Marketing | Steve Pohlit

On Line Marketing: The Formula I Recommend And Why

Question: What Is The Goal of Business Growth Marketing?

Answer: Traffic and Conversion!

What this means is that in order to grow your business with new customers, there needs to be a stream of relevant traffic interested in what it is you offer. Your job is to move this traffic from interested to “I’ll Take It” !

Question: How do you move people from being interested to buyers?

Answer: In my experience, people become buyers when a relationship and trust is established. Also, for professional services and many physical products, people want to talk to a person before making a final decision. Contact information including an email address and phone number is very important.

Building A Relationship On Line

The process that has worked for me has at it’s foundation a blog. The blog has a contact capture form with a reason for people to give you that information. Their name goes into a autoresponder system for follow- up messages with value added content. Value added content can be tips, a link to another blog article, examples of what is working and direct educational material. Each follow on email should have a signature with a link for more information and contact information.

The blog is the home for valuable content or articles that offer valuable information. This can be current news and relevant “how to” information. Offering examples of what is working is another terrific way of offering value. Marketing messages can be in the signature and the article itself can be structured so the reader understands how your offer is a solution for their interests.

In summary, the blog and the autoresponder sequence is key to building trust and establishing a relationship. Links in the blog and emails can direct the reader to a direct sales page or a contact page.

With this foundation in place and continually growing, you now have the source of material for valuable updates using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Social Media is a major tool for helping you build your business. I recommend you look at your social media network as an asset for your business that will continually become more valuable if it is properly managed.

Twitter

I always recommend using at least two accounts, one personal and one business. Twitter seems to regularly modify how it is enforcing its terms of service. Having multiple accounts reduces the risk of going completely off of Twitter because of an account suspension. However, if you post quality messages to valuable content plus use tweets that have no URL in them that demonstrate you are interacting, they you should not have any problems with account suspension.

Building a Twitter following and managing tweets through that network can be a significant commitment of time. I highly recommend leveraging or outsourcing a lot of this work. My company New Digital Media, Inc. has been established specifically to help you with this.

Facebook

There are three primary channels on Facebook that should be used that do not cost money. One channel is pay per click advertising does cost money. Regarding pay per click on Facebook, my initial tests are positive. It appears advertising on Facebook is cost effective. More on this in a future article.

The first area that should be built on Facebook is your profile. There are many exceptions to the rule that profiles are to be personal. Currently I do not advise spending time building a business profile as there is a high risk of being deactivated. Your personal profile can and should have clear links to your business.

My focus has been on building my profile and my friends list is primarily for business purposes. As I approached the 5,000 friends limit on Facebook I created a fan page. While I am not a fan of the label fan page, it is channel for expanding your network and there are no limits to the number of fans. If your goal is to build a fan page for a business (Facebook encourages business fan pages) then I recommend a build strategy that invites friends to a fan page, uses Twitter to promote your profile and fan page and test Facebook ads to build your fan page. I have seen very effective ad campaigns that have built fan pages fast so I know this works. If you build a fan page then you should have a communication strategy for developing the interest of your fans.

Facebook Groups are one of my favorites for building business since once a person joins your group, generally they are very interested in messages related to the topic of the group. For example, I have the group Build Business Profits on Facebook which ties into the theme of this blog as well as my social media blogs. The feedback I receive from messages sent to this group as well as several other targeted groups I have built is consistently positive.

Other Social Media Sites

I highly recommend using YouTube and I have done a lot of YouTube work in the past and will be stepping up my YouTube activity again this year. I also recommend LinkedIn There are many other social media sites and I have some work being done on a handful of other sites. However, with the growth in Facebook and Twitter I continue to concentrate on those two. Up and coming and closely being watched is Google Buzz.

The Number One Key Success Factor

While I am always building my social media network and the network for clients of New Digital Media, Inc. the most valuable asset in social media is the quality of information offered in articles and personal communication. With my own accounts and those of clients there is always a focus of adding value and blending with personal messages. I have no automated messages flowing through Facebook and I am paying increasing attention to the balance of non automated messages on Twitter.

My focus is having people connect with me on my offers. This is what I always advise clients as well. Consistently there is contact information with articles, contact name and email forms feeding an autoresponder with an email message sequence and published phone information. This is fundamental internet marketing. There is always more including search engine optimization, search engine pay per click, squeeze pages and more. However with a consistent focus on building a relationship with people who are interested in your products and services, you will be able to stay focused on those on line tools most effective for your business.

Then there is off line marketing which is a topic for another article.

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Twitter

Facebook

Linked in

MySpace

727-587-7871

Email

About: Steve Pohlit is a CPA,MBA and has been the CFO of several major domestic and international companies. Steve is a business owner and an expert business consultant focused on building profits and net asset value. He is very experienced with Internet marketing and social media marketing. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Customer Service: To The Point…Harvey Mackay and The Cab Driver

Thank you Debbie Demboski, Regional Director/Owner of Interiors by Decorating Den for sending me this great story. Contact Debbie for your own franchise or decorating services. Ph.800-866-9499 Decorating Den serves most markets in the US and Canada.
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No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up. The first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed Harvey a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’

Harvery said, ‘I’d prefer a soft drink.’

Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’

Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’ And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts…

Tell me, ‘have you always served customers like this?’

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It . Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly,and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’

‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.

‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty
cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us?

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you… The ball is in our hands!

A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do
not give up… let us do good to all people.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans!

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Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

Twitter

Facebook

Linked in

MySpace

727-587-7871

Email

The Truth About Retail Sales Reporting

Retail sales during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season are followed by the news media very closely. This is because consumer spending is a key economic barometer and the annual holiday season accounts for a large percentage of total annual retail sales. Some estimates are that the fourth quarter retail sales account for more than 30% of total retail sales reported by department stores, specialty stores and mass merchandisers. The percentages can vary widely. For example December sales for jewelry stores account for 23% of the total annual sales.

“This November, (same-store) sales are going to be incredibly important to gauge the state of consumer spending, and thus fourth-quarter earnings and stock trajectory, and it’s also an important statement about the economic recovery,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher.

Comments like this from Bill and others may not be accurate. I learned how to analyze retail performance from experts responsible for running multi-billion dollar international businesses. These lessons helped me tremendously in operating my own retail business and in my business consulting work with other retail companies. Consider the following:

Same Store Sales Can Be Very Misleading

Same store sales are when you compare the sales in one period, for example November, with the sales from that same location the previous year. Seems simple enough but it is not always straight forward. For example, consider one store. What is your conclusion if the store just opened the first of November last year or if a major competitor closed a location near you this year? There are many variables that can affect same store sales and you have to be careful in knowing you have true comparability.

Consider 2009, the same store sales that will be reported this year are being compared to 2008 which is considered one of the weakest retail sales periods ever. At the company level a moderate increase in same store sales this year may not be a reason to celebrate except that of course it is better than a decline. Regardless of the results, retailers must go deeper than looking at the aggregate numbers. They must keep “peeling back the onion” until the lowest common denominator is evaluated and that is at the item level.

Same Store Sales Are Not A Direct Indicator of Profits

Many retailers promote heavily in the holiday season. This is part of the marketing funnel. Hot items sold at or below cost are used as lead generators. The Internet has educated shoppers on finding the best deals. This has resulted in add on sales dropping which means more of the sales being reported on a monthly basis have lower profit margins.

Keys To Successful Retailing In This Economy

First point is the foundation of a profitable business in any industry is largely the same. Companies make money when they offer what people want at a profitable price. In retail, customers often want a shopping experience that goes beyond price. For example, a recent testimonial from a customers experience on Black Friday demonstrated the success of a much smaller retailer with this customer vs. the major competitor. While having a slightly lower price for the laptop offered, the major retailer did not have any “unallocated laptops” at 5 in the morning even though the item was heavily promoted. On top of that the crowds there were not pleasant to navigate. The competing smaller chain, had inventory available and a more pleasant shopping experience. So you know who got the business and a repeat customer.

Off line, location is increasingly important as well as the overall appearance inside and outside. Large retailers win the game store by store. When demographics and traffic patterns change, and they always are, the store needs to change as well.

Customer shopping experience is major for building customer loyalty. This is mostly how customers are treated by staff when shopping. This is the one area where many retailers fail. There are great examples of customer service but they are not the norm. On line, ease of navigation, speed of checkout and access to customer service are key. Many retailers with web sites pay little attention to the customer service that is needed. People have questions and at times returns or exchanges may be needed. How this is handled is key.

Have you noticed the most ridiculous new message you get when calling larger customer support lines? It goes something like this: “Due to heavy call volume, your wait may be longer than normal. Many questions can be answered at our web site.” I don’t know about you but when I hear that message, which I do with increasing frequency, I think …this company has problems.

At The End of The Day, Profit Must Be Made

As a business consultant and coach, I always look to the profit trends and what is the practical near term strategy for strengthening profits. Every business must earn a profit to survive and grow. There is always an opportunity to improve business performance. It requires defining the performance targets then establishing a disciplined process for meeting or exceeding those targets. That process always works when the process is worked.

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

727-587-7871
Email

Impact Hookup: Social Media In Person: Tampa, Florida Dec. 3, 2009

Please Note: If you are not in Tampa Bay , please visit Impact Hookups and see the other cities hosting this event.
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Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more are all great social media tools for expanding your network and building relationships. Ultimately business is done with people. Even when the transaction is an on line order form there are people at the foundation of the transaction helping all of that happen.

Ken McArthur is at the top of the list of people who not only understand the importance of relationships, but has built several successful businesses founded on people getting together, meeting and sharing what is working and not working in business. What has evolved from Ken’s idea and first meeting six years ago in Philadelphia has been an expansive business, many very solid relationships and joint venture deals.

The event in Philadelphia was named JV Alert. I was able to attend and you can only be in the first group once. Today I am honored to say my friendship with and respect for Ken McArthur has grown. JV Alert literally started with an email asking who is interested in meeting for lunch to talk about Internet Marketing. That first email had a larger response rate than Ken anticipated and first JV Alert went from an idea of lunch to a three day event.

Now have an opportunity to be in the first group of people who are coming together to make a difference in how your business and the business of others moves forward. It is your opportunity to connect and to cement synergy for your business and your business ideas.

Impact Hookup Tampa, Florida and around the country is much more than another networking event. You see there are concurrent meeting all over the country and Ken is developing a centralized data base with contact information, JV interests and much more. Yes you physically will be meeting in Tampa and you will be part of a new network of business owners, rainmakers and people who you help and be helped in return. For more information on Impact Hookups please click here.

WHO

As the registrations are confirmed, I will ask each person to provide a brief bio on their business and their interest. Jean Levi who works with me in several ventures will be helping me with your questions and any other details related to this event.

Regarding who I am, you are welcome to visit my resume at http://stevepohlit.com My goal with facilitating this event is to increase the awareness of my consulting, coaching and social media network services. I can normally relate to business success and failure stories 🙂 You will also find that I am a very forward focused person recognizing the past is just that – over. I look forward to meeting you and I look forward to facilitating your success in any way that I possibly can.

WHEN

IMPACT Hookup First Event is December 3, 2009.

WHERE

I am hosting IMPACT Hookup Tampa, Florida at 600 Druid St., Clearwater, Florida

6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

COST

$8.00 contribution for bottled water, soft drinks. (not refundable)

Reservations Required

Your $8.00 payment is your reservation.

Registrations accepted up to 12:00 Noon EST 12-3-09

QUESTIONS

Email Me

Better: Email Jean Levi

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

727-587-7871
Email

Build Profits: 7 Step Marketing Plan plus How To Market With No Cash

Jay Conrad Levinson is known for his “gorilla marketing” advice. He recently listed on Rich Shefron’s blog his 7 Step Simple Marketing Plan. I read this today and thought you might like it before we get to the main topic. This is a very good guide to remember. Here they are: (for the complete blog article Click Here )

1) What is the purpose of your marketing? (What action do you want them to take?)

2) What is the main competitive advantage you stress to achieve that action/purpose? (What main benefit do you offer that your competitors do not?)

3) Who is your target audience?

4) Which marketing “weapons” will you use to achieve that action/purpose? (Expressed as a list.)

5) For your market niche, what do you stand for?

6) What is your identity, your personality?

7) What is your marketing budget? (as a percentage of your projected gross sales)

How To Market Your Business With Little or No Cash

Most consultants and authors offering training programs and services assume you have the cash to implement a sound marketing plan. That is often a misguided assumption and this begins to address a common issue of marketing with little or no cash. Many entrepreneurs and companies are experiencing a cash crunch.

The following steps are essential for marketing your business when you have no cash. They are also essential when you do have cash. Cash will help you advance your results faster.

The Most Important Step – Always – and There Are No Exceptions:

Spend Most of Your Time Marketing Your Business. This is a mindset coupled with a commitment and knowing what is productive time. Jay did not list this. Most do not. This is the number one item I work on with companies and with people I coach. This is the number one item I work on for my own ventures. This is also a challenge for most people since it is easy saying “I was busy today”. I say if you are not working on building new business and strengthening what you have, most other activities are just busy work.

Second Step: Know How To Use The Tools Requiring No Money and Those Most Helpful When You Have Money

If you are reading this you are on line somehow and I realize there is a cost for a connection. A computer and a connection are required. They cost money. They are essential tools. This article is how to market when you have little or no cash. You have to have a connection to market even if you are an off line based business.

How To Market When You Have Little or No Cash.

1. A web site is now required for credibility and I recommend using blog technology in most cases. If your business needs an html based web site fine. You still need a blog.
2. Use social media to drive traffic to your blog. The primary social media sites for driving traffic are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
3. Your goal is strengthening the relationship with your visitors and encouraging them to become part of your list. Even when you are selling a product on line, your primary goal when using the no money marketing approach based on social media traffic is to move your target audience from your social media network to your list where you can communicate with them.

Facebook groups have similar characteristics of an email list. However, at no time will pounding on your network to buy from you be an effective marketing strategy. The Build Profits Group on Facebook is a good example. All the content sent to the group is intended to be of value. At the same time there is no secret as to my business ventures and professional services.

I used and continue to use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for the development and growth of three businesses that have cash profits this year. Last year two of the three did not exist. Two of the Three took less than $100 cash. Manifest Mastermind was less than $1,000. Today all are marketed using social media.. time yes, cash no.

Manifest Mastermind:
New Digital Media, Inc
IR Consulting, Inc

I use one autoresponder account for all businesses and lists. I use one hosting account for all domains. If you have no cash you can use blogger and by-pass the autoresponder. When you have some cash, convert your blogs to a WordPress based platform with individual C-Panel access. If you don’t know why you need these tools, learn. I feel an autoresponder is a must have tool for building a list. No matter what is being discussed in social media circles, email is still very important and valuable. So if you cannot afford an autoresponder, then track your email list manually until you can afford it.

Once I had built some cash flow, I outsourced certain of the work required to continue building the social media network and continue to do so. Notice earlier I mentioned I do not spend cash on marketing. However, I do leverage my time which is very valuable. I view the development of your own social media network essential for business and your social media network is an asset. I work on this everyday – everyday.

I do not outsource content origination meaning blog articles, posts to Facebook groups, Tweets and autoresponder messages. Some of this work can be outsourced. I do all of it now and some of it soon, will be outsourced. However, some content cannot be outsourced as it is my voice.

I will cover key points in building your social media network in the next article.

The easiest way to follow this series is to become a member of my Facebook Group Build Profits. Register for my list. What is in it for you? Candidly the information you receive here in most instances is more valuable than programs you will pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for. Why do I offer this information? Because some people will want me to become part of my Executive Coaching Program, some companies will want my consulting services and some will want help in building their social media network. Most of all some people will write and say ” I followed what you wrote and it worked – thank you” That my friends is the greatest reward of all.

Sending you energy of health, happiness, prosperity

Steve Pohlit

Business Consulting, Executive Coach
Turnaround/Crisis Management
Temporary CEO, CFO, Controller Services
International Business Resources

Social Media Services
New Digital Media, Inc.

727-587-7871
Email

Comments On The WSJ August Retail Sales

The Headline Reads: Retailers Report Weak Sales For August (Click For The Story) Then highlight is:

“Industrywide, same-store sales fell for a 12th straight month — highlighting the woes retailers have been under as consumer spending continues to decline.”

Then there is discussion as to what will happen this holiday season as well as the impact of the clunker program. This is followed by reports of what key public companies in the retail industry reported. Remember there is a lot that is not reported. Also remember, economic recovery is driven by consumer spending and there is little evidence that is strengthening.

The point made that I commented on was that going forward the monthly same store comparisons will look better because you are comparing against increasingly weak numbers from last year as retailers tanked in the fall of 2008. Here is what I wrote:

The comparison may show less dramatic declines and even a greater number of positive percentages when current year sales are compared against months last year when retailers began to experience sharp declines. Those may be feel good metrics. However, the key is what are the volumes and margins that are planned in connection with an acceptable profit plan and how are actual revenue and profits doing against that?

Typically that information is a bit more difficult to extract. The well run retailers have a profit plan by location that is based on category proformas. The key is to be profitable at each location and in each category within that location. I still see very little advancement in the use of direct response marketing and social media marketing. Tools and technology that have been readily available and proven to work for quite some time.

There is a lot of the “same ol same ol” and that is not going to work in an economic climate likely to be very soft for quite awhile.

Steve Pohlit
http://newdigitalmediainc.com
http://stevepohlit.com

A Great Example Marketing Example From Spam …Swipe This Idea

The subject matter just said Test …This Is Not Spam. Take a minute to read this and then my comments.

Here is the rest of the message :

This is not spam! You signed up from ____________ See end of e-mail for more CANSPAM compliance rules.
Please ignore this message, as it is only a test to see if this autoresponder is back up and running.
We need to notify you that this e-mail may contain advice on money-making methods and other subjects plus may include links to available products and/or from third parties in return for appropriate recompense.

If you cannot unsubscribe, you can always send a letter asking to be unsubscribed to:

P O Box 1078
Stanley, ND 58784

Don’t Know Why, But If You Wish To Leave:
http://amazingautoresponse.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi?s=10438&a=117&k=mEYboFVf9JM

To report sp*m by this member:
Please forward this email to abuse@amazingautoresponse.com or follow the above link for immediate removal.

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Lessons:

I am not advocating doing this at all even though this email did get through to my main address. Notice the reverse psychology here. …Please ignore. Come on that always works (Note to Self) Then the warning “This may contain advice on making money…” I mean.. how cool is that?

Then there is the humor:

Unsubscribe – Send a Letter. …

Don’t know why, but if you wish to leave

My view is I learn a lot from paying attention to spam. First spam mail may have some of the best subject lines. Then there is formatting and other hooks spam uses.

There is another thing I have learned and that is there a lot of people who use blogs like this to teach, who sell programs that teach you how. Have you ever noticed how few promote “do it for you”? Do you know why that is? Well I have my views but what is important is that one of my new services does “do it for you” What is it?

Click over to New Digital Media You will understand what this is doing in about 3 minutes.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Steve Pohlit, Expert Business Consulting

Email Me, Steve Pohlit to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits.Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high. If your company is not growing revenue and profits, if your company is not cash flow positive Click Here for more information about Turnaround Consulting Services for Business In Crisis

Announcing The Services of New Digital Media Click Here

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About: Steve Pohlit is a CPA,MBA and has been the CFO of several major domestic and international companies. Steve is business owner and an expert business consultant, direct response and social media marketing and social networking security expert . Steve is focused on helping companies improve their business performance. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

WSJ Reports Twitter Success Stories and Misses The Mark

The WSJ reports Moonfruit went from 400 followers to 47,000 followers in about a week using a contest that became popular and viral fast. Other similar success stories were reported. When you read this article Click Here For The Story I suggest you consider the missing link. Now in all fairness the link may not be missing in the examples reported. However, this key success factor was not addressed in the article.

The Missing Link

Think of a funnel. This story is about using the incentive of a contest to reach out into the cloud of a very popular social media site which of course is Twitter. This strategy was very successful in that the number of followers increased rapidly. However, followers have no value unless they are people interested in your offer – the offer for products and services that earns you money.

Followers need to be converted to a contact data base where you have their name and email contact information. That step is moving followers through the marketing funnel. Now that step can be bypassed if a follower goes directly to your offer and buys. At that point you also have their contact information. Again the goal is to develop this contact data base so you can communicate with these people who have said they are interested in who you are and what you offer. That communication then is intended to further cement the relationship and when the person is ready they will buy. You have not idea when they will be ready so building the relationship is the key.

In the current environment there is an opportunity to move people from followers to a contact data base where you can message them and by pass the email system. That option is to move them into a group on Facebook. There is an inherent limitation to that in that Facebook limits group size for sending messages to 5,000 people. Many people are setting up fan pages which do not have the limitations of a group. However, messages to fans currently are not sent to their Facebook inbox which is not as effective as groups.

My advice is to use the assets of social media with the goal of developing your own asset which is your customer list and prospect list. Then there is one more thing: communicate with them.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Steve Pohlit, Expert Business Consulting

Follow Me and I Follow You http://Twitter.com/BuildProfits

FREE Report:
How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less

Connect with me on Facebook Click Here

How Successful Retailers Earn Customer Loyalty

Mark Albright, staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times published an article in the Sunday paper a while back on retailers struggling to win back customers. He does an excellent job at identifying the key issues customers face when shopping in many stores. In summary, customers know what they want from their shopping experience and they don’t get what they want most of the time.

Two charts were provided in the article. One showed that 68.4% of those responding to a recent poll said knowledgeable, helpful, friendly staff was the most important criteria for a positive shopping experience. The other chart reported that 50% of the people surveyed reported retail service has gotten worse.

Shoppers have always wanted a friendly environment with knowledgeable staff. What is most alarming is how poorly retailers continue to meet the expectations of their customers. With almost 70% of the customers ranking knowledgeable, friendly staff as most important, why is it that so many retailers continue to be obsessed with having compelling price? Studies have consistently shown and Mark points this out in his article as well, that less than 10% of the shoppers name price as the most important reason they shop a store.

Let’s examine pricing and promotion a bit deeper. The paper that Mark Albright writes for has a daily circulation of about 1 million. On Sunday, like all large metropolitan areas, the paper is thick. Most of it is advertising circulars. Most have between 4 – 20 or more color glossy pages and this format is used by most of the major retail chains. Stores attempt to show items attractive to the largest number of people and offer special buys or sale pricing. The goal is to drive traffic to the stores.

Normally on a store by store basis, retailers are able to tell how effective a particular circular was by measuring customer count (customers that actually buy), average sale and items sold. Most retailers have these statistics, but there is one critical piece of information they do not have. They do not know who it was that purchased something. They do not know their physical address, they do not know their email address and do not know their customer’s phone number. There are exceptions and I will address those shortly. However, in general, large and small retailers spend huge amounts of money on print advertising to drive customers into their stores and they don’t even know who their customer is. Consequently, they are unable to thank the buyers, hear their comments and suggestions and they are not able to personally invite them back.

Even more serious: with the development of preferred buying programs, membership programs like those used by Sam’s Club and Costco and even those retailers that have captured customer information, the way that data is used is pathetic.

Here is a brief summary of the issues so far: consumers want knowledgeable and friendly sales staff and over 90% of them place importance on knowledge and friendliness over price. On the other hand, retailers spend a lot of resources developing promotions based on price to drive traffic to their stores. When the customer gets there, not just the price shopper but the loyal customers as well, the retailer is not properly staffed and the staff that is working is not properly trained and managed. I call this a mismatch in expectations and delivery. The result of that formula is a high rate of retail business failure with stores that fail being replaced by new ones that operate the same way. You know what you get when you keep doing things the same way. What is the solution? Keep reading.

When the subject of price in retailing is mentioned, Wal-Mart’s name always comes up. Here are just a couple of things I noticed about Wal-Mart recently. First they are increasing the number of more upscale items offered. Why are they doing this? It is because they understand that appealing just to the low price crowd long term is a risky business model. No retail chain founded on the low price model has ever survived long term. None. What else have I noticed? The other day I noticed a Wal-Mart banner on the front page of Yahoo.com This particular ad was what is known in the Internet Marketing circles and Direct Response Marketing circles as a lead generation ad. I followed it through and noticed interesting “bribes” to get you to register for on line information. You could even categorize the information you were interested in receiving. Wal-Mart promised to give you advance notice of their best deals for the store closest to you. Notice I said store closest to you. When you entered your information they asked for your zip code so they could match you with relevant regional promotion.

Wal-Mart is taking the lead again in building their customer data base. I don’t think they have taken this to the store level, which where it really needs to be implemented. But they are headed in the right direction.

Do you need to have Wal-Mart’s system to implement a similar program? Last September I was testing the implementation of program with a small retailer in a small market. We used incentives as a motivator to provide their contact information. This program was hugely successful in a short period of time and confirmed the value of capturing the contact information of your customers and communicating with them. That is the first step in bridging the gap between what customers want and what retailers deliver. Note: if you are a grocery store, restaurant, nightclub, shoe repair store, dry cleaner or any business that has customers, this applies to you.

If you are a local or regional chain of stores, outsourcing this customer contact program is the most cost effective approach. If you are not sure that is a true statement Email Me and I will prove it to you. National Chains should outsource this program in the test phase and then it is likely that in-house technology will be needed long term. Regardless, it is easy to build your customer list, easy to communicate with them and this communication builds loyalty and value. This communication process is the critical link that breaks down when this process is managed internally. In summary, outsource this entire program initially; bring the technology piece in house if and when that makes sense but keep the communication program outsourced. Does this sound like Direct Response Marketing 101? Yes ..well that is because it is and you know what…basic blocking and tackling work all the time.

Does all of this solve the problem of bridging the gap of what the customer wants and what the retailer delivers? Absolutely not! All of the fundamentals successful retailers are paying attention to today must continue. Having the right product in the right place at the right time is a good goal. Having staff properly trained and managed is a great goal.

But this is the planet earth folks. When all the best logistical systems and human resource development processes fail .. and they will from time to time, a strong binding relationship with your customer will overcome any isolated execution failures.

Are there any examples of anyone doing this more right than wrong? I remember in 1996 when I was in my second year of operating an Internet Service Provider company that I founded. I was focusing on industries likely to benefit a lot quickly from using the tools of the Internet. One of them was mail order. I knew there would be huge benefits to catalog retailers from using the internet. Of course when I contacted many of them and they had no idea in 1996 what I was talking about. So I let it slide instead of pursuing that idea along with a number of other billion dollar ideas I had in the early days of the commercial Internet.

Today there are numerous examples of catalog retailers doing a great job of communicating with their customer base. Now the big gains are coming from the “brick and mortar” companies who are communicating like catalog retailers. Who are they? Circuit City gets a vote. Circuit City sends me wonderful emails in addition to their weekly print advertising circulars. Wal-Mart used to do a good job now that I am on their list but not any longer. In the catalog retail business, one of the best is Fredericks of Hollywood. There are other catalog retailers that have an effective communication program in place. In fact if you order on line from any catalog company and give them your email address, I would bet you start getting information from them. Even if you don’t order, sign up for some of these lists to see what they send you.

The biggest mistake made by companies that have you in their data base, is dropping your contact information when you have not purchased for awhile. I know of one very popular retailer with a huge mail order division that sends me tons of catalogs but not one email. When asked about this I was told I no longer receive emails because I am not a current buyer. But they continue sending me expensive to print and mail catalogs. Go figure! Recently.

In summary, study the companies that are doing this well. Look at your own business. If you are not sure what I am advising you to do will work, call or email me and let’s “kick it around”. All contact information is at the end of the article.

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USA Today Reports on How Businesses Use Twitter To Communicate With Cusotomers Plus My Published Comments

USA Today published an accurate article today based on my experience. This article is on how an increasing number of companies are using Twitter to communicate with customers. I am connected with a number of the companies referenced in the article and have seen how they are using Twitter and other social media sites. Like the USA today I think they have it more right than wrong. I also know the vast majority of businesses have no idea what social media is or how to use it.

I think it is important to establish some credibility when publishing a point of view on social media. I have included here my comments that you will find connected with the USA today article.

Click Here For The Full Article. My comments that are published there also follow:

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My experience with social media started about 14 months ago with Facebook and extended to Twitter and others about 6 months later. My sole purpose was to understand how to use social media for effective marketing. Effective marketing is building trust, authenticity and transparency.

This article is right on siting a number of companies effectively using Twitter and other social media services. Twitter is a very effective service for me as it is an integral part of building several businesses. Manifest Mastermind, http://manifestmastermind.com has been build entirely using social media. A recent large business consulting project is a direct result of using social media. My consulting practice is presented on a blog and includes YouTube video at http://irconsultinginc.com

There is work involved in all of this and the work needs to support a strategy. I feel the people who question the usefulness of the tools don’t understand them and don’t do the work.

Steve
http://stevereports.com

BTW my social network is now large. If you have a product or service you would like to market, you are welcome to contact me.

Help Others by Adding To This Article Using The Comment Section

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IR Consulting, Inc.

Email Me, Steve Pohlit to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits.Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high. If your company is not growing revenue and profits, if your company is not cash flow positive Click Here for more information about Turnaround Consulting Services for Business In Crisis

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The Business Building Principle At The Core of Local AdLinks

The goal of any business project is increased revenue and profits. If in some way the idea, project, technology is not able to be measured in terms of increased profitability why bother? A key marketing principle is the best customer is one you already have while you work on programs to bring in more profitable customers. Profitable business is earned one customer at at time which is why even the largest global companies that are very successful have a laser beam focus on customer satisfaction.

Local AdLink is an emerging business with a tool that is intended to help grow revenue and profits. It is an exciting idea and I became intrigued because their business model aligns with the business purpose of connecting with local customers and prospects.

A couple years ago I purchased an ebook for I think $17 or something like and it was about a guy implement local business to customer marketing. I looked at what he was doing and concluded it made sense. So I set up a program at http://localretailmarketing.com Very shortly after that a guy contacted me about a car wash and related services business he had in the Midwest. So we tested this and in six weeks a credible list of 1400 subscribers was developed. Ultimately his business was sold and one of the assets was this list.

Unless You Are Building An Asset, Marketing Dollars Are Essentially Being Flushed Down The Toilet

When I noticed Local AdLinks I concluded that it fit well with the asset building model I advocate. I also concluded my skill set was best directed to teaching Business Builder how to do this. We are just starting. However the people who join Local AdLinks with my my team receive an amazing income earning potential business model and support.

The following letter was sent to a local business today (hand delivered) and demonstrates the basic program I advocate. Notice the entry fee. Team members who sell this receive 40 % of the revenue. Do the math. If you don’t join my group, you should steal this letter and program because it is the one that will work for any (for profit) company. That is right – any.

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Now Here Is The Letter I Mentioned

I R Consulting, Inc.
Steve Pohlit, President
Websites:
http://localretailmarketing.com
http://stevepohlit1.LocalAdLink.net
http://irconsultinginc.com
http://stevepohlit.com

Dry Cleaners and Car Wash

Executive Summary of Business To Consumer Marketing System and Pricing

Business Goal : Increase revenue and profits using proven on line marketing tools and techniques.

Implementation: Jean Levy will coordinate the detailed implementation plan. Steve Pohlit is accountable for final product and implementation.

Tools and Techniques

Website descriptive and keyword search engine optimized: Ex Largo Florida Dry Cleaner. I understand the business has a domain name. For this program, the dns addresses of the domain should point to my server to allow access for design and edits.

Customer Contact Form on web page: normally we use first name, email address and phone number. The phone number is optional. The contact form is designed using an autoresponder system which essentially is a system that automates messages to people who register.

Autoresponder Sequence: generally a series of messages designed to entice people to the business. We draft these messages and there will be 8 developed delivered at a rate of approximately two per week during the first month. Then 2-4 per month in subsequent months. We rely on the business to help us with the content and promotions for these messages .

Local Adlink 10 Zip code package: this is an innovative system where local companies receive ad placement on 129 search engines and the Local Adlink website. Upon acceptance of this proposal, Jean Levi will meet with you to review all the advantages of Local Adlink which are extensive. This should be tested for a minimum of 3-6 months. All ads we design will include an image and an incentive for tracking purposes. The incentive will be a coupon with an offer defined by Capri. We suggest 20% your next dry cleaning order, Free Car Wash with dry cleaning order receipts totaling $100 and 20% off your next car wash. Note all customers taking advantage of the promotion agree to provide a valid email address for the discount.

Point of Sale Customer Contact Program: Use a 20% off your next order coupon in exchange for name and valid email. Incentive to front desk staff. Offer $.50 for each valid name and email address form submitted.

Pricing:

$1,900 paid up front. For this price:

1-2 page website – you own the site
customer contact form
autoresponder and message sequence
Local AdLink ad
Consultation on implementing Point of Sale Customer Contact Program

Monthly – following the first month of implementation
$100. 00 Maintenance of customer contact program, autoresponder account and messaging
$100.00 Local Ad Link test for 3-6 months

We accept PayPal or a check. If paying by check, we will give the deposit information for the Wachovia Bank next door.

Comments:

This is a powerful program when worked consistently and normally takes 60-90 days to see meaningful results and return on investment. The key to success is consistent implementation which actually builds the asset base of your business.

———————————————————————–

Email Me, Steve Pohlit to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

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Thank you for the opportunity to provide this information. We are ready to begin when you are.

When Business Sucks, Look In The Mirror

All the solutions are waiting for you to attract them. That’s right and if you disagree, you are correct. What you believe is true for you. For me, I know what I focus on expands. That is The Law of Attraction and it is always working even in business. If you expect problems you will attract problems. If you look outside for the reasons there are issues in your business, then you will always be finding someone or something to blame. All this solutions for your business start with your knowing there is a solution. Consider these examples:

Last week I began working with a rather large business that finds itself in a cash crunch. The first meeting I had with the owners of this business asked the single most important question relative to this situation. “Do you feel this situation can be solved?” Without a consensus yes answer, there would be no reason to continue. We continued.

I called a meeting on the second day right at the beginning of the day with these owners. I asked them to begin focusing on the picture of success. I guided them to shift their thoughts from all the issues that are pressing to the picture of a well coordinated profitable business with plenty of cash. I said to them we would have this meeting every day that I was on sight and I encouraged them to hold the meeting when I was not there. This week I will give more clear directions on imaging specific success for their business.

In business there are three situations: First there is the current situation. Second there is a situation that is more negative than the current situation and if that trend continues it could lead to what people describe as a worst case. Third, there is the going forward picture of what it is that the team of people in the company will create. Of course my work is primarily focused on the third picture. Since I am not able to discern what others are intending, I spend some time on a worse case scenario designed to protect the business should events proceed quickly to the negative. On balance, I usually spend 90% of my time on designing and implementing the going forward plan.

Solutions to business situations vary depending on the conditions being addressed. The second day into this project calls were received that represented huge opportunities. Day three another call came in that also represented a marvelous opportunity. None of these seemed to be in motion until the owners began focusing on success. They are responsible for their business and they are responsible for attracting success. My work is to help them attract success and optimize revenue and profits. I show them how to continue that process once the project they hired me for is complete.

Does their business suck? Well actually it did up until a week ago. The owners are beginning to see they are responsible. They are no longer blaming external people, places and things. Once you accept responsibility that your are the reason for the state of your business, then you can begin to paint a new picture.

I experience more examples of how business sucks in one week that I could possibly write about in a month. I’ll bet you do to and I’ll bet you have a short list of what they could do to improve the situation fast.

Consider this example: in the town of my most recent client referenced above, there is a very nice building exterior that is a home of a restaurant. From all outward appearances, I anticipated a very good dining experience. Inside told a different story. First the atmosphere was very institutional. However, it appeared to be clean. The appearance of the staff was not one where you knew they had much pride in themselves and so they didn’t have pride in servicing customers. I am sure there were exceptions. But I didn’t attract any that evening. The food was not even close to the pictures on the menu. The beer selection was good and it was good.

That is just one example of “When Business Sucks, Look In The Mirror”. Each of the issues described are fixable in a very short period of time. There are so many opportunities in business for “doing it better” without having to spend a lot of money. The solution starts from within. It starts with the mindset “I am responsible for the outcome of my business.”

In operations, I work with companies on fundamentals. In marketing I recommend solutions and have do it for you solutions. The do it for you solutions are particularly valuable in the social media marketing arena. In all cases I stay focused on proven business principles. These are the ones that are ignored the most because the discipline required t0 execute the fundamentals is routine and boring. It just so happens those fundamentals are where the gold is mined.

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Steve Pohlit, The Profit Expert

Designer: Local Business Marketing This program is outstanding because it builds long term relationships and profits.

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Social Media For Building Business Profits: Part 2 The Big Three

Social Media In Plain Terms

Social media as an umbrella phrase includes sites and services that facilitate interactivity and community. In that regard blogs and email marketing are included. In fact both are an integral part of the marketing funnel.

This series is focused on using the newer and emerging services for business development. The big three are YouTube, Facebook and MySpace in that order. Fast risers are Twitter and LinkedIn. Currently if you placed your social media marketing attention just on those, there still would not be enough time in a day to manually optimize the benefit of these sites. To develop and implement a business development campaign in most cases requires an effective system that includes automation and leverage of very specifically defined tasks.

Which Site Is Best For Finding Your Target Audience?

All of them! Look at the numbers. Twitter which has moved into the 47th highest traffic spot according to Alexa as of the date if this article has an estimated 6 million users. If you have a business then your target audience is there. Your audience is also on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube and many more sites.

I suggest stop analyzing this until the cows come home and get to work. The key is knowing how to properly use each account and attracting your target audience to your landing page, blog or website. How you use Facebook is going to be different than how you use Twitter etc. All most likely are going to be linked and you will be using one of several applications to update multiple social media accounts through one interface. http://ping.fm is a popular one that works very well.

Twitter

Twitter is particularly unique since each person has 160 characters for a profile biography and is limited to 140 characters per message. It is also unique since according to Alexa most people stay on the first page of tweet flow (message displays). This is a message ticker tape system. The newest message is posted at the top of the page and that pushes the last message on the page off.

Many people focus on growing a large number of followers. The key is followers who are your target audience. So how do you know that? Start with Internet marketing 101 principles which is a clear definition of your target market. Then what are the primary keywords related to your target audience? Using the search function find out who is tweeting about those topic and follow them. You can expand this by following their followers.

Balance Twitter followers and following by going to your View All Following screen and then looking for those people that do not have a direct message link. You can only direct message people if they follow you. If after a few days someone has not followed you and you are attempting to balance the ratio, click delete. There are some people and services that do not follow much at all but their content is valuable. That is your choice.

More Twitter Tips in future additions. For now this will get you started and will help experienced users. Again this is written with the goal of building business revenue and profits using social media.

Marketing

There have been no fundamental changes in the principles of successful marketing. In order to convert targeted traffic into sales there must value and you must effectively communicate the value. Start with your funnel and using Twitter as example. You are forming a relationship with your target audience. Your tweets should have value. If they constantly scream buy this or that, your efforts will be futile and are likely to get you banned.

Next

In the next article in this series I will take a closer look at some of the features, benefits and pitfalls of specific social media sites. In the meantime, every day you spend thinking about this or trying to figure it out on your own, is a day where you are not optimizing your sales that are possible using traffic from social media. I suggest you get started now by emailing me.

Link To Part 1 of This Series

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The 5 Finger Plan For Outrageous Business Profits

The 5 Pillars of A Successful Business

What happens when you apply the 80:20 rule to the activities required for any business to operate?

Extraordinary Profits

A Positive, Low Stress Working Environment

Continual Increases In Revenue and Profits At A Rate That Far Outpaces Your Competition

How do you achieve these goals? Well just take a look at how most companies are run and don’t do what they do. People in most companies spend the majority of their time on activities that have little or no impact on building revenue and profits. Let’s review the components of how to solve this.

First there are only five (5) areas of business that need your attention. Hold out your hand and look at your fingers and thumb – 5. Now follow with me on this because I am not in a room with you to reinforce the point. Hold out your hand and assign each of the (5) pillars as follows:

1.Sales – thumb
2.Gross Margin – index finger
3.Expenses – your “flip em” finger
4.Working Capital – next finger
5.Employees – pinky

80% of your time as an owner or CEO should be spent on these 5 pillars and 80% of the 80% should be spent on Sales and Gross Margin – the first two. When you spend the majority of your time on marketing the right balance of products and services that bring you optimum sales volume and gross margin, you can expect:

Recruiting and retaining the best people is easy,
Liquidity is abundant, and
If any area of expense begins to be out of balance, it doesn’t hurt much while you are bringing it back in line.

Recently I met with a friend who has a professional service that has a healthy price point. Consider the economy is reported to be as week as it has been in 10 years, I asked him if he was feeling any impact. He told his next opening was two months out. Then he hired my company to bring him more targeted prospects. He has alway had a marketing focus the entire 15 years I have known him and he business does well every year. Repeat he has a continual focus on the marketing funnel and is working it all the time.

Spend 80% of your time on Sales and Gross Margin. An alternative is to have a credible firm drive targeted prospects to your business.

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Steve Pohlit
The Profit Expert

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

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Marketing Is All About Traffic and Conversion

If you are in a for profit business you must have a continual stream of customers that buy what you offer. If you don’t have that working nothing else matters. Given that, what is your priority? Correct…Marketing!!

There are only three ways to increase revenue:

1. Sell more products or services to an existing customer

2. Sell the same amount of products or services to a customer at a higher price

3. Add more customers

When anyone visits your business that is traffic. When anyone who visits buys your offer that is conversion.

Recently, article posted here have been highlighting social media marketing for business. That arena is increasingly being used to generate traffic. I have helped many companies implement marketing programs that use a combination of tools including: a blog, a website, pay per click advertising, email marketing and more. These are all tools that work when used properly.

The landscape is changing with droves of people pouring into sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more. There are many people who claim to know why social media sites have become so popular but the reasons don’t matter. The facts are that there are huge numbers of people entering these sites and others like them for the first time each week.

Open up a Twitter account at Twitter.com and use the search feature at the bottom of the page and type in the keyword phrase social media. Then begin to click on profiles and discover how many people are referring to themselves as a social media expert.

Key Point: If your primary intent is to do business, having a growing network of connected people on Twitter or anywhere else for that matter means nothing if they are not buying your offer. You have traffic but they are moving on by and the conversion piece of the formula is missing. So when someone calls themselves an expert ask them to show you the profitable business they have developed using social media. Don’t be surprised at the lack of response.

We started from scratch and developed two businesses that are profitable and cash flow positive using only social media. Social media we used includes a blog for each business, and a network we grew on several of the larger social media sites.

There was a lot of work involved in doing this. I know because I did a lot of it and so did my business partner. Brian Campbell is the strategist on the detailed steps needed for this to work. Does this mean we are experts? It means we really have a lot of skills, and now systems, for building meaningful market share in important niche markets.

My Top Two Recommendations for Businesses Wanting To Improve The Effectiveness of Their Marketing

1. Building a contact data base is key. Effectively communicate with that list. This is not new and remains a foundation principle. It is still an alien concept for most companies.

2. Have a find tuned marketing plan, budget and return on investment monitoring in place and reviewed weekly and for some actions, daily. All activity must be focused on building traffic and converting that traffic.

Closing Comments:

The social media landscape is hot and getting hotter. But there are also other proven business development tools including pay per click, email marketing, print media, electronic advertising, trade shows and more. Each must be evaluated and tested in terms of benefit to your business. You can invest your time and that of your employees or outsource a lot of this. If you want fast results, outsource. If you do, again migrate based on priorities and test.

Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance

Steve Pohlit
The Profit Expert

Email Steve to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing and Direct Response Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.

FREE Report:

How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less