Grow My Law Firm

Opinion: How will Facebook make money?

Facebook went public last week, and I watched the ticker all day long. It did what I and many others suspected, climbed and fell as the day went by. It made me think though...what exactly were those people buying? How solid is this investment? What is Facebook's plan to make money? 

Let's start with the fact that social media is in essence a communications platform. People use it to connect. They share information, solicit assistance, are entertained. However, for the most part, people are not there to be solicited, and they consider ads to be an unwelcome interruption. So how can Facebook make money if its users reject its business model?

First, you must understand the difference between users and customers. You and I are users. We use the platform for free. Facebook's customers are the people and businesses that it makes money from: its application and game developers and its advertisers. There is a very big difference in the status of a user and a customer, as is evidenced by Facebook's continuous rejection of user outcry when Facebook does something that users find offensive, such as open their personal information to developers.

Hindsight is 20-20, but if I sat in the big chair at Facebook, I would have been developing premium content that users could pay to use, like chat and video capabilities. I would have maintained a basic, free platform available to all users, but introduced enhanced premium content that was so appealing and inexpensive that many users would want it. Let's face it, if Facebook had introduced chat several years ago as a paid upgrade, with a prominently stated 90-day free trial for all existing and new users, many people would have been hooked on it and just might have been willing to pay $1/month for this feature. $12 per year wouldn't really break anybody's bank, but it would have brought a lot of income to Facebook.

Let's not confuse this with LinkedIn's flawed business model that consistently strips away favorite functionality from it's free model, without notifying its users, and requires a paid, premium subscription to access this content and functionality that users had relied on for free in the past.

How about businesses? As Facebook exploded, and businesses wanted to cash in the huge database of users by developing pages there, why didn't Facebook charge them to build a business page? Again, many, if not most businesses could and would have afforded a nominal fee to establish a presence there. But then again, if Facebook charged for this service, users would have had some rights, and Facebook wouldn't have been able to do things like employ customer service reps overseas who "review" and seem to randomly delete content reported as offensive, despite there being no problem with it at all. And they wouldn't be able to randomly take down pages and ignore users' customers' requests for help.

But I digress.

Facebook has already come close to reaching critical mass. With the exception of kids who age in annually, most of the people who aren't on already, don't want to be there, and it will take a lot of convincing to make them actually become engaged users if you were able to get them to sign up in the first place. So where is the growth potential? China?

As far as I can tell, Facebook's business model includes income from app developers and advertisers only. Now that it is public, there will be no more angel invertors. So when was the last time you clicked on a Facebook ad? How often do you do so? Do you pay for game upgrades? Have you even associated a credit card with our Facebook account? No? Neither have I.

It seems to me that the only people making money are the ones who had huge bundles of stock that they unloaded last week to people who wanted to own a piece of Facebook.

I'd love to hear how you think Facebook will make money and turn out to be a good investment for all those stockholders down the road.

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

Opinion: How will Facebook make money?

Facebook went public last week, and I watched the ticker all day long. It did what I and many others suspected, climbed and fell as the day went by. It made me think though...what exactly were those people buying? How solid is this investment? What is Facebook's plan to make money? 

Let's start with the fact that social media is in essence a communications platform. People use it to connect. They share information, solicit assistance, are entertained. However, for the most part, people are not there to be solicited, and they consider ads to be an unwelcome interruption. So how can Facebook make money if its users reject its business model?

First, you must understand the difference between users and customers. You and I are users. We use the platform for free. Facebook's customers are the people and businesses that it makes money from: its application and game developers and its advertisers. There is a very big difference in the status of a user and a customer, as is evidenced by Facebook's continuous rejection of user outcry when Facebook does something that users find offensive, such as open their personal information to developers.

Hindsight is 20-20, but if I sat in the big chair at Facebook, I would have been developing premium content that users could pay to use, like chat and video capabilities. I would have maintained a basic, free platform available to all users, but introduced enhanced premium content that was so appealing and inexpensive that many users would want it. Let's face it, if Facebook had introduced chat several years ago as a paid upgrade, with a prominently stated 90-day free trial for all existing and new users, many people would have been hooked on it and just might have been willing to pay $1/month for this feature. $12 per year wouldn't really break anybody's bank, but it would have brought a lot of income to Facebook.

Let's not confuse this with LinkedIn's flawed business model that consistently strips away favorite functionality from it's free model, without notifying its users, and requires a paid, premium subscription to access this content and functionality that users had relied on for free in the past.

How about businesses? As Facebook exploded, and businesses wanted to cash in the huge database of users by developing pages there, why didn't Facebook charge them to build a business page? Again, many, if not most businesses could and would have afforded a nominal fee to establish a presence there. But then again, if Facebook charged for this service, users would have had some rights, and Facebook wouldn't have been able to do things like employ customer service reps overseas who "review" and seem to randomly delete content reported as offensive, despite there being no problem with it at all. And they wouldn't be able to randomly take down pages and ignore users' customers' requests for help.

But I digress.

Facebook has already come close to reaching critical mass. With the exception of kids who age in annually, most of the people who aren't on already, don't want to be there, and it will take a lot of convincing to make them actually become engaged users if you were able to get them to sign up in the first place. So where is the growth potential? China?

As far as I can tell, Facebook's business model includes income from app developers and advertisers only. Now that it is public, there will be no more angel invertors. So when was the last time you clicked on a Facebook ad? How often do you do so? Do you pay for game upgrades? Have you even associated a credit card with our Facebook account? No? Neither have I.

It seems to me that the only people making money are the ones who had huge bundles of stock that they unloaded last week to people who wanted to own a piece of Facebook.

I'd love to hear how you think Facebook will make money and turn out to be a good investment for all those stockholders down the road.

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

LinkedIn: 5 things you can do right now to make your profile more effective

There is no doubt that your LinkedIn profile is a critical component your professional identity. It ranks at or near the top of search rankings, and it can create interest from potential employers, clients, and customers.

On the other hand, a poor LinkedIn profile can work against you when your competitors make an effort to build complete profiles that truly demonstrate the benefits of hiring them instead of you. 

So what can you do to make yourself attractive on LinkedIn right now?

1. List your inherent professional benefit rather than your job title in your personal branding box under your name:
   This is one of the most common mistakes I see on LinkedIn. Simply listing your job title doesn't help you at all. Okay, you're a Lawyer, Compliance Officer, VP of Lending, Business Analyst, Looking for Full Time Employment, etc. So what? What can you do for me? What is the inherent benefit of hiring you? Tell me what you can do to help my business thrive. This is precious personal branding space. Don't squander it by listing a boring job title.
2. Get 3 recommendations:
   I wrote a blog post that explains why and how recommendations help you on LinkedIn. In a nutshell, since so few people bother to obtain any, they are a point of distinction. You can toot your own horn all day long, but when someone else describes your professional abilities and skills, it substantiates your claims.
3. Update your status:
   When you update your LinkedIn status, a story is posted in the newsfeed of all your connections, so this reminds them of you. Don't use this space for anything that isn't exclusively professional. Use it to educate your connections about the great things that you do an a daily basis, for example, if you're a divorce lawyer, you may write something like, "Just avoided a nasty custody battle by reminding both parties that the kids' best interests are their primary concern."
4. Add sections:
   Most people don't bother adding special sections. This is where you can appropriately list community and charitable involvement, which are not jobs. You can also use sections to add publications, presentations, awards, certifications, etc. And there are special sections designed to help students and recent grads, who have little relevant career experience, to promote courses and projects that are related to the job that they seek.
5. Complete your profile to 100%:
   You must add a photo, 3 past jobs, and receive 3 recommendations to achieve a 100% complete LinkedIn profile. This is achievable for most people, so take the time, make the effort, and complete your profile to display your strongest professional presence. 

Realize that LinkedIn is a double edged sword. While it is a tremendous resource to demonstrate your capabilities, it also provides a venue that makes it easy for prospective employers, clients, and customers to evaluate your competition and compare you against them. Make sure that you're the most attractive option, or your competitors might just edge you out before you have an opportunity to get your foot in the door.

 

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

 

 

Are you obnoxious or valuable to your LinkedIn community?

This morning, one of my friends, @JasonTurcotte posted on Facebook, "Not a groundbreaking revelation, but frustrated at how much spam there is in @linkedin groups. Not worth participating in most."

That sure did fire me up. As a LinkedIn speaker and trainer, I try really hard to educate people about how to get the most out of their LinkedIn experience. I have demonstrated success getting people into the job they want with a polished profile, and I try to teach people about how to contribute value to their LinkedIn community.

But Jason is right; many, many people use LinkedIn improperly, causing irritation to others.

In Jason's example above, the problem is trying to sell your product or service to an audience that:

1. Doesn't know you
2. Doesn't trust you
3. Hasn't demonstrated a need or desire for what you're selling

Good salespeople know that the above are critical elements of successful sales, so people who attempt commit interruption sales pitches within LinkedIn groups or via its message system are completely off the mark and just plain obnoxious.

Think about why you're on LinkedIn: to sell yourself. Whether your objective is a new job, new clients, or new customers, we're all trying to sell something. The difference, however, is in our tactics.

A good, valuable member of the LinkedIn community gives, gives, gives. They offer advice when someone asks a question within a group. They constructively comment on discussion items. They post relevant articles and blog posts written by themselves and others that will bring value to the group and incite discussion among its members. 

They do not act selfishly, doing such things as posting only their own blog entries, links to their own products and services, and links to their own speaking engagements, while refusing to read additional group content and participate in other group discussions.

A good rule of thumb when considering posting content to a group discussion page is to ask yourself, "Will this help the members of this group, or am I only looking to promote myself, my skills, or my own blog?" If the former is true, post away. If the latter is true, don't bother.

LinkedIn group members aren't stupid. They can tell the difference between someone who is genuine and helpful and someone who is selfish. People buy from people they like, so don't be someone who is unlikable within the LinkedIn community.

Now I'm not saying that it's inappropriate to reference your own product or service as a solution to a need identified within a particular discussion item. But don't try to sell anything before you've earned the right to do so by being helpful, developing relationships, and adding value to your LinkedIn community.

 

 - Christine Pilch Mancini

When does working your LinkedIn network cross the line into abusing your network?

I had an interesting discourse with one of my LinkedIn connections this morning. He messaged his connections, asking for a critique of his new website. Since this is one of my paid services, I emailed him asking if he wanted a quote. He emailed me back, obviously indignant, and said that he didn't know that's what I do, and he was simply working his network, and asking for advice, which he certainly didn't expect to pay for. The key, however, is that this man and I are strangers, so he didn't know anything about some of the people he was asking for free help.

He was abusing his network.

So, what is appropriate conduct on LinkedIn, and what crosses the line?

Is LinkedIn really any different than real-life? Would this man stand up in a restaurant, interrupt everybody's lunch, and ask that they stop eating and review his website as a favor to him? Yes, that's an extreme example meant to emphasize the rudeness of the request. It's one thing to ask friends for help. Most people are generous about helping those in their personal lives. But strangers? This isn't courteously holding a door open for someone behind you, it's asking someone to take time out of their day, do work, and make a report back. That absolutely crosses the line into inappropriate behavior.

Now, let's discuss the delivery method, the LinkedIn message system. LinkedIn members generally do not expect to be interrupted by irrelevant communications from their connections. This is not the first time that this particular gentleman messaged me. The last message, a few days prior, was a sales pitch for his product. Again, misfire. Nobody wants to be sold something that they don't want from someone they don't know on LinkedIn.

Make no mistake...everybody is on LinkedIn to sell something...their expertise, their service, their products...

LinkedIn is a wonderful personal marketing tool. However, some people don't seem to understand that this is not the place to push anything. LinkedIn, and social media in general, is about subtly positioning yourself as an expert and being helpful.

LinkedIn is about getting to know people, developing and enhancing relationships, and earning trust and respect.

Only then have you earned the right to sell, and even then, it's usually when someone makes an inquiry about what you have to offer. Interrupting and disrespecting people is not the way to be successful on LinkedIn any more than in the real world.

 

- Christine Pilch

Netflix and Qwikster: can the brand survive its own tragic PR gaffes?

Netflix damaged their brand again today…twice. 

First they sent out an email and posted on their blog that their mistake in separating their streaming and dvd services, and jacking up the price 60%, was only in the fact that they didn’t first educate their customers. 

Second, their CEO, Reed Hastings, made a low-end video with another Netflix brass that further insults their customers by stating that they, “…think it will be great for us to have a separate brand, a separate website…” Therein lies the crux of the problem. Suddenly this apology, which was intended to appease those offended and angered by past mistakes, turned into something that sounds like, “We don’t care about you or how this inconveniences you at all. It’s good for us, so there.” 

There is no doubt that streaming will become the standard for video delivery, dvds are going the way of vinyl records, and Netflix must evolve to remain relevant. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't seem to have anybody in place who truly understands branding. Their brand is what their customers perceive it to be, and they keep doing things to antagonize their customers and make them angry.

The PR gaffes over the last couple of months are extremely damaging to their brand. People don’t want to pay 60% more for the same service. People don’t want to go to 2 websites to fulfill a need previously fulfilled by a 1-stop-shop. People don’t want to pay extra for 3^rd rate streaming content.

I know that the Netflix name lends itself better to online delivery, but dvd delivery is the current Netflix brand. It would be easier to eventually transition all customers to the inevitable exclusive online service by keeping the dvd customers close and tight, not carelessly casting them off. How about the glaring oversight of the @Qwikster Twitter username currently being held by a foul-mouthed, pot-smoking Elmo character? 

Who is running Netflix’s PR/marketing machine? How are they keeping their jobs through this colossal brand breach? No, Hastings' video doesn’t help. It proves that the Netflix brass have lost touch with what made them great in the first place, curing a customer pain point, (late fees and physical trips to the rental store.)

I am a long-time Netflix customer. I emailed back and forth with Hastings many years ago when I was frustrated that it was taking 10-days to receive a replacement movie, and he convinced me to hang in there because they were soon rolling out nation-wide distribution centers. Unfortunately even I’m scouting my alternative options now. Amazon’s free online delivery via their Prime subscription is looking better and better. 

Netflix is killing their brand. So sad, so sad.

- Christine Pilch

 

8 steps to a better law firm website

I'm currently working with a client on a website redesign, and I want to be able to provide guidance to the developers about where my client wants to be as far as look and feel, so I'm looking at law firm websites. Fortunately, Google offers a large preview of a site's home page when you hover over search results, so that makes it easier, but I'm noticing some not-so-good commonalities among many law firm sites.

It's time for a little tough love.

1) Law firm sites are overwhelmingly blue.
Why blue? It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence. However, if all your competitors also have blue websites, isn't that a bit confusing for a prospect who is shopping for a new attorney? If you want to stand out, try another color. Almost anything will be better than blue to differentiate your firm. Don't settle for blending in with the pack. Your phone will ring when you make an impression.

2) Don't settle for poor content  
I'm seeing a lot of us, we, our... me, me, me... Unfortunately, nobody cares about you. They only care about what they can get from you. Whoever is writing the copy for these websites doesn't understand basic marketing principles. It's not about you, it's about your clients. Clients only care about how you can benefit them. For example, you're not selling wills, you're selling the peace of mind that one's family will be cared for if something really bad happens. If you want your website to bring in business, get over your ego and start using language that your prospects want to hear. If you can't step away and be objective about what your clients want and get, (your market position,) hire a marketer who can distinguish that on your behalf and is good at writing copy.

3) Over-used cliché images
Scales of justice, gavels, columns, law books, courtrooms, and conference rooms don't appeal to clients. Clients want to see themselves on your website. They want to know that the people you represent are just like them, so they will feel comfortable. Clients don't care about cliché legal images, so stop trying to impress them, and make your website relatable.

4) Beware of your own image on the home page
Again, get over yourself, and think about what your clients need. What will make them pick up the phone? Yes, you are likely your brand, but at this point, people need to know what they will get if they hire you. Your smiling mug is usually not enough to make the phone ring. Sorry to bruise your ego.

5) It's just too busy
Your home page doesn't have to contain everything you know about your area of practice. Think "less is more" here, and draw your visitors in. A home page that has a lot of text to read and lots to look at only confuses your visitors because they don't know what they are supposed to focus on. Remove their ambiguity by making a few key points that pull them into the site.

6) Stay away from art of your city's skyline
This idea was once fresh, but it's not anymore. Look at your competitors' sites. Chances are that at least a couple of them use this art. Don't be a me-too. Make your design original. Be distinctive.

7) Be wary of font errors
Basic design 101 dictates that no more than 3 complimentary fonts be used on a page, but don't go crazy here. Again, less is more.  Also, san serif fonts, like Ariel, are a lot easier to read online, so skip the serif fonts, like Times New Roman. They make a reader work harder, and the last thing you want to do is tire your prospective clients.

8) Don't ignore design consistency
Most websites have a home page look and an interior page look that remains consistent across all interior pages. Headlines and fonts should be carried consistently across all pages. Although your visitors may not necessarily notice a subtle shift in such things as style, size of a headline, or color of text, they will sense that something is off and feel uneasy. You want to foster a sense of confidence and trust in prospective clients, not unease. 

What other mistakes do you see law firms make with their websites?

 

- Christine Pilch

Common LinkedIn don'ts - avoiding mistakes that just might hurt you

LinkedIn has become pretty mainstream over the past couple of years. It has grown way past the point when it was mostly just social media early adopters. Today it's pretty much expected that professionals maintain a presence there, and if that's not enough of an incentive to take LinkedIn seriously, try Googling your name. You'll likely find your LinkedIn profile near the top of the results. 

Despite the huge popularity of LinkedIn, many people take a lackadaisical view of the network. They display incomplete profiles, neglect to upload a picture, and let invitations pile up in their inboxes. These mistakes should be obvious to everybody, but there are a few additional things people do that can really hurt their reputation within the network. Are you doing any of these things?

1) Unprofessional status updates

LinkedIn is a professional network, not a social one. People here don't generally care to read about your non-professional activities. Everything you post on LinkedIn should be carefully crafted to get you into the job you want or bring business through the door. If you want more information about how status updates among LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter differ, here's a video I did about this topic.

2) Using a logo or random image as your photo

LinkedIn is a professional network, and people should see you here as they see you in your day-to-day professional life. Bankers and lawyers should be in a jacket and tie, law enforcement should be in uniform, and chefs should be in their coats if that's how people see them in their professional lives. It is not appropriate to use a photo of you in a baseball cap unless you're a baseball player, or a photo of you on the beach unless you're a lifeguard.

One more thing, although you may be tempted to use your logo, it is against LinkedIn terms of service to represent yourself with anything other than a photo of you. The user agreement states that "...your profile photo should be a photograph of yourself and not a cartoon, symbol, drawing or any other content." Yes, others get away with this, but do you want to be the one that LinkedIn makes an example of by removing your profile?

3) Spamming other members

This is a real pet peeve of mine and many other members. We are all here to network, but nobody wants to be harassed by your sales message on LinkedIn. It is not okay to spam your connections or fellow group members with pitches for your product or service via the LinkedIn message system or through group discussion boards. Remember that spam is unwanted and unsolicited messages, so if you send out these kinds of messages or post them on discussion boards, you are a spammer. There are plenty of other ways to position yourself as an authority and let people know what you have to offer on LinkedIn without spamming others. 

These are my top 3 LinkedIn mistakes. What else do you see people doing on LinkedIn that hurts their professional reputation?

 

 - Christine Pilch

Photo credit: roger4336

The danger in using a Facebook Page as your social media hub

As Facebook grows stronger and more relevant each day, it also becomes an attractive and significant marketing tool for businesses. In fact, businesses that neglect Facebook do so at their own peril if their competitors make the effort to craft a positive user experience there.

While Facebook's potential as a marketing platform for a company is hard to ignore, it is also wise to proceed cautiously on a network within which the user has few, if any rights, and little recourse in the event that something goes wrong.

Know that because Facebook is a free platform, it can do essentially whatever it wants. This means that it can, and does remove information for any reason. Unfortunately, such action sometimes seems random, and it becomes a huge problem for the Page owner, who suddenly finds himself adrift in a huge Facebook sea of indifference with no pipeline to a real-live human being who can or will help.

I've had 2 instances where I've experienced Facebook's callous disregard for it's users. In the first, Facebook took down a note on my own Grow My Company page because someone reported it as abusive, which is absurd. I had spent many months developing a list of tips for social media usability. I would tweet them and post them to my Fan Page, and then add them to this note, which linked off  a graphic on my page that portrayed me as a "Tipster." There was absolutely no questionable content included. It was just tips for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, video, and social media in general, but someone reported it as abusive, and Facebook yanked it down.

So, why would Facebook do this? I can't say with certainty, but I can speculate that somebody decided to be spiteful for their own selfish reasons, and they reported the Note just to be mean. Unfortunately, this instance proves that Facebook doesn't bother to review reported content, they just remove it. So beware.

Unfortunately, I neglected to keep a local copy of the list I was developing. I can certainly rebuild it simply by going back in my posts. Will I? Maybe, but it will be a lot of work to duplicate my effort.

In the second Facebook affront, it suddenly, and without warning, took down a client's Fan Page. This was a law firm Page with absolutely no questionable content as well. It contained over a year's worth of blog posts from 4 legal blogs, legal news, and 50+ legal videos.

In both above instances, I tried my best to open a channel to an actual person within the Facebook conglomerate who could listen and help, to no avail. I dug through countless help documents and sent many messages. I worked my social media channels hoping to find someone who knew someone within Facebook. My LinkedIn network gives me access to about 11 million people, and I came up dry. Facebook is a black hole when it comes to customer service.

So, I am very cautious about positioning Facebook at the center of any of my clients' marketing endeavors. I agree that it's an essential component, but I've been reading lately that some companies are actually getting rid of their websites in favor of establishing their Facebook Page as their primary online presence. I believe that is foolish. When you use Facebook, you're playing in a sandbox that you don't own and where you have just fleeting, non-specific rights. Facebook can make any decision it wants at any time, for any reason, and you have no recourse, as you would with something that you pay for, like a website hosting service.

 

 - Christine Pilch

QR code marketing mistakes

I recently received my first two marketing postcards that utilized QR codes. QR, or quick response codes, utilize a 2 dimensional, square barcode that, when scanned with a smartphone barcode reader, takes the user to a webpage. While I applaud these businesses for jumping on the bandwagon and using this hot, new technology, I sure wish they had done it right!

The first piece was from an area hospital, and it was promoting their birthing center. (I'm going to stay on task here and not critique the punctuation or composition of the piece, which were poor.) I'm on Android, and the QR code brought me to the hospital's Facebook Place, which was connected to their Fan Page, but it took me a moment to figure out how to get there. In fact, I had 3 choices in the navigation, Activity, Wall, and Info. There was no landing page telling me anything about why I scanned that QR code in the first place, or how to collect on their free offer, as described in the piece. I was simply dumped onto an irrelevant Fan Page that didn't have the information I wanted.

So how could this hospital have properly utilized that QR code to give them a marketing advantage? Simple; drive traffic to a page that expands upon the information included within the postcard. If that can't happen on Facebook, the landing page should have been built on their website.

Also, the huge missed opportunity here is that even if the mobile user could get to the custom landing tab, there's no information about the birthing center there. The user has to click to another page for that info. This is wasted marketing money because many women will simply like the page as instructed, collect their free gift, and go have their baby elsewhere because they weren't given a compelling reason to consider this particular birthing center.

The second postcard was promoting a seminar for non-profits. It wasn't a bad piece. It explained the benefits, and I clearly understood the advantage of attending. However, unfortunately, they also fell short with the addition of their QR code on the piece.

The code takes the user to a webpage that doesn't include any more information than the postcard and wasn't optimized for mobile use, so the text was tiny. The registration button was so small that it was barely visible, and when I clicked on it, I received a big security warning saying that the certificate was not from a trusted source. That didn't give me much confidence about proceeding.

The moral of this story is that while it's terrific to utilize new technology, traditional marketing principles still apply. You still need to drive people to a place where they can get the info they need. You still need a compelling offer to entice people to take action. You need to always make it easy for your prospects to do business with you. And, in this case, you must test, test, test...on every mobile platform.

 

- Christine Pilch

Brand lessons from the Sheen PR crisis

Charlie Sheen's public rants on major media outlets lately have created a potential brand crisis that he is doesn't seem to be anticipating. In his letter published by TMZ, he states, "Remember these are my people ... not yours...we will continue on together..."

Therein lies the bomb. Charlie believes that he owns his fans. He doesn't. They own him. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand branding.

The essence of branding is the feeling that people have about you. It represents perceived personality, which includes your constituency's total experience with you. People form opinions about you every day, be them good, bad, or indifferent. Brands need attention to thrive, so even "bad boys" enjoy a certain brand capital. When they're celebrities, this sometimes works to their advantage with producers because the "bad boys" have an inate ability to create buzz for a project.

But what happens when people ignore your brand?

It fades.

Brands are only strong when they incite reaction. What if Charlie pushed his fans so far that they stop caring and paying attention? That's a potential crisis that he doesn't seem to be anticipating.

 

- Christine Pilch

 

What to look for in a social media trainer or speaker

Like with most everything, there are varying levels of expertise among social media speakers and trainers. Beware hiring an "expert" and getting a casual social media user who billed themselves as competition to people who spend the majority of their days working within the social media sphere, and who are perceived as trusted authorities who advise users on up-to-the-moment changes in such applications and the implications of these changes. I use the word, "expert," cautiously because this field is so new, it advances so rapidly, and we're all learning together, that I prefer to call us early adopters or advisors.

Coming from someone who lives much of her life immersed in social media and who regularly responds to changes that impact you on the day they occur, here's what I recommend you look for when you hire a social media advisor:

1. Review this person's social media activity: If the individual isn't an avid, enthusiastic user of the tools themselves, how can they advise you on best practice? This includes the following:
2. Twitter: Twitter success for social media advisors is not necessarily in the number of followers, it's in influence and being perceived as a go-to resource, (see this post.) Check out your potential social media speaker or trainer's Twitter page. Is there a custom background that is consistent with the rest of their company's social media branding? Does their bio reflect their social media expertise? Do they tweet about social media tips, tricks and resources? Do they regularly break social media news? Do people generally look to them for social media advice and counseling? Do they use Twitter consistently enough to be perceived as an authority, i.e. more than perhaps 5,000 tweets?
3. LinkedIn: Like Twitter, with LinkedIn, it's not about number of connections here, because anybody can send out lots of invitations and build up a big network, but look at the strength of their profile. Is it complete? Does it clearly state their social media experience in specific terms? Do they have recommendations about their social media work? Do they use their status and Group memberships to demonstrate their social media expertise regularly? Do they have a company page? Is it complete?
4. Facebook: Take a look at the individual's Facebook page, no, not their personal profile, their Fan Page. Is it dedicated almost exclusively to social media? Are they regularly posting links to social media tips and articles that demonstrate that they are on top of the field on a daily basis? If they don't have a Fan Page at all, that's a big red flag. 
5. YouTube: Video is hot and one of the the most significant contemporary social media tools available to you right now. Is your potential advisor utilizing video to market their own social media expertise? Do they regularly create how to videos that make it easy for you to adjust your own social media profiles? Do they use video to react to changes and advise you of benefits and traps within specific applications? If not, how can they advise you in using video to market your own business?
6. Blog: Does the individual have a blog? Blogging was one of the first social media tools available, and the individual should have a blog jam-packed with social media tips, news, how-tos, and advice. Most qualified social media advisors use their blog as the hub for all their social media activity due to it's dynamic nature, which is in-line with social media's underlying chacteristic of being a collection of communications tools. Take a look at your potential speaker or trainer's blog for some good insight into their level of expertise with social media.
7. Community leader: Has the individual created an online environment that fosters discussion? Do they lead and encourage growth of others' social media knowledge? This can happen within a LinkedIn Group, Facebook page, Twitter account, Wiki, blog, and any combination of the above.
8. Thought leader: Is this person regarded as a go-to person for social media questions? Look at their blog, Facebook Page, and Twitter account. Watch their videos. Are they breaking news, or do they play catch-up 2-weeks after a change occurs within a social media platform?
9. Branding: Strong social media consultants know the value of image and consistency. All their social media identities should have a consistent look and feel, with colors, fonts, and language. They also understand how critical it is to enable anybody to reach out to them instantly and easily, so they prominently display their social media links across all venues, including their business cards. If you can't find the links to the individual's profiles on all these sites with minimal effort, that's another big red flag. 

I could also go into may other factors, such as strategic planning and RIO, but they're a little too technical for this venue. The above might, however, serve as a basic guide for you to use when evaluating a potential social media speaker or trainer. Social media identities are generally wide open, so this information is there for your review. I urge you to take a little time and look at all of the above.

Social media advising is a specialty niche. Many ad agencies are starting to list it among a suite of services, whether or not they have a dedicated social media advisor on staff, and many individual users are seeing visions of easy money in part-time social media speaking and training gigs. Unfortunately, casual use does not an expert make, and if you hire the wrong person, you just might be getting inaccurate or outdated advice from someone who is well-intended but under-qualified. Isn't your business worth getting its best possible introduction to this exciting new frontier?

Good luck!

- Christine Pilch

Social media friend or foe? The danger of mixing personal & professional

Social media is a communications channel and a means to build relationships. Gone are the days when there was a solid line dividing your personal and professional life. Social media blurred the line, and now it’s fairly common for family, friends, co-workers, subordinates, and superiors to coexist in one’s social media world. But is this smart? 

Revealing too Much 

One of the hardest things about social media is figuring out how much personal information to share. Your social media identity is an extension of your off-line brand, so if you over-share, you run the risk of being perceived as irritating and unappealing. You can also compromise your safety by telling your circle that you’re out of town, and therefore, that your home is empty. You may also be caught in a little white lie if, for example, you called in sick to work, and the next day your boss sees photos from the beach excursion you enjoyed instead. 

No Do-Overs 

Yes, you can delete a status update or post, but with the huge popularity of social media, search engines catalog everything almost instantly. If you post something and want to take it back even 30 seconds later because you’re worried about your professional reputation, it may just come back to haunt you. Think twice before you post. 

Complaining About Your Job 

Even if you’re careful about who you friend on Facebook, or you think you’ve mastered the art of blocking certain status updates from particular friends and lists, it’s just not smart to complain on social media about your job. Twitter is public and Facebook changes privacy setting so often that you risk the information getting to the exact person that you don’t want to see it. 

You Could Get Fired 

Consider what happened to a waitress in North Carolina who complained about a tip she received. Despite the fact that she thought her updates were private, her boss saw the post and fired her. Most people are At Will employees who can be fired at any time for any reason, so don’t provide any ammunition.

- Christine Pilch

 

7 steps to increase your chances of successful charitable support solicitation

This is a bit off-beat from what I normally write about, but since many of you probably serve on charitable and community boards, I hope you find it useful.

I have managed millions of client marketing dollars and seen thousands of requests for sponsorship cross my desk over the years. Of these many requests, I estimate that probably 80% arrive with insufficient data for me to take action without soliciting more information. This costs me valuable time...strike one, and makes you look unprofessional and amateurish....strike two.

So if you want to put me, (and other gatekeepers just like me,) in a position to quickly evaluate, submit and recommend the funding of your request, these are the steps you should take for your best chance to hit a home run.

1. Keep it simple and uncluttered. Save a stamp by sending your request via email in PDF format. Realize however that such requests have to be printed internally, and most professional printing is done on black & white laser printers, so keep graphics at a minimum and no colored backgrounds. Also, this must be formatted to print on a standard 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper. No odd sizes.
2. Include all options. Although you may be interested in securing major sponsors first, many organizations will be unable to support your cause at a high level, but would, for example, place a less expensive ad in a program book. Make sure you include complete sponsorship options.
3. List ad dimensions. This is where most support requests fail. Listing full page, half page, quarter page, etc, does not help. Ad designers need to know dimensions, so it's smart practice to include them on solicitations. Also designers expect dimensions to be listed width first, then height, as in 7.5"(wide) x 10.5" (high.) If you list them backwards, you will receive ads that won't fit in your book or a lot of phone calls from people who don't think the dimensions sound right.
4. Include your deadline. When is the support commitment deadline? When are payment and materials due? List this info on your request form.
5. Where should the check be sent? Amazingly, many organizations forget to include this vital piece of information.
6. List an email address. Most marketing representatives prefer to send a quick email confirmation of the support contribution and email the ad when it's designed. Make it easy by providing an email address.
7. Remind advertisers early. Most marketing reps are juggling multiple projects, and sometimes things get overlooked. Don't wait until the day that your program book needs to go to the printer to remind someone that an ad is due. Send out email reminders about a week prior.

Your primary objective in soliciting support for your charitable organization should be making it as easy as possible for people to evaluate your request and comply with it. Incomplete information frustrates marketers and makes you look unprofessional. It may even get your request dropped into the trash without serious consideration.

- Christine Pilch

LinkedIn: the art of sending a connection request to a stranger

If you read LinkedIn's own connection advice, you will see that it is supposed to be about connecting to people that you actually know professionally. This is oftentimes not the case, however, as more and more people are connecting to strangers for various reasons.

LinkedIn Open Networkers (LIONs) seem to view LinkedIn as a big competition, to see who can connect with the most people. Others just like to expand their networks because they realize that it's to their advantage to allow many people access to their profile, which may lead to an opportunity when someone with their skills is needed. Still others may read a post or comment within a group or the Answers section and decide they would like to connect for some perceived value.

Whatever the reason, sending a blind connection request to someone who has never heard of you requires a bit of finesse if you want a positive response. If you're in the habit of clicking on the "Friend" relationship designation and sending the stock LinkedIn message, you just might find yourself out of luck and reported. Multiple reports from users who don't know you may actually get you banned from LinkedIn, so don't do it!

A better tactic is to draft a brief message explaining why you would like to connect with the user and how that might benefit them. Here's an example:

"Joe, I read your recent comment about video production, and I would like to connect with you. I have clients who need such a service from time to time, and we may be able to work together."

When Joe reads that message, it is likely that he would perceive value in connecting with you. Worst case scenario, he can click ignore, but it is unlikely that he will report someone who took the time to draft a nice, personal message. Courtesy goes a long way in social media, just as in person.

 

- Christine Pilch

 

 

Your LinkedIn profile should promote you, not your firm!

One of the biggest mistakes I see on many people's LinkedIn profiles is that much of the content is about the user's company, rather than about themselves. These people don't seem to understand LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a professional brand-building tool. Your profile space is best utilized promoting yourself, your capabilities, and what a company gets from hiring you. Use your Company profile to highlight your firm.

Unfortunately, when I read the Summary and Specialties of many people's profiles, I see a lot of information about their companies... "We do this," and "We offer that."

Now think about why people check out your profile on LinkedIn. Among their intentions:

1. They might just be curious
2. They might be considering you for a job at their company
3. They might be considering hiring you to perform some type of service

You are wasting a wonderful personal marketing opportunity by not marketing yourself on your own LinkedIn profile. People who read your bio are curious about your skills and capabilities. They review your profile through the filter of, "What can this person do for me?" If all you do is talk about your current employer, how can that help you get the new gig?

Consider following modified Summary on a personal LinkedIn profile:

"ABC Company is in business to create solutions for our clients that build sales faster. We are:
- An experienced team with proven results in businesses, like Sprint, Discover, Kodak
- 100% senior people from every important functional area . . . from branding to interactive to social networking . . . devoted to solving client problems."

This person's title is Interactive Strategist, but what can he offer personally? How can this bio help him move on professionally if it only proclaims the benefits of hiring his company?

The separation of personal and company benefits may get a little muddy when you own your firm however, especially if you're a solopreneur, as you are the company. However, it's smart practice to try to focus your text on what you offer your prospective clients.

Remember that profiles are singular, so a good tip is to avoid the word, "we" in your profile. Use "you" and "I" instead, as in... this is what you get when you hire me!

 

Christine Pilch

Martindale's Unverified "Client" Reviews Mess

Since Martindale rolled out their new "Client" Reviews feature, I have been suspect. I had two questions:

1. How is Martindale verifying that these people are actual clients?
2. Why is this program's auto-publishing of reviews opt-out rather than opt-in, so their paying customers retain control of their profiles?

I have gone round and round for the past couple of months with various people within various departments, and today I spoke with Betty in the ratings department. She was helpful, but I did not like what I heard.

Betty said that they consider "clients" to be verified as real people because they provide an email address. Okay, but how does that prove that these are actual firm clients?

When I further pushed the issue, she stated that "clients" are required to sign an affidavit claiming that they are a firm's client. Well, that's a huge relief because nobody ever lies. (Sarcasm.)

I then asked what they plan to do about revealing a "client's" identity so a firm may investigate and defend a negative review, and Betty stated that won't happen.

So apparently, Martindale is more interested in protecting the privacy of a law firm's claimed "clients" than the reputations of their own clients, many of whom who spend 10s of thousands of dollars annually with Martindale.

What's your take as a lawyer or legal marketer? Are you confident that the reviews coming in for your lawyers on Martindale's Client Review are from actual clients? How do you feel about your inability to defend anything negative? Are you frustrated that Martindale is assuming a Facebooky auto-publishing opt-out stance rather than opt-in, which would be much more respectful of their own clients?

 

- Christine Pilch

Logo follies: how taking liberties with your logo damages your brand

Although your logo itself is not your brand, since it is one of the most instantly recognizable elements of it, your logo is very important. Despite this, sometimes companies disrespect their logo, taking liberties with it that damage their brand by presenting an inconsistent delivery among mediums.

When your logo was developed, if the work was done by a someone who has experience with corporate identity development, you likely received an accompanying identity guide or manual. The degree of detail contained in this document varies among companies. For example, the ID manual for the Boy Scouts of America is 45 pages. But the guide provided for your small business is likely just a few pages, usually containing such information as acceptable fonts, stationery design, colors, and appropriate logo versions. This document structures the delivery of your graphic presentation so it remains consistent across various media, and its compliance is typically mandated by the president or CEO within the document.

Unfortunately, sometimes companies don't receive an identity guide, or perhaps the person handling marketing doesn't understand it. Such a breakdown of understanding, or of missing information, often leads to graphic mistakes like the following.

Logos are typically designed with specific colors. 4-color is expensive to print, so 1 or 2-color logos are most popular for small businesses. Your ID guide should contain all acceptable renditions, including black, reverse (white on black,) a 1-color version for each color of a 2-color logo, solid versions and shaded versions, and a reduced version with all elements clearly visible down to 1 inch size. Without guidance, sometimes a logo is recolored inappropriately:

 

Sometimes a logo doesn't perfectly fit a space, and inexperienced marketers may opt to stretch or squish it to fit the space without regard to maintaining proportions. For example, it may be tempting to squish a logo when creating today's avatars for social media, which are typically square. It is also tempting to stretch a logo to better fit the space of a sign or banner:

 
  

It is also inappropriate to rotate your logo or flip it:

 
 

And you should be careful to respect the white space requirements stated in your ID guide and not put anything too close to it or place it on a field:

Your logo is often one of the most prominent graphic elements of your brand, and people get used to seeing it consistently displayed, but it's easy to misuse it. Since consistency is one of the most important components of a brand, you would be wise to respect the integrity of your logo and refer to your ID guide whenever you create any graphic marketing messages.

- Christine Pilch 

Social media is a communications platform, not a pulpit

I recently tweeted that brands need to preach less and communicate more on Twitter, and my friend, Erica Friedman, tweeted back, "It's a case of "when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Marketing is one-way communication, so Twitter must be." 

Brilliant! This is a perfect analogy for the problem many brands create for themselves in social media.

Traditional marketing involves sending out messages intended to get your customer, client, patient, etc, to take some action that will ultimately result in a purchase of your product or service. It is indeed mostly one-way communication, as Erica said. Historically, very few marketing campaigns were intended to develop a free-flow of information back and forth between the brand and it's customers. However, that's what social media does. That's the whole point.

One of the first things I share with my clients is the simple fact that social media is a communications platform. It is a means to build relationships with customers, prospects, and others. It is a universally accepted fact that people generally do business with people they like, so social media facilitates that. It adds a human face and voice, one that can be compassionate, caring, and helpful. It helps connections, friends, fans, and followers feel like they know a little bit about you and/or your company, so they are more inclined to use you as a chosen resource when the time comes. 

If you open social media communication channels, and you just scream from your pulpit, you don't understand social media, (with a few exceptions.)

So, let's get back to my original statement that brands need to preach less and communicate more on Twitter. Smart companies use Twitter as a customer service function, as a sales tool, to build a community, to manage their reputation, to educate, to troubleshoot, and to build trust, among other things. All of these are facilitated by responding, engaging, and building relationships through communication. You can't do that if you ignore your followers and preach all day long. You're not fooling anybody but yourself if you refuse to participate in the very engagement that fellow twitter users expect.

Go ahead and take a look at your own twitter stream. If you don't see any @s, RTs and DMs to your followers, chances are you're missing the point, chasing away followers, and forfeiting a wonderful opportunity to grow your company.

- Christine Pilch

Does your employer own your LinkedIn connections?

One of the things I teach in my LinkedIn training sessions is to be sure that your primary LinkedIn contact email is one that you own personally rather than your professional email at your employer's domain. Think about this. If you abruptly left your employment, you would lose that primary pipe through which LinkedIn contacts you. 

Also consider the breach of privacy and the loss of potentially years worth of connections if your employer took over your LinkedIn account. You wouldn't even be able to login to your own account.

A recent blog post by Robin Hensley made me pause, however. She cites an article by a British solicitor that states, "English courts, ... have ruled in the past that information in Outlook address books amount to information databases and do indeed belong to employers. Since LinkedIn is essentially a web-based database, he believes it is likely that courts may rule on that in a similar fashion." If this happens in England, can the US be far behind?

Robin's blog post goes on to state, "Many companies are currently scrambling to include LinkedIn policies in their employee handbooks. Employees who have built extensive LinkedIn connections would be wise (but may not know) to consider negotiating terms relating to their online network before accepting employment."

This new information sure does add more credence to my training advice to make your primary LinkedIn email a personal one. Until legal precedent is established in the US stating that LinkedIn networks are employer property, I say safeguard your LinkedIn connections as precious resources. 

Your work email should definitely be connected to your LinkedIn account so people can find you, but change your primary email to a personal one. Please do it now, before you forget. Also, in light of Robin's above suggestion to consider negotiating terms relating to online networks, it seems prudent to be aware of your employer's stance on ownership of social networks.

- Christine Pilch

Avoiding inappropriateness to safeguard your brand

A Facebook friend recently updated her status, "Anyone else think it's improper to reply to a business email "always at your service, mylady?" Yes, I thought so." She was a bit shocked and offended to be treated so unprofessionally by someone who obviously had a different sense of humor than she did. He crossed a line and likely forever damaged his reputation in her eyes.

Of course, the comments rolled in rapidly as people expressed their enthusiastic agreement. One male friend hit the nail on the head when he responded, "Sounds a bit sexist and patronizing, even if not intended."

In another example, a media representative friend of mine called me a while back all in a tizzy because he had received and email from an advertising agency owner who had requested media coverage of a client and signed the email, "Love, Lisa, (not her real name.)" He was stunned by the inappropriateness of this signature and wanted to justify that he wasn't over-reacting. Although it seemed she thought it was a cute way of sweet-talking him into getting what she wanted, she acted unprofessionally and misinterpreted the level of their relationship.

Both of the above examples were likely innocent mistakes, however they illustrate how easy it is to damage your reputation by simply crossing a line. Your reputation is very closely intertwined with your brand, which is a reflection of your constituency's perception of you. To illustrate my point, consider how BP's reputation over the past 3-months has affected their brand.

Your brand is critical, so be careful to avoid any inappropriateness that could potentially damage it. Resist the temptation to be cute because it might not be perceived that way on the other end.

- Christine Pilch

Top 6 mistakes people make on Twitter

There are no hard and fast rules for using social media, but a few things are obvious to many of us who have been using Twitter for a while. Are you causing people to unfollow you by doing any of these things?

1. Using welcome auto DMs - Users HATE them. Here are a couple recent ones I received: 
   - Thanks for following...I'm honored! FREE SUCCESS videos, audios & other resources at...
   - Thank you so much for the follow! Visit us, and give us your feedback...
   - Hey there, thanks so much for the follow! Please check out ... for daily updates.
   If you don't have the time or inclination to send a personal message, don't bother.
2. Broadcasting instead of engaging - When I decide whether or not to follow someone I read at least the first page of their tweets. If I see all product pushing, or no @s or RTs, I don't bother to follow them. Twitter is a communications platform, but broadcasters aren't interesting in building relationships, all they want to do is preach. They don't understand Twitter.
3. Avatar follies - unless you're a retailer like Dell or Amazon or Buy, and users follow you just for deals, people generally want to communicate with a human, not a company. To that ends, people like to see the person they're communicating with, so it's important for them to see you, not your pet, or your kids or your favorite celebrity...you. And be careful about changing your avatar frequently. People tend to establish mental favorites, and they look for those peoples' tweets in their stream. You confuse them and make it harder to spot your tweets if you constantly change your avatar.
4. Selling, selling selling - again, unless you're a retailer or perhaps a restaurant, and people follow you specifically for specials and deals, Twitter users are generally put off by blatant and rampant sales feeds on Twitter. Let's face facts, we all think that we offer terrific advantages to our customers, and we all need to bring in business to thrive, but the Twitter model is based on sharing, communicating, and building relationships. Trust is earned through these three things, and then people will inquire about your services and products.
5. Arguing, insulting, or swearing - Don't do it. It's one of the easiest ways to get unfollowed and leave a bad reputation in your wake.
6. Duplicate content - Many people reserve their personal username and the username of their business, and friends often subscribe to both to show support. Unfortunately, sometimes people tweet duplicate content from both accounts, which clutters followers' feeds. Be careful about that because you might unknowingly be encouraging your friends to unsubscribe for one of your accounts simply to clean up their feeds.

Are you guilty of any of these Twitter offenses? You might want to rethink your strategy, and if you do, you just might make yourself more attractive to follow.

- Christine Pilch

Scheduling tweets: does it fit your Twitter model?

Twitter is a social media platform that enables an open communication channel with others. People use it to develop relationships, demonstrate expertise, solicit assistance, offer help, and provide feedback. Companies use it for awareness, promotion, testing, PR, sales, and as a customer service channel. With a few exceptions, (i.e. Dell, Amazon, Buy) users are generally more successful if they embrace the sharing/engagement model rather than the preaching model. It is a permission-based marketing tactic where it's easy to unfollow anybody at any time for any reason.

So if Twitter success generally comes through engaging, communicating and building relationships, can scheduling tweets work? Sure, but this tactic has to be utilized carefully.

I like to tweet daily, but my weekend tweets are often very light, as my real-life activities take over the time I normally devote to social media. I see no harm in that. People following me probably don't expect it of me if they see the pattern. There are also days when I run from meeting to meeting without much time to tweet, and I might mention that I'm heading out for the day or that I had a busy day when I return, but generally, I don't feel the need to explain, and my absence for a few hours is probably not missed. So I don't bother with tweet scheduling.

For those who prefer the option however, there are several tweet scheduling clients. Among them areTwuffer and SocialOomph (formerly TweetLater,) and now even TweetDeck has scheduling built into it's latest version. Users can write tweets and schedule them to post at some time in the future through these programs. This might be useful if you know you're going to be out of the office for the day and you don't want to loose your Twitter momentum, but I would worry about not being able to respond to @ replies and thank people for their retweets if I wasn't able to get to them for at least 24-hrs. That just seems discourteous to me.

The bigger problem comes in when people use tweet scheduling for their entire Twitter activity. I read the following in the stream of one person who followed me, "I just scheduled all my tweets for the next month." My thought was, "Then you don't understand Twitter," and I didn't bother to follow her because I knew that nothing would be fresh and she was only interested in preaching to me, not engaging. As proof of my theory, there wasn't a single @ reply or RT in her stream.  

I'm sure that there are plenty of people who have success scheduling their tweets, and there's no absolutely correct model, but for the way I use Twitter, scheduling doesn't fit. How about you?

- Christine Pilch

Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter location etc - Voluntarily forfeiting your privacy

Geo tracking websites and services are increasing in popularity. But before you jump in and provide a public record of your every move, it's prudent to consider the implications of this voluntary forfeit of your privacy. This video may open your eyes and make you think about how much personal information you really want to reveal. Christine Pilch, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyco.com

This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

10 ways to get fired fast via social media flubs

The social media world is not as private as many people think. Even if you strictly utilize privacy protocols, you're at the mercy of those who are your friends. It's good practice to always think carefully before posting something. Consider who might read it and how it will be perceived by your boss, co-workers, friends, family, and clients. If you would be uncomfortable with any of these people reading the post, don't do it.

Here are a few things that I have seen through my years involved with social media. Good grief, what were they thinking? Again, don't...

1. Tweet about how boring your job is
2. Tell all your Facebook friends that you're playing Mafia Wars on company time
3. Update your LinkedIn status that you're actively pursuing alternative employment options
4. Tweet that your boss is a __________ (you fill in the blank)
5. Complain that you have too much/not enough work to do
6. Criticize your company in a blog post, tweet or status update
7. Publicly defend a customer with a defamatory attitude
8. Call in sick, then post pictures taken at the ballgame you went to
9. Post the recipe for the proprietary "special sauce"
10. Sit on social media all day and neglect your job

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Facebook

When your own employees sabotage your company's brand

I know I've said it many times before, but I have to repeat it again: your brand isn't your logo or stationery, although they may be physical representations of it. Your brand is the way you are perceived. It's about how people feel when they hear your name or see any physical element of it. It is built entirely from one's experience with your product or service and is the sum total of all touch points that they have ever been exposed to.

So, have you thought about the potential damage your employees can inflict on that brand?

One of the most critical elements of any brand is in setting up expectations of behavior. Think of Wal-Mart. You expect to be greeted in a friendly manner by a smiling someone at the door. Consider McDonalds. You expect those fries to be perfectly cooked and piping hot. Think of the receptionist at your doctor's office. You expect her to be helpful and polite.

But what if the Wal-Mart greeter scowls, the fries are brown and cold, and the receptionist is rude? In an instant, your expectations aren't met, and you feel uncomfortable or perhaps a bit cheated or angry. Your experience doesn't match the perception that you have created about that product of service, and the brand begins to erode in your mind.

Now think about your own business. Are all of your employees on the same page? Do they all deliver a consistent experience to your clients at every touch point?

Your employees are your brand's champions or the undoing of it. They must always present a professional, tactful, classy front. Clients are affected by their tone, attitude, and even the way employees dress, so be careful of who is on your front-line. For example, your accounting person may be terrific with numbers, but if his people skills are poor, he shouldn't handle clients' inquiries. Even if an employee is having a bad day, that's not an excuse to inflict a rotten attitude on the public.

Also consider how toxic a bad attitude is internally. Can one bad apple spoil the whole bunch? I have seen a few organizations that were turned into glum, depressing places by people who made it their mission in life to spread their own misery. If you've got such an employee on your staff, think about addressing him or removing her.

Your brand and your reputation are wrapped up very tightly together. Make sure you protect them by employing the right people.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter
On Facebook

Social media ettiquette - some basic principles

A friend asked me yesterday, if she unfriended someone, would they be notified? Our subsequent conversation revealed that this rather casual acquaintance of hers was often confrontational and rude on Facebook, and that got me thinking, what is and is not acceptable behavior on social media channels?

Social media is the online version of working the room, and basically, all the social graces and standards that you apply to your every day interactions in face-to-face situations apply online as well.

• Be polite and respectful
• Don't swear or be rude
• Resist the temptation to argue
• Don't be confrontational
• Help others with advice and answers to their questions
• Say please and thank you
• Extend the courtesy of responding when someone writes on your wall, @s or DMs you, or messages you
• Don't blatantly push/sell your product or service

The professional goal of social media is to build relationships that may one day turn into business opportunities. You would never walk into a restaurant, interrupt everyone's dinner, pass out your business cards, then leave. So why would you think this is acceptable online?

People do business with people they like, and the way to earn respect is to be authentic and genuine in your interactions with social media friends and acquaintances. Treat people the way that you like to be treated, and always remember that once online, it's there for good. Draft, review, and reconsider before posting. Protect your reputation.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Who is your brand cop?

I recently read Tom Kane's blog post "Does Your Firm Have a Marketing Cop?" and it got me thinking about brand protection. Do you have someone in-house who is thoroughly versed in all aspects of your company's brand and in possession of the authority to reprimand internal offenders? In my experience, many companies do not.

Your brand is the feeling that people have when they hear your name, see your logo, or come in contact with any of your company's, product's or service's touch points. It is the sum total of their experience with these things. It is entirely about their perception of you, not necessarily the image that you want or intend to project.

So what happens when someone within your organization puts out something that is disharmonious or in conflict with your brand? Confusion, discomfort and perhaps a feeling of distrust may occur. Is this something you want? Can you afford to risk it?

It's surprisingly easy to undermine a brand though inconsistency. One department might develop materials that don't conform to your corporate ID manual, so they look and feel different. An employee might slap a logo that is oversized, out of proportion, altered, against a forbidden background, etc. on something. Your receptionist might be unfriendly or rude. A client might be put on hold for too long. Phone calls might not be promptly returned. All of these things damage a brand by delivering a customer experience that is outside of expected treatment. And when you start delivering an inconsistent experience, your brand becomes a lie, trust evaporates, and you start losing clients.

It is very important to empower someone within your organization with the authority to control your customers' experience through careful management of all client touch points. This person must thoroughly understand your brand strategy, respect your ID manual, and have the guts to stand up to anybody who abuses your brand in any way.

So who fills this capacity within your organization? If your answer is "nobody," what damage is being done to your brand through the delivery of an inconsistent customer experience? How much more business could you earn and retain if your brand was rock-solid?

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

7 more things to avoid on LinkedIn

My Top10 mistakes people make on LinkedIn blog post was my most popular ever, so I thought it was time to share a few more things people do to shoot themselves in the foot on LinkedIn.

1. Keeping your connections private. The whole point of LinkedIn is to share resources and grow individual networks, so how can that happen if your hoard your contacts? When people can see them, they have the opportunity to identify people they know and send invitations. They may also see someone who can fulfill a particular need they have and ask you to make an introduction. Generally, people who make their connections private are regarded by the LinkedIn community as takers rather than givers. Is that how you want to be perceived.


2. Not updating your status. This is one of the best ways to remain top of mind for all your connections when they check their home pages. LinkedIn deems status updates to be so important that they display at the top of each user's home page. Now this is not Twitter. This valuable real estate shouldn't be used to announce that you're cleaning your office. Use this space to market yourself by constantly educating and reminding your connections about your specialties, and try to update it daily.


3. Not including your maiden name. Ladies, this is a no-brainer. You weren't born when you got married. Lisa Jones had high school and college friends. She probably also had a job or two before becoming Lisa Wilson, so why would she not want to be found by people in her past who may be in a position to hire her? It doesn't matter if it's been 25 years since you were Lisa Jones, your LinkedIn (ad Facebook) persona should be Lisa Jones Wilson to present the broadest potential to be found.


4. Not utilizing groups. Group discussion boards are a tremendous resource to gain information, advice, and help. They can also be used to showcase your expertise in a non-boastful way by helping others. Look for alumni, professional trade, special interest, and local area groups. You will find an instant connection and common ground with other members. If you can't find exactly what you're looking for, or you identify a need, start your own group. I started 3 of them myself, and I have the benefit of moderating, messaging members through email, and having my profile viewed by most people when they request joining my groups.


5. Spamming groups. You know how great your product or service is, but this is not the place to toot your own horn so blatantly. In fact, most people in your groups don't give a hoot about your sales pitch that advertises something they're not looking for. So when you post a sales pitch, it just makes you look pushy and unappealing.


6. Not integrating other social media feeds. If you have a blog and a Twitter feed, link them to LinkedIn. What better way to have people discover how interesting your blog is than to have them see the feed on your LinkedIn profile? They're already interested in you if they're reading your bio, so the more information you can share with them, the easier it will be for them to feel connected with you and want to do business with you.


7. Ignoring LinkedIn completely. LinkedIn is not a case of build it and they will come. Sure, some people will find you, but you should also be actively mining your own personal network. In addition, LinkedIn makes it easy to keep tabs on what your connections are up to. Did one of your former co-workers recently get a promotion that puts her in a position to hire contractors? Does someone you serve on a charitable board with possess a special skill that your company needs? If you put up a profile and neglect it from then on, the joke is on you, as opportunities pass you by and go to competitors who recognize the power of the network.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

5 website mistakes you can and should avoid

I look at a lot of websites when I research competitors while doing positioning work for my clients, and I see a lot of websites that need help. Unfortunately many small businesses make the same mistakes. Are you guilty of any of these listed below?

1. Believing that your website should be under the control of your IT department. Your website is a function of marketing. It is one of the most prominent reflections of your brand and must be protected as a precious asset. I have yet to encounter an IT person who understands branding. Actually, web development is also a different skill set from IT, so it is unlikely that your IT department has the competency to build a website that is up to today's standards. You'll need a good web developer and a strong marketer working together if you want your web presence to be as good as it can be. Your website is your company's primary marketing vehicle. It is a 24/7 representation and usually the first destination when people hear about you. Can you afford to not present the best possible face?


2. Displaying content that is poorly written. Good writing is a skill that not everybody possesses, and web content writing is its own unique animal. Not only does your content developer have to be proficient in the rules of grammar and spelling, and respectful of tense and flow, but web content writers are specialists who know how to incorporate keywords for search engine optimization. They also know how to relax the feel while retaining a professional flair. They know how to cut out the fat and get to the point because they understand and appreciate the short attention spans of your visitors.


3. Allowing multiple departments to have control over web content. This can work sometimes, in the event that everyone has sufficient training and adheres to specific guidelines. But almost invariably, somebody learns a little HTML and decides that this would look pretty in pink, and this would stand out more bolded and in a different font. Then before you know it, people hardly recognize your company when they go to your website because everything looks disjointed. Pages are a mishmash of inappropriate creativity. This damages your brand by breaking the cardinal rule of consistency.


4. Launching a site, then forgetting about it. I'm sure you were very proud of what you accomplished when your site went live, but how long has it been since it was updated and refreshed? The evolution of web design is so fluent that old sites look really dated to anybody's eye. We all go to the same internet every day. We all experience new and exciting technology that constantly looks and works better. When we come to a site that is old, there is an instant discomfort, dislike, or dare I say, distrust. The visitor may feel that if you don't care enough about your own website, you might not care too much about his business either.


5. Building a website that is all about me, me, me. Clients don't care about you. They ONLY care about what they get from you. Read your home page and count how many times you use the words we, us, our, I, me, my, and mine. The actual number of times all of these words should be used is zero. Now look at the rest of your pages. Pretty much the only time you should be talking about yourself is on your about us page because that's the whole point of it. When people go there, they expect to read about you. The rest of the time, people want to know what they get when they hire you. They don't care how great your service is, how long you've been in business, or how wonderful you think you are. Tell them how your service will benefit them and how you can do that better than anybody else if you want to earn their business.

Website development is a specialty best left to the pros. You probably have a lawyer handle your legal work. You probably have an accountant handle your taxes. You probably have a doctor diagnose your illness. So does it make sense to trust your company's primary marketing vehicle to someone who isn't qualified to provide the best possible product on your behalf?

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Damaging your brand by abusing your customers' confidence or trust

One of the quickest ways to antagonize your clients is to abuse their confidence or trust. This also holds true for organizations that abuse the confidentiality of their members' information.

A client of mine recently received a notice from his local Chamber of Commerce informing him that for the bargain price of $50, he could send a sales message or promotion in a Word document to the Chamber, and they would blast it out in an email to the whole membership. I'm not sure if they don't realize of don't care that many of the Chamber's members will perceive these messages to be spam. It's one thing to be informed of Chamber happenings and events by email, but it's an entirely different thing to use the organization's email list to spam the membership with solicitations.

So, since your brand is what you are perceived to be, what does such an action do to that Chamber's brand? Does this damage the delicate balance of trust? You betcha. Upon the first email delivery of a member's promotional message, that Chamber morphs itself into a spammer. Now this could work successfully if there was an opt-in for such messages, but the membership certainly didn't expect this when they shared their email address for the purpose of receiving Chamber news and updates.

That Chamber should also have a sophisticated email opt-out, enabling people to choose to receive only the kinds of messages they desire, but that's an after-the-fact band-aid, because the trust will have already been bruised by a push of spam.

The lesson here is to always turn everything that you're doing around and view it from the perspective of your customers. How will they perceive any individual marketing activity? Will they welcome it? Will they be leery of it? Why?

Your goal should be to always feed your customers exactly what they want. Always put yourself in their shoes first. Any marketing activity that brings in a few bucks while antagonizing clients is one that should make you pause.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

What were they thinking?

I read a lot of publications, and this ad recently caught my eye, not because of it's creativity or effectiveness, but because it is one of the worst ads I've ever seen.

This is it. Black and white. It looks like a hand written note and is about the size of an index card. I blocked the phone number to avoid any complications here.

Okay, so what does this entity do? Is it an escort service? An entertainer? A bowling alley? A balloon ride? Is it a person? A business? A service? I was confused.

I suspect that most people just moved along in the magazine, if they noticed it at all, but being a marketer, I just had to know what company spent money on something so dumb. So I Googled the number. Guess what it was? It's an advertising agency! Honestly, this is a business that other companies entrust to spend their money and bring in business. How could they miss the mark so completely?

This ad breaks every rule imaginable.

• You don't know what you get.
• You don't know why that company.
• You don't know how they do it better than their competition.
• You don't know what makes them unique and distinct.
• You don't know what value they offer to you.
• You don't even know who they are.

Now, some designer probably thought this was pretty creative, but it's obvious that nobody with a strong marketing or branding background had a hand in it. Would you trust your marketing budget to this company? Yeesh!

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

How to antagonize an editor and not be published

I recently received a nice compliment from an editor. He said, "I'm glad you're between me and him." This was in reference to a piece that I tweaked rewrote for a client to prepare it for print. This was appreciated because it saved the editor time. The client had submitted it without my editorial input, and the editor kicked it back as unacceptable. What would have happened if I hadn't been available to jump in?

Are you causing more work for your editor?

Article writing is a terrific way to garner "free" publicity for your company, product, or service. It contributes to your brand by substantiating what people already believe you to be. It raises awareness, and it builds credibility. If you're a service professional, there is perhaps no more efficient way to demonstrate your expertise among a targeted group of prospects.

I have worked with many editors over the course of my career, and I can tell you that one of the quickest ways to antagonize them is to submit material that is not-yet-ready-for-prime-time. Submitted professional pieces should be as close to perfect as possible. It is unacceptable to submit anything with spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Tenses should be consistent and the flow should be smooth.

If writing isn't your forte, I strongly urge you to engage a ghost-writer or editor to review your work before it goes to the publication's editor. A magazine editor's job is to edit what his or her writers contribute, but it's not his or her job to edit the work of contributors. Minimal tweaks are to be expected to match your writing style with that of the publication, but no editor should ever have to retool your entire submission.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that people with poor writing skills don't realize how deficient they are in this capacity. Here's a test. Ask someone to review your work with a red pen in hand before you submit it. If you see a lot of ink, chances are good that your writing is not up to par for submission as a final piece.

One more thing, causing overworked editors extra work by forcing them to edit your material is not a good way to develop and strengthen relationships. In fact, it is disrespectful and rude. Chances are, next time, they won't want anything from you, so you've actually damaged your relationship with them.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

10 easy steps to put yourself out of business fast

1. Stop marketing - assume that everyone will remember what you do
2. Cancel all your advertising because you need to save money
3. Stop telling customers that you appreciate them
4. Ignore social media, assuming that it's a silly time-suck
5. Stop writing blog posts and articles that keep you in the public eye
6. Keep running all your unproductive advertising without reevaluating. Hey, it used to work.
7. Don't define your niche and point of differentiation
8. Copy everything that your competitors do
9. Change your name or logo and believe that you've rebranded your company
10. Fire your marketing adviser because you can handle marketing yourself

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Unintentional complications - when you do things that damage your brand

I recently received a request from a client for PC training, and I sent out an email soliciting help to a networking group that I belong to. I received about a dozen responses, and I wanted to compile a list for my client to review. I thought that would be quick and easy, but I was wrong.

The problem was that many of the respondents' email signatures were formatted as graphics, which look nice but make it impossible to copy and paste contact information. So I had to retype their info. That wasted my time, and I didn't appreciate it.

Do you do things that make life harder for your clients? Or is your focus completely client-centric. Do you regularly stand in your clients' shoes and appreciate how easy or difficult it is for them to do business with you?

Believe it or not, this contributes to your brand because your brand is about the feeling that people have resulting from their experiences with you. Any roadblock or speed bump in that experience damages the brand that you try so hard to craft.

So think about it. Do you have an unfriendly secretary? Are your clients never able to reach you directly when they need you? Are you always late for meetings and in delivering your work?

You may be the best in the world at what you do, but if you make it difficult to do business with you, that becomes your brand, one where people will say, "Yes, she's very good, but..."

Eliminate that but. Remove the obstacles and make life easier on your clients. That creates a stronger brand

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Why throw money out the window with bad ads?

I recently saw an ad in a business publication introducing new attorneys who had joined a law firm. I read like this...

Good for them.
Good for us.
Good for you.

We're proud to announce our continued growth with the following additions to our Firm.
(Let's not even bother griping about the misuse of capitalization of "Firm.")

Attorney #1's name
formerly of (competitive firm)

Attorney #2's name
formerly of (competitive firm)

Attorney #3's name
formerly of (competitive firm)

Attorney #4's name
formerly of (competitive firm)

Attorney #5's name
formerly of (competitive firm)

Name of firm
URL

Cities

That's it. That's the whole ad. There are many problems with this ad.

First off, how can I tell if I could use the services of one of these attorneys when I don't even know what kind of law they practice? Why would I hire one of these lawyers? What do I get? Why them? Good for me? How? Why?

This ad shows no distinction between this firm and all the rest. There is no incentive for me to do business with them. And even if I did want to hire them, there is no contact information, so I would have to go search for it.

This ad seems to be entirely about gratifying egos... egos of the lawyers who get to see their names in print and egos of those in charge at the firm who hired them. Unfortunately, who cares?

What a wasted opportunity and a waste of money. An good introductory ad shows the benefit clients get from hiring someone. Productive ads turn things around from boasting about you, to demonstrating what your clients get, because that's all they care about. They don't pay attention to anything that doesn't benefit them.

And finally, why on earth would a law firm advertise their competitors by listing them in advertising, thereby giving them credibility? This firm may as well have taken out an ad thanking those firms for doing such a wonderful job of training these lawyers.

I'm sure that the point of listing the names is to let clients and prospects know where these lawyers can now be found, but client relationships are typically built with an individual lawyer, not a firm. Clients know who their lawyer is, so what is the point of listing the competitive firms that these lawyers came from?

Unfortunately, I see an awful lot of advertising like this, designed by people who don't understand positioning and the psychology of marketing. The good news though, is that such advertising makes it a lot easier for me to do my job and help my clients market against such companies.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Top 10 mistakes people make on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is such a wonderful tool to sell yourself to prospects and potential customers, clients and employers. Unfortunately, a lot of people make a lot of mistakes and don't fully utilize LinkedIn to its full potential. Here are the top 10 mistakes that I see people make:

1. Unprofessional photo. LinkedIn is not Facebook. This is not a place where you should have on a baseball cap or be dressed inappropriately for your position. You should be represented exactly as people see you in your day-to-day work environment. If you're a police officer, you should be in uniform, and a banker better be in a suit and tie.
2. Not using a custom URL. You can change your URL where it says Public Profile/edit. Use your name, because this is a public link that you can use in marketing materials. Do this now before somebody else takes it.
3. Incomplete employment history. Your employment history is a powerful tool for people to find you. It is common for people to search employees of companies they worked for in the past to reconnect with old friends and associates. If you're not there, you can't be found as easily.
4. Not listing your specific URLs. Don't be satisfied with the default, "My Company," or "My Blog." By simply dropping down to "Other," you can customize these links to read your company's name. IE, "Grow My Company."
5. Using your company email address as your contact email. Unless you own the company, you should use a personal email address. If you ever leave the company, and no longer have access to that email address, you will lose everything that you've built on LinkedIn.
6. Not adding your LinkedIn profile address to your email signature. You've done all this work, flaunt it. Let everybody you email have easy access to the most complete info they could possibly find about you.
7. No recommendations. This makes people wonder why nobody has recommended you. Let friends, co-workers, clients, and employers sing your praises. These recommendations are extremely valuable insight for anyone considering hiring you for any reason.
8. Incomplete educational information. Like former employment, this is a strategy to be found. People search for people they went to school with. It's an instant bond and common ground.
9. Neglecting your connections. A critical key to your network is a robust and diverse list of connections. LinkedIn is built around establishing connections, so you are of little value to the LinkedIn community as a whole if you don't actively and consistently mine connections. This is not something that just happens. They won't come just because you built it. Work it, work it!
10. Not monitoring the answers component. Answering and asking intelligent questions provides an opportunity of you to raise awareness of yourself.

There are many things that can set you apart on LinkedIn. These are just a few of the more glaring mistakes that I notice on a regular basis.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Branding from the inside out - the importance of consistency

Your brand is precious, and it should be voraciously protected. But what happens when your own staff and employees give out conflicting brand messages? How can you get everyone on the same page and delivering the same messages to prospects and clients?

Getting all your internal resources on the same brand page starts with going back to your position statement. Does everyone in your organization understand who your target customers are, what they get from your company, and why your company is the best source for those customers to obtain their professional services? Does everyone clearly and succinctly deliver a consistent brand message? Is the information that prospects and clients receive the same every time?

The onus of brand enforcement ultimately lies with you, the business owner. Either you accept the responsibility of "brand cop," or you delegate it to someone within your organization. One of the most important functions of your brand cop is the training of all staff. Even if every new employee is handed a copy of your position statement upon hire, it is unreasonable to expect them to automatically understand and assimilate it into their daily actions.

All staff should be trained and fully understand your position in the market, why your company is unique, what value you bring to your service, and how your clients expect and deserve to be treated in every interaction. Remember that your brand is the way people feel about your service and company. If they have a certain expectation, and that expectation is not met, your brand becomes a lie and you lose their trust.

It's a good idea to have regular followup refresher training to make sure that everybody remains on the same page as well. Perhaps an annual meeting would suffice.



by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Are you flushing money down the drain?

It never ceases to amaze me how much money is wasted on ill-advised business decisions. As an professional, are you not amazed at the vast number of people who make important decisions without the advice and counsel of a knowledgeable practitioner?

Imagine all the wasted money...

As much as I have an aversion to being the bearer of bad news, wasting money is exactly what many service professionals do every time they approve of any advertising or promotional printing without first asking the right questions. Yes, as conservative as you may be, you too could be guilty of flushing money down the tube.

To put an end to this money dump you can begin by asking one simple question, “Why?”

Why am I spending this money - what is it going to do for me - and how do I know that?  Could I spend the same money somewhere else and get better results? Why do I really need a thousand, twenty-nine-cent pens with my name on them? Why am I spending hundreds of dollars placing an ad in the local paper? Why would anyone read it, immediately pick up the phone and call me?

But wait! There are even better questions to ask.

Since there are only 3 ways to grow a business,

1. Get more clients
   
   
2. Charge more per client
   
   
3. Get more repeat business

The real question should be, “Which one of these areas does any of my expenditures address?”

Always remember, if you increase any one of these areas you can grow your business fractionally. And if you increase all three areas you will increase your business exponentially!

Ads can work to get more clients, up-sell current ones or bring them back more often, but they have to be well-planned and have a specific purpose. They also have to attract the right audience with the right message and be in the right place at the right time.

Effective ads have to be credible and portray your firm with a well-thought-out, intentional image. Your prospects have to unconsciously understand the answers to three questions before they continue to have any interest in your advertisement. Does the person writing and designing your ads know this?

The viewer of the medium in which you spent your hard-earned money, determines in milliseconds whether to notice your ad, begin reading it, evaluate whether it is of any value to them and decide what, if any, action to take. Do you have the advice and counsel of a knowledgeable marketing practitioner who knows this?

To add confusion to an already complicated attraction process, some ads simply attract your attention but are of no intrinsic value. They may be interesting or entertaining on some level but don’t make people interested in purchasing what they are pitching. Your brain quickly determines:

• Who is the ad speaking to? - Is this ad of any interest to me?
  
  
• Quick, what do I get? - If I don’t immediately understand how I will benefit, I’m out of here - you lost me.
  
  
• Why should I buy it from you? - Is there some compelling reason that you are the best resource for this product or service?

Do you try to save a few bucks by creating your own marketing plans and advertising materials? Do you look for someone that will do it for the least amount of money? Do you get it for free from the publication?

If you’re still imagining all the money that is wasted on ill-advised business decisions by the vast number of people who make important decisions without the advice and counsel of a knowledgeable practitioner – think about the multiplying effects of any money spent when working with a talented and knowledgeable marketing advisor.

Drop us a line, we happen to personally know of two extremely talented marketing advisors that come “two-for-the-price-of-one.” And we can promise you this - we would never allow you to flush money down the drain again.

by: Dennis Kunkler
Dennis@GrowMyCo.com

13 reasons to continue marketing in a recession

Finally, yesterday it was announced that America is officially in a recession and has been for a year. After we all cried a collective, "Duh!" it is time to ponder, has anything really changed for you personally since that news struck? Are you in better or worse shape today than you were yesterday?

For most service business owners, the news didn't really change anything. However, this might be a good time to consider how best to retain the business you have and perhaps even grow. I can tell you with absolute certainty that one of the quickest ways to lose business is to stop reminding people about your services. Stop marketing, and you will fade away.

Why should you keep marketing during the recession?

1. To retain market share
2. Because your competitors will probably slow down or stop
3. To remind your clients that you're there
4. To educate prospects about how you can help them
5. To demonstrate stability
6. To prove your expertise
7. To maintain a positive public demeanor
8. To demonstrate your value
9. To offer free industry tips
10. To touch inactive clients who may have upcoming needs
11. Because incredible deals on media time and space can be negotiated now
12. To solidify your market position
13. To make your clients feel appreciated

One final parting thought, since this blog is about positioning and branding, it is important to stress that your marketing messages must be on-target, to the right people, and about something that they want. Remember that they don't care about you and what you have to offer.

To be successful, your marketing messages have to be about what your clients and prospects get. Don't talk about quality, value or service and expect that to be a successful campaign. Find your niche, differentiate yourself, and create messages that appeal to a specific audience.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

When your ad agency doesn't understand branding

"Branding," is a popular buzzword that is often misused by people who don't understand what it actually is. It's not surprising that many business owners don't quite understand what their brand is, but it's a sad day indeed when an advertising agency doesn't get it. Unfortunately, that happens pretty often.

I recently saw this ad for an advertising agency's "branding service," and I just shook my head. This agency wants your business, and they may have a talented graphic designer who can make your materials look attractive, but this ad isn't actually about branding, so if they don't get it, how can they help you?

Your brand is the sum total of your clients' and prospects' experiences with your service. It's what they feel when they hear your name or see your logo. The physical aspects named in the ad are elements of your brand, but they are not the brand itself.

This blog is full of posts about what a waste of money it is to change your phyical look and expect that your brand will change. By themselves, a new logo, stationery package, and all the rest of the items listed in the ad to the left will rebrand your business about as successfully as changing the carpeting and window dressings in your office would.

The only way a company can rebrand is to change its clients' experience. You must change the way your clients feel they are treated in every interaction with your company. You must establish a different or higher expectation and uphold it in all client touchpoints.

Once you have made your core rebranding commitment, repositioned your company, created a position and value statement, and all stakeholders are onboard and trained, only then can you successfully change the graphics that represent your company to appeal to the target clients identified in your positioning.

If you change your logo and other associated graphic materials before repositioning your company, who will those graphics appeal to? Only the egos of your company's partners and administration.

Please don't be fooled into thinking that a new graphic look will change your brand. If someone tells you differently, you might want to go shopping for a new marketing/advertising company.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter

Newspaper circulation decline forces advertisers to look elsewhere for return on investment

There was an interesting article in the New York Times on Monday, Oct 27 called, “Newspaper Circulation Continues to Decline Rapidly.” The article cites a 5% drop in readership in the spring and summer of 2008 from the same time period in 2007. It also states that most alarming is a sharp drop in Sunday sales, which is the day newspapers traditionally make the most money through sales of circular insertions and increased display advertising.

All of this is hardly a surprise to savvy media buyers who have been steering their clients away from this dying medium over the past several years. Despite the dismal numbers, newspapers continue to increase advertising costs at a rate of about 3% per year. The product is suffering from reduced writing and editorial staff, and readership is shrinking, yet daily newspapers continue to raise rates. So you, the client, get less and less, and pay more and more. This vicious circle seems futile, doesn’t it? If you continue to spin your wheels, paying for unproductive newspaper advertising, maybe it’s time to stop the bleeding and work on other, more effective tactics that have a significantly greater potential payoff.

• Spruce up your website if the content is dated
• Start blogging
• Join LinkedIn.com and develop a rich profile and network of connections
• Dabble in Twitter.com
• Participate in community & charitable activities
• Write an article
• Volunteer
• Join a professional networking group
• Send out prospecting letters; then follow up
• Become active in your local Chamber of Commerce
• Write a press release about something relevant to your business
• Speak at a function or group meeting
• Take a client to lunch, drinks, dinner, or sporting event
• Teach a class at your local college

Many of the above marketing tactics cost no more than your commitment and time, and most of them, if done well, will be much more effective that your tired, old newspaper ad that appears in front of the same dwindling audience week after week.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
On LinkedIn

Martindale misfires again with new video service.

Martindale did it again. I received a fax this morning advertising a new service that they're adding to their host of increasingly out-of-core-competency services. This time it is for an online video component.

You can refer to my post from October 14th called, Martindale Newswire - way out of their core competency, about the first time I became aware of this ridiculous foray outside of their skill set. This time it's the same poor delivery, by fax, with no other distribution or introduction that I've seen. Again, I don't want my clients' fax machines clogged up by Martindale's promotions.

The jury is still out on the value of using video on a legal website. To me, anything that slows down the user experience is a waste of money and disrespectful of visitors' time. People do not go to a legal website to be entertained; they want information, fast. The most efficent delivery of information is through clear and concise text delivered via an intuitive navigation sytem. Fancy video is likely to fall victim to partners' egos, simply singing firm glories, and not demonstrating what users really want and need - To know what's in it for them? What do they get? Why that firm and no other?(The firm's position in the market.)

The fax from Martindale doesn't include pricing information, but why would any law firm pay Martindale to do something so far out of their core competency, which will probably not do anything except further line Martindale's own pockets?

My advice - don't be lured in by Martindale's Online Video service.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Martindale Newswire - way out of their core competency

I received a strange communication from Martindale the other day. It was a fax advertising a press release service that Martindale is launching called Newswire. It caused me to wrinkle my nose and think, "Huh?"

Let's start with the delivery. I must note that I've seen no other promotion of this service. So since when is a fax an appropriate way to market something? Maybe back about 12 years ago, but not in 2008. Send me an email or a piece by snail mail. I don't want anybody clogging up my firm's fax line with promotions, thus jeopardizing my clients' ability to communicate with their clients.

And more incredulous is the fact that this is a big stretch outside of Martindale's core competency. I believe in the innate value of Martindale and applaud their attempts to remain relevant in today's marketplace by diversifying their services through related products that enhance my clients' online experience; but PR?

Not only is this a stretch from their core competency, but their offer that "…you can chose to have your news delivered to up to six specific media outlets…" is grossly inadequate. For example, I have a client in a small market with about a quarter million people, and I send each of their releases to 2 - 3 times that many media sources, depending upon the news. Imagine the reduction of their media coverage if they had to choose only 6!

Martindale touts search engine optimization of each release to improve visibility on the web. Well, honestly, that's not rocket science and not really a selling feature. Success on this front is simply the result of good writing skills.

Finally, they say that they will submit your news to leading news sites, like Yahoo News and Google News. Again, this is not difficult and can be done by anybody. Detailed instructions, as well as an explanation about what actually lands on Google, can be found here: http://www.freshthinkingbusiness.com/google-news.html

In my opinion, Martindale's Newswire is a misfire, and I don't even know how much it costs.



by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com

Moving past marketing mistakes

You know that feeling you get when a client doesn't follow your advice? Ultimately he is paying for it, but he is not obligated to take it, so you keep your professional cool but discretely shake your head. You know that in this particular venture he is destined to fail. But he trusts his own instincts, or decides to take a shortcut, or save money instead of following your advice.

We sometimes find ourselves in a similar circumstance at Grow My Law Firm.

One of our challenges is in making clients recognize some of the marketing mistakes they have made in the past. Often this comes in the form of a personal attachment to a company name or logo that they feel they have made a significant investment in.

A lot of the work we do at Grow My Law Firm is repositioning. Law firms come to us for help when something is just not quite clicking any more. Business may be down, leads may have slowed, or they may just not be growing at the rate that they want.

In order for us to determine why their problem is occurring, we need to dig into the demographics and psychographics of their current client base to determine who their best clients are and why they come to that firm or practice. When we understand their ideal clients we know what appeals to them, and we can craft messages that they will be attracted to. Sometimes that best begins with a name change.

Consider these two fictitious law firms:

Dale, Jones & Murphy

Family Legal Services

What kind of law does Dale, Jones & Murphy practice? What kind of law does Family Legal Services practice? Dale, Jones & Murphy will likely have to spend a lot more money to brand themselves as they want to be perceived than Family Legal Services will. See the power of the right name for your professional service firm? It is important for prospects to be able to instantly identify the potential for you to solve their problems. Someone seeking assistance with a custody dispute will look at Family Legal Services and know, yes, that's what I need.

Your logo is also part of your brand, as a physical manifestation of it. As such, a good logo will appeal to your prospects. It should represent you as they want you to be. Unfortunately we find that often logos were developed before positioning work was done, so they appeal only to the egos of the firm's partners, which don't necessarily coincide with what appeals to their prospects.

After we do the firm's positioning, it is sometimes apparent that a name and/or logo change are in order. But this is a tough nut for some firms to swallow. They often have an emotional investment in their current name and logo, and despite the fact that these changes are significant steps in overcoming the problems that caused the firm to seek out Grow My Law Firm, it's difficult to let go of the past or admit to making a mistake.

At this time, we encourage our clients to consider the goal, getting more business. Would they rather keep a name that nobody relates to or a logo that the senior partner's son designed, or is there more value in making changes that will facilitate more of the right clients coming through the door? At this time, we learn just how serious that firm is about growing their company. After all, they pay us for our advice, but they're not obligated to take it. And if they don't take it, then what are they paying for?


by: Christine Pilch

What are you paying your agency or marketing person for?

Recently I was flipping through a business magazine, and I saw a photo of an advertising agency owner with a celebrity. The caption said that the picture was taken at a photo shoot for one of his clients. Hmm, if that's the case, then why didn't he submit a photo of his client with the celebrity? Is it really appropriate for him to garner his own publicity at his client's expense? Many marketing people blur the lines between promoting their clients and promoting themselves.

If I was that client, and I saw that photo, I would have been upset. I paid for that campaign - the agency's expenses, promotional fee to the celebrity, production expenses and other related costs, and then my agency stole the free publicity.

This begs the question – when you hire marketing or advertising representation, are you getting what you're paying for?

Most small firms hire a soup-to-nuts marketing service, be it an in-house person or an agency. This person or agency is responsible for everything related to the firm's public image, and everything they do should be in their client's best interest, including any PR opportunities. But some people have not learned that it's about their clients, not about themselves.

Have you fallen victim to an opportunistic marketing person? If so, it is appropriate to express your displeasure with their actions. If you don't confront them, it will put cracks in the foundation of your relationship, likely causing a fall when least convenient for you. Stand up and let them know that you expect them to promote you, not themselves, at your expense.

 

By: Christine Pilch

Help, my website doesn’t show up on Google anymore!

If you’ve always done pretty well in web searches, and you’ve suddenly noticed that you’ve vanished from Google, you may have fallen victim to a relatively new Google ranking tactical change.

I am not an SEO expert, but one thing was recently brought to my attention that even a novice like me can understand. If your Google ranking is suddenly tanking, and you’ve got multiple URLs, perhaps they are not properly redirecting, and Google is blacklisting your site.

I learned that it’s no longer sufficient to simply clone your home page over and over on additional domains. When people type in those additional web addresses, they should land on your actual primary domain.

For example, consider the fictional firm of Smith, Jones and Price.

They may register the following domain options:

SmithJonesPrice.com
Smith-Jones-Price.com
SmithJonesAndPrice.com

Let’s say that the primary domain is SmithJonesPrice.com. When someone types into their browser, SmithJonesAndPrice.com, they should go directly to SmithJonesPrice.com, not to a cloned home page hosted at SmithJonesAndPrice.com. This can be accomplished through your web hosting company or whoever manages your domains. If it’s not done properly, you can be headed for trouble with Google.

Search engine optimization is a specialized area of expertise within marketing. It’s so specialized that it’s like expecting a real estate lawyer to draft a complicated Trust, or an accountant who specializes in employee benefits to advise on asset protection.

Some things are best left to those who specialize in them. Such is the case with SEO.

I recommend that if you have multiple web addresses, you talk to whoever manages the domains to make sure they are properly redirecting.

by: Christine Pilch

Persistence pays in legal marketing – staying the course

An advertising man named Thomas Smith wrote the following in 1885:

The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
The second time, he does not notice it.
The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
The fifth time, he reads it.
The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
The seventh time, he reads it through and says, 'Oh brother!'
The eighth time, he says, here's that confounded thing again!
The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
The tenth time, he asks his neighbor if he has tried it.
The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
The thirteenth time, he thinks it might be worth something.
The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it someday.
The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.
The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offered.

This begs the question, do you stick with your marketing campaign long enough for it to work, or do you abandon it if you don’t see quick results? Now I’m not talking about the most common approach; “Goodness, revenue is down, so we’ve got to run an ad. Let’s call (insert media here) and come up with something quick.” This knee-jerk reaction to a problem long in the making rarely enjoys much success.

I’m talking about a marketing plan that targets the right clients with the right message at the right time. I’m talking about a plan that grew out of solid positioning.

If you’ve done your positioning, you already know who you should be talking to, what they get from your legal services and why your firm is uniquely qualified to provide it. You know your distinction and you know the niche that you fit into in your market. You know what your desired clients need from a lawyer and what pain you can soothe. You know that people will be blind to advertising messages that talk about you, your legal service, your years in practice, your new offices and the quality of your quality work.

So if your marketing is directed at specifically targeted clients about something that they want or need, or a problem that they need resolved, does it make sense to abandon it prematurely? Is it may be more likely that they haven’t heard or read your message the 20 times that Thomas Smith said people need to take action?

We wrote a book that explains how you can position your law firm called, “The Definitive Insider’s Guide to Growing Your Practice Through Innovative Brand Strategies.” If you would like to receive a complimentary copy, please drop us an email.

by: Chrstine Pilch

Stop wasting your precious advertising dollars by not understanding the purpose of an ad or brochure

Most law firms that create or direct the creation of their ads oftentimes miss the mark. And, I’d probably miss the mark too if I believed practicing law was easy enough to represent myself in court. I’ve seen “Law & Order” on TV, and it doesn’t look difficult.

There’s more to creating an ad than trying to be clever or artsy. Your first question should be, “Why?” Why are you creating this ad? What’s its purpose? Although the answer may seem obvious, let’s look at the three main reasons for an ad.

In order to “grow” your business, you must understand what makes a business grow. Sounds simple enough, right? Just bring in more customers. Well, maybe…

Some lawyers may immediately think they need to get more customers. They need an ad, or they want to mail out a brochure, or whatever.

With that kind of Ready, Fire, Aim kind of thinking, they might possibly bring some clients in, but are they the right ones? Are they your best possible clients? Or, are they the least profitable ones? You know, the ones that are hard to please, waste a lot of your time and are slow to pay.

Business growth is all about attracting the right buyer and satisfying their expectations and/or providing even better value.

Your firm’s growth will come from either adding new clients, getting clients to come back more often, or by getting clients to increase the amount they spend on each matter.

It boils down to this; there are only 3 ways to grow a business.

1. By adding new customers
2. Increasing the frequency of purchases
3. Increasing the amount spent each purchase

When you increase any one of these areas, you will increase your business fractionally. But, if you were to add 33% new customers, that doesn’t necessarily mean a 33% growth.

However, if you were to increase each area by one-third, your firm will more than double its billings. That’s not a fractional increase, that’s exponential!

Go ahead, insert some of your own figures to this equation and add even modest increased percentages and see what this would do for your firm’s bottom line.

Remember, each line is a multiplier. 33% more customers, times 33% more purchases, times 33% more spent each time equals more than 200% growth.

When Madison Avenue copywriters put an ad together they usually are given at least one of these three objectives to meet. Otherwise, what’s the point of the ad? Why would they spend millions of dollars without a specific reason for the ad?

Unfortunately, some do just that. We’ve all seen the entertaining ads on TV and 10 seconds later we cannot identify the product or the company.

Your ads purpose should be to either get new prospects to call, get clients to come back more frequently, or to get them to spend more the next time you provide them services.

Make sure your ads, mailers or web site have a definite purpose. Pick one of the 3 ways to grow, and tie your ad around achieving at least one of those three objectives.

Otherwise, why bother spending your money?

Love them or hate them, McDonalds does a great job at this with their targeted ads, menu offerings and slogans.

Add new customers:
$1.00 menu for Seniors
Happy Meals for Kids
SuperSize for Teens
Salads for Weight Conscious Women

Increasing the frequency of purchases:
“You Deserve a Break Today”
“Expanded Breakfast Menu”
“Late-Night Hours”

Increasing the amount spent each purchase:
“Do You Want Fries With That?”
“Do You Want to SuperSize That?”

by: Dennis Kunkler

Beware accepting advertising on your website or blog

Many people are getting more and more strapped for cash lately, and I’ve been noticing one revenue-building tactic that I consider dangerous. Some legal blogs and websites are starting to accept Google ads as part of their design. This may bring in a little money, but at what cost to the public’s perception of your level of professionalism?

You work hard to get people to your website or blog in the first place, and they come for one reason – legal information. When did it become okay for a lawyer to promote unrelated products and services that simply distract your visitors? Why would you give anybody a reason to leave your site for another?

Perhaps more alarming is one particular estate planning site I recently happened upon that had several Google links to other estate planning sites. Again, why would you send away potential business for a fee from Google? That seems rather penny wise and pound foolish to me.

I caution you to think very carefully about the potential impact on your reputation and the potential loss of business to a competitor when you include Google ads on your site or blog.

by: Christine Pilch