Stop, collaborate and read this…

A while back I saw something on Facebook about a “Product Launch” Vanilla Ice was doing for a Real Estate Investment training program (or something like that).

I respect Vanilla Ice’s ability to somewhat maintain his celebrity status (in a different form of course) more than 20 years after his huge “one hit wonder.”

Out of curiosity I checked out the site and “opted in” for more information. I gave up my email address, phone number and name.

I received an email right away (which is an auto-reply) and even got a couple of phone calls.

Collecting phone numbers online is great when you make the time to follow up.

But – I will tell you what I was a little surprised about…

Vanilla Ice’s email marketingfrequency.

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby (Photo credit: DavidErickson)

I mean – it’s sorta like he’s trying to make each of his emails a “one hit wonder.”

Three, four or five months between emails is never a good idea. I find it hard to believe this guy only has something to say worth an email to his list only every three months.

Once per week minimum and the occasional slack and pass to miss a week is the minimum you should be doing with your email marketing.

I could be way off (probably not) but I’d gather Vanilla Ice would be able to buy a few more convertible 5.0 Mustangs with the profits more frequent emails would produce for him.

My guess is he’s doing OK so him and his team may choose never to boost their response and the overall good-will of their list by sending out more than one email every three months.

The lesson – – As my friend and email marketing master, Ben Settle, says: email more!

Remember Yahoo!? You know that website you used to get all your news from, search for information on and use their mail service?

Maybe you still do – but you’re in an ever-diminishing group.

Once upon a time Yahoo! was my home page until I became a GMail user back in 2006.

Yahoo! has been in the news quite a bit over the last year or so. Most of the news hasn’t been good.

They really are trying to turn things around. As a student of business I’m paying attention with one eye from afar.

The most recent drama was word thatYahoo!’s new CEO, Scott Thompson, did not exactly have an accurate resume. Thompson apparently does not have the computer science degree Yahoo! stated in filings.

Rightfully so a few investors are really pissed. But let’s look at this two ways…

Yes, let’s be upset that a publicly traded company would “miss this little detail.” (And you thought publicly traded companies were perfect!) This is fraud and needs to be handled.

But let’s side step a bit and imagine the “miss-leading info” was not so bad.

Does a computer science degree qualify him more to be the CEO of this “one-time tech giant?”

Not really. In fact, Thompson has an accounting degree which would better serve him in this position if you wanted to compare apples to oranges.

Whether you’re CEO of a large company or the owner of a small business the more distance you put between yourself and the “technical” work usually translates into growth. So even if he did have a computer science degree, he would not be “using it” daily. Would he be updating the news stories on the home page? I think not!

I read an article about Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, and it mentioned how he has an iPhone and a Blackberry, but no desktop or laptop computer in his office. He’s never at his desk. The two smartphones enable him to check up on things and answer emails as he goes about his daily activates. I doubt he spends much time writing code for the games Zynga produces. Yes, you might be addicted to one of these games!

Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak build Apple’s first computer. Henry Ford told his engineers to figure out a way to build a V8 engine. I’ll even throw my hat in to the ring. I did not “build” or write code for our “Mobile Marketing CMS” program. Our first crack at “software” has enabled many (and growing) small business owners to take their websites mobile.

As Brian Tracy says, “All business skills are learn-able.” Don’t pigeon hole anyone because their degree is not an exact match. Don’t hold yourself back because you think you don’t have certain qualifications. Go get them if you have to. Learn as you go and do whatever it takes to keep moving forward.

Related articles

• Yahoo CEO faces calls for ouster after inaccuracy(technology.inquirer.net)

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Weight Watchers Billion Dollar Internet Marketing Blunder

Sometimes it is just too easy to get material for these blog posts.

I’ve been watching the NHL playoffs on TV lately. “Let’s go Flyers” -baby!

Every game a new Weight Watchers ad targeting men is played during a couple of the commercial breaks.

It’s a good commercial. Charles Barkley is the star.

You know “Sir Charles,” right? The somewhat out-spoken former NBA power forward. I know him because I watched and played a lot basketball when he was in his prime. He also played for the 76ers before moving on to Phoenix.

They get a point for using a celebrity who is known by their target market. My guess is the market for their men’s program would be guys 30 and up. These guys are overweight or out of shape. They were active in their younger years before gaining weight. They’re sports fans and Barkley is known in their circle. He’s also a “tell it like it is” sort of “leader” for them. He let’s them know “it worked for him and now it can work for them.”

Nutri-System seemed to pioneer the men’s weight-loss movement and supposedly has had a bunch of success with their marketing toward this same demographic. It only makes sense for Weight Watchers to jump on this.

But here’s where Weight Watchers Screwed Up…

It really amazes me how their marketing department can be so lazy and ignorant. Especially since they are completely knocking off Nutri-System (who did not screw this part up). Peoples! All you had to do was pay attention to the last few seconds of the Nutri-System ads!

So what did they screw up?

Studies show that a good bit of people watch TV with their laptops, tablets and smartphones either in hand or near by. Of course, any TV ad worth its salt should give a web address out and call the viewers to action with a reason to go to the site. The web address given should be a special URL/Link that ties-in to the ad.

Guess what these Billion Dollar Blunder Heads Did?

They directed traffic to their main home page. 

The anxious weight loss prospects, puts down his potato chips, heads to the site and is greeted, not by Sir Charles, but by Jennifer Hudson.

OH, but wait, you can see him off to the side.

Are you kidding?

These prospects are watching the NHL playoffs. Weight Loss is of secondary concern after their beer and favorite team. You gotta make this easy! How hard would it have been to simply have Barkley tell them to go to WeightWatchers/Men?? Now they go directly to that page. No guessing. No being distracted by the gorgeous Jennifer Hudson.

Sad, sad, sad!

To whatever Madison Avenue Agency who put this together – reach out to me – I can work on a retainer basis and help you get more guys to loose weight. What a great cause!

I’ve been selling things online since the fall of 2006. What I learned before I started and the knowledge and experience picked up in the last six years has led to my ability to carefully scrutinize the content of any website.

When we work with clients there’s always a chance we’ll frustrate them while putting them through the “content phase” of web design and development.

The content phase of building your website is nothing to be left to chance, apathy or assumption that anyone else can capture your message for you. If someone tells you they can “whip up” the text for a page on your website you should run in the other direction.

Content, wording and marketing text must come from the business owner or a key player in the organization. That does not mean you have to be perfect or nail it on the first try. It means YOU are better off providing the first version of your “website words” to your internet marketing team.

3 Ways to Get Wording…

Your internet marketing team can interview you about your products, services and business and be able to formulate a good message based on the recordings of the interview.

Another way to get good content is for you to block out thirty to sixty minutes of focused time where you type away! Yes, I know this could be agonizing to some but it is (in my humble but accurate opinion) the best way for you and your internet marketing team to come up with a winning message.

The last way is a combination of both. You can type out the answers to certain questions. I used this strategy recently to pull some really good bullet points for a client’s website. The question was… “Which pains does your market have in common and which pains do you cure for your market?” With a little massaging the answers made for some powerful words.

Whatever way you choose just remember… Absolute clarity is of extreme importance.

The common mistake I see when first evaluating a client’s text is extreme fuzziness, confusion and lack of focus. If you have decided on a page for your website that sells “service a” at no time can you mention or talk about “service b.”

The next big problem is EGO! When creating words for your website you must get your ego out of the way. Everything has to be framed as “what’s in it for the prospect.” Using platitudes to describe your business is worthless! Instead speak to your prospect and show them you empathize with them.

Since we’re on a roll… One more Mistake…

Speaking in “Industry Terms!”

Unless your market consists of prospects that are “IN” a particular industry you’d be wise to leave the technical language out.

To sum it up…

If you resist the temptation to rush and cut corners during the content creation part of your website design you’ll reap rewards with better results and more leads from your website.

Something I just noticed on Facebook and wanted to make you aware of…

Since I manage a few different Facebook pages plus manage a handful of Facebook Ad Campaigns for clients – I’m always checking, tweaking and tracking.

When you manage Facebook Ads you have to pay attention to the various like sources. You’ll want to see where your page likes are coming from. What you do is view your insights and then click on “likes.”

You’ll see how some come from ads, others come from invites, a few from search results.

An hour before writing this I noticed a new one. ( New to me anyway.)

Something called “Facebook Recommendations.” They say it’s “People who liked your page from a Recommended Pages Unit.”

But here’s what’s interesting…

Not all of the pages had this insight. Is Facebook is recommending some pages and not others?

I guess I can dig deeper but I don’t see any other conclusion, do you?

This stuff is always evolving.

The very best way to “Smoke Out” a Fake “Facebook Expert” is to pay attention to how they answer your questions.

If they answer questions about Facebook Marketing as “Definitive” or “Final” they are Fake. Run!

Most answers should start with…

“Let me double check on that.”

“The last time I checked.”

“Recently I found out…”

Anyway – that’s a little “Consumer Education” for you.

Before we discuss the power of Facebook Ads Sponsored Stories let’s quickly give you a simple definition. If you want your eyes to glaze over a little feel free to find Facebook’s definition in their help area.

For your purposes will focus on two types of Facebook Sponsored Stories.

1- The Page Like Story: This one is ideal for building “Social Credibility.” The idea is to target the friends of your pages current “Fans” or “Likes.” A little ad will show up and let the Facebook user know… “Mike Likes Your Business.”

2- The Page Post Story: I bet you thought your current “Fans/Likes” were always seeing your updates, right? Nope! Once they stop interacting with your business Facebook stops putting you in front of them. But you can get to them again. And that’s just one way to use “Page Post Stories.”

With a Page Post Story you are basically paying to have your content displayed and cut through the clutter of the news feed. With this strategy your post will show up on the user’s page. If your post is good enough they’ll interact with you.

A Page Post Story can be used to target three kinds of users: First, we target our existing likes and fans. Next we target their friends, then we can target our ideal prospects.

The key is to only use a post that has gained some traction.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you make a fun time out of announcing something new and you get some “traction.” You take that post and buy a story. Now, your fun announcement advertising your new service/product gets shown to the exact people you want in a very cost-effective way.

If you’re not exploring the power of Facebook Ads you’re really doing yourself a disservice.