Rich Brooks | flyte new media | takeflyte.com | twitter.com/therichbrooks

LISTEN.

Listening well will never go out of style. People will always need to

be heard and understood, and organizations will always need to

understand what their customers want. Using tools like Google

Alerts and Hootsuite to listen will not only never go out of style, it

will always be an easy way to set yourself apart from the

competition. Why? Because most brands don’t listen well.

~ John Haydon

MAKE IT EASY.

Make buying easy. No matter what you sell, make the buying (and

consuming) experience as friction free as possible.

How many steps does someone have to go through to buy from

you?

What could you eliminate to streamline the process? Similarly,

what could you can add before or after the sale to enhance the

experience? Make buying easy (and dare I say fun?) and your

conversions will go up on the front end and you’ll experience more

repeat sales on the backend.

~ Stu McLaren

CONNECT.

Make a list of 100 people in your target market you would like to

connect with.

Create 3 letters (intro yourself, ask about a big challenge, tell

them about something they may be interested in and if you haven’t

heard from them ask if they are the right person to talk to) that

you will send to them over a 6 week period.

Follow up with a phone call after the letters.

~ Mike Ambassador Bruny

OWN THE CONVERSATION.

Be obsessed with listening to your prospects and customers. What

are their worries, fears, questions, concerns, and frustrations?

Now, instead of shying away from those worries, fears, questions,

concerns, and frustrations– embrace them.

Talk about them. Own the conversation. That’s the essence of

great content today, tomorrow, and in 50 dang years from now.

~ Marcus Sheridan

FREQUENCY ISN’T A BAD THING.

Social reach and frequency are tangential to good marketing, as long as your

content is relevant to your market. How many times does a potential customer or

partner need to see your message before they convert? You might as well ask how

many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop (remember that old TV

commercial?).

Some will bite after a dozen licks; for others, it’s three—depends on where your

audience is in a given moment when they see your message. And remember, you’re

not just talking to one person here—you’re getting in front of your audience’s

friends and their friends as well. The more the merrier. So do not forget about good

ole “reach and frequency.”

Personally, I think every college student graduating with a marketing degree,

every graduating MBA student, and those in the marketing department of

brands, agencies and anyone responsible for marketing and

especially social media, should have to re-learn Marketing 101.

From here on out, social is going to play a significant role in

doing business—but that doesn’t mean we throw out the baby

with the bathwater.

~ Ted Rubin

ASK.

Respond to your audience’s engagement with a simple question…

‘What are you struggling with?’ The wealth of information you will

gather is priceless. Creating our 7-figure community was really that

simple. We asked the question, listened to the answers of our

audience, and provided them with the solution to their struggle.

The result? Over 1600 members in Podcasters’ Paradise creating,

growing, and monetizing their podcast! IGNITE!

~ John Lee Dumas

SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM.

Solve a problem. Something that your customers struggle with

daily. Solve it with style, make your customer’s life easier as a

result of using it, and market it based off of the pre-built

relationship you have with your prospective and existing customer

base.

Don’t over-think ‘selling’, if you do, you’ll fail. Just build the

relationship and solve the problem – if you do, the ‘close’ will

happen all by itself.

~ Chris Ducker

KEEP YOUR PROMISES.

My services range from $200 to $20,000 and in all cases, keeping

promises is the one uber-simple strategy that never fails.

Sending proposals, follow-up calls, even passing on a contact you

mentioned all go on an invisible scale.

Use only one reminder tool and keep the side for ‘promises kept’

full and you will enjoy raving fans and a loyal following.

~ Hugh Culver

SEEK TO UNDERSTAND.

A marketing “tactic” that never goes out of style is focusing your

copywriting around expanding on the most important benefits to the

client, or about tackling and eliminating their most daunting objection. To

do this – you actually have to (go figure) – truly understand your prospect.

This can be done through surveys, calling customers and prospects

directly, or other research methods (I recommend CALLING buyers and

asking them questions straight up).

The ninja tool I like best (and leverage best for clients) for converting

marketing copy is email, and so I’m sharing video on writing email copy

that drive sales by focusing on the most important benefits and objections

first – I hope it’s helpful!

~ Dan Faggella

GET INBOUND LINKS.

Continue to add listings to local and national web directories that

are either very credible, (Think Best of the Web.com) or are right

smack dab in the middle of your business niche.

Backlinks from relevant websites are still very important for the

search engines. Obtain both free listings and paid listings.

Your business website will benefit from the links, and your business

will benefit from the increased exposure online.

~ Joel Libava

GO WHERE YOUR CUSTOMERS GO.

Marketers need to embrace SMS text message marketing. 90% of

text messages are read within 3 minutes. 109.5 text messages on

average are sent per day. Many customers today are more active on

text than email or social.

Business that learn ways to add text messaging to their business

will be in great position to communicate with the mobile customer.

Learn how to get started here.

~ Greg Hickman

GET YOUR AUDIENCE INVOLVED.

When creating a live broadcast or webinar, do your best to get live

interaction integrated into the show even if others are mainly

watching a recorded version.

comments on the screen so they are captured in the recorded

video. Live interactive shows help you build trust very efficiently &

showing the viewer’s comments on the recorded video empowers

them because they were part of the show.

This also encourages your featured viewers to share the recording

or event with others helping you grow your reach in the fastest and

most authentic way possible.

~ Ronnie Bincer

FOCUS ON CUSTOMER ACQUISITION.

If you want to adhere to an online marketing strategy for your

business that will stand the test of time, the key is to keep one

goal in mind: customer acquisition.

If you do everything with the assumption that your customers could

see it all, then you won’t be tempted to buy cheap links on link

farms, publish $5 articles, or automate your Facebook page with

tweets. With customer acquisition in mind, you will only want to

invest in high-quality content, social media engagement, and

search optimization.

~ Kristi Hines

THINK LIFETIME VALUE.

Most marketers that end up failing fail because they do everything

to drive the first sale and put no energy into the relationship post-

sale. They work “the top of the funnel”. Then it stops. After the

first sale, you should double down on delivering value which will

lead to additional revenue from that same customer.

In summary, a marketing tactic that will be relevant no matter if

we’re in an age of direct response, social marketing, or some new

form of marketing none of us know about yet is to think in terms of

lifetime value of a customer and not just the amount they initially

pay you.

~ Nathan Latka

GET AMAZING TESTIMONIALS.

~ Michael Stelzner

MAKE A CONNECTION.

Personal connections will never go out of style and never have they

been more important. The best use of social media and email

marketing is to develop systems that scale one’s chances of being

able to make a personal connection with a desired customer.

Once that opportunity presents itself, take full advantage and stay

up until 4am if need be taking full advantage of the situation when

it does arise.”

~ Jonathan Goodman

PROVIDE VALUE.

One thing that never goes out of fashion is providing value with

your marketing.

How can you entertain, educate or inspire your customers with the

valuable content your create for them?

Value breeds trust and trust breeds business.

~ David Kerpen - CEO of Likeable Local and NYT Bestselling

Author of 3 books

BUILD TRUST…SLOWLY.

“So many marketers propose marriage as soon as they gather an

email, where they need to warmup the lead.

Let me explain. People buy from people that they relate to and

trust, so why not send a series of emails that provide value while

asking for a small action and then gradually asking for more and

more engagement.

One of the best emails I send to my audience is what is your biggest

challenge. It is amazing how many people respond and clients that

I gain.

~ Jason Swenk

BE FINDABLE.

If you’re a local business, make sure your N.A.P. (Name, Address &

Phone Number) information is up to date and consistent on your

website, your Google My Business Page, the top yellow pages/local

directories and the top directories in your industry.

This will help your business’ visibility on these sites and its local

rankings in Google. You can check your NAP issues on some of the

top sites with Yext and if you want to go deeper we’ve put

together a Google Doc with all of the steps to do a comprehensive

Local SEO Audit.

~ Andrew Shotland

CREATE EVERGREEN CONTENT.

Evergreen content is the ridiculously powerful gift that keeps on giving and

should be an integral component in your content marketing mix.

For example, we created this guide to the Google AdWords auction three

years ago, to answer a common question: “What is Google AdWords?”

WordStream invested $1,500 in its creation and it has paid off us back

many times over, attracting over 8,000 visits per month and earning

countless citations from high value sites, week after week to present day.

The best evergreen content – the kind that will rank for super competitive

terms and attract traffic for years – is useful, timeless, and offers a

comprehensive solution or answer to a common issue among your target

audience.

~ Larry Kim

THANK YOUR CUSTOMER.

I have always found that there is something special about sending a

hand written note letting a customer know how much you

appreciate them.

If you can include something specific that makes you thankful that

they are your customer it shows that you didn’t just crank out a

robotic note but you genuinely care about them as a person as well

as their business.

It seems so old school but people stay where they are appreciated.

~ Derek Volk

GO BACK TO THE WELL FOR

WHAT WORKS..

If you’ve created a pin that’s gained a lot of repins in the past or

has been known to drive traffic to your site, don’t be afraid to

repin that same pin again a few weeks later.

This is especially true for pin that deal with topics that are

evergreen, such as “Ten Ways to Drive More Traffic With Social

Media.”

This way a whole new audience, that never had a chance to see the

pin, has the chance to see it.

~ Vincent Ng

PUT YOUR CUSTOMER FIRST.

Always put your customer first. Ask them questions, get to know

what they like and want, and create products and campaigns

around solving their problems or issues.

The more time and energy you invest in your customer, the more

trust and ultimately money, they will be willing to invest in you.

~ Natalie Sisson

BECOME PART OF THEIR TEAM.

Never forget that your biggest competition is indifference. Most of

your prospective clients probably like their current provider just

fine and therefore, it will take more than a slight improvement (in

service, price, etc.) to justify the time it will cost them to make a

change.

To make this happen, you will likely need to bring something to the

table that is above and beyond your core deliverable (which

obviously still has to be top-notch). My favorite way to do this is in

using The Ultimate Tiebreaker—which is when you get a good

understanding of your clients’ ideal clients, and become part of

their business development team by focusing on

identifying potential opportunities for them.”

~ Derek Coburn

PROVIDE MASSIVE VALUE.

When I think of evergreen marketing and advice that never goes out of

style, I immediately draw upon what has worked in my “offline” brick and

mortar businesses over the past 20 years. It all comes down to one thing –

providing massive value to your clients. Strip away all the bells and

whistles and “tools” and think about how you can help or inspire your

clients.

According to Forbes, it takes 5 x more effort to attract a new client than

to keep an existing customer, and 80% of a company’s future revenue will

come from just 20% of your existing customers. What does this mean? Love

your customers, get to know their values, provide massive value and

empower them to share.

Word of mouth hasn’t changed…it’s just supercharged by the

power of social media. A customer that loves you and wants to

rave about you to his friends is worth more than any Twitter,

Facebook or Google+ following. Think of your customers as

being on your marketing team and it will change your

perspective.

~ Donna Moritz

GIVE GOOD FRAME.

One thing I learned when taking dance classes with my wife, is

whether I made a mistake or she made a mistake, it was always my

fault. That’s not reverse sexism at work, it’s the truth. It was my

job to “give good frame” while dancing. In other words, if my wife

made a misstep, it was because I didn’t give her strong guidance so

that we could succeed together.

The same is true in business. In a complex sale or project,

customers need to feel confident that you know how to help them

succeed. It’s not your job to just lay out dozens of possible

options, but rather to show them the path to success.

~ The Rich Brooks

CLEARLY EXPLAIN THE BENEFITS.

Always be super clear on the WIIFM for your customers. That is, be

very, very clear on “What’s In It For Me?” Other than your parents

and the closest of friends, you’ll always have to spell out the

personal gain for people in order to convince them the take the

action you’re asking of them. Whether it’s an email signup, a

social media follow, or a purchase, spotlight a clear benefit to

taking action.

Maybe the WIIFM for an email opt-in is expert tips on video marketing.

Perhaps the WIIFM is access to exclusive discounts or promotions only

available to Facebook fans. Or maybe, the WIIFM is simply entertainment,

motivation or support. Provide value to customers and

make that value insanely clear up front; clarity like

that will never go out of style.

~ Katrina Crowell

MAKE IT EASY TO SWALLOW.

While your long-form content is critical to your success, don’t overlook the

microcontent that grabs your readers’ attention and compels them to follow your

links back to the in-depth articles revealing your expertise and how you serve.

The opposite of long-form content like blog posts, white papers and reports,

microcontent is the status updates, text images, Vine videos, Instagram photos,

infographics, cartoons, e-cards, GIFs, and slide decks that act as shorthand for your

content and grab attention. Microcontent acts as effective lead generators, driving

traffic back to your site (when done with a strategic plan in mind).

Microcontent is easy to create and takes less time than writing an article. Think

about your own behavior as you consume information on the Web.

How often do you share links to articles you read? Tweet blog posts you like? Post

pictures from an industry conference or event? You’re already

creating microcontent; the next step is being strategic about

what you’re creating and how you distribute it on the Web for

the widest reach.

~ Denise Wakeman

ADVERTISE. TEST. ADVERTISE

BETTER.Advertising on social media or any site online is a great tactic to

get more exposure for your brand. But too many people aren’t

testing their ads properly and just assuming that ads “don’t work”

for them when they don’t get the results they want.

You need to test different images, different calls to action and

even different landing pages.

Then you can run detailed reports to compare the results and see which ad

performs the best. The results may surprise you! Find out more in this

post: http://www.andreavahl.com/facebook/must-split-test-facebook-

ads.php.

~ Andrea Vahl

KNOW THE PURPOSE BEHIND

YOUR CHANNELS.In our work at CMI, we find so often that marketers aren’t aware of

the business goals behind why they create content for particular

channels.

Since that’s the case, a great exercise is to list all the

channels/platforms we create content for (the blog, Facebook,

enewsletter, etc.) and then put a big “Why?” at the top of the

page.

Then go through and list the business goal behind each one (direct

sales, subscription goals, etc.). I’ve done this activity with about

50 brands and not one has been able to complete it 100%.

~ Joe Pulizzi

START SMALL.

Small business owners tend to feel overwhelmed when they’re just

starting out online. My best advice for these entrepreneurs is to

start small and do one thing (and own it) at a time.

In other words, don’t feel like you need to start a blog and every

social media account under the sun when you first get your

business online. Do one thing well, then start the next web

marketing task.

~ Nicki Hicks

BUILD YOUR LIST.

Building your email subscriber list is extremely important. When someone

signs up to your email list send them to a thank you page after they sign

up. This thank you page is very important for a number of reasons.

• You can now set up goals in Google analytics and track your email

conversions. You can even track where your subscriber originated from

e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc.

• After someone has already committed to joining your email list it’s not

difficult to get them to take another similar action.

For example, after they subscribe display a Facebook like box to encourage

them to also become a fan. You will get a very high conversion rate on this

page. Open rates of email average 20 to 25%. Reach of

Facebook Fans averages around to 10 to 15%.

But if you combine them both you get the best reach.

~ Ian Cleary

Have you got a marketing tip that never goes out of style? We’d love to

have you share it in the comments below.

Katrina Crowell & Rich Brooks

Marketing with Style

THANK YOU

@therichbrooks

Rich Brooks

flyte new media

takeflyte.com

rich@takeflyte.com