Zap.

OK, so maybe on that occasion my comment wasn’t necessary, but I’m going to take a punt and risk the “blindingly obvious” again…

The first priority of your web strategy has to be people. Your website, Facebook page, email campaign, tweets, that’s all important but it’s still secondary. It’s all about your people.

Who?

At the beginning it’s about figuring who it is you need to be talking to. What are they like? What positions do they typically hold? How do they operate? David Meerman Scott suggests naming your “buyer personas” first to make them more human, more real, than just a “prospect”. Straight out of John Jantsch’s “Duct Tape Marketing” comes the idea of then vividly describing them.

For the sake of this post let’s call this persona Frank.

What?

Doesn’t sound so people oriented does it? But there are two parts to the “What”.

Firstly: What problems do you solve for Frank? What are Frank’s issues that you can address? What keeps Frank up at night? If you’re not solving his problems, then he probably won’t be interested…

Secondly: What actions would you like Frank to take? Would you like him to sign up to your email newsletter, enquire, buy, follow you on twitter or watch your videos? You need to  understand this so you can being to assess the success of your marketing.

Why?

And why… Why will Frank take that action? Why will he want your product/service over someone else’s? Why should you be Frank’s first choice? So now it becomes a matter of convincing him. Frank will take that action if he believes that you’ll be able to solve his problem. Here’s a quick list of things that might help persuade Frank that you’re the one:

1. Authority - Qualifications, experience, presentations, industry commentary, articles, blog posts, whitepapers, books, forum contributions – in a word – content.
2. Guarantees - maybe you can offer a money back guarantee or a response time guarantee or an uptime guarantee.
3. Testimonials - written and video. Not doctored, not scripted, not faked. The real deal. Real people saying real things that will help Frank to be convinced.

If you can answer these questions with reasonable clarity then you have the core of your strategy. When it comes time to execute, that’s when you start looking at how best to use your website, your social media, your email marketing.

Workshop

We’re in the process of putting some tools together that will tie a whole lot of these concepts together into what (we hope!) will be a useful reference for you. Actually we’re going to be conducting web strategy workshop next Tuesday (27th of April). It’s called: “Your web strategy and topping Google”.

For more about prioritising people in your web strategy, call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

Created by Online Education

Internet Strategy Sydney & Brisbane: Are you taking advantage of the opportunities these figures present? 

Call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394 to discuss how.

I attended for the best part of a day but missed 2.5 sessions due to other commitments.  Without stealing all AIM’s thunder I wanted to share with you what I ‘took home’  from the 3 sessions I found most relevant.

“WHY PEOPLE BUY” by Catherine Day (Executive Coach and mentor)

For the record,  this presentation was actually called ‘Business Development and Effective Networking for Professionals‘ but when I wrote this blog post I realised what I had learnt from Cath was “why people buy”.

Cath shared several of her corporate experiences with  us to help highlight why people choose to buy.  Quite simply there are two reasons:

1. To increase pleasure
2. To reduce pain

And further to that you need to allow someone to fix, accomplish or avoid something in order to win their business.

Cath explained that trust is ultimately why someone makes their purchase decision and that trust is made up of 3 equally important components:

1. Capability (how competent someone is)
2. Reliability (how confident you are that they’ll do what they promise)
3. Sincerity, Character, Integrity (aka gut feeling and often how much you like them)

One quote of Cath’s which I really liked was that people buy from you (& vice versa) when you “mirror values, and complement skills.”

I did a quick google and found Cath Day’s website and blog if you wanted to read more.

“IMPRESSION MANANGEMENT & BRAND YOU” by Carolyn Barker (CEO – AIM)

Carolyn’s presentation addressed the issue of how you market yourself as an individual and professional.

She made the important point that the world can be cruel and yes, people will judge you by how you look, what you say and what you do.  So it’s worth taking the time to consider how to manage that and make the most of what you’ve got!   Her presentation addressed many things including how to develop “brand YOU”.

Her definition for a personal branding statement was (something like):

An authentic description of who you are and a description of the skills you’ve developed along the way that people understand is unique and it says what you bring to the industry.

The real key is BE AUTHENTIC.  Part of this is actually “figuring yourself out” which can be half the challenge! As an example Carolyn shared her personal story of how she achieved this for herself.

Carolyn addressed the painful term “networking” & broke it down to a less cringe-inducing definition of:

Connecting with someone without the need for personal gain

We all had a go at coming up with a 30 second personal branding statement that followed a who, what, where framework & I shared mine with the audience:

Hi I’m Adam Franklin.   I co-own and run a digital agency in Brisbane and I love seeing people making the most of the Internet.  However my real passion is business and the BHAG, or the big hairy audacious goal for my company – Bluewire Media – is to be the Google of web design.

Carolyn was kind enough to say encouraging things but she suggested that if I was in a networking situation, I should finish with a leading question to allow the other person to talk.

It was exciting when Carolyn’s presentation turned to social media‘s role in personal branding.  She suggested buying your own domain name (in .com and .com.au) & also setting up a website or blog on that domain, so that:

1. you can begin to position yourself as an expert in whatever it is you do
2. you show up when someone googles you!

Carolyn shared many more great tips & I really enjoyed her engaging presenting style.

“EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE” by Vivienne Anthon (GM – AIM, QLD & NT)

In a past life Vivienne was a lawyer so she jokingly refers to the fact that she’s witnessed the very worst in customer service…!  This also means she is in a position to suggest to people how to do it better.

An important distinction Vivienne made early on was that the term “customer service” applies both internally (to staff) and externally (to clients).  Vivienne broke her presentation down into four parts.

Part 1: Consistency
‘Beware the rare’ is a notion Vivienne has said she’s based on Scott Ginsberg’s idea that consistency is much better than rare moments of brilliance.  It is crucial to pass the baton in terms of communication so that customers experience this consistency.

Part 2: Phrases
We did a group activity based on picking out our favourite customer service phrases from Ginsberg’s “Phrases That Payses” which highlighted how arming front-line staff with useful phrases can defuse situations and allow for some memorable customer service.

Part 3: Normal
Nobody notices normal and it’s better if people hear about you rather than from you.

Part 4: Connected
Remember you never know who is connected to who so treat information elegantly.  Gossip is bad but chatter is good!

Vivienne delivered a very cheeky, funny & entertaining workshop which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In conclusion, I hope haven’t given too many of their secrets away.  Instead, I hope what I’ve done is share enough to prompt you to go along to an AIM Open House as it is worth the day you’ll spend away from your desk.  In fact all three presenters I’ve reviewed here exceeded my expectations and I recommend you see them if they run another open house!

Before you ask,  the open house was free and they provided lunch!  To find out more visit, www.AIMQLD.com.au or call 1300 882 895.

According to Facebook’s latest stats, over 300 million of you are. 50% of you are logging in daily and the fastest growing demographic is 35 year olds and older!

To put that in context, if Facebook were a country it would be 4th largest in the world (and nearly the 3rd)!

Courtesy of TechCrunch.com

So I’m guessing you probably don’t need persuading that Facebook marketing can be a useful strategy to promote your company. The challenge you may have found is wading through the 350,000 applications to find stuff that is:

1. Useful
2. Easy to Use
3. Free

To save you time & effort, I wanted to share three cool facebook tools you may find useful.

Firstly, let’s just clarify what is meant by Facebook marketing — it is definitely NOT about bombarding fans and friends with irrelevant & unsolicited offers from your company. This will repel people faster than a Zombie war invite!

Facebook marketing is about sharing interesting information, videos, articles and photos with people who have given you permission to interact with them. It’s also about facilitating a place where these people can engage with each other and share their common interest (ie. your company, product or services!)

Ok, so the three (3) cool tools are:

TOOL ONE: Custom URLs
Facebook now allows you to create your own custom URL for your page. This means your business can have its own permanent http://www.Facebook.com/YourBusiness URL. Visit www.facebook.com/username to secure yours.

PS. Facebook won’t let you change your mind once you’ve picked one, so make sure you get it right!

TOOL TWO: Social RSS
Social RSS is an application that allows you to synchronise your blog with your company Facebook page. This means every time you blog, the post will also automatically appear on your Facebook page on the Blog/RSS tab. The benefit is that you don’t need to login to Facebook every time you want to post blog content.
Download Social RSS for Facebook

TOOL THREE: Involver
Involver allows you to synchronise your Tweets and You Tube videos to your Facebook page. Again it saves you time & allows you to keep fresh content up on your Facebook page with no extra effort. Tabs for Twitter and YouTube will appear on your Facebook fan page. There are also plenty more things you can do if you upgrade to the paid version.
Download Involver for Facebook

Other articles you might like:
Facebook strategy ideas to try out – Bluewire Media blog
Facebook profile photo hacks – All Facebook.com
Facebook Page Strategy – All Facebook.com
Create a simple facebook application without using the facebook API – Borism.net
10 practical tips for Facebook fan pages – iMedia Connection
Good News: Small Brands Can Get Custom Facebook URLs Too – Mashable.com
Killer Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Inspiring Case Studies – Mashable.com
HOW TO: Set Up a Winning Facebook Fan Page – Mashable.com
30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook – Mashable.com
HOW TO: Make Facebook Your Company Newsroom – Mashable.com

Facebook Marketing Brisbane: If you would like a helping hand with your Facebook marketing, please call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

Just to get you started, here are some mind blowing facts from first 30 seconds:

• By 2010, Gen Ys will outnumber Baby Boomers
• 96% will be on a social network
• Social media has taken over porn as the #1 activity on the web
• Years to reach 50 million users: Radio 38 years, TV 13 years, Internet 4 years, iPod 3 years,
• …facebook added 100 million users in 9 months.
• ….but China’s QZone is bigger (300 million users)

Social Media Brisbane: to discuss how you can harness the power of social media, call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

Highlights from the presentation and the MiniMovers story:

• Give customer what they need, NOT what they want
• Exceed expectations by adding unexpected value in every step of the process
• Marketing can be summed up by “getting people talking about you”
• Social media allows you to do three things:  Entertain, Inform or Comment

In this short interview with Bluewire Media after the event, Mike O’Hagan shares how to use social media to promote your business.

Mike continued by making the following observations.

Advertising has changed.
Now people will firstly google, then look at a website, then read reviews by other people.  These days people rarely make decisions based on traditional ads because Google makes it so easy to get “real” reviews on companies. This transparency is what is changing the advertising world.

Plus you don’t need top quality for YouTube videos
Some of best viral videos are shot in-house on digital cameras.  Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” video series has had enormous success and the video of them blending an iPhone has had over 10 million hits alone.

And PR has changed too.
No longer do you just send a press release to journos & cross your fingers. Now journalists are sourcing their stories from the Internet on sites like blogs, PRweb and PRnewswire.

It’s well worth checking out Mike O’Hagan if you get the chance.

PS. Mike has been very generous with his time in mentoring Bluewire Media since the early days in 2005 when he addressed the small business group we were a part of.  Thanks for your support and guidance Mike!

PPS. Mike’s presentation was organised by Freedom Events and it was hosted in excellent facilities and with friendly, personal service – well done!

Web Design Brisbane: If you’d like to know how Bluewire Media can help your business, please contact us on 1300 258 394.

Google asks, “What is a browser?”

• 12 excellent free tools for monitoring your sites uptime — Six Revisions
• iPhone OS on a touchscreen monitor — CrunchGear
• Stop counting clicks — UX Booth
• Informative and useful footers — Smashing Magazine
• Secrets of a nimble giant — The Guardian
• Mobile phone flies plane — The Courier Mail
• Check my colours — See if the colours on your website provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits

• Interactive data visualisations — Creativity Online
• 5 reasons why a digital agency should take usability seriously — Experience Solutions
• Google takes its cameras out onto hiking and biking tracks — USA Today
• Is Microsoft’s new Bing search engine better than Google? — The Guardian Online
• Student photographers battle for spot on iGoogle — The Guardian Online
• Technology is there to make work and life easier — the trick is to avoid fads — BRW
• Showcase Of Popular Automobiles Websites — Instant Shift
• Wireframing Ahoy! — UX Mag