Marketing Metrics, Messaging, and Madness

Ineffective Use of Twitter by a Business

I've been watching a company that seems to have decided that they will devote their entire marketing budget on social marketing - especially Twitter.  They are a smaller player in their industry, but produce a high-quality product. Unfortunately they've never put the effort into marketing that the rest of the industry has. Yes the monetary investment in Twitter is low, but think about how much time you have to devote to posting the content.  If after three months of constant twitters you have only 25 people following you, it's time to rethink your marketing plan. How many of those people are employees, distributors or competitors? Calculate it out and you'll find the worst ROI of any of your marketing initiatives.

I stay away from Twitter for one reason, and one reason only: time.  I think our company has enough name recognition now that we could get people following us by providing industry news and comments that provide value, but as a marketer in a small company, I just can't devote the resources that would be necessary. If there is one thing that quickly becomes a time suck, it's having to come up with original content to post. We run across it with our newsletter and e-newsletter, as well as providing new technical articles about our machinery every month and a free downloadable file. After the third or fourth month, it's time consuming to think up new ideas every month, much less every day. And you can only post so many links to your online videos. If you're not willing to devote time to writing content that is interesting and engaging, no one will be following you for long. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is watching a company misuse social marketing. I think there is a right and a wrong way for a business to use a blog or twitter to expand their marketing, but it astounds me how badly it is used sometimes.

A few examples:

• Linking to a video that your company has posted on youtube and pretending you just "ran across it". People aren't stupid.
• Calling out a competitor that is following your Twitter.  You're in the public domain, get over it.  Guess what, I check out your website as well.  And your e-newsletter. And you watch mine as well.
• Pointing out what keywords you're targeting and celebrating when you get to #1. Really?  You're going to tell me that?  I'll happily take that position away from you in a month or so. 
• Having other people in your company comment on your postings and pretending they have no relationship to the company.

Be honest and provide something of value and people will follow you. Do the things above, and we'll just mock you.  ;)

Weathering the economy with smarter marketing...

It's been a long time since I've been up here, but I'm going to try this again. We've been releasing new products and a new website at the same time, and it just was a bit too much to try to control all of that and a blog. But anyone marketing a small company knows how that goes.

We've been weathering the economy pretty well, and a lot of the credit has to go to the company understanding that marketing is not the place to cut back. We're refocusing our marketing dollars and finding better ways to spend money, while keeping a wider presence than our competitors.

Keep in mind:

• Now is the time to renegotiate your advertising. From top to bottom, magazines are desperate for your ad dollars. Don't take the first, second, or third offer - wait for that great deal that you never thought you'd get. Blame your choice on the powers that be, but let them know you're still interested so they keep coming back to the table.
• Tradeshows are also much more willing to negotiate than we've ever seen before. Tell your contact that you're having to cut back shows this year, and you'll find them jumping at you with lower prices on your booth space.
• Do not ignore your Google Adwords! Competitors are dropping out (or reducing their presence) in the advertising race on Google, and you can take advantage by dropping your bids on many of your most expensive keywords.

When your boss says cut the budget, there are many ways to do this. It doesn't have to mean reducing your ads, tradeshows or online presence - just find better ways to spend!