Valuable Engagement vs. Engagement: The Battle That No One Is Paying Attention To

Looking back on social media over the last year we have seen many trends. Some of the biggest topics were focusing on the ROI of social media and then again on the value of “engagement”. Before I go off on a full rant, I want to make something clear. Having your friends, family, customers and fans interact with you on social media is incredibly valuable because you’re building a relationship. Getting a random person to click the like button on your picture of a cute animal offers nowhere near the same value.
Several brands get tunnel vision and only look at the numbers–likes, fans, followers, views, retweets etc. When you are only trying to raise those numbers your direction shifts. Even if it’s only a small shift, it makes a big difference over time. Let’s say your original goal was to create better relationships with your customers to encourage brand loyalty and repeat business. During this process you started measuring your success by some of the pre-mentioned interactions. Your team is now putting their efforts, time and thought into getting those numbers up instead of building relationships with your customers. So you and/or your team is thinking about it like this:

Success = Engagement and Engagement = Interaction

The problem: Interaction can be mindless. People don’t have to make a connection to your brand or business in order to play a game on your Facebook page or see and “like” a funny or cute picture that you posted.  All the interaction in the world might not do anything to creating a better relationship or promoting repeat business (your original goals). In other words, there’s no ROI for simple interaction.

In social media I have come to understand:

Valuable Engagement  = Attention + Perceived Value + Interaction

This means that your customer/fan sees value in something you provided, they pay attention enough to understand that information and how it relates to your brand or business (why you posted it), and then they respond in one way or another.  As you continue to provide value, they continue to see the value in you and start to develop the relationship with your company/brand. This relationship affects their choices in the future, specifically their purchasing decisions.

The BIG difference between the two is VALUE!  I know that we talk about this all the time, but this specific rant is meant to encourage everyone to redefine “engagement” or at least to start to shoot for “valuable engagement” instead.

I would love to hear your thoughts on engagement in social media. Feel free to shoot me and questions or thoughts on Twitter or post it up on our Facebook page.

Google Will Change Web Marketing in 2012 - Brian Whalley - Harvard Business Review

Google Will Change Web Marketing in 2012 - Brian Whalley - Harvard Business Review

Seven Steps to A New Habit
 

First, make a decision. Decide clearly that you are going to begin acting in a specific way 100% of the time, whenever that that behavior is required. For example, if you decide to arise early and exercise each morning, set your clock for a specific time, and when the alarm goes off, immediately get up, put on your exercise clothes and begin your exercise session.

Second, never allow an exception to your new habit pattern during the formative stages. Don't make excuses or rationalizations. Don't let yourself off the hook. If you resolve to get up at 6:00 am each morning, discipline yourself to get up at 6:00 AM, every single morning until this becomes automatic.

Third, tell others that you are going to begin practicing a particular behavior. It is amazing how much more disciplined and determined you will become when you know that others are watching you to see if you have the willpower to follow through on your resolution.

Fourth, visualize yourself performing or behaving in a particular way in a particular situation. The more often you visualize and imagine yourself acting as if  you already had the new habit, the more rapidly this new behavior will be accepted by your subconscious mind and become automatic.

Fifth, create an affirmation that you repeat over and over to yourself. This repetition dramatically increases the speed at which you develop the new habit. For example, you can say something like; "I get up and get going immediately at 6:00 AM each morning!" Repeat these words the last thing before you fall asleep. In most cases, you will automatically wake up minutes before the alarm clock goes off, and soon you will need no alarm clock at all.
 
Sixth, resolve to persist in the new behavior until it is so automatic and easy that you actually feel uncomfortable when you do not do what you have decided to do.

Seventh, and most important, give yourself a reward of some kind for practicing in the new behavior. Each time you reward yourself, you reaffirm and reinforce the behavior. Soon you begin to associate, at an unconscious level, the pleasure of the reward with the behavior. You set up your own force field of positive consequences that you unconsciously look forward to as the result of engaging in the behavior or habit that you have decided upon.

Boost Lifetime Customer Value with A Soap Opera By Richard Lindner

I bet you never thought that a corny, melodramatic daytime TV series that was developed to sell dish soap could ever help improve your email marketing. BUT it can... And although the strategy I'm discussing here doesn't actually include boosting your guilty pleasure TV intake - it is very much inspired by the addictive and episodic nature of the soap opera. Not to mention, with all the extra lifetime value you'll be getting from your customers -- you'll probably be able to spend more time on the couch "watching your stories." ...if that's what you're into. What is a Soap Opera Series? The only Soap Opera Series (S.O.S.) I'm really interested in is the one created by Andre Chaperon for his online course "Autoresponder Madness 2.0" (which I highly recommend, btw). In a nutshell, the S.O.S. is an incredible email strategy that combines storytelling and relationship building to market to your existing customers. Through a very formulaic progression of emails, the S.O.S. creates anticipation, builds interest, and identifies new opportunities/needs/problems, resulting in more engagement with customers on your list. Basically, it helps familiarize your customers with other offers in your business without annoying the heck out of them. Why You Need a Soap Opera Series Time and time again, research shows that the people who've already purchased something from you are the most likely to do so again. Therefore, your list of existing customers is one of the most important and effective lists you can possibly market to. BUT, most marketers don't do this. Why? Basically, it's because they're LAZY. You worked hard to attract leads and convert those leads into customers. If you don't do the necessary maintenance to boost lifetime value and retention, you're throwing all that work away. Even worse, you're not showing the customer how much you value their business - bad move. Think about it. This is a person who's already found one of your offers compelling enough to make a purchase. The likelihood that they'll connect with one of your future offers is very high. That's why you must develop an S.O.S. to keep up your end of the relationship. Sending Out an S.O.S. As I mentioned before, the Soap Opera Series is very formulaic, and therefore it's fairly easy to reproduce. That's the genius behind it. The idea is that it's like an email rollercoaster ride where your customers are up one day, down another. It's an offer-specific, daily email campaign - not just an email blast. The first email will reference the email that's coming the next day. The second email may open up a "loop" or pique curiosity about an email that's coming a few days later. Step 1 The series starts with building reciprocity in emails 1 and 2. We do this by giving away free, but useful information and storytelling. In emails 3 and 4 we move towards identifying a problem or opportunity in the marketplace. Once again, we'll often reference an upcoming email, saying something like, "Tomorrow, we'll tell you a story about how one of my friends was able to..." Remember the S.O.S. is all about building storylines and introducing subplots. That's where the soap opera part comes in. Step 2 Next, in emails 5 - 7, we show the customer a lead magnet (a free report in most cases) that addresses the specific problem or opportunity we discussed in emails 3 and 4.  This is where we try to move the customer (who's now really a prospect again) into what we call a "choose your own adventure."  Step 3a If they do show interest and opt-in to receive the free report or video, they are placed into a new autoresponder series (and TEMPORARILY removed from the S.O.S.). Basically, the soap opera has worked and you've got your prospect's attention. At this point, the customer begins a "perpetual launch" series for a product or service that solves the initial problem/opportunity we presented - it's designed to advance the customer through their chosen "adventure." Once the prospect has opted in to receive their free report, we immediately send them 3 - 4 more pieces of content that follow a very specific formula. Content Piece #1:  Identifies the opportunity or problem Content Piece #2:  Shows the "how and wow" Content Piece #3:  PROOF!  Case studies, social proof, and testimonials Step 3b Then and only then do we ask for the sale, but we also give the prospect several ways to buy. The first opportunity they are given to purchase is through a perpetual webinar. If the prospect registers for the webinar, they are moved to a reminder series that encourages attendance.  After the webinar has ended, if the prospect did not buy, they are sent two opportunities to attend webinar replays.  If the prospect has STILL not purchased, they are moved into a 5-part email series sending them straight to the video or long-form sales letter for the product or service.  If at any time the prospect BUYS, they are immediately removed from all series and added to a customer stick email series. Step 4 If they DO NOT show interest or don't opt-in to receive the free report after S.O.S. emails 5 - 7... we simply move on. We assume that they simply are not interested in what we are offering and that's fine -- but we definitely don't want to keep hitting them over the head about it.  In emails 8 - 10 we go back to the exact same formula we used for emails 1 - 4... reciprocity, storytelling, opening loops, presenting a DIFFERENT problem or opportunity, and offering a free report that leads into a different perpetual launch or sales process. Are you starting to see a pattern here?  You should be, because at this point it becomes as simple as "Lather, Rinse, Repeat" until you have gone through your entire product line AND, if you're smart, some of your strategic partners, joint venture partners and affiliate's offers too! The Takeaway By allowing your customers to choose which offers they're actually interested in, you're not only providing them with a much more personalized experience... ...you're also NOT annoying them with extensive information about products they're not interested in. The S.O.S. not only boosts your list's engagement and conversion rates, it also lowers your unsubscribe rates because it combats list fatigue. Keep in mind, this strategy doesn't have to be reserved for customers -- it works great for a prospect series as well, especially when you're generating cold leads that don't know much about you or your products.

You Go, Go Daddy!

By: Whitney Bishop

I’m always thrilled when someone manages to surprise and delight me as a customer. I recently had the privilege of receiving such a service experience from GoDaddy, the hosting company I’ve been working with for over six years now.

Bob called me up to talk with me about my account. I manage multiple domains and have several hosting plans and he had been taking a look at my account and noticing that I could be saving some money or better utilizing the services I already had.

The big news here? Bob called ME first. Nice move, Bob!

You see, that had been one of the things on my to-do list – “Call GoDaddy to review my account plans.” I’d been putting it off because I assumed it would take a large block of time and an even larger dose of patience.

Bob saved me some money. Guess what else Bob did? Bob made a sale. I renewed several domains for multiple years – putting money in GoDaddy’s pocket and in Bob’s pocket! And we both felt great about it.

How can you take a cue from Go Daddy? From Bob?

Make three changes to the way you interact with your customers:

1. Take a page from the playbook of GoDaddy. Call up your customers and make sure they are getting the right solution from you. Ask them questions about how they’re using your product/service. Ask them why they aren’t using certain features – maybe they just don’t understand or haven’t gotten around to calling in for help. Make sure your internal processes aren’t making it hard for them to do business with you.

2. Make it a HABIT to go visit your customers and SEE how they are using and benefitting from your product or service. Who do you want them to think of when it’s time to renew or reorder? The discount catalog, the phone salesperson, the other guy who went in to make a call or YOU? You’ve already got the business – show up so you can keep it!

3. A Daily Dose! Every day, take 20 minutes to think of one of your customers. Set the timer on your phone, pull up all their file, whatever you’ve got. And focus on NOTHING but them. Give them ideas for how to use your product or service to increase their sales, their revenue, and their business. Set a Google Alert for them, if you haven’t already, to see what’s happening in their world and how you can support, encourage, benefit, or celebrate them.

Already doing some of these things? GREAT! How can you make changes to make it even better, more relevant, more customer/client focused? Stay alert folks – somewhere there’s a service experience that will surprise and delight you. Take note and turn it around - make it a point to create one of those for your customers every day.

Plymouth Place actors bring a happy holiday ending to Depression-era dilemma - The Doings La Grange

Plymouth Place actors bring a happy holiday ending to Depression-era dilemma - The Doings La Grange

It Couldn't Be Done
by Edgar A. Guest

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
on his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

Be Your Very Best Always!

Colin O'Donnell On The Challenges Of Starting A Second Hit Company

Colin O'Donnell On The Challenges Of Starting A Second Hit Company

The 100-year path to a sale is over: Road Closed.

We are in the year 2011 and it's amazing to me that people are still cold calling, leaving voicemails, asking for appointments, and, in general, trying to pull out their Felix the Cat tricks that were dead and gone the moment the Internet reached awareness. (No offense, Felix.)

Why on earth would someone let you in to see a decision maker on a cold call?
Why on earth would someone return your cold call voicemail?
Why on earth would someone grant you an appointment to make a sales pitch from a cold call?
Why on earth would someone listen to your time-worn sales pitch/tricks without a hint of value coming from you?
Why on earth would you look for your prospect's pain when he or she is looking for pleasure?
Why on earth would you try to sell your prospect, when all they want to do is buy?

Every day I receive sales questions via email, on my website, through my social media platforms, and from phone calls to my office. ALL of them focus around how to do something new with a strategy that is 100 years old.

• How do I overcome objections?
• How do I make a better cold call?
• How do I leave a better voicemail on a first call?
• How do I close a sale?

Most of the people asking these questions only have nine Twitter followers. Maybe less. Maybe none. Or maybe they aren't even on Twitter - and that's why they're stuck on the old path where the road is blocked, forever.

And worse, you get angry at me when I tell you what to do, and how to win.

If you're stuck in the '80s, the best answer I can give you is to buy (or invent) a time machine, set it for 1980, and go back and live there. You'll have ten years to hustle and struggle.

REALITY: The days of selling the old way are not only gone, they're annoying! Not to me. They're annoying to your customer and your potential customer.

Ever hear of referrals?
Ever hear of testimonials?
Ever hear of networking?
Ever thought about speaking at civic organizations?
Ever thought about writing a column for the local business weekly or your industry trade publication?

If you spent the same amount of time earning referrals as you do making cold calls, your numbers would increase, you'd close more sales, your aggravation factor would drop to zero, you'd make more money, you'd be infinitely happier on the job, and your job happiness would skyrocket (in spite of your boss).

And those answers require ZERO technology.

Now, take a look at what's new.

Here are some of the new attraction and value-based strategies from the past ten years:

• Your personal website with your philosophy of how you treat customers.
• Your personal blog with posts of interest.
• Your business Facebook page with customer interactions.
• Your video testimonials on YouTube.
• Your LinkedIn connections.
• Your once-a-day value tweet.
• Your weekly value email magazine.

BIG PICTURE: Attract leads, earn referrals. They are 100 times more powerful and more profitable than the common cold call.

ACTION PLAN: Study your customers one at a time. It's the first step to understanding them and their needs. Let them Google you and be impressed.

CAUTION: If you go into a sales appointment sounding like you know everything, it can only embarrass you (and exclude you). If you haven't done the research, you'll look like an unprepared fool. When you have information from the Internet about the person and his or her business it will help you formulate questions and generate ideas - the real elements of selling in today's world.

THE NEW WORLD OF SALES: The Internet and business social media are the new order of selling. They're the new frontier. BUT first, you have to believe it's worth it, resolve to make a plan, dedicate yourself to hard work for a year, and discipline yourself to daily execution.

RESULT: A value-based sale, not a "lowest price - lowest profit" transaction.

And just to be clear, these strategies are not new. All of them are already being used. Hopefully not by your competition.

Stop Networking and Start Making Money

By MaryEllen Tribby

It's a self-marketing tactic I've really come to hate...

I'm talking about "networking." Sure, I've been hearing all about networking for years. I've even used the word myself!

But when you get down to it, networking is cold, sterile... and it seems self-serving: one person trying to form a web of contacts whose sole purpose is to do something for him.

That's not how I want to do business.

Lately, I've been rethinking what "networking" means. For instance, when I meet people at a so-called "networking" event, what is my end-game?

You know what? My ultimate goal is not to network with them... It's not to find out what they can do for me... It's not to add them to my address book until I need something from them...

It's to connect with them!

When I meet people, I want to really understand why they do what they do, to really "get" their true purpose. I want to find out if their purpose and mission is synergistic with Working Moms Only... and, if it is, how we can work together or for one another to best serve our prospective communities. I think of it as "what can we do for each other and each other's communities?" instead of "what can you do for me?"

When I focus on these goals, deals follow. And when a deal is made between two people (notice I did not say two businesses) who have connected – as opposed to "networked" – money usually follows.

Making a connection does require a bit more "work" than simply shoving your business card at a potential client. But the extra money you can make and the new opportunities you can open up to your communities are well worth the extra effort.

Yet, all too often, people are scared to put themselves out there. Unfortunately, insecurity and discomfort can be perceived as arrogance or even disinterest. Sometimes, fear and uncertainty come across as a "what's in it for me" attitude. That can offend the very people you're trying to connect with... And before you know it, a potential million-dollar deal could fly out the window.

Don't let this happen to you!

Conquering the World of Connecting

Recently I spoke at an event. I had just met Lisa Nicholas of The Secret and we were enjoying a lovely conversation over lunch. Suddenly a woman I had met a few months prior at another event sat down at the table and interrupted our conversation.

She said – and I quote – "MaryEllen, you are certainly a hard woman get a hold of. I emailed you last week and I have not heard back from you."

There was no "Hi, how are you?" Nice to see you again." Or even "How are your children?" It was just the typical "WIIFM" approach.

My first thought was – do you really think this kind of behavior is conducive to me wanting to do business with you? But what I said was, "Yes, Sue, I received the email on Thursday. I left for LA (this event) on Monday. I was planning on returning your email later in the week."

This is a wonderful example of why many people do not end up with business from networking events. They have not mastered event etiquette. Nor have they discovered the best way to make lasting connections.

The biggest mistake I see people making is assuming that their highest priority is the highest priority of the person they are trying to do business with.

By adopting this attitude, the only thing they will leave the event with is a lot of useless business cards!

To make real, lasting connections that lead to potential deals, you should put yourself out there with a mission centric philosophy. When you live your company's mission, people will flock to you.

My Top 7 Secrets to Creating Money-Making Connections

1. Cultivate your connection the way you would any relationship: You need to project an image of warmth, approachability, understanding, knowledge, and empathy. Be genuine. You should take an interest in everyone you meet, remember their names, and listen carefully to them. Try to understand their needs and determine how you could assist each other. Building trust is a vital component of relationship building. Be relaxed and stay interested.

2. Understand that "small talk" is the road to "big time": Being able to talk to anyone about anything is a valuable skill in its own right, but it's absolutely essential for making connections. Being able to initiate a conversation makes it more likely that you will meet people who may turn out to be invaluable contacts. Small talk can be difficult at times, so keep a few key phrases up your sleeve such as "Where are you from?" "How did you get started?" and "Do you have children?" to start a conversation off on the right foot.

3. Develop active listening skills: Connecting is not about selling yourself, your products or services, or your business. It is about listening to the other person and showing them that you are truly interested in them. Allow others to open up and talk freely. Give them your undivided attention even if it is only for a few moments. Take an interest in what's said and acknowledge this by nodding or agreeing. Use positive body language such as facing the person you are speaking to. And be sure to make eye contact! This means you are not reading a text message or looking over the other person's shoulder to see who else is around.

4. Be a giver: When you focus on helping others, the "getting" will follow. (And it will often come in unexpected ways!) Remember that no one likes a person with a "taker" mentality. When you are generous, people will notice and respect you. And people generally prefer to do business with people that they respect, trust, and like. Do simple things like acting as a host at every event you attend. One way to do this is by connecting others. This can be as simple as introducing two people to each other or as elaborate as giving a testimonial about a person and their services to the entire group. These acts allow you to focus on others while building equity among your peers.

5. Don't be Debbie Downer: Put on a happy face at the door and smile. This is your time to shine. People will look forward to seeing you and meeting you if you are energetic, positive, and outgoing. Again, people enjoy doing business with people they like, so be a person that others will like. If you're nervous before an event, or if you have stresses at work or at home, take a few seconds before you walk into an event to remind yourself of everything you are grateful for. Let your blessings fill you with happiness and confidence and carry those good feelings with you as you meet people. Be sure not to inconvenience others with your problems – they have enough of their own! Instead, strive to make people forget their troubles while in your presence.

6. Don't sell: Remember what I said earlier about listening rather than trying to sell yourself or your business? Connecting is not about trying to push your agenda. It's about building relationships with people. Once you've made a connection, those people will likely be happy to tell others about who you are and what you do. Word of mouth and social proof are a thousand times more valuable than you talking about how great you are. At every opportunity, teach others about what you do and who you are as a person. Provide valuable, useful information. Always emphasize your mission and purpose. Doing these things is much more powerful than giving a new contact your elevator speech or sales pitch.

7. Follow up with originality: Many people think that the same old email follow-up is okay. Well, it's not. After the event, send a hand-written thank you card... a poem you wrote about the person you connected with... or a balloon bouquet. Mention something from your discussion in whatever communication you make. If you have truly made a connection, your follow-up will be easy and effortless.

By having a game plan, connecting with others can become second nature. People will see you as you are, not as a self-interested business focused on making sales.

Become the kind of person that others want to work with, and events can help explode your business.

Greeting an Unhappy Customer

By: Laurie Brown

You see a customer coming up to you and you can just tell that he is really unhappy. In fact, he looks down right angry. You have a couple of choices: run the other way to handle some other business or find a way to turn his attitude around.

In these situations, when your customers are on the offense, you may end up feeling defensive, as do many other service providers - but this isn't necessarily about you. The customer's anger is far more likely based on something that has nothing to do with you. According to TARP, a B2B customer experience agency, 20% of customer complaints are caused by employee actions, 40% are caused by corporate products and policies, and 40% are caused by customer misinformation or misplaced expectations.

What these numbers mean is that when a customer is unhappy, it is statistically unlikely that you are the cause of their unhappiness. Hopefully, remembering this fact will make it easier for you to brush aside any feelings of defensiveness.

So, what can you do?

Greet your customer warmly and sincerely. A truly warm welcome can be totally disarming. "Hello, how can I help you?" is appropriate, even when you find this greeting is not warmly received. The next step is to acknowledge the problem. You might say, "You seem upset. What can I do to resolve your issue?"

If your customer remains calm and can rationally answer your question, then all you have to do is help them resolve the issue.

But sometimes customers come in with so much anger that engaging them in a calm and rational manner is not possible. When this happens you need to take a different approach:

Have a goal. Decide that your goal is to resolve this customer's issue as quickly as possible. The first few minutes you spent with an unhappy customer can have a lasting impact. So when you go into problem-solving mode as opposed to defensive mode, you have a much greater prospect of having that customer leave happy.

Check your own attitude. Before you start your workday, conduct a personal inventory: How you are feeling? Are you tense? Are you rested? Did you just have a frustrating commute to work? Did you have an argument with someone? Be aware of how you are feeling and what you are thinking and leave any negative emotions and thoughts at the door. You'll find it is very hard to naturally treat others well when you are distracted with other issues.

Take a breath. Taking a deep, abdominal breath can provide a few benefits for you and your customer. Good, abdominal breathing lowers your heart rate and blood pressure and brings oxygen to your brain. What that means to you is that you will be calmer and able to think more clearly. It will also keep you from matching an angry customer's emotions.

Take notes. When you start to take notes about what your customer is saying to you, he will feel like you are taking his problem seriously. There is also a side benefit. Since you can't write as fast as the unhappy customer can speak, you can say, "I want to make sure I get all the details. Would you mind slowing down so I can get the information correct?" Once the customer slows down, they too can breathe and start calming down.

View the next upset customer as an opportunity. With the right goal, good attitude, proper breathing and note taking, you can not only turn that customer from unhappy to happy, you can begin the process of creating a customer for life.

QUIZ: Are You a Fascinating Leader?

by Sally Hogshead on December 5, 2011

Do you have the ability to influence the ideas and actions of others? Do you build strong emotional connections? You will, if you use your natural fascination advantages.
When you use your fascination advantages, you win more than attention. You win:
» More respect
» Better conversations
» Higher-quality focus
» Greater loyalty
» Bigger profits (and a higher price!)
So what exactly makes a leader fascinating? The answer goes far deeper than charisma or skill.
Fascination is an intense, intellectual attraction. It lives deep within the human brain, and has the power to overrule any distraction. In a state of fascination, your listener is completely gripped by you and your message. And it is in these moments that you can truly influence behavior.
To discover how effectively you fascinate as a leader, first, take the following self-assessment. Then, take the F-Score Test at  FScoreTest.com to learn more about your personality’s unique fascination strengths.
The following questions will help you start to think about your personal leadership, and how to apply your strengths to your communication. Ready? Let’s go.
Rank yourself on a scale of 1 – 4, with 1 being “disagree” and 4 being “strongly agree.”
1. Do people naturally gravitate to you?
Do others make efforts to increase their sense of connection to you? Are they willing to go to great lengths to talk with you, listen to you, engage with you?
Score ______
2. Is there hunger for your ideas and opinions?
Are people interested in what you’re thinking and doing? Fascinating people generate a lot of curiosity about what they’re doing now, and what they’ll do next. (Would anyone write a biography about you?)
Score ______
3. Do your words consistently prompt clear, action?
Are you provocative enough to generate a spirited discussion, or even heated controversy? Fascinating people elicit action.
Score ______
4. Do you provoke others to think in new ways?
The most fascinating people disrupt usual ways of thinking. There are many ways to do so, from pop culture to . But all fascinating people reveal a different way to think, and if they can absorb our focus, they have the capacity to change our opinions.
Score ______
5. Do others imitate you in their behavior, ideas, or technique?
Imitation isn’t just flattery. It’s a signal that you’re setting a standard of some sort. Fascinating people and things become a sort of “shorthand” for bigger values. In your company and industry, are you a symbol for anything?
Score ______
Tally your score. If your score is 15 or below, you’re probably not yet tapping into your natural fascination talents. (Not to worry, we can work on your force of influence.)
The reality is, you already have natural talents of persuasion. My company’s research with 74,000 participants has revealed: You already have the strengths you need to create this intense emotional focus with customers, employees, and family. We can prove it. And we can help you identify these strengths with our new assessment, starting soon at HowToFascinate.com.
Once you’ve successfully fascinated someone, then— and only then— can you effectively sell to them. It’s not just your customers: it’s also your employees, partners, family, friends, and even your significant other.
After you take the F-Score test, you’ll start to become more aware of your main personality strengths. As you engage in conversations with employees and customers, you’ll begin to notice how others respond to your words and actions. You can create more opportunities to use your primary and secondary triggers in meetings, in emails, in conversations, and in life.
The goal is not to change your leadership style. Not at all. In fact, the goal is to harness your natural leadership style. How can you fascinate differently, and better, than anyone else?

Six Ways to Improve Your Digital Marketing in 2012

'Tis the season...to start thinking about how you're going to grow your business in 2012.

Based on what we're seeing out there, here are a few things that you need to include in your digital marketing plans for 2012.

Develop a Mobile Strategy

The iPad 3 will be dropping next year, Amazon's Kindle Fire has a web browser, and more tablets are entering the marketplace. In addition, more and more people are walking around with computers in their pants, also known as smart phones.

"Mobile" covers a lot of ground: location-based apps, QR codes, SMS marketing, text messaging and more. But the best place to start is with a mobile-friendly website. People on mobile devices have different needs and expectations than they do when they're on a desktop machine.

What do your customers want from your website when they're on the move? Directions? A phone number? Store hours? Lengthy bios on all your staff? (Not.)

Be sure to view your website on an iPhone, Droid and Blackberry. How does it look? Will it help turn visitors into customers?

Improve your Facebook Presence

If your prospects are on Facebook, make sure you have a strategy that works.

Start with a landing page that is optimized to accomplish one goal: get people to like you.

Further Reading:  What is a Facebook Landing Page and Why Do I Need One? 

Follow up by creating engaging content on your Facebook business page that encourages people to like, comment and share your content. This will land you on your customers' news feeds, and help you stay front of mind.

Further reading: Facebook Marketing: Understanding EdgeRank  

You may also want to experiment with some targeted Facebook ads to attract new prospects.

Turn Your Blog Into a Lead Generation Machine

Search will continue to be a critical tool for attracting new business. If you want to rank well at Google, then you're going to need to blog for your business.

Create keyword-rich blog posts that answer your ideal customers' most important questions. When they ask these questions at Google or Bing, your blog posts can appear near the top of the results. This will help drive qualified traffic to your blog where you can establish your credibility and drive interested prospects to your contact form.

Further reading: Ultimate Blogger's Guide to SEO  

Leverage Online Video

These days, video is inexpensive, easy to create, and incredibly engaging. So why aren't you doing more of it?

In 2012, set yourself a goal that you're going to create one video every week that addresses your prospects' big questions, shows how to use your product, gives a tour of your facility, spotlights one of your customers using your products, or whatever it is that will convince your ideal customer that they should be talking to you.

Post your videos to YouTube, and give them keyword-rich titles, descriptions and tags. Embed them in your blog, post them to Facebook, and promote them through Twitter and LinkedIn.

Further reading: YouTube Marketing Handouts  

Build Your List

The most important asset most businesses and non-profits have is their list. The easiest way to build your list, and to get permission to email the people on it, is to get people to sign up for an email newsletter.

To increase your subscriber base, you'll need to create a piece of email bait: something of value that will encourage your prospects to give their email addresses to you. This might be a white paper, or entry to a giveaway, or discounts in your online store that are only available to subscribers. Whatever will motivate your prospects and customers to subscribe, that's your offer.

Every page of your website should promote your email bait for maximum results.

Further reading: List Building: How to Build a List of Contacts from Your Website  

Seek Professional Help

Tablets and Smartphones Become Holiday Shopping Assistants - eMarketer

Tablets and Smartphones Become Holiday Shopping Assistants - eMarketer

Coming To Grips With "The Gap"

By Dan Sullivan

Some people look toward the future and feel a rush of inspiration and excitement. Others look forward and feel guilty, anxious, dissatisfied, or paralyzed by perfectionism: They never feel like they've done quite enough or achieved everything they should have. These feelings drive them to be hard on themselves – and on others around them.

Even the most successful people can be demanding and critical of themselves. Why is that? The answer lies in the way the human brain works, which makes us all susceptible to a kind of negative self-evaluation I call "The Gap." It's often especially evident among people who have big ambitions, like entrepreneurs. In this article, we'll give you a handle on what The Gap is and show you how you can get out of The Gap once you recognize that you're in it.

Ideals, goals, and the actual.
Lets start by examining some structures that exist in all of our minds. As humans, we have the ability to conceive of perfection–the ideal–in any situation. An ideal is like the horizon: Even though you move in its direction, it always seems to be just as far away. Just like the horizon, ideals are mental constructs. Rather than relating to them as attainable, the best way to treat the ideal is as an infinite source of inspiration for creating goals.

Goals, on the other hand, are more concrete and measurable. Goals require that you look at where you actually are now, then set measurable objectives for where you'd like to be in the future. When you get to that point, you can look back and identify exactly how much progress you've made.

Definition of The Gap.
The Gap is the permanent distance between the ideal and the actual. When you're in The Gap, it's because you're measuring your progress against an ideal that is, by nature, unattainable, instead of looking back to where you started and comparing that to where you are now.

Achieving your goals gives you the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to celebrate. People fixated on ideals seldom find reasons to celebrate; they're too busy making demands of themselves to stop and acknowledge the progress they've made. They may feel that the constant pursuit of ideals keeps them in motion, but what they're missing out on is any enjoyment of their accomplishments and the opportunity to use these wins as a platform for increased confidence and capability.

Uses of ideals.
Ideals do serve a vital function. They can inspire us to create big goals, help us endure hard times, and lift us from our everyday perspective so we can glimpse the big picture. They're indispensable – as long as we recognize them for what they are.

In working with your future as a tool, use the ideal as a beacon to show you the direction, but be sure to honestly acknowledge where you are now and translate your ideals into workable, attainable goals.

Your get-out-of-The-Gap-free card.
If you find yourself feeling stuck, unable to take action, you might be in The Gap. The way to free yourself is to shift your focus from perfection to the progress you've already achieved.

Here's where your past is a valuable resource: Set aside some regular time for yourself, perhaps at the beginning of the week, and write down your 10 biggest achievements from the past week, along with what makes them significant to you.

You might be surprised at how much you've accomplished, and you'll be able to see what you can do next to continue this progress. Now is always the time to enjoy your success!

Building Your List for Longevity and Profits With Online Polls

By Wendy Montes de Oca

More than a decade ago, back when the Internet was not being fully utilized for anything more than banner advertising, I found myself thinking of new and creative ways to leverage this exciting platform.

Although over the years I worked for top publishers, I didn't always have a huge budget to help with list building efforts.

This turned out to be a good thing, as it helped me be 'creatively strategic' in terms of using old, cost-effective tactics in new ways.

You see, back then, I started using a powerful direct response tool (surveys and polls) on my employer's website to help gauge investor insight, which in turn, could then be tapped into for product development and client retention efforts.

Fast forward seven or so years when a global phenomenon, known as 'Web 2.0', is all the rage. Web 2.0, is quite simply, the art of enhancing user experience, interactivity, and participation on the Internet through two-way dialogue. This was the birth of social media marketing.

From a search engine marketing standpoint, the benefits of Web 2.0 were clear and measurable: More traffic and frequent interactivity with visitors equates to better organic (free) rankings in search engine results listings. Getting good organic rankings is a powerful way to find qualified prospective customers.

Knowing this, I tweaked my online poll strategy now to be used on targeted, external websites for lead generation (acquisition) purposes.

Online acquisition polls can help collect names and e-mail addresses, gauge market sentiment, and generate sales via a redirect link to a promotional page. It also allows people to vent and sound off about a hot topic, controversial subject, or current event.

Some websites, like SurveyMonkey.com, can make the process seamless, allowing members to set up free or low-cost surveys (polls). Alternatively, you can ask a qualified web programmer to create a proprietary poll platform using a generic poll script. You can find some examples at hotscripts.com, bgpoll.com/, ballot-box.net/faq.php, micropoll.com, and 2enetworx.com. Just make sure the script has a lead generation component.

Here are eight ways to help make your online acquisition poll a success:

1. Make it engaging. Your poll question should engage the reader, encourage participation, generate interest, and tie into a current event. Remember to add a "comments" field so people can make additional remarks. Sample hot topics include: politics, the economy, health, consumer breakthroughs, the stock market, foreign affairs, trends or forecasts.

2. Be frugal. You can certainly add an online acquisition poll to your own website to capture email addresses from organic traffic. But also consider select, external locations such as high-traffic, synergistic blogs. Blog advertising is a great, inexpensive way to test online polls. There are dozens of health, financial, political, self improvement, and business opportunity blogs where I've personally ran ads (polls) paying anywhere from $25 - $300+ per week/per blog. You can contact blog owners directly or use networks such as blogads.com. Prices will vary based on duration and placement of ad as well as blog popularity.

3. Be relevant. Your poll question should be related to your content,that is, product, free e-zine topic, or free bonus report. This will greatly improve your conversion rate (the number of people who actually participate in your poll) and your up-sell rate. Let's say your free offer is a sign-up for an investment e-zine and your up-sell is a redirect landing page promotion for a paid investment newsletter. In that case, your poll question should be market related, something like "Where is gold headed in 2012?"

4. Offer an incentive. After people take your poll, thank them for their participation by automatically signing them up for your free e-zine and bonus report. Mention clearly they can opt out at any time. And assuming it's your policy not to sell or rent e-mail names to third parties (and it should be), indicate that next to the sign-up button. This will reassure people that it's safe to give you their e-mail address.

5. Tag the responses. Having your poll question somehow tie into your product line makes the names you collect extremely qualified for future offers. Each name should be "tagged" by your database folks or web programmer according to the answer they gave. Segmenting names by category will make it easier for you to send targeted offers later. Let's say your product line includes an investment e-zine on equities. In that case, your poll question might ask people which investment product they think has the best returns: money market, gold, equities, or options. Those who answer "equities" will be prime candidates for a promotion for the e-zine.

6. Use the results for new initiatives. In addition to collecting names, online polls can gauge sentiment and be used for market research. If an overwhelming number of responders indicate a certain interest that pertains to your business, the result could be an ideal new product or service.

7. Strengthen your new relationships. You need to reinforce the connection between the poll people just participated in and your e-zine. So make sure each name that comes in gets an immediate 'thank you' (for taking the poll) redirect or email. Your 'thank you' message can include a link for the downloadable free e-book you promised. Also, consider sending a series of 'bonding' e-mails to poll takers – all to help them get to know who you are, what you do, and how your information will benefit them. This will help improve lifetime value and customer longevity.

8. Gratify participants with the results. Don't just leave poll participants wondering ... make sure you tell them that the results will be published in your free e-zine or on your website (to encourage repeat visits). This will help increase readership and website traffic.

Marketers have used internal polls for years. But now more than ever, with its cost effectiveness and efficiency, external acquisition polls can be used to help build a business and maintain its visibility.

Here's Looking at You, Kid!

When I speak to salespeople, I often ask how ready they are to make a sale and almost always get the answer, “I was born ready!” Then they will ask for a minute to run out to their car and get their brochures, business cards, or some presentation material. In other words… not quite as ready as they thought.

Every salesperson has a product or service they want to sell. Most can deliver their “pitch” at a moments notice, but is that enough to make the sale? I suspect not.

The hardest task for an actor delivering a monologue is to not make it look like he is acting. Similarly, the single biggest challenge for a salesperson pitching a potential client is to not sound like a salesperson.

I am not saying that salespeople need to be great actors in order to make the sale. (Although having the presentation skills of a great actor would not hurt.) I am saying that most people are not as ready or prepared for the opportunity that may be just around the corner.

In the end,your success comes down to two simple words: dedication and sacrifice.
1. How dedicated are you to your preparation of becoming the best salesperson you can possibly be?
2. What are you willing to sacrifice for it?

Decide today to rededicate yourself to personal greatness and commit to sacrificing one hour more per day to improving your skills.

Start today with something fun! How about a good night at the movies with someone you love? Here are a few of my all-time favorite films that can inspire you into action as you transform from good to great:

1. Rocky 3. At least one of your competitors right now is training like Clubber Lang (Mr. T) in order to kick your butt the next time they are up against you. UGH….I pity the fool who would rather rest.

2. Rudy. Everyone loves the underdog because perseverance, dedication, sacrifice, commitment, dreams are all words used in describing the motivation of an underdog.

3. Kung Fu Panda. Kid films are not only for kids. It does not matter how hairy, slow, portly or boring one is, everyone has greatness within them.

It does not matter where you started or where you are today, it is where you want to be and what you are doing to get there that will make all the difference in your life. Every character in these films faced challenges and uncertainty, but their dedication and sacrifices for what they believed ultimately helped them prevail.

501

Social Proof Is The New Marketing

As I’ve written about before, we’re in an amazing period of the consumer Internet.  Despite a shaky economy, many web companies are in hypergrowth.  This is reminiscent of the five-year period over a decade ago when companies like Amazon, Netscape, eBay, Yahoo, Google and PayPal were built.
One challenge, which isn’t new, is the battle for consumer attention.  If you’re looking to grow your user base, is there a best way to cost-effectively attract valuable users?  I’m increasingly convinced the best way is by harnessing a concept called social proof, a relatively untapped gold mine in the age of the social web.
What is social proof?  Put simply, it’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something.  It’s also known as informational social influence.
Wikipedia describes social proof as “a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect the correct behavior for a given situation… driven by the assumption that the surrounding people possess more information about the situation.” In other words, people are wired to learn from the actions of others, and this can be a huge driver of consumer behavior.
Consider the social proof of a line of people standing behind a velvet rope, waiting to get into a club.  The line makes most people walking by want to find out what’s worth the wait.  The digital equivalent of the velvet rope helped build viral growth for initially invite-only launches like Gmail, Gilt Groupe, Spotify, and Turntable.fm.
Professor Robert Cialdini, a thought leader in social psychology, has many examples. In one study, his team tested messages to influence reusing towels in hotel rooms.  The social proof message – “Almost 75% of other guests help by using their towels more than once” had 25% better results than all other messages.  And adding the words “of other guests that stayed in this room” had even more impact (also an example of how A/B testing of small details matters). 
In another study, a restaurant increased sales of specific dishes by 13-20% just by highlighting them as “our most popular items”.  SP also works on your subconscious – it’s the reason why comedy shows often use a laugh track or audience; people actually laugh more when they can hear other people laughing.
Five Types of Social Proof
If you’re a digital startup, building and highlighting your social proof is the best way for new users to learn about you.  And engineering your product to generate social proof, and to be shared through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest and others, can multiply the discovery of your product and its influence.  Think of it as building the foundation for massively scalable word-of-mouth.  Here’s a “teardown” on various forms of social proof, and how some savvy digital companies are starting to measure its impact.
1) Expert social proof – Approval from a credible expert, like a magazine or blogger, can have incredible digital influence.  Examples:

• Visitors referred by a fashion magazine or blogger to designer fashion rentals online at Rent the Runway drive a 200% higher conversion rate than visitors driven by paid search.
• Klout identifies people who are topical experts on the social web. Klout invited 217 influencers with high Klout scores in design, luxury, tech and autos to test-drive the new Audi A8.  These influencers sparked 3,500 tweets, reaching over 3.1 million people in less than 30 days – a multiplier effect of over 14,000x.
• Mom-commerce daily offer site Plum District also reached mom influencers thru Klout, and found customers referred by influential digital moms shop at 2x the rate of customers from all other marketing channels.

2) Celebrity social proof – Up to 25% of U.S. TV commercials have used celebrities to great effect, but only a handful of web startups have to date.  Some results:

• In 1997, Priceline.com was one of the first web startups to use a celebrity endorser – William Shatner – not a travel expert, but seemingly obsessed with saving consumers money.  It has been a huge win; Priceline now has a $23 billion market cap, and the fee Shatner took in shares is estimated to be worth $600 million.
• Trendyol, the fastest-growing fashion ecommerce company in Turkey, regularly launches merchandise campaigns with the endorsement of celebrities. This practice increases site traffic by 2.5x and product sell-through by 30%.
• ShoeDazzle launched with celebrity Kim Kardashian as chief stylist. Her involvement helped leapfrog the company to an estimated $25m in 2010 and $70 million in 2011 sales, plus a recent $40m financing.  Celebrity endorsement by Jessica Simpson and aesthetician Nerida Joy recently helped Beautymint attract 500,000 visitors in the first 24 hours of its launch.
• The most authentic (and cost-effective) celebrity social proof is unpaid. For home décor site One Kings Lane, a 2010 unpaid mention in Gwyneth Paltrow’s influential blog GOOP provided a 90% lift in daily sign-ups vs. the previous 4 days’ average.  Celebrity use on Turntable.fm by Sir Mix-A-Lot and producer Diplo generated viral buzz, helping the company skyrocket to 140,000 active users in just 4 weeks.

3) User social proof  – Direct TV marketers are masters at sharing user success stories. (fascination with this was actually the inspiration for this blog post).  Companies mastering this digitally include:

• More than 61 million people visit Yelp (working on an upcoming IPO) each month to read user reviews.  And reviews drive revenue; a recent HBS study showed that a 1-star increase in Yelp rating leads to 5-9% growth in sales.
• User-generated videos (UGVs) are a growing and important social proof phenomenon.  Early visitors to Shoedazzle watched more than 9 UGVs on average, helping catapult sales; and user testimonials on YouTube drove a 3x conversion rate vs. organic visitors for Beachbody, the makers of P90x fitness.
• Negative user social proof is also important to track. The first negative user review on eBay has been shown to reverse a seller’s weekly growth rate from 5% to -8%. It also hurts pricing; a 1% increase in negative feedback has been shown to lead to a 7.5% decrease in sale price realized.

4) Wisdom of the crowds social proof – Ray Kroc started using social proof in 1955 by hanging an “Over 1 Million Served” sign at the first McDonald’s.  Highlighting popularity or large numbers of users implies “a million people can’t be wrong.”  Some digital examples:

• Fashion e-tailer Modcloth enables its community to “Be the Buyer” by voting on which styles they think Modcloth should sell in the future.  Shoppers take strong cues from the community; styles with the “Be the Buyer” badge sell at 2x the velocity of un-badged styles.
• Callaway Digital Arts finds that when any of their kids’ iPad apps is listed as a top 10 most popular app in the iTunes App Store “Top Charts,” daily downloads vault 10x over the prior week – but being the No. 1 most popular app drives 30-50% more daily downloads than being No. 2.
• Greentech company Opower uses social proof to help reduce electricity consumption. It works: Opower sees an 80% response rate to e-mails citing how a household’s use compares with the neighborhood, which has driven more than 500 million kilowatt hours of savings so far.

5) Wisdom of your friends social proof – Learning from friends thru the social web is likely the killer app of social proof in terms of 1:1 impact, and the potential to grow virally.  Some examples:

• Friends inviting friends to play through Facebook and other social networks helped Zynga grow from 3 million to 41 million average daily users in just one year, from 2008 to 2009.
• Moms, arguably the most valuable demographic on the social web, rely heavily on friends and family recommendations.  A recent Babycenter study showed moms rely on the wisdom of their friends 67% more than average shoppers; and they rely on social media 243% more than the general population.
• Friends referred by friends make better customers.  They spend more (a 2x higher estimated lifetime value than customers from all other channels at One Kings Lane); convert better (75% higher conversion than renters from other marketing channels at Rent the Runway); and shop faster (they make their first purchase after joining twice as quickly than referrals from other channels at Trendyol)
• They also make better contributors.  People who see content from their friends on TripAdvisor contribute personal content to the site at 2x the rate of others, and are 20% more engaged than other users.

Building Your Social Proof
Will one form of social proof work best for your company? Maybe, but companies like LegalZoom have found that a “mixed salad” of various types of social proof is most effective.  The beauty of the web is you can test, learn and iterate quickly to find what works best.
To note, I don’t think a social proof strategy will be effective if you don’t start with a great product that delights customers, and that people like well enough to recommend.  How do you know if you have a great product?  Track organic traffic growth, reviews, ratings and repeat rates.  And measure your viral coefficient – if your site includes the ability to share, what percentage of your daily visitors and users share with others? How is the good word about your product being shared outside your site on the social web?  Do you know your Net Promoter Score, and your Klout score?
In the age of the social web, social proof is the new marketing.  If you have a great product waiting to be discovered, figure out how to build social proof around it by putting it in front of the right early influencers.  And, engineer your product to share the love.  Social proof is the best way for new users to learn why your product is great, and to remind existing users why they made a smart choice.
P.S.  FOMO, or the psychological phenomenon known as “Fear Of Missing Out,” is also a form of social proof.  As people are wired to learn from others, they are also wired to want things in short supply.  FOMO is a great forcing function on decision-making, as evidenced by the incredible growth of ecommerce flash sales. A friend at another venture firm has posted on his office wall “Is it FOMO, or is it real?” because it also happens in venture financings.  Maybe a topic for a future post.