The Background

I’ve sat through half a dozen vacation timeshare presentations over the years, with rewards ranging from boom boxes to weekend getaway trips. None were more than 30 minutes past the scheduled 90 minute timeframe. In fact, at a timeshare presentation in Hawaii, I was able to leave immediately after breakfast, as both parties agreed it would be a waste of our collective time, and we still left with our $100 gift certificate. My experience in Puerto Vallarta was much different, from start to finish.

Upon arriving in Puerto Vallarta, I took a shuttle to the rental car company where I made small-talk with one of the employees (or at least that was what I thought was the case). He asked if I had plans and if I’d be interested in a dolphin adventure. He could even give me 2 tickets for free if I sat through a sales presentation at a local resort. To sweeten the deal, he promised a fancy buffet lunch and $200 cash upon completing the tour. I agreed, paid a refundable deposit and met up with his colleague outside our rental to be guided to the resort.

The unnamed resort was one of a collection of private residence communities on the property. We signed in and were escorted to a dining-hall like area where we were asked questions by our sales rep, who we’ll call Chuck. He sized me and another couple who came along for the dolphin adventure tickets. He then walked us to a buffet breakfast that did deliver as promised: a wide variety of quality food for existing members. We then toured the rest of the property and then sat down to finish the sales pitch and give him a “no”. Little did we know it would be nearly 5 hours before we were able to leave, and by that time, we all felt like we’d lost an entire vacation day (and possibly a friendship) in the process.

The Breakdown

So how did the sales-centric organization get me from a “maybe” to definitive “no” in just an hour or two? The question holds the answer, but more on that in a moment. But first, one more bit of helpful background. In college, my favorite class was Sales 201, where I learned the fundamentals of FAB and Solutions-based selling. I also read one of my favorite books of all-time, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. In the book, Cialdini outlines 6 key principles of persuasion. To break down the sales strategies I experienced with the vacation private residence club, I’ve mapped them to Cialdini’s 6 key principles below:

Reciprocity

The science of reciprocity is simple: those that receive are obligated to give back. In our case, it was minimally 90 minutes of attention to a sales person or ultimately a $60,000 purchase. The first sales strategy during our timeshare experience was reciprocity: reminding us of the many “gifts” we’d receive after completing the “90 minute” sales process as well as an impressive breakfast. The organization even provided bottled water and a play area for children during the “closing” session, both arguably gifts of convenience, but truly offered to create minimal excuses to leave early. The organization truly mastered the first of the 6 key sales principles. FAIL #1: although relatively minor, the organization did not pay for valet parking as promised, although this may have been an oversight on their part but we were too eager to leave to bother asking for it.

Commitment and Consistency

Also reasonably intuitive by design, Commitment and Consistency relate to the need to gain a level of attention from the prospect by getting skin in the game. In my case, it was a $40 refundable cash deposit. I’m guessing the dropout rate is exceedingly low when prospects are out $40 if they don’t show up. Once on-site, the next Commitment element was a required signature on a one page agreement to attend the full 90 minute presentation. Getting a prospect to commit in writing is always beneficial. FAIL #2: actual private residence presentation time was 5 hours. This was by far the most critical and profound error made by the organization and sales team. Essentially, the breaking of a contract in regards to elapsed time commitment sabotaged the entire opportunity.

The Consistency principle relates to the overall messaging and experience. Any discordance in a sales experience can create doubt, ultimately sabotaging the deal. In our case, the sales people were somewhat inconsistent in their messaging and approach. FAIL #3: sales person went from personable family man to desperate sales person on the verge of losing his job to acceptance he wasn’t going to make the sale and ended the meeting by pouting and refusing to shake hands. This was a great way to close the door completely, which may have been intentional, but as I’ll point out later on, is short-sighted.

Social Proof

One of the most commonly used sales principles, Social Proof, is common in marketing messaging. One of the best examples I can think of (until it became taboo) was McDonald’s signage updating how many billions of customers had been served to date. How can 100 billion people be wrong? In the case of my experience, our sales person, Chuck, was also a member of the private residence club, as was his family. While this can be strong social proof, due to the nature of the sales environment, it can also be seen as cultish, like Amway representatives. FAIL #4: Although minor, I believe the sales experience did not do an effective job of leveraging Social Proof. I had to ask how many active members were in the program (over 125,000 according to Chuck, which is compelling).

Authority

As is the case with many aspects of life, authority is highly effective in a sales environment. After all, who buys from someone that knows little about a product they represent or from a company with little history or credentials? On this front, Chuck did know the properties reasonably well (although he wasn’t sure about completion dates for 2 new developments in Argentina & the Dominican Republic, which I thought was odd) and he was a member, which offered validation. The other Authority element favored by this organization was the “check with my manager” strategy common at auto dealerships. In our experience, managers we’re called over to speak with us no fewer than three times. FAIL #5: While not quite Authority, the process of having us meet with 3 additional representatives to collect our gifts was extremely frustrating. Combine the “ladder” approach to exiting people out of the process (to try to catch fence-sitters) only resulted in exacerbating those that were firmly “no’s” and ready to leave. We overheard another couple testily complaining they’d been at the resort for over 6 hours and just wanted to leave.

Liking

When was the last time you purchased something significant from someone you didn’t like? A vast majority of the time, consumers prefer to purchase from people and companies they like. Based on my experience, I believe they set up sales representatives strategically based on available information (demographics, personality, etc.). Chuck was a relatively young family man who we could clearly relate to. He made sure to show us pictures of his children on his iPad (the ultimate sales device for timeshare presentations). FAIL #6: Until he knew we weren’t going to purchase, he was also personable, friendly and accommodating. Afterwards, he was moody, dare I say borderline infantile in his poutiness. Instead of appealing to guilt, he alienated himself from us, intentionally or not. Combine with #5 above: the 2 sales support staff we were introduced to were increasingly less likeable as we tried to escape.

Scarcity

Everyone likes getting special, unique or exclusive deals. Limited-time offers and special gifts are the foundation on which the timeshare sales community was built. In our presentation, Scarcity messaging included availability of studio units and other limited time offers available “today only.” One of the most clever (or fatal) Scarcity tactics utilized during our presentation was early on, when Chuck asked if we currently owned a timeshare. When we said no, he wrote in large block letters on his sales sheet: NOT OWNERS. He then explained this might be a problem (implying we may not be able to continue with the presentation and receive our prizes). He called over a manager who decided to approve the presentation, despite the inherent risks of us not being current or previous timeshare owners. FAIL #7: As I’ll address later, the manager’s approval of us as prospects may have been the 2^nd largest mistake of the entire experience.

Additional Thoughts

One of the recent insights I’ve gained into consumer purchase behavior relates to loss. Essentially, people have a greater fear of losing than excitement over gaining something new. As outlined in Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, people are more motivated to take an action based on potential loss of something existing, than gaining something they do not currently possess. My primary motivation to attend these types of sales presentations is for some sort of desirable gift, followed by personal interest as a marketing professional, regarding current sales strategies employed in the field. My Puerta Vallarta experience demonstrated how effective this strategy can be: I was committed to completing the presentation, for fear of losing the $60 Dolphin Adventure tickets and $200 cash if I didn’t see it through. The reason is because these gifts were positioned as mine to lose vs. gain.

Fixes

Not being one to complain without providing potential solutions, I’ve thought about how the Puerta Vallarta private residence organization could have gotten a “yes” from me, or others I saw complaining during my visit. Here are just a few ideas:

• Targeting: search engine and social media marketing to attract qualified candidates (vs. direct sales at golf courses, car rentals and at the airport upon arrival)
• Filtering: qualifying more selectively up front, and allowing an out with some or all of the prizes awarded, otherwise, everyone loses
• Setting Expectations & Building Trust: although it’s obvious why the organization didn’t ask us to sit through a 5 hour experience up front: we would say no. Any presentation that goes more than 50% over the scheduled time is much more likely to cause harm to the sales opportunity (and brand via word-of-mouth & social media). Consider staging the sales strategy so both parties have an “out” throughout the process, saving everyone time and money
• Training: perhaps the target buyers of timeshares and private residences are not college educated independent thinkers, but I would suggest Chuck get additional training to gain trust and credibility: nobody likes a  pouty whiny sales  person
• Pricing Smart: be careful when price-cutting after each “no” as it erodes the brand (and sales) experience. While the initial product offering was over $60,000, the final offer was $3,500. Better off utilizing Marketing Automation to better target and score leads before making low-ball offers.
• Upping the Give: encourage guests to stay after the presentation through end of day. Provides opportunity to experience accommodations, services and staff (with potential for additional monetization and close)
• Gift and Receive: give prospects gifts even if they give a “no” and it’s in everyone’s best interest to cut the presentation short – see Reciprocity
• Closing Losses with Grace: apologies for time lost, hand-shake, open invitation to return and providing contact information. Nothing to lose, everything to gain.
• Marketing Automation: follow-up with offers (of increasing value) including 2-4 night stays in a studio for those that initially said “no” is a great way to smooth ruffled feathers and bring prospects back into the fold.  Creates a viral effect as well
• Referral Program: reward anyone (not just current members) with points or $ towards services for getting them into a tour. For this to work, the organization has to be transparent about how long the sales experience can take (2-3 times longer than I was told). Otherwise, I’m only likely to recommend my worst enemies to the experience

What was most compelling about the sales presentation was Chuck’s claim of a 70% closure rate (prospect to buyer). While this may be achievable with a high-pressure sales environment, it is not sustainable in the Digital Age, when consumers can quickly and easily share their thoughts about a product or experience with others.  Additionally, consumers can do their own research (at sites like sellmytimeshare.com) and discover that they may not be getting the best deal with the “buy it now” sale strategy.  At some future point, the private residence sales organization is going to have to rethink its approach to sales, or risk a tarnished reputation through negative reviews, comments and posts online that have a global reach and indelible presence on the web. As for me, I’m happy continuing to rent houses, apartments or condos when vacationing.

Before we dive into the three strategies, let me set the stage. As an advisor to my own digital marketing agencies, Anvil & Formic Media, I’ve experienced a unique feeling of transforming from the role of boss to parent. In the traditional manager role, you are expected to dictate direction to employees. Successful parents, however, typically educate and empower the child’s growth without being a dictator.

The challenge with the new parental role is that both parties must adjust mindset and expectations, which isn’t easy. Going from boss to parent is like training a child to learn to ride a bike and being limited in the ability to guide and protect the child from hitting a tree down the street. Do you put too much protection as to restrict movement? Keep them only in the driveway and limit their training? Put your hands on the bars to steer them clear of the tree or let them hit the tree and learn from experience the hard way? Let’s explore how this metaphor translates.

Listen

In business, it is sometimes difficult to truly listen to input, even from business advisors. As a hungry new entrepreneur or executive, you want to make big wins early, make a mark and earn respect from your team. Unfortunately, if you lack experience, it is easy to make mistakes, which leads to criticism. To move the ball forward, you must be both open-minded to new ideas yet be sufficiently thick-skinned so as to not take negative feedback personally. It is also helpful to ask questions and reflect on situations and possibilities before acting. In the bicycle metaphor, a child is eager to learn and please, and be determined to ride down the street prior to receiving proper training. The result may be direct contact with that tree. We don’t expect children to have key traits of a successful leader or business owner, but we should expect it from an adult.

Communicate

I’ve found it extremely difficult to advise an entrepreneur if they are not keeping me in the loop regarding the business. I can’t advise on what I don’t know. While entrepreneurs typically wear too many hats (sales, marketing, operations, service, etc.) and are time-constrained, they should always make time to communicate key changes or updates regarding the direction of the business. As an entrepreneur, you need to master the proper velocity and relevance of timely communications. That includes properly framing issues, opportunities or questions as well as justifying critical decisions. As a parent, we hope our child learning to ride a bike is able to communicate questions, fears (about hitting trees) and milestones (look Ma, no hands!).

Act

As a long-time member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization, I’ve been trained on Gestalt Protocol, which essentially means I’m able to guide entrepreneurs through my experience, rather than by giving specific advice. The reason for this approach is that if a business owner takes my advice and it doesn’t work, they resent me for the failure. If they ignore my advice, on the other hand, then I’m offended. Gestalt doesn’t always work, particularly when advisors or mentors are paid to provide advice. Regardless, taking action on specific input, advice or decisions is essential to earning trust from a mentor. If your child ignores your suggestion (or directive) to put on a helmet, or disregards your advice to watch out for the tree, who is at fault when the child hits the tree? Hopefully, they will end up a $10,000 winner on America’s Funniest Home Videos instead of riding in a wheelchair the remainder of their life.

In the metaphor of the parent teaching their child to ride a bike, following the above methodology will help the child avoid the tree without you the parent having to knock the child off the bike or cut down the tree. Put on your helmet and let’s get started!

Additional resources for growth-minded entrepreneurs:

The Three F’s Every Successful Entrepreneur Should Master

The 5 W’s of a Winning Startup

Building a Successful Business with The 7 P’s

Overall, business owners follow predictable patterns of behavior. As mentioned in an earlier article, The Three F’s Every Successful Entrepreneur Should Master, a majority of entrepreneurs start a business based on intimate knowledge of a discipline (copywriter or architect) and find themselves in a new role (business owner) at which they are not proficient. This leads to a host of challenges, as you might imagine if not personally experienced.

The objective behind identifying and outlining the 5 W’s of a Successful Startup is to ensure unseasoned entrepreneurs avoid common traps and costly mistakes. Those of you who have experience growing a small business should be able to provide specific strategies or tactics you’ve implemented for each of the topics below. For the rest of you, consider this the framework of a future exercise.

Why

What is the purpose of your business? Why do you get up in the morning and go to work? Is it the same reason as the rest of your employees? Can your customers and partners verbalize or at least understand your purpose? If you’re unable to answer this question easily, or the answers vary significantly among stakeholders, I suggest scheduling a meeting or offsite to explore further. At the end of the day, everyone invested in your company should have consistent if not cohesive agreement on purpose. Otherwise, the dissonance can shake the company apart.

Where

How are your customers? Where is your market? This can be rhetorical or tactical in nature. For example, your market may be a geographically-oriented retail business or it could be a global social media platform for professional photographers. Regardless, you should have a clear understanding of your market, down to the ideal customer (persona or archetype). Consider a team exercise where you create a collage (if not shrine) to your target customer (what they eat, drink, watch, listen, etc.). Market segmentation is okay, but there should be common elements that connect across markets (sense of humor, level of intelligence, common pain point, etc.).

What

Now that you’ve identified your ideal customer, what exactly are you asking them to purchase from you? What problem are you solving? How does your solution differ from competitors in the marketplace? What are current and future threats? Are there opportunities to adapt your solutions to meet evolving needs? The objective is to hear your employees and customers to be able to accurately and consistently describe the benefits of your products or services. If you can’t do it, how do you expect to build a successful sales and marketing program?

Who

Perhaps the most critical of the W’s, the Who refers to your team. Who is going to live the mission, vision and purpose every day, leading the company to its overall strategic end game? Assess your current team’s personalities, talents, Freak Factor and map them against future needs. Do you have the right people on the right seat on the bus? What additional training or professional development is required to round out skills and knowledge? What external talent will need to be added to the mix? Designing a consistent corporate culture is essential to attracting and retaining top talent, so ensure you are proactively creating a work environment that fosters your core values and purpose among the team.

When

As I’ve discussed in an earlier article, having a vision of the future, specifically an exit plan, is critical. Are you looking to sell the company? Go public? Step away from the company and have the team manage it for you? Regardless of your desired exit strategy, you need to start thinking about the long term now, and reverse-engineering milestones to ensure you map to your target on time.

Bonus: How

Last but not least, what is your go-to-market strategy? Are you a sales-driven organization? Do you rely on PR buzz or word-of-mouth referrals? Most companies prefer a well-rounded mix of sales & marketing strategies to maximize reach and revenue. That said, every company has a unique DNA that drives the company, from strategic decisions to tactical actions. What is your strategy? How is it different than your competitors? Is it sustainable? Will it get you to your end goal? If you’re not sure, let me know and I’ll put together another article on the subject.

Future

If you’ve read the E-Myth, you know not many businesses come as a ‘vision from above.’ Most are born out of a hard reality: getting fired (like me), laid off, bored or are somehow inspired to make a change. Most entrepreneurs are technicians within a specific discipline expertise (sales, plumber or engineer) who decide it was time to go out on their own. Many of those new business owners start with a new company name and an email to their network informing them of the news. Very few take the time to flesh out the “why” or purposes of their business, let alone create a concrete vision for the company. Some business owners require years of reflection and even failures to clearly identify why they are in business. The backside of initial strategic planning relates to the exit strategy. Most exits involve acquisition, few have a secession plan (for handing over the reins to family or employees) and even fewer ever achieve IPO. While it’s not critical to finalize your exit strategy on day 1, having definition or agreement on which one (or more) of the options is most desirable greatly aids in making business decisions moving forward (even affecting corporate structure during incorporation).

Focus

Once a typical startup gets off the ground, the next step is to define product and/or service mix (aka The Offering), determine pricing and supporting resources (vendors, tools, people, financing). While these are all critical elements of an operating business, one or more of these may be overlooked or need major refinement, particularly early in the game. An important element of running a business, especially a startup, is focus. Do what you know best and know what you do best. Manage the business to your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses (typically by surrounding yourself with people possessing complementary skillsets). As you assign roles and responsibilities based on business objectives, define granular projects, owners and associated timelines and manage accordingly. Process is the last element ensuring focus is maintained. Develop processes for all aspects of the business, to mitigate reliance on specific individuals who may use their leverage to gain ownership or over-burdening salaries. Refining and improving these processes leads to increase profitability and additional growth opportunities.

Fundamentals

Last but not least, let’s not forget business fundamentals. More than one company I’ve advised in the past has grown under a visionary leader with clear purpose, a product value proposition and key processes in place. Unfortunately, these entrepreneurs fell into the E-myth trap, straddling technician duties (working in the business) with CEO duties (working on the business). Further exacerbating the challenge of wearing many hats (answering customer calls while raising money) is the technician’s relative lack of business prowess. Most entrepreneurs do not graduate with an MBA, they fall into ownership and have to learn business basics on the job. Those lacking a formal education, training or management experience need to surround themselves with people that have “been there and done that” whether they be sourced via SCORE, Entrepreneurs’ Organization or an incubator of some kind (like Portland Incubator Experiment). Seasoned professionals with expertise in operations, sales or marketing can join a formal board of directors, advisory board (which we’ve recently created at Anvil) or be available as-needed (without adding the burden of a full-time salary). The other essential business fundamental frequently overlooked is comprehensive industry analysis. Who are your business-line competitors? What about perceived or potential competitors? What are the emerging trends and who are your industry influencers? Conducting a SWOT analysis on your industry is always helpful in refining services, market positioning and messaging.

I’ve seen startups grow and mature without mastery of all three elements, but those are either exceptions, or the runway was long enough for them to become sufficiently competent in each area. Why play the long odds? Make sure your startup identifies and leverages resources in all three areas early in the game in order to maximize your potential for long-term success.

Let’s start with a definition of fully-integrated vs. specialized approach to SEM. Anvil Media’s fundamental philosophy is that SEM should be managed by a team that understands all elements, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) and social media marketing. Alternatively, the silo philosophy dictates that SEM services should be performed by professionals that specialize in one of the three disciplines: SEO, PPC or social media. While some would argue each philosophy has its benefits, I would argue that there is a clear winner, based on my 12 years of SEM experience.

Specialization is Unnecessary

Whether in-house or in an agency environment, most interactive marketing teams are segmented by specialization: design, Web development, copywriting, SEM, account management, etc. Due to the differences in education, focus and personalities, these disciplines rarely mix well, but are required to get the job done. For example, a good designer or writer is rarely an effective account or relationship manager. A good programmer is rarely a good designer.

With SEM, however, the skills and talents required to be good at SEO, PPC or social media are not divergent. A good SEM professional should be comfortable with marketing, communications and technology, but the nuances between SEO and PPC are subtle enough that they can be managed effectively by the same person.

Specialization is Counter-Productive

Agencies or in-house teams at larger corporations typically create specialized roles for SEO and PPC, with the thought that it creates efficiencies. While this methodology has been effective in creating an industrial economy, I’m not convinced it creates better results in a knowledge economy. The specialization typically results in the building of silos and potential animosity. My experience in 5 multi-disciplinary agencies (traditional full-service and interactive) demonstrated that if you have a fixed budgets and specialized teams, they will fight over the budgets to defend their fiefdom and justify their existence, as if they were competing companies.

It’s very unusual for an agency or corporate environment to effectively manage multi-disciplinary teams towards a common goal, especially in the current economic conditions where layoffs are a daily occurrence. Even with the best intentions in a well-functioning cross-disciplinary team, the additional layer of communication and management required hinders effective management. The right hand may not know what the left hand is doing, which rarely adds up to a successful effort.

Specialization hinders Return-on-Investment

When you have too many cooks in the kitchen, people can get burned. In the case of SEM, if someone is taught to market a company with only one set of tools, they get a myopic view of what success looks like, and how to get there. PPC specialists tend to frown at SEO specialists, and vice versa, even though both offer tremendous value.

A team’s lack of understanding of fundamental SEO, PPC or social media marketing strategies can drastically hinder a campaign’s performance. For example, a SEO specialist may determine a keyword is too competitive to achieve a high ranking in organic results, but may not have the knowledge, support or infrastructure to do anything about it. Similarly, a PPC specialist may find that a keyword is too expensive to purchase, but is unable to collaborate with an SEO specialist. Essentially, the success of an SEM campaign in a specialized environment depends on management’s ability to oversee strategy, communication and training.

A truly integrated SEO and PPC effort requires a deep understanding of human behavior, website usability, analytics and how SEM strategies and tactics intertwine to create optimal ROI. Unless your SEM team is effectively cross-trained and properly motivated to communicate and integrate, you can all but guarantee your SEM efforts are under-performing.

People

The number one determining factor in the success of a business is the people involved. If you’ve ever read Good to Great, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s all about getting the right people “on the bus” in order to create a unique, lasting company. In a broader sense, the right people may also involve advisors, vendors, partners and customers. I’m talking about those special individuals that value the relationship and see the benefits of supporting the business. Without the right people on board, even the best ideas can get lost in the shuffle. In building your business, consider implementing a process and policies that identify, attract and retain “A talent” (i.e. Topgrading).

Product

As best stated by marketing maven Seth Godin, in order for a product or service to succeed, it must be truly remarkable. Far too often, companies tend to build products they know, rather than meeting a real need or solving a specific problem. When building my agency, Anvil, I’ve taken the approach of identifying current or future problems clients may face that can be proactively addressed through search engine marketing strategies. As a result, my service mix has changed drastically in the last two years, due to rapidly evolving Internet technologies and shifts in consumer behavior. What problem is your company solving for customers today? What problems will your customers face tomorrow and how are you prepared to help?

Process

All companies benefit from a highly developed process, whether in manufacturing or marketing. Companies (often startups) experiencing significant growth tend to lack the ability to evolve processes with the company. This leads to internal failures that eventually affect delivery of products and services to the customer. Spend enough time up front to create a scalable infrastructure, people and systems to anticipate and manage growth. Often times, technology is seen as a solution, when in fact, it can be a growth inhibitor. Make sure the operational and IT team has a clear understanding of the organizations infrastructure, processes and future potential to maximize operational efficiencies and minimize the negative impact of growth.

Partners

Having the right strategic partners on board can impact all aspects of business, from sales and marketing to customer support and operations. On the other hand, a non-strategic partner can inhibit growth and cripple a company. If you have a good idea of what you need in a partner, make sure the companies you align with can meet or exceed your expectations. More importantly, view your customers as partners as well. You’ll see meaningful impact to the bottom line when treating your customers as strategic customers instead of sales quotas. The mutual trust and respect gained in a high-level, high-impact engagement, leads to long-term profitability as those customers become an extended sales force. Dump all your low-performing, non-strategic clients, vendors and partners and watch your bottom line grow dramatically.

Productivity

As your company matures, it’s easy to sit back and enjoy what appears to be a successful company. As Netscape and other former market juggernauts can attest, sitting on your laurels and counting your money is the quickest path to unemployment. Paranoid companies like Microsoft and Google have dominated their industries by constantly keeping one eye on competitors while looking to the future for new opportunities. All companies should be relentlessly refining all aspects of the business, including people, product, process and partners to look for additional opportunities to increase efficiencies. No business is ever 100 percent optimized in terms of productivity. Whether terminating B talent, obsolete products or deadbeat customers, regularly evaluate and make minor (or major) adjustments to your business and look for positive impact.

Prophecy

Many people believe in luck. Those people tend to spend more time in Vegas than growing their business. I don’t believe in luck. As a believer in good karma and keen intuition, I’ve found that success in business requires a combination of good ideas and even better timing. Microsoft was in the right place at the right time, as was Google, yet even lady luck can’t take credit for their amazing success over the years. Create your own karma by identifying, defining and monitoring emerging trends. Position your company to be at the right place at the right time, and you may become the next Google.

Profitability

Every business owner, investor and employee wants to be part of a profitable organization. Unfortunately, too many companies are run by the bottom line, instead of the other way around. By focusing on the first six Ps outlined above, the seventh P (profitability) will naturally follow. Successful businesses rarely get that way by cutting costs and trimming fat alone. Successful companies have the right people building and supporting a product of service that meets the needs of their customers. Refined processes, strategic partners, improved productivity and a prophetic view of your industry will lead to sustained growth and profitability. So what are you waiting for?

Ecommerce

While the focus of this article is brick and mortar retailers that do not have or desire to have ecommerce on the site, there is a compelling reason to consider it, even if it’s not intuitive to the business. For example, if you are a car or RV dealership and don’t have the bandwidth to manage a dedicated Internet sales team, adding a basic shopping cart with automotive or RV parts and accessories to the site can result in foot traffic and in-store sales of the primary product (like a $250,000 RV). Many of these stores can be outsourced to ecommerce fulfillment companies.

Promotions

One of the easiest ways to generate in-store visits from the Web is to create printable coupons to be redeemed at point of sale. The primary benefit to printable coupons is that they incentivize the customer to bring something with them to the store that can be easily tracked and associated to the Web site without the sales clerks needed to ask any questions and track responses. Many name brand retailers are utilizing this method to effectively measure the Web site’s impact on in-store sales. If coupons are not feasible, an alternative approach is to create unique product offerings that are marketed only on the Web site, although they are redeemed in-store (like a “Web special” spa package I purchased for my wife at her favorite salon). Many, if not all, of these promotional ideas can and should be promoted via email newsletter and RSS feed to interested customers.

Phones

For companies that rely on phone calls to drive in-store sales, a relatively affordable approach measuring phone-based conversions is via a unique toll-free 800#. Any calls into stores that originate via these numbers can be easily tracked back to the Web site. For companies without the ability to utilize unique toll-free numbers in-house can outsource the phone conversion tracking to vendors. ClickPath utilizes dynamically generated 800#s to measure in-store conversions while companies like Ingenio and eStara provide “push-to-talk” call tracking on-site. While Google’s pay-per-call service is still in beta, it can be a viable way to drive phone calls directly from search engine text ads, especially if the Web site isn’t up to the task.

Members

We’re all members of affinity or loyalty programs of one kind of another (airlines, grocery stores, coffee shops, etc.). Many retailers that have a customer loyalty or membership are not taking that additional step to tie in the unique identifier with Web site behavior. You don’t have to be Costco and REI to implement an online-to-offline tracking program. By requiring site visitors to register on site (usually in return for receiving benefits) you can associate online data with offline customers via their membership number.

Analytics

While larger retailers hire full-time staff or agencies to analyze site traffic, few are utilizing site behavior data to influence offline retail sales. Understanding online user behavior can provide insights into predicting offline customer behavior. For example, an increase in views of a particular product or services page may directly correlate to a future increase in in-store sales. Additionally, retailers may be able to determine product orders based on popularity of various on-site search terms. If a discontinued product continues to generate significant search volume, the retailer may want to recommend a comparable product in the search results, or consider reordering the old product.

Surveys

When all else fails, it never hurts to ask. Rather than relying on consultants or ill-informed employees to determine your online-to-offline strategy, talk to your customers. Ask your existing customers what type of Web site content and promotions would drive them to the store, and give it to them. Developing an in-store survey for customers is ideal for gaining insight into the target audience, but paper-based surveys can be cumbersome to manage. Web-based surveys are relatively cost-effective and can provide statistically significant data in a shorter amount of time. Options for Web-based surveys include “Nth” visitor pop-ups (i.e. Can we ask you a few questions?), promotional links on the site and in email newsletters. For bonus points, provide a computer or kiosk in-store for customers to take the Web-based survey. To minimize skewing of the data, it’s best not to incentivize participants on the front-end, but it’s always nice to offer a promotion upon completion (i.e. discount, gift card or free product) as a thank you for their time.

Implementing any combination of on-site promotions, phone tracking, affinity program, site analytics, ecommerce and surveys should increase foot traffic and in-store sales. At the very least, each and every method is highly measurable and will provide invaluable insights into generating additional in-store sales.

Breaking Trust

Even after 15 years in the interactive business, I’m still amazed at how well-established companies can build Web sites without a thought to the overall quality of the experience. There are many ways to misconnect or disconnect with site visitors through bad design. A few of the most common mistakes I’ve seen recently, include: use of pop-ups, opt-out (spam) email, selling of customer emails or information to third parties, poorly designed shopping carts, unresponsive or unprofessional customer service and support.

Many of the problems mentioned above have less to do with the Internet than inherent challenges within the business itself. Companies serious about the Web need to ensure their infrastructure and corporate culture lend themselves to the Internet before jumping in with both feet. Assuming your company is ready for the Web, if not already online, I’ve outlined seven elements below that will aid in building trust with site visitors.

Accessibility

With the proliferation of mobile devices with varying screen sizes and connection speeds, it’s almost as if we were back in 1994 when the Web was slow and difficult to use. Many mobile phones and PDAs have Web connectivity and browsers, but offer a very different experience than a full size computer screen with broadband. Companies with a high percentage of mobile customers should design accordingly. Even PCs and laptops have accessibility issues including bandwidth, browser plug-ins, resolution and security restrictions that make applications like Flash and streaming video inaccessible. To ensure your site is ADA compliant, make sure it has HTML text navigation so that visually impaired (and search engines) can easily navigate.

Usability

Building a Web site for specific target audiences would seem to be a fairly obvious consideration in the development process, but is often overlooked. Graphic designers are rarely aware of the impact their use of animation, images and graphical text can have on search engine visibility or compatibility with mobile devices. In a similar vein, programmers developing backend functionality are not frequently educated on the impact of dynamically generated content and code can have on visibility and browser compatibility (i.e. Firefox). Most importantly, the entire development team may create a site that looks absolutely beautiful on all screen sizes and types, but is, in fact, very difficult to navigate to accomplish a desired task. The easy answer is to involve a usability engineer and search engine optimization specialist throughout the development process.

Uniqueness

A vast majority of companies are in commodity markets, where many competitors offer similar products and services at parity pricing. When a prospect visits your site, how are you differentiating yourself from the competition?  Too often, companies use their competitors as a baseline when developing a new site, often in such a plagiaristic fashion as to marginalize their competitive advantage. When building any Web site, make sure key differentiators and less tangible benefits like brand identity, culture and values all factor into the experience.

Valuable Content

To attract and retain visitors, consider what type of information your target audience would appreciate and give it to them. Ideally, your company has a wealth of internal resources that can help create useful content and features that customer’s value. For companies with limited bandwidth and resources, consider partnering or licensing content and tools (like calculators, blogs, podcasts or RSS feeds). Often times, valuable content can be leveraged externally to other partner or industry Web sites to generate additional, credibility, visibility and traffic.

Contact Information

It may seem obvious to include contact information on a Web site, but far too often, companies bury this information or omit it completely. All sites should include the basics: contact form, phone, fax and mailing address. Some businesses may need specific email addresses, driving directions or maps, but all service-oriented companies should have a toll-free number visible on every page of the site.

Visibility

No matter how beautiful, accessible, usable, unique or helpful a Web site is, it doesn’t matter if nobody ever visits. In order for a Web site to be appreciated by its intended audience, it must be proactively optimized and promoted. Marketing basics consist of including the company URL in all marketing communications including advertising, business cards, collateral and email signature files. Consider utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) to gain visibility in popular search engines. For an added bonus, incorporate “print this page” and “email this page” into site functionality to increase potential for viral pass-along.

Respecting Your Audience

Web sites should be designed with the audience in mind, and in the case of business-to-business (B2B) Web sites, there are very specific expectations and requirements. Any B2B company worth its salt will have one or more of the following elements on its site: industry certifications, reviews, awards, press coverage, articles, customer testimonials, case studies, product demos, free trials and white papers. The key is to understand the benefits of each in building trust, and determining relevance to your company, industry and target audience. Don’t forget search engine optimization (SEO) considerations when designing and maintaining the Web site.

For business-to-consumer (B2C) Web sites such as e-retailers, there are entirely different expectations and requirements. Some of the more important site elements include: strong brand/identity, security certifications and guarantees, shipping, return and privacy policies, customer testimonials and reviews, merchandising, promotions and product comparisons. Rather than get distracted by the bells and whistles, it’s critical to ensure the site functions reliably and visitors are able to find what they are looking for.

Trust is built on a foundation with a multitude of influential elements. The fewer of the above elements included in your Web site, the greater the likelihood the visitor will go elsewhere, like a competitor’s site. By following the above recommendations, you are all but guaranteeing an increase in trust and online sales.

Research

Unless you spend excessive amounts of time in foreign countries or soak up knowledge like a Jeopardy Champion, you’re probably not able to make an informed decision about a global strategy without doing your homework first. Start with the low-hanging fruit: talk to your coworkers, peers, family and friends. Find out what you can about countries and markets with the greatest potential. Read relevant print and Web publications voraciously (I prefer eMarketer, Economist, Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! for general business and market research). Compile information about various opportunities and determine which markets have the greatest overall potential (in case you’ve been hiding in a cave, here’s an emerging and growth market cheat sheet for you: China, India, South America, Russia and The Middle East).

Build

Most small to medium-sized businesses do not have the resources on staff to undertake a global market strategy. Assuming there are sufficient opportunities abroad, it’s time to determine how to develop appropriate resources (i.e. in-country sales and support, logistics and fulfillment). In the build vs. buy decision, many companies prefer to minimize financial risk by partnering with companies that have extensive experience within the target market to provide those resources. While partnering minimizes risk, there are drawbacks, such as lack of direct management oversight. Those negatives can be alleviated by hiring employees who have the education, experience and native language skills relevant to your target market. International students are excellent resources: they are educated, affordable, multi-lingual and usually have some relevant work experience. The potential downside is that you’ll probably have to navigate through a bushel of red tape in order to secure work visas.

Assess

As you’re formulating partnerships or hiring strategies, it’s critical to thoroughly assess current products and services for viability in foreign markets. The offering(s) must be intuitive and scalable. If the offering is not intuitive, that is, easily applicable to the target markets (i.e. there is no apparent need) you will fail. If the offering is not scalable (i.e. it can’t be produced and delivered to the target markets profitably) you will fail. The new team should lead the assessment phase and outline a strategy to build or leverage existing infrastructure.

Modify

Once the offering is fine-tuned and ready for market, your sales collateral must be modified. Even if the global partner or new team has native speaking skills, there are reasons to hire professional translation and localization services (e.g. ViaLanguage) to that ensure all cultural nuances are dealt with appropriately. The goal is to ensure that your sales documentation demonstrates that you feel your target market’s pain – and that you are able to offer a relevant solution.

Partner

While your core business and marketing team may already be in place, there are a variety of reasons to explore additional partnerships. Companies specializing in marketing, logistics and customer service are excellent additions to the growing team. Partners within the target market may have relationships with your potential customers that can be leveraged for business development. For instance, we’ve partnered with a homeland security and business consultancy, Eminent Logic, to help penetrate into the Middle Eastern markets. In return, we introduce them to local companies we know that can further their business objectives.

Network

Alternative business development strategies include attending, sponsoring, and participating in industry networking events and conferences. Look into joining industry associations that have a footprint in your target markets, or that are native to the target market. Web-based networking groups (e.g. LinkedIn) can also help expand your network.

Market

Now that you’ve built out your infrastructure, trained and deployed a team, and modified your offering and marketing collateral, you’re ready to turn on the fire hose. Two of the most effective forms of outreach are search engine and email marketing. Internet access is everywhere, which means everyone has access to search engines and email. The best way to build a house list of potential customers in your target market is to optimize your international Web site for search engines and offer visitors an incentive to provide their email address. Once you’ve got their permission to contact them regularly, build a relationship and convert site visitors and email subscribers into customers.

Travel

Over time, cold leads will become hot, and those hot leads will want face-to-face meetings. Its decision time: are you ready to invest in a global travel expense account? If so, be prepared to reel in the business, as most of the world works on a handshake and face time is critical. Turn your business trips into tax-deductible vacations and see the world while you’re at it.

Review

On a quarterly basis, it’s very helpful to take a close look at your progress. Assess the effectiveness of your process, strategies and tactics and determine if you’re on the right track. If not, look for ways to fine-tune by breaking down the entire process. If you’ve seen success thus far, understand what is working well for you and decide whether or not you want to scale further. When that is the case, just start over at the research phase and begin searching for your next market opportunity.

Following these 9 steps will put you on the fast track toward a global marketing strategy. As Darwin once said, adapt or die.

Timelines

While companies and executives in need of ORM help typically start looking for help late in the game, the longer their delay, the more difficult it is to mitigate negative search results. To compound the problem, executives often have large egos and little understanding of the time and resources required to manage an effective ORM campaign.

Transparency

Assuming the client is on board with a realistic timeline and budget, the next hurdle is their ability to be transparent and honest in communications with stakeholders. Many clients would love to buy their way out of a situation and “make it go away,” rather than address the issue directly. Unfortunately with the Web, this is not a viable option.

Trust

The next bottleneck is gaining sufficient trust to implement against the plan. Just because the client initially agrees to a scope of work and writes a check, it doesn’t mean they will actually implement recommendations. There’s a general skepticism of ORM by executives, whether due to the specific stressful situation or their inherent personality. Either way, the client needs to trust the ORM vendor’s recommendations or re-evaluate the program’s viability.

Success

With so many obstacles in the path of a successful ORM program, why even bother trying? The answer is because the stakes are far too high. Search Google for Starbucks or Wal-Mart and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Search results can make or break a customer, if not a brand. With a commitment of time, resources and budget, any company can mitigate online reputation issues. Based on our experience managing ORM campaigns for a variety of clients, we’ve compiled best practices process for maximizing the potential of our client ORM campaigns. The fundamental elements include integrity, education and flexibility.

Integrity

A successful ORM campaign starts and ends with the client: do they have a level of integrity that ensures honesty and transparency in communications with the vendors and stakeholders? Here’s a hint: if the company or individual exhibited bad judgment in the past, it’s likely a personality trait that will repeat, endangering the client’s (and vendor’s) reputation in the process.

Education

Each of the three T’s mentioned above can be discussed thoroughly up front to minimize backlash, delays or frustration down the road. Setting clear expectations on timelines, levels of transparency and trust required by both parties in the initial agreement phase is critical.

Flexibility

Last but not least, the client and vendor both need to be flexible in communications and implementation of strategies, tactics and timelines. In the dynamic world of reputation management, things can get out of control or change on a dime, so crisis planning and proactive communications are essential.

The success of an ORM campaign has as much to do with the people involved as it does with solid strategies & tactics. Ensure the key players are all on the same page.

To make sure we’re all on the same page, I recommend reading the following social media marketing articles before proceeding to build your career credentials with a social-savvy resume:

• Idiotproof Social Media Marketing Optimization Strategies for Businesses
• Social Media Monitoring and Analysis: Brand Building or Corporate Crusher?
• Three Critical Elements of a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign
• LinkedIn and Twitter Profile Optimization for Dimwits
• Ten Tips For Optimizing Your Online Persona
• How Social Media Networks Facilitate Identity Theft and Fraud
• Integrating Search and Social Media into your Marketing Mix

Social Media Profile Optimization
Assuming you have active LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles, there are a few key steps in leveraging your social presence to help secure that dream job. The first step is to optimize your profiles so they gain visibility within the network and on Google when searching for your name. This means ensuring your name appears prominently and regularly throughout your profiles (and blog), along with other keywords that describe your previous experience, expertise and desired position.

Profile Syndication
Once your profiles are keyword-optimized, ensure they are properly integrated and syndicated. For example, you can add an automated Twitter feed to Facebook and your blog (and vice versa). You can also automate the communications process with tools like HootSuite, TweetDeck andPing.FM. The objective is to minimize the time you spend managing your profiles, while still maintaining an active presence.

Social Resume Development
Only the savviest of employers research a potential employees’ social media presence. Depending on your level of experience, activity and philosophy, this can be a blessing or curse. For example, which would be less desirable to a company looking for a savvy sales person: a candidate with no social media presence, or one with an active presence, yet with some inappropriate content? Perhaps neither, depending on the company and job requirements.

Based on my experience over the years as a manager, marketer and host of a monthly career networking event, I believe the resume of the future will integrate your social media credentials. Below are a few examples of critical social media elements to incorporate into your social-savvy resume:

• Profile handles/URLs (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, etc.)
• Statistics on each profile (connections, content quality & quantity, overall engagement within the community)

Metrics That Matter
When incorporating your social media profiles into your resume, don’t forget that the major platforms provide free analytics. Key metrics that may matter to employers (particularly those looking for sales, business development or marketing types) include: original content, connections and votes.

Ideally, the profiles will have a high ranking in searches for your name, and will be easy for employers to find. While not all metrics listed above are possible for an employer to validate, they are relatively easy to compile and update on your resume. Below are a few specific insights for the top platforms:

LinkedIn
While a greater number of connections shows breadth, it’s also important to show depth, which can be measured by the number of recommendations or endorsements by those in your network. Additionally, a higher number of Best Answers in Q&A shows engagement and thought leadership.

Twitter
Similarly to LinkedIn connections, followers show breadth, but not depth. To get a better feel for influence, analyze the volume of tweets, retweets and references. One tool, Twitalyzer, provides an algorithmic approach to analyzing these holistic factors when giving each profile a rank out of 100.

Facebook
Due to the nature of the platform, Facebook is not conventionally known as a business networking community. That said, you can learn a good deal about a potential employee based on their friends, wall posts, likes and photos. As a potential employee, you need to be aware of the possibility your profile is being viewed and ensure all questionable content is removed or privacy settings are properly set.

Blogs
There are a few core metrics you can use to evaluate the credibility of a blog. First and foremost, look at how long the blog has been around (archives should be accessible), the volume and consistency of posts, the volume of comments, Diggs, retweets and trackbacks. Additionally, you can evaluate overall influence by looking at the Technorati ranking for any given blog, as well as its overall visibility in search results.

If you are looking to secure your current position, or looking for a new job, building, optimizing, syndicating and managing your social media presence will be increasingly important to employers looking for more strategic hires. So update your resume today and start managing your profiles carefully and thoughtfully with your dream job in mind.

Read

The first and most important step in building an SEM career is reading. Due to the Web-based nature of the SEM industry, a plethora of valuable content is readily available online for free. Most SEM professionals are self-taught, and rely heavily on SEM industry Web sites, blogs and forums for the latest insights. Popular SEM resources include Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Guide, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land and SEO Roundtable. In recent years, many books have been published on various aspects of SEM, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) and link development. My personal favorite book is Search, by John Battelle. For eager learners and seasoned SEM pros, premium services like SEOmoz, Planet Ocean and SEOBook are essentials.

Watch and Listen

Once you’ve painted the landscape with reams of articles, online discussions and books, the next logical step is to expand to learning events. Monitor event calendars of the top tier industry resources mentioned earlier for Webinars, podcasts and streaming video presentations on the latest search marketing trends, strategies and tactics. When it comes to streaming radio, the one stop SEM shop is Webmaster Radio. While many Webinars are initially real-time events, most are archived and accessible on demand. Additionally, look to attend SEM industry events on a local and national level. Local events tend to have greater networking than learning value, whereas national events are often the inverse: tremendous learning with networking as a value-add.

Get Credentialed

At Anvil Media, we appreciate anyone who has completed the first two steps of the educational process, as it gauges self-discipline and interest in SEM. When we come across individuals with valid SEM certification, however, we give them serious consideration. Aspiring SEM professionals can acquire a wide spectrum of industry certifications, each of which has its own merit. For in-house corporate and large agency positions, formal training is highly coveted (as opposed to first-hand experience valued most by agencies). Online certifications from SEMPO Institute, SEO College, Bruce Clay and the DMA all carry weight. For those that prefer an in-class education, Search Engine Academy and learning events at large industry conferences like Search Engine Strategies and SMX are a better fit. An increasing number of local colleges and universities are now offering SEM curriculum as well.

Network

With a solid SEM foundation under your feet, the next step is to develop your network. This can be accomplished relatively easily online via industry-specific social networking sites and forums on sites like Search Engine Watch, Webmaster World and High Rankings as well as general networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. The highest value relationships typically occur via in-person contact at local, regional and national events. In Portland, Oregon for example, SEMpdx offers monthly networking and learning events, as well as an annual conference, SearchFest. For cities lacking a dedicated SEM professional’s trade association, regional events like SMX and Search Engine Strategies offer the most diverse network and educational opportunities. At a local level, connect with SEM professionals via informational interviews. Also consider volunteering your time to local marketing trade associations to gain peripheral connections.

Apply

The most critical step in kick-starting your SEM career, however, is to apply your education in the real world. The obvious starting point is with a Web site. If you lack the resources or interest in creating and optimizing your own site, reach out to family, friends or non-profits that will appreciate the help as you apply your new trade. Ideally, identify a real business to which you can offer your services in-kind or for a reduced fee. Telling a potential employer that you’ve been compensated for your work goes a long way. As you refine your site optimization skills, take on additional projects to expand your portfolio. For bonus points, implement your own social media marketing (SMM) campaign by creating profiles on social networks, start a blog and participate in online communities to build visibility, credibility and connections.

The speed with which you build a career in SEM depends primarily on your own available bandwidth and resources, but it really comes down to your level of interest and commitment. While timing, and arguably luck, can play a factor in the trajectory of your career, you can get started today for free and ramp up surprisingly fast. In a matter of months, if not weeks, you could be making good money and enjoying a productive career in search engine marketing.

Socialized Marketing

I’ve written extensively on social media marketing in the past, but not specifically on the concept of integration with search engine marketing (SEM) elements like SEO & PPC. In the world of search, it all starts with keywords. Identifying the ideal target keyword can make or break an SEM campaign. Social media offers insights into keyword selection as it is essentially the world’s largest focus group.

For starters, monitor industry terminology and competitor mention in social media (via sites like Twitter, Facebook and Digg) to identify new search terms. Using trending tools (like Google Trends and tag clouds) you can determine which terms are growing in popularity and be the first to take advantage of the latest buzz.  Once identified, new content can be built around the target terms on-site (FAQs, blog posts, etc.) and offsite (syndicated articles and press releases).

More advanced strategies include incorporating new terms into product collateral or corporate messaging. More importantly, keyword insights can be used to improve customer service and products. For example, common customer complaints can be anticipated and addressed by support and R&D can evolve future iterations of the product to address these issues.

Organic Search and Social

Social networks offer a somewhat unique and very powerful opportunity to generate awareness in search results. A vast majority of popular social sites have a strong Trust Rank with Google. Open profiles and content are indexed quickly and can rank for related search terms (think Tweets in Google real-time search results). Any links from the social profiles back to the corporate site can positively influence PageRank (a component of Google’s ranking algorithm), for the corporate site. The social profile links back to corporate sites also generate highly qualified direct traffic.

One of the truest forms of integration between search and social media are Google Local Business Listings (LBLs). Residing in Google Maps, Google LBL “Places” pages are essentially yellow page listings within Google’s own business directory. Once claimed by the business owner, listings can be populated with content and optimized for visibility in the “Lucky 7” localized search results.

Securing a position in the Lucky 7 is sure to generate traffic to your site as well as phone calls.  To appear on the map for geo-specific searches, optimized listings include owner-provided photos, videos, coupons and associated business information. There are other criteria Google considers when ranking the Lucky 7, including the quality and quantity of reviews and citations. A company with negative reviews may be hurt and should consider proactive reputation management, which we’ll cover in just a minute.

A well-optimized social profile ranks well in internal searches (on YouTube for example) but also in search engines for target search terms. A well optimized social profile should easily rank in the top ten for branded terms (i.e. company name, trademarked product names and unique services). More advanced optimization technique can generates social profile visibility for unbranded terms (i.e. Portland hotel).

An integrated social search strategy can even alter search behavior. Target search phrases utilized consistently throughout social profiles can aid in recall and increase search volume for targeted terms (particularly terms for which your corporate URL already ranks). Combined effectively, social platforms can both appear in branded and unbranded searches, as well as boost the visibility of the corporate site for targeted search phrases.

Perhaps the most powerful use of social media in organic search, is for online reputation management (ORM). When dealing with negative or undesirable listings in search results, time is of the essence. Google’s obsession with real time search and love affair with social platforms provides a unique opportunity. A company looking to mitigate negative results can create, optimize and syndicate social profiles to push down negative results. Used proactively, social can be used to “own” emerging phrases or markets via the creation of compelling content and engaging with other industry influencers in social media.

Paid Search and Social

Social media offers similar benefits to PPC as it does to SEO. As mentioned earlier, social is the world’s largest focus group. Your customers, partners, peers and even competitors are talking about you and your industry, which creates a unique opportunity for development and optimization of paid search campaigns.

A successful PPC campaign is built on highly targeted keywords. Social media provides a cost-effective way to identify desirable keywords. Using a host of free and low-cost tools (Google Trends, Twitter Search, tag clouds and SM2 for example) can help identify emerging trends, as well as “tail terms” or low volume, niche phrases that tend to generate higher conversions and a lower cost.

Finding the “right” keywords does not guarantee success in paid search, especially if you lack the appropriate messaging. The very same social media monitoring tools used to identify keywords can be used to aid the development of relevant messaging within the text ads and on landing pages. For example, monitoring competitors can help indentify key differentiators or market needs not currently being addressed. Understanding your position within the marketplace in relation to customer’s wants and needs provides a competitive edge.

Similarly, social media can be utilized to explore special offers to be incorporated into PPC text ads and landing pages. For example, research could determine which of the following offers is most desirable to your target audience: free shipping, no sales tax or 30 day money-back guarantee. Existing conversations on social media may provide sufficient insights, but a LinkedIn or Facebook Poll could validate with quantitative data.

Insights from PPC campaigns can also influence social media. Keyword, ad copy or landing page performance can be used to validate content strategies for social profiles. For example, specific messages originally developed for PPC can provide insights into content updates on social profiles (i.e.  offers, contests and posts). Secondarily, there is a chance that consumer-generated reviews will be integrated into PPC results, as seen in the limited test feeding Yelp reviews into select Google ads. Look for this down the road.

Getting Started

Although the strategies and tactics covered thus far may seem theoretical, they have been tested and validated. AnimationMentor.com, an online 3-D animation school, was able to achieve page one rankings in Google with its Facebook Fan Page. Through the strategic use of keywords, content and profile configuration, AnimationMentor was able to rank for unbranded terms in Google. Syndicated social content also improved rankings (via inbound links) as well as increased search volume on terms for which they had a strong organic position.

Overall, social media offers a wide variety of benefits to search engine marketers. Social platforms can be used like focus groups to identify keywords, messaging and offers for SEO and PPC campaigns. Social profiles drive direct traffic to corporate site, which can then be filtered and measured. With strong Google Trust Rank, social platforms can rank well in search results, which can lead to greater traffic and a strong reputation.

Author: Kent Lewis is President and Founder of Anvil Media and Formic Media, search engine and social media marketing agencies for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to local businesses.

As such, I decided it was time to develop a methodology for explaining and implementing a social media marketing campaign that even my grandmother could understand. After a little brainstorming and a few discussions with the team, I developed the “2MCE” process, which is a simple but effective way to understand and leverage the value of social media marketing, as outlined below.

Monitor & Measure

The first step in the 2MCE process is to Monitor & Measure. As with any marketing or communications strategy, it is always best to get a feel for your audience and the tools before you developing an overall campaign strategy. For starters, create Google Alerts for your branded terms, so you can be notified the moment something on the Internet related to your business is published. You can also use search engines to conduct real-time research (i.e. Google, BlogPulse and Technorati). More advanced marketers may opt to customize Yahoo! Pipes RSS feeds or pay for social media monitoring services (i.e. BuzzMetrics, Cymphony, Radian6). The bottom line is that you need to build your overall strategies based on where your customers live online, and agree on a set of metrics and benchmarks to measure volume and sentiment of conversations over time.

Create & Communicate

Once you’ve developed an overall social media strategy and set up monitoring and measurement (aka Web analytics), it’s time to reach out. When creating content for social media profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flicker, Twitter, etc.) try to ensure the content is timely, relevant, unique and valuable. Once the content is published, make sure that it is properly optimized, syndicated and promoted to your target audiences within those communities and beyond. When creating a Fan Page on Facebook, be sure to utilize FBML and the API to create interesting custom applications that get shared virally. On LinkedIn, create and manage a Group. On Google and Yahoo!, create gadgets and widgets respectively. Tools like HootSuite improve profile management for Twitter, while Hellotxt helps syndicate profile “updates” across multiple profiles (including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook). If you’ve created a blog, make sure to promote posts (via search engine optimization, tagging and RSS syndication).

Engage & Empower

Last but most importantly, now that you have a foundation including monitoring, measurement, optimized profiles and valuable content, it’s time to engage with your constituents and empower them to become evangelists for your brand. One of the most powerful forms of generating awareness and credibility within your industry is to engage in knowledge expert communities like LinkedIn Q&A and Yahoo! Answers. Similarly, participating actively in related online communities and threaded forums can create a level of connectivity with customers and prospects ad dollars can’t buy. Furthermore, Twitter and blogs can be more than one-way communications vehicles.  By monitoring the blogosphere and Twittersphere for relevant conversations, you can comment, reply and generally engage your audience on their terms, and bring them back to your site or profiles to continue the conversation and nurture the relationship.

By following the 2MCE processes, you can ensure your social media marketing efforts are focused and relevant. Don’t get distracted by specific tools, platforms or technology. Focus on the fundamentals and look forward to improving your bottom line. Of course Anvil Media, Inc., a search engine and social media marketing (SEM) agency is here to help develop, implement and manage your social media marketing strategy.

Author: Kent Lewis is President and Founder of Anvil Media and Formic Media, search engine and social media marketing agencies for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to local businesses.

Get In The Game

The most commonly asked question I get from people interested in creating a social media presence is, “where do I start?” My short answer is, by creating a social media presence, literally. It’s as easy as creating basic profiles on all the major sites, starting with the tier 1 players: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. With nothing more than basic profile information, you’ve put a stake in the ground. Over time, you can update and expand your profiles, and add tier 2 players (Biznik, Naymz, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, etc.). Of course your career background may influence which profiles you start with and build out over time. For a complete list of top tier sites, visit my blog post, 15 Places to Find Me.

Follow The MCE Process

With basic profiles in place, the next step is to get your bearings. I recommend following the simple MCE process I’ve outlined in an article on the Anvil Media Web site, Three Critical Elements of a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign. The “M” in MCE stands for monitoring relevant Web 2.0 communities to get a feel for the industry and potential opportunities. The “C” stands for creating timely, unique, relevant and valuable content and publishing to your social media profiles and communities. The “E” stands for engaging in online communities – starting conversations and building relationships.

Build Your Network

There are three primary ways to utilize social media platforms: publish, network and vote. You can expedite the development of your network by leveraging all three aspects: publishing and syndicating content, identifying and connecting with new friends, fans and followers and voting for content, people and ideas that inspire you. Focus a majority of your energy on the three most influential platforms: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, as they generate the most traffic and usage. For specific tips on optimizing your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, read the article, LinkedIn and Twitter Profile Optimization for Dimwits.

Be A Writer

When it comes to generating awareness for your personal brand, the first step is to create content, and the easiest form of content to create is text. It all starts with 140 character updates on Twitter. The unique challenge with Twitter is to pack a punch in one sentence; making it interesting, memorable and worthy of “re-tweeting” by your followers. The next logical step is to commit to creating and managing a blog. A typical blogger posts 2 to 3 times a week, each post averaging 1 to 3 paragraphs. Tweets may inspire longer blog posts, which in turn, inspire articles. Articles are typically longer and less time-sensitive, but can be posted on Web sites and syndicated via RSS for additional visibility. All content can be inter-linked and cross-promoted (blog posts can be fed to Twitter automatically, and vice versa).

Be An Artist

Not everyone is a writer, unfortunately. There is hope, however. Those predisposed to speaking or performing can utilize media sharing platforms like Flickr, YouTube and MySpace to share images or video. You can also integrate video or audio into your blog (aka iTunes podcasts or vlogs). In fact, the most viewed video of all time on YouTube is The Evolution of Dance, in which an unknown comedian takes the audience through various popular dances over the years.

Become A Thought Leader

Getting the “word” out may not be enough these days. In order to cut through the noise and differentiate yourself, it’s critical to develop yourself as a thought leader in your area of interest and/or expertise. Beyond developing a following in the blogosphere and Twitter, engaging in forums and expert communities is a good way to kick-start your credibility. Specifically, LinkedIn Questions & Answers offers a unique opportunity to ask and respond to questions, broken down by industry. When chosen as the “best answer” by the person asking the question, you can build visibility and credibility as a though leader. Similarly, engaging in LinkedIn Groups discussions and industry threaded forums offers visibility within your professional community.

Stand Out

Easier said than done, separating from the general population is essential in today’s noisy social media community. With a deeper first-hand knowledge of social media, you can form platform-specific communication and engagement strategies. For example, Twitter is all about timely news and entertainment, whereas LinkedIn Q&A is all about brilliant industry insights. Overall, you should have a consistent and authentic voice, with a unique perspective and offer value to your friends and followers. For more insights, read, Ten Secrets to Getting Your Dream Job. Seth Godin says it best, “be remarkable.”

Pay It Forward

As a big believer in karma, I’ve built my career off of helping others before helping myself. In fact, I’ve developed a methodology for professional networking, as outlined in the article, Referral-based Networking, Portland Style. Translating into a Web 2.0 world, paying it forward can be done in many ways. In Twitter, “re-tweet” posts you like, or reference other people and profiles that inspire you. In LinkedIn, recommend people you trust, reference others as experts in LinkedIn Q&A and forward as many introductions as possible. In the blogosphere, comment on related blogs and posts (linking back to your own content of course) and linking to related posts within your own blog.

Heed The Grandmother Rule

A client recently asked me about social media as a component of corporate communications policies. I told her we’d certainly help her build out a cohesive policy for employees as part of our overall strategic plan, but that they should follow The Grandmother Rule in the meantime. Simply put, do not post any content you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see, and you’ll be safe in the eyes of just about every corporation.  This also applies to the under-employed, self-employed and business owners.

Play It Safe

While it can be tempting to do everything you can to get yourself noticed, there are potential dangers in having highly visible social media profiles. As outlined in the article, What Social Media Networks Don’t Want You To Know May Hurt, there is a possibility that your identity can be compromised (hijacked or stolen) by enterprising criminals. Be sure to lock down your privacy settings if you have highly personal information in your profile or if you’re like me and have a very public profile for marketing purposes, remove any content that might provide key personal information that can be used to access banks and related confidential online accounts.

In the not-too-distant future, employers may require additional social media metrics on resumes, particularly for those in the sales and marketing discipline. Those metrics are likely to include LinkedIn connections, recommendations and best answers as well as Twitter followers and Facebook friends. Employers are likely to hire candidates based on those metrics, as the network becomes a core component of your value proposition. Hopefully these tips will help readers that are a little behind the social media curve, catch up, get ahead or even stand out.

Author: Kent Lewis is President and Founder of Anvil Media and Formic Media, search engine and social media marketing agencies for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to local businesses.