Marketing Muse from Silver Square

Create an advocate group

I was reading the latest issue of Selling Power and was reading a list of tips to boost sales. One of the tips is one I have been using for almost two years - creating an advocate group.

This group of people should be professionals you have identified as referral sources, clients in position to be good referral sources or simply strong supporters of your business. Keep the list to 20-25 people; any more than that and you'll struggle to keep up with them. Now comes the fun part... staying in front of your advocate group. I touch base with my group every six(ish) weeks; some experts say monthly some say quarterly at minimum. Make sure you start at a level you can consistently keep up with or the effort will be worthless.

Now that you have your list and your timeline, decide how you will keep in touch with them. I mix e-mail and mailed "stuff" that may consist of a business update, a client feature, a work project completed or simply hello. I have never sent my advocate list a touch without getting one referral back within a week.

So give it a try. It's simple to do and very low budget friendly.

Tracking your blog traffic

by Angela James, Account Manager @ Silver Square

Are you tracking your blog visitors? Do you know what content is creating interest and attracting your readers? You want to provide content that makes your visitors subscribe to your blog and keep them coming back. Here are some analytics tools that are low or no cost that are great for tracking these results.

• Google Analytics and Feedburner Stats – Feedburner reports free plugin for Wordpress blogs
• Wordpress Stats - Free basic blog stats plugin for Wordpress blogs
• Clicky - Web stats plus feed and Feedburner stats
• Enquisite - Free, very detailed search engine ranking reports
• Crazy Egg - Provides overlay, list and heat map web statistics
• Feedburner Stats - StandardStats is free or TotalStats for $4.99/mo
• StatCounter - Free Invisible Tracking and accurate real-time website statistics with detailed visitor tracking and analysis.
• Hittail - Provides suggested topics for your blog by keywords used in referral traffic
• Performancing Metrics - Basic is Free, or $3.99 to $16.99 per month for more features
• Site Meter – Starting at $6.95 for up to 25,000 page views
• Mint - An installable application for measuring traffic, referrers, feeds and helps you identify where the most interest is being generated and over what
• MyBlogLog - Basic blog visitor stats and social networking. Free and paid versions.
• eXTReMe Tracking - Free web stats with a paid version for $4.50 per month
• Web Stat -  38 traffic reports including click- paths, keywords, conversions etc.$5/mo

The value of repetition

When it comes to marketing, most individuals think there is one magic elixir that brings results. This one postcard, this one ad, this one brochure... and it's just not true. There have been times when one of these mediums can produce better results than normal, such as an ad in the newspaper for an event for a retail business - those usually work well as a one time "marketing" activity. For everything else, you need to understand the value of repetition.

With any good campaign, as with any good sales approach, repetition will improve your results. Typically, a direct mail campaign consists of at least three consecutive 'hits' or 'drops' of your piece. Each builds on the other and ultimately delivers an integrated message about what you do/offer. When you are reaching out to people who do not know you, a longer approach is necessary. I typically like to plan out at least six touches within a year for a campaign (this doesn't include your other marketing efforts, just your direct mail portion of marketing). You can mix in your other marketing materials as the new prospects allow you to add them to your database. You'll eventually reach these individuals a minimum of 12 times each year.

This same repetitive approach works for those long lost clients you want to reconnect with. Make a plan to get back in front of them and repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!

Keep in mind people buy on their time and based on their needs. Some will buy immediately, and some may take a year or more depending on the complexity of the purchase. Your consistency and repeated contact will help you build a system that increases your odds of your name making the top of their list when they DO decide to make their purchase.

Using your social network(s)

I recently needed help finding a researcher for a project that was challenging for me to tackle. The scope was large, the person necessary wasn't normally someone in my radar of contacts and I felt I had exhausted most of my contacts who were normally "in the know" of networking for answers. So I turned to my LinkedIn crew.

LinkedIn is a professional social networking platform that helps you make connections, both online and offline, for growing your business or advancing your professional career. My network currently has 53 connections in there, so I sent a message through LinkedIn to my 53 connects about my above mentioned challenge. I was happy and surprised to see action immediately from people who were able to help me find a good researcher. This route saved me a ton of time (hitting all 53 connections at once is great!) and now I have answers to my quest.

Next time you're in need of finding someone professionally, making a professional connection or otherwise looking to network with someone in a particular industry or need, give your social networking outlets a try.

What do you put up with?

It seems like each industry has something that we as clients or consumers put up with. What is that one thing in your industry?

For example, that three hour window that you have to wait on your cable service or phone service or delivery of a new piece of furniture or an appliance. That's very annoying in my book, but, for the most part, we put up with it. Taking apples to apples on about everything else, imagine if your company took that one thing that people put up with in your world and you eliminated it. Gone. Bye bye. Then you promoted that fact religiously. You would not only have your unique selling proposition and key message, but you would surely garner some industry and consumer buzz to boot.

There are some instances where an industry is so bad that entrepreneurs are creating brand new businesses to service a poor industry service! There are lots of small businesses out there that you can hire to wait on your delivery service, hvac call, etc. Now that's bad when an entire new business starts up to service someone else's poor actions.

If you don't know what that thing is that people put up with, ask. Just start asking everyone you speak with. You'll get an answer. Then, turn things around for your company and your sales.

Just get started

One of our clients, who has also turned in to a friend, reminded me of one of The Success Principles Jack Canfield talks about - Just Get Started. I thought it would be a good fit for the blog and a good reminder for us all.

This client is starting his own radio show. It's probably very safe to say, and he would probably say it too, he has no idea what he's getting in to. He doesn't know anything about the radio, he doesn't even really know exactly what he's going to talk about... but he hasn't let the unknown stop him from starting. He'll figure it out.

As Jack tells us, there is never the perfect time, you'll never know all you want to know and you'll never (ever) be perfect about every decision. If the would be action takes you further in your life to that purpose or place you want to eventually get, don't let anything else hold you back. Just get started.