Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Marketing is a never ending quest of creative communications to get people’s attention and influence them for the benefit of both parties . . .the greater the benefit, the better the response.

We have access to more marketing tools today than we ever had in the past thanks to the internet. That we can communicate is not our issue. How and using what venue as the best method to distribute our particular message, is our question. The best part is we don’t have to pick just one method as the vehicle to distribute our message. Using both Traditional and Social Media we can create a combination of promotions to make our offers and interest people in our products and services in many creative ways.

Over the next few blogs we will explore the use of both Traditional and Social Media tools with ideas and statistics to help you decide what to use. While I worry about the internet abuse or talk of taxing the internet, it is a great tool for information distribution and entertainment and one I hope we don’t allow society to destroy.

I’ll leave you with a thought from the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales . . .

“All societies through the global community are best served by vigorously employing openness and a free exchange of ideas unhampered by fear of negative repercussions or censorship. Only by creating safe environments for the expression of ideas, even occasionally controversial ones, can we hope that the most valuable ideas will rise to the top. A free marketplace of ideas, supported by the internet and social networking tools, is what we are ultimately striving for. And this is achievable, as participants, in this new hyper connected world, act responsibly with personal accountability.”

Your comments, questions, or suggestions for future blog topics are always welcomed.

DID YOU KNOW:   Facebook is expected to announce this week that it has reached 500 million users in its 6 year history. It has become the internet’s biggest information network.

                                                                               – Reading Eagle (Money Section 7-21-10)

Today, June 7, 2010, is the official lauch date of the book “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh.  Tony writes about his life as first co-founder of LinkExchange that he sold to Microsoft for $265 millon in 1998 and then as the CEO of Zappos that he help grow for 10 years before selling it to Amazon for over $1 billon in 2009. Tony did all this while in his 20′s right out of college and with a group of people equally passionate about making the most of their lives creating a happy culture and being successful to everyone’s benifit,  not just making money.
I had the opportunity to preview and read a copy of this book early. It was a real treat. I am grateful for the lessons learned and the chance to observe the thought process behind the scenes that took place in Tony’s mind as he pieced together 2 successful companies and helped many people reach their potential along the way. It is an inspiring story and the lessons are endless.
I particularly liked a quote by Shunryu Suzuki that to me summed up Tony’s unique way of doing things….Be humble: ” In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”
I think we all  can learn something from reading and putting into practice some of Tony’s thoughts and lessons. Enjoy!

In marketing, business or life nothing really gets done until someone creates a plan. Previously, we discussed getting started in Social Media and that blogs were a nice, easy way to begin. While blogs may be part of the introductory process, developing a plan and providing some organization to your effort will improve your success and get you down the path you wish to travel much faster.

Here is another direction you may find very useful. I mention both because they are different approaches depending on what you are trying to accomplish and how deeply you want to get involved.

I found the book, Web Marketing for Small Businesses by Stephanie Diamond to be a great beginner’s resource. She does a wonderful job of organizing what’s out there and explaining it in a way you can understand and use. What I liked most about her planning is:

(1) Marketing plans need to be more concise and set up over 3 to 4 months not 1 to 2 years.

(2) Plans need to include new social media tools as well as proven tactics that have been successful in the past. (Mix the new with the traditional.)

In Chapter 7 she outlines a 7 Step Action Plan from Niche to Results. She then goes on to explain each step in the chapters that follow. Stephanie Diamond is placing her emphasis on Web Marketing with a 7 Step Plan to help you make it work.

There are many social media’s and many ways to get started using them. It is good to have a useful, strong website at the hub of your marketing and have it set up in a format that helps you get and keep people interested and engaged.

We will look at some other marketing venues and things you can pursue to strengthen your effort and continue to learn next week. Your input and comments are always welcome.

TSI was recently honored as a winner of the 2010 American Inhouse Design Award. I wanted to share this information with all of you since we are always discussing marketing in one form or another.

I see people in businesses everyday wondering what they should be doing with social media. How should they use it? What should they use? Where should they start? How can I make it produce leads, generate new business, create a following, etc. etc.

We’ve all heard of STOP/DROP/ROLL if you catch on fire. Well now to “catch your message on fire” you want to STOP/THINK/GO. The social media marketing tools are just another vehicle to distribute your message in a social (friendly) non-interruptive, interactive, acceptable and real-time venue. (Just a note of caution and maybe sanity . . . you still will use many of your traditional methods. Social media will not take the place of things that still make sense and are productive.)

STOP – THINK – GO:

STOP:  Worrying about social media; being paralyzed with fear is not productive. Start to get educated – read and learn. THINK: What is my plan? Take action to put a plan together. Dedicate 30, 60, 90 minutes per week to make your plan a reality. GO:  Action kills fear! Start to participate and see what you like.

BLOGS:

Blogs are a great place to begin. Go to www.blogger.com. Read blogs first then start to comment on blogs you like as you feel comfortable and then eventually create your own blog.

Have a plan. There is no one method to make this work. All industries are different and will embrace the social media tools that work for them and direct their message in the most expedient and direct manner to their target audience. Next week we will explore planning.

Social media marketing tools are just additional tools for you to use to distribute your message. At some point they may replace some of the things you do traditionally, but not right away. Many traditional marketing activities (Direct Mail, Networking, Referrals, Tradeshows, Seminars, Cold Calls, etc.) still have value and power. Integrate your traditional venues with social media. Don’t feel you must replace them and/or abandon what has worked for you in the past. Look for innovate methods to enhance your message and improve the consistency of your follow up.

I think blogging is a great way to get started. (I need to do a better job of fitting it into my weekly plan, to keep mine current, but this is part of the learning curve.)

I found David Meerman Scott’s book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR extremely informative and helpful. Scott touches on six powerful tools with blogs at the top of the list. In the book he lists “12 Simple Guidelines to Blogging”. If you are interested in a preview, click here to see the 12 guidelines. As you read them you will be introduced to many other terms, such as Technorati – RSS – DIGG – TypePad, that will continue to challenge you and, hopefully, feed your taste to learn more.

Your comments, questions, suggestions, and helpful resources are welcomed, so please let me know what you are doing and how it is working. Let’s all learn together!

by Bob Burg and John David Mann

With the growth of Social Networking and more people using LinkedIn and Facebook to make connections and build relationships, The Go-Giver may be just the message we all need to learn and apply.  You be the judge.

Bob Burg and John Mann have written an easy to read, inspirational story to get us thinking.  Take the time (just a few hours) to read The Go-Giver.  Then put the lessons to good use in your daily networking.  As the cover indicates…A little story about a powerful business idea.   Enjoy!

Jim

The beginning of this thought was posted on 2/8/10. It took me longer to get back to it then I thought it would but better late than never.

SHORT SUMMARY OF  2/8/10 POST: The shift in the power of marketing from the product being king to the consumer now the focus, occur slowly through the 90′s and has taken hold here in 2010. As mentioned the shift occurred due to the growth of the Internet.

LET’S CONTINUE………What made the Product King was the spoon-fed and controlled information delivered to the public by the large corporations. Not a bad thing, just the method that was available at the time. Now introduce to the personal computers a powerful tool called the Internet and what happens?  A flood of information and open communication becomes available to many people throughout the world. This is no longer just national, USA, now we have become more global as well.

     While Web 1.0 got things started slowly it proved to be very effective in changing the mindset of the consumer and creating a paradigm shift. While  Web 1.0  was little more than a digital brochure found on most initial websites it served the purpose of empowering the consumer with additional information from which to make buying decisions. This shift in access to information, no longer controlled by big business, eroded the product as #1 and put the consumer in control.

     Web 1.0 was limited but was quickly replaced by Web 2.0 in the late 90′s. Web 2.0 allowed greater interaction between the supplier and the consumer and change forever the landscape of how a consumer researched and purchased their goods. Products, in the mind of some became commodities. With the instant access to volumes of information, the educated and informed consumer, has greater choices and is able to make better decisions.

     Social Media has enhanced the internet and empowered the consumer even further. We still have much to learn and much to discuss, as we continue this journey and follow the technology track to see how this effect our marketing, sales and management of our businesses as we continue to embrace the new media and try to harness it’s power to extend our reach and allow us to connect on a personal level.

     More to come but for now please fell free to add your comments and opinions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) is the governing body of the promotional products industry and one of the professional agencies TSI enjoys. Like many corporate associations they monitor the landscape, both international and domestic, for gov’t related issues, trends, current methods of successful operations, product safety, labor laws, education, certification, etc.

Every January PPAI sponsors their largest trade show of the year in Las Vegas. It is a valuable networking and educational opportunity with many suppliers, distributors, educational speakers and PPAI members,(at least that’s what we tell ourselves to justify going to Vegas.) All activities are focused on helping us , help you get the best return on your marketing effort. Every supplier has case histories, in many different industries, to explain how to maximize the use of their products to carry your message.

This year TSI was invited to teach one of the seminars offered to the show participants. It proved to be a very worthwhile experience. Besides the actual presentation on the national level and giving back to the industry, the true value to TSI and now our clients, were the many hours of research and preparation that went into creating the seminar.

The topic was…Marketing Strategies and Ideas.  It was very interesting to follow the shift in power  between products and consumers as it has unfolded these past 50 years.  I felt it may interest you as well, so let me share.

If you go back 50 years to the 60′s and pay attention to the marketing trends through the 70′s and the 80′s, you find that the Product was King! Big corporations controlled the advertising and marketing of the products and services through what we refer to as Traditional or Main Stream Marketing. The message was interruptive, one way and totally controlled by the big corporations. There was no interaction. The message was presented to the mass market, whether they wanted it or not.  Good or bad this is the way it was done for many years. It was effective for quite a while and totally favored big business.

The Product was King and the Message was presented in a one way monologue until 1990 when things began to change. Change is a way of life, some good, some we could and should do without, but most times it is just impossible to stop. The product as king was about to be challenged and the shift in the power was created by the introduction to the public of the tool of the century….the Internet.

Sure the change was gradual and took time to catch fire but slow but steady it grew and even today this vine may have no end. I will pick up from this point in a day or two. If you have any comment or questions please share and let’s make the a conversation that we all can learn from. Thanks!