60 Ways to Improve your Influence Online or with your Market/Prospects/Consumers

This list was called 60 Ways to Improve your Online Marketing Influence but I think some of these are great for us all to utilize as a basis ANYwhere we market ourselves. For instance, #1 is true on or offline. #13 is definitely good on or off line. #29, 31, 32 are all stellar recommendations for the REAL world! #44, 45, 46 are great if you want to write a book! And #60? Well, that is some grand ol’ advice from before the time of internet or social marketing.

I was on a call with Michael Port a few weeks ago and we discussed social media marketing and how people tend to forget that marketing online is STILL marketing to REAL people. They want a relationship, they need to trust you, they need to believe you have a great product/service that they can’t live without.

Don’t demean everyone’s intelligence by spamming or constantly SELLing to people in these open forums and social site, it only turns us all off!

Side note: Some seem to be a blatant sales pitch for Facebook, but please just keep reading, if that doesn’t work for you. People who wrote this must have a connection to FB somehow.

So, choose one that resonates with you and put into practice. Write it on your bathroom mirror, paste it behind you computer monitor, paste it on your computer desktop, SOMEWHERE you will see it repeatedly and implement it!

It will pay off handsomely in time AND feel more rewarding until then.

1. Stop talking about your products and services and create valuable content.

2. Increase conversion rates on your landing pages by improving your buttons.

3. Build your thought leadership and digital influence through transparency.

4. Demonstrate commitment and increase your digital influence through consistency.

5. Know where you’re going, then make what you say about the people around you.

6. Follow better people.

7. Align yourself with outstanding strategic partners.

8. Make connections online, then meet the person in the real world, offline.

9. Create content that stands for something: ‘Higher purpose content marketing.’

10. Look under the hood of the shiny new technologies coming out.

11. Believe in ‘social objects’ as the way we socialize and share with others.

12. Avoid ‘incestuous blogging’ and look outside your circle.

13. Start talking to people.

14. Think about your narrative strategy because people connect with stories worth telling.

15. Find people who have your audience but not your products and co-create with them.

16. Establish influence either through complete honesty or absolute fakery – not in between.

17. Give your content roots and give it wings.

18. Try Facebook advertising.

19. Develop your online influence by getting offline and meeting people in real life.

20. Get very, very good at filtering and aggregating content.

21. Be early in the news cycles of any conversation of interest, then make context explicit.

22. Increase visibility through web video; the fastest way to get your message out there.

23. Feel passionate about your content and overcome your fears of reaching out.

24. Defy convention where it’s appropriate.

25. Share good content consistently.

26. Let your passion shine to create meaningful relationships and build deep connections.

27. Learn how to talk more about other people.

28. Get on Facebook, get on Facebook now, and use it for your business.

29. Make people around you more successful than you are, and share stories from the heart.

30. Talk about what you know because content is always king.

31. Make something worth talking about.

32. Get your self properly interviewed.

33. Repeat your tweets.

34. Get more influence online by moving offline.

35. Really understand your audience, then build things that really help them.

36. Master one niche, own that niche, then use webinar marketing to promote your brand.

37. Think about what gifts and expertise you have that you can leverage to help others.

38. Map a strategy for integrating social media with other tactics.

39. Change from thinking about my influence to our influence.

40. Get active in other people’s communities.

41. Build ‘digital dimensionality’ by showing your many different sides.

42. Listen to the conversations taking place around you, then start to engage.

43. Network with other influencers and make them aware of your consistent value.

44. Think about the authenticity, consistency, and depth of your voice and story

45. Be willing to shake up your world.

46. Learn to be a storyteller, understand the psychology of people, create quality content.

47. Share ideas liberally and get increased accountability from the digital community.

48. Establish your business model before you attempt to become influential online.

49. Be consistent, connect the practical with the profound, and listen for the silence.

50. Find a unique niche you can own, focus on it and become known for that.

51. Find out what social network your customers are using and be there for them.

52. Build a community of readers by figuring out ways to get people talking.

53. Make friends along the way by helping others achieve their goals.

54. Think about social media as strategy to enhance your existing marketing goals.

55. Be systematic in establishing relationships with those on the same business path.

56. Become an advocate for gifted up and comers as they enter social media.

57. Start the media arm of your company that educates, inspires and entertains.

58. Give more than you get and build trust and relationships over time.

59. Take a look at what you have that others can’t do and use it to get where you need to go.

60. Figure out your value, identify influential individuals and connect to them directly.

7 Signs You May Be a Bad Manager

Hee hee. More about leadership, blah, blah! This is from Steve Tobak @ Bnet.

One thing most bad managers have in common is they’re not consciously aware that they’re bad managers. And if they are aware of it on some level, they’re probably not willing to admit it to anyone, least of all themselves. That’s because nobody wants to believe they’re the problem.

It’s a common enough phenomenon that isn’t limited to bosses, but applies to people at all levels: executives, managers, employees too. I’m not a shrink, so I’m not sure why that is. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably got something to do with ego, denial, compartmentalization, self-delusion, lack of perspective, that sort of thing.

It would be all-too-easy to just label these folks dysfunctional and call it a day, but I’m not entirely sure that would be either accurate or helpful. I actually think we all suffer from this sort of myopia to some extent and from time to time.

You see, in How to Deal With a Bad Boss: Don’t! I told readers to take a long hard look in the mirror before pointing fingers at the boss. Of course that cuts both ways. But in reading all the comments and emails, I noticed a distinct lack of objectivity by those actually experiencing a boss-employee relationship issue, as opposed to those who were just talking about it.

When it’s happening to us, we put up our defenses. And not only is that bad for business, it’s bad for your management career, as well.

So, even if you’re convinced that you’re the greatest manager on planet Earth and your ability to be introspective knows no bounds, you’d still be wise to check these 7 Signs You May Be a Bad Manager. As for all you employees who’d rather be water-boarded than take a cold hard look at yourself, most of the signs apply to individuals, too.

• Your group is underperforming. Sooner or later, bad management will trickle down and affect the entire organization. Whatever the appropriate metrics are for an organization, poor performance can usually be traced back to a management problem.
• Your manager is turning up the heat. When a good senior manager thinks there may be a problem with a subordinate manager, he’ll inevitably turn up the heat and see what happens. So if you notice your boss putting the screws to you, it’s a sign that something’s up.
• Allies are distancing themselves from you. It’s one thing for your employees to talk behind your back and for your enemies to despise you, but when your work friends and allies start to back away, that’s an indication that you’re damaged goods.
• You’re behaving like more of a jerk than usual. You may be in conscious denial about being a crappy boss, but on some level, you’re probably aware of it. And that takes a toll on you, usually in terms of increased stress and anxiety that you’ll likely take out on others.
• Your decision-making is compromised. One of the most visible signs of poor management is poor decision-making. After all, decisions are actions, actions generate results, and results are highly visible. Pay attention.
• Your personal relationships suck. Dysfunctional managers are also dysfunctional people. Relationships are relationships, period. And while I’m sure that some bad bosses are just wonderful spouses and friends, I seriously doubt it’s very common.
• Your employees are miserable. Come on now. I don’t care how self-absorbed you are, you know if your employees are miserable. Do they stop talking and look guilty when you walk by? Do they invite everyone else but you for drinks after work.

So, my friend, let’s talk about this impacts you.

Not at all? Well, that would be a travesty! We can all improve on our skills! IF you want a better outcome with your team, let’s get real.

GO STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE: Conduct a survey, have everyone in the office complete it online with a free service, like surveymonkey.com

Truly evaluate the results, be open to the possibility that a good portion of what is said is true. And make a plan for how to improve those results.

Implement that plan and retest with time to improve your process and outcomes.

I KNOW, this sounds painful, who wants to hear the truth when it seems so personal could sound harsh, but to get the payoff (a more productive and brilliant team) you must take action.

My best, as always,

C

How IKEA, Verizon, Skype, Reebok, Asus, Lego, Canon, Reebok, Cisco, Yahoo and Hotmail got their names!

Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith had the idea of checking their email via a web interface, and tried to find a name that ended in “mail.” They finally settled on hotmail because it had the letters “html,” referencing the HTML programming language used to help create the product.

Yahoo The word “yahoo” was coined by Jonathan Swift in the the book Gulliver’s Travels. The term represented a repulsive, filthy creatures that resembled humans (think: Neanderthal). Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo considered themselves yahoos, and thought the term would be appropriate for their joint venture.

Asus The consumer electronic company is named after Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology. The founders dropped the first three letters for the high position in alphabetical listings. In 1998 Asus created a spinoff company named Pegatron, using the other unused letters of Pegasus.

Cisco Contrary to popular belief and theories, Cisco is simply short for San Francisco. Their logo resembles the suspension cables found on the Golden Gate bridge.

Canon When Canon was founded in 1933 under the name Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory. Two years later they adopted “Canon” after the company’s first camera, the Kwanon. Kwanon is the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola’s name comes from the the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring in the soft drink. Eventually Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the ‘K’ of kola to ‘C’ to create a more fluid name.

IKEA IKEA is simply a random collection of letters, based from the first letters of founder Ingvar Kamprad’s name in addition to the first letters of the names of the Swedish property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.

Lego Lego is a combination of the Danish phrase “leg godt,” which translates to “play well.” Initially the company built wooden toys, and later switched to making plastic bricks. Lego also means “I put together” in Latin, but the Lego Group claims this merely coincidence and the origin of the word is strictly Danish.

Reebok Reebok is simply an alternate spelling of “rhebok,” an African antelope. The company founders found the word in a South African edition of a dictionary won by the Joe Foster, son of the Reebok founder J.W. Foster.

Skype The original prototype of the company’s flagship product had the name “Sky-Peer-to-Peer,” which was shrunk down to Skyper, then finally Skype.

Verizon Verizon is a combination of the words veritas, which is Latin for “truth,” and horizon.

Source: How 16 Great Companies Picked Their Unique Names, OPENForum

So, what ideas does this give you for naming your company, website, book or product? Would love to hear about them!

C

How Google got it’s name… and how that can help you name your business/product/service

The name started as a joke about the amount of information the search engine could search, or a “Googol” of information. (A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) When founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave a presentation to an angel investor, they received a check made out to “Google.”

Source: How 16 Great Companies Picked Their Unique Names, OPENForum

So, if you are naming your company, a new product or program, look to seldom used words that REALLY personify what you offer. Now, does it matter that the word googol has significance, probably not in the long run as most users have NO idea where the word Google came from. It MAY have been instrumental in the startup phase in emphasizing the massive amount of information.

And so what does this teach us, friends? That quite possibly it doesn’t matter what you name a company. Who’s to say however, Google is the most successful search engine so following the example is a smart gamble.

Product names are quite a bit more important, as you only have so much time to impress upon the consumer the need to purchase, so making it something that communicates the message is ideal. Cute or catchy isn’t as important as being benefit laden. People need to know very quickly the benefit they will experience when they make their purchase.

So, how does your product measure up? When a prospect sees your product name on facebook or a website, does it make an instant impact? Does your book title intrigue them and keep them hooked?

C

Wow, what an offer! This guy will write a book proposal for me for $850. Not bad. The hitch? I have to decide and put a downpayment today.

So, I don’t have the need for another book or proposal right now, nor a ghostwriter to create one, however, I think this offer is great. I also love that he only lets you think about it for 24 hours. A great way to get an influx of cash into your business, if you would utilize an idea like this.
Here is some of the email, how could you do something similar in your business?
The keys to success with this type of offer is to make the offer VERY SIMPLE, CLEAR on how to sign up and require a very QUICK response.

( If you are interested in taking him up on this offer, comment here, I will send you his info. I don’t know this guy well, he is just a writer I considered hiring about 5 years ago from a craigslist ad and he contacts me and his list a few times a year, this is one of those times) The copy writing is VERY GOOD!

Hello, hope all is well.

Want an offer “you can’t refuse?”

How about this:

I’ll help you create your book proposal, find the best list of publishers, review each contract offer you receive, and even help you promote your book once it is published!

You only need to make a $450 payment within 24 hours; balance of $400 won’t be due until you sign the book contract and get the advance check from the publisher. (NOTE: Even if you are not ready with any info right now, you can still “lock in” the discount rate by making the payment within 24 hours.)

You can make the payment via Pay Pal, or send a check via overnight delivery.

To pay with Pay Pal, just visit www.paypal.com and click on “send money,” and make the payment to my e-mail address: (his email address was here)

To send a check via overnight delivery, here is the address:

John XXXXXX
(ADDRESS was here)

Be sure to mark the delivery “no signature required,” and e-mail the tracking number to me.

Below you will see a “letter of agreement” that spells out the terms. Just put in your name, date and the amounts from above, and send it back to me, and we can get started on your book project.

Holler if you have any questions.
Thanks!
John XXXXXX

I may use this idea in the near future, maybe offer a very limited time discount on a program or service. .. what about you?

C

How Apple evolves and develops it’s Brand!

They do as Seth Godin says, they take a cliché and do the opposite. THIS is one way we can INNOVATE, like I have been encouraging you to do. As Tony Robbins has pointed out for the duration of this “recession”, you must innovate during this time or you will suffer, because some of your competitors WILL!

To quote Seth:

The effective way to use a cliché is to point to it and then do precisely the opposite. Juxtapose the cliché with the unexpected truth of what you have to offer. Apple does this all the time. They point out the cliché of a laptop or a desktop or an MP3 player and then they turn it upside down.

Richard Branson takes the expected boredom of a CEO and turns it upside down by doing things you don’t expect.

There is power in opposites like this, very often, in that, you can turn a negative into a positive. If your product competitors are very similar to yours (or at least seems that way to prospects), with time, there is a commoditization, that will squeeze any profit out of the venture.If you don’t change the game, it will change and you will pay the consequences.

Like I talked about yesterday in my post, a negative objection from a prospect can be a positive. You can use it to create more success in the future: If competitors chose someone with more “experience”, saying you are younger than your competitors, then build a plan to show that as an advantage. This won’t help for this prospect in particular, but for future prospects, you can be ready. Brand messages for your youth could be:  “Uses the latest breakthrough technology.” “In it for the long haul” (for 30 years instead of the competitor is already 60 so he will retire soon).

What negatives do you see that could be positives?

What we believe shapes our thoughts, our thoughts shape our actions, our actions shape our experience/lives.

What do you believe that could be shaping your life into what you do not want in your future?

C

www.christiescott.com

The ONE thing you can NEVER get from a book or info program, that YOU need if you want to get to the next leve

For years I have been a coach, but I have also spent many years as a “coachee”. Being coached is an interesting, moving and potentially life changing experience.

Before I began coaching, I hired a coach. And because I so believed in the process, I became a coach.

If you know me at all, you know that I am an absolute “info addict”, I have purchased more business advice programs, how-to business books than anyone I know. I have so many certifications, they don’t fit in a Bio or my LinkedIn profile. SO, I believe in education!

However, all of those books and programs CANNOT do one thing for me or you.

And this is the one thing we need more than anything else, most of the time in business.

What is it? You cannot know, what you do not know.

Hence, we MISS MAJOR revelations about ourselves, our business and our opportunities without a different perspective.

BTW: You cannot view from someone else’s perspective without them imparting it to you.

For instance, you might be facing a decision or problem and feel there are only two ways to deal with it. However, there could be MANY other opportunities in that one situation that are simply outside of what you realize.

Now, I WILL ADMIT, that books and program CAN give us a different perspective from a sterile but passionate place. HOWEVER, the HUGE limitation comes when we need this customized perspective.

Have no idea what I am talking about?

Doubting me in your head, are we?

Let me give you an example, this week when coaching a client of four years, he said a prospect had called him to say he would not hire him and that he simply wanted to let him know. THIS is very unusual! (That says my client is making a real connection with prospects) My client was unsure of how to learn from what the prospect told him. If he had continued to chalk it up as an interesting occurrence, the growth would have stopped there.

However, he happened to mention it to me during our call and I told him that I believe this is a gift.

We spent an hour deciphering what was said and how to improve my client’s outcomes using that perspective. In the end we completed a plan for how to build more trust with prospects, make his proposals more personal and give the impression of expert status in his specialty and show that a potential negative could actually be a positive to his clients.

This negative criteria was that the prospect chose a “more established and experienced” (read: older) person for the job. However, we devised ways to show that my client was going to be “there” for clients for many years to come and prove his commitment to the area with a book he published about the local area, etc.

So, the point, my friends, is without a coach, yes, you can improve your business and life. However, there is no replacement for how almost magical and brilliant it is to have an outside but committed person who has the perspectives of many clients, markets and business to boost you to higher achievements than imagined. Very often, most times in fact, our business problems simply echo personal problems. This could be many, many things. I personally have been the most touched when I helped clients learn about the truth of their actions, from lack of honesty with our own limitations, a tendency to “chase shiny objects”, playing out childhood experiences and learned behaviors, such as fighting the tendency to “be” like their father or holding on to long to employees because of loss as a child.

These experiences have forever proven to me the amazing change and clarity that is possible ONLY through the coaching experience. It is why I do what I do.

My best to you, as always,

C

Find your business is just another J-O-B? The ONE thing you need:

The number ONE difference between the successful business and one that is simply mediocre or failing, is the FOCUS of the leader(s)!

If the leader’s focus is mediocre, then the business will follow suit. What do I mean by mediocre? You are probably thinking, “I AM NOT mediocre, I am excited and active in my business, popping at the seams with ideas!” Ah, my friend, let start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you read you begin with A,B,C when your in business begin with too many things, projects, ideas, goals. With time, you either destroy the profitability of a business or learn to focus on what’s truly important.

The largest gap between the very successful person and the miserable one who has a J-O-B disguised as a business, is (da da da DUM): FOCUS!

And more importantly, FOCUS on the RIGHT things at the RIGHT time.

So, how do you know what to focus on? Well, a GREAT coach, mentor, or book can help you see what these RIGHT things are, but, truthfully, are you FOCUS – Able?

Are you able to take that direction and really gain control over your schedule, your employees, your business? OR do you ALLOW yourself to get wrapped up in REACTING to business? Do you ALLOW yourself to get emotionally connected to treating employees the way you always have? Do you ALLOW your rut to keep you sucked in to the old way of selling or marketing? Do you define yourself by how you have always done things or the services you offer?

Honestly? Do you?

Have others tried to help you focus, but you have stuck with “your gut” and in “your rut”?

“How’s that workin for ya?”

Do you LOVE your results?

Have you achieved your dream life?

If not, ask yourself again, REALLY, are you focus -able?If you haven’t proven yourself to be, then now is the best time to start! AND it’s okay, YOU CAN DO THIS!

Go back, read this again, tell me, in what ways could you be more FOCUS -able? What advice, leadership, guidance would have served you, had you been able or willing to sacrifice enough to apply it?

I WANT to hear from you!

Of course, my absolute best to you, as always,

C

P.S. This post was inspired by Scott Ginsberg’s newest book, soon-to-be-released: “-able” (Pronounced a bull) Read more about it or Buy it here! You can read about this fascinating guy here.

How to advice on writing procedures! Managing employees well starts here!

Step #1 in managing employees? Write procedures. You must know what and how employees will create a positive outcome with any responsibility. Otherwise, you are setting yourself and your employees up to fail!!

Many of my clients come to me with little idea on how to properly write, implement and improve procedures. So, here is some great advice on writing procedures from Bizmanualz. IF you utilize this direction even a little it will improve your outcomes. So, get to it!

Now we proceed with the ten-step program for developing procedures:

1. Understand the process – walk through it (literally) and map it out. See for yourself where the bottlenecks are. Determine where your resources are going to waste, not value. If an activity doesn’t add value, customers won’t pay for it.
2. Estimate the resources you need to craft the procedure (people, time, etc.). Set your goals and milestones.
3. Now, document (author) the process.  For the best effect, combineand words: either is good but together, they’re great! pictures
4. Once you author the procedure, have the process “doers” and their manager review it.  Note: Here is where a document management system can improve your review process.
5. Based on the results of the procedure review, revise the procedure.
6. Repeat #4 and #5 once. Resist the urge to keep “tweaking” documents before releasing them – there is no such thing as a perfect procedure.
7. Next, have other interested parties review the procedure (for example, the managers of the processes immediately before and after the process in question).
8. Revise the procedure one last time, if necessary.
9. Gain final approval of the procedure from top management. In the case of a small business (or SMB), that might be the owner, the president, your chief financial officer, and others.  Top management needs to be involved because every process – hence, every procedure – is a reflection of the company’s vision, mission, and objectives.
10. Once the procedure is approved, release it to the company.  Releasing a procedure involves:

• Announcing the procedure to the entire company;
• Circulating it, or making sure it’s readily accessible to employees;
• Training the doers – those responsible for carrying out the procedure, and their managers; and
• Explaining the procedure to those who may be affected indirectly (for example, one process forward and one back).

Keep Procedures Fresh and Meaningful

As we said in step #6, perfect procedures don’t exist. The business environment changes, your company changes, and your procedures need to reflect that. Once you’ve released a procedure, there are two more things you must do:

11. Conduct a periodic procedure review. You review a procedure when something really big comes up that has a direct impact (a new or revised regulation, an audit finding, a new owner, etc.), correct? Oftentimes, nothing comes up – or we don’t notice when they do. That’s why we need to routinely review procedures (a rule of thumb is to review annually).

12. After the review, revise the procedure (if needed), review it, approve it, and release it.

Love this? hate this? I want to hear about it,

C

I wish I could LIVE in a Ballard Designs catalog! REALLY!

Yes, yes, I love their furnishings, just love them, yet that isn’t my focus for YOU!

The creators of the catalog really stepped into some brilliance with something they did this month in their catalog, bravo!
This is probably how the idea came about: A Ballard Design team was sitting in a meeting and someone says “Why does our prospect most often NOT make a purchase? What’s stopping them?”
Someone else replies “Maybe indecision?”
Everyone chimes in that this is a likely reason. Hence, they decide to create a tool for prospective buyers to use in choosing items for their homes. Ah, and here, my friend, is the result!!!

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They took a photo of a fantabulous living space and then they broke down the main components and gave you the price, description and item number. It causes you to very quickly see those items, in your mind’s eye, in your space. I would bet this has been a successful addition to what was previously beautiful catalog with an average success rate.

So, how can you use this? You are thinking, “I don’t sell furniture, have a catalog or a team of people to brainstorm like this. What does this have to do with me?”

Ok, lesson 1. Know thy customer and why they DO AND DO NOT purchase. If you are a retailer, this could be that you don’t have an attractive store front or your store is not well-known. OR it could be that your store clerks have been rude or the store isn’t merchandised well.
Lesson 2. Build a smoooooth chute for your prospects to slide through on the way to the purchase (make it very easy to go from being a prospect to a buyer/client/customer). Make it clear how to interact with you or your company, don’t allow indecision to be a factor because of your indecision in creating a package or other offer choice. Question what the sticking point is… ALWAYS. Where are your prospects getting stuck in the funnel?

It might be that your clients look into what you offer, but then stop. Ok, then figure out how to make the decision easier and faster.

OR maybe they are purchasing the first time, but not ever again (this is a problem if you make little margin on the first purchase, your customer acquisition cost is high, or the like). This has been one of my client’s problems and it has been quite an evolution to transform, ah but I regress…

So, check out how Ballard Designs has done this in these photos of the catalog pages.

Let me know if you figure out how to apply these lessons to your business. AND let me know if you don’t.

My best as always to you,

C