Posts Tagged ‘social media’

The Power of Social Media in Product Launches

Posted in PLM Files on July 26th, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – Be the first to comment

gro 04 The Power of Social Media in Product LaunchesOne of the ways we build a buzz during a product launch is to harness the power of Social Media.

Social Media is huge and unlikely to go away in hurry but the size and diversity of the different Social Media channels means a careful strategy must be put in place if you want to be successful.

The following aspects of your strategy should be considered.

1. Social Media Channel

The right social media channel has to be selected to make sure it matches the target demographic associated with the launch or all your tweeting or friending will be in vain.  You wouldn’t for example use faceboook for up-market luxury goods such as private jet charters as that demographic just does not spend time on that channel.

2. Social Media Branding

It is extremely important during a launch to ensure that the same branding is used across all channels that are used.   Consistency in your branding provides clarity of your message, helps with familiarity and builds trust and rapport with your prospective buyer.

3. Social Media Follow Through

It is all very well starting a social media campaign to support your launch but it must be maintained to provide customer service which builds your longer term loyalty and credibility.  You still need to prove that you are more than a one hit wonder to effectively build your business

Social Media if done correctly will provide significant traffic to your website during your launch and will continue increasing your revenues long after the launch cycle has been completed.

Socialnomics Refresh Video

Posted in PLM Files on May 16th, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – 1 Comment

If you haven’t considered social media as part of your integrated marketng strategy yet check this out!

Social Networking through LinkedIn

Posted in PLM Files on April 1st, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – 1 Comment

I recently participated in a discussion about whether LinkedIn was useful for getting business, meaning real hard sales.funnel Social Networking through LinkedIn

Here is what I said.

for me it is very clear…

1. Start the conversation
2. Build the relationship
3. Make the sale.

This is what we do when we are doing online product launches and integrated Internet marketing.

1. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, offline networking etc all start the conversation.

2. Sometimes you also carry on the conversation with social media but you really start to build the relationship in your blog, on the phone, in email and face to face.

3. Only then are you in a position to sell. If you miss the relationship building, whether online or offline, you are back to the bad old days of hard selling whatever medium you use.

LinkedIn is just another funnel of opportunities and prospects with a specific demographic that just happens to be the demographic for my business. Facebook doesn’t work for me. Twitter opens up a few prospects occasionally.

I think there is another important point when talking about LinkedIn in that you need to set it up so you “attract” business. Does your profile work for you? There is no doubt that I attract business on LinkedIn. I was approached, as recently as yesterday, by someone with an attractive business proposition who found me on LinkedIn.

I consider LinkedIn extremely useful if you see it in the context of the 3 points above.

In relation to online marketing you may have heard that the money is in the list.  Well as Jeff Walker says, the money is in the relationship with your list.

We make sure we work VERY hard on creating the relationship with you existing and potential customers when doing an online product launch. 

Yvonne

LinkedIn Logo

Not Convinced About Social Media Yet?

Posted in PLM Files on February 10th, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – Be the first to comment

Let us know whether this changes

your mind about internet marketing!

 

Making a Buzz Creates Sales (or does it?)

Posted in PLM Files on January 14th, 2010 by Yvonne_PLM – 4 Comments
Bee Photo

Iridescent Green Sweat Bee

Recently Darrell O’Dea, Chief Detonator at Explode Marketing , challenged us to create our own 5 word ePitch.  He needed examples to include in his latest e-book.  Darrell’s ePitch is, “we ghostwrite your e-book” and it is pretty effective in my view!  My own effort however, leaves a little to be desired “making a buzz creates sales” or “an online buzz creates sales”.  

I can kid myself and say, hey, my business is complicated I can’t possibly say what I do in 5 measly words. I mean a product launch manager covers the whole gamut of internet marketing, investigating your product, possibly tweaking it, creating the offer, bundling products, talking to joint venture partners, analysing your website, looking at your assets, managing social media, writing articles and blogs, emailing your clients and ultimately selling loads of your product or service.  That’s 42 words, whew!  But, in our increasingly ADD world, if you can’t say it in as few as words as possible (like 140 on twitter) then you lose people. 

 So I contacted Darrell and said Help! What do you think – how can I improve my 5 word pitch – here’s what he came up with. 

 ‘We Buzz, You Sell’ 

‘We Buzz, You Profit’ 

or 

‘We’ve Caught Your Viral Market’ 

Great stuff I thought, but it was his last idea that really struck a chord with me.  It is so good that I am NOT going to tell you because I want to develop a branding theme around it. 

Try it out yourself – it does wonders on focussing on what your company REALLY does!

Skype is Likely to Continue its Meteoric Rise this Year

Posted in I Digress on December 31st, 2009 by Yvonne_PLM – 1 Comment

We are now connecting with people across the globe more frequently than ever. 

Skype 1 GraphHave a look at the amazing growth of Skype, (the Voice over IP telecommunications provider), since its inception.   There were over 27.7 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes alone in Q3, 2009.

We are, after all, social animals.  The popularity of Twitter, Facebook and the hundreds of other social networking sites proves that! 

Skype Graph 2However, something in the human psyche drives most people to seek out face-to-face contact and eventually one-on-one voice conversation.  

 This is where Skype is filling the gap.  With free calls via the internet to many places around the world, along with free video calling, I believe that Skype will continue its meteoric rise fuelled by this rise in activity on the social networking sites.

I wonder how many of you have initiated a Skype call based on a previous conversation on Twitter or Facebook?

Sales Pitch Relegated to Second Place

Posted in PLM Files on December 19th, 2009 by Yvonne_PLM – 1 Comment
Dean Whitehead Photo by Chris Hambly

Dean Whitbread at MCL3 - Photo by Chris Hambly

I had intended to sit at the back of the room and get a sales pitch together for a project I was working on but there was no hope of that at Media Camp 3 in London!  It was billed as a un-conference, presumably to get across the fact that you’re not stuck in a theater being lectured at.  I found that the space created allowed everyone to contribute, interrupt, interact and react and that made for a stimulating day. A big thanks goes to Chris Hambly for getting it all together.

First up on my agenda was Jamie Riddell with “Setting up a Business with No Investment and Succeeding”. Jamie shared his experiences of setting up his business on a shoestring budget.  This session reminded me of my own trials, angst and tribulations when setting up my own companies. Of particular emphasis here was the absolutely necessity for formal legal contracts when undertaking business transactions.

The next session I attended was Benjamin Ellis with the intriguing title of “Advanced Cat Herding”. He used the term to describe the impossibility of managing creatives by conventional means.  Benjamin has a simple but powerful management philosophy which has proven to work within real organisations.

After lunch, I took in Sylwia Presley’s thought provoking look at social media ethics and how companies might engender trust online.

Finally, I braved a session with Dean Whitbread who spoke about good and bad crowds, survival, ugliness, tolerance and potential beauty.  To illustrate his point, he inflicted gratuitous violence upon two cabbages.  Not only did he viciously assault a common green cabbage but he sliced a prized red cabbage clean in half!  This was done, all in the name of the science of crowd behaviour, to illustrate the tree-like effect of twittering.  Then, to add insult to injury, he admitted he was taking both cabbages home to eat them!  

I had a great day and my sales pitch eventually got done the next day.

Check out some of the media camp 3 presentations here http://drop.io/mcl3