Email is still the “linchpin” of your marketing strategy.

By Mark Helfen

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Email is still the “linchpin” of your marketing strategy.

Or so says Elyse Tager, West Coast Regional Development Director at
Constant Contact. Tager will be the speaker at the May 13 SVForum Marketing and Social Media SIG meeting. (Remember we are now at a new location -  Citrix Startup Accelerator at 4555 Great America Parkway.)

A key part of Tager’s business development role is delivering educational seminars – specifically helping entrepreneurs and small businesses develop an effective marketing program. Given the limited time and money available, efficiency and effectiveness with a limited budget is key.

Her thinking seems well plugged in to this small business reality. Constant Contact focuses on small and mid-sized companies, including non-profits. Enterprise sized companies aren’t their target.

“It’s no surprise, most small businesses don’t know how to market,” said Tager. People who are dentists, lawyers (or software developers) “didn’t wake up in the morning to be marketers.” They spend their time on their specialty, the thing that makes their business successful, and need tools to help develop a marketing program. 

If the basics of marketing aren’t difficult enough, new communication channels keep appearing. Some may be useful, some not. A marketer needs to “keep their radar open” to see how the environment is changing, while building an effective program.

Tager’s presentation will give a top level review of the growing number of options. From her perspective, mobile is “here yesterday” and should already be part of your marketing mix. Video, Pinterest, Instagram could all be useful. At the same time, you shouldn’t be “seduced” by all of the “crazy stuff” that is appearing.

“Were not all wearing Google Glasses.” Yet.

The old style of marketing – sending out messages to your customers, needs to be replaced. The new social tools need to engage customers and prospects in a two-way conversation.

Tager views email as the core of an engagement strategy – the linchpin. Combined with social tools, it forms a loop that “exponentially increases your reach and engagement.”  Social tools like Facebook are a way of attracting people, but email is under your control, and allows you to control communications. All of this counts on creating content that is compelling and interesting to your current and future customers.

So come by Monday, learn how your small business can develop and effective marketing program within your limits of time and money.

BTW, if you occasionally slip and refer to Constant Contact (the cloud based marketing company) as Constant Comment (the flavored tea) as I did once in my interview, you will be forgiven. Tager said this has happened to her a few times…

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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant.

He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: facebook.com/mark.helfen
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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Everything you’re doing today is wrong - come by the April Marketing and Social Media SIG and learn why

By Mark Helfen

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When it comes to your customers digital experience, “everything you’re doing today is wrong.”

Or so says Kelly Dempski, speaker at the Monday, April 8 SVForum Marketing and Social Media SIG .

NOTE – we are again at our new home, Citrix, the same as our March meeting, but a change from recent months:

Citrix Startup Accelerator
Map
4555 Great America Parkway 3rd Floor, Santa Clara
http://citrixstartupaccelerator.com/find-us/

Dempski is Managing Director for Accenture Technology Labs, Silicon Valley. He has one foot in the latest innovations in the valley, and the other in explaining the future to Fortune 50 companies who usually move at a different speed. His lab looks three years into the future, with the objective of both optimizing and enhancing change – from his perspective the more of his clients that adopt new technologies, the faster they will develop. He helps his client companies, buried in the avalanche of technology information, distinguish between what is just a “shiny object” and what is a valuable trend that needs action.

His talk is titled SLoPe (Social, Local & Personal) as the New SoLoMo. SoLoMo is a widely used acronym standing for Social, Local, and Mobile – a new way of relating to customers. Dempski chose his contrasting version to emphasize that it’s not mobile (the technology) that counts, its personalization – the unique connection with the individual that makes the difference.

The objective of SLoPe is to “craft more engaging, useful, and pleasant” digital experiences that are “deeply personal.” His presentation will “deconstruct” current practices, which focus on “social media mechanics” – the specific tool or platform like Facebook or Twitter, over connecting, communicating, personalizing and influencing consumers.

He has an interesting take on mobile. The point isn’t that devices are mobile. After all, your laptop is mobile. The idea is that handheld devices are always within a few feet, connected, powered on, and available for use. It’s less about the mechanics of a mobile device, and more about digital experience and engagement using a ubiquitous device that’s always at hand.

The digital world is limited by old design choices. Like the phone systems which still works with people dialing ten digits. The system of TV channels was designed in the 50s. If it was redone today, it would be entirely different. Businesses need to break out of the mold

Dempski’s viewpoint gives a unique bridge connecting the high speed innovation of the valley tempered by the reality of how fast large companies can move. You may view your small startup as moving at a light speed, but in the end you need to sell your products to someone, and large businesses can be good customers.

So come by Monday night, and learn why “everything you’re doing today is wrong” – at least in terms of digital interaction with your customers.





Please sign up at:

Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant.

He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: facebook.com/mark.helfen
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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Get ahead of 99% of social media and on-line marketers at next Mondays SVForum MarketingSIG.

By Mark Helfen

With some on-line education, you can be ahead of 99 percent of other marketers in effective social media and on-line marketing. Or so says Aaron Kahlow, CEO and Founder of the Online Marketing Institute and speaker at the March 11 SVForum MarketingSIG.

And SIG attendees can get their first week of education free.

NOTE – starting with the March meeting will be at a new location (again!)
Citrix Startup Accelerator
4555 Great America Parkway 3rd Floor, Santa Clara


Kahlow started out around 15 years ago in the back of a dental office as a digital ad agency, designing web pages and optimizing search results. The Institute is now a $10 million a year business that specializes in bridging the education gap between traditional marketing and newer models of social, video, and on-line. The sound of drilling is long gone.

At Monday’s presentation, he will talk about a philosophy of social marketing – how to think about your marketing strategy. His talk will include real-world, global stories of strategies that worked. Kahlow is big on analytics and attribution – having a clear understanding of which social channel actually brings in business, and using this data to guide future investment.

And to prove his belief an attribution, the stories will include links to original materials that were the basis of his examples.

While social means Facebook, Kahlow also emphasizes video. There is more time spent each day watching video than on Facebook, and a “good video strategy” is critical.

The Online Marketing Institute is a subscription based service with classes in social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing and many others. Kahlow described the courses as having “high value and high impact,” and agreed to give MarketingSIG attendees a free week of access.

OMI also offers certificates in a variety of social media marketing. These are recognized by major marketing associations - DMA and IAB were two examples named by Kahlow. By completing the certificate, you will “have a clear differentiation from other people” who do digital marketing, and will know more than 99 percent of them.

True to his social media nature, he invites connections, on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Just search for his name.

So come by next Monday, and start your social media education.

Sign up on 


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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant.

He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: facebook.com/mark.helfen
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen


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The New A-B-Cs

By Mark Lewis


In sales lingo A-B-C means, “Always Be Closing”.  For those not in sales, the new A-B-Cs should stand for “Always Be Connecting”.  I am always surprised by the unexpected things that come from connecting with people.  And I hear so many people say, “…you never know…”.  That is more true today than in the past, you never know where your next lead, deal, opportunity, etc will come from. 

The challenge that so many people have is that they know they should be doing a better job with networking and connecting with people – with existing contacts as well as making new ones.  They don’t however make it a regular practice until they need something.  I won’t say that then “it’s too late” because people are generally helpful especially if they have been a close contact in the past but it is certainly easier on everyone if it is a contact that has been nurtured in some way.  Email and even social media are all fine ways to keep in touch with someone and at least stay on each other’s radar.  Phone and in-person are by far better.

The old adage is partially true, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”.  Certainly you still have to know something but it is definitely true that who you know is important.

Get out there and re-connect with people that are in your network then branch out to connecting with new people – wherever you are remember the A-B-Cs; Always Be Connecting.

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Mark Lewis is a marketing executive with hands-on experience across the marketing mix.  He can be found at linkedin.com/in/markelewis/ and he is always interested in connecting with new people.




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Content marketing turns your customer acquisition strategy around 180 degrees

By Mark Helfen

NOTE NEW MEETING LOCATION-
We are now meeting at:
Silicon Valley Innovation Center
3200 Coronado Drive. Santa Clara, CA 95051
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/qE7Xl


Content marketing turns your customer acquisition strategy around 180 degrees. Instead of using advertising to find customers, create valuable content so customers will find you.

Or so says Barry Feldman, speaker at Monday’s SVForum MarketingSIG, February 11. Feldman “creates compelling content by telling stories” at his eponymous business, Feldman Creative. The idea is that by creating content of value to your future customers, they will start down the path of being current customers.

The dynamics of marketing communication have changed, putting customers in control, making an advertising strategy much harder. People don’t like being sold to.

“We all have our media filters on,” said Feldman. “We consume as little advertising as possible.”  In creating web contents, you need to “ditch the pitch,” treat the reader as a friend, and create content that is valuable. He recommends a “journalistic approach.”

Some people have described content marketing as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. By having “real” content using lots of the right words, search engines (meaning Google) will consider your page as valuable to their search customers, and it will appear higher in Google’s results.

But Feldman recommends against this, saying is compromises the quality of your content. Don’t write for a robot - create value for your customers. You need to be aware of how Google ranks pages, but it can’t be the driver. Besides, as Google’s engineers keep improving their ranking it’s getting harder and harder to fool their search algorithms.

So, are you ready to create invaluable content? The presentation will include a 7-step list for getting started, including a number of potential topics to cover in your writing.

Feldman practices what he preaches, and is clearly a prolific writer. You can see examples of his work here:

Your Site is the Mousetrap, Your Content is the Cheese

Why You Shouldn’t Do Content Marketing

Do You Have the Skills to Cut It in Content Marketing?

And most recently:

Only Birdbrains Bet $4,000,000 on the Super Bowl

And for some more help in getting started, Feldman recently published an ebook:

The Plan to Grow Your Business with Effective Online Marketing available here.

But maybe you don’t think you’re a writer at all. Some people are “writer phobic,” caused in some cases by “perfection paralysis.”

Well, you don’t need to be a great writer, as long as you’re knowledgeable on your subject and understand what your customers want. But if you can’t write, speak (or as Feldman puts it, “yakk”.) Talk into a camera, telling a compelling story using your knowledge and enthusiasm, and use the resulting words as a basis for you or someone else to write content based on what you say.

So come by Monday, and get started with getting your customers to come to you.




Please sign up on our meetup page:

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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant.

He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/markhelfen
Facebook: facebook.com/mark.helfen
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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