren Rowse join us (see image below). Darren is better known as Pro Blogger and has been a social media marketing thought leader for years. Others who just “happened by” included social media strategist Carlos Gil and digital marketing expert Pam Brossman who both offered some really useful insights and tips (a taste of which are included below). That’s the kind of spontaneous community “happening” it was and which the Blab platform fascilitated.
A Truly Transparent Company
Another guest that contributed a lot to my first Blab show was Brittnay Metz who is a Blab spokesperson and I guess you could say evangelist. For example, she’s the one who sends out emails to the Blab members, but she also spends a fair about of time on Blab itself participating, answering questions, taking feature requests, and generally monitoring and supporting the user base.
Brittnay told us, for example, that the company was really committed to staying at only 30 employees. She also talked about the fact that Blab’s engineers are going to be developing very sophisticated video analytics.
Positive Impressions of An Emerging New Video Technology
Both from what Brittnay said and from my own experience, it’s clear that Blab is making sure that their software really works. I’ve experimented with lots of video conversation platforms, and especially considering this is an early “beta,” Blab seems extremely stable. But Blab’s biggest strength is ease of use which, of course, is a very big deal.
All you need is a Twitter account and you’re in with full participation priviledges. Blab is also totally free as they grow their user base and there are no plans for a “premium” version on the horizon. In some ways, I think Blab may be the example of the “Instagram business model.” (Instagram was acquired by Facebook for $1Billion.) I imagine that Blab is going to be acquired by a much larger company at some point, but when I asked Brittnay about this possibility, her response was a quite grounded. She said, “What makes you think we want to sell?” I left it at that.
Minor Limitations, Major Advantages
The only significant limitations of Blab’s video implementation that I’ve found so far are that it does not work in the Mac Safari browser (because of the video format that Safari uses) andthere’s a mobile app for iOS, but not yet for Android. The best web browser for Blab is Chrome and the desktop version is more full-featured (as shown above).
Some of the features that I like most are the fact that it’s a conversation environment with four interactive video windows. It’s easy for people to come and go. The host has the ability to accept or reject “visitors” at his or her discretion, and most hosts are quite welcoming. We had people coming and going all through our program.
Powerful Twitter Integration
Blab derives its external social media power through its integration with Twitter. And that’s a big part of what makes Blab powerful as an audience or relationship-building tool. Blab engages users via Twitter with the build-in “Tell a Bird” feature that’s to the left of the video windows (on the desktop version). It’s not only a good way to share what you’re doing, but it actually demonstrates a kind of freedom to interact that is not possible on Facebook because on Twitter “friend requests” are not required in order to interact.
Chat, Recordings & More
Blab stays highly interactive as well with a very lively chat stream that runs along the right side of the four video windows.
After you host a Blab session, you get both an mp4 video file and an mp3 audio file of the recording. These files are available for you to download and can be posted anywhere (for example, on YouTube, SoundCloud, or wherever). The video recording doesn’t have the screen names nor the chat stream. You can see the difference between this version and the embed code version that’s also provide via embeds that I’ve included below.
Compared to Google Hangouts, in the production sense, Blab is less robust. For example, at this time (although Brittnay told us that this is coming at some future time), Blab lacks screen sharing. Likewise, the spiffy lower-third ID’s that are part of Hangouts are not on Blab, but you do automatically get labeled during the live sessions with your name and Blab ID (for example, mine is @joncombridges).
As a work around for the absence of lower-thirds, people have gotten into using apps like ManyCam and CamTwist Studio (Mac only) in order to put graphics into their video frame. In fact, Joel was doing was doing just that all during our program.
I also think it’s worth noting that, in some ways, Blab’s ID feature is substantially better than the lower-third Hangouts feature because it’s interactive. For example, if you like what someone is saying, you can simply click on that ID to follow them on Blab. There is also a link to their Twitter profile so you can follow or list them there as well. The Blab ID also let’s you address them directly in the live chat stream. You also can click on the lower right of any video image to give the speaker “props.” So, what Blab may lack in snazzy production features, it more than makes up for with ease of use and authentically interactive tools that enable real people to have real conversations, in real time.
What About Lead Capture?
One of the questions that I asked Joel and the others during my first Blab Show was about lead capture, or lack of those kinds of features in Blab. For example, I use Google Hangouts within the WebinarJam “envelope” in order to do lead capture when I do webinars because I want to be able follow up with the people who attend my programs via email. What I’m learning is that Blab is something completely different.
What Blab delivers, possibly “in spades,” is a completely new way to get exposure. And what’s really important is that that increased exposure is delivered via video so people can really get a sense of you and your expertise or value.
I’m finding that I’m making new friends with my fundamental practice of “Leading with Value” and that’s the most dynamic and perhaps the most important part of Blab. Blab really is about relationship building and making authentic connections. People are doing this on Blab in a way I haven’t seen before on any social media network. I really think it’s worth checking out.
A Video-Powered Way to Increase Your Visibility
As someone said during the program, the Blab experience is very much analogous to being at a party and meeting people. So in that sense, for marketers, Blab is like a new form of the classic free intro call.
One other important dimension of delivering expanded visibility is, as Carlos recommended and I’m demonstrating below, via YouTube. In the future, I’m also going to upload the audio to SoundCloud. In addition, there are people who are using Blab to record podcasts by taking the recording and distributing it via iTunes and so forth. Bottom line, Blab is a new way to get the word out.
That having been said, I watched a Blab the other day that featured Michael Stelzner from Social Media Examiner and he talked about specifically getting enrollments for some of their conferences via Blab. Thus, Blab can be used as an on-ramp both to build your visibility and also, in at least some cases, to make specific offers that then people move down your engagement funnel.
I’m recommending Blab because I’m finding it to be a great way to meet and connect with people. There’s no doubt that in only a little over a week, I’ve made new friends; and, equally important, I’m definitely having fun. Blab is so engaging that it’s literally becoming an addictive kind of social media experience for some people and in that way it’s a great social media environment to be swimming in.
I’m really delighted to have the opportunity to keep this kind of energy going, and I hope to see you (literally via Blab video) next Friday@5 (PT).
Useful Resources:
- “40 Quick Tips for Getting Started with Blab” by Ben Requena
This article has a bunch of very practical Blab techniques and I found it personally to be useful. - “How Blab Beat Google Hangouts At Their Own Game” by Joel Comm
For the Convenience of Comparison
Please Find Below Two Versions of This Same Program, My First “Fridays@4” Blab Program. The first is the embed provided by Blab and the second via upload to YouTube—are provided below for comparison.
Blab Embed:
YouTube Embed:
You Taught Me Well! Valuable Insights from Our Services Survey
First, I read a little ebook called “The Audience Revolution: The Smarter Way to Build a Business, Make a Difference, and Change the World” by Danny Iny. This ebook inspired me to get in closer touch with you, my dear readers, tribe members, followers, and clients.
Second, I created a ComBridges Services Survey in order to ask those of you who follow me on social media and/or subscribe to my ComBridges “It’s a Wonderful Web” enewsletter, “How I can serve you better?”.
I’m glad I did because what I learned is extremely valuable!
So, now, here I am sharing those learnings with you and saying a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who participated. You made a big difference. Please allow me to explain…
A Path to a Bigger Difference
I stated on the survey’s welcome page (shown to the right):
“I don’t want to make more noise.
I want to make a bigger difference…
to YOU.”
And I meant it. Even better, it worked. Here are three of the most valuable things I learned:
1. “Online Marketing Mentor” Describes Me Better
The funny thing is that “Online Marketing Mentor” was not something that I was even considering calling myself before I did this survey. 
Until last week, I was fond of calling myself a “Humanistic Marketing Wizard.” It was fun while it lasted.
On the marketing consulting side of things, my friend Marty Perlmutter says that I am a “Chief Strategy Officer” (CSO) and I used that to craft my CSO-to-Go offer.
For my more spiritual work, I enjoy calling myself “The Ambassador of Ease.” And so forth.
When I was writing the survey and crafting that question, the idea of “Online Marketing Mentor” just sprang to mind, perhaps because of the group mentoring program, The New Media New Marketing Playground that I ran last winter. It sounded good, so I just casually included it. As you can see from the results image, it’s a clear winner.
Now, with 20-20 hindsight I can see that it’s a much clearer description of what I like to do.
After all, I’m collaborative by nature. So, this descriptor reminded me of what I wrote in a blog post in January about why I like being a small business mentor rather than a “consultant.” It works. I’ve already started changing my social media profiles to reflect this new title.
And, “online marketing mentor” also reflects another important pivot that is already underway in my business. People like the idea of Done-WITH-You Services.
2. It’s More Fun & More Productive When We Create TOGETHER
Recently, I began offering a “1-to-1 Get-It-Done” collaborative website design process using Squarespace. 
This was my first experiences of offering a Done-With-You service. It’s been a great experience. It’s more fun and far more efficient for you and for me. Clients have been very pleased. (For example, there are two raving client testimonials in this blog post about the first two Squarespace websites that I produced this way last October.)
So, I was not very surprised when 75% of responders to the survey said they prefer an approach to our services that is either Done-With-You or a combination of Done-With-You and Done-For-You; but I have to say that this is a very valuable encouragement or nudge for me to keep moving in this direction. And, it was an eye-opener to see Done-For-You coming in dead last with only 10%.
3. You Reminded Me That I’ve Been Neglecting LinkedIn
As I told the people in my New Media New Marketing Playground, LinkedIn is the best social media network for B2B (business-to-business) companies. But, to be honest, I haven’t really been walking my talk in that regard.
Now, thanks to the feedback from the survey, it’s clear that I need to be spending more time there. For my people, LinkedIn is a clear second social media preference (after the obvious social media networking leader, Facebook).
And, there were other important results like your preference for “Insights, Resources and Trends” as the kind of information sharing you value most (with “Spirituality in General” coming in a surprising second), and for “Videos or Webinars” as the ways for me to share content online that you find most useful and appealing, among other things.
If you’d like to see more of exactly what the respondents had to say, please click here to view the completely updated results of our survey.
And there’s more!
Beyond all this seriously actionable data, taking steps directed by you, my peeps, tribe, and clients, has also given me new motivation. I feel like I’m learning to build my business in a way that’s more aligned with what people actually need and want. What a concept! 😉
The Audience Revolution is a Seriously Fresh New Mindset
For this last piece of learning above, I really want to thank Danny Iny for the inspiration of his little book, “The Audience Revolution.” The Audience Revolution is a simple concept that’s really common sense; but one that is very rarely practiced.
Putting the audience first, rather than leading with a product or service that you think they might want is actually kind of radical. I feel like I’ve made a positive step in a very positive direction thanks to the clarity of this book. Further, I appreciate the simplicity of his focus and the fact that he focuses on something that, as I hope you can see from this blog post, can really make a difference.
I Love the TypeForm Survey App
And finally, (in part because you told me you like to learn about new tools and resources) this experiment convinced me that I’ve found an online application for surveys that I love. I was attracted to TypeForm because of the elegance and openness of their designs, but I had never used it before.
Now I’m sold.
Not does it look good, but it’s easy to use, very flexible and has all of the functionalities I could ask for. I really like the variable ways that you can structure questions and the notifications. And, the reports are as elegant as the design templates. For example, here’s a link to a public view of all the results (note, more people have completed the survey since I did the screen grabs above).
There’s lots more for me to explore using TypeForm, for example their Stripe e-commerce and Google Spreadsheet integrations. I look forward to getting to know it better.
All-in-all, this was a very useful experiment and I couldn’t have done it without you! 😉
Thanks again.
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Thanks in part to all the blog comment spammers, comments are turned off on this blog (at least for now). However, PLEASE, I would LOVE to hear from you, including any comments, criticisms, suggestions or whatever, via any of the social networks linked at the very top of this page. Thanks.[/alert]
Learning from Meerkat: If You Don’t Understand the Social Graph, You Don’t Get Social Media Marketing
The Social Graph is About Relationships, Not Followers
Perhaps the most frequently asked question in the whole social media and online marketing arena is, “Where’s the ROI?” As Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee points out in the animated, educational story that he tells in the video below, the true answer to this question requires thinking that goes deeper than a financial statement. To make his point, he ends up asking, “What’s the ROI of my mother?”
Warning: If “the f-bomb” i.e. “foul” language offends you, you should NEVER listen to anything Gary says.
Warning: If “the f-bomb” i.e. “foul” language offends you, you should NEVER listen to anything Gary says.
Of course, he’s right. There is a whole lot more to life, to business, and to marketing (in the social media-powered world) than trackable metrics. In other words, when you build authentic, sustainable long term relationships—not only with customers but with prospects—you are building an asset that has real long term value. That’s the true meaning behind the literal meaning of “the social graph.” That’s the point of this post. Please allow me to explain.
Missing the Point
Over and over, we miss the point about so many things. We think abundance is about money when, as we all know (I hope), there are much more important things in life. To me, these more important things are “true abundance.” And yet, we think social media marketing can be encapsulated by how many “Likes” we get on our Facebook page, or even by how many zeros there are at the end of the bottom line number at the bottom of this month’s revenue report.
In a similar way, we get impatient and dissatisfied with our online marketing efforts and miss the point regarding how amazing our world of innovative digital communications truly is. Gratitude really should be ruling the day. Louis C.K.’s famous video, “Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy” sets a nice tone for thinking differently about all this:
The Social Graph Defines Your Influence
I like to ask (presuming that you are doing some kind of social media marketing), “Are you building sustainable, long term relationships based on authentic human connections, or not?” (This subject is dear to my heart because it’s this kind of focus that puts the “humanity” in my calling myself a Humanistic Marketing Wizard.)
The “social graph” is the more geeky, technical term for your “tribe” or your network of influence which, in my view, is something that one builds by “leading with value” via social media and email marketing. Yet, we think the bottom line is the money, not the people. Wrong!
The bottom line, assuming you want to stay in business for the long term, is the real relationships that you are able to create and maintain. That’s why understanding the social graph is so important. In fact, it’s so important that, just last week, it become the leverage point in a high profile business kerfuffle between Twitter and the hottest app at SXSW, a live video streaming mobile app called Meerkat.
What’s Meerkat Got to Do With It?
The Twitter vs. Meerkat story is an interesting business story because direct access to Twitter’s user base, i.e. its social graph is what Twitter withdrew from Meercat. They did that because Twitter’s social graph is one of its most crucial assets.
Likewise, so are your true followers, authentically engaged “fans,” and the email list subscribers, especially the ones who actually read and occasionally click on your emails. Their attention and TRUST are priceless/precious.
It’s a complex issue how we all access each other’s social graphs and it’s debatable what is appropriate use for a start up app. Along these lines, I really appreciated the thoughtful analysis of VC/entrepreneur Mark Suster @msuster in his blog post: “Some Perspective on Twitter vs. Meerkat.” I think he explains the business issues involved quite well.
In terms of authenticity, I also appreciate the fact that Suster is walking his talk, not only as a Meerkat user and venture capitalist, but also with how he thinks through this kind of issue. As he mentioned, “I have my social network in Twitter to thank for the public debate that clarified my thinking on this topic.”
And, that’s where the rubber really hits the road… not in terms of bottom line financials, but in terms of meaningful dialog, authentic give-and-take conversations where both parties listen as well as pontificate.
Straight-up social media communications like this not only make for more effective marketing and sustainable long term relationships, but more importantly, they make this a better world!
[alert type=”notice, warning, success, error, info” close=”true”]A Note About Comments
Thanks in part to all the blog comment spammers, comments are turned off on this blog (at least for now). However, PLEASE, I would LOVE to hear from you, including any comments, criticisms, suggestions or whatever, via any of the social networks linked at the very top of this page. Thanks.[/alert]
Thanks in part to all the blog comment spammers, comments are turned off on this blog (at least for now). However, PLEASE, I would LOVE to hear from you, including any comments, criticisms, suggestions or whatever, via any of the social networks linked at the very top of this page. Thanks.[/alert]
Have More Marketing Ease, Fun & Authenticity Whenever You Want With This On-Demand Webinar Video
The Humanistic Marketing Revolution continues…
Last December, I presented a 45-minute video webinar called “Step Up to the Gifts of Ease, Fun & Authenticity: Discover the Catalysts That Will Inspire New Momentum for Your New Marketing“ and it helped my define this new approach that I am calling Humanistic Marketing and I want to make this presentation available to you so that you can learn from it at your convenience.
That’s why I am now making the video recording of this webinar available as an on-demand digital product so that you can watch it anywhere, anytime you want. And, because I want to spread my teachings as widely as possible, I am also including with any purchase of this recording (only $9.97) a complete formatted PDF of my book, “Internet Marketing: 8 Key Concepts Every Business MUST Know“ which has received 13 five-star reviews on Amazon. Please click here to learn more about this on-demand video webinar.
How Did I Put This Product Together?
For those of you who may be interested in how I put together this offer, technologically speaking… I produced the original video using Google Hangouts combining myself on-camera “live” intercut in real time with an Apple Keynote slide presentation. The video recording of this session was archived as a private, “Unlisted” YouTube link. In order to sell that video recording to you, I’ve embedded this link into a PDF document along with other value-added information, and I’m selling that document as a digital download that includes access to the video (along with the PDF of my book) via the innovative Selz.com platform that, for example, provides the order widget below. Pretty cool, eh? 😉
I hope you enjoy this video webinar and my book. I look forward to any feedback that you may have.
Why Being a Small Business Mentor Trumps Internet Marketing Consulting
More Personally Yours
As a small business owner, it’s fascinating to watch my business morph over time. I am always finding new ways to be of service. I genuinely love helping people and businesses to be more successful on their own terms.
Recently, the nature of my services have being changing. New offers for helping small businesses with their website, marketing and social media presence have included the 1-to-1 Get It Done Squarespace websites and the New Media New Marketing Playground group mentoring program. Both are collaborative processes where I work with people directly and respond to their specific needs in a customized way.Mentor vs. Consultant
While good listening and personalized responses have always been a crucial part of the value that I offer, at least to some degree, recently, I find myself calling myself a mentor more than a consultant. Yes, of course, I’m still offering strategic guidance and helping clients to connect the dots amongst the myriad of marketing choices and technologies available. But somehow, as we sort out the priorities, the “know it all” quality of a consultant no longer seems appropriate. It sounds too top-down vs the kinds of collaboration that are happening more often these days.
Part of it also is probably that I am attracting and connecting with smaller businesses who are not so much looking for high level guidance (for example, connecting their marketing with their sales efforts as a larger organization might do) but rather they simply need help, want hand-holding, and to be shown by an expert how to do the things that they want and need to do.
Facing the Challenge of Overwhelm
The biggest challenge for small businesses these days seems to be overwhelm. This is what I have been calling The Grand Canyon Gap between People and Technology since 1990. Now, with social media and the realization of The Video Web, there’s even more information and more kinds of marketing communication technologies consider.
The good news is that New Media and New Marketing are increasingly less about technology and more about human connection. I still emphasize that it’s the communication, not the technology that’s most important; but these days, even more, I am emphasizing the human dimensions within the communication that are necessary to make them more engaging.
Viva La Humanistic Marketing Revolution
My joy is not just helping to sort things out and chunk things down so that moving forward is managable, but I’m also quite consistently pointing to my humanistic values of ease, fun and authenticity as the foundation of an approach to online marketing that is enjoyable as well as effective. I call this The Humanistic Marketing Revolution.
My passion for this approach is also encouraging me to continue to work on more educational programs, like the webinar that I did in December which will soon be available for sale, and the courses that I am currently developing which are about the value and importance of leading with humanistic values. More on these insights and these courses very soon.
Meanwhile, I am thoroughly enjoying these new collaborative ways to support small businesses to grow while they develop the capacity to actually enjoy and embrace social media and the New Media environment.
It really is a Playground for me and I’m open to more playmates. The more the merrier, really! This is especially true when we all are keeping our hearts open and having even more fun. How many “consultants” can say that?
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