2009 April | New Avenue

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To Twitter or Not to Twitter

April 30th, 2009 by Greg Head | 3 Comments

A friend of mine, Russ Graf, recently started a business with his wife. He asked me, “Should I be using Twitter for our business?”

I hear this question several times a week. Everyone’s talking about Twitter, but is it really any more than another social networking (“not-working”) goof off tool?

If you are trying to find new customers, build relationships, and grow awareness of your business, then the answer is “Yes.” If you are marketing your business, or yourself, you should be exploring Twitter. (There are other social networking tools, but Twitter is simple to understand and gets a ton of traffic, so why not start there.)

I didn’t say that Twitter should be your only marketing tool, nor should you spend all day on Twitter. You just need to start exposing your business and contributing to the social conversation on the Web, not to mention learning what this new social media world means for your business. It’s important now and will become more important in the future.

I’m not going to teach you the ins and outs of Twitter: there is plenty useful information about Twitter on the Web.

To find out how to use Twitter, you can start with Twitter itself. Twitter Search will search all Twitter entries for any term, so go to http://search.twitter.com and type in “Twitter for Beginners” or “Twitter 101″ or whatever. You will see Twitter posts (called “tweets”) that include the term. These messages include links to thousands of blog posts and Web pages that explain the whole Twitter thing. This should take you about 30 minutes, unless you get lost in all the fun stuff that’s out there.

Back to my friend, Russ. His wife Cheryl is a tea lover and tea expert who has a passion for sharing the “tea experience” with others. She recently opened an incredible specialty tea shop called TeaGcshwendner in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s a funny name for the popular German tea merchant that is well-known in Germany but is just coming to the U.S. The store has an amazing variety of specialty teas that you can try and buy.

Cheryl has been on local TV shows talking about the store and teaching about tea. The store has been profiled in most of the local newspapers and publications. How else can they find passionate tea lovers and others who want to learn more about tea?

When Russ asked me if they should try Twitter, I showed him Twitter Search. He typed in “green tea” and then “TeaGschwendner” to see if people are talking about it on Twitter. Well, it seems they are. A lot. There were 25 mentions of green tea within the previous 20 minutes — and several mentions of TeaGschwendner. Tea lovers love to talk about tea. Tea newbies do too.

That’s why you be should trying Twitter. You can find and interact with thousands and thousands of people who are interested in what you have and what you do — if you have something interesting and valuable to contribute to the conversation. (There is no place for hucksters and sales pushers, so be polite and help others to help you.)

This takes time, learning and commitment, but don’t all of your marketing and sales efforts take time and effort?

Some Web marketing gurus say that this is the only way people will be finding out about new products and getting information in the future. I don’t think it will be the only way, but it is clear that it will be very important.

After a while, you can judge the effort and time expense required to get some results. Does this work as well as your networking, seminars, e-mails or other marketing activities? For many companies it will be worth it. For Cheryl at TeaGschwendnder, I predict it will be very successful, since there are a lot of tea lovers on Twitter and Cheryl has a lot to share with them.

Word of mouth has always been important. Twitter is simply word of mouth with a megaphone.

Times they are a changin’.

——-

Try Twitter Search for yourself and type in terms that are important to you. It’s really hard to find something that people aren’t talking about.

Connect with Cheryl Graf on Twitter at @teagschwendner and @teatimelady.

A useful site to learn all about Twitter is http://twittercism.com/twitter-101/. I found it on Twitter.

New York Times, All You Need to Know to Tweet on Twitter.

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Marketing Communications is Getting Harder

April 5th, 2009 by Greg Head | 3 Comments

The marketing communications challenge is getting harder, not easier.

Why? Because there are more communications channels than ever. Each channel you use requires time, effort and some expense. And it’s not easy to be proficient with so many communications tools and tactics.

As an example, last year President Obama’s campaign team (marketing team) was praised for their successful use of popular social media tools to communicate in the presidential campaign. These new marketing tools included Facebook, Twitter, texting on mobile phones, YouTube videos, and schmoozing with popular bloggers.

That wasn’t all they did, though. They also used all of the traditional marketing communications channels in sizes and levels that haven’t been seen before – TV advertising, campaign events, direct mail, phone canvassing, public relations, TV and radio appearances, celebrity endorsements, email marketing, and an impressive Website.

They used ALL the marketing tools and channels available, which is much harder to do than using just a few.

What if your business is not as large as a presidential campaign or a Fortune 500 company?

Startups and growing companies without big (or any) marketing budgets can still communicate effectively on a low budget, but don’t underestimate the challenge. Here are few ideas to help you make the most of marketing communications efforts.

Make the Most of Your Communications Efforts

Realize that marketing requires work. The good news is many new marketing communications tactics don’t require big bucks. The bad news is that they require real work – creating content, interacting with people, and building relationships. This requires time and effort, which aren’t free or even cheap. (See the previous post on the cost to create a Website.)
Focus your message. The proliferation of communication channels complicates things, so your message needs to be simple and strong. A clear strategy and a laser focus can help you develop a message that makes an impact with a smaller budget. Strategic focus is harder than it looks, but you can’t develop powerful story without it.
Have a great product. The expansion of new Web-enabled social media tools allows customers to talk to each other in many new ways. Your future customers find out about new things and get recommendations from each other. If your product or service isn’t making your customers very happy, no amount of marketing effort or spending will overcome this.
Leverage social media tools. Existing businesses have to deal with the new “social media” world where your customers and market influencers are talking to each other online — in blogs, forums and online communities. At least one of your key tactics should be a new Web approach that engages with people in your market. The new Web-powered world is real and very important, so do not procrastinate if you haven’t jumped in yet. (I did – you’re reading it.)
Don’t expect a silver bullet. Finding and converting new business doesn’t come easily (or quickly) when you start ramping up marketing efforts to fuel your growth. There isn’t just one idea or tactic that is going to save you. Marketing communications execution takes time, trial and error, and persistence.

This year, many companies started use social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. Last year, corporate blogs and viral videos went mainstream. In the future, we will have new ways to reach people on their mobile phones. The ways we communicate will continue to expand and fragment.

The marketing communications challenge is getting harder, but you can succeed if you approach it wisely and take a long term view.