I recently re-read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits and was reminded of something I don’t think gets near enough attention. Why? Because it’s tough. Really tough. You can’t fit it in a blog post and it takes time to master.

It’s something we all know but only a handful of people can actually say they do it.

When Stephen Covey talks, I listen. As someone whose sold over 20million books and started successful companies like Franklin Covey, I know there’s a LOT to learn from him.

Habits make and break us. In marketing, a companies success (especially in the wake of new media) depends on consistency. Companies aren’t able to run big ad campaigns and then disappear anymore. Effective marketing is built on things we do over and over again and systems we put in place daily. Here’s the breakdown.

Knowledge: What To & Why To

When businesses decide they want to start communicating with their audience continually rather than on a per campaign basis, the first question that’s always asked is WHY? If their answer amounts to “keeping up with the Jones’ business” it may be time to go back to the drawing board. Businesses need to be able to tie every marketing effort back to their business goals. We may not be able to track every single dollar generated by a Facebook status or blog post but then again that’s not always the point. Businesses should focus on their content aligning with their business goals at the beginning. If their goals is to increase retention among their existing customers, they may measure that in terms of revenue generated. Instead they need to focus on creating content that is interesting enough to keep customers coming back and sharing it. It’s not until we’re focused on the right WHY that we can make sense of new media.

Skills: How To

Most of us are sooooo close we can almost taste it! We have two of the three characteristics that make effective marketing habits. We know exactly what we want in our business (Knowledge)  and we want it so bad it keeps us up at night (Desire) but we’re missing the HOW. We just don’t have the know-how to get there. Developing new skills isn’t easy and requires a lot of time in the trenches. If this is what’s stopping you though, don’t hesitate to find a professional who can either teach your or your staff or if you need to hire someone to champion the “HOW” part completely. The technical stuff is daunting, there’s no doubt about it, but the good news is that it can be learned and if you already have the right mindset from having knowledge and desire, you’ll be able to tackle the Skills with minimal resistance!

Desire: Want To

Another common problem I see is companies that are lacking the desire in marketing. They know they need it and even know how to get results but they don’t have the desire to actually connect with their audience. They’d rather blast advertising and ignore the response if it doesn’t mean an immediate return. Those brands won’t reach their true marketing potential no matter how much money they pour into it. Steven Covey has a great saying that wasn’t intended for the marketing audience directly but little did he know, fits perfectly on the subject of listening to your audience

…But knowing I need to listen and knowing how to listen is not enough. Unless I want to listen, unless I have the desire, it won’t be a habit in my life. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions.

In order to keep that desire, it’s so important to create an environment where it’s easy to constantly be learning about your customers and business. Don’t make it difficult for your employees and yourself.

Great brands understand they need all three: Knowledge, Skill and Desire. Look closely at Zappos unwaivering customer service as their marketing Apple’s flawless design built into every piece of marketing collateral and Patagonia’s cult-like following that spreads the word for them and you’ll see the knowledge, skills and desire built into each one.

So what is your company doing right? What are you missing? I’ve found it’s much easier to identify the gaps when I break things down into these buckets. Take a few minutes to try it for yourself and evaluate your marketing efforts. Once you’ve evaluated each of the three areas, go back and work through one at a time until you’ve developed your effective marketing habits. You’ll know when your there because you’ll be selling more and your customers will love you more than ever!

image by time management solutions 

Here’s a few things you’ll learn:

• How to spot opportunities and more importantly, take action on them
• How to keep you customers happy and coming back
• Overcoming the hurdles of starting a web based business
• How to leverage your time and focus on the most important things
• Much much more!
• Connect with Brian on Linkedin
• Leave your comments below!

Whenever a client approaches me with a new idea, I always start with the same question: “How does this fit into your big picture marketing strategy?”  If that’s not the question your asking yourself and your team before each new project, chances are your leaving money on the table.

It’s the difference between having an online presence that’s just a bunch of pieces and having a structured online strategy that leads prospects through a very intentional path to conversion. One way achieve that structure is cross channel marketing.

Cross channel marketing is a single campaign run across multiple channels with a consistent message. Those channels can be a combination of online channels such as email, social networks or mobile and it can be offline through radio, tv and print.  Cross channel marketing is a combination of any of these channels and it’s rapidly growing in popularity among marketers.

Unfortunately most brands cross channel marketing strategies look more like they’ve gone to the marketing tactics cookbook, chose 5 recipes and made a mess trying to combine all of them into one campaign. Their audience is more confused than convinced and we both know a confused audience doesn’t buy.

Here are 5 essential rules for executing a successful cross channel marketing strategy. Make sure to read over each one carefully.

1. Define Your Goals and Communicate Them

Let’s get one thing out of the way. “Building Brand Awarenesss” is NOT a goal. Neither is saying your going to “build your email list” or “increase conversion”. Don’t worry, I won’t get off on a tangent about goal setting (Not right now at least) but if you aren’t clear on how to create an effective goal, I’d encourage you to start with the SMART framework: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

The purpose of setting goals is to give meaning and focus to every strategy and tactic in your marketing plan. But your goals have another big job to do. They need to manage expectations. If your marketing goals aren’t clearly defined in the beginning and communicated to your team, your marketing campaigns will fall apart before they have a chance to work.

2. Measure What Matters

When tracking performance across multiple channels

Be careful of converting metrics when measuring from channel to channel. Not all actions are created equal. A Facebook fan can’t be compared directly to an email subscriber. Their intentions are completely different. Instead use tracking system such as Google analytics if your tracking online behavior to measure conversions across multiple channels.

In every cross channel marketing effort, don’t forget to measure the conversion of your audience as they move from channel to channel using things like tracking codes or tags inside Google Analytics. That way you can measure prospects behavior across multiple channels rather than giving attribution to the last referring channel only.

And again, get everyone on board with the metrics you plan to use to measure the campaign. Your goal is only as good as the metrics you measure it by. Vanity metrics like website visitors and Facebook fans are part of a much bigger picture and should be viewed as such. Taking them out of context of your overall marketing strategy may result in a temporarily happy CMO but it will end in a failed campaign.

3. Keep Clicks Down

How many clicks does it take your prospect to get what they want? I remember one client I worked with on a cross channel strategy made their prospect click 10 times over 4 different channels and enter their information twice! Needless to say, their conversion rates weren’t very high until we simplified things.

Cutting down on clicks is a simple way to reduce friction is between your prospect and the desired action. You don’t need to pre-qualify them by making them jump through hoops and fill out long forms. Wait until you actually get them into your funnel first!

Dont’ try to pick up a Facebook fan, then get an email address, then get the consumer to fill out a survey. You wouldn’t do that to someone you just met in person, would you? You can’t lose if you keep your focus on the prospect’s experience. Remember to always ask yourself, WIIFM. What’s in it for ME?

4. Understand Audience Behavior Across Each Channel

Do you know how the demographics differ across each of your marketing channels? We used to only need to know our website demographic but market fragmentation has split our audience up into much small segments. Prospects in each channel tend to communicate differently. Pay attention to those differences and use them as opportunities to connect with your customers.

Your email list might not care to add you on Facebook. That’s ok! Focus on giving them what they do want. Experiment to find out what calls to action they are interested in and adjust if you need to.

5. Limit Your Calls To Action

if you give someone 8 options on what to do next how quickly do you think they’ll choose compared to giving them the best option?

every page and platform and post should be intentional. Your customer wants to be told what to do next. Stop giving them a buffet of options and limit it to one primary call to action.

“But we need to brand our web presence by including links to every channel, site and sign-up form we have…” WRONG! If a customer is already signup up for your email list, they’ve told you what they want. Give them what you promised when you signed up. When you include a call to action, make it relevant to the content your providing.

If your reading this and realize you have some work to do, don’t worry! There’s always someone doing it worse : ) In this case I stumbled upon Sony’s Facebook Page. Not only is their landing tab the length of 3 computer screens but every red arrow I threw in there is a call to action. They’re trying to get users to attend events, enter contests, take photos and tweet them, become a fan, follow them on Twitter and we could keep going! What do you think their audience is going to do? Probably nothing.

How do you optimize your cross Channel Marketing?

Now it’s your turn. Share what you’ve learned marketing across different channels. What have you noticed or done that has improved the effectiveness of your marketing?

Photo Credit: squacco

After a couple weeks of rescheduling this call, I finally got Ryan on the phone to talk about what it is that drives him. Only in his 20′s, he’s worked his way from a grocery store stocker to the top sales manager in the United States for Mercedes-Benz to a director at Marriott International. Ryan has spent the last 3 years building successful teams and learned a thing or two about what it takes to build great teams. He always has a plan for the next thing and has created a simple formula for taking the guesswork out of it.

In this Podcast you’ll learn:

• Why you need to invest in mentors as much as they invest in you
• What it takes to build a successful team
• How to get anyone on your team inspired quickly
• A simple formula for advancing your career
• 3 things you should always look for when hiring new talent

Notes from Podcast [arrowlist]

• Running Time 23:39
• Connect with Rob Harvey on Twitter
• Connect with Rob Harvey On Linkedin
• Leave your comments and questions below!

Notes from Podcast [arrowlist]

• Running Time: 27:43
• Kacy Maxwell’s Blog
• Kacy Maxwell on Twitter
• #OnePost
• Leave your comments below. We’d love to hear your thoughts on these topics!

SitezMeter

SitezMeter is a lifesaver when it comes to checking out sites. It saves space from having to use an entire toolbar and it checks the three main search rankings: Alexa Traffic Rank, Google Page Rank and Compete Rank. Using this, you can quickly check the traffic for any site without having to navigate off the site or open a new tab.

Rapportive

Rapportive is probably my favorite new tool. It’s the ultimate companion to your contact management system. Rapportive is an add-on to Gmail and shows all the recent activity of whoever your emailing: Linkedin profile picture and title, latest tweets, latest Facebook updates, recent conversations and every other website they choose to list. It takes all the work out of doing the research before you contact a prospect or client.

Hootsuite Hootlet

The Hootsuite Hootlet is a simple plugin that also saves a ton of time if you use Hootsuite (like I do) to manage all of your social accounts. The plugin allows you to share whatever page, website or blog post your currently on with any of your social networks. The thing I love about it is that it automatically shortens the URL and tracks it.
Google Similar Pages

The Google Similar Pages plugin works as a great discovery tool. If you are visiting a website for the first time and want to put it into context, see who a few of its competitors are or want similar information that it provides all you need to do is click the plugin and it will automatically display the four most closely related sites to the website.
Clip To Evernote

If you aren’t using Evernote to organize your bookmarks and information, it’s time to start! Clip To Evernote is a plugin for the website that makes it easy to either take a snipit of text from a site and save it, take an entire page or copy the URL. It saves you a step or two from not having to go into Evernote and the the process manually.
WhoWorks.At

WhoWorks.At is a tool that is actually a companion to Linkedin and is great if you are researching people who work at a company or trying to find a connection. Whatever company website you are visiting, simply click the plugin button and it will display all the employees in your Linkedin network who work at that company. From there you can see how you are connected to them or just check out their Linkedin profile.
Screen Capture (By Google)

I’ve tried several different screen capture tools and ultimately settled on this one. Google Screen Capture is a super easy plugin to use and has all the functionality you need while staying very simple. It allows you to capture the entire web page, only the visible part of the page or a region of the page you choose. From there you can blur out parts of the page, use any color arrow to point to something or use a circle (below) to call attention to an element on the page. Then it saves it in an image format directly to your desktop. This is extremely useful for screenshots in presentations or instructions.

Am I missing any plugins? Which plugins do you use or find helpful?

“Negative reviews increase conversion rates for all kinds of businesses, because people see them and know that they’re shopping in a truthful environment.”  -Brett Hurt, CEO Baazarvoice in Zero Moment of Truth

Stop for a second and think about that. When consumers pour over reviews of your product, what are they really looking for? And does that match up with what your business is focused on giving them? Let’s compare two sides of reviews.

Business owners want one thing: Raving reviews. Of course you don’t want bad reviews on your site. You want people to be so happy with your product or service, that they can’t help but shout it from a rooftop (or your website.)

Consumers want two things: Assurance that others have used your product or service and peace of mind that comes with knowing they’ve done their due diligence before buying your offering. They aren’t looking for people gushing over your product, they’re looking for helpful information.

Say a prospect lands on your website while in the process of researching products in your businesses niche. What happens if the only thing they can find is a measly product description? In their eyes, you’re useless because they’re in research mode and on the lookout for unbiased information. If you aren’t that resource providing a context around your product that answers their question, they are immediately going to bounce to another site to finish their due diligence. Good luck getting them back.

On the other hand, a business with a majority of negative reviews is another story. The point I want you to remember is that a few critical reviews aren’t going to ruin the entire bunch.

Bazaar Voice has found that showcasing reviews on your website actually increases conversion by as much as 123%. Don’t let the fear of bad reviews cripple you from encouraging your customers to discuss and share your brand.

Photo credit: Lukács Dávid

Stephen is an Attorney at Bone McAllester Norton focused on Social Media law, intellectual property and dispute resolution.

Highlights from this podcast:

• What businesses need to know about the legal side of social media
• Why businesses need to be proactive in social media
• 2 of the biggest things businesses need to avoid in social media
• How new laws are affecting our privacy online
• What you need to know about giving endorsements in social media
• 4 regulations every business should know

What I love about Amplicate

1. Amplicate is a great tool to quickly evaluate what online users think about a popular brand, celebrity or topic.
2. Easy to read charts and graphs
3. Coverage of a wide variety of broad and niche topics

Everything Else…

1. The site is based around strong opinions for topics, therefore it only tracks and records keywords like “love” and “hate” when mentioning a brand. But no one has perfected sentiment analysis yet so I can’t blame them.
2. Make sure to take the data with a grain of salt by itself. I think this is a great starting point for simple social research but it definitely needs to be supplemented with other tools.
3. It only tracks popular topics so if what you’re searching for isn’t talked about much online, don’t expect to find it.

Overall, I love it. Amplicate is free, it’s insightful and easy to use. But beware, it’s extremely easy to lose track of time while hopping from topic to topic while feeling productive!

Your turn. What do you think of Amplicate? Have you found any really great uses for it? Let me know in the comments!