The Sales Lion » Lead Generation

The Most Important Customer Review of Hubspot You’ll Ever Read

Marcus Sheridan — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:01:18 +0000

We live in interesting times. For small businesses throughout the world, it’s a time when many are realizing the need to make a change. The old stuff no longer works. Whether it’s radio, TV, print, direct mail, etc.—the times have changed. These forms of outbound marketing are, more or less, dead in most industries. Inbound marketing (attracting people to your site) is the new wave, the future of the way all small businesses will think and act. But for a HUGE majority of these businesses that are the heart of the world’s economy, there’s a major problem—

Online Marketing and Web Design are Hard, if not Impossible, if You’re Not a Tech Nerd

The direction of your company may very well lie with Hubspot....

I used to share this same problem. For 7 years I was the average pool guy running an average swimming pool construction business, attempting to fight the tide of web consumers that I was out of touch with. Even worse, I was a complete and total web dufus. Although I wanted badly to be in control of my own website and its content, my hands were completely tied. I was stuck. And I knew I’d soon go broke if I didn’t make a change and get with the 21^st century.

Luckily for me though, I stumbled upon a website that ‘grades’ other websites on a scale of 1-100. Eager to see where my company’s website would score, I entered our information, and out came the grand score of 17 out of 100. In that moment, Hubspot’s WebGrader tool gave me a smack in the face like nothing else had done up to that point. It was the moment of truth.

It was also in that moment that I made a commitment to get out of my comfort zone and learn what it was to have a great website for my business that would surpass the needs and expectations of today’s consumer. Within a half-hour of learning more about Hubspot, I knew I’d stumbled upon what I was missing—the bridge that would take a web dummy to web, or should I say ‘Inbound Marketing’, expert.

Rocketing to the Top

Over the past 20 months I’ve been engulfed in following the teachings of Hubspot’s system and doing everything I could to take my business to the next level. And without question, boy has it worked. To make a long story short, our site is now one of the top swimming pool websites in the country. Its blog is nationally recognized. Organic (free) search has shot through the roof and our brand is so well known that the sales process is quicker and easier than it has ever been. All this while trying to be a ‘pool guy’ in a very down economy.

So much has Hubpsot changed my business and life that I now give web and marketing classes to other businesses. I’m the type of guy that believes in the law of abundance. I believe that good things need to be shared so that we can all stand at the top and share in success. This is also why I’m writing this article on my own volition as a Hubspot customer. By no means has HS(we’ll call them that for short) asked me to do this.

But as I’ve read various reviews of their product online, I’ve taken offense by certain people and companies that have talked down their product and system without really having a leg of experience to stand on and therefore make judgments. That’s what makes this review different. I’m just like you. We’re in this together.

So the following is a list of common questions and concerns I’ve seen mentioned regarding the HS system. I’ll do my best to be succinct and frank with each answer, as I feel that’s always the most effective means of communication.

Does It Work?

Does a bear poop in the woods? Oh, sorry, just had to slip that one in there. Yes it works—for those that make it work. In other words, there is this myth out there in the world that some webmaster guy or group can magically make your company appear on the first page of Google for just about any phrase you’d like. This is a total lie and all those guys should be imprisoned, at least in my humble opinion. The fact is establishing a strong web presence does take work and effort. But the beauty behind HS is that they provide you with all the tools and resources necessary to do so. And when I say all, I really mean ALL—hence their all-in-one system. Whether it’s blogging, web design for dummies, video marketing, social media, analytics, etc, HS gives you the tools necessary to do very well with each—and measure your effectiveness with each while you’re at it. For anyone that says, “Hubspot doesn’t work or didn’t work for my business” I give you this rebuttal: Hubspot wasn’t the problem, you were simply too lazy to make it work for you. They gave you everything you possibly needed, but as a wise man once said:

You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

Why would I switch from my existing website to Hubspot?

Control: This is an absolute no-brainer. HS has one of the simplest content management systems I’ve ever seen. For those of you unfamiliar with this phrase, it’s basically a system that allows ‘Non Techies’ to design their own websites with almost no previous programming or code knowledge. Such a tool allows business owners and their employees to overcome the terrible bottleneck of having a webmaster and ultimately take back the keys to their web marketing vehicle. This sense of empowerment is amazing, but it’s only a fraction of the HS benefit.

Analytics: HS has intensive analytics tools built in that allow you to track everything you can possibly know about your web and social media traffic. With mountains of charts, stat sheets, etc; you will be able to have a firm grasp on the best and worst pages of your website. You’ll know what is generating leads and what’s not. And you’ll also have a clear idea of words that you rank for in the search engines and ones that you can improve on.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization, or your ability to show up on the first page of Google’s (and others) search results, is a key to web marketing that cannot be ignored. Because the search engines can be hard to understand and rather fickle, HS has various tools that allow you to know the SEO strengths and weaknesses of each page on your site, therefore allowing you to make adjustments and better optimize each page, which will in-turn mean more traffic, leads, and ultimately sales.

Competitors: Do you know how good your competitor’s websites are? If you don’t, then you’re missing out. HS not only tells you all the words/phrases your competitors rank for in Search Engine Results, but they will also tell you about the links your competitors have coming into their sites, the grade of their site, and if they’re moving forwards or backwards in terms of their web effectiveness. Simply put, this tool is incredible and a must for any business.

Awesome Lead Analysis/Tools: HS is all about getting you more leads and converting those leads into sales. This is why they’ve set up tremendous systems for creating lead capture forms, automated email follow-ups, and lead grading. When it comes down to it, the more you know about your leads, and the more you can nurture the leads in your sales funnel, the more sales you’ll make. It’s that simple and it works. My pool company’s closing rates are around 50%, an extremely high number for the swimming pool industry which averages around 20%.

Super Simple Blogging Platform: Every, and I mean EVERY, company in 2010 must have a blog if they expect search engines and consumers alike to take them seriously. HS makes it easy for your business to integrate a blog directly into its website, which in-turn enables you to build more subscribers and leverage blogging as an SEO tool. Along with the blogging platform, HS has many built-in analytics tools to help you know which blog articles are working and which ones need improvements. This tool alone made HS worth its weight in gold as it saved/made my company thousands of $$$ in increased leads and sales through great consumer education combined with a concise SEO strategy.

How Much Does It Cost and Is Hubspot Worth It?

I’m always baffled when a potential HS customer calls me as a reference and they think HS is expensive. Currently, HS has a few different ‘tiers’ that companies can choose, but at the time of this writing, their ‘Hubspot Small’ package goes for $3000 per year and the ‘Medium’ package is $9,000. My pool company uses the medium package and I have a web coaching start up that uses their small package. What’s really perplexing to me though is the fact that businesses will blow thousands a month on the Yellow Pages, or radio, or direct mail, etc—all of which have very short-term results and practically no residual—yet these same companies hesitate to spend a few thousand dollars a year on a system that will bring them leads, at an increasing rate, FOREVER. What am I missing here? For me, spending 9k a year on what amounts to 90% of my company’s advertising is utterly laughable. When it comes down to it, if companies really understand how much $$$ HS will save them (assuming they do their part) then they’d be offering to pay more for the system just to get up and going tomorrow. I really mean this with all sincerity—It’s worth every penny.

How Does Hubspot’s CMS Compare to Others like WordPress?

Again, prepare yourself for an answer here that’s not biased because I have a marketing blog (the one you’re currently reading) on WordPress and I run two other businesses on HS. In other words, I’ve used both these content managers extensively and have found HS to be much, much easier. Might HS be more graphically limited? Yes, one could argue that, but for the non-techie that wants to handle 90%+ of their own web design, there is nothing better than the HS CMS. For example, I had to outsource design on my WordPress blog because I found it so difficult, yet I was able to design all 275+ pages on my swimming pool company’s without the help of anyone. And one other thing to remember—HS focuses their CMS on simplistic design because they are all about content creation and SEO. That’s why, although my swimming pool website is arguably simple in design, it dominates the search engines and blows most other companies away in terms of traffic results. When it comes to internet success, simple, combined with SEO best practices and great content, is the ultimate combination for success.

Should I Switch My Existing Site Over to the Hubspot CMS?

Again—no brainer. I waited to do this a few months after having signed on with HS and boy was that a dumb mistake. All it did was hinder my progress in unleashing my creative skills on the website itself. Rule of thumb—If your company has to go through a webmaster for more than 5% of your website’s changes/additions, then you’d be a fool not to convert over to the HS CMS.

Who Doesn’t the Hubspot System Work For?

Lazy people. Sorry, but it’s the truth. If you’re lazy, go spend all your money and outsource everything to a webmaster….or better yet, go buy a $2000 monthly ad in the Yellow Pages. (Actually, HS does offer more of this hands-on consulting on a constant basis, but such is not the focus of this article)

Will Hubspot’s System Be Surpassed by other Better Systems?

A legit question, but let me just say this. Since I’ve been using the HS system, they’ve changed and added tools on a weekly basis. Some have been minor, some have been major, but the key to understand is that by no means are they a static company just resting on past success. I once visited their place at Cambridge and upon meeting their staff and CEO I realized they were a bunch of awesomely passionate marketing and computer nerds trying their guts out to improve their system for businesses like mine and yours each and every day. The constant developments in their system are a reflection of this and I can only imagine how many great tools the company will come up with in the future.

What Makes Hubspot Different?

When it comes down to it, I think the great difference of HS is the fact they are changing the culture of internet/inbound marketing as we know it. They believe in teaching the masses (see their blog and self-help articles, they’re amazing) as much as possible so that any man or woman, no matter their background, can be their own webmaster and SEO. They give, give, give with the hopes that businesses will understand this great paradigm shift and therefore embrace the HS way. In fact, when I think of HS, this phrase always comes to mind, as it’s a perfect reflection of their business model:

Give a man a fish and feed him for a day….Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

So that’s my suggestion to you. It’s time to learn how to fish. It’s time to change your life. If you’ve been considering HS and haven’t pulled the trigger, then I’m here to tell you that you’ve wasted enough time, so let’s get with it. Why delay success?? And remember this critical key:

If you just follow the HS inbound marketing system and use all their tools, you’ll automatically be ahead of over 90% of the businesses in your industry who are still living in the stone-ages.

Think about that for a second. It ain’t an exaggeration. Again, once you truly understand this you’ll stop waffling over whether or not HS is worth it and you’ll start realizing that this decision will impact your business likely more than any other decision you’ve made since opening its doors.

Here to Help

Look, I know you may still have some questions. I could have written all day about what I love about HS but I figured 2500 words was enough for even the most patient of readers. If you need further help, please contact me directly. My email is marcus1@thesaleslion.com and if you send me your phone number I’ll call you while I’m on the road, as talking to people about marketing is always more enriching than looking at traffic jams on interstate 95 in Northern Virginia …Seriously, I LOVE talking about this stuff and it gets me fired up just thinking about it, so buck-up and shoot me an email today.

Best of luck to you in this process. I’m excited for the change that will soon be wrought within your business.

Marcus Sheridan

It Ain’t the Economy’s Fault that Your Website and Brand Stinks

Marcus Sheridan — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:53:52 +0000

I had one of those ‘slap yourself on the forehead’ experiences earlier this evening. Basically, my wife and I decided to go out tonight, which was pretty nice because this was our first ‘date’ since our daughter was born a little over two months ago. We elected to do the simple ‘dinner date’ so I opened up my laptop in an effort to find a nice place to eat—one that we hadn’t frequented before. It was during this search that the forehead slapping began.

You see, I live in a pretty rural part of Virginia. There ain’t much in these parts and so in order to find a decent selection of restaurants one must be willing to travel at least 30 minutes. But as I ran through my Google searches of local towns and the restaurants found therein, I came to this quick realization regarding literally all of them:

Their websites were an utter joke and embarrassment.

Although I could use many other stronger adjectives to describe what I found, I’ll try to keep this post as clean as possible and just leave it at that.

Shocking Stats

Out of 10 different restaurants I looked at, only 4 had web pages. Yep, that’s right, 4 of them. 3 out of the 10 had Facebook pages. With the rest I was left to depend on Google Places and hope that someone had been kind enough to give me a feel for whether the place was worth the trip or not.

But that’s not all folks. Of these 10 restaurants, none had a single lead-capture form on their home page. None had a single video. None had a single photo of an owner on the homepage. And a blog…well I’m sure you already know the answer to that one.

What’s interesting about this phenomenon is that I personally know many people in the food profession that have been crying the blues for months about the economy. Now granted, the economy does stink. We all know and accept that. But by no means does it give a free pass to businesses that refuse to make simple investments in their online marketing and brand.

It’s Cheap!

You see, online marketing is cheap. Anyone that says it has to cost a lot is full of crapola. A simple WordPress Blog and domain set up with Go Daddy will cost less than $150 a year in most cases.

But despite the low cost, businesses everywhere, especially in the food industry, refuse to do what it takes. Instead of learning what Web 2.0 is all about they just sit there and complain that the economy sucks and the world is coming to an end and everyone is losing their job and blah, blah, blah.

Action, Action, Action

Now don’t get me wrong here. My swimming pool company is in a dog fight every day to scrape by. If anyone gets the economy and how it affects businesses, I certainly do. But instead of complaining about it, let’s do something about it. In fact, here are 8 things you can do right now that I can promise you will be much better than bemoaning the end of the world:

Start a Facebook Fanpage for you business and invite everyone and their mother to join your group.
Shoot a video with your phone or flip camera of an existing customer (testimonial) and POST IT on your website.
Sign Up on Google Places and add photos, coupons, etc.
Get on some forums in your niche and get involved in ‘the conversation’.
Start a blog and write your first article….and then never stop writing.
Slap a photo of yourself on your website and show a little personality for once.
Have a friend or past customer look at your website and tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Go to YouTube and type in ‘Seth Godin’…..and watch every video on the first 2 pages of results.

So there are 8 activities that immediately came to my mind. I’m sure you could think of 50 more if you tried. But that’s exactly my point. Complaining about the economy does no good. Only action helps. Only action is worth talking about. Only action will eventually solve your problems.

Make the choice. Look to the future. Start embracing everything about Web 2.0…..and never complain again.

Questions? Comments? Love to hear your thoughts.

Long Tail Keywords: The Greatest Key to Business Blogging Success

Marcus Sheridan — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:21:14 +0000

Most small business blogs stink. I’m sorry if that offends you. Fact is, it’s true. There are many reasons for it, but none more important than what I want to briefly talk about and then show you(via video) today.

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about long-tail keywords and what they are. Although I don’t want to go into too much depth here regarding this ‘low hanging fruit’ of the world wide web, suffices to say that long tail keywords consist of longer phrases (usually at least 3 words or more)that internet searches are entering in order to find more specific data regarding a particular niche. Here is an example:

Short Tail: Chicken
Medium Tail: Rotisserie Chicken
Long Tail: How to Prepare Rotisserie Chicken

Because internet users are becoming more and more adroit at searching and finding information online, the floodgates are wide open for any businesses that is able to aggressively go after these ‘longer phrases’ and beat others to the punch.

This process of developing a killer small business blog and dominating your niche via the long-tail is not as hard as it might sound, and in my opinion really only requires 3 essential qualities:

Think like a homeowner
Write Homeowner Friendly Blog Titles and Articles
Consistency in Post Frequency

Business owners and employees have a big problem when it comes to content marketing: they often think like business owners and employees. You may snicker at this but it’s absolutely true. The curse of knowledge can kill anyone’s ability to speak at the level of their audience.

In order to overcome this problem, the most important exercise a business owner or content marketer can do for his or her blog is to sit down and write the 20 most prominent questions consumers ask regarding his or her product. These questions formulate perfect titles for blog articles and combined with solid content and regularity (post at least twice a week), a blog’s traffic will quickly skyrocket because of its consumer-centric appeal. If you haven’t ever done this exercise, stop putting it off. It works.

Remember: Any question, and I really mean ANY, that a consumer asks regarding a product or service is worth writing about. And it’s the businesses that are most aware of these questions that end up producing the best content for search engines and eventually garnering the most viewers.

I can say this because my swimming pool blog is easily the most popular in its industry. Also, our traffic is in the 99^th percentile for swimming pool companies. So by simply going after longer phrases with our blog articles (thinking like consumers), we’ve been able to bypass other companies that are multi-million dollar operations. In fact, our traffic is so prolific throughout the United States and Canada that I’m now partnering up with consumer-lead services because we get a mountain of leads outside of our consumer area and I just hate throwing them all away. But to see exactly what I’m talking about, please check out the following video. It’s a snapshot of my company’s analytics (Hubspot Software) and you’ll be blown away once you see how much organic (free) traffic our business is getting simply because we know how to blog effectively.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well I hope this article has helped s you to have a better feel for how to establish a successful long-tail keyword strategy with your business’ blog. If you have any further questions about this important form of content marketing, or would like to share some of the success you’ve experienced with your blog, please feel free to add your thoughts below.

Video Marketing and YouTube for Small Business Success: Anyone Can Do It

Marcus Sheridan — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:26:09 +0000

I got a text at about 10:15 from a customer tonight. It read something like this:

Marcus, my wife and I are just sitting here watching your PoolSchool videos, and we’re ready to pull the trigger.

Of course, in this case, pull the trigger meant that he and his wife had decided to buy the pool I had quoted them a few days ago. And once again, despite being more expensive than the other quote given by my competitor, they chose us.

But this isn’t the only experience I had along these lines today. At a sales appointment this morning I had a most interesting conversation with an incredibly nice and successful guy in his late 30s who owns a prominent consulting firm. Essentially, as we were discussing his potential pool project, he told me this (and no, I’m not exaggerating):

Dude, I’ve watched all your freaking videos. In fact, I probably hold the record for the customer who has watched the most Marcus Sheridan videos. That’s why I know when you speak you’re not full of bull#%#%. So just go ahead and tell me what I need…..

Literally, all I could do was laugh when he told me this, as I’ll never cease to be amazed by the simple power of video and Youtube marketing for small businesses.

Profound Impact

Yes, I’ve talked multiple times regarding video marketing for small businesses on this blog, but the extraordinary influence this simple and cheap medium can have on consumer brand awareness, as well as consumer confidence, may even supersede that of blogging. And as everyone knows, I stinking love blogging for small businesses.

So why is it that so many small businesses are still not leveraging video? Why are they spending thousands on website designs and redesigns but continually falling flat on their faces? The whole phenomenon is an utter mystery to me quite frankly.

Bigger Ain’t Better

Take for example the swimming pool company I beat out in the previous story. The company is the 2^nd largest swimming pool installer in the world. They have a huge advertising budget. In 2008 their sales were about $130,000,000. Notwithstanding, their website stinks. Yep, it’s an utter failure. Sure it has nice photos and pretty flash, but they don’t have a blog nor do they utilize video.

That’s right, a company with over $100,000,000 in annual sales of one of the most visually stimulating luxuries in the world (a swimming pool) doesn’t even leverage the power of video on their website. Honestly, I’m dumbfounded.

This, my friends, is why David beats Goliath everyday on the web. And it’s also why you absolutely need to decide right now that video will be your best friend. If you haven’t done so already, go out and buy a $200 camera and start recording everything.

Everything?

Yes, I mean EVERYTHING.

Just as the curse of knowledge affects regular blogging, it also greatly impacts video production. Don’t assume your customers know anything. Put your mind in theirs and start seeing the world out of their eyes. Just by doing this, and by asking yourself the questions that a consumer will always ask as they start to research your product, will give you a wealth of video subjects and ideas. But for those of you who are still a little confused as to what to show and talk about, here are 4 areas to focus on as you get started.

1. You and Your People

Your business isn’t just about its products, it’s also about you. It’s about your employees. It’s about the people that make your little part of the world go round. Look at Steve Jobs for example. Why do we keep seeing videos of Steve talking about and launching his ‘next great product’ on the internet?

The answer is simple. People like putting faces with products. That’s what we do. We like stories. We think and make decisions on logical, but also emotional, levels. Apple gets this. That’s why Jobs has an incredible cult following. And as Seth Godin would say it, Jobs has created his tribe, and boy does he know how to stay in touch with his tribe.

The same thing could be said for thousands of other great companies, but unfortunately these stellar examples are few and far between. Fact is, whether you’re a CEO or a small business owner like me, the best way consumers can get to know you and like you before they’ve ever even met you is through the power video—which is why you’re nuts if you’re not taking advantage of YouTube right now.

2. Break Down the Product

As you’ll see if you visit my swimming pool video library, everything that has to do with fiberglass pools, as well as every stage of their installation, is broken down into some form of video. Show the intricacies of your product. Show how it comes to life. Demonstrate clearly was it’s capable of.

3. Life as a Product Owner

Once the consumer owns your product, is that it? Or is there more? Just as swimming pools require upkeep and maintenance, so does just about every other tangible item that a store or business sells. With the case of my business, I made the commitment about 1 year ago that every customer should be able to go to our video library and find any answer they are looking for if a question or problem ever arises. And after 12 months, we’ve come very close to completing our goal. Can you imagine the effect this has on a consumer?

4. What Others are Saying

Testimonials are awesome. That’s why they’re in every infomercial on TV even though most of the stuff that’s sold is total crapola. There’s just something magical about hearing an ‘actual customer’ testify of the superiority of a company’s products, people, and services. So if your business’ website does not have a least one video of a customer testimonial, then you’re sadly missing a tremendous opportunity to gain further trust from potential clients and prospects.

So there are my thoughts on this awesome medium. Please believe me when I say the moment you decide to truly embrace consumer education through video and YouTube will likely be one of the top 2 or 3 most important business decisions of your life.

Questions about YouTube or Video? What are your success stories? As always, your comments are invited and very much appreciated.

Social Media Success for Small Businesses: Be Great at ONE Thing

Marcus Sheridan — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:48:37 +0000

We’ve all heard the promptings. The echoes are getting louder. In fact, everywhere we look, there is someone there to remind us that social media is the future (and present) of marketing for small businesses. And although I am by no means going to differ with such a statement, I do want to make one very important point on this post about how small businesses should go about their social media strategies.

When one thinks ‘Social Media’, there are quite a few names that might pop up:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Blogging
Video Marketing/You Tube
Review Sites
Forums
Etc.

No doubt, the list is already almost endless and appears to be growing leaps and bounds daily. And it is exactly this growth that causes so many small businesses to utterly fail in their efforts to leverage social media.

Realities Set In

I can’t say how many times I’ve seen a business learn about social media and then suddenly take action—start a Facebook Fan Page, initiate a Twitter account, commence blogging, and maybe even attempt a video or two.

But once the initial excitement wears off, and the reality of little result sets in, business owners and marketers can quickly get frustrated with their situation. What, no fans flocking your way on Facebook? Followers tough to come by with Twitter? No one subscribing to your blog? No luck with video views?

Trust me when I say I’ve felt most of these feelings before—which is why I’m writing this article, heck, it’s the reason why I maintain this blog—to help business owners like you overcome the dumb and preventable mistakes that I’ve made as a business owner.

A Difficult Balance

Fact is, most small biz owners are kind of busy these days. Most of us are just trying to make payroll and make a sale here and there. As a pool guy selling a luxury product, trust me when I say I know how this works. It’s a battle I deal with on a daily basis.

This is why initiating a successful social media campaign can be tough for a small business. Not only do most business owners have a ton on their plate already, but they also have to try and successfully swim in an ocean of social media ideas, all of which can be seriously overwhelming.

I’m sure you’ve all heard this phrase: Jack of All Trades, Master of None. Well when it comes to social media and small businesses, it goes more like this:

Jack of All Social Media, Master of None

And this, my friends, is a big problem. Just starting up a Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, or LinkedIn account really means nothing at all. I’d compare this to planting the seeds for a massive garden and then not having the time or knowledge to nurture and maintain the garden so that it actually produces results. Notwithstanding, I see this nasty cycle over and over again with businesses around the country.

Be GREAT at One Thing

It is for this reason that I espouse the firm belief that a company is best served when it has a clear focus and strategy when it comes to social media. I don’t believe it’s very smart to attempt a shotgun social media approach. Rather, businesses should decide what they feel they can be the best at and then do it better than anyone.

For example, when our company got on the web 2.0 train a few years ago I attempted to become involved in multiple areas of social media. Shortly after, I realized we’d be best served if we focused on producing great and remarkable content through the use of blog articles and video. Considering no one else in our industry had taken the time to truly educate the consumer, we knew our strategy would pay off with a little persistence. And as most of you that read this blog already know, our website is now by far the most popular swimming pool blog and video library in the world—after only 12 months of content production.

Hubspot TV

I recently spoke about this idea of ‘being the best at one thing’ (as well as many other marketing topics) at a Hubspot TV event in Cambridge Massachusetts. If you’ve never met me before, or if you’re not familiar with Hubspot TV, you’re going to love this. It’s also the perfect representation of my thoughts on blogging and content creation, so please check it out.

So this is your challenge. Find out what type of social media you can be the best at and then go at it like a wild animal. Don’t worry about being everything to everyone. Embrace this new identity and let your ideas flow as you leverage the wonderful tool of social media to catapult your business to new heights. It may be tough at times, but please understand that it will absolutely be worth it and in the end your razor sharp focus and persistent efforts will have been well worth any investment you’ve put in.

Questions about social media? How do you feel about a ‘focused’ approach versus trying to do too much all at one time? As always, your thoughts are invited and very much appreciated.

9 Essential Keys to a Great Small Business Website in 2010

Marcus Sheridan — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:31:56 +0000

I‘ve been working quite a bit lately with small business owners on their web presence and it’s amazing how many of these good men and women just aren’t getting it when it comes to the design of their websites. What’s crazy is that in general, small business owners want to have a great website. They know that things aren’t quite right. Notwithstanding, whether it be from a lack of knowledge, funding, or motivation; they’re just not doing what it takes to have a quality and user-friendly website.

For this reason I offer an absolutely free small biz website analysis here at the Sales Lion. Although I give such a service away for free, the rewards I’ve gotten over these past 6 months for taking the time to help others has been nothing short of awesome.

But it hass been during this time that I’ve truly studied the core components of what makes a great small business website. Although all businesses are different, the following suggestions essentially apply to everyone, so please do not see your business as the exception. This stuff works, so do yourself a favor and act first then ask questions later, as the results will resolve any doubts or concerns you might have . So without further ado, here goes:

9 Features You Need to Add to Your Company Website TODAY

1. YouTube videos

Dang I love YouTube. It’s benefits in terms of SEO, branding, and education are profound. I truly believe it’s the most underused tool for small businesses in today’s economy, especially considering it costs almost nothing. Other than a flip camera and a computer, all you need is a desire. My company has a literal library of YouTube videos and we have many, many more in the works. We take the time to produce these videos because we live in a visual world. More and more people learn through visual means. In fact, the customers I see on my sales appointments have usually watched at least 3-10 of our company videos before we’ve ever even met. As you might imagine, this is 3-10 more videos than any of my competitors have given them.

2. Blog

I will beat this horse until my last breath. Blogging is sadly not appreciated my so many entrepreneurs and business owners, mainly due to their ignorance of its inevitable benefits. Although its benefits are practically boundless, here are 5 reasons you should be producing 1-2 blog article a week.

Organic (free) search visits will skyrocket.
Leads will continue to come back to your site.
You will be known as an industry voice and innovator.
If you’re in sales, you’ll spend less time teaching clients and more time selling to them.
There are incredible cognitive benefits to writing out our thoughts daily. (This is an article in and of itself)

3. Owner / Staff Bio Page

What’s the deal with owners of companies hiding their face when it comes to their company’s website? Although websites need great content and consumer information, they also need to be personal and instill a sense of trust in the consumer. Just look at the example of Dave Thomas from Wendy’s or Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken. These men were truly ‘the face’ of their companies. Over 50% of the customers I see on a sales call look at my bio page before I even get to their home the first time. The impact this has on my ability to earn their trust is profound.

4. Lead Capture

If you don’t remember anything from this article, remember this one phrase:

Every page on your company website should include a lead capture form of some type.

Now I know some of you may be wondering how to achieve this without looking terribly redundant and spammy on your site. Here are a few examples:

Blog Subscription Form
Quick Contact Form
Receive a Free eBook Form
Free Report Form
Receive a Quote Form
Questions/Comments Form
Order Our Free DVD Form
Newsletter Sign Up Form

As you can see, there are many potential ways in which to add lead-capture forms to your website. All these forms, which can also be referred to as ‘Call to Action’, are critical in your efforts to increase leads and build up your customer base. Remember, leads are much more important than traffic when it comes to a great website.

5. Social Media

Whether it’s a ‘Become a Fan on Facebook’ or ‘Follow Us on Twitter’ form, every small business in 2010 needs to accept, embrace, and leverage such social mediums. I recently consulted with a restaurant owner to essentially rebrand his company and our key tool in spreading the word was through Facebook. What’s crazy is that we pulled off a wildly successful event without spending a dime on advertising. This is the power of Social Media.

6. Statements that Ain’t About You

What I mean by this statement is the fact that most business websites come right out the gates bragging about how great they are. This is a huge mistake. The fact is, when consumers are in the research phase of making a purchase they don’t care how great you are. They just want to know what you are going to do for them. What makes you helpful? What information do you have to offer?

To see an example of this go to the homepage of my business website. What’s the first statement you see?

If you are considering the purchase of an inground swimming pool, this site was built for YOU!

Again, it’s not about you or me, it’s about the customer. And the best websites are the ones that think like customers, not like business owners.

7. Easy Navigation

Internet searchers don’t like roadblocks. They also don’t like confusing sites full of frivolous text. Unfortunately, small biz websites are famous for this.

This is especially the case with business home pages, which are often chock-full of text and wasteful information. Essentially, a homepage should be one keyword link after another, easily allowing the visitor to find the information they’re looking for.

8. Proper Font/Colors

I made the big mistake of having a black background with a very light font color for quite some time on my company’s website. Fact is, a dark background mixed with a light font is difficult for the human eye to read. This is also true with font styles. I’m always amazed when businesses design their site with fancy writing and colors, like cursive font for example. Although conceptually this may sound nice, it’s a dumb move when it comes to readability and user friendliness. So do yourself a big favor and keep your site’s font and colors simple, clean, and consistent.

9. Testimonials

We live in a world of doubt and disbelief. Consumers are slower and slower to give their trust away to other companies. This is why testimonials are the key to any great copy, advertisement, or marketing campaign. For example, my company website has a customer testimonial on almost every page of the site, as well as an entire page dedicated solely to testimonials. Ask yourself these questions:

How many testimonials are listed on my website right now?
How many video testimonials do I have on the site?
What percentage of the site’s pages have some form of ‘social proof’?

If you’re like 99% of the small business websites I’ve analyzed, you’re likely seriously lacking in this critically important area.

So there are 9 keys to a great small business website in 2010. What are some other keys you can think of? As always, your questions and comments are invited and appreciated.

photo credit

28 Signs Your Boss May Still Be Living in the Technological Stone-Ages

Marcus Sheridan — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:47:29 +0000

I recently heard an older gentleman bragging to one of his employees how he didn’t even know how to use Google. No, I’m not kidding, he was bragging, and the whole thing really made me want to barf.

You see, because we are currently in a transformational age, going from the industrial and quickly blowing into the information/creativity age, there are many people, especially bosses, small business owners, and company CEOs that are being left behind. And because these people are refusing to look ahead and embrace technology, their businesses, as well as their employees, are going to suffer.

In light of some of these hard-headed and ‘old school’ businessmen, I’ve come up with a list of 28 signs that your boss or company CEO may have more in common with Fred Flinstone than he or she does with the 21^st century consumer. Here goes:

You know your boss is living in the stone ages if they think that………

Road maps are awesome and owning a GPS is a waste of money.
Blogging is some weird online diary that no one reads. They also would never even consider taking the time to have someone within the company create blogs and content for the website.
Your company website should be very limited with information. Don’t discuss too much detail regarding products, pricing, etc. “Make the customer call first”, they say.
LinkedIn is another phrase for a Vulcan mind-melding trick.
IPods are some silly ‘Walkman’ that their grandkids listen to all day long and serve no other purpose.
Radio, TV, and print (and all other forms of interruptive marketing) are great forms of advertising.
Yellow Pages are the greatest and can’t wait to design the new ad for next year.
Face book is some weird stalking tool for kids to keep up with each other.
Their current cell phone ‘works just fine’ and wouldn’t consider wasting money to upgrade to an Iphone or a Blackberry…..(assuming they have a cell phone.)
A Blackberry is a phone??
The sales process doesn’t start unit the customer comes into the store the first time.
Laptops are for college students.
YouTube is for attention-loving teenagers.
Windows 95 is the greatest.
An ‘Excel Spreadsheet’ is some type of chart for reaching company goals.
Flickr is a new type of lighter.
Twitter is…..heck, they have no idea what Twitter is.
‘Organic search’ is something tree-huggers do when looking for food.
One must have an MBA to know what such acronyms as SEO, SERPs, CMS, RSS, PPC, CTR, SMO, ROI etc mean.
The phrase ‘Inbound Marketing’ refers to phone solicitors
‘Landing Pages’ are something pilots use for navigation.
‘Viral Marketing’ is somehow disease related.
‘Plugins’ are anything with a chord and an outlet.
WordPress is the concept of forming a new word by mashing to old ones together.
‘Anchor Text’ is a boating phrase.
‘B2B’ and ‘B2C’ are the newest bombers created by the Air force.
‘Uploading’ and ‘Downloading’ have to do with stocking the shelves.
Seth Godin is a crazy bald guy who makes no sense.

OK, I’ll stop there. If you’re having a problem getting your boss to move into the 21st century, just have him read this list Although I can’t guarantee what his reaction will be, at least you’ll give him quite a bit to think about!

What would you add to the list? As always, your thoughts are welcomed and invited.

4 Reasons Why Internet Cookies Will Rock Your Business’ World

Marcus Sheridan — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:38:43 +0000

Cookies…..Mmmmmm…..Just the thought of them gets my salivary glands working. And no, I’m not talking about the ones Grandma used to make. I’m talking about the internet kind. And trust me when I say that these cookies, if you try ‘em, will be the best you’ve ever had.

What the Heck is an Internet Cookie?

But before we go into the reasons why internet cookies are the greatest thing since sliced bread, let see how our friends over there at Wisegeek define these ‘sweet’ marketing tools:

A computer cookie is a small text file which contains a unique ID tag, placed on your computer by a website. The website saves a complimentary file with a matching ID tag. In this file various information can be stored, from pages visited on the site, to information voluntarily given to the site. When you revisit the site days or weeks later, the site can recognize you by matching the cookie on your computer with the counterpart in its database.

So for those of you that are new to this term, did you get all that?? Well, if you didn’t, just look at it this way. Every computer, just as a vehicle has a license plate, has its own address. This address is referred to as an IP address, or Internet Protocol address, and is a numerical label assigned to just about every computer on the web. The beauty behind cookies is that it knows when your car (computer) and license plate (IP address) have entered the building(website). In fact, because your address is recorded and always being monitored, cookies enable a website to ‘follow’ you wherever you go while you’re on their site. As you can imagine, knowing where your customers have been on your website, the pages they’ve viewed, how long they spent on each one, and how many times they’ve come back, is an extremely powerful sales and marketing tool.

It Starts with Lead Capture

But before we cover just what cookies can do for you, understand that the only way cookies even work in the first place is if a visitor to your site fills out a form. This part is key. When a customer fills out a form, cookies are then attached to the IP address and at that point the benefits begin. And one other point—Many people turn the cookies to their computer off, therefore disabling others to track their actions when visiting that site. Notwithstanding, many others allow cookies and its benefits to you as a business owner and marketer are incredible. So let’s check out what this awesome tool can do for you and your business.

4 Reasons Why Cookies Are Stinking Awesome

They can tell you how the visitor found you: Lead tracking is an essential component of any marketing plan, and it’s imperative that we’re able to track how our customers are finding our site. Did they arrive via Pay Per Click? Was it an organic search? Maybe a referral from another website? Either way, as we see how customers are finding our site we are then able to focus more attention on that area and have more direction with our web marketing focus.
They can tell you how many, and what pages, a lead has viewed: In this information age, an informed consumer will make or break a sale for a business every time. For example, my company’s website has about 250 pages. And after looking at lead activity for about a year now, I’ve come up with the following ratings system:

1-5 Pages Viewed: Likely not very serious and maybe misinformed. Good chance this person is not yet in the ‘buying’ phase.

6-10 Pages Viewed: Luke-warm shopper. Still has not spent nearly enough time to become informed and educated, but showing signs of hope. Will need quite a bit of teaching if/when we meet for a sales appointment.

11-20 Pages Viewed: Relatively serious shopper. This person has taken a decent amount of time to become informed regarding our company and products, and therefore has a solid foundation. Still could use quite a bit of knowledge and teaching though.

21-50 Pages Viewed: Serious Shopper. Very informed. Looking to make a decision, likely soon.

50+ Pages Viewed: Red Hot Lead. This person knows just about everything there is to know about me, my company, and my product. Not only is this person going to buy, but it appears they’re already sold on us.

Now you may be thinking it’s not a good idea to judge a lead before you actually meet them, but I’m here to tell you that if you follow customer patterns long enough, including the type and number of pages viewed, you will be able to thin slice quickly just how serious they are about buying, their hot buttons, and their overall product/company knowledge in general. Although I always keep an open mind when meeting with a prospect the first time, the numbers almost never lie.

3. Number of Site Visits: Who do you think is more ready to buy—Someone who has only visited your company’s website once or someone who has visited your site 4 times and the last 48 hours? I’m sure we’d both agree that you’d choose the latter, which only makes sense because that person is obviously thinking quite a bit about your product and appears to clearly be in a ‘buying’ mode.

4. Visit Notification: Holy Cow, this is one of the coolest tools ever. Imagine that you recently gave a client, we’ll call him Jeff Jones, a quote and upon following up with Jeff, you leave him a message only to receive no response. Undeterred, you trying calling him a second time but again receive no call back. By this point, you dejectedly give up hope that Jeff is interested and decide to file his information and quote away. But two days later, out of the blue, you get a notification on your blackberry that says, “Jeff Jones is visiting your website.” With a new-found hope, you call Jeff and this is how the conversation goes:

You: Hello Jeff, it’s Marcus Sheridan(Cool name!), how are you?

Jeff: Marcus, hello, I’m so glad you called me. You’re not going to believe this but I just got off your site!

You: (w/ a big smile in your voice) No way! Well I guess it was meant to be then, huh Jeff?

Jeff: Wow, I guess so. But I’m glad you called……

I’ve literally had a conversation similar to this one countless times with clients of mine. I’ll give up on them and then, out of the blue, I see they’re visiting my website. And as soon as their name comes across my blackberry, you better believe I call them that second. Can you imagine the power of such a tool?!!

The following is an actual lead from my website. Take a look at this persons stats and then we’ll talk about what it all means:

Activity Summary

Most recent visit 1 hour ago
11 visits since March 22
Average of 25 page views per visit
275 total page views
81 unique pages viewed
1 form submitted
Found site via Google Search for: Virginia Fiberglass Pools
Better than 99% of Leads

Now tell me, just by looking at these stats, what type of customer do you think this person is?

Yep, you guessed right, this customer is AWESOME. Which is why she was one of the easiest sales I’ve ever made. The person was so well informed, and had gone over so much of our website, that by the time I met with her she was basically completing my sentences. She literally knew everything about me, my company, and my products. No doubt, she was a dream customer, but I knew this even before our first visit.

Hubspot and Cookies

Although I could literally talk about the power of cookies for your business all night long (It’s now 2am and I think I should consider going to bed), I’ll close with one last point. As many of you already know, the analytics I use with my website, as well as all the forms I utilize with their corresponding cookies, are just another benefit of using Hubspot. This simple HS feature has made me thousands and thousands of dollars over the past year that I would clearly not have made had I not been using all the powerful tools that come with the Hubspot content management system.

The reason why I toot Hubspot’s horn so much is not because I’m a paid employee of theirs, but rather because my 12 months with them has altered my life in profoundly positive ways and completely revolutionized the marketing 2.0 strategies we utilize as a business.

Don’t Delay Another Day

But whether you plan on using Hubspot or not for your website, make sure as soon as you’re done reading this article that you find a way, if you’re not already doing so, to implement cookies into your business’ marketing plan. Sadly, the few words I’ve written about the power of cookies here on this post in no way do the topic justice, but hopefully it’s a start for anyone previously unaware of this powerful tool. You now have the knowledge, so don’t hesitate to make it work for you!

Note***To read lots of technical jargon regarding cookies (or if you thought my explanation stunk), check out what How Stuff Works had to say.

Questions about cookies and their usage? How about those of you that are currently using internet cookies? What are some other benefits we could have included in this post? As always, I invite your thoughts and comments below. Don’t be shy.

5 Reasons Why Your Follow-Up Emails Stink and What You Can Do About It

Marcus Sheridan — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:10:41 +0000

Do your emails to prospects and customers stink? Seriously, what type of response are you getting as you follow up with leads and touch base with your established customers? If you’re like most small businesses, chances are you’re frustrated with the poor percentage of responses your getting back. One minute you think you’ve got a hot lead. The next minute you’re back to the drawing board. Trust me, I’ve been there. Heck, I think anyone who attempts to sell or market anything whatsoever has experienced frustrations over a lack of what we’ll dub ‘Email Response Love’.

Follow-Up Frustration

This was certainly the case at a recent conference I taught at for builders in the fiberglass swimming pool industry. You see, the way it works in the fiberglass industry is there are manufacturers and builders. The manufacturers are typically larger businesses and therefore have stronger marketing departments. This allows them to generate consumer leads on their websites and in-turn send the lead to whichever pool builder is in that consumer’s area. Often times, these leads do not consist of a phone number and the only information a builder has to work off of is a name and email address. And the following up with these leads is often the center of great frustration for pool builders trying to generate sales appointments with consumers who are slow to respond.

This scenario is essentially no different than most small and large businesses throughout the world. More and more, consumers are slow to give out their personal information. And often times, a simple email is the only channel by which a business can work its marketing magic and initiate a relationship with the prospect or potential customer.

They Stink

The problem with follow up emails is essentially the same across the board. They’re boring and they stink. Here’s an example:

Dear Prospect,

We would like to thank you for your interest in a Widget 2000. In order to help you learn more regarding our Widget 2000, please respond to this email or call me directly on the number below.

Sincerely,

Sales guy

888-555-666

Widget Industries

Ok, now you might be thinking that most follow up emails aren’t that bad, but let me tell you that they ain’t much better. I’ve seen countless examples of company email follow ups and at least 90% are seriously lacking in originality, content, and character. But when it comes down to it, you’ve got to ask yourself the following question:

How much value do my emails really have?

Although this may be a tough question to answer for some, I have listed five essential components of follow up emails. Since I implemented all of these tools in my email arsenal, the response I’ve been getting from customers is phenomenal and the rate of response has shot up drastically. Here goes-

5 Essential Tools to Awesome Email Follow Ups

1. You Tube Video:

Let’s just start with the best first, shall we? As everybody who reads this blog is well aware, I’ve been preaching from the rooftops for some time now that if you’re a small business owner and you don’t own a flip camera, then you need to have your brain examined. The reason why flip cameras can literally transform a business is because they are the simplest tool available on the market today to produce You Tube videos. The power of You Tube for small businesses is utterly unbelievable, which is why business owners and their marketing departments should be looking to produce these short videos every possible chance they get. My company has about 100 You Tube videos that we’ve produced and these actions have branded us on a national level. In late 2009, I started including the You Tube videos in all my email follow ups as well, and the results have been extremely positive. An example of this would be:

View this awesome Fiberglass Pool Installation Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osQqatNgKzw

What’s even better is the super nerds over at Google have now made it possible to send You Tube videos via Gmail and the receiver can actually see the video on the Gmail window, which is awesome. In other words, all one has to do when sending an email is insert the URL link to that particular YT video and the video will appear at the bottom of the screen for the viewer to see, without even leaving the page. (Currently, this is mainly a Gmail feature)

Just imagine what your business could do by integrating video into your emails. Instead of introducing yourself or your products by words alone, you can add the power of visual. Dang I love technology… And again, if you haven’t already done so, stop being a slacker and pony-up $150 for a simple flip camera!

2. Attach an eBook:

Ebooks are awesome for a variety of reasons, one of which is the fact that customers will actually read them. A few years ago, I wrote a 55 page eBook that teaches consumers how to buy a swimming pool and what to look for when meeting with a pool builder for the first time. Not only does this eBook sell at a national level (making me a nice supplemental income), but I also send it out for FREE with every email that goes out to a new lead. For example, lead emails will say something to this effect:

I’ve attached here a copy of my popular swimming pool eBook that sells nationally at my other website (www.PoolSchool.us). I can promise you that this 55 page guide will completely enlighten you as to the mistakes people make when purchasing a swimming pool. It will also heavily discuss pool options, pricing, sizes, manufacturers, etc. Please take the time to read its pages, as I can assure you it will be well worth your time.

As you can imagine, when a consumer, who is contemplating spending 30k+ on a swimming pool sees this, they are very likely to read the book and receive a lasting impression from the supplier of that valuable information.

3. References:

Our company sends (via attachment) a complete customer reference list to every new lead that comes to our system. In other words, before I even meet a prospect the first time they have already received 600+ names, addresses, and phone numbers of happy customers that have done business with my company. And can you imagine the reaction I get from potential clients upon receiving such a list? Nothing short of surprise and amazement are the results of such a mountain of information.

4. Links to Your Blog:

Blog, blog, blog. Along with video, blogging is the greatest marketing tool a business has in this Web/Marketing 2.0 era. This is why it’s imperative your company maintains an active blog and also why every email you send to every customer should have a link to a recent and/or applicable blog that your company has written. In the case of my business, we always place strong and eye catching article titles at the end of our emails, just before the signature, and it appears in this manner:

And make sure you review these compelling articles from our blog:

7 Deadly Sins of a Fiberglass Pool Installation

Fiberglass Pool Manufacturers: Who Will Survive?

5. Questions:

Too often, follow up emails are only about the company, and not enough about the customer. Emails should not only demonstrate to your customers that you’re a though-leader in your industry, but they should also show that you genuinely are interested in hearing the customer’s concerns, thoughts, questions, etc. This is why every email to a customer/prospect should ask at least one, if not more, questions. I’m not going to give examples of questions here because that should go without saying, but again, the key is that you actually show the customer you care by submitting the question(s) in the first place.

So those are my top 5 additions to follow up emails that just about every small business in the world should be utilizing in 2010. As you contemplate the implementation of these tools and techniques into your business, ask yourself the following question:

How many of my competitors are taking such strong action in their emails?

I’d imagine that likely none of your competitors are utilizing all of these tremendous tools, which is further reason for you to make such a change today. Do not wait. I can assure you that if you only follow these five steps you’ll see a monumental improvement in your email marketing strategy in 2010.

Questions? Comments? Agree? Think I’m a nut-cake? Come on, don’t be shy, let us know your thoughts.

Why Radio Advertising is a Really, Really Stupid Waste of Money in 2010

Marcus Sheridan — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:57:08 +0000

Just a little over a year ago I was invited to a ‘branding conference’ for Clear Channel Radio in Richmond Va. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I was quite interested to learn anything about marketing and branding that might help my company.

In cased you missed it, these day are long gone...

The conference consisted of a dynamic presenter who combined his oratory skills with substantial visual aids and charts explaining the psychology behind what it takes to achieve branding status for a small business. But within just a few shorts minutes of his linguistic eloquence, I realized that this seminar really wasn’t about small business branding at all—it was a hypnotic attempt to convince small business owners that radio was the best and most essential means of taking one’s business to the next level.

A ‘Free’ Personal Brand Manipulation

As soon as the presenter was through with his seminar, each business was given a ‘Free’ personal brand evaluation with a ‘brand consultant’ from the presenter’s company. Therefore, within minutes of listening to the electric presentation, hundreds of small businesses were sitting down with individual ‘consultants’ who were there to essentially pressure them into committing to long-term radio advertising campaigns with the ‘promise’ that they would achieve brand status within 12 months or so.

Luckily for my business partner Jason and I, we knew going in to this meeting that we would not commit to further radio advertising. Not only had we wasted thousands on this medium in past years, but this was going on right about the time when we started understanding the future of advertising, and the fact that ‘interruptive’ marketing methods like radio, TV, print etc were going the way of the dinosaur. So despite our consultant’s best and quite convincing efforts, we stood our ground and said no to signing up for a year-long radio campaign.

A Sad Waste

When I look back at this experience, I feel sadness toward the many business owners I watched that day make long-term marketing commitments they could in no way afford and that would by no means ‘brand’ them as this hired oratorical gun had promised. Frankly, this event was a slick move by Clear Channel. In my opinion, they knew radio was floundering so they brought in a company that specialized in mentally manipulating any vulnerable small business owner into spending thousands of wasteful dollars.

And when I say thousands of wasteful dollars I am by no means exaggerating. If my business partner and I had decided to do the branding campaign this company was recommending to us, we would have spent about $30,000 over the following 12 months. Although such an amount might not seem like much, for many businesses it’s a huge amount of money that could literally sink them once the monthly bills start rolling in without the promised results.

What’s crazy is that there are radio companies today singing this same tune and practicing these same manipulative measures. Despite the fact that many companies and marketing departments are finally realizing just how ineffective and wasteful radio advertising can be, there still exists a large portion of helpless business owners frankly not bright enough to see the world around them and recognize the changes within the consumer buying process and mindset.

Slow to Embrace Web 2.0

I have a friend who works for an auto dealership in Canada who told me recently about the fact that his company was spending thousands upon thousands of dollars a week on radio advertising but yet did not want to support his efforts in setting up a blog that would also promote the company. Are you kidding me? How dumb can a business possibly be??

Speaking of blogging and Search Engine Optimization, this is the exact reason why radio advertising is such a joke. Think about it for a second. If your business advertises on the radio this week, will that same add magically reappear on the airwaves in 6 months without any cost to you?? Well of course not, because every radio ad that hits the airwaves is a larger hole in your wallet. But when it comes to SEO and Blogging, these two mediums are the gift that keeps on giving. In other words, just but writing good content search engines will reward you by sending consumers back to that content OVER and OVER AGAIN. Wow, now that’s what I call a good deal. Not only is blogging and the creation of quality content essentially free, but it will also be a never ending seed that produces more and more fruit over time. How about that for a Return on Investment?

But don’t get me wrong here. There are occasions and instances when radio may be a good option as a marketing medium for small businesses (So don’t email me upon reading this and scream from the rooftops that radio sometimes works). Such occasions may be to announce company sales or similar events, but in general a long-term campaign on the radio is an absolute waste of money when one compares it to the return on investment from a solid internet/SEO/social media marketing campaign.

Facebook vs Radio

For example, I have a very good friend here in Virginia, Talmadge Newsome, who owns a successful ‘mom and pop’ style burger joint called Newsomes. Because Talmadge has such a small marketing budget and could never afford the miserable results of radio advertising, he has leveraged Facebook as his advertising platform over the past year. This has resulted in over 500+ fans to his Facebook Group page and has lead to more traffic to his company website as well as more food sales at the counter. Every day, Talmadge updates his company’s group page with daily specials, general announcements, videos, and photos. So while many of his competitors are wasting their hard-earned dollars on radio ads that essentially are saying all these same things, Talmadge is doing it all for FREE. Nope, it hasn’t cost him one stinking dime to do all he has done thus far on Facebook. This is a perfect example of how to leverage social media as a business and another example as to why anyone choosing radio over internet marketing is living in the stone-ages.

So if you are debating on sinking more and more of your hard-earned dollars on radio advertising, I’d strongly urge you to get with the 21^st century and invest your money into your website. Start a blog. Embrace such platforms as Facebook and other social media. Take back the keys to your company website and stop paying someone to do what you should be doing. Realize your own creative powers and abilities as a business owner by leveraging Content Management Systems that allow any dummy (like me) to build and design their own web site.

All of the tools and actions are within everyone’s capabilities in 2010, it only take the understanding that times have changed and in reality, such changes are wonderful for the business owner that wants to spend less on advertising but receive so much more.

Your Thoughts?

So what are your thoughts on radio? Are you still using it effectively and think I’m nuts? Has social media or blogging enhanced your company’s marketing efforts? As always, I am grateful to those persons who put their thoughts and opinions below.