Top 3 Social Networks

LinkedIn Question:

What are your top 3 favorite social networks?

My LinkedIn Answer:

"A cord of three strands is not easily broken."

That's applicable where social networking is concerned as well. It's a matter of strengthening your social graph. Being networked with a given individual in three different places makes for a strong connection.

More and more business professionals are using social networks to build relationships, meet new contacts, and market themselves. For the uninitiated, however, diving into the virtual meet-and-greet can be daunting. Where to begin?

For first-time users, the answer is LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). LinkedIn is your business suit. Developed specifically for business, the site doesn’t run the risk of blurring your professional life with your private one; and with more than 25 million users, it serves virtually every industry and profession.

While LinkedIn is not very conversational in its orientation, having a profile there has become expected. LinkedIn lends a degree of professional credibility. It is also the site that requires the least amount of upkeep.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)... that's business casual. Facebook allows more of a 360-degree view of you, combining both professional and personal sides. Plus, it's a more conversational platform.

Twitter (www.twitter.com) is cocktail hour. Think of after hours social networking events and you've got Twitter. It's the most informal of the three and allows for the greatest degree of conversation.

It's not enough that you have a presence on each of these sites, but that you leverage your presence to connect with others who are also present on each. Social media is about being "social." Each platform offers its own distinctive advantages, but it takes all three to build the strongest connection. Plus, it gives you ubiquity. You're everywhere!

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

Printed Ads vs Internet ads... What is more effective in Real Estate sales?

LinkedIn Question:

Printed ads vs internet ads... What is more effective in Real Estate sales?

My LinkedIn Answer:

As Marketing Director at a leading New Jersey real estate firm this is a question often posed by my agents. According to the New Jersey Association of Realtors 87% OF POTENTIAL HOME BUYERS BEGIN THEIR SEARCH ONLINE. For that reason it is my firm belief that if you are not online, you are not in the game.

But don't take it from me, let the trends do the talking. Reuters notes that print newspaper ad sales were $42.2 billion in 2007, down from a high of $48.7 billion in 2000. That being said, many home sellers still see newspaper advertising as an essential component of selling a home, but younger brokers, home sellers and buyers are clearly more focused on using the Internet. So your answer? AN INTEGRATED APPROACH.

Yes, realtors now have a number of alternatives besides newspapers for listing homes for sale, such as Realtor.com a site run by the National Association of Realtors, in addition to major online destinations CyberHomes, Zillow, Yahoo and more. I can understand how as home-buyers flock online, it's tough on realtors, since home-buyers are expecting to see extensive color photos, descriptions of the neighborhood as well as video tours of the property — all of which costs money to produce. But what also needs to be taken into account are the many LOW COST online marketing methods a realtors can leverage, thus evening out your spend and maximizing your budget.

The absolute biggest trend in marketing during the current economic downturn is Web 2.0 and social networking strategies. Web 2.0 refers to the new interactive areas on the web which includes Blogs, Social Networks, Forums… anywhere content is user-generated and there is opportunity to make connections and relationships with other users. The social web is without question the popular web. It is where people are spending the vast majority of their time online. It is a great place to build community and create real, lasting relationships with people connecting to your services.

For example, one of the agents at my firm is extremely active on ActiveRain. To her credit she won #2 place for blog of the year, 2008, on the site. The very same agent received the Top Listing Agent award at the firm for 2008. This is NOT a coincidence.

And for those concerned about Google rankings… yes SEO (Search Engine Optimization – the practice responsible for engine ranks) matters. All those links you get from social campaigns do a lot of good to boost your search rankings. The two are integrated and reciprocal.

The secret of the web is patience. If you’re patient and driven to succeed, you can outlast, outrank and outsell.

Think you are not web savvy enough to have your own blog? There are free blog services that almost anyone could set up in a matter of minutes. Millions of people blog from around the world. It’s not just something for young people, or geeks, or cool folk, or Westerners, or even for people with their own computers - instead its something virtually anyone with access to a computer and the internet once a week can start up.

Check out this great online video which introduces you to blogging at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Below are some top Real Estate related Blogs as recommended by Real Estate professionals. If you don't have your own blog, commenting on one relevant to your industry is a great way to market yourself, increase awareness about what you have to offer, network with colleagues and potential clients and enhance your professional reputation by exhibiting know-how.

• Behind The Mortgage http://www.behindthemortgage.com/
• Brownstoner http://www.brownstoner.com/
• Curbed http://curbed.com/
• Grow-a-Brain http://growabrain.typepad.com/
• Hot Property http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/
• Housing Panic http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/
• Inman http://www.inman.com/blog
• Lenderama http://lenderama.com/
• Matrix http://matrix.millersamuel.com/
• Property Grunt http://propertygrunt.blogspot.com/
• Real Estate Marketing Blog http://houseblogger.typepad.com/
• The Real Deal http://ny.therealdeal.com/
• The Real Estate Blog http://franandrowena.blogspot.com/
• The Walk-Through http://walkthrough.nytimes.com/

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

Marketing In A Recession... Go Guerilla!

LinkedIn Question:

Do you think Guerrilla Marketing is making a comeback due to the recession? As we are very busy. But we are in Vancouver where the Olympics are goign to be... What is your opinion? Is street marketing making a big come back?

My LinkedIn Answer:

ABSOLUTELY!

In recessionary times, even the biggest companies need to take a leaf from the efforts of smaller enterprises and market more effectively and in new venues. They MUST be more creative in their use of time, energy, and imagination.

That has led to the rise of guerilla marketing.

I have always been a big fan of Guerilla Marketing because of it's ability to directly touch target consumers. In my current role directing the marketing strategies of a large corporation which employs hundreds of independent contractors I have stepped up Guerilla Marketing education, particularly at targeted public events.

In your case you are speaking of the same. I feel experiential marketing is the most effective Guerilla Marketing tactic because of its ability to engage consumers with your brand immediately and, when done correctly, reaches them at a time when they are in a positive frame of mind which drastically increases recall and retention rates.

FuelNet.com (http://www.fuelnet.com/) offers the following Guerilla Marketing ideas that anyone can quickly put into practice:

1. Partnerships Consumers are more likely to listen to a marketing message about a particular business if it comes from another company, asserts Tom Richard, author of Smart Sales People Don't Advertise: 10 Ways to Outsmart Your Competition with Guerilla Marketing. "If you have a marketing budget of $2,000, go find nine other people who have a marketing budget of $2,000, and together spend $20,000 on the best promotion ever done in your town," he says. "You get the benefits of a $20,000 marketing campaign."
2. Stunt marketing Done right, the appeal of this guerilla marketing strategy is that it leaves a lasting impression. For example, Gary's Uptown Restaurant and Bar in Lodi, Calif., once ran a special on Wednesdays where bald men ate for free; other hair-challenged patrons were given discounts. It generated worldwide media attention. "That goes to show that you really can do something fantastic if you have the creativity behind it," says Colleen Wells, coauthor of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Guerilla Marketing.
3. Experiential/Event marketing A few years ago after a 40+ year career in sports journalism with a focus on horseracing, my Father became Executive Editor of the new website HorseraceInsider.com (http://www.horseraceinsider.com/). While this site quickly gained equine enthusiasts it is also designed for the weekend fan and the site needed to reach this core. During one of the most popular meets in the Country, horseracing at Saratoga Racecourse during the peak of summer, I suggested my Father invest in thousandsof branded hand-held fans. Street teamers canvased each entrance of the racetrack and distributed these fans to people embarking on a day at the races. Not only was this potential new audience for HRI extremely greatful for a tool to keep them cool in 95+ degree weather, but the fans proved walking billboards throughout the racetrack and sparked conversation among those who didn't have one... "WOW, where did you get that, I'm so hot!" Finally, the tangible aspect of this piece remained in the hands of these potential new consumers. And all for less than $.05 each!
4. A smile and a handshake That might not sound like guerilla marketing, but author Mitch Meyerson believes it's the first step in building a tighter bond with customers. "You could spend a few thousand dollars buying a classified ad and direct people to call you, but if someone in your business is having a bad day and they pick up the phone and have a crabby tone of voice, the prospect will not be interested [in your product or service," he says. "The first rule in successful guerilla marketing is to be upbeat and helpful every single time you have contact with the public. People fall short in this area quite consistently."

In the states, EventCrazy.com (http://www.eventcrazy.com/) is an excellent resource to search over 150,000 events and attractions with select criteria. Best part... it's FREE!

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jenniferpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

Why Is It Important to Evaluate Your Competition?

LinkedIn Question:

Why is it important to evaluate your competition? How do you look at their strengths and weaknesses?

My LinkedIn Answer:

As simple as it sounds, competition is the key to short-term success, while innovation is the key to long-term success.

To succeed in today's marketplace, you must differentiate from the status quo by offering products or services that are more innovative or competitive in terms of quality, image or price.

It is important to seek information about your competitors and use to innovate. By doing so you will be able to:

• Evaluate your own performance against others
• Identify and exploit competitors weaknesses
• Address competitor strengths
• Get new ideas
• Identify new prospects
• Improve sales forecasting
• Stay strategic

There are also other benefits, which are arguably more important, but difficult to measure. Competitor intelligence helps you to:

• Reduce complacency and improve discipline within your own business
• Foster an acceptance of continuous change
• Respect that other suppliers have satisfied customers and reasons for it
• Create a recognition that the business must continually seek to improve

Here are some key questions you may want to begin with when analyzing your competition:

1. Who are your competitors? There’s a little more to this question than meets the eye. You may find that you compete with different suppliers in the different product/service areas or markets in which you operate.

2. What do they offer? Find out what makes up their entire product range or service portfolio. Of course you are more interested in the products and services that you compete with, but remember that they are making decisions about resource allocations to their entire portfolio.

3. What is their pricing policy? Customers will usually consider carefully the price of your products or services in relation to your competitors. It isn’t always good to have a lower price. For example, if your price is lower, is your quality or are your costs also lower? If the price of your products and services is higher than other suppliers, are you providing additional customer benefits? Do customers recognize and value these benefits?

4. Who are their customers? Consider the different types of customer groups that your competitors are supplying.

5. How do they promote themselves? How are they attracting new customers? How active is their marketing activity? What does their marketing mix consist of?

6. How financially secure are they? Company accounts can provide much useful information, and enable you to make direct comparisons.
A couple of words of caution:
- When comparing company accounts, make sure that you are comparing like with like.
For example, do their sales come only from products or services like yours?
- If you are collecting this information for the first time, try looking back over the past three years to identify trends. Then you can monitor this information in future years.

7. What are their strengths and weaknesses? You have potentially collected a lot of information about your competitors. Listing their strengths and weaknesses is a good way to summarize this information in a meaningful and usable form. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself and your competitors. See http://www.oie.eku.edu/docs/2005-06/SWOT%20Analysis.pdf for how to conduct a SWOT analysis.

8. What is their business strategy? If you understand your competitors, you will be able to predict what decision they are likely to make in a given set of circumstances. This insight is extremely valuable to you.

From all the information you have obtained, you can build a picture of the key characteristics of your main competitors that will enable you to make intelligent deductions about their overall business strategy. From their you can enhance your own offerings that are more innovative or competitive in terms of quality, image or price ultimately gaining marketshare.

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jenniferpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

The Paid Content vs Free Content Debate

LinkedIn Question:

Online publishing / digitization of content has changed the way publishing businesses are run...

1. Has "content consumption" changed significantly because it is available free?
2. What is "paid content" in this digital content age?

My LinkedIn Answer:

Every business, big or small, needs a healthy and regular revenue stream to maintain quality and continually improve what they do. Running a content website is no different. If you believe you can achieve your financial goals whilst giving your content away for free, then do it, but as Warren Buffet famously said “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” As the recession bites, there will be a lot of website owners exposed to the harsh truth.

The good news is a lot of the rubbish on the web will disappear and the quality content will become more visible. The key to success is generating multiple revenue streams.

• Every content website should provide free content. This will drive traffic, help build credibility and, of course, generate some advertising income.
• Affiliate marketing will become more important in bad times as merchants try to get more bang for their marketing bucks. Online publishers need to hook into this lucrative market.
• Ebooks, research and other downloadable products should be sold.
• Events, webinars and courses should be created and promoted via the site.
• Every website owner should strive to find a way of getting monthly subscription income to give their site financial stability.

Ultimately, free content is good, but you need paid content to survive.

The recession will lead to thousands or maybe millions of free content websites closing down.
I think this is a good thing.

As Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, recently said the internet is a cesspool of false information. A major clearout will give oxygen to quality content and allow it to float to the surface.

If you are already an online publisher producing quality content for a niche target audience, keep going, your time has come.

If you are considering setting up a niche online publication, I would say there has never been a better time to get started, since the internet began …. provided that:

• You focus on creating fantastic content
• You know your audience
• You plan on making multiple revenue streams (including, if possible, subscription revenues)
• You understand that it will take hard work and persistence

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jenniferpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

Online Audience Development for Digital Publishers

LinkedIn Question:

What are the most successful forms of online audience development for digital publishers (SEO/SEM, Content Barters, Social Marketing Tools, Other)?

My LinkedIn Answer:

It is true when they say content is king. But "relevant" content is key to success. All publishers need to make sure they have the right content for the right people in their audience. How is the online content consumed?

A pull strategy (bringing people to your online content) requires SEO/SEM or display advertising to acquire the audience. This can be expensive.

A push strategy (delivering content to the people) is likely going to be key in getting cost-effective results and ROI. The best way to do this is delivering relevant content in a timely manner via email. In this case content is targeted to individuals based on their preferences and behavior.

Here are some more specifics on some push/pull techniques that Internet-centric media companies seem to be using:

• Search engine optimization and search engine marketing.

Seems obvious, but how many publishers do this? If you publish media in a given space, the huge number of topics that your publication or Web site covers makes SEO/SEM a totally different challenge.

• Co-registration.

This is easier said than done for publishers that sell advertising, but basically the idea is that anytime someone signs up for an e-newsletter subscription on another Web site that's topically related to your Web site, you negotiate a relationship whereby your newsletter subscription is offered as another checkbox on that other Web site's e-newsletter sign-up form.

Not surprisingly, Marketing Sherpa uses this tactic on a lot of marketing vendor sites. One advantage: They have a paid content model, so there's no conflict of interest. I'd like to see an example of an ad-supported publisher doing this with suppliers in their space.

• Landing page optimization.

I know most publishers aren't using this technique. The idea is that the very design and layout of the sign-up page (for our purposes, called the landing page, the place where the moment of truth occurs, when readers decide whether or not to opt in to your site, newsletter, magazine, advertiser white paper, etc.) greatly influences the number of readers who "convert" or complete the form. By testing different versions of the page, you can increase conversion by up to several hundred percent.

• Tracking/Analytics.

This is the adroit use of Web analytics programs to give you feedback on metrics that are meaningful to publishers. How many people subscribed to which e-newsletter products, and which were the most effective sources of traffic, both internally and externally? If you're doing paid search, which keyword groups yielded the best ROI? Which should be scrapped? Anyone doing paid search without tying it to some ROI metric is throwing their money down the drain.

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jenniferpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

Email Marketing Tips for Targeting Inactive Subscribers

LinkedIn Question:

I've been managing an email marketing campaign for one of my clients for the past few years. The database grows slow and steady but it seems it is the same people consistently opening and interacting with the email content. Any advice on getting the others to participate?

My LinkedIn Answer:

In my opinion you've already taken a first critical step. You've identified those recipients of your email campaign who are inactive.

The point of identifying your inactive recipients is to treat them differently - not to delete them, ignore them or cry over their inactivity. Your goal after identifying and segmenting your "active" and "inactive" subscribers is to spend more productive time on actives and attempt to re-engage inactives. Here are some tips on what you can do to re-engage your inactives:

1. Special Offers - If you are a retailer, for example, consider a special offer such as discounts or free shipping. If you are a B2B marketer you might offer a special white paper that will motivate the recipient to re-engage with your communications.
2. Survey Subscribers - While you are not likely to get a significant response, consider surveying these recipients to help provide insight into their inactivity.
3. Update Profile - Using incentives, drive subscribers to your profile update page where they can change email addresses, update format preferences, demographics and interests. This updated information may now enable you to send them targeted and relevant emails.
4. Understand Their Demographics/Profile - Perhaps a large percentage of your inactives share a common trait. Perhaps they opted in as part of registering for a white paper or seminar or promotional offer. Or perhaps a majority are women, while your content is oriented toward men.
5. Try Different Send Days/Times - If you always mail on the same day or time of day, try some different distribution times (what do you have to lose?).
6. Modify Frequency - Now that you've segmented your list by actives and inactives, consider adjusting the frequency of your sends. If you normally send twice per month, you may want to test sending three times to active subscribers, but only once to inactives.
7. Create Different Content - If your analysis has been able to uncover some common threads among inactives, consider packaging the content differently for this group. For example, a newsletter from a job search-oriented business might logically find many subscribers becoming inactive after completing their job search. For these recipients, the company might want to focus its newsletter content on managing people, careers and the hiring process. Uncovering this type of trend should lead to providing different newsletters or dynamic versions based on a person's profile or stated preferences.
8. Try Different Formats - Test using a text version, for example, that is very simple but with specific links and messaging intended to drive action.
9. Test Different Styles of Subject Lines - If you've used a particular style of subject line, try a different approach with the inactives. Creative subject lines could be one of your most effective strategies in getting recipients to re-engage.
10. Monitor Seed/Proof Lists - Send your messages to proof and seed lists for key domains. Monitor if content or images are causing your messages to be filtered or treated differently with specific ISPs and companies. If problems are detected, consider developing different versions of the messages that may not trip filters.
11. Send a Postcard - If you have your subscribers' mailing addresses, consider sending them a postcard that offers an incentive if they'll update their email preferences and profile.
12. Move Re-engaged to Active Status - After each email message sent to the inactives, change the demographic status of those recipients that clicked a link to "active." This helps keep your focus on converting the inactives and tracking your success in those efforts.

Here is an extremely useful blog post from Seth Godin where he discusses the efficiencies and inefficiencies of two different email marketing campaign case studies:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/02/email-campaign-case-studies-one-good-one-bad.html

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jenniferpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci

Re-Opting In Your Email List: Why and How

LinkedIn Question:

Re-opting in your email list... good examples... It is time that I re-opted in my email database list. Anyone out there have any good examples of a re-opt in campaign?

My LinkedIn Answer:

Even though your lists may be opt-in, it is inevitable that some “old” subscribers may stop opening emails and can log spam complaints for them. Though subscribers originally opted-in, these spam complaints count towards your online brand reputation.

Over time, these complaints can cut into your profits by causing IP or domain blocking or blacklisting. To maximize ROI and deliverability for a dated list, you may need to reconfirm dormant subscribers, or to re-opt-in old subscribers.

When sending your re-opt-in campaigns, I recommend you keep the following in mind:

• Send only to opt-in lists of your customers with whom you have done business with in the past twelve months
• In your eMail, use language in the subject line to call attention to the issue (e.g. YOUR BRAND NAME – Register Now to Receive XX)
• The body of your eMail should be entirely dedicated to the opt-in message. Nothing else.
• Have a button AND a link to click to opt-in.
• Provide an incentive (e.g. Sign Up by 2/15 and receive XX) to your subscribers to re-opt-in
• Always have an urgency date to encourage immediate action

Jennifer Pricci
New York Based Marketing Talent For Hire!
jennifer.pricci@comcast.net

View my resume online at http://tinyurl.com/jenniferpricciresume

Read my recommendations and link with me at www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferpricci