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Dean Mercado's Marketing Minute


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Social Networking: 10 Keys to Increase Your Networking Success Online (Part II)

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Dean Mercado in Networking, Social Media Leave a comment

In Part I of this two-part article series, I shared five keys to increase your networking success online using Social Networking. To quickly summarize, they were:

  1. Personalize Your Invitations to Connect
  2. You’ve Got to Give In Order to Get
  3. Think Quality, Not Quantity
  4. Be Authentic
  5. Open the Door and Let Them In

Now there are tons of additional keys that we could talk about, however here are five more great ones that if you apply them diligently, only good things will happen.

6. Know Your “Why”
There’s that dreaded question again… you know… the one you know you need to ask yourself but you often hate to… what’s your “why”… What’s your “why” or your reason for social networking in the first place? And what results are you seeking for your efforts? Knowing your “why” is not only critical for your success in Social Networking, but for any marketing activity you engage in.

7. Wherever You Choose To Play, Play Hard
As much as you may like to, you just can’t market yourself effectively on every Social Networking site out there… there are just too many them. I’m not saying not to have a profile in a bunch of them… I’m all for free marketing. What I am saying is choose a select few to play hard in. These should be the ones that strategically give you the best chance at connecting with your target market. Go deeper than just creating a profile. Use these to connect with others regularly and build strong relationships… the kind of relationships that may eventually bear fruit.

8. The Power Is In the Follow Up
Just like in the offline world, it’s not enough to meet someone once, exchange business cards, and do nothing. If your objective was to do nothing, why waste your time, and theirs, in the first place… time is money. Have a plan for follow-up! Know “who” you’re going to follow-up with… by “when”. And know “how” you’re going to follow-up with them… and “why”. As you mine your contacts deeper by continually following-up, the real gold starts to surface. Remember it’s not only who they are that counts, but who they know as well. And people generally are more likely to introduce you to their network once they know, like, and trust you… so continue nurturing those relationships and watch new doorways open!

9. Be a Connector
Want to improve the quality of both your current and future contacts? Then make it a primary objective to continually find ways to add value to them. The Law of Attraction tends to kick in here as like attracts like. The more value you give, the more value you get as others tend to flock to and mirror those they respect and appreciate. The best way to add value to relationships, help others get what they want. Regardless of what it is they want, just about anything is possible through relationships. So who do you know that may add value to someone else you know? Connect them and they’ll both be grateful that you were thinking of them. And because of the “Law of Reciprocity”… as author Robert Cialdini shares in his great book “Influence”… those now happy contacts quite possibly will feel a sense of obligation to reciprocate and help you back.

10. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For What You Want
It’s this simple… you don’t ask… you don’t get. In my observations, people are generally very willing to help others… they’re just not sure how they can… so tell them how… give them a little nudging. Be willing to ask for help and get others in the habit of helping you. No one should be above asking for help once in a while. Just don’t become a “taker”… you know… someone who’s apparently only concerned with their own well-being.

So in closing, Social Networking can be a tremendously valuable marketing strategy for both you and your business. I highly recommend that if you haven’t already, make the effort to test the waters a bit and see whether or not it makes sense for you. But remember, you’re likely to get out of it what you put into it, so if you’re going to play here, play hard. In order to really benefit from Social Networking or any type of networking activity for that matter, continually work at establishing mutually meaningful and lucrative relationships.

Copyright 2008 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.


In Regards to Marketing… let Freedom Ring!

Posted on July 2, 2007 by Dean Mercado in Marketing Strategy 1 Comment

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th President of the United States from 1953-1961)

Every 4th of July, with barbeques blazing and skyrockets soaring, here in the states, we sure know how to celebrate our freedom. And fortunately for us, the extent of our freedom goes way beyond that very special day. As Americans, our civil liberties grant us the right to be, do, or have whatever we want, so long as we abide by our laws and no one gets hurt in the process.

Our limits become only the ones we set upon ourselves — both personally and professionally. So in essence, freedom is not enough; it’s how we exercise our freedoms that make us truly free.

Let me explain.

Whether you are either an independent professional or a small business owner, your freedoms of speech and self-expression allow you to promote and “brand” yourself and your business pretty much however and whenever you choose.

Essentially, you’re the artist. You paint the picture you want your target market to see. Then you show it to them whenever you want.

Now unless you’re playing out a specific game, withholding that picture from those who could clearly benefit from it is simply negligence — that is, once again, so long as you don’t have a specific reason for doing so.

As a marketing coach and consultant, it amazes me how often I see businesses for whatever reason being stingy with their marketing, yet complaining that business is slow. I’ve heard 1001 excuses why they couldn’t market themselves… “I have no money”… “No time”… “I don’t know how”… etc. etc. etc. I’m sorry but with today’s resources available, especially with the availability of the Internet, there just is no excuse.

I firmly believe that it’s our duty as businesspeople to consistently educate our target market on what we make possible for them through our products and services — our marketing is simply a vehicle for communicating that.

As a free market society, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how good we’ve got it. Imagine a world where you weren’t free to market your business. How would your target market find you? How would they know to even look for you in the first place? How long do you honestly think your business would last? — Probably not very long.

Well lack of marketing will most certainly bring the very same result. But what’s worse is you having a choice of either success or failure and choosing failure by opting to not market yourself effectively.

In our free market society, your marketing becomes the sustenance needed to make your business not only survive, but thrive. Stop nurturing your business by not marketing, and it will most certainly wither and die.

In a nutshell, effective marketing builds strong roots, and strong roots bear healthy fruits.

So in closing, I’d like to leave you with some questions to ponder. Are you fully leveraging the freedoms available to you and effectively marketing your business? If so, how and how often? Do you have a marketing plan? If so, does it position you to fully leverage the freedoms bestowed upon you?

Copyright 2007 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.


A Handful of Tips to Spruce-Up Your Networking

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Dean Mercado in Marketing Strategy, Networking Leave a comment

“It’s not what you know but who you know that makes the difference.” –Anonymous

I bet there’s a good chance you’ve heard that saying before – it certainly packs a punch doesn’t it?

It’s much like that age-old question… “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

In other words as I always say, you can be the best at what you do, however if the people who you want to know about you don’t, then how good are you really?! Essentially, your value to your target market will not be where you want, or need it to be.

So here comes networking to the rescue… right? …or right!

Remember, we can give 2 people the same set of tools, abilities and opportunities and get 2 totally different results. So networking can only help you if you’re willing to help yourself.

With that being said, here are a handful of tips that you can apply immediately to spruce up your networking to give it the best chance to make a difference for you and your business.

Sharpen Your Saw!
As Stephen Covey so wonderfully puts it in his highly acclaimed gem-of-a-book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, habit number 7 is the habit of self-renewal or as he calls it “Sharpen the Saw™”. In this habit you are the saw, and as I see it and adapt it to our conversation here, you should continually seek to improve your tools, abilities and opportunities to get better results from your networking.

So how do you do that?

First, take a look at your props, tools, and systems such as your business card, your brochures, your web site, your elevator speech, your follow-up procedures as well as any other supporting props, tools, and systems that you normally would use or reference in a networking scenario.

Now evaluate what’s working, what’s not working as well as what changes you could make that would make a difference in the results you get from your networking and go ahead and make whatever changes to those props, tools, and systems that make sense for you right now.

Also, anything worth doing is worth doing well, so study the art of networking… pick up a book or two on the topic and freshen up your knowledge on the subject… give yourself permission to gain some new insights and perspective on networking.

Additionally, I would even go as far as to include things like your wardrobe, even down to your grooming. Go ahead and get that great haircut so you feel great – you’d be surprised about how we allow our perception of how we look dictate how we feel and ultimately how productive we are at any given moment.

My point here is to get a real grip on how you’re showing up to your target market through your ability to network effectively.

Choose Better Targets
Determine where it makes the most sense to play and play there… but don’t just play… play hard… play to win! Don’t waste your precious time playing where it does not serve you… it’s that simple. So go ahead and evaluate the current networking organizations that you belong to and once again evaluate what’s working, what’s not working as well as what changes you could make that would make a difference in the results you get from your networking and go ahead and make whatever changes make sense for you right now.

Practice, Practice, Practice!
Like anything else practice makes perfect! Well if not perfect, at least it will allow you to be as effective as you can be. With networking, it’s not enough to just be ‘book smart’, excellence is attained through experience!

So in closing, take a hard and close look at both your inner-self as well as your outer-self. Additionally, take a look at where you’re playing and practice your way to success. In essence, maximize what’s working and replace what’s not working with something that will.

Copyright 2007 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.


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