In his video Qualman asks, “Is Social Media a Fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?”

If you’re a small business owner that is still sitting on the sidelines of social media marketing, watching this video is a wise use of 4 minutes.

Best quote: “We no longer search for news–it finds us. In the near term we won’t search any longer for products and services–they will find us via social media”

My favorite small business-impacting stats from the video:

- If Facebook were a country it would be the 4th largest (China, India, US, Facebook)
- 25% of search results on world’s top 20 largest brands are links to User Generated Content
- 34% of the world’s 200,000,000 bloggers post opinions about products and brands
- For most brands, their social graph is a more important ranking than their rank on Google

Read Erik Qualman’s list of statistic sources here. The 180+ blog post comments are interesting too.

Are your small business products and services ready to be found via social media?

For those of you producing and selling a ‘lumpy object’ like a beverage, or widget —you’ve got to be innovative in order to get your potential customers to sample/try  your product.  One proven business to consumer approach is to take a page from the Jones Soda Co. story.

Hang Out Where Your Customers Are

In 1996 CEO Peter van Stolk launched Jones Soda by making coolers of the brand new soda available in independent music stores, tattoo parlors, and surf, snowboarding and ski shops, among others.   Peter van Stolk really knew his customers and where they hung out.

He took one giant genius step further to connect with his consumers.  He invited them to be an integral part of this new brand.  Jones Soda customers submit their own photos online for use on the constantly-changing soda bottle labels.

Jones Soda built its brand the old fashioned way.  They earned it using word of mouth.  Today (according to the firm’s web site) the soda is sold in major retailers including Starbucks, Panera Bread, Barnes & Noble, Safeway, Target, Cost Plus,
7-Eleven stores and more. (Follow Jones on Twitter.)

Peter van Stolk would probably agree with Mark Rampolla, the CEO/Founder of Zico Coconut Water about how to connect with customers when launching a new product.

Build an Intimate Relationship

Rampolla said in a recent quote in a WSJ article here (subscription required)

“The best way to build a brand, particularly a beverage, is to build an intimate relationship with consumers using one-to-one marketing.”

Zico is a health oriented sports drink and knew that folks working out intensively—like in Yoga classes—would benefit from the potassium and other healthy attributes.  So the startup connected with consumers by establishing a partnership with a well known yoga guru.   Forbes.com reports that Zico’s founder

spent two years handing out the coconut drink in yoga studios, where it is often now sold.  The brand has been embraced by a yoga guru, Bikram Choudhury,

Sounds like this one-to-one approach to building an intimate relationship with consumers is paying off for Zico Coconut Water.  Forbes.com also noted that they’ve grown 300 percent in the last year.  Of course Zico has some company (competition) in winning customers in the emerging coconut healthy water market.

It will be interesting to see how the different marketing approaches taken by the coco water companies work out.

Use New & Old Marketing

To create more buzz, Zico is applying both traditional and new, social media marketing to get the word out.  Follow Zico on Twitter.

• They placed Zico logos on pedicabs; WSJ ran a cool pic alongside the article.
• Outreach to bloggers: A quick Google search shows the Zico drink is getting some ink on several fitness type bloggers.  One, Biking Diva wrote a nice post about trying the product after receiving a sample from Zico’s PR person.  The Bike Diva’s post is here.

• Traditional Public Relations:  Zico’s PR firm is doing a nice job, they’ve appeared in Redbook magazine among others.

Can you find more ways to connect (personally) with your consumers?  Are you hanging out where your customers hang out?

Update: Building both consumer relationships & buzz maybe paying off for Zico.  Just found this Reuters news release from Aug. 28, 2009:

Coca-Cola Co is near a deal to invest in Zico, a California-based maker of coconut water drinks, according to industry publication Beverage Digest.  Beverage Digest reported news of the possible Coke-Zico deal late on Thursday via Twitter, and Sicher confirmed the Twitter report to Reuters on Friday.

Success in the new world of marketing is based largely on creating and publishing killer content that attracts prospects to your site.   Marketing is—always has been—99 percent education.

Photo: iStock.com

The so-called ‘content marketing’ approach boils down to doing (on your site) what you do best when you’re talking face-to-face with prospects and customers: educate them on how to solve problems and achieve goals.

Create Compelling Content: You’ll benefit from providing regular updates of fresh content that get web (or blog) visitors so excited about your approach/way of thinking/solutions that they return or call you.  Or (even better) make a purchase.  Mastering the latest social media tools like Twitter or Facebook alone won’t make you successful without useful content that helps buyers solve problems.

So if the business with the best website content, wins.  What does the ‘best content’ mean?  Content that works hard:

• Educating prospects on a variety of ways to solve a problem

• Sharing your knowledge freely about solving problems

• Explaining objectively the pros and cons of multiple solutions (including those that you do not offer)

• Creating an online video series to demonstrate solutions

• Demonstrating how to solve the problem at hand for the web visitor. (Think ‘beginner customers/prospects’.)

Content Worth Sharing: Do you open links to articles sent to you by trusted friends and colleagues? I sure do.  Think about the value of creating content that web visitors and your loyal customers send along as links to their contacts.  That’s inbound marketing, viral marketing or word of mouth marketing at it’s best!

Consider the pass-along aspect when you’re developing content ideas.  How can you create content that your customers will share with others?   Some people believe that you can’t miss with ‘how to’ content.

Keywords are (well) Key: Prepare your valuable content using the same keywords your buyers use when searching online for solutions.  Customers love valuable, specific, no-nonsense problem-solving content.   And using the right keywords in your content makes your corporate web site more “findable” by your target customers.

‘Listen’ Online for Content Topics: How do you decide what to write about?  How do you find the specific compelling topics that your customers are trying to find answers to?  First, you  “listen” to the online conversation.  You monitor what’s being discussed, asked, requested, and debated.

More hints for content inspiration:

• What are the most commonly asked questions by prospects?
• What are the most frequently asked questions by users and customers?

• What are the questions customers forget to ask when they begin using your products and services?

• Which topics would make useful online videos?  Helpful PowerPoint online videos?

Any other ideas for content inspiration? Stop by the excellent Marketing Interactions blog here for more on content for customers, content for prospects.

When speaking with startup company founders and small business owners, I constantly ask how they are marketing their products and services.   How are they getting the word out to their target customers?   How do startups build buzz? 

In short, how do small businesses leverage that best of all possible small business marketing power tools—word of mouth?  I blogged about the kind of word of mouth marketing efforts using a well-known blog that resulted in sales and (overnight) business growth for a startup company here.

Recently I met a young woman entrepreneur here in San Diego and her marketing approach is insightful for small business owners.  Nicol Atkins, Founder and CEO of DiRTY ReD, Athletic Wear for Women, is combining her passion for running and her love of design to start up an exciting athletic wear venture.

Nicol is an experienced designer who has a degree in Apparel Manufacturing and Design working for companies like JCPenney, private label design companies and Mattel.  She was later inspired to build her own company, using everything she learned about design and understanding customers.

She designed her brand’s look and feel (logo, web site design) to stand out from the others in her space. It is an inspired look; one she needs going up against giant competitors like Nike and Reebok.

The mission for DiRTY ReD is to provide busy women who love to work out with a comfortable, stylish alternative in running and exercise wear.  Busy moms who carve out time to run or work out, often must run errands and pick up kids in their workout wear.  That was Nicol’s challenge.  So this marathon-runner, former fashion designer and mother of two created this great line of workout wear. 

Nicol spends a lot of time at racing events and fitness expositions, selling product and talking to other female athletes.   Even though she does very well at the events most of her time is spent getting customer feedback. Customer likes, dislikes and how they would love to feel in athletic wear that fits great.  It fits great because it is designed specifically for women.  

Here are some highlights from this entrepreneur’s new marketing approach. 

• DiRTY ReD Athletic Wear for women’s designs are based on personal experience and feedback Nicol gathers from her core audience:  women who love to run and workout.
• She constantly attends running and other athletic events where women athletes participate.  She spends time in conversations with them about their needs and preferences for workout clothing.
• To encourage word of mouth, Nicol has formed groups of women that share a common passion for working out and supporting each other. These groups have grown into communities–the best possible outcome for small businesses.  This community is now called TEAM DiRTY ReD and they workout and compete with each other buying gear at a group rate and having parties similar to your basic Avon/Tupperware parties to promote the line to their friends.
• Nicol faithfully publishes a monthly e-newsletter, sharing company updates, running events and workout tips.  Email newsletters, with great content and pass-long value, like DiRTY ReD’s, continue to be highly effective word of mouth marketing tools.

Nicol recently added a blog page for her TEAM DiRTY ReD groups here.  This blog will share race, friendship and product experiences across the country.  It will be a great cross-promote for the brand.

I plan to record a podcast interview with Nicol Akins about launching and marketing DiRTY ReD Gear soon.  Check back and learn more about DiRTY ReD’s approach.

This is a post from: SmallCompanyBigImage

Related posts:

What Is Social Media & Why Should Small Businesses Care?

Email Marketing Is Like Smart Farming

Small businesses are blogging for all of the well-documented reasons:

• Search engines love fresh content: new posts, links, content with keywords
• It’s easier to update a blog (for most of us) than it is to add new content to your company web site
• Blogs offer you a way to be your own public relations wizard—publish stories about your company’s new products and service (using an educational approach–not marketing or selling)
• Blogs are one of the best ways to establish you and your company as industry experts

What if your small business is in another type of industry that does not seem to lend itself to blogging?

For example, a swimming pool company, office furniture provider or plumber? What if there are no major bloggers in your space? Hooray! You can be the first small business blog for buyers of swimming pools, expert bicycles or fill-in-the blank.

It’s All About Your Customers’ Problems

When thinking about topics to start and keep a blog going, consider the conversations you have with your current customers, your prospective buyers and even your partners.

Here are some key questions to ask yourself, as you consider starting a blog for your small business:

1. What are the most common questions you hear from current customers? Since blogs are conversations, your company blog can focus on sharing …the variety of ways to solve problems that your customer audience deals with everyday. Blog about the solutions only a few people have thought about. Share your most frequently asked questions and answers. Sharing well-explained questions and answers on your blog can improve the experience (and your brand).

2. What are the different problems, questions that your sales team hears from prospective buyers? For people not using your products and services yet, think about the most common issues they face. Think of the type of information you offer during your first sales call with a future customer. This can be a treasure trove of customer conversation (blog) topics.

3. What is the most common type of email message your company sends to existing customers? Set aside a quiet Saturday afternoon (soon, before the summer weather makes it harder) and look over all of your customer correspondence: emails, letters, customer service log books. What are the problems that are encountered over and over? How could you create a blog post, or series of blog articles, to explain the choices of solutions available to your customers?

4. How much and what kind of information do you share with prospective buyers of your products or services as you’re closing the sale? To attract potential buyers to your blog (or even web site) think about the kinds of information that they want to know. What are the most frequently asked questions by prospects? Also, check in with partners that refer potential buyers to you. Ask them to describe the buying signals that indicate it’s time to refer a customer to your company. How do your partners know a customer needs your products/services?

Blogs have, as predicted by Robert Scobel and Shel Israel’s 2006 in their book, Naked Conversations, changed the way businesses talk to customers.

Isn’t it time you looked at new ways to use the Internet to talk with your current and future customers?

Related posts:

1. Very Cool Small Business Blogger from Blogworld
2. Why (A Few) Executives Use Blogs to Communicate with Their Customers

After seeing dozens of news stories about the “Will It Blend?” online videos from Blendtec (the devices blend golf balls, cigarette lighters, iPhone…) seeing the results from this now- legendary small business marketing tactic is impressive.

According to Inc.com Magazine , Blendtec’s viral online videos netted not only 35 million YouTube views but a nice bump in sales.  The company’s annual revenues jumped from $2 million (2006) to an estimated $10 million.   Blendtec’s web videos were dirt-cheap to produce, 50 bucks for the first 5 videos and distributed on YouTube for free.  The rest is, as they say, history.

If you are into ads, the Inc. article reports that the online ad company DoubleClick noted that online ads featuring videos have higher click-through rates than ads with text or graphics.

Inc.’s article also demonstrates how a marketing investment of $5,000 for three online videos can be used effectively.  Portland-based Gdiapers, a small company producing and distributing eco-friendly diapers, tapped a film maker to help them create the videos posted on their web site.  The videos were created to explain how the reusable diapers and disposable liners are used and how they decompose.   The Founder said that the videos are among the most popular parts of their site, www.gdiapers.com

The time-lapse web video comparing their decomposition to traditional diapers is my favorite.  Of course, the one with the cute baby is hard to beat too.

I think this is a very effective use of new media.  The value of the videos will keep on giving.  I hope that gDiapers uploads the online videos to YouTube for further exposure.  What a great way to stimulate more word of mouth about gDiapers!

What do you think?

See complete Inc. article here.

The name of the service is, AudioGenerator and it’s evidently been working well for him. It promises to take the pain out of collecting the testimonials from your busy customers for you.  No more phone and email tag to confirm the quote!  Your customers log on at the AudioGenerator web site, record their quote and then (it seems that ) the system does the rest.  It promises to be as easy as leaving a voice mail.  Sounds great!  I think I’ll try it and let you know how it works.

Jones Soda (their complete story is here) began as a beverage distributor in the late 1980s and by 1996 had established its own unique brand, in an industry full of Coke-and-Pepsi behemoths.  In the words of the founder and CEO Peter van Stolk, "The big guys spill more soda in a day than we sell."   Jones Soda built their popular brand from the ground up, getting to know their customers (teens and young adults) and selling soda at Xtreme sports events, tattoo parlors and independent music stores. They created passionate fans—even using customers’ own photos on their unique soda bottle labels.  Jones Soda is now available at national retailers such as Panera, Barnes & Noble, and Target and has expanded into a successful online music store, MyJonesMusic.com. And it all started with word-of-mouth, grassroots marketing.

Sprint/Nextel recently launched the Sprint Ambassador program.  The company leveraged the blogosphere by offering a free phone and six months service to about 400 bloggers. The result was 389,000 hits on Google, said David Dickey, Sprint online and interactive advertising manager.  "We have more than dipped our toes in the space now," he said, according to www.DMNews.com Sprint experienced the risk of the lack of control that is typical in word-of-mouth marketing.

Mr. Dickey said that the effort generated both positive and negative feedback on the brand. Sprint’s experience demonstrates that businesses must prepare themselves for anything and define specific success metrics before beginning word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth requires that marketers and business owners keep a close watch on what is said about their brand and how the conversation impacts the specific initiative. 

Stormhoek Vineyards is a South African winery that wanted to increase sales of their wines in England and France. They knew that had to do something to make them stand out in a cluttered market. So last year they turned to Hugh Macleod, a well-known European blogger and artist known for cartoons that are drawn on the back of business cards.

Macleod set up a program where he offered a free bottle of Stormhoek wine to the first 100 bloggers each in England and France who contacted him. In order to receive a free bottle the bloggers had to be of legal drinking age, been actively blogging for at least three months and live in either England or France. They were not required to talk about the wine.

What happened was that they did, indeed, talk about the wine and as a result created enormous buzz in the industry. All the talk stimulated sales and the result was that Stormhoek doubled its sales within a year. They have embraced blogging and WOM. If you follow the link to their site you’ll see that it is not a traditional web site but in blog format. Total cost, $400 of blogging software and whatever they paid Macleod. We are sure it was significantly less than the ad budgets ofNapa
Valley vintners who attempt to grow market share.

Here is a blog post   from a U.K. blogger talking about Stormhoek’s rapid, international growth stimulated in large part from their use of blogs & established bloggers.

Lessons learned:

1. Use blogging to reach your market and grow your business.

2. Reach out (respectfully) to bloggers with good followings in your target market.  Make a create offer to get them engaged with your products or service.

3. Take action based on the feedback from the blogosphere.  It is gold.   It is some of the most cost-effective market research you will ever obtain.

So, Michael believes that White Paper Podcasts are a potential, but not here yet.  And he cites recent well-documented research.  I suggest, to businesses selling to other businesses—especially small/growing companies, why wait? 

From the perspective of Geoffrey Moore’s longstanding technology adoption curve, Podcasting is easily out of the innovation stage.  And it’s most likely more than half way through the early adopters’ stage.   ’Barriers to entry’ are low:  iPods or other MP3 players are not necessary in order to listen to a Podcast (despite the name).  Podcasts are played easily on any computer with a sound card.

I’m not advocating that recording white papers as audio casts or Podcasts will replace all white papers.  Highly technical white papers focused on selling to engineers and requiring detailed schematics to make the case, will continue to be paper-documents.   I’m suggesting that with a new product or release, along with all of the other marketing content—technical sheets, capabilities brochures, etc.—you add in a 20-25 minute audio recording with the design team.  It’s an informal conversation with you team. 

A Podcast reveals the actual ‘voice’ and passion behind the product.  Prospects will think to themselves, "Hey—this is not just a widget or piece of software. There are authentic, real folks at this company who believe passionately in what there’re doing."  You could also add a beta customer to the conversation, making the Podcast communication a word of mouth tool as well.

Why wait for your competitors to be the first to Podcast white papers in your industry?

My anecdotal findings:

• Based on discussions with technology entrepreneurs and C-Suite members of startups is that they listen to business Podcasts or audio casts while commuting, working out, or during other ‘dead’ times (plane trips) —they’re not just listening to music on those iPods/MP3 players.   Additionally, they also listen at their desks, on their computers, as background while working.
• Podcasts are showing up even in more traditional industries—Instrumentation & Automation for example.   ControlGlobal.com, the online version of Control Magazine, now includes a Podcast Library. 

MarketingSherpa’s new Business Technology Marketing: Practical Benchmark Data for 2006 report includes fresh insights on the Podcast topic–among tons of other useful updated findings.  (A free overview of report in a PowerPoint is here)

As part of the study, they asked approximately 650 technology and services buyers what most influenced a purchase made in the last year that they were actually a part of.  Now admittedly, Podcasts scored the lowest 2.7 percent—but they are on the radar screen.

As a side note on MarketingSherpa’s Technology Marketing: Practical Benchmark Data for 2006 —word of mouth scored as the highest influence to a tech or service purchase—48 percent.  And when you add in other word of mouth-oriented influences (blogs) the word of mouth influences are pretty high:

vendor blogs: 4.6 %

technology professional’s blogs: 19.6%

industry bulletin boards: 19.6%

(The numbers exceed 100 percent because interviewees were asked to list all of the influences on a recent technology, services purchase.)

Source: MarketingSherpa’s Technology Marketing: Practical Benchmark Data for 2006

What does it all amount to? Giving your small company, a big image.

If you’ve ever heard Tom Peters speak in person, you know how unlike the other 99.99% of speakers he is. I had the luxury of hearing him in the early 1990s—he was light years ahead when it comes to down-to-earth approaches and plain talk to get his elegant, insightful, visionary business and leadership ideas across.   Okay, I admit it. I am a devoted Tom Peters fan.

So, am I thrilled that I found this at a recent post of his blog, Tom Peters Weblog? Yes!  He posted the slides from his presentation at the National Enterprise Innovation Conference B2B/London/27June 2006 

Now he does not actually call it word of mouth, but tell me if you don’t agree that in fact that’s what he’s saying

Tom Peters slides in (very small) part say:

This is not about  "customer centrism"

"integrated marketing"

etc

It is about sellin’ a whole lotta stuff and

love  to the point that they

tell every damn friend they have

and then start buttonholing strangers on trains and planes and busses. 

By the way, he creates the most unusual PowerPoint slides anywhere. Be sure to download them and tell me what you think. 

Now all we have to do is uncover ways to make our customers "go beserk with love…."