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UK plumber Charlie Mullins' Pimlico Plumbers which has a reputation for being head-and-shoulders above the rest when it comes to marketing. He explains his tricks to get yourself noticed.... Even those that don't use his firm for their plumbing needs will, in all probability, have watched or read about him on television, online or in newspapers. Here are his top tips on how to make a small business stand out in a crowded marketplace.... 
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When it comes to the B2B realm, the word “digital” is still considered a bit taboo. A good majority of B2B companies have yet to totally integrate digital strategies into their overarching marketing efforts. Don’t get me wrong—some in the B2B sector really get it, such as Dell, American Express, GE, among others. But why is it that so many B2B executives feel that digital marketing won’t help them take their business to new levels?
To answer that question, surveying the B2B entities I work with, it’s because some execs still feel that their products or services “are so niche that [digital] won’t work” or “our target audiences aren’t on social,” etc. But these thoughts don’t reflect what’s been shown to work for similar entities. Whether a B2B firm is tip-toeing into digital or has embraced some elements, here are a few good tips and examples that can be integrated so that firms might begin to move away from traditional means of marketing....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
The bad news is business is still slow to integrate digital strategy is fully into their businesses. The good news is if you move quickly you may gain a competitive advantage. Note, several good case studies too.
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Open innovation is changing the economics of advertising....
... while open innovation platforms in advertising lend themselves to creative work, they're also being tapped in the production phase of the business. MoFilm, Poptent, and Tongal, for example, focus on video production for television and web films. In every part of the industry, the open innovation model is changing the economics of advertising by switching significant fixed costs to variable costs and sourcing creative from more relevant and, many times, lower cost sources.
Each open innovation agency (and there are many) has its own revenue model, but common to all of them is the basic proposition of expanding the agency's capabilities by tapping the wisdom of a global self-selected crowd of creatives, strategists, and fans. In his research on InnoCentive, the first global Internet-based platform designed to match problems with creative problem-solvers,
Harvard Business School professor Karim Lakhani observed that the further a problem was from the solvers' field of expertise, the more likely they were to solve it. Since few companies have the resources to hire the diverse disciplinary expertise found in open innovation networks, agencies will have to tap these networks if they hope to compete on creative output....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Advertising is suffering from the same impact of social media as PR and marketing. In many respects the impact is biggest on the traditional advertising model and this post offers an interesting look at how some agencies are responding. One thing's for certain. There is no going back.
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...Remember that the black hat SEO days are long gone. Expert SEOs know that content marketing and social SEO are now the keys to ensuring a healthy online presence for your business. Content serves to establish your reputation as an expert in the field whereas social SEO serves as your PR tool for building relationships with your target market.
So, why should you focus on Social PR? When you consider the fact that about 70% of those who use social networking to do most of their shopping online. Additionally, more than half of all social networks follow a select number of brands and there are more than 2 billion people spending time on social networks each day....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Some Dos and Donts for the digital marketer in 2013. Social PR and SEO simply go hand-in-hand for best results.
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...So how are brands capitalising on this social smorgasbord? The results are in, and they’re somewhat mixed. While 87 percent of Fortune 100 companies have a presence on at least one social media site, with Twitter leading the way, only 26 percent of businesses regularly include a call to action in their tweets.
Moreover, less than half (44 percent) of customer questions sent on Twitter are answered within 24 hours, and 56 percent are ignored altogether. Overall, less than 20 percent of U.S. companies have integrated social media with their customer service, sales or product development processes. This, and more, can be found in the infographic below, which takes a closer look at how businesses are using social media....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
They're not there yet, but business is getting more social every day...
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..Social.com lets marketers integrate CRM information from Salesforce.com with data held by social media companies. For example, a marketer buying targeted advertising on Facebook could combine the interests expressed by Facebook users with its own customer information in order to refine the audience for a campaign. The dashboard includes a "trending" word cloud that can help marketers identify topics or hashtags to which they can quickly tie sponsored stories, posts or tweets.
Speaking at a Salesforce.com customer day in San Francisco, Adam Bain, chief revenue officer for Twitter, called this "buying into the moment." Gordon Evans, vice president of product marketing for Salesforce.com, told ClickZ, "We can connect real-time social listening with ad campaigns. If a hashtag is trending and has positive social sentiment, you can buy ads against whenever someone uses that hashtag, via Twitter keyword targeting."...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
There are lots of social marketing innovations and this one - "buying into the moment" - is worth keeping an eye on if you're a larger brand.
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Tips for developing a SEO content marketing strategy for your business blog. You need great content and a plan to get that coveted top spot. The coveted #1 position in Google is sought by everyone with a business site. How are you going to beat out everyone jockeying for that number 1 spot? You can make it to the top with a strategic SEO content marketing plan. Do you know what that means? Not certain your strategy is working? I’m sharing my 5 five tips to developing a SEO content marketing strategy that will send your business blog to the top. ...
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Yowza! Take a look this huge list from Beth Kanter. Includes social media monitoring and a long list of tools for every social media need. Fill your hat... and your toolbox.
Jeff Domansky's insight:
This is a great resource for anyone from solo PR, small business to nonprofit and big business.
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A recent study conducted by the online marketing firm Vertical Response and reported on in Forbes concludes that small businesses are spending more time on social media but struggling with the added workload it represents. Perhaps as a consequence, most are doing social media marketing in a vacuum because they’re not tracking results, which means they have no way of quantifying if their time and effort are paying off. “Our survey confirms that small businesses are understanding the value of social media,” says Vertical Response CEO and founder Janine Popick. “They’re spending more time doing it, and investing more money into it at a faster rate. But the extra work will likely lead to time management issues, especially for the small business owner who’s handling social media on top of all the other responsibilities of running a company. This implies that small businesses are in need of tactics and tools now to help them save time.”...
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In the wake of Monday's Boston Marathon bombings, it's apparent that we need to continue the conversation about how people and brands communicate during times of tragedy and crisis. Here are some social dos and don'ts to help prepare for a tragedy....
Let’s face it, social media isn't always in the hands of accredited public relations professionals with years of crisis management experience on their resume. Does your community manager know the answers to these questions? Chances are if they don’t then neither does the organization: - Do we comment when there is a natural disaster or national tragedy? If so, what does that sound like? - Cease all scheduled or planned content for X period of time. - Check ad schedule and pull content promotion or campaigns for X amount of time....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
the bottom line is: watch out for marketing mishaps when a tragedy happens. Particularly, don't mix marketing and tragedy.
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The rapid growth of the social media in the recent past made it an indispensable tool in the hands of marketing managers around the world. Social media improves the opportunities to connect with your customers and facilitates two way communication between you and your customers. Social media strategy when properly implemented can boost both your internal and external brand. Below are some of the benefits of social media for your brands...
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Business success means mastering the six layers of customer engagement. Are you ready? Over the past few years I have been giving a speech about the “six layers” of customer engagement. It has been a hit with my audiences and it occurred to me that I have never shared this idea with you. So, let’s change that. We are in the process of creating increasingly complex layers of digital distance between our companies and our customers. Mastering these six layers represent both enormous challenges and opportunities…
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Getting connected with customers through social media is critical for business success.
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For the latest in our series of posts looking at how the world’s biggest brands use social I’ve turned the spotlight on Microsoft. Bill Gates’ empire still looms large over the global software market, though its fortunes are often overshadowed by Apple’s astonishing level of success. And much like Google, Microsoft also runs a few of its own social platforms – enterprise network Yammer and Pinterest clone Socl. So it’s interesting to see how Microsoft makes use of other social networks to promote its products and maintain its fortunes....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Even Microsoft isn't averse to using cute little animals to further its marketing interests.
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The current state of media and marketing is constantly changing. And a forward-thinking approach is necessary. Here are 5 tips to stay ahead:
1. Create More Opportunity You have the ability to make useful things faster and better than any corporation. Relying on publicity to get attention is like bungee jumping off a bridge. The adrenaline is groovy, and Cloud 9 is fun. But…then what? Publicity can bring opportunity. But it shouldn’t be your only path. Why? Fame is fleeting. You want to bubble up from the bottom, not float down from the top....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Fresh thinking to help you respond to swift changes in social media and its impact on every business.
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I recently blogged about consumer brands that had come up with successful Twitter strategies, highlighting ASOS and Nike among others as companies that knew what they were doing with social. Many commenters mentioned that it would be useful to see a similar post focusing on B2B examples and I was obviously happy to oblige.
Twitter is a difficult medium for B2B companies as it’s all too easy to simply view the platform as a broadcast medium and churn out dull corporate messages. But here are six examples of businesses that have managed to buck the trend and create interesting or useful Twitter feeds...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Terrific case studies and a post marketers won't want to miss...
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The concept of content marketing is constantly evolving and we content marketers will strive to perfect it indefinitely....
Sometimes we are tempted to think we do but when the truth comes home there is always a lot more to learn about content marketing’s role on the social web. The concept is constantly evolving and we content marketers will strive to perfect it indefinitely. But currently, some are promoting false ideas about the concept of content marketing and these are sometimes preventing others from having success. Here is my list of misconceptions you should not fall for – I would be happy if you add yours to it…
Jeff Domansky's insight:
You'll find these misconceptions about marketing to be bang on. A good read.
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Historically (and statistically), social media has always skewed slightly favourably towards women, and recent studies suggest that almost three-quarters (71 percent) of internet female users are active on one or more social media sites, compared to slightly less than two-thirds (62 percent) of men.
Typically, women are more likely to use Twitter (which has a 62 percent female populous), Facebook (58 percent women) and, of course, Pinterest (70 percent women), whereas men dominate Google+ (64 percent men), LinkedIn (54 percent men) and YouTube (54 percent men). Of course, collectively both genders add up an awful lot of social networkers. Indeed, there are more combined social media users in the U.S. than there are people in Japan. The infographic below takes a closer look at how men and women are using social media....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Here's a helpful infographic that looks at key demographics for each of the major social media channels. Useful for marketers.
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Technology and the Internet are fundamentally changing the way we do business around the globe. Consumers have unprecedented access to information and to each other. In fact studies show that consumers are far more likely to trust each other over brands. This holds true even if the other consumer is a complete stranger.
For any business, especially smaller businesses that want to master the basics of social media marketing, the days of simply creating a Facebook page are over. Effectively reaching today’s mobile consumer requires integrated Social Local and Mobile (SoLoMo) for short. By the time you finish this post I hope you’ll be convinced that avoiding social media is a bigger risk than fully embracing the basics of social media....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
You can run, but you can't hide from social media...
Benny Yang's comment,
May 9, 2013 9:48 AM
Of course embrace social media will reduce risk than avoid social media. Especially small businesses have to appreciate it. Think a about it, there are 70% connected with the business, 66% visited the business, 23% told others and 36% of people will make a purchase from your business. How amazing information!
Jieyi Situ's comment,
May 9, 2013 5:39 PM
Yes it's true that social media help small business a lot. Face-to-face marketing only focus on a small amount of audience, while social media can spread your brand awareness to lots of people who are potential consumers.
Sophie Pagani AUT's curator insight,
September 26, 2014 11:46 PM
Because social media is promoting porducts and companies by people you know such as friends and family, it makes it more reliable and therefore the brand or business is more likely to be trusted. Social media is there for a successful and reliable IMC channel
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Investing time and money on social media is necessary for all types of businesses nowadays. Here are nine examples of small businesses using social media for branding. Social media is the new way for the word to spread: from product recommendations to advice on what to do, where to go, and what to do. From little conversations that mean nothing to meaningful revelations that could change lives, from stupid pictures to inspiring profiles – social media has it all. Customers have the final word now. News gets out faster. Other users and buyers are now the trusted sources. Social conversations are now the holy grail of business reputation management. Social media is social proof that materializes quickly. Small businesses are indeed tapping into the power of social media....
Jeff Domansky's comment,
April 23, 2013 2:46 PM
Nine superb lessons from small businesses who get "social."
Victoria Clark's curator insight,
September 15, 2013 11:44 PM
This article provides information that proves that all the various types of brands and companies use social media and networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, to promote their cause or business. It also shows that the successful businesses and brands, particularly the smaller ones, use imagery that is both effective and enticing to the consumer as well as ensuring that they are consistently updating their social media sites to ensure they both obtain and retain their consumers attention. Updating regularly and using enticing and effective imagery has proven to be effective as the small businesses mentioned in this article are quite popular on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter; thus they have marketed their brand well within their consumers.
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It is very easy to confuse social media and social business. The graphic in this post, created by my colleague David Armano, is a great illustration of the differences between a social brand (for the purposes of this post, this is synonymous with social media) and social business. At a very high level, a social brand is what we all do from a communications perspective to include marketing, public relations, customer support and so on. So what is a social business strategy? It helps evolve the thinking and preparedness of an organization by bridging internal and external social initiatives, which results in a more collaborative company and shared value for all stakeholders (customers, partners, employees). If you study the above graphic, a social business is very much focused on the internal dynamics of a company, from training and governance to knowledge sharing and culture. Social media policies and employee engagement also play a pivotal role in shaping a social business. A social business strategy can almost be considered an enabler, because if you have your internal process and structures sorted out, it is much easier to scale your social media initiatives externally. Whether it is launching a global Facebook page or empowering employees to engage in social media, having a solid social business plan will help minimize mistakes. As a marketing guy by trade, I will try to communicate the value of how a better social business strategy enables a better social brand....
Jeff Domansky's comment,
April 19, 2013 4:10 PM
Here's a great effort to distinguish between social media and social business. The chart is a little confusing at first but it makes sense when you read this excellent post.
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Content Marketing is the new buzzword. And as with buzzwords, every agency is trying to capture a slice of the action – but this means they all have their own definitions. Which leads to confusion. Naturally SEOs were the first to jump on Content Marketing as content and links are so intrinsically linked to success, but there’s a lot more to it than SEO. So to try and ease this confusion I spoke to our resident SEO specialist, David Freeman and we came up with this advice....
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Social media marketing is the fastest growing area of influence in the digital world. It encompasses social media campaigns, strategy and optimization, and increases brand visibility, engagement and conversions. 83% of marketers say that social media is important to their business. That number continues to elevate as Internet capabilities advance, necessitating a brand social presence. At ZOG Digital, we have quite a lot of experience in digital marketing (In fact, our CEO, Jeff Herzog, started iCrossing before Google was around!). So we decided to share our compiled social media marketing “wisdom” in the list below...
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In a digital and social age, pipes are less important. People are the channel. You don't own or rent them. You can't control them. You can only serve and support them. This new world is disorienting because pipes and people work very differently as channels. Pipes flow out; people flow in. Content is pushed out through pipes, but pulled in through people.
This reversal is shifting the balance of power. Individuals have access to information, tools, and resources once reserved for institutions. Externally, this means a shift in the relationship between customers and brands. Internally, this means breaking down the silos that once divided functions and departments. What used to be a hierarchy with the company at the top is now a network with the customer at the center.
For marketers, this of course changes everything. As part of an awards program that one of us (Cara) created and the other (Mark) helped judge, we had the opportunity to see how hundreds of top marketers in Silicon Valley are engaging customers and growing revenue in this new era. The two most important principles that emerged are that customers make the best brand advocates, and entire organizations make for the best marketing teams....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Marketers are finding that customers and employees are the best advocates according to this Harvard Business Review post.
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Social media is a great way for businesses to market their products and services and to increase awareness of their brand. However, social media marketing is often a long-term play that does not generate an immediate increase in sales. In fact, it may not be obvious that social media is helping you at all for quite some time, and you may be wondering why you should even bother continuing to implement your social media marketing strategy. Before you give up on social media altogether, consider these measures for evaluating the impact that your social media campaign is having on your business — or the potential impact it will have on your business...
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The Kardashians are social media marketing and branding superstars. Here's how you can Keep Up with the Kardashians on your own social media networks....
Love them or hate them, the Kardashian family knows how to market themselves. Okay, so they have a reality TV show, or four, that helped propel them to the highest levels of fame. But they are still social media marketing and branding superstars. So here's how you can Keep Up With The Kardashians....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Unexpected source for marketing inspiration...
Wenjing Zheng's comment,
August 21, 2013 10:40 PM
the Kardashian family used the social media to shows they care and engaging with consumers.Knowledge of branding will help improve a company’s brand perception to be easily distinguished from other similar or competitive brands, and to generate the level of awareness and interest a company is capable of and Kardashian ha done this very well.
Samara Paxton's curator insight,
October 2, 2014 6:42 PM
The Kardashians use their brand to engage their customers, and make them feel as if they are included. By communicating with their fans, it shows them that the 'brand' cares about them, and that their opinion is being heard. This is largely beneficial to the Kardashian Brand, as it ensures that they have loyal and repeat customers, all via a tweet.
Laura Diamond's curator insight,
December 28, 2014 6:54 PM
Although it pains me to scoop the Kardashian family are social media trending gurus. Since they all basically became famous for doing nothing this family relies on their fans and social network to keep the millions coming in. Between the reality shows, their marketing for brands they endorse, their own clothing/accessory brands etc the family are some of the best in the world for getting their network across the table. |
Unlikely marketing success story in this UK plumber who shows how to be a social business.