2015
Autospeak-Straight Talk contains articles covering digital and social media marketing social communities and events marketing
These social experiments further cement the broad impact that social sites have and points out ways in which to utilize them to be the most effective. Undoubtedly Social channels must play a key role in any overall digital marketing plan in order to be effective in the online marketing space.
Any plan requires an investment and must be well thought out to produce the desired results to hit a company’s particular goals but there is a big advantage in that everything pointed out in this infographic by Neil Patel at Quick Sprout comes organically. This in itself can produce enormous saving over the long term if executed properly.
This also raises the argument for having an onsite community that when properly implemented can compliment any social initiative and combined, produce added benefits that cannot be achieved with any form of marketing.
William Cosgrove
Onebigbroadcast
Any plan requires an investment and must be well thought out to produce the desired results to hit a company’s particular goals but there is a big advantage in that everything pointed out in this infographic by Neil Patel at Quick Sprout comes organically. This in itself can produce enormous saving over the long term if executed properly.
This also raises the argument for having an onsite community that when properly implemented can compliment any social initiative and combined, produce added benefits that cannot be achieved with any form of marketing.
William Cosgrove
Onebigbroadcast
While I am travelling I thought that I would repost some of my old blogs that cover subjects that I have not touched on recently but ones that I feel strongly about.There have been a lot of postings and discussions over how best to improve a Sales Organizations performance. I personally have written many of them.
One thing that they all have in common is the need to have the right people in the right positions and the need for Leadership.
It all starts with Leadership because a true leader will posses all the qualities needed to do the things necessary to make a business successful. Because a true leader is always striving to hit that next level of success and surrounds himself with other leaders who have the same goals.
True leaders are the people who can leave the emotion out of the equation. All emotion stems from insecurity and has no place in running a business or in life in general for that matter. Insecurity gets in the way of truly clear thinking and objectiveness which are the benchmarks of a true Leader.
And this is where we hit the first wall to climb because in my relatively short tenure working for others I have not met many totally secure people who fit the true definition of a leader.
You can have all the systems in place that are designed for success but if you don’t have true leaders it won’t matter how well the system is designed it will not function properly.
One big reason that Businesses today lack the leadership needed to build a truly successful business is the lack of compensation. This for some reason lately has become a dirty word in some circles.
All this touchy feely talk about remembering someone’s birthday, giving extra time and pats on the back in lieu of compensation is just placating the powers that be. Anyone who talks like this is either doing it so as not to upset clients or have never been in the trenches in commission sales trying to make a living-or both.
All this is good stuff but if it isn’t backed up with proper pay for performance you will never attracted the true Leaders that can get the job done.
And other members of these circles are comprised Darryl, Darryl and Darryl (For those of you who remember) who are quarterly driven publicly owned companies that will do anything for a buck for Top Line and Bottom line growth. Doing more with less for the Bottom line and ethically questionable things to grow the Top Line. We have all seen it.
Unfortunately a lot of private companies have adopted the same kind of practices to their own peril which brings me to to “WHERE’S THE BEEFâ€
You can have all the proven systems in place that you want if you don’t pay for performance the true Leaders will find another home in the same or different Industry. Because the real talent in sales can perform anywhere.
For example, If you think about it and have studied or have been in the automotive industry long enough the forerunner of the 4 square, the track system, came along in the late seventies, early eighties.
This system owners thought the track system would give them the ability to hire any sales clerk off the street at lower compensation and get the same results as the real talent.
This didn’t last very long and I know because I was one of the salespeople who left when they lowered commissions. In retrospect, in the early eighties, I was making much more money as a Manager “then†than is being offered today. Add the rise in cost of living and you must question the motives.
Before I went back on my own in 2010 I was making more as a salesperson at one of the few companies that believe in "pay for performance"Â than most managers elsewhere without all the responsibility.
The Commission Sales Industry is a unique Industry in the fact that commissioned sales is one rung below being self-employed. There are a very limited number of truly talented professionals in management or sales who can make it happen consistently.
Give me a group of talented professionals with a pay plan that is going to draw them and I will take any system out there and make it seem like the best thing since sliced bread.
I recently wrote an article where I talked about compensation and even offered anyone interested in a "pay for performance" pay plan to e-mail me and I would gladly sent it to them.
I even gave an example of a Dealership who had this pay plan who consistently had the highest front and back end grosses in their region and district and were growing sales.
I received “0†requests.
You can argue all you want about systems and teamwork but in the end if you don’t get off that diet your on and put the “BEEF†on the menu to attract the real talent you are doomed to high turnover and mediocrity.
William Cosgrove
I write this article because I want to discuss the notion that bigger is better and bring up the idea that smaller can be beautiful and more often than not can produce much more effective results. I will be out of the country on a working vacation and wanted to leave you with thoughts on a subject I feel very strongly about.Â
I am also sharing these thoughts in hopes that it might encourage decision makers to remember what most likely made them successful and open their minds again and take a look at the same types of people they once were and may have forgotten.
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I talk to and meet so many incredibly talented innovative people who have the knowledge, talent and drive to do the best job because they are motivated more by the doing than the bottom line.
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 I know from my years of experience that one size fits all cookie cutter solutions are not the best answer. I do know that anyone who has had the acumen to make it happen by doing it themselves are the most creative and motivated resource you will find. Along with the creative, customer service from a smaller more nimble company is second to none and the ability to customize solutions to each individual’s needs by being able to take the time necessary to understand and address those needs.
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People who are self-challenged and who are simply driven to think out of the box to come up with creative solutions are the people who are going to make a difference. These are the people who really care about you because they know what it is like to run a business and not just sell a product or service.
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For almost 40 years I have subscribed to “small is beautiful†because it is the only way you can retain control- meaning being able to stay true to yourself, be able to focus on being creative and maintain the flexibility to serve your clients in the best ways possible.
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Is bigger really better? Think about it, share your thoughts or at the least remember what probably got to where you are today.
William Cosgrove
We all love statistics. And after the one that I saw and commented on last week in my article “Taking Digital Marketing offline†where just over 5% of all sales are made online. it is easy to believe to these strong forecasts for the future.
All aboard or not?
William Cosgrove
All aboard or not?
William Cosgrove
Being so focused on online marketing we get caught up in our virtual world that we often get boxed in by the bits of information streaming across the world wide web.Â
Think about it! This is a staggering number! Imagine with just over 5 percent of total sales being made online it makes one think of all the opportunities that still lie ahead for us.
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This makes finding ways to take digital marketing mobile an incredibly important and the conduit to make this happen is the Smartphone. The traditional PC market of notebooks and desk-based units is expected to decline 7.6 percent in 2013 (see Table 1). This is not a temporary trend induced by a more austere economic environment; it is a reflection of a long-term change in user behavior.
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Beginning in 2013, ultramobiles will help offset this decline, so that sales of traditional PCs and ultramobiles combined show a 3.5 percent decline in 2013.
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Here are some statistics that that makes the case for the urgency to develop the technology to make this a reality.
Worldwide Devices Shipments by Segment (Thousands of Units)
|
Device Type |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2017 |
|
PC (Desk-Based and Notebook) |
341,263 |
315,229 |
302,315 |
271,612 |
|
Ultramobile |
9,822 |
23,592 |
38,687 |
96,350 |
|
Tablet |
116,113 |
197,202 |
265,731 |
467,951 |
|
Mobile Phone |
1,746,176 |
1,875,774 |
1,949,722 |
2,128,871 |
|
Total |
2,213,373 |
2,411,796 |
2,556,455 |
2,964,783 |
Source: Gartner (April 2013)
Tablets are seeing aggressive price erosion and Smartphones are also becoming more affordable, driving adoption in emerging markets and the prepay segment in mature markets. Of the 1.875 billion mobile phones to be sold in 2013, 1 billion units will be smartphones, compared with 675 million units in 2012.
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It is said the the trend towards smartphones and tablets will have much wider implications than hardware displacement. Software and chipset architecture are also impacted by this shift as consumers embrace apps and personal cloud.
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As it all stands today mobile provides us with the means and the greatest opportunities and it will be interesting to see how we develop the ways and how this will all unfold in 2014 and the coming years.
By William Cosgrove
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It was the night before Christmas, well very close, and all through the house the creatures were stirring because everything was in doubt. A knock at the door and who would appear but a scrooge with an eviction notice- this was no Christmas cheer for Cin-e-ma-zoo.One cold day in December After year twenty-two - Gary Oliver, CinemaZoo's founder did not know what to do.
CinemaZoo the Pacific Northwest's largest private sanctuary for exotic creatures was founded on the good intentions of people who acquired an exotic pet but didn’t think it through. That exotic bird was beautiful but was too loud and that cute little sugar glider looked like a cuddly pet but it was noisy all night and would emit nasty things if you tried to hold it. And that pet monitor lizard- it just ate the owner's cat.
 All of these now unwanted and abandoned creatures ended up at CinemaZoo. Close to 300 of these exotic creatures were now facing eviction and, even worse, euthanasia.
 Social media came to the rescue. Gary contacted One Big Broadcast and they pledged to help. First, all of the traditional media were contacted and-
 -Within days local TV stations were airing the news, Vancouver's daily newspaper, The Province, ran a front page story and the drama caught the hearts and minds of the entire province.
 The efforts main focus was centered around One Big Broadcasts socialcasting platform. While the news events were happening the OBB team was dominating the Internet with UGC (User Generated Content) content.
 OBB’s social media tools allowed them to quickly upload images to their broadcast and enabled blogs and GPS galleries from one central CMS console. They also delivered all the ongoing updates via email, SMS, social media and social networking sites. Finally OBB’s widgets updated web sites and blogs carrying the feeds.
Cinemazoo's news dominated every search term on Google and Yahoo within days. One Big Broadcast was able to funnel the traffic into Cinemazoo's donation page.
Money started flowing in online via ecommerce microsite pages One Big Broadcast had created. Donations poured in as the public opened their wallets, bookings soared and merger talks followed from a major zoo for funding and expansion.
 As Gary Oliver said later during one of his follow-up TV interviews, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for One Big Broadcast.â€
This is a story of how powerful social media can be in effectively getting out a message to make a difference. With the proper technology and expertise no other form of multi-media channeling of information can have the immediate and lasting impact of a properly orchestrated social media campaign.
The story ends with this video and a HAPPY ending for all: By William Cosgrove
Don't Be Fashionable With Your Social Media Marketing-Be Effective
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(Posted on Nov 17, 2013 at 03:09PM )
Social media destinations today seem to be a what’s trending, what's fashionable media where Social Icons are losing ground and where smaller ones are constantly being replaced with the next technologically fad driven way to communicate and share with one another on the internet.Facebook makes a weak showing when it comes to ad performance for direct response marketing (lead generation) and this month, during a quarterly earnings call, David A. Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer, made a startling acknowledgment that confirms what many had suspected but were never able to prove - that the service had become less appealing for at least some of its users. And though Facebook is still the default social network for many people, perhaps it is no longer as crucial as it once was for social survival.
There are also recent studies that are suggesting that people still prefer non-paid ads for search and show that the higher CTRs come from ads with a lower position that actually look likes an organic result, even though it’s often paid. This points to the fact that people are trying to skip the ads and failing.
Organic search has been and still is the search method of choice. There will always be a reason to reach out over social channels as part of your overall marketing mix but why dedicate more and more resources chasing the next hot social channel when that same technology that is changing the social media landscape on an almost daily basis can now benefit companies the most by originating the bulk of your social media initiatives from your own site.
It is time to look more within your organization to find better and more stable ways of attracting customers and communicating with your existing customer base. And this can be done by forming onsite communities, online events and classified marketing initiatives to organically grow your inbound traffic.
These integrated initiatives can effectively reduce the cost of your online marketing and provide a host of benefits that cannot be achieved or more effectively controlled in any other way.
One Big Broadcast has been pioneering these integrated technologies for years. We can show you how to effectively reduce costs and increase your ROI, Inbound marketing, Service, Sales and Customer retention.
In what direction do you feel this is all going? And what would your suggestions be?
William Cosgrove
Most discussion on the generic topic of social influence centers on persuasion in a social environment.Through an active online presence of blogging, commenting, participating in forums and on social networks or through word of mouth we all are in a way looking to influence and find influencers. Those that are actively involved in particular areas may be researching, simply voicing opinions or trying to draw attention to a product or service albeit from a positive or negative aspect.
Using influencers to increase market awareness of a firm amongst target markets is a method that can accelerate your visibility and culminate in getting known in circles that can have a huge impact on one’s success.
All of us who are actively involved in social networking whether it is online, offline or a combination of both are all looking to further ourselves or our company in some way.
Getting noticed by an influencer whether it be a decision maker in a company with whom you would like to do business, one who is well connected with key people in your industry or a current or potential customer can often act as an accelerator for business.
Influencer Marketing, as increasingly practiced in a commercial context, comprises four main activities:
Identifying influencers and ranking them in order of importance.
Marketing to influencers to increase your awareness within the influencer community
Marketing through influencers, Marketing with influencers and turning influencers into advocates of the firm.
Influencer Marketing is enhanced by a continual evaluation activity that sits alongside these four main activities.
Exactly what is included in Influencer Marketing depends on the context (B2C or B2B) and the medium of influence transmission (online or offline, or both). But it is becoming increasingly accepted that companies should be identifying and engaging with influencers.
As marketing experts Keller and Berry note, “Business is working harder and paying more to pursue people who are trying to watch and listen less to its messages." Targeting influencers is seen as a means of amplifying marketing messages, in order to counteract the growing tendency of prospective customers to ignore marketing.
Onsite social communities and newsletters are an effective and low cost method in which to engage with and gain valuable knowlege from influencers both in B2C and B2C.
Social Communities allow businesses not only to connect and follow existing customers but also to engage with their employee base. This is a centralized way in which to communicate with, retain and turn your existing customers and employees into marketing influencers and brand ambassadors.
On the B2C side Newsletters help to connect with influencers to draw their attention and educate them on the value of your company and what makes you unique.
But a large part of the problem is that many companies view social technologies as yet another tool to be implemented rather than as an enabler of organizational and marketing transformation.
It is said that one in every 10 Americans is what they call an "influential." These people have a tremendous impact on the rest of society because their ideas and opinions are sought out by the colleagues, friends, family and community members around them. The conversations they hold and the examples they set have the power to shape the community's behaviors and attitudes.
Based on this statistic, how many untapped influential customers or employees might already be in your database or working within your organization. And with a one in ten chance of finding an influencer and making them an advocate for your business through that newsletter, onsite community, forum or professional group it is an economical avenue worth pursuing that can provide substantial long term rewards.
William Cosgrove
It was the night before Christmas, well very close, and all through the house the creatures were stirring because everything was in doubt. A knock at the door and who would appear but a scrooge with an eviction notice- this was no Christmas cheer for Cin-e-ma-zoo.One cold day in December After year twenty-two - Gary Oliver, CinemaZoo's founder did not know what to do.
CinemaZoo the Pacific Northwest's largest private sanctuary for exotic creatures was founded on the good intentions of people who acquired an exotic pet but didn’t think it through. That exotic bird was beautiful but was too loud and that cute little sugar glider looked like a cuddly pet but it was noisy all night and would emit nasty things if you tried to hold it. And that pet monitor lizard- it just ate the owner's cat.
 All of these now unwanted and abandoned creatures ended up at CinemaZoo. Close to 300 of these exotic creatures were now facing eviction and, even worse, euthanasia.
 Social media came to the rescue. Gary contacted One Big Broadcast and they pledged to help. First, all of the traditional media were contacted and-
 -Within days local TV stations were airing the news, Vancouver's daily newspaper, The Province, ran a front page story and the drama caught the hearts and minds of the entire province.
 The efforts main focus was centered around One Big Broadcasts socialcasting platform. While the news events were happening the OBB team was dominating the Internet with UGC (User Generated Content) content.
 OBB’s social media tools allowed them to quickly upload images to their broadcast and enabled blogs and GPS galleries from one central CMS console. They also delivered all the ongoing updates via email, SMS, social media and social networking sites. Finally OBB’s widgets updated web sites and blogs carrying the feeds.
Cinemazoo's news dominated every search term on Google and Yahoo within days. One Big Broadcast was able to funnel the traffic into Cinemazoo's donation page.
Money started flowing in online via ecommerce microsite pages One Big Broadcast had created. Donations poured in as the public opened their wallets, bookings soared and merger talks followed from a major zoo for funding and expansion.
 As Gary Oliver said later during one of his follow-up TV interviews, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for One Big Broadcast.â€
This is a story of how powerful social media can be in effectively getting out a message to make a difference. With the proper technology and expertise no other form of multi-media channeling of information can have the immediate and lasting impact of a properly orchestrated social media campaign.
The story ends with this video and a HAPPY ending for all: By William Cosgrove
Nigel Hollis ,Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst at brand research consultancy Millward Brown, and author of two books on developing a meaningful brand tells us that Everything you do in business builds your brand for good or ill, as your actions generate feelings, associations, and ideas in the minds of your consumers. He goes on to say that the challenge is to make sure those actions create a meaningfully different experience that people want to repeat. This is because people are predisposed to choose things that stand out from the crowd. A brand’s difference gives consumers an easy rationale for choosing it, and a ready justification for paying a price premium.
Research done by Millward Brown finds that brands with a meaningful difference command a price premium 13 percent higher than weaker category alternatives.
For example, look at Lululemon. Founded in 1998, Lululemon produces sports apparel for women that is fashionable, environmentally friendly, and as technically advanced as sports apparel for men. The company spends virtually nothing on advertising. Instead, it concentrates on building an ardent consumer base by creating a unique customer experience. Instructors wear the clothing at in-store events like self-defense and goal-setting workshops, simultaneously building product awareness and forging ties with local communities. Through the community portal on its website, Lululemon invites customers to share their experiences via Instagram and Twitter.
They are encouraged to apply to become Lululemon ambassadors, “unique individuals … who embody the Lululemon lifestyle and live our culture.†The company now has over 200 stores, and sales soared from US $40 million to US $1.37 billion in eight years. In the US alone, sales grew 40 percent in 2012.
There is a saying that content is the fuel and social is the fire. And for businesses in today’s customer centric marketplace creating a private social networking platform connects your customer and potential customer base into a single-focus environment, enabling them to exchange ideas which will ultimately strengthen your brand and broaden your customer base.
In addition to your overall Digital marketing strategy social communities are a perfect branding platform to show your members your appreciation and dedication to serving them by offering member only specials on purchases and services all geared towards producing devoted customers who will ultimately become your brand ambassadors.
This sense of community creates a win, win relationship where both you and your members can communicate closely and collaborate on such things as events, volunteer efforts, etc which in turn is channeled through organic seo and social networks to generate goodwill across the internet from your website.
In today’s world of being relevant using content marketing in all its forms, what better way is there to be relevant than by creating your own brand ambassador community program.
The following video is a, Food for Thought, testimonial on how creating Brand Ambassadors can work for your business and create a low cost way to gain customers for the long term.
William Cosgrove