Promise Marketing Blog

In the Marketing Interactions Blog (one of our favorites), Ardath Albee shares some great, common sense tips for B2B companies interested in producing content as a lead generation strategy. Here are two of our favorite tips from that list and one we’d like to add:

Under “Sharing Valuable Tips Will Actually Make You Money - Exposing expertise actually shows people how difficult it can be to do what you do, encouraging them to hire you and get that task off their list. Not to mention getting the job done right the first time.” We agree. Remember how long it took you and everyone else at your company to build up your body of knowledge. No matter how informative your white paper, article, or blog post is – there is no way the reader can learn everything you know that fast. (At least we hope not!)

Under “Become A Resource By Sharing The Spotlight – Showcasing others who have great content reflects back on you. Plus, you don’t have all the answers. Help people connect the dots.” It’s kind of like the old saying, “Two heads are better than one.” Joining forces with another company will benefit both of you. If you choose your partners wisely, you are exposing your business to a group of fantastic prospects and giving yourself the credibility of your partner. That’s why we published our free e-book 100 Ways to Build Your Business in 2012. Of course, five of the tips in the book are from Clear Verve, but 95 of them aren’t. And all the participants have 19 other companies promoting the entire group.

And one tip we’d like to add:
Don’t get hung up on the platform. Some companies get so worried about what they are doing (or not doing) on Facebook/Twitter/YouTube, etc. that they don’t even realize that maybe that’s not the right place to start. Every business is different. For your business, email may be the right solution. Or a printed newsletter delivered by snail mail. Or maybe you should be writing press releases, or focusing on LinkedIn. Think about where your customers are, how they live their lives, and how your service fits into what they are doing when they work with you. You wouldn’t spend money on advertising without thinking about it, would you? Give the same thought to your content marketing strategy.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Other resources:
A new social media planning tool
Niches – A smart strategy
The importance of a good graphic
The challenges of social media

According to the Fenton/Globescan social good survey, the more nonprofit organizations engage with their constituents, the more likely they are to receive support. Although many of the findings were were commonly accepted best practices known to many nonprofits (engage with constituents on a personal level – connect your cause to how people live, work, and play), we found others to be quite interesting. Here are what I found to be the best takeaways from this comprehensive survey.

Engage through multiple channels. With the advent of social media, many organizations (both for-profit and not-for-profit) have turned to social media as a primary way to communicate. However, as our social media survey found, attracting audiences to social media sites is a HUGE challenge. The social good survey backs this up. Its results showed that the most effective way to break through to new audiences is through mainstream media, but that social media is critical for maintaining relationships.

Engage to build trust. Although less than half (41%) of the social good survey respondents claimed to understand how nonprofits are run and managed, 26 percent of people cite effective use of funds as their primary reason for giving. Another worrisome fact – less than half of the respondents think nonprofits effectively manage their funds. What to do? Educate your constituents! Explain how funds are used. Do it over and over again, not just once a year in your annual report. Talk about use of funds in monthly emails, post results to Facebook, and explain how decisions are made in your blog. People want to know your organization is well-managed.

We know nonprofit marketing presents special challenges not found in for-profit marketing. Check out this recent blog post and slideshare presentation on a talk we recently gave on this very subject. We hope it will give you some great ideas.

Other resources:
Details matter
Getting a fresh perspective

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

For the past year, I’ve committed to a healthier lifestyle and have been following Weight Watchers.  I haven’t shared much about this because I’m still working on getting to my goal “weight.”  So far I’m way impressed by this program and it really works – I’ve lost over 70 lbs.

Weight Watchers recently rolled out many improvements to the plan for 2012 including a new iPhone app called Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner.  This app allows you to scan barcodes and calculates the PointsPlus values of food.  I recently downloaded this app and so far I really like it.

Weight loss programs and services are a hot topic this time of year because there is a large portion of the population that can use these services.  According to the Worldwide Health Organization, over 1.8 billion people are overweight worldwide and it is estimated that and people spend more than $60 billion on weight loss programs and services.  Wow. That’s a whole lot of market potential.  No wonder you see so many products and services popping up to capture a bit of this market share.

So with all the weight loss program choices out there, how does Weight Watchers stand out with their marketing?  Here are the top five reasons why I think Weight Watchers marketing rocks:

1. Consistent branding, messaging and communications with members who are engaged.

2. Well-respected celebrity endorsers and partners– Jennifer Hudson, Charles Barkley, Hungry Girl, and Dr. Oz. Plus, they also feature real users of the program and their success stories.

3. An easy-to-use online and offline community to help you keep your weight loss on track with success stories, tips, blogs, challenges, etc.

4. Mobile apps for tech-savvy consumers.

5. Print publications (cookbooks and a magazine) plus products to make following the program easier.

The marketing of Weight Watchers definitely reflects their great understanding of their audiences and a focused effort to engage their “ideal” consumer.  This provides Weight Watchers with the best opportunity to stand out from the crowd.  For example, Charles Barkley is clearly a great spokesperson  to engage more men, the apps engage techy consumers and Dr. Oz targets middle age women.  Is your marketing this focused?

Susan Schoultz is Design Director at Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create,  and execute marketing campaigns.  Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve2.

We know from our own research and from widely-available online statistics that 90 percent of nonprofits and 81 percent of small businesses are using social media to reach their audiences. We also know that one of the main reasons cited by businesses who have abandoned their social media strategy is that it was too difficult to maintain the sites.

However, with 80 percent of all Americans using a social network, social media must be part of every business’ marketing strategy. One of the best ways to ensure a successful social media strategy is to have a social media policy. This will enable your company to enlist the efforts of multiple employees (or volunteers, in the case of a nonprofit) to get the work done. While we believe our template is a great start, we are often asked more detailed questions about legal issues we have a difficult time answering.

That’s why I was so excited to find this online interview on LexBlog. While it won’t answer all your legal questions, it’s a good start from a reputable source. I hope you’ll take a few minutes (well, eight actually) to watch and learn.

Have you ever tried to think up new ways to market, manage, or build your business and found yourself at a complete loss for ideas? I think it happens to everyone. I have to admit, it even happens to us, despite the fact that we’re a marketing company. I’m not sure if it’s because we spend so much time being creative on behalf of others that we just run out of gas for ourselves, or if it’s because we spend so much time dreaming up new ideas that it’s hard to come up with something that feels truly revolutionary for ourselves.

Well, we’ve solved that problem! Last year, we came up with the crazy idea of trying to get 20 of our favorite thought leaders to share five ideas that would help businesses innovate, grow, or manage themselves better. We contacted a few people, who loved the idea, and our big project for 2011, 100 Ways to Build Your Business in 2012 was born.

After several months of hard work, we’re pleased to share these great ideas with you. The book includes thoughts on marketing/PR, web/social media, management, and video/photo, so you are sure to find something that is applicable to your business! Best of all, you can also sign up to receive a monthly tips from the ebook for the next year. (Because seriously, who can remember or implement 100 ideas all at once?)

You can download the free e-book and sign up for the monthly emails at the 100 Ways to Build Your Business website.

Our best wishes for a busy and productive 2012!

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve