Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

See it. Say it. Be it. Multi-channel marketing in a Web 2.0 World

Skip Shuda, Team and a Dream

John was the first really good salesperson that I ever met.  I was in my first year of business. After watching him close a deal with a client, he told me, “There comes a point in every negotiation where the next one who talks, loses.”   John knew his face-to-face negotiation tactics for enterprise software.

Many years later, another great salesman, Mike, explained trade shows to me.  “Trade shows are great for finding partners, but lousy for finding clients.” Instead of a company renting a booth at a trade show, Mike suggested renting a suite and sending private invitations for personal product demonstrations in the catered private suite during the course of the trade show.  Mike knew the trade show scene and how to get an edge.

Year after year, more business is done over the Internet.  Year after year, the number of communication channels grows… as do the nuances.  With the advent of Social Computing (aka Web 2.0), it’s  grown to be downright chaotic!

Let’s see… email, gmail, yahoo mail, business blog, personal blog, RSS feed reader, Yahoo groups, Web site copy, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Gaia, Meetup, MyBlogLog, Digg, StumbleUpon, Huddle, Maestro, Ning, Podcasting, Screencasting, iLinc … If I spent just 10 minutes tending to each of my electronic communications, my day would have vanished before I could tend to my various sales meetings, conferences, chambers of commerce, etc.

As a small business owner I want to get the word out.  So, in which channels should I invest?  As blogging, Twitter and Facebook explode, am I missing out if I don’t participate?  If I do participate, how do I get the most impact? And how do I determine if these platforms are the best for me and my business?

I’ve found that a three part formula can help to make some sense out of this mass complexity and confusion:

1)      Understand the fundamentals -yours and your customers

2)      Get clarity on your message and THEN have the conversation

3)      Iterate across channels towards mastery.  Measure – adjust – measure – adjust … continuous improvement leads to mastery and competitive advantage

For short, I like to call it “See it. Say it. Be it.”

Let’s unpack this further.

See it. Understand the fundamentals.

What is the nature of your business?  Whether you are selling expensive equipment, personalized stationary or IT services, the nature of your business is going to shine light more heavily on some online channels than others.  While one group might find colleagues online in LinkedIn, another might be more at home at HeavyEquipmentForums.com.

What are your online marketing goals? Traffic (web site visits) and sales are great, but how are you going to get there?  Some common objectives that might impact your online initiative include:

1. Become recognized as a thought leader in your industry
2. Use online channels to reach an extended geographic audience
3. Educate your clients about your products/services
4. Gain feedback from your clients to improve your product
5. Energize the super-connectors in your audience

Who are your customers?

You should be able to create three or four “personas” that describe the typical buying patterns, habits and motivations of your clients?  For example, some buyers are methodical.  They need all the facts and will use a process to evaluate your offering.  Others are spontaneous and will be seeking a fast solution to their current need.   Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg, in their book, “Waiting for Your Cat to Bark”, remind business owners that understanding the buying behaviors and different types of buyers in your market will allow you to have an edge in better connecting.  The authors describe an approach called Persuasion Architecture for creating a Web marketing presence that can dramatically increase sales.

Say it.  Get Clarity in your Message.

Years ago, while discussing directions to a party with my wife and being perplexed by our inability to sync up, I asked her what she saw in her head.  “I see the words for the directions” she answered.  I was flabbergasted!  I was visualizing a map.  No wonder we weren’t able to communicate on this matter. It’s also no wonder why she easily defeats me in Boggle, Scrabble and Crossword puzzles!

Not everyone uses the same language or mental maps.  The Eisenberg brothers give terrific advice on the kinds of questions different types of buyers will ask.  You need to make sure that your message has something for everyone in your potential audience.  Furthermore, your clients will likely be using your products and services differently from each other.  Make sure those different uses are represented in your messaging.

Once you’ve done your homework on your clients, you’ll need to determine which channels are most effective for them.  There are tools that help you to do this. Check out Groundswell’s Profile Tool to see how many demographics affect where people hang out online.  Use Quantcast to see what kinds of people are showing up in different mediums.  Or see how you can mix these two together by watching this short 5-minute screencast.

Most likely you won’t have time to become an expert on the available online channels.  So find a digital marketing strategist who is.  Some great places to become educated on these topics are Hubspot.com (for Inbound marketing), MarketingExperiments.com and marketingprofs.com.  Good marketing strategists can help educate you on the channels that are most relevant to your business and markets.

Be it.  Continuously improving towards Mastery.

The final stage of an effective multi-channel marketing mix begins with subscribing to and launching your selected channels.  Online channels can be extremely cost effective. They can be easily tested and easily adjusted.  You’ll need to develop a mindset that allows you to change quickly in response to the market feedback.

How will you measure whether your channels are yielding results?   Here are a few common tools for gathering metrics:

1)      Google Analytics is one of the best, free ways to “see it” – providing exceptional site analytics for anyone with a web site.

2)      Platforms like Hubspot provide additional insight into how your site is performing Inbound Marketing (i.e. turning your Web site into a magnet for traffic)

3)      iContact provides analytics on the open rate of your e-newsletter campaigns.

But what to measure?  Activity should not be confused with forward progress! Forward progress needs to be tied into those metrics which support the objectives you set during the “See it” stage.

If you are trying to educate buyers about your industrial process, you might want to measure the number of weekly views of your educational video.  Perhaps you are trying to spread the word virally through “super-connectors.”  In that case, you might measure the number of social tagging sites (like Digg or Del.icio.us) that have book-marked your latest interactive widget. Trying to get the word out about a new product?  Measure how many online outlets have picked up your latest press release.

Chose your metrics based on the objectives and goals that you set.  Create a dashboard that you populate each week with your most important metrics. Then, review them frequently (we do it weekly).

By paying attention to well-selected metrics – and asking if you are making progress towards your objectives, you will gain powerful insights into what works and what doesn’t.   Eventually, you’ll become the John or Mike of your industry… knowing all the right things to say at the right time and in the right place.

See it.  Say it.  Be it.

Does it take time?  Sure.
Are the results worthwhile?  You bet.

Posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Branding, Marketing, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.