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Dec 02
|05:41 AM
Tim's Blog
About being a marketing expert?
As this year winds down, one thing that I've noticed this past year is the emerging trend of consultants describing them self as a marketing "expert". I have to admit that I'm uncomfortable about this trend. Not so long ago, one didn't proclaim oneself an expert; That was left to industry peers.
As I ponder the year-end, I get to the issue of planning forward to next year, and the question of relecting on why would a company use my services? What makes me/us unique amongst the crowd? That's a fair question that gets asked very regularly (as it should). Some time ago, I went through an exercise to understand why someone would want to hire me (personally) and then use me in a trusted situation (such as working with their clients and prospective clients). Out of that process I made up a little card that I still carry around to this day as a reminder. I have many things on that card, but certainly characteristics such as passion for my work, humour in challenging situations, excellence in communication, superb customer service, ethics and credibility are some of the personal character goals that I strive for. Now, as with any goal, I'll be the first to stay that they are not *always" achieved EVERY day, but if one doesn't have goals, then what's the point?
I have been fortunate to have most business come through referrals and if I had it my way, I would get all of my business through referrals and not have to make cold calls. Who likes cold calling (or cold emailing) these days? It has never been fun. But every sales/business person knows that the strongest selling is done face-to-face, and it’s clear that dialing the phone is one of the best ways to get that meeting.
It's not that I'm procrastinating with writing this blog .. this is a my experiment for December. Here it is ... the "Special Offer". If you are preparing for an upcoming marketing campaign and want to chat about your idea and goals, OR want to get ahead of the curve with a 1/2 day social marketing workshop, you know who to call.
And if I don't speak with you beforehand, have a terrific holiday season.
Market the content or the process?
I had an interesting conversation after a presentation by Gillian Shaw (twitter @gillianshaw) this evening. We got into a philosophical conversation about the relevance of newspapers and printed advertising in said newspapers in the growing era of social marketing. I questioned the relevance of advertising in this day and age, and the resulting loss of revenue would negate the need for reporters. Her response stopped me ...
In this day of instant content, almost anyone who can spell correctly (and not always that) can create content in the spur of the moment. We have been trained to believe that whatever is in printed form is the truth, and these beliefs are being transferred to the electronic media. What Gillian reminded me is that reporters are trained to do backchecks to validate the credibility of the information, and expose as many sides of the story as possible.
So if one believes that social media means that the traditional newspaper is dead (as seems the to be the case in the US), then does all the journalistic integrity go away? In other words, what can the newspapers offer us beyond advertising that will incent the rest of us to read them?
I believe that one answer is the self-discipline and journalistic integrity that reporters are trained to do. Wouldn't it be great if all of us that write blogs and otherwise create content could tap into that training?
Let me know what do you think at twitter.com/creativerevenue
New workshop program: Online Marketing 101
When I worked for other companies years ago, I typically had a training budget and really liked going away from the office to learn some new nuance of my profession. My typical thought was that if I learned one new thing that I could use when I got back to the office, then it was a success. How times have changed!
If I take training now and only learn one new thing, then it was not a very good course (or I wasn't very awake!). That philosophy is going into our new training prgram. We are designing a series of workshops designed for real estate service providers that literally CRAM information into your brains. (If your brain doesn't feel one size bigger, then let me know .. we'll work harder!)
The first workship is ready, and is specifically targeted to realtors and property managers. It's all about embedding social marketing into your current marketing plan, and starts with the premise that you are curious or skeptical about social marketing, and know little more than the buzz words. (BTW You don't have to admit that to anyone!)
Online Marketing 101 explains the buzz words, outlines to tools and lets you choose a social marketing Starter Kit. Enough to get yours words out there to communicate and build your brand, and provide an uncomplicated and simple environment to achieve your goals.
Take a look at the website and let me know if it doesn't make you dream of having thousands of people waiting for your enlightement.
You can reach us at 604 771 5001 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
As usual, please post your comments and questions.
Why Realtors need to go Hyperlocal!
Hyperlocal content is ideal for the Realtor wanting to kill several birds with the proverbial single stone. Not only is hyperlocal content easy to collect but hyperlocal content's also simple simple simple to distribute through social media. Hyperlocal content should be the heartbeat of any serious Realtor’s web marketing campaign.
What is Hyperlocal Content?
Hyperlocal content is news and coverage of events and information in a local context. The term is becoming increasingly mainstream amongst social mediaists, but the implementation considerations include taming the enormous complexity of gathering and separating local data before presenting it to your audience. The good news is that as a real estate professional, you’re in the perfect position to be a local news conduit, because of the nature of your business.
Here’s a sample list of the types of hyperlocal content
* Links to articles and blogs that are supplemental to the newspaper.
* Links to local government sites and other sources that pertain to a bit of news.
* Local events, down to the small, but influential groups in your neighbourhood
* Crime watch activities, and similar
* Local home sales (naturally)
* Reviews of local businesses, including restaurants, shops and the local accountant.
The key is to cover your local market, down to the last detail. The better you’re able to get news about your area and get that content out on the web through social networks, the more impact you will have and the more business you will ultimately generate. This is going to work for you because mainstream media focus on regional, national, and international concerns and trends, and don't have the resources or willingness to cover topics municipal or street level issues. The increased usage of digital media devices (e.g. photo and video cameras, audio recorders), blogs, new media, and participation in social media, has made hyperlocal media content cheaper to produce and distribute.
Why Hyperlocal?
Hyperlocal content is supremely valuable for real estate web marketing, or any type of web marketing that involves geo-targeting of prospects, products or services in a specific geographic market. It’s a way producing outstanding local news for your area that helps your web marketing efforts and ultimately gets you more business online.
So if you want to truly attract the attention of your target market, and keep their eyes focused on you, you must produce something of value to them. Hyperlocal content is valuable to those in your target market, and makes people appreciate you and stay tuned
A valuable side benefit is that a key element is raising your position in organic searches is that your site refreshes information on a very regular basis. When the search engine spider report back to Google and Yahoo that your websites’ content is changing all the time, the search engines love that!
Taking it one step further, linking your website based hyperlocal content from Facebook or Twitter means that your social network friends will be driven to your website, thus increasing your traffic, thus increasing page rankings, thus raising yourself in organic search results, thus increasing your presence, thus increasing calls to you, and so on and so on.
If you think of it, newspapers and municipal tabloids have been using hyperlocal content for years. So it’s no surprise that hyperlocal content is all the rage in the publishing world as the internet threatens the very life of large news outlets and newspapers. This seemingly simple form of reporting on your local area can give you more bang for your buck than you can imagine, making you a trusted resource for information in your area.
So how do you get started?
First, compile a list of sources that you think are relevant to your branding, and/or the positioning that you want to project. For instance, if you want to be known as the person who knows all that this there is to know about the local educational environments (elementary and secondary schools, pre-schools, etc.), then search out sources for school ratings, school events, statistics, teachers blogs, etc.
As you compile these sources, look out for online sources that are updated on a regular basis AND those that can automatically send content to your website when posted (usually via RSS or ATOM).
Get with your website designer to out together a look and feel for your new site. Considerations will include providing the information in a way that is easily searching and indexed, and (always) positioning yourself as the fountain of knowledge.
If you are able to provide regular updates on issues and events that you are personally knowledgeable about, then consider opening and providing regular updates to your Linked in / Facebook / Twitter accounts. (There are ways of providing one update to all these types of social networking accounts).
And then it’s time to let the world know !
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