"The World is Hanging Up" 

 

 

I was involved recently with a telecommunications company that had been operating with no web site  for nearly a year and its main form of marketing was cold calling …you know the type that call you in your office or home and offer you… that special latest mobile phone deal. So what was their target market.. every business that drew breath… and what value did they offer the customer except maybe a cheaper price… very little. So their marketing was made up of one strategy, cold calling.  The marketing department consisted of staff  calling for up to 6 hours per day and only booking one appointment in that time. People were literally hanging up on them. There is a better way!  Our lives are so busy now and and with so much media noise and clutter that traditional marketing is becoming less and less efficient.

So how would a company stand out from the pack by using Internet Marketing such as a search engine optimized (SEO) web site,  low cost blogs and inbound marketing instead of expensive traditional marketing . 

10 Tips To Stand Out From The Crowd In Your Industry

1. Have a web site that helps your buyers and provides value with new interesting content  that assists your buyers.. not just a static web site that doesn’t change. 
2. Offer content that shows how to do something with step by step instructions that adds value to your customers, or potential clients.
3. Have a video on the web site showing something interesting about your industry, this can be even a Youtube video  that you just provide the video link for.
4. Target a Segment and really understand it by producing content on the web site that addresses their needs specifically.
5. If you are passionate about your business, contribute to the conversations in the other blogs in your industry so you can start becoming known as a thought leader.  
6. Create a blog that keeps adding new content that helps place you further up the search engines rankings as search engines love new content. 
7. Create Links to sites that are also well known in your industry this will assist in your Search Engine Optimisation and get you up in the Google rankings.
8. Join Twitter and start experimenting like putting links between twitter,  your blog and web site.
9. Join a social media site like Facebook and then join groups in your industry that are part of Facebook.
10. Offer an E-book subscription that captures email from your online inquiries so you can start engaging with your clients and potential buyers .

Ths challenge with anything is just.. doing it…  You can research  forever but just start the journey. The one thing that a company can easily do is start a blog, and add a content to that blog and update it regularly. It is easy to do you, you can go to WordPress and set up a blog for free and be up and running within a very short time frame.

- Amanpreet.

How to Create a Successful Visual Social Media Marketing Campaign: Case Study

 

The band Smashing Pumpkins decided to engage their fans through a visual social media marketing campaign.

The campaign was designed to draw in fans by asking various questions about the songs the band was about to release. The fans were asked to design visual representations or texts interpreting various titles.

The social media campaign, titled “Imagine Oceania”, was part of a promotion for the band’s new album “Oceania”. The challenge was initially posted through the photography blog JPGMAG.com and selected artists would have their artwork turned into limited edition posters signed by the band’s lead Billy Corgan, as well as the rest of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Additional fan art was exhibited on the band’s varied social media outlets. These included Storify, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook.

The visual social media campaign was designed to crowd source marketing by asking fans to participate, engage and share on social networks and the band would also reward the artists (their fans) by sharing their work on the band’s Facebook page which provides an audience of nearly 2.5 million fans.

So how can you make this strategy work for you?

 #1. Target Tech Savvy Fans

The band targeted a digitally savvy audience. By posting the challenge on a photography blog, users who are already familiar with digital technology and art will be enticed into competing. Artists who are Smashing Pumpkins fans will want to participate for a chance to be recognized by the band they adore as well.

Below is the Smashing Pumpkins Fan’s images on Facebook for the Imagine Oceania Competition.

The key here is targeted marketing. Smashing Pumpkins knows a huge group of their audience are young, smart, and tech-savvy. So they built a communication channel specific for this group. Who are your customers? Can you create specific ways to engage them that takes advantage of their particular skills and likes?

#2. Offer Low Cost Prizes with High Returns

The prizes are valuable but not costly. Fans can have their art printed on demand and signed by the band. This will not cost very much for the band, but fans will appreciate the gesture. Additionally, the recognition received by some of the artists might eventually translate into actual work. There are positive incentives for fans to participate.

You may need to invest heavily in a prize, but don’t make your audience invest heavily. Keep it simple

1. Have them sign up with an email address and some
2. Provide basic demographic information.
3. Ask for a survey response to be entered.

#3. Drive Engagement and Sharing

The campaign was designed to drive engagement and sharing. Fans are engaged by competing, and various blogs and sites across the net publicized the band’s challenge, for free! This is free advertising for the band. Advertising is also being generated by word of mouth. This is the best type of free advertising there is. No one can pay for this type of exposure.

Here is how they shared it on Twitter with a link to their Facebook page.

The point here is to make the event as exciting as possible. How can you differentiate your campaign from your competition? Can you involve customers in a way that makes them want to share what they’ve done with their contact base?

#4. Attract an Existing Fan Base

Smashing Pumpkins are making use of an existing fan base. Instead of just making an effort to engage new fans, the band is also renewing interest among its existing fan base. Some fans may not have been active. In fact, many fans may not have thought about the band for quite some time, but engaging an existing fan base can cause former fans to have a renewed interest. In turn, these fans will eventually recruit new fans who will join in the fun.

The power of this technique relies upon the trust built with current and previous customers. You don’t have to court and sell yourself to this group: they already know you. You get to skip the whole process of establishing a relationship.

In Review

In looking at the different social media platforms used, Smashing Pumpkins could have gained more social sharing traction by using Instagram for publishing the fan art and not just the photography blog which is a minor player online.

If you have a look at the bands Instagram account not one of the fans images for the “Imagine Oceania” competition was published on the mobile social platform. This was an opportunity missed as Instagram is a much bigger social media network of over 100 million users. This would have assisted in increasing the success of the campaign.

A good example of leveraging Instagram as a visual social media marketing tool is displayed by how General Electric used Instagram successfully to promote their brand through a competition.

A visual social media campaign has the potential to jump start fan interaction exponentially; so learn from Smashing Pumpkins and get your customers excited and sharing images about your business!

- Amanpreet.

5 Reasons I am positive about India and Bangalore

The real-estate market of any city is a sub-set of the environment in the State it belongs to. And that is a sub-set of the country and its many policies, progressive or otherwise. Add to it the fact that the world is for sure a connected place today, and therefore there is a bigger environment that governs real-estate prices and practice, and that is the environment across the world at large.

Real estate is however all about geography that is real. It is about physical spaces that are about land, buildings, gated communities and more. To that extent, it is a physicality. A physicality that is very dependent more on the local than the global. To that extent, while the stock market of a country is all about being umbilically linked to the sneezes and joys of the world at large, the physical real-estate market is that much more local than global. And thankfully so.

5 reasons why I am excited about Bangalore and India then, in that order:

1.     The aggressively young population

Bangalore boasts of a young population. While 54% of the population of the country is below the age of 25, Bangalore boasts of 63.6% below the age of 25.  A younger city means a hungry city. A city hungry for achievement, hungry for jobs, and most certainly hungry enough to invest in land and more. This young profile of the city is un-enviable. The only other city that comes close is Pune on this count. Young cities are hungry cities and hungry cities are investment friendly cities.

The downside of a young city is the fact that pressures to perform abound that much more in younger cities. Younger cities are high-tensile cities. No wonder then that Bangalore and Pune have emerged to be the suicide capitals of India as well. Sad fact.

2.     Spends and patterns of splurge in the TOP and MOP

The second reason why cities such as Bangalore are exciting places for the real-estate market for first buys, re-sales and repeat buys, is the fact that the splurge quotient of cities such as Bangalore is very high. The city is a polemical factoid. While Bangalore boasts of  10,600  Dollar millionaires at one end, at the other end, it also hosts large populaces of those living on the fringe of a hand-to-mouth existence. The real-estate market, sadly, depends on what the Top-of-pyramid (TOP) and Middle-of-pyramid (MOP) folk have to contribute to the kitty.

When you look at the spend patterns of the TOP and MOP profile, one witnesses no gloom at all. The splurge quotient is high on products and services alike. Super-market carts are still laden full with products that do not necessarily represent the best value-buys. The number of spas in Bangalore has grown from a measly 6 in 2001 to 121 in 2012. The number of beauty parlors has grown from a mere 107 in 2001 to 1220 in 2012. I do not have a comparative number for restaurants, but if you just look around, you don’t need numbers to tell you the story.

And every one of them is raking in the ‘moolah’. The point is a simple one. Never mind the fact that Greece is in trouble. Never mind that Europe is in shambles. Never mind that the Japanese economy is slated to de-grow at 0.6% p.a, in GDP terms. Just never mind. Look around and you will sniff prosperity and spends in your local TOP and MOP markets. Sadly or happily, the real estate market depends on its future on this market.

3.     The eastern investment mindset, and the shift from metal to land

This is a quick and happy one. Indians at large are very highly investment geared and investment oriented. The old mindset of investment was gold. This has held families in good stead over the years, particularly with gold prices ruling at an all time high as of today. This investment mindset has gradually shifted in the country from gold to land and dwelling units. The first things everyone wants to do, even before buying a Life cover in an Insurance policy, is to own a house or a piece of land. This has spurred and will continue to spur demand. Real-estate investment apathy has not set in as yet. It looks far way for now.

4.     The poised Next-gen ahead

The next generation is a very highly educated generation. Parents of the current generation have spent their lives working hard to educate their children and get them the best in terms of a qualification to earn more than they have earned. This is a good sign for the economy at large. This means the children of tomorrow will earn higher multiples than their parents did, net of inflation. This means there will be more money to invest. This is a trend that is quite unlike what we see in markets of the United States, where new generations are lesser equipped at large in terms of qualification and earning potential.

5.     Bangalore as a magnet city

The city despite all the ills we bemoan, is still a magnet city. We host mixed nationalities. We remain a secular city with secular intent. We are largely peaceful. We seldom fight. We might watch porn in the assembly, we might huddle our MLAs time and again in close-by resorts, we might clamor for free IPL tickets, but essentially we are a nice people living in a nice city. The city will still remain a magnet city. And that’s a big one for real-estate investments.

Referred to Harish Bijoor Sir for Info.

 - Amanpreet

How To Write A Blog With Great Content Every Time  

Finding content for your blog is not impossible. There are many places to find ideas.

You started a blog for your brand. You knew it was time, and you knew how it would benefit you. And, at the start, the going was great; there were plenty of things to write about. That is, until writer’s block set in, and suddenly you were drawing a blank.

Somehow, it just got a bit more complicated.

How do you generate great blog content regularly without burning out? Inevitably, there will be an average Tuesday morning where you’ll find yourself staring at a blinking cursor, a blank screen, and a looming deadline. Right about then, you’ll wish you knew what to write about. Right about then, you’ll wish you knew how to go about finding ideas when you didn’t have any of your own.

Here are some tips to make the ideas flow.

1. Answer Questions

Wouldn’t you like to know what questions your readers were hoping you’d answer for them? If you have the time to look and listen, you’d find out that readers are actually telling you this very thing.

Questions on Quora

Quora is where people are asking — and answering — questions. It’s easily searchable by specific topic, so you can find your niche audience fairly quickly. By setting up your account and selecting specific Quora users and topics to follow that are relevant to your industry, any quick visit to the Quora site will bring up useful content. So, are there questions Quora users are asking that you could answer? Write about them on your blog.

The questions asked on Quora.com are a great source of ideas; blog your answer.

Your Own Readers

Don’t ignore your own blog’s comments section, or your customer feedback. If a blog comment section turns lively, you’ve hit on a topic that you should definitely consider expanding in a fresh post and then going back and letting those readers know you’ve written a new post. This is particularly useful if you find yourself leaving long comments that might be better served pulled up onto the main area of the blog. And of course, it goes without saying that if you have customers that are asking the same questions about your service or product, there’s a clear need for a blog post to cover the topic. At the very least, it’s the start of a user guide or online FAQ.

2. Go Google

Google provides generous source material for blog ideas whether they intend to or not. In the process of supplying their customers (us) with data, they give us insight into the customers using that data.

Google Search

Using Google Search for research, rather than just search, will garner you related topics that people are actively looking for. For each search you make, you have the opportunity to use the advanced search options and generate “Related Searches.” From these related searches, you can follow a rabbit trail and end up with as many blog topics as you have the desire to write. These searches will also tell you what to use for a headline. The related searches can be found in the “Show search tools” option in the left sidebar of a Google search page.

Google related-search will help you find new ideas.

Google Blog Search allows you the opportunity to search within blogs only, so you can quickly see what other bloggers are writing about, and what kind of comments they’re getting from those topics.

Google Keywords

Google AdWords provides a keyword tool where you can input words and phrases for your industry or niche. The keyword tool will break your search terms down, allowing you to see which keywords you’d like to dig deeper into. By saving these keywords, you can find out what people are searching for on Google, and which terms are the most popular (and have the stiffest competition) with those buying AdWords. These keywords can give you ideas for SEO-friendly headlines, and such headlines quickly turn into SEO-friendly blog posts.

Google Alerts

Google Alertsare especially helpful if you already have your email or RSS reader in your daily workflow. It’s easy to forget to do regular searches, or find the time to set aside an hour or two to perform regular online searches to see what’s new in your industry. By setting up a Google Alert, you can have those search results sent to your inbox or RSS reader automatically. Any time you can find a way to incorporate information gathering in your current workflow and keep things simple, you’re more likely to make us of it.

Google Alerts can come to your inbox or RSS reader, as this setting shows.

Google Trends

By their very nature, trends are going to be quick and hard to grab onto in time. Using a trending topic for microblogging (Twitter, Google+ post, Facebook post, Tumblr) is probably going to be the easiest way to capitalize on their here-and-gone nature, rather than a long and meaty blog post. However, you may still get an idea on a topic that you can tie into your industry.

Google Trends offers a “hot trends” section which lets you know what people are searching for right now. Current events are often in search trends. Your readers appreciate an expert who can speak their language and put a hot topic into context for them from a particular view. Think of yourself as a translator, and tell your readers what the latest news means for them.

And of course, within the Google+ network, you can finding trending topics that even indicate which direction they are trending.

Google Trends’ Hot Searches let you know what people are searching for right now.

3. Build Libraries

Great minds have great ideas, and there’s few better places to find ideas than in the writing and voices of others.

You can make a digital library using an RSS Reader; the more well-organized the better. It’s the best way to stay on top of what your favorite bloggers and information sources are saying. This isn’t about stealing other’s ideas. It’s about validating or challenging your own, finding inspiration, and writing your own content.

Reading books regularly is also necessary for the serious blogger. You need to get pushed out of your own mind in order to fight your way back in by writing. Books are ideas, and new ideas are disruptive. Disruptive gets the creative juices flowing. A good blogger writes. A great blogger also reads. Read books associated with your industry voraciously. Blog about the book itself, if nothing else.

4. Mingle With The Trendy Crowds

It’s very likely you have a presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and are using it to promote your blog. Facebook and Twitter have their own versions of showing which topics are trending and popular based on your settings and who you follow; these will work similarly for you as blog content much like the Google Trends hot trends does.  The best thing about using the trends on a social network is that this is where your fans and followers are, and this is what is catching attention right now. It is less easy to capitalize on a broad internet search trend than a trend on a social network.

Twitter trends are found in the left sidebar, and can be tailored based on who you follow, or not at all.

Other popular social networks, like Pinterest, easily show you what your audience is interested in as long as you’ve planned your social following practices well. You can use Pinterest, for example, for your own interests and follow those boards that interest you only. Or, you can follow the boards of known fans or related niche audiences and see what’s popular among them, discerning what kinds of images they are drawn to.

5. Tell A Story

Everything you consider writing can be told as a story. What makes a great story?

A great story hooks the reader immediately (which often means you’ll have to be a brutal editor of your own words because wordiness kills the hook). A great story has anticipation, a feeling of “what’s next!” and a resolution that doesn’t leave the reader feeling cheated or angry. A good story makes a person feel something, whether it’s laughter or empathy or some other emotion.Have fun with your story, or be serious.

People love stories. Tell them one. Tell them a story as a series, or to generate leads. Just tell a great story.

You Have A Story

You have a story to tell. It’s the story of your business, the daily things that happen in it every day. It’s the teachable moments where you learned something about yourself or your readers. Whatever it is, your story is personal and inspirational, and should be told in that way. Use what you know best: your business, your hobbies, entertainment — what story can you tell that your audience will nod their head and think “I know exactly how he felt.”

They Have A Story

You have a story, and so does everyone around you. Have you asked them to share their stories with you?

Interview other bloggers or industry leaders. You’ll get great content, learn something, and attract a few of their fans to read what you wrote. Generously link back to the interviewee’s website and social media accounts, and promote the blog post.

Respond to other bloggers’ posts. Write well, don’t start a flame war, and avoid responding to well-known bloggers for promotion sake only. Make sure it is a post you really want to comment on, and have something valid to add to the conversation. Link and attribute properly so your readers can find the original work.

6. Look Within

If you’ve been blogging for several years, it’s a pretty good guess that you have early posts that embarrass you terribly. As a blogger, you got better; it’s hard to look at the old posts without wincing. Writing style aside, what about the ideas? Are they still valid? Have you changed your mind, or expanded your opinion? Your old blog posts are a gold mine of ideas you might not remember you had. Recycle by rewriting. Make them better, make them the best, make them relevant, and make them pull their weight again.

And, when all else fails, have a system in place that forces you to work. It might be a system to generate headlines (writing the headline before the rest of the post is a good habit to get into). It might be a system to quickly scour your library and write a post on the themes you see in the posts of the day. For example, you might come up with 10 “stock” headlines that you can easily adjust for different topics. Perhaps they are “5 Ways To _______ Your _______”. Whatever you decide, set up your system, fill it in, and force yourself to write.

A blog is a powerful tool, but a poorly written or seldom updated blog is almost worse than no blog. It tells those who find your site that you’re no longer in business, not around, or not worth serious consideration. 

- Amanpreet.