What's your online identity - Blogsquad radio

William Aruda, building your online brand/identity

Is my target visiting here?
Is it highly ranked in google searches?
Find out what demonstrates value you contribute and show in best medium (written, video, etc.)

Zoominfo or digg. Have already created mini-bio for you and own it. Make sure it's accurate.
Know your brand value, and just post on other sites about it.

Use google alert with your name (Hi! William Aruda!)
Use google alert with competitors
Use google alert for people in your professional network - so you can congratulate them
Use google alert for your area of expertise

Finding work in entertainment

Scale:

Anything that can increase your efforts exponentially. Going to events where everyone there is at your level.
Jobs gotten through:
1. Postings - your resume on high-traffic websites
2. Agents
3. Autobots - email autoresponder which would send out resume, pitches, etc.
4. Network - not who you know, it's who knows you. Must be available on end of phone. Reusable

To scale this, don't go after individuals, go after organizations.

http://www.kamiticartssystem.com/secrettofindingwork/

BlogSquad: David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR

David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR: www.webinknow.com

Focused on online publications to write about them. What works -- instead of buying an advert on Google. Write a story yourself or put it on your site, etc. Do an e-book or a webinar. You are what you publish.

Most authors only sell 2000 of their books.

Has written case studies of organizations that have done interesting job of online marketing. Position self as expert on others... break it down for other readers. What you choose to ignore or highlight shows your expertise.

Thought leader -- understanding and smart about needs of buyers they're trying to reach. They produce stuff that their targets find useful or interesting.

Using brand to drive response

Direct Webinar
Russell Kern, Kern Org.
Toni Schottenhammer, Xerox
Ray Schultz, Penton Media

Brand integration in direct marketing improves response incredibly

5 Hurdles of Direct Marketing
1. Increase Response
2. Lifting sales conversions
3. Maximizing consumer value
4. Optimizing investments
5. Getting campaigns out the door

Communication continuum
1. Awareness - willing to be entertained - print, e-ads, site, email, enewsletter
2. Consideration and preference - Willing to learn
3. Connection - Interested in topic
4. Conversion
5. Loyalty - Int. Mag, Mail, TM, site, email, ENewsletter

At top, 80 percent about the brand, 20 percent about the info. Toward the bottom, it's 80 percent on the service, 20 percent about the brand (really?)


Brand advert: driven by creative, based on key consumer insights "clarity of communication, hghly-interruptive to gain attention. frequency, goal of brand building: I know and like that company
har to measure

Direct: driven by strategy. If strategy is wrong, great creative cannot save it. If strategy is right, bad creative can't kill it

Brand driven ... costs more to do it
Direct driven ... costs less... need to know the balance between the two

Print - arresting and dramatic stuff, doesn't get them to buy, gets them aware

Tiffany (direct mail) - name and Tiffany color - creates curiosity

Well known brands generate trust --> performance

What's the goal with 90 percent brand, 10 percent direct... best for print. What's the goal? Awareness, preference, education, response
With higher direct, response or offer with call to action is front and center -- higher response

Brand TV ads - more about ratings, cuz low response. Direct TV ads, don't care about ratings, only about response

Book: The New Maxi-Marketing

DirecTV: TV, print, circular, alt. media, solo mail, web

BMW - created unique offer, with BMW films

Have standard graphic system throughout... but different each time so it's not like "You've already sent me this"

VeriSign: We get what's going on in your mind: pic of a man with lots of stuff written over his head....

It's ALWAYS about the offer. Is your offer so compelling a reader will stop what they are doing and click or call to respond?
Tell them what to do. Don't make them think or work.

Offline: lead in the J-Box, lead in first paragraph, repeat offer over and over. Closing paragraph, PS, response form, brochure and inserts

Print advertising -- tip-ins with your print ads - I guess it's a response postcard
Send response postcards -- spend as much time on them as anything!
There are solutions to your writing problem

Relevant marketing:
New business paradigm - business case approach, price per page may be higher, but focus on ROI
Case study approach - document all results, replicate their success, true A/B comparison
Data, tracking, and how to's:
1:1 Lab created to be vehicle
Partnership with Xerox, Terminal van Gogh, Exstream Software

Heritage funds challenge:
Educate clients on necessity of putting money away for college
Demonstrating the value of investing RESP
Difficulty of forecasting and communicating costs 10 years away
Objectives: direct clients to increase their contribution to RESP, convert from one-time or yearly-to-ongoing
Pictures of kids would be the same age of your kids (!)
Also put in how much it would cost to send a kid to college, based on how old kid (how much it costs to bring in writers later rather than earlier)

balance goals: awareness v. performance
- you can have both

Build your brand by using quality card stock, etc... everything you want your brand to stand for

With no funding: find strategic partner

Content strategy

Alan Voivoid, Epiphaniesinc.com
Specializes in content plans

Dignity marketing:
Many people don't like "sell." Sharing your own expertise with your ideal audience that is natural. It's not a forced sales pitch.

Content plan:
It's not a full marketing plan. That requires psycographics, demographics, etc.
It's not an advertising/promotional plan.
It's a plan to share your expertise that helps know, like, and trust factor, allows people to get to know you over time. Relationship-building is primary key behind it.

Business plan - overall
Marketing plan - subsection
Content plan - subsection

Mash-up releases: press releases that are more like articles

Content plan - includes podcasts, video blogging, blogging, white papers, focused press releases, articles for trade publications/industry, articles to article directories, speaking engagements, ezines, teleclasses, seminars, workshops

CP helps you communicate more frequently -- documented knowledge and expertise. Gives opportunity for relationships with audience. It's not just about "Buy my product, buy my service!"

Pick a couple content vehicles and follow through with them.

Power tools for content plan: Any form of content that can be repurposed over and over and over again. Write it once, then use it a lot. Then it's a good use of time and energy.
Blogging, article writing, press release -- Same content on multiple platforms... even white paper and teleclass.
submityourarticle.com
ahaarticles.com - Don't worry about same content everywhere. It's casting a wider net. If they see you in more than one place, will be impressed with how widespread you are.
Look at your audience, figure out where they're going to find out about it, and create content at that place. Conferences, trade magazines.

Drive everyone to one place or one action. All your content should be driving toward that one thing. For them, it's toward the ezine. Bottom line call to action is sign up for the e-zine. It's not about sending a sales pitch every week. Goal for them is building their list.

1. Decide first what they like to do: Do you like to write? Speak?
2. Look at audience -- how do they like to be communicated with? Online, offline? In front of them, what sort of publication, etc?
3. Overlapping of 1 and 2 is the best place. Focus on one medium, then add to that. Blog posts, then turn into articles.

Score and Win through cooperation

It's not what or who you know, it's what you know about who you know

Stephanie Stephens, Abacus
DIRECT webinar

Housefile: your division's mailing list
Affiliatefiles: your company's other mailing lists

Housefile... usually keep RFM (recency, frequency, and Monetary value)
It's not helpful to mail entire file, know where to draw the line

Co-op database... gives more info than you might have alone, helps you find "high-performing names"

Affiliates: same credit cards at both, advertise both, don't necessarily need same affinity
You can also find out how your customers spent with your affiliate

Co-op helps categorize non-buyer files: giftees, gift cards, ship-to addresses, inquiries

Hotline buyers - customers who recently used/experienced your product (hot customers)
-email campaigns
-special creative - send special creative with product deliveries, related product offerings
-special offers - free shipping, discounts (don't make them too common, because then it will devalue your product), be creative

Scoring names using coop overlaying data elements:
category/channel vairables
transactional history
geographics
psychographics
demographics

Multiple channel buyers: got catalog, then bought in store. Got catalog, then bought online,
Apply multiple contact strategies
-- know where your customers are coming from, and what media they use before coming to you
-- track with coded coupon so you know where they came from

Choosing just one approach will increase results 10-40 percent

Psycographics -- person's behavioral characteristics. "Soccer mom" "downtown single dweller" usually a cluster of those suited to your offer
Claritas can provide that info.