Reality Marketing via Print is Dead.. Long Live Social Media Marketing!!

I came back from the World Brand Congress Conference last week with the definitive thought that Print Media, Newspapers and Magazines better brace them self for another rude shocker in the years ahead. 2010 will see the evolution of your brand via Social Media and Online marketing. You are going to see a serious move towards Marketing via sites like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Flickr, Wikipedia, Digg, Blogger, Wordpress etc.

Real estate sector in particular is going to see a vast change in marketing strategies. Today, The primary focus of Reality Marketing is via newspapers and magazines, which is a terrible waste. Our Sunday paper has over a third of it full of unread classifieds. This terrible waste of marketing spend along with cutting of trees to print has to stop & Marketers need to Go Green to get their best returns.

The property you are trying to market has to start showing up in local web searches and online with 360 degree web based tours, sale/rent comparison and comprehensive details of the property. New Age Online Positioning of your real estate property or product is imperative to survive with video tours and 360 degree walk-throughs. Property Listings online, Recent sales comparables & sites like craigslist that let you publish your property details online for free are making the newspaper classifieds worthless.

Magazines and Newspapers with stale information from a week ago or month ago are a thing of the past. The omnipresent nature of social media with it's ever accessible nature is going to make Property and Reality Product Marketing sizzle online. An NAR survey sponsored by the Gooder Group found that 74% of people shopping for a real estate professional go with the first one they call. That means if you earn that first call from a prospect, you have a 74% chance of turning them into a client.

You're not selling an inexpensive toaster. You're selling mostly a six figure or seven figure product that will have an impact on the finances and ultimate happiness (or unhappiness) of your clients. Words on paper can sell a toaster. Words on paper cannot sell your prospects real estate.

You know the importance of web visibility, because you've read the statistics about buyers and sellers using the Internet to find homes and real estate. Online Positioning, can get you prospects ready for the next step they might take (in this case, responding or emailing you proactively instead of you needing to hunt the world for leads). After that first contact, there's plenty of time to show them your ability to deliver.

Give your real estate marketing a break and move online to see your marketing ROI expectations exceeded. Lot more response locally and some from across the globe is inevitable which will hopefully tickle you. Let online marketing and social media do what it's best at. Let it move the prospect forward in your ultimate plan. Good Luck and God Speed!!

VoiceBroadcasting and SMS/Text Marketing - The new marketing mantras

Falling TV viewer ratings and Folding Newspaper firms is a reality we are living in and this has nothing to do with the recession. Broadly, these channels are having reduced impact and marketers are looking for more effective delivery channels like Interactive Voice Broadcasting (IVB) and Personalized SMS(Text Messaging).

Companies are now using SMS often to contact both existing clients and prospects, indeed some reports state that it is now one of the preferred methods of communication for call centre’s – it is cost effective and fast and can hit large numbers very quickly.

Recently, we deployed a Project Delivery Application which sends SMS to appropriate Business Development Managers and Project delivery managers about  project delivery milestones/alerts. We also deployed a Personalized Text Campaign solution to mobiles targeting voters by constituency for a Political party wanting to reach out one on one to all the voters in the region. Both projects had absolutely great acceptance and I can relate to numerous applications to this SMS/Text messaging channel going ahead given that it is inexpensive and delivery rates are exceptional always in the 90+% range.

IV avoids the need for lengthy conversation and can get “straight to the point” within 1 minute however, the option for a prospective customer (depending upon the criteria set) to request a call-back, thereby offering the person to have the human interaction, but allowing the company to know that the call is now both expected and welcomed. Obama Campaign used all the traits of new age marketing but missed out on this superior channel which is already adopted by politicians in countries world over.

Linking Business data to SMS and Voice systems is a very effective method of managing a direct campaign: for example. If your data contains information that a Equipment Service contract expires on a certain date then a simple SMS message to the equipment owner advising and offering a service appointment may be seen as a godsend by the recipient AND has generated business for the sender when done at the right time.

Email has seen a reducing delivery graph for the last couple of years to the point where delivery rates world over are under 70%. Yet,Personalized email marketing, correctly conducted, is still a very powerful tool, which helps to build strong one-to-one relationships with customers, and for many successful companies it is now regarded as an essential marketing tool forming a fundamental part of the overall strategy.

I guess the silver bullets for the new marketing era ahead will be in IVB, SMS and EMAIL.. If you aren’t using some or all these channels -it’s time to shake up and wake up to the new age communication channels

Get Ready for "SlumDog Marketing"

Forget the global downturn, the slums, the traffic jams. Monday this week dawned in India with celebration as word spread that the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" had snagged eight Oscar Academy Awards, including best picture and best director.

I would say it is time for Marketers world over to start looking at India or low cost countries and start using some real inexpensive yet effective “SlumDog Marketing Solutions” in the years ahead. 

“Slumdog Millionaire” is a movie centered around a poor kid(just like our 2009 marketing budget) that goes on to become a millionaire by succeeding in a show on the lines of “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. I guess, Every marketer wants to make Millions in new revenues and win all the way –but only sure way to do this is move more work offsite and online- you can execute online campaigns from Outsourcing firms that can do these at less than half the cost and possibly better than your internal team.

Deriving Growth out of a “dwindled slumdog 2009 marketing budget” needs Marketers to move more budget online while getting projects executed seven seas across if needed. Innovation in Marketing Outsourcing with capabilities to video conference and analyze performance on the other end easily make Marketing Outsourcing a viable immediate term solution..

Obama’s Push to create a sizzle in the economy and by other world leaders across the globe might take another couple of quarters to kick into action. Sales & Marketing Key Decision makers today have a choice to make our Companies millions by getting started on the slumdog marketer route without breaking the bank. 

Get ready for the "Three ways SlumDog Marketers ensure millions of new client revenues in 2009" .. Stay Tuned..

Strategic Aggressive Marketing – Quintessential for your Success in 2009

In a recession, marketing tends to be the first victim of budget cuts when, in reality, it is the most important tool a business has during this difficult time. Current economic downturn leaves many businesses wondering where they can cut costs.

Studies consistently have proven that companies that have the intelligence and guts to maintain or increase their overall marketing and advertising efforts in times of business downturns will get the market share from their timid competition.

Understand the value in marketing consistently

Marketing is an essential function to any business it is also lifeline to surviving a recession. Through marketing, your business can reach new customers and gain sales from previous customers. Therefore, marketing is an investment (not an expense).

Have the guts to be more aggressive on marketing front

Being aggressive does not mean throwing money at every marketing facet available. It is important to take a strategic approach and spend more but spend wisely. It does take guts to spend more when the outlook is gloomy but it has been proven to pay off.

Consider Marketing Outsourcing

If you are inexperienced in marketing or if you are looking to reduce fixed expenses it is best to outsource marketing to someone who is strategic, creative, and has proven results and can do it at a lower investment. These days you can outsource to countries seven seas across which can do a much effective job.

Closely Measure Results

Measure results as they are key components during hard times. Sorry magazines and print, but if you don’t offer reporting and tracking you are down in the dumps in 2009 and going forward.

Diversify Marketing Spend

It is also important to take a strategic approach when you diversify your marketing budget. For example, if you are currently investing the majority of your marketing efforts in a Pay-per-Click Campaign, You might want to segment part of it for email campaigns.

Focus on Improving Conversions

Increasing conversions is one step closer to increasing sales. Typically, increasing conversion rates from 4% to say 8% is much easier than doubling your traffic.

Good Luck and God Speed..

An injection of positive energy is just what's needed

Everyone is getting tired of the whining about the meltdown. An injection of positive energy is just what's needed now. Having worked through two recessions, I see that a full-blown recession is yet to happen. But is it really coming? The last one after September 11th was really nasty with too many bankruptcies and lawsuits.
Things are going to get a hell of a lot worse or a hell of a lot better and it will all be down in the end to our mood and the steps we all take now. No government can push us out of recession and it may be that we are in it for the long haul. Anyway, Why should Governments bail out ill managed Financial and Auto firms. It is preposterous that these big fat companies which don’t share their profits are ready for government bailout at the first glimpse of trouble. I think it will only make sense for these big but not so energetic companies to fail and give opportunities for smaller firms to rise up the charts. It is of course, a free economy and the toughest should survive.
Any turnaround will only come from lots of people making small decisions. From a marketing perspective these small decisions could be pushing out a new direct mail or email campaign. But each decision needs a result and the better the results the faster things will start to change and confidence grows. But we’ll all be demanding better. Marketers need to produce better ROI so as to encourage clients to invest more into this facet and revive their organizations.
Isn’t the time right now to get hungrier, work on getting the basics right and get great at what we’re good at? So if it’s true that recession and hard times can be the mother of invention, and much of the greatest companies have grown from tough times, it’s going to be interesting what’s going come out of B2B sales and marketing in 2009.

Tough Times don't Last, But Intelligent Organizations Do

Tough Times don't Last, But Intelligent Organizations and Well Planned Champions Do. You can actually gain market share (may be not revenue) while others are Shrinking.

As we head in to 2009, Things might look a tad bit gloomy with pink slips and pay freezes. Innovative organizations are thinking of newer ways of revenue generation as the good old things you did in 2008 will yield less than 50% of your revenue in 2009. Together as a well planned cohesive team, Organizations should meticulously draft the 2009 charter and game plan. "Execution" and "Weekly Reviews" is going to be the key differentiator once you have the plan for 2009 drafted.

Understand the Personal Goals of your key executives and work towards assisting them with achieving those as well while they work towards ensuring Business Goals are achieved. It is time to show we care for each associate and not just their sales/marketing goal achievement.

Here are a few quotes that I found worth sharing as you begin the journey into the 2009

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right" (Henry Ford) -THINK YOU CAN & MAKE IT HAPPEN IN 2009

"Never worry about action, but only about inaction" (Winston Churchill) -START ACTION NOW IN JANUARY 2009, Don't wait

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" (Albert Einstein) -THERE WILL BE A LOT OF NAYSAYERS & MEDICORE MINDS - YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN WITH YOUR FOCUS

May this year be the best year of your life!
Happy 2009!

Become Disciplined -“Rinse the cottage cheese to get the extra cheese off”

Become Disciplined -“Rinse the cottage cheese to get the extra cheese off”

Dave Scott, Who won the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon six times, would ride his bike for 75 miles, swim 20,000 meters and run 20 miles every single day. Dave scott did not have a weight problem with the 5000 plus calories he was burning everyday. Yet, He believed low fat and high carbohydrate diet would give him the extra edge. So Dave, who burnt over 5000 calories per day would rinse his cottage cheese every day before lunch and dinner every day to get the extra fat off.

No evidence that he needed to do it to win the Ironman Triathlon, but the discipline with which he executed these small steps everyday, believing that it would make him a tad bit more competitive. One more small step to all the other small steps to create a consistent program of super discipline.

Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great cites that Great companies appear boring and pedestrian looking from the outside, but on close inspection, they’re full of people who display extreme diligence and a stunning intensity (I guess they rinse their cottage cheese every day).

Innovate yet maintain your team discipline. It’s time now to discipline your team, your division to plan for the next year ahead and Grow.