The Power of Digital Word-of-Mouth Marketing

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    • http://blog.marketo.com/ Marketo is not a company we’ve worked with but we receive their blog filled with tips on modern B2B marketing. It’s worth checking out.
    • http://www.funnelholic.com/ A blog for those of us who live and work at the top end of the b2b funnel: Demand Generation, Lead Generation, Online Media, B2B Sales and Marketing, Marketing Automation, DRIP, Lead Nurturing, and Fun.
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posted by Anna Fleet on June 30th, 2010

If you asked crème brulèe cart owner, Curtis Kimball, why his mobile business is so successful, he’d tell you straight up, “Twitter”!

Just three short weeks after starting his part-time business, Kimball asked a new customer in his line up how he found out about his cart. The stranger told him he’d read about it on Twitter. The power of Twitter’s digital word of mouth marketing was immediately apparent.

Today, Kimball works his cart full time (the success of his business meant he could quit his day job as a carpenter) and he uses Twitter to post his current location and flavors of the day to his over 5,400 Twitter followers.

Kimball’s is a good lesson for any small business with no marketing budget or a large business with a website in development.

Twitter offers the following benefits to businesses:

1.  It’s free

2. The service provides a sole means for marketing a mom and pop type shop

3. Twitter status is easier and faster to update than a webpage or even a blog

4. It’s ideal for a business on the go

5. It takes advantage of word of mouth marketing—Twitter culture urges people to spread news to others in their own social networks

6. It can spread word locally or nationally—depending on your business focus

7. It offers the ability to ask questions and share knowledge with other business owners

8. It allows businesses to talk directly to customers

Read more about how Curtis Kimball’s crème brulèe cart, a sushi restaurant, an antiques merchandiser, a bed and breakfast, a day spa and more businesses are using the power of Twitter’s digital word of mouth marketing from the New York Post.

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Don’t Shy Away from Online Controversy

posted by Anna Fleet on June 29th, 2010

As I did my daily morning tour of Twitter, Facebook and Google News, a lion meat burger caught my attention.

What? A lion meat burger?

You heard me right, a lion meat burger.

The Phoenix Small Business Examiner ran the lion meat burger piece after a Phoenix-area restaurant announced they would start serving this item on their menu even though lion meat on a bun is kind of a controversial delicacy. And in case you were wondering, it’s perfectly legal (not that it has me licking my lips).

So what exactly does this mean for the restaurant? A lot of online action—that’s what!

Positive and negative reactions aside (and remember I did say this might be little more than just a rumour) the burgers have thrust the restaurant into the spotlight. And the restaurant name, Il Vinaio, the location and the menu have been picked up by news wires, blogs and social networking sites all over the world wide web because of this controversy.

My advice, take a hint from the lion meat burger … a little controversy never hurt any small business so don’t shy away from it. You will certainly increase your web presence with a little unique marketing.

Note: There was no trace of the lion burger on the Il Vinaio menu when I checked. And that, my friends, is how you create viral marketing!

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Are You Using Social Media Without a Strategy?

posted by Anna Fleet on June 28th, 2010

A recent article from MarketingProfs is sending up some red flags where social media for business strategies are concerned.

According to a survey called Social Media Without a Parachute from Digital Brand Expressions (DBE), companies are adopting social media with open arms. However, when it comes to strategic implementation of social media—efforts fall, well, a little flat.

The DBE study indicates that 78% of 100 surveyed companies say even though they actively use social media; just 41% employ their social media efforts as part of a strategic game plan.

Ouch!

Take a look at the full social media findings from the MarketingProfs article when it comes to which department is primarily responsible for social media, and what social media is being used to market.

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Another Look at the Value of Blogging Frequency

posted by Anna Fleet on June 24th, 2010

Yesterday we examined at the age-old blog dilemma: does blogging frequency or the quality of posts matter more? And while I let the Google experts weight in with their informative tips from Google Webmaster Central, this morning I came across A Simple Blogging Formula from Chris Brogan, owner of New Marketing Labs and chrisbrogan.com.

It seems that Chris, someone who blogs daily and is pretty darn successful at it (he has 50K daily readers subscribe to his RSS blog feed), favors the side of blog post frequency. However, he also claims that he thinks of way more valuable and relevant ideas to write about than he has time for…kudos Chris!

So check out Chris Brogan’s formula for blogging…it’s definitely worth reading if you’re considering starting a blog.

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How Vital is Blog Post Frequency?

posted by Anna Fleet on June 23rd, 2010

I like to leave it to the experts when it comes to the age-old dilemma “How much does blog post frequency play into SEO page rank?”

This is an on-going debate in SEO circles putting quality content posts versus the frequency of blog post updates. Which matters more?

What does Google Webmaster Central have to say (I told you I was bringing in the big guns for this one)?

Search engines love quality content—helpful kernels of content that are useful to people. Unique angles on a story are always great because it attracts more people.

But…

For organic visitors (e.g., people visiting your site on their own accord)—frequency is vital. Think about it, if you continue to show up to a blog and there’s no new post since last month, you might think the user has abandoned it and never come back. This is a great tactic if you want a lot of users.

So I think we can agree that a nice mix is valuable, depending on your goals for your blog. Check out the whole YouTube video from Google Webmater Central.

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11 Companies You Should Follow on Twitter

posted by Anna Fleet on June 22nd, 2010

Are you new to the challenge of engaging your customer base in 140 characters or less? Or does Twitter leave you as confounded as my first sentence? Sorry bout that by the way…

Twitter is a free online forum that has almost 100 million users—which means you should be taking advantage of it if you’re not tweeting already. Even better, Kermit Pattison from The New York Times recently introduced his small business tips for using Twitter—including 11 prime examples of large-middle-and small businesses that are commendably taking advantage of Twitter and all it has to offer.

My advice, check out Pattison’s list—it includes the likes of large corporations like Rubbermaid, UPS and my favorite shoe king Zappos, as well as mid to smaller companies like Naked Pizza and Kiss My Bundt what the heck wouldn’t you?—for some 140-character examples of engaging tweeting.

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Single Hardest Part of Branding: Part 2

posted by Brenton on June 21st, 2010

On Friday, I talked about brands that try to encompass the whole shabang and how that can be very ineffective and even water down the strength of your brand.

Over the weekend, I asked you to think about what could be chipped away from your brand right now to make it even more effective. Now that you’ve had the time to ponder the extra bits that are muddying your brand’s waters, you’re probably wondering how to decide what to chip off your brand? What if you remove an essential bit and you don’t even know it!

As you develop clarity around your brand think about the visual elements, such as an icon or image, that looks nice but doesn’t add to the story you are telling.

Is it your messaging that’s not specific enough? Does it capture the true reason why people buy your product or choose your organization?

I’d like to leave you with a statistic I saw in the book Radically Transparent by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss. It points to studies that show that 85% of a company’s brand image is driven by sales interactions, and not by marketing campaigns.

This makes good sense in a B2B environment because it reminds us that when auditing the strength of a current brand, we need to think more broadly than just marketing communications.

Brands need to include the messages that customer-facing employees are communicating through their words and actions. Does your brand do this?

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The Single Hardest Part of Branding

posted by Brenton on June 18th, 2010

When they asked Michelangelo how he made his statue of David he is reported to have said, “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.” This quote gets to the heart of the most difficult part of defining a brand.

The hardest part is deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. There are many problems your brand can solve. There are many target market possibilities. There are many features and benefits you could communicate. The tendency is to want to tell people everything and hope something sticks. I don’t think I need to go into detail as to why this doesn’t work. I’ll let my post “Is Your Brand Overweight” do the talking.

Defining a winning brand starts with the mindset that less is more. Complexity is the enemy. Shoot for simple,  strikingly clear and distinct. Try viewing your brand like the statue of David, a block of marble you must chip away at until the only thing remaining is the purest essence of what the brand is and does.

What do you think should be chipped away from your brand right now to make it more effective?

What extra bits are adding confusion or muddying the waters?

I’ll leave you to ponder that over the weekend. Feel free to share you discoveries. And on Monday I’ll give you some suggestions of my own.

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MFX Partners & Design Changes Announce the Promotion of Lesley Richardson

posted by Anna Fleet on June 17th, 2010

MFX Partners is thrilled to announce the promotion of Lesley Richardson to Intermediate Designer at MFX Partners and Lead of Design for Design Changes, a studio of MFX Partners.

Les will begin working in the Design Changes studio as the main point of contact, serving the design needs of small and non-profit sectors of Kitchener-Waterloo (and surrounding communities). Les will work alongside fellow designer Scott Lee in the studio, and report to Creative Director, Brock Hart, with added support from Alison De Muy, MFX Director of Client Partnerships.

Les has been with MFX Partners for 1-1/2 years, applying her clean and creative design talents to help customers solve their visual communication problems. Lesley is a graduate of the award-winning design program at Conestoga College, where she took home silver at the ADCC (Advertising and

Design Club of Canada) student competition. Since graduating, Les has enjoyed a diverse range of design experience—from trade show display development and advertising in Toronto, to being an integral part of the design department at one of Canada’s highest-ranking universities.

Congratulations Les from the team at MFX Partners and Design Changes!

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MFX Partners Promotes James Bisch to Senior Designer

posted by Anna Fleet on June 17th, 2010

MFX Partners is delighted to announce the promotion of James Bisch to
Senior Designer. James will take a formal lead role, working closely
with Copywriter, Anna Fleet, to guide MFX’s creative team under the
Creative Direction of Brock Hart.

James has been with MFX Partners for the past 2-1/2 years. He has 5 years of agency-level experience creating visual communications for a wide range of B2B brand print and digital projects—from the conceptual stage, to refinement and final production.

James graduated with distinction in Graphic Design from Conestoga College, one of Canada’s premier polytechnic institutes. His work has earned recognition by RGD Ontario’s Design at Work 2008, “A juried exhibition of professional graphic design, demonstrating how design creates value for business.” And we recently learned that he will be showcased in RGD Ontario’s inaugural Provisional Showcase newsletter to be seen by thousands of RGD members, sponsors and subscribers. We are fortunate to have James as part of the team!

Many congratulations go out to James from the team at MFX Partners!

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