Business Blogging, Done Right, Will Make You Famous!
At least it will help you connect with more of the people that are interested in what you say.
A good business blog can help your business in so many more ways than most small business owners think. While many people will agree with that, most business owners will also say they don’t know how to do it, don’t have the time or don’t have an interesting subject to cover.
Balderdash! (Pardon my French!).
It’s just like saying eating your vegetables will make you healthier, exercise is good for you and cold calling results in new sales. They are all clearly truisms that are inarguably beneficial for you in ways that are truly important to you (and your business). Yet, they are often overcome by other “good reasons” not to employ them. Excuses, really. Excuses!
Business Blogging – An Essential, Foundational Marketing Tool
Business owners would be wise to shift the paradigm of blogging so that it looks and feels to them like writing an email. That’s about how difficult it is, once you have the right tools in place.
Use your business blog to announce news, share new information about your industry, regulations, products or services, recent customer successes or just to talk about some cultural values or goals (perhaps your value propositions and mission?) that are important to you (and your customers!).
Use your blog to share other pieces of information too, like product line cards, samples of your work, videos from you, staff or clients, photos of events or staff. There is no limit (except professionalism and good tasted, of course) on what you can and should put on your business blog.
Now, the important part! Once you write it on your blog, simply post a link on all your social media sites, email a link to it and link to it from other places too. Have you thought of posting a link to your latest blog post in your email signature block? Hmmm, good idea, eh?
Some Tips from the Metaphorical Factory Floor
Here is an excellent discussion from our knowledgeable friends at the Social Media Examiner on some blogging mistakes and ways to avoid making them. Several of them follow a similar theme which is to ensure that you are speaking in a consistent, professional “voice” that is aimed at the needs of your desired readers, and focuses on what is important to them (not what is important to you!).
Read on and enjoy: 21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes (and How to Fix Them).
What is your favorite mistake and how to avoid it?
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Social Media Marketing: So now it’s a strategic imperative?
Business executives are catching the social media marketing buzz: "Social Business is increasingly perceived as a strategic executive imperative in the enterprise, with 78 percent of the executives surveyed admitting that having a social strategy is critical to the future success of their businesses."
In this new study, released June 29, 2011 by Jive Software of Palo Alto, CA, it seems that large and medium sized enterprises have finally awoken to what has appeared relatively clear to many others, that social marketing is an important component of communications with customers.
From the report, “The Jive Social Business Index 2011,” three key findings emerged:
- Social Business is a top executive strategic imperative;
- App Stores are gaining traction in the enterprise; and
- Email usage is growing but is not solving communication challenges in the enterprise.
“Fifty-three percent of executives believe they must adopt Social Business or risk falling behind”
The herd instinct is strong, too, as there is an awareness that other businesses – the competition – are taking advantage of social business models and that if you don’t adopt social business you’ll be left behind.
Do you have a strategic plan which includes social business as a core element? You certainly should, as your competitors more likely than not, are putting more and more weight into their social business efforts.
If you want to learn more about leveraging social business principals and practices in your business, please contact us to discuss your needs.
Relevant Content Strategy: The Biggest Challenge in Social Media Marketing
No one is searching for information about what we do. I focus on referrals. My industry is boring. Too many regulations. Everyone knows what we do. Those deadlines sure come up fast. It’s hard to come up with new ideas all the time.
Sound familiar?
I regularly conduct seminars on a variety of online marketing topics. During every presentation, without exception, someone raises their hand and says their industry is different and not well suited for utilizing content marketing as a lead generation strategy. In private conversations, many business owners and professionals have said the
same thing.
If you have said this, you are missing a big opportunity to connect with potential customers.
Creative Strategy – Willing to Get Creative?
Here is where your marketing dollars can be money well spent. Why is that? With some creativity and solid planning you can create an interesting story line, a unique theme, upon which to build a content strategy.
In today’s online world, our customers are bombarded by messages, ads, news and stories. By communicating with potential customers in a unique voice, traversing clear and interesting storylines, your voice will become heard. Your messages and brand image will become well-defined and clear. You will make a name for yourself.
Wouldn’t that be nice, when you are trying to draw in new customers?
Ready, Fire, Aim. Then Question Online Marketing
However, there is evidence that, in many cases, businesses are not building marketing messages from a cohesive theme. In place of a solid strategy, is promotional noise; a seemingly random stream of messages and information. Then you ask, why isn’t our online marketing not working? Why are we losing market share, seeing decreasing sales, and suffering falling profitability? Why don’t our customers know what we can do?
Must be the recession? Yeah, right.
Relevant Content Strategy
The best practices in online marketing today demand a focused, seamless communications strategy. Some important elements of this strategy include:
1. Clear campaign theme(s) – What makes it unique?
2. Professional, authentic voice and tone
3. Regular frequency and location of information
4. Defined editorial guidelines and strategic editorial calendar
5. Efficient content development strategy
6. Streamlined distribution procedures, guidelines, responsibilities
7. Written communications guidelines and training, to include handling customer complaints, addressing positive and negative comments.
8. Customer service guidelines, granting appropriate authority and options to remedy customer complaints.
There are several advantages to creating a strategy up-front. These include faster development times, improved coordination, clear communications, better customer service and higher customer satisfaction levels.
Now that would be worth the up-front effort, wouldn’t it?
What is your status?
Do you have a content development strategy? What are the most important elements of your strategy, and what important lessons have you learned in managing online marketing strategy?
Want to Distribute your Content to a Broader Audience?
Why not become a Guest Blogger at Endorphin Advisors?
Web Marketing Audit: Are you getting a good return on your online marketing?
- Are you using the best tools to market your business?
- What about email? SEO? Social Media? Content Marketing?
- Are you getting your money’s worth for your investment?
- Do you have an efficient process to manage and track it all?
Everybody’s Doing It, Right?
Most businesses by now have a website and send some emails in their marketing. Some are starting to use social media. Few businesses are using keyword analysis, content marketing and closed-loop marketing analysis.
With all the time, money and effort that goes into online marketing, what are you getting out of it? Would you like to improve what you are doing; drive more revenue from the web; improve your ROI (return on investment)? Do you know where to start looking for ways to improve your online marketing?
What Can We Do To Improve Our Web Marketing?
The Web Marketing Audit shows you how to create and manage integrated, efficient and effective online marketing. We review everything you are doing online, from a high-level review of marketing activities, down to what’s hidden in the code of your web sites. We will show you some of the best web tools and techniques generating more leads and more sales for the web’s leading marketers.
Our recommendations cover the gamut from quick and easy (yet essential) fixes to broad “inbound marketing” strategies, conversion techniques and messaging recommendations. Endorphin Advisors helps streamline your entire web marketing efforts. This will translate into more visitors to your web site, higher conversion rates, more sales and more money. Endorphin Advisors can help you do that.
The Audit Process
Starting with an initial interview, Endorphin Advisors conducts a thorough and extensive evaluation of ten major components of your online marketing strategies and tools. Following our evaluation, Endorphin Advisors prepares an in-depth report of findings and reviews these findings with you.
Request Your Web Marketing Audit TODAY
See www.web-marketing-audit.com or call 518.250.9035
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About Endorphin Advisors
Endorphin Advisors is a unique management consulting firm and marketing agency. We help businesses develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans, while also providing day-to-day business development and strategic and tactical marketing services to select clients committed to aggressive growth.
Endorphin Advisors specializes in Internet (inbound) marketing; online lead generation and nurturing strategies; content development strategies; and development of the web properties required for effective inbound marketing, including web sites, blogs, social media and email marketing tools.
Endorphin Advisors was started in 2005, and re-located in 2011 from Silicon Valley to Albany, NY. Find them at http://www.EndorphinAdvisors.com.
Endorphin Advisors Joins the Constant Contact Partner Program
Solution Provider Program Delivers Effective and Affordable Online Marketing Tools to Win Customers and Build Strong, Lasting Relationships
ALBANY, NEW YORK — April 7, 2011 — Endorphin Advisors today announced it has joined the Constant Contact Partner Program (NASDAQ: CTCT) as a Solution Provider Partner. Endorphin Advisors will now be able to provide its clients with easy-to-use email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online survey tools to help them create and build strong, lasting customer relationships.
“As we formulate and implement business development and Internet marketing strategies for our clients, access to effective online marketing tools is essential for success,” said Erik Bunaes, President, Endorphin Advisors. “The Constant Contact online marketing tools give our clients a valuable addition to our core services. Because of the tools’ ease-of-use and affordability, membership in the Constant Contact partner program provided a great solution to meet our clients’ marketing needs.”
Endorphin Advisors will now use Constant Contact’s online marketing tools, which are specially designed to help small businesses and organizations drive participation and strengthen relationships. These tools include:
- Email Marketing for quickly creating professional-looking emails, managing contact lists, measuring campaign results, and reviewing new list members;
- Social Media Marketing for turning fans, friends, and followers into customers. Harnessing digital word of mouth from Facebook, re-tweeting offers on Twitter, or posting a review on Yelp keeps the conversation going and generates a powerful buzz for small business;
- Event Marketing for efficiently promoting and managing registrations and RSVPs for meetings, functions, seminars, and events; and
- Online Survey for gathering feedback that helps meet customer needs, generate new ideas, and help grow a business or organization.
“Our tools are all proven to help small businesses connect with customers and build successful relationships with them,” said Steve Johnson, vice president, partners, Constant Contact. “We are pleased that Endorphin Advisors chose Constant Contact to provide its clients with our online marketing tools and we look forward to working together to be an even bigger factor in their customers’ success.”
About Endorphin Advisors
Endorphin Advisors is a unique management consulting firm and marketing agency. We help businesses develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans, while also providing day-to-day business development and strategic and tactical marketing services to select clients committed to aggressive growth.
Endorphin Advisors specializes in Internet (inbound) marketing; online lead generation and nurturing strategies; content development strategies; and development of the web properties required for effective inbound marketing, including web sites, blogs, social media and email marketing tools.
Endorphin Advisors was started in 2005, and re-located in 2011 from Silicon Valley to Albany, NY. Find them at http://www.EndorphinAdvisors.com.
Satisfied with your online marketing? Endorphin Advisors offers a systematic, comprehensive audit and analysis of everything a business does online to market itself, including its website, blog, social media, email marketing, use of video, analytics tools, and more. Learn more at www.web-marketing-audit.com.
About Constant Contact, Inc.
Constant Contact’s email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online survey tools help small organizations grow their businesses by building stronger customer relationships. More than 400,000 small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and member associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact’s easy-to-use, affordable online tools to create and deliver personalized, professional communications that engage casual customers, members, prospects, and passionate customers wherever they congregate online — from their email inboxes to their social networks. All Constant Contact products come with unmatched education, training and personal coaching services, and award-winning technical support. Founded in 1995, Constant Contact is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: CTCT) with offices in Waltham, Mass.; Loveland, Colo.; and Delray, Fla.; and a San Francisco office scheduled to open later this year. Learn more at www.ConstantContact.com or call 781-472-8100.
Constant Contact and the Constant Contact Logo are registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All Constant Contact product names and other brand names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Please direct all press inquiries to:
Endorphin Advisors
Erik Bunaes
President & Principal
518.250.9035
Erik Bunaes Recognized as Expert in Social Media Marketing
Completes Constant Contact Experts Training Program
Albany, NY – April 19, 2011 – Constant Contact, Inc. has recognized Erik Bunaes of Endorphin Advisors as an Expert in Social Media Marketing. Mr. Bunaes has successfully completed the Constant Contact Experts Training Program and is certified as a presenter for the “Social Media Marketing Made Simple” workshop.
“We believe the combination of Constant Contact’s industry-leading email marketing, social media marketing and event marketing tools and the strategic planning, implementation and on-going management capabilities of Endorphin Advisors gives businesses an unbeatable one-two punch to rev up sales via the Internet,” says Erik Bunaes, Endorphin Advisors. “With these available resources, no business should be left to struggle and labor over the strategy, details, implementation and on-going management of advanced Internet and social media marketing.”
In partnership with Constant Contact, Endorphin Advisors offers a full range of email marketing, social media marketing and event marketing tools, education and consulting services. To learn more or to schedule a training seminar on any of these topics, please contact us using the information below.
Erik Bunaes was previously recognized by Constant Contact as a Certified Email Marketing Expert, also through its Experts Training Program. Endorphin Advisors maintains a strong business partnership with Constant Contact as a provider of Constant Contact’s industry-leading email marketing, online survey, event marketing and social media marketing tools.
Erik Bunaes, an active speaker and seminar leader, is available to lead workshops in Upstate New York for the new Constant Contact-produced social media marketing seminar, “Social Media Marketing Made Simple.”
For more information, please visit http://www.EndorphinAdvisors.com or contact Erik Bunaes at 518.250.9035 or erik@endorphinadvisors.com to schedule a social media marketing seminar.
About Endorphin Advisors
Endorphin Advisors is a unique management consulting firm and marketing agency. We help businesses develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans, while also providing day-to-day business development and strategic and tactical marketing services to select clients committed to aggressive growth.
Endorphin Advisors specializes in Internet (inbound) marketing; online lead generation and nurturing strategies; content development strategies; and development of the web properties required for effective inbound marketing, including web sites, blogs, social media and email marketing tools.
Endorphin Advisors was started in 2005, and re-located in 2011 from Silicon Valley to Albany, NY. Find them at www.EndorphinAdvisors.com.
Contact:
Erik Bunaes, President
Endorphin Advisors
Office: 518.250.9035
Email: <a href=”mailto:erik@endorphinadvisors.com”>erik@endorphinadvisors.com</a>
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikbunaes
Follow Endorphin Advisors:
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/endorphinadvisors
Twitter – http://twitter.com/ebunaes
Web – http://www.EndorphinAdvisors.com
Web Marketing Audit – http://www.web-marketing-audit.com
About Constant Contact, Inc.
Constant Contact’s email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online survey tools help small organizations grow their businesses by building stronger customer relationships. More than 400,000 small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and member associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact’s easy-to-use, affordable online tools to create and deliver personalized, professional communications that engage casual customers, members, prospects, and passionate customers wherever they congregate online — from their email inboxes to their social networks. All Constant Contact products come with unmatched education, training and personal coaching services, and award-winning technical support. Founded in 1995, Constant Contact is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: CTCT) with offices in Waltham, Mass.; Loveland, Colo.; and Delray, Fla.; and a San Francisco office scheduled to open later this year. Learn more at www.ConstantContact.com or call 781-472-8100.
Constant Contact and the Constant Contact Logo are registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All Constant Contact product names and other brand names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
In with a Roar, Out with a Whimper
Marketing on the Web Sounds Exciting, but it’s Hard Work
Writer’s block. Busy schedule. Finding good topics. Making quiet time to sit down and write.
Producing quality, informative blog articles on a regular basis can be a daunting challenge for many busy business owners.
While the monetary costs of social media and content marketing can be low, the time and effort it can take to regularly sit down and write good articles can seem like torture. While it can come easily for some people, many others just can’t generate the motivation to do it.
In with a roar and out with a whimper
Many times, people with great intentions and plans start off strong, create a couple good articles to start building their blog or email newsletter. Soon, business gets busy, time gets tight and writing new blog articles drops down the priority list.
The new articles and emails become fewer over time, with the time span between postings getting longer and longer. The quality slips, the readership’s attention begins to drift away. The tortured writer doesn’t see any tangible results as soon as they’d like. Their enthusiasm fades.
Next thing you know, the grand social media effort comes to a quiet, slow standstill. Silence.
We’re here to help! We can take over some or all of the process of creating regular remarkable content, take over the mechanics of managing all your social media tools and even monitoring your social media venues so you can spend time engaging with your current customers and potential, new customers.
Additionally, to help manage your social media campaigns, we can help you create a strategically-designed editorial calendar. By planning in advance the topics and schedule of articles for your blog or email marketing, you can hit the right topics at the right time. This helps you make every blog useful and relevant to your audience. Isn’t that what keeps your readers coming back for more?
If you’d like to kick your web marketing up a notch,
contact us today.
In the meantime, please review two new web marketing services from Endorphin Advisors:
New Online Content and Social Media Marketing Services
Engage Your Customers and Draw Them to You!
Albany, NY – February 16, 2011 – Endorphin Advisors announces launch of new online information marketing packages to help small and mid- sized businesses leverage the most powerful web marketing techniques in use today.
These services are designed to attract target customers online, using the latest search engine and information marketing methods.
“While most small and mid-size businesses are feeling pressure to use social media tools such as Twitter or Facebook, the vast majority of them are missing a more direct opportunity – providing good, useful information on their websites,” says Erik Bunaes, President, Endorphin Advisors. “Real people use search engines such as Google and Bing every day to find information, to research potential purchases and to learn how to accomplish many different types of tasks. This is the time – very early in the buying process – where you want to connect with your potential customers.” Here’s how it works.
Information or Content Marketing Report
With your input, we create a professionally produced, information-rich, search engine optimized report that you’ll be proud to offer as a free download on your website. You can also print as a hand-out for trade shows or for your sales team and enclose in proposals.
The Information Marketing Report can include useful information, such as:
A well-rounded social media marketing program can give you multiple, proactive contacts with your target customers, when they are searching for information, which can help you:
We designed a well-rounded starter package to make getting the benefits of social media easy, including blog posts, an active presence on key social media venues and a monthly email newsletter.
For more information, please visit www.EndorphinAdvisors.com or contact Erik Bunaes at 518.250.9035 or erik@endorphinadvisors.com.
For more about these services:
Social Media Services:www.endorphinadvisors.com/ourwork/social-media-services.html
About Endorphin Advisors
Endorphin Advisors is a unique management consulting firm and marketing agency. We help businesses develop and implement short and long-term strategic plans, while also providing day-to-day business development, strategic and tactical marketing and financial consulting services to select clients.
Endorphin Advisors specializes in online (inbound) marketing; online lead generation strategies and programs; content development and online distribution; development and management of all web properties, including web sites, blogs, social media and email marketing tools.
Started in 2005, and recently re-located from Silicon Valley to Albany, NY, Endorphin Advisors offers leadership and organizational development services for businesses committed to aggressive growth. We help develop all necessary operational, marketing and financial planning processes using proven processes and are proud to stand by our clients throughout the implementation and management stages of their growing, profitable businesses.
For more about how we can help you take big, bold steps forward, please contact:
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 11347
Albany, NY 12211-0347
Please keep up with our work here at Endorphin Advisors:
Endorphin Web Marketing Audit
In this video, Erik Bunaes discusses the Endorphin Web Marketing Audit.
Let us help you gain visibility on the web, drive more web traffic to your site, and convert more visitors to prospects, and more prospects to sales (and $$$).
Watch the video now.
Follow this link for more details and to schedule a Web Marketing Audit.
Also, please feel free to contact Erik Bunaes at 415.595.6813 with any questions or to learn more about how this audit can improve your web marketing.
And finally, we are proud to offer the Endorphin Web Marketing Audit at no charge during the month of July 2010. So get one quick or you’ll be paying $149 starting in August!
Happy Web Marketing!
Web Marketing Strategy – Development, Implementation & Management Services
Endorphin Advisors helps clients develop strategies to drive increased web traffic to their web properties, and then convert visitors into leads, and leads into sales.
We help develop fully-integrated, focused, effective web marketing campaigns, which can be very effective in terms of building brand awareness, driving new web traffic and generating new sales from the web.
We follow a process that helps identify and target a defined segment of potential customers. Then, we create the strategy to broadly market certain information and services to your customers to build awareness and interest, which creates additional web traffic.
Then, we implement strategies to turn visitors into prospects, prospects into leads, and leads into customers, all using a continuous, automated promotional campaign to maintain interest until purchase decision.
Watch the video to find out more from Erik Bunaes of Endorphin Advisors:
If you have any questions, or simply wish to learn a little more about how we might help your business generate more leads and more sales using the web, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a chat.
Call Erik Bunaes at 415.595.6813 today and start growing your sales using the Web!
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