The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Being #1

Welcome to Week 17 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a virtual marketing assistant, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.
 
As part of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan, we are supposed to check our search engine rankings.  This means typing relevant search terms into Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… to see where our site comes up in the results.

My Google ranking for the term “virtual marketing assistant” was hanging out around 8.  This was pretty good, considering it was on the first page.  But at #8, there’s always room for improvement.

I’m happy to say that today my site comes up first in Google.  Why?  Because of the power of anchor text.  What is anchor text?  It is simply the text that is linked to your site.  Here’s an example.  The Marketing Mix is my favorite marketing blog.  In this case, marketing blog is the anchor text.

Maybe you’ve noticed that in the past 4 weeks, I added an introduction to my blog post where the words virtual marketing assistant link to my website.  Over the past 4 weeks, I’ve gone from #8 to #1 in Google.  Coincidence?  I think not. 

This is happening because by linking virtual marketing assistant to my website, it is explaining to search engines what my webpage is about.  My web page is about “virtual marketing assistant.”  If you use the anchor text click here, it is telling the search engines that your webpage is about “click here.”  Having more descriptive link text is a benefit to your reader, and to the search engine.

Search engines use many factors to determine where our websites rank for certain searches.  People dedicate their entire careers to getting high search engine rankings, but there are a few simple things we can do ourselves to improve our rankings:

• Understand what keywords and phrases your prospects are searching for (the Google Keyword Tool is a good way to do this). Remember to be specific with your ideal keywords.  You might not be able to get a first page ranking for “graphic designer,” but you might be able to get on the first page for a term like “logo design Kansas City.”
• Have descriptive title and meta tags in the html code of each page (that include your important keywords or phrases )
• Have keyword rich text throughout your website
• Remember the importance of incoming links to your website.  Exchange links with partners and clients.  When you post on a blog, remember to link back to your website if possible.  Just by keeping the idea of linking at the forefront of your mind, it will help you increase your website rankings.

Week 17 Recap:  Last week I said I was going to reach out to three contacts per day on Biznik, and I have been!  I’ve been commenting on articles and sending introductions.  It only takes a few minutes but I feel like I’m really making a vested effort to expand my knowledge, and my network.  Also, I completed last month’s promo piece—a list of services for web designers who want to offer additional services to their customers (such as content writing, blogging, article writing, etc.)   

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 17: Failing to plan (and other lessons from the road)

This is Week 17 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. I'll provide a topline of my experience here every Monday; see my companion blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for the full story, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

Careful readers will note that this weekly update, which typically posts of a Monday, is posting instead on a Wednesday.

This is due to circumstances which were completely within my control, but which I failed to accept as such. I assumed that there would be time and energy to write this post when we arrived at our destination motel on Sunday night, after a full day of driving. I assumed that there would be high-speed Internet (we only stay at the cheapest motels, which seem to be much better about delivering the goods than the ritzy, business-traveler ones). I assumed that if, for some reason, there was not, I'd be able to use my boyfriend's high-speed travel modem as a backup.

You all remember that Odd Couple episode where Felix shows the group what happens when you A-S-S-U-M-E: you make an ass out of "u" and...

This week—week 17, just over a third of the way in—was FAIL week. Failing to write, failing to post, failing to plan. While we're at it, other than the most basic of marketing duties—following up with prospects, posting to my regular blog, maintaining a minimal presence on Twitter and Facebook—this week was also a big FAIL. I'll be honest: in my panic to get as many things as I could out the door before I left for a five-day road trip (at least it was to some kind of networking event), I did not even crack open the calendar.

Ilise and I gave a webinar on cold calling this Tuesday—one of the many things I was racing to finish prep on before heading for the desert and its spotty, spotty 3G reception—and something struck me during the course of the call: it is so easy to throw in the towel when things don't go well. Just as Deidre was grappling with things a couple of weeks ago, this week, during many stretches on the drive home, I listened to MP3s of Joe Frank radio shows and let my thoughts drift to fantasies of a Stupid Day Job that would leave me with time and energy to just write. Or be a Buddhist nun. (There's a lot of Jack Kornfield in those episodes.)

But I was reinvigorated by today's call, and today's results. Despite not feeling well or energetic, as I'm very much under the weather, I managed to have a useful and productive day. Not the best-planned of days, but that's good, too: it's helping me to see the value of planning.

I hope you're chugging along with your calendar. I intend to get back on the horse tomorrow, and make sure I'm well-rested for my monthly Biznik meetup in the evening. And I intend to make some of those calls and chip away at a page or two on the website I've been meaning to update.

And then, I intend to use this next weekend's trip for rest and reflection—a pre-mid-year look at where I'm at, where I've gone off the rails, and what I want the rest of the year to look like...realistically.

How are you doing? And if you're going strong, I'd love to hear what you're doing (besides reading these updates!) to keep yourself in the game and motivated.

Was I a Conference Commando?

In Keith Ferazzi’s book, Never Eat Alone (which, ironically, I read a few years back, almost entirely while I was eating lunch, uh, alone), he advises readers to “Be A Conference Commando.” He posits that conferences are not for gaining information and insight, but instead are opportunities to develop relationships. You must be pro-active, not passive. 

In March I made the decision to attend the annual BRITE conference—Branding Innovation and Technology—sponsored by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership for two main reasons:

1. Because in 2007 I moved out of NYC to rural central New York state so I needed some mental stimulation, exposure to new ideas, and a good write-off-able excuse to hang out in the city for a few days (not to mention a good, urban, soul-satisfying bagel and lox breakfast).
2. I’m following the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar (veteran’s version) and felt attending this conference would be an excellent networking component to my marketing checklist—along with all the other strategies we’ve been reading about on this blog: research calls, crafting your online bio, blog creation/posting, etc. 

At the conference, through various addresses, breakout sessions, and a fantastic keynote given by Seth Godin, I gained a better understanding of such current catchphrases as ‘crowdsourcing’ and ‘tribes’; was able to hone my Twitter skills on my iPod Touch (in fact, unlike most other public gatherings, this audience was actually encouraged to dialogue with their devices while the talks were taking place, and after each speaker, the MC would field “tweeted” questions); and was exposed to compelling new technologies—my favorite of which is prezi.com, zooming presentation software.

However, according to Keith’s standards, as a conference attendee, I failed. (Well, maybe a D+). 

Did I sign up to volunteer at the conference in order to gain access to its inner workings? No. 

Did I research the VIPs beforehand and set up opportunities to hobnob with the ones I wanted most to meet in person? Uh, no. 

I did not even really set goals for myself, other than that I would go, meet people, and learn a few things.

However, upon returning home to the farm, I did follow up with each of the people I met, with an email that read:

Do Prospects Ever Really Hang Up on You?

That's one of the questions we'll answer Tuesday, April 28 in our webinar, "Cold Calling is the Brussels Sprouts of Marketing."

So listen to the 3rd audio cupcake, in which the communicatrix and I talk about the realistic (and unrealistic) expectations freelancers have of cold calling, neither of which happen. That's why it's essential to know what really happens and how to prepare for it.

Listen here:
http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/W8hcKB87

And sign up here:
http://tinyurl.com/8umlju

And if you have specific questions you want answered, send them to ilise at marketing-mentor dot com.

Getting More Social

Welcome to Week 16 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a virtual marketing assistant, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.
 
Glad to say after my detour last week, I’m back on the road this week.  I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and things are going well.
 
I also took some time to look at what I could be doing better on a regular basis. 

While I’ve been continually identifying new prospects, I’ve been slacking a bit on my social networking.  Today, in my outreach efforts, I realized that with a basic (free) Biznik membership, you can message three people per day without upgrading.  Instead of dwelling on the fact that I must not have tried to message three people in one day until today, I decided to use this to my advantage. 

Biznik is a network of entrepreneurs and small business owners dedicated to helping each other succeed. Its tagline is, “business networking that doesn’t suck,” and its true- it does anything but suck.  It’s a friendly, helpful network with great articles, events, information, blogs and groups.  If you don’t already have a profile, why not create one? (I’ll be your first connection!) They recently added some cool videos on their homepage that tell you what it’s all about.

Since I really think Biznik is a useful community, I’m going to reach out to 3 people a day and introduce myself. I find that when I’ve done this in the past, people are happy to join your network and help you in any way they can.  
 
Week 16 Recap:  This week, my promo piece is almost done.  I’m happy to have something to send out when people ask for more information.  And, I turned the page on my calendar and I see that May is when we start research calling!  I’m actually REALLY excited for research calling.  I have all these prospects, and I’m ready to get talking to them.   

Brussels Sprouts = Success?

What do brussels sprouts have to do with success? Check out the 2 webinars coming up, and you'll find out. They're both at the end of the day so you don't have to interrupt your busy day:

April 28, 7 PM Eastern (4 PM Pacific)
Cold Calling is the Brussels Sprouts of Marketing
with Ilise Benun and Colleen Wainwright (a.k.a. the communicatrix)
(includes brussels sprouts recipes) Details here: http://tinyurl.com/8umlju 
And listen to our audio cupcake #2 (of 3) here: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/W2yjh087

May 4, 7 PM Eastern (4 PM Pacific)
What’s Working Right Now:
Real-World, First Hand Success Strategies from 3 Working Freelancers
with Ilise Benun and Dani Nordin, Patrice Robertie and Amy Weiher
Details here: http://www.howdesign.com/creativefreelancerwebinar

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 16: Marketing on the go

This is Week 16 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. I'll provide a topline of my experience here every Monday; see my companion blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for the full story, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

It was a jam-packed week of travel and planning for it that had me thinking a lot about about marketing—my definition of it, how it worked and what it was really about.

Back in January, a professor from my alma mater invited me to sit on a panel about social networking as part of the university's annual Entrepreneur Celebration. Cornell has made a big commitment to fostering and supporting entrepreneurship both at the university level, where there's now an entrepreneurial track, and amongst alumni, via the Cornell Entrepreneur Network. (I've attended numerous events and spoken at a couple, and they've been fantastic for building my own business network in L.A.)

I hate to say it, but in the sometimes-grind of keeping one's marketing machine running, it can be easy to lose sight of the "why" behind it. Meeting some incredible entrepreneurs during my couple of days here and, on the way out here, reading the awesomely inspiring story of what one entrepreneur is doing to change the world, really reinvigorated me. At its most basic, marketing is about telling the stories that connect people to products and services and other people; done right, it can be a tool for helping to change the world.

To read more about this week's lessons, please join me at the Virgo Guide to Marketing.

Networking – what not to do.

Last night I went to a networking event/anniversary party for BlankSpaces here in Los Angeles. BlankSpaces is a collaborative, shared work space where freelancers and other entrepreneurs can rent office space by the hour, week or month. And last night they celebrated their one-year anniversary.

The party was hopping with people. The line outside the building seemed like it was an exclusive LA club. Took about 20 minutes just to get into the building. Inside, it was crowded and loud but nevertheless, the extrovert in me was eager to meet people and network.

I got a drink at the bar and started to walk around in hopes I’ll run into someone I know. No familiar face in sight. I kept mingling and it took no time before I started a conversation with a graphic designer, followed by a wine distributor, followed by a photographer. With each of them I spent about 15 minutes chatting. And that’s about all I could take.

All three had one thing in common. They didn’t stop talking about themselves. They kept telling me about what they are doing and what they’ve accomplished. It was a “Me! Me! Me! fest”. Not even once did they stop and ask me a question. Not once did they bother finding something in common we can discuss. I was completely bored and couldn’t wait to get away from the conversation.

The key to meeting people at networking events is to make a connection, not to tell your life story. Not so much to sell.  Making a connection means we find something in common. It’s about showing the other person you just met that you are interested in them. 

Next time you’re at a networking event, don’t make the mistake these folks did. Don’t focus so much about yourself. When you meet someone new - show interest. Ask questions.  Engage them in a conversation about a topic other than you. Let them experience your personality, your humor, your charm.   

The three people I met could have been interesting prospects. A friendship may have started. I could have thought about leads to send their ways. But their self-absorbed conversation didn’t make me move towards any of that. And that’s too bad.

Throwing in the Towel vs. Finding Your Strength

Welcome to Week 15 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a VMA, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.
 
My head hurts.  This afternoon, I found myself thinking, working for someone else was so much easier, maybe I should just give this up.  Maybe I should just throw in the towel.
 
Did I mean it? No… It was just a moment of weakness… a tiny voice yelling from the bottom of a mountain of work.  I didn’t mean it—but boy would it be easier if I did. 
 
Why would it be easier?  Because self-employment has caused me to take a long, hard look at myself.  It’s forced me to confront my weaknesses, and face them head on.  And to accept that sometimes, no matter how much I fight, I don’t always win. 
 
But I’m only at Week 15.  I can’t expect to have it all figured out, can I?
 
Today, I feel like it’s a challenge.  Today, I doubted whether I was cut out for this.  Today, I considered the possibility that my self-discipline wasn’t strong enough for this route of self-employment.  Today, I wished I was back sitting in my corporate office collecting my guaranteed, lofty weekly salary.
 
Then I remembered that what you want is rarely handed to you on a silver platter.

Is Social Media Dangerous?

I am trying to walk the line between "Everyone needs a LinkedIn profile to be legitimate in business" and "I sincerely fear that Twitter is dangerous for my health."

I know Twitter is an effective marketing tool for some and probably would be for me, but I am seriously concerned about the effect on my brain (and yours) of shorter and shorter attention spans. I tried to explain my thought yesterday in an interview with Jim Blasingame of the Small Business Advocate. Not sure yet how clear it is but you can read Jim's summary and then link to our interview at the end of his blog post here: http://blog.smallbusinessadvocate.com/home-based-business/can-social-media-be-dangerous-to-your-small-business

Post your comments here or on his blog, if you feel moved to do so.