Online Marketing Success Magazine - July/August 2015

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine VOLUME 3, ISSUE 4 JULY/AUGUST 2015

9

LANDING PAGE TRENDS WORTH FOLLOWING

By Pam Ivey

HASHTAGS FOR

BUSINESS:

WHAT YOU

NEED TO

KNOW!

By Leigh Fowler

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

FLIP THE

Marketing Funnel

By Lisa Manyon

INTERVIEW WITH

Online Marketing Maven Extraordinaire & OMS Mag Publisher

PAM IVEY

By Kate Smith

5 RELATIONSHIPS CRITICAL

TO ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS

By Linda M. Lopeke

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine VOLUME 3, ISSUE 4 ISBN: 978-0-9812585-1-5

Volume 3, Issue 4 July/August 2015

CONTENTS 4 Digital Addiction

So Many I Wants, Too Few Fingers!

Gadgets To Make You Drool

5 Social Media Predictions For 2015

By Pam Ivey

6 How To Grow Your List And Make More PUBLISHING EDITOR Pam Ivey pamivey@omsmagazine.com

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Kate Smith kate@omsmagazine.com

ART DIRECTOR Mary Greenlees

Sales With Your Signature Speech

9 Customer Engagement Builds Brand Loyalty

Online Marketing Success

Lisa Manyon, Kate Smith, Miriam Slozberg, Stephanie Watson

ADVERTISING SALES advertising@omsmagazine.com Online Marketing Success Magazine is published 6 times per year in digital format by the International Association of Online Marketing Managers.

HOW TO REACH US Letters to the Online Marketing Success Magazine can be emailed to editor@omsmagazine.com, or mailed to Online Marketing Success Magazine, 24 Kelley Crescent, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1J3 Canada

Follow OMS Magazine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/onlinemarketingmanagermagazine

By Linda M. Lopeke

13 Content Marketing 101: How To Craft Creative & Effective Headlines

Leigh Fowler, Donna Gunter, Pam Ivey,Linda Lopeke,

By Pam Ivey

11 5 Relationships Critical To

art@coloursomethingcreative.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

By Donna Gunter

By Stephanie Watson

15 It’s Not About You And It Never Will Be

By Pam Ivey

16 Hashtags For Business - What You Need To Know!

By Leigh Fowler

18 Copywriting Trends

By Pam Ivey

19 Online Productivity Tools

By Pam Ivey

21

INTERVIEW WITH ONLINE MARKETING MAVEN EXTRAORDINAIRE & OMS MAG PUBLISHER

PAM IVEY

BY KATE SMITH

27 Flip The Marketing Funnel

By Lisa Manyon

35

29 9 Landing Page Trends Worth Following

By Pam Ivey

30 4 Powerful Tips To Make Your

YOUR

Instagram Famous

By Miriam Slozberg

32 Putting Relevance In Context

By Pam Ivey

33 Social Media Then And Now:

Lies In The Results You Provide Your Customers

BY PAM IVEY

A Brief History

By Kate Smith

38 Upcoming Events

EDITOR’S NOTE

W

oot! Woot! I’ve done it! I’ve totally rebranded my business. And I have to say I’m super excited to finally have a new look and feel that really resonates with who I am and what I love to do – teach online marketing.

I compare the feel of the new brand look to buying a new car. I think it’s pretty sleek, if I do say so myself.  And speaking of cars, since they have been my passion for a long time, my brand is centered all around the REV FormulaTM. I help business owners and support professionals really ramp up their success by becoming as Relevant, Engaging and Valuable as possible in their own businesses and in their clients businesses too. I’ve also introduced a couple of new online marketing training programs and we’re getting tons of visibility and great feedback on everything, so thanks to all of who have been in touch!

When it came to preparing this issue, Kate approached me to do the Industry Spotlight interview since we just launched the new website and I thought it would be great fun! I hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about me. We’ve got lots of great things planned. My Online Marketing Sales Machine LIVE 6-week training starts July 6. It’s aimed at business owners and support professionals who want to super size their sales by laser focusing on the key strategies and skills necessary for creating sales funnels that work. It’s going to be power-packed. I promise!

Until next time, here’s hoping you have a wonderful summer!

Pam Ivey, Cert SBM,CPREA,CRESS,CMP Founder, International Association of Online Marketing Managers

TECH

DIGITAL ADDICTION

SO MANY I WANTS, TOO FEW FINGERS!

GADGETS TO MAKE YOU DROOL

iFusion ($169)

Doxie One ($149)

An integrated communications docking station for the Apple iPhone. Combining the capabilities of many top-selling iPhone accessories into a single device, the iFusion utilizes built-in Bluetooth technology, a full duplex speaker phone and a patented ergonomic design to deliver superior voice quality that meets the requirements of today’s home and business consumer.

A scanner designed to scan all your paper, photos and receipts without the need for a computer. Its compact form factor allows the scanner to be stowed away in a drawer, and setup is quick: You just plug it into a wall socket. Unlike a bulky traditional flatbed scanner, an automatic feeder starts automatically and pulls the sheet through in seconds.

Captured images are saved on an included SD memory card, much like in a digital camera. This can then be loaded onto a Mac or PC through a standard flash memory card reader, or to an iPad tablet with Apple’s iPad SD Card Reader. www.getdoxie.com

The cradle design of the iFusion supports the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4, providing a means to securely dock the phone while supplying power, battery charging and data synchronization via an integrated USB cable. With support for A2DP Bluetooth streaming, users are able to enjoy their favorite iPhone music over the internal speakerphone. www.thefusionphone.com

IDAPT i4 Universal Charger ($64.99) Cobra Tag ($59.95) Attach to your keys, purse, computer bag, or any other item you want to protect from loss. The sensor communicates with the phone’s free app and will remind you if you leave your phone or valuables behind.The Cobra Tag is also a two-way finder. Tap the button on the Cobra Tag to ring your smartphone. If you are looking for your Cobra Tag-protected item, use the phone’s application to make the Cobra Tag ring. To secure your phone’s data, the PhoneHalo application can be set to lock your phone when out of range of your tagged item. http://cobratag.com

An innovative universal charger designed to charge up to four mobile devices simultaneously. Docking station comes with three receptacles that accept various charging tips ranging from mini USB, micro USB, Lightning, the old Apple Universal Dock, and other tips for various digital cameras and rechargeable AA or AAA batteries. A separate USB port offers the ability to plug in a standard USB cable for charging tablets or other devices that may be heavy or bulky. Several common tips are provided in the package, and additional tips can be purchased directly from IDAPT and range from $10 to $20 each. www.idaptweb.com

4 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

LX Desk Mount LCD Arm ($169) Sets the gold standard for monitor arms on the desktop. Perfect for both single monitor users and those who use multiple monitors on their desktop, the Ergotron monitor arm offers unparalleled flexibility in the positioning of your LCD monitors. Moreover, it frees up space on the desktop as it mounts onto the edge of the desk, and can be pushed out of the way. Ergotron says its arms are tested to 10 times the expected lifecycle of other competitive brands, and monitors can be quickly positioned up, down, left, right, forward, backward or even rotated with a mere touch. www.ergotron.com

Mushroom GreenZero Travel Charger ($29.95) Need an extra charger for your Android smartphone or accessory and want to help save the world in the process?

Consider Bracketron’s new Mushroom GreenZero chargers and the peace of mind that comes with “doing your part”.

Users can plug in a phone or accessory and start charging with the press of the “mushroom” button, with your hand or foot. It took us a few times to get used to this as we’re accustomed to plugging in and walking away. However, once we were familiar with it, the extra step was not a nuisance at all. www.bracketron.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA PREDICTIONS I

FOR 2015

t’s amazing the advances that have been made in just the last decade when it comes to social media use by businesses. At first people did not understand the power of online social networks like Facebook.com and they laughed at the idea of Twitter.com and Pinterest. With newcomers showing up every day and billions of dollars at stake what is going to happen with business and social media this year and the near future?

PERSONALIZATION RAMPS UP

We understand how market segmentation helps us market better. But when you think about it, segmentation is really about personalization. You segment people on your email lists in order to avoid marketing to them something they already bought. You segment your audience as you craft advertisements to better target your message and qualify leads. Personalization, and the technology that helps make it possible, is the next step to more powerful segmentation.

CONTENT BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT Not only do you need more content, but you need more focused content in more forms. You need to tell stories with pictures, explain data with graphics, and use images in blog posts that advance your story and your brand. You need to create video, and podcasts, and still create the informative and engaging textual content that you have always created.

BY PAM IVEY

RETURN ON INVESTMENT MUST BE PROVEN Brands will become more serious about insisting that any money spent on marketing shows a ROI. Buying ads without a guarantee of results will eventually become a thing of that past. Agencies must be ready to show that they produce results and are a profit center rather than just another expense.

SHORTER MORE VISUAL CONTENT BLOWS UP If you’re not aware of visual content like short videos on Vine.co and images on Snapchat then it’s time to become mindful enough to realize what is happening and where audiences are going for information. Not only is Snapchat short, it’s not even permanent. You have one chance. But this type of content called “ephemeral” which means that it only lasts a short time.

Branding on social media is all about engaging, being real, and sharing your story in a way that resonates with your audience. After all, it’s always about them, and if you keep telling yourself that you’ll make the right choices in how you allocate your social media marketing dollars.

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TELLING YOUR BRAND’S STORY BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT You’ve always been responsible for telling your brand’s story in a way that resonates with your audience. Now you have many different channels in which you need to distribute that story but the channel becomes more of a tool as it should be, than the whole story. The story is about your customer and how your brand benefits your customer.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 5

LIST BUILDING

I

love being a guest on other people’s webinars and podcasts.

What I love best is the fact that all I have to do is show up and talk when someone else is sponsoring them. I’m responsible for none of the marketing and promotion and registration involved with sponsoring a webinar. Best of all is that I don’t have to schlep all over town to do these guest speaking gigs. I’m presenting my expertise to my target market from the comfort of my own home office.

How can you add a signature speech to your marketing mix? Here’s my 10step process for creating and profiting from your own signature speech:

#1 |

Create 3 info-packed 50 minute speeches. Have at

HOW TO GROW

YOUR LIST AND MAKE MORE SALES

WITH YOUR SIGNATURE

participants will learn as a result of participating in your event. Your host will love you, as you’ve just provided the bulk of the text she’ll need to market your program.

#3 | Write your bio and have

your headshot available. Hosts like to begin with a short introduction of the guest and often post the guest bio to their websites or send it out as a part of the event promotion to their lists. In this version of your bio, craft a succinct description of who you are and what you do that includes any certifications you may hold, authorship of books, and your unique selling proposition. Then provide a very short overview of your background and your current company. The goal is to have a short, compelling bio (around 150 words) that takes the host about 20 seconds to read to introduce you. Include a small version of your headshot and logo to help your host add graphical interest to the event promotions.

your disposal at least 3 informationpacked signature speeches that you can present at a moment’s notice.

So many of the teleseminars and webinars that I have attended recently are nothing but thinly disguised | Determine your call to sales pitches for a very expensive action/sales pitch. Prior to the live event, product, or mentoring/ coaching program. I don’t object to call, determine your most desired

BY DONNA GUNTER being sold to - after all, I’m a business action from the participants. Is it owner and I realize that others can’t simply give away their to buy a particular product? Sign up for a complimentary time at no charge solely for the joy of doing a presentation. consultation? Send for your free gift and be added to your However, what I do resent is wasting my time listening to newsletter list? Ideally, you should offer participants the ability 45 minutes of sales pitch and 5 minutes of questionably to buy into your business at 3 levels: free, low-cost, more valuable information. Ensure your listeners great value each expensive. You’ll then have a wider appeal to the audience and every time that you present and provide information that to capture them at wherever they are in terms of price point. they use today in their businesses.

Include your call to action in the promotional emails as appropriate, in your handout, and within your PowerPoint | Craft your description and learning bullet slides. In order to create a sense of urgency, you should points. Write a one paragraph overview of your program set a deadline that falls 24-48 hours after your presentation and include 3-7 bullet points outlining what the that serves as the cutoff point for your special pricing offer.

SPEECH

#4

#2

DONNA GUNTER

Amazon best-selling author, , the Authority AlchemistTM, helps her clients become known as the #1 authority in their industry, then dramatically amplifies their message and teaches them how to convert the new audience into high-paying customers. She has been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox. Want to quickly learn how to position yourself as an authority in your industry?

Get Your “Authority Domination Toolkit” to discover 5 essential tools you can use to quickly expedite your authority status at http://www.AuthorityDominationTools.com 6 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

LIST BUILDING

“

You’ll see both your list and sales numbers grow from this easy-to-implement marketing strategy.

”

If participants are encouraged to register even if they can’t participate on the live call (i.e. all registrants can access a recording of the call), create a special offer available only to those on the live class to increase live participation numbers.

#5 | Create a landing page on your website for

participants. If your call to action involves special pricing on your product or service, create a landing page on your website that greets the participants by name, i.e. Welcome XYZ Conference Participants. Customize your page several more times to refer to the participants by name, and be sure to include the deadline for the special pricing offer in the text of the page as well as in the PS of your sales page. I simply take my traditional sales page and customize it for the group for which I’ll be speaking and update the deadlines for special pricing. In order to make this most effective, you have to remember to remove the sales page on your designated deadline and replace it with a page that indicates the visitor

has returned after the deadline but can still purchase your product or service at its regular price.

#6 | Design a PPT and handouts. Even if I’m doing

an event with no visual component, I still put together a PowerPoint file of my presentation. I provide that to the host if I’m doing a webinar or presenting in an audio conference room. For teleseminars, I turn my PowerPoint file into a PDF that serves as a handout for the participants. I add a first page that contains my contact information as well as resources mentioned during the call and my call to action.

Talk to your host to determine if she will be distributing the handout via email or on her website prior to the call or if you need to have it available for download from your website.

#7 |

Determine your guesting requirements.

When I’m a guest presenter, at a minimum I request a recording of the event that I can use in whatever way I want in my business. I may place it on my site as a free download,

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LIST BUILDING send it out as a podcast, make it a members-only benefit, or sell it or include it as a part of another product available on my site. If the host is providing a transcript of the session, request a copy of that as well to use in your business.

Lastly, inquire if the host is sending out a follow-up email to participants after your presentation. If so, ask to have your contact info and special offer sent to them again.

#8 |

Research venues offering teleclasses and request to be a guest. Most of the invitations I’ve received to be a webinar and podcast guest have resulted from articles I’ve written in professional and trade publications, from someone visiting the speaking page of my website, or from having been heard speaking to another group. However, don’t wait for people to contact you. Start to research companies sponsoring webinars, podcasts or workshops for your target market and ask to be a guest. In your request, be sure and provide detailed info about the topic on which you’ll be speaking, as well as a copy of your handout. You want to make it as easy as possible for the host to pick you as the next guest.

#9 | Repackage your teleseminar for different

markets. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you speak to a different target market. With a few changes in your materials, you can usually change the focus of your presentation and make it appear customized for the target market to whom you’ll be speaking. Many times just changing the title and inserting the name of your target market is all you have to do to create a seemingly customized presentation.

#10 |

Ask for a testimonial to add to your website. Once you’ve completed your presentation, don’t forget to ask for a testimonial from your host that you can place on your website. In order to be valuable to you, the testimonial should include info about how much value you provided in the presentation, sample of positive feedback from participants, or how your presentation enabled some type of change or ability to take action from the participants.

Spend a few hours designing your signature speech and begin to offer to present it to various groups. You’ll see both your list and sales numbers grow from this easy-to-implement marketing strategy.

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STRATEGY

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

BUILDS BRAND

LOYALTY G

BY PAM IVEY

o on Facebook and take a look at the number of private groups that have sprouted in just the last year. Then go on Linkedin.com and see how many private groups there are there. Look at the private customer message boards some brands have established where customers and employees help people with questions and support. It’s truly amazing where technology has enabled us to go in terms of customer engagement. This type of engagement has taken over the Internet and for good reason. All sorts of brands large and small have realized that customer engagement builds brand loyalty like nothing else before in history.

Consider all phases of your customer’s buying cycle when finding ways to relate to and engage with them and you’ll end up with happier and more loyal customers. Having customers who feel heard and understood will stand the test of time more than almost any other type of marketing. And make no mistake, engaging with customers in all aspects, and in all the places that they like to be, is a form of marketing to be taken seriously.

ENGAGE WITH THEM WHERE THEY ARE Find out where your ideal customer “hangs out” and go to them. Jump in and talk with them, answer questions and

become a resource. Even if the place your idea customer hangs out is still using a competitor’s services or products, you need to still be a good source of information for them.

When customers are already talking about you or similar brands, you have a huge “in” that you need to use.

PROVIDE PLACES FOR THEM TO ENGAGE Start Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups and even forums on your own website where your customers can engage with you and each other. This type of transparency will push the relationship forward and cause your customers to have even more trust for you. There is no reason for client communication, in most cases, to be taken behind closed doors if your customer doesn’t want that. Plus, as you help that customer, and customers help each other, you create a much more loyal following and even fans for your business.

KEEP YOUR GOALS IN MIND You have to remember that you’re not just chatting for the sake of chatting with customers. You need to remember your goals as you engage with them. You can develop a lot of different goals for communication such as product and service improvement and development, loyalty nurturing, or increasing sales. If you understand the outcome you’re

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 9

STRATEGY working toward the communication you have with customers will be more productive.

DON’T LIMIT CUSTOMER INTERACTION TO EMAIL A big mistake that can be made, especially by marketing managers, is limiting how your customers communicate with you. If you truly want to engage with customers you have to do it on their level, when and how they want to. This doesn’t mean you have to be a slave to your mobile phone but it does mean that you need to set up a number of ways that your customers can engage with you. For example, you might set up a ticketing system, a customer Facebook group or other forum, a LinkedIn group, and also offer them the ability to make their own appointments to speak to you on Skype or by phone.

FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIP BUILDING Not only are you building a relationship with your customer, but they are building one with you too. Ensuring that your customers feel listened to, understood and taken care of, is essential. By building this relationship you can get better

feedback, which will ensure that your products and services are more in line with what your customer wants, plus as you become better at everything you do, you’ll get even more customers. It’s truly a way to tap into the power of momentum because each action builds on the next.

LET YOUR CUSTOMER LEAD THE WAY Provide plenty of ways for your clients to communicate with you and let them choose their method. Whether it’s using a tool to make an appointment to call you, or whether it’s via a message board, or a ticketing system doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s in the method that the customer likes to use and that works for them. As long as you respond in a reasonable amount of time the method is more important to them than to you because it all leads to the same thing; engagement.

Engaging with customers is an essential component of doing business today. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you have if you’re not regularly engaging with your customers you’re missing out on a huge potential return on investment.

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STRATEGY

5 Relationships

CRITICAL To Online Marketing Success

BY LINDA M. LOPEKE

THE AIM OF MARKETING IS TO MAKE SELLING SUPERFLUOUS.

O

~PETER DRUCKER

nline marketing success is, in no small part, determined by how well you understand and manage key relationships between:

#1 | YOU AND YOUR WEBSITE, #2 | YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMER, #3 | MARKETING AND SALES, #4 | YOUR ONLINE AND OFFLINE MARKETING, AND #5 | YOUR ANALYTICS AND ACTIONS TAKEN.

If any relationship is not working as needed, change is the immediate order of the day. However, sometimes we choose pain over change because the pain is familiar and change is hard. Even when it’s for our better good.

YOU AND YOUR WEBSITE The most common change needed here is to take control of your website starting from owning your own domain. Too many put the control of this key asset into the hands of others and come to regret it later. Don’t let this be you.

Then, spend whatever time and money are needed to master learning what makes good design and the basics of hypertext markup language (HTML), search engine optimization (SEO), and landing page and conversion optimization. These skills are important both for making a good first impression on web site visitors and attracting leads.

You do not need to become an expert; you do need to know how to direct and evaluate the work of professionals you may need to hire to help you with the technical aspects of site development, implementation and management. The confidence you develop in being able to manage this critical asset and respond quickly to changing circumstances and new opportunities will, over time, prove invaluable to you.

LINDA M. LOPEKE

is an internationally recognized authority on business management and creator of the award-winning SMARTSTART programs. She teaches creative entrepreneurs how to take decisive action so they can get their greatest work out into the world. Click the link for more useful advice from www.smartstartcoach.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 11

STRATEGY YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMER Once your web site is in place, use it strategically to build a strong relationship with your audience over time. It’s never about you; it’s always about them. Start by consistently publishing content of value and interest to your target audience. Do not violate the trust shown by those who share their email addresses with you by bombarding them with excessive messages and irrelevant offers.

A carefully nurtured relationship with a clean and responsive list of engaged prospects is the most highly valued asset of any business, and especially one marketed online. This is best achieved by segmenting your list in the way that best suits your marketing objective, building workflows that support strategic goals, and personalizing your communication with each of your lists by providing relevant content.

MARKETING AND SALES All leads are not created equal. Know the difference between marketing and sales qualified leads and design your lead nurturing processes accordingly.

For online marketers, an easy way to recognize the difference between the two types of leads is a marketing lead has typically responded to a free digital download offer (checklist, whitepaper, ebook, ecourse etc.) that can be automatically

delivered and a sales lead has made a specific request which requires personal contact or interaction for follow-up.

In either case, the action you take next is both different and dictated by the nature of the lead you hope to nurture through the customer acquisition cycle.

ONLINE AND OFFLINE MARKETING Running an online business does not mean you no longer need to concern yourself with offline marketing. Your marketing message may be executed differently online and offline, but the message needs to be the same communication regardless of how and where it is presented.

How well you streamline and integrate all of your marketing opportunities is essential. Effective marketing, regardless of delivery method, is consistent in all communication formats, clear in calls-to-action, and efficient in identifying and moving prospects through the pipeline and into the sales funnel you’ve designed.

ANALYTICS AND ACTIONS TAKEN Finally, don’t forget to measure results from all marketing sources and use what you learn to do more of what’s working and less (or even none) of what’s not. Your numbers tell a story. The story won’t change until you do.

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CONTENT MARKETING

101

CONTENT MARKETING

How to Craft Creative

&HEADLINES

EFFECTIVE

BY STEPHANIE WATSON

I

n order to get results with content marketing you must produce and publish engaging, educational, inspirational and effective content that speaks to your audience on a regular basis. But, no matter how much content you publish and share, no one is going to pay any attention to it if the headline doesn’t resonate with them.

AROUSE CURIOSITY Ask a question in your headline that your audience wants the answer to. Your audience will want to explore further when they feel curious. Not knowing the answer can lead to anxiety and even fear. When you arouse desire, your audience will likely click through to find out more. The great thing about making

your audience feel curious is that they will begin to view you as someone who has the authority to answer their questions.

AUDIENCE OVER SEARCH ENGINES Remember, audiences should always drive content, not search engines. Keyword-rich content is old news and needs to be put in its final resting place. Remember, part of your content is the headline, so never put the search engines first when creating a headline because search engines do not consume content. People do. Your audience wants content that makes sense to them and solves their problems. If a keyword happens to fit into that goal then that’s great, but don’t force it.

STEPHANIE WATSON

has more than 20 years experience working from home in a variety of roles such as HTML Website Designer, Internet Marketer, Template Bender, and Virtual Assistant. Today she is an author and content strategist who organizes, plans, writes and implements content strategies for business owners through her business at Barry Publishing.

You can find her at Linkedin.com www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniewatsonbarry and contact her via her website www.barrypublishing.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 13

CONTENT MARKETING DEFINE THE BENEFITS Be direct in your headline by telling the reader or view what exactly they will learn by consuming the content you’re providing. The headline should be clear and without puns or tricks that confuse your audience. It should say in no uncertain terms how clicking through to read or watch will pay off for them. What will they learn, and what good will it do them? If you can put that in a headline you have a winner. That doesn’t mean you cannot be creative, but avoid being so creative that the headline doesn’t tell the viewer what’s inside.

EXPLOIT ERRORS Your audience undoubtedly likes to avoid potential mistakes.

You can help them by mentioning those mistakes in a headline. Plus you will entice them to click through to read.

The bonus to this strategy is that being negative can turn out to be quite a positive traffic booster if you spin it right. In fact, according to an Outbrain study negative headlines perform 30 percent better than positive headlines. Knowing this, you might want to give it a try.

Doctors Prefer” type of advertising works so well. When you have a statistic that can work well in a headline try using it to see how many more clicks you get from your audience.

STICK TO WHAT WORKS The tried and true lists and “how to” headlines, articles and headlines still work wonders. Look at certain types of websites that are very popular, they survive off lists and “how to” articles and videos, as does pretty much every print magazine in existence. This type of content is some of the most popular types of content that exists. Capitalize on it, and make headlines that promote it.

Learning to craft effective headlines isn’t difficult; it just takes a little bit of thought. Don’t worry much about a headline until you’re ready to publish, and then include one to three of the ideas mentioned as you decide what words to use. As long as it describes the content accurately, you can go as far as you want when creating clickable headlines.

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INDUCE URGENCY The fact is, no one likes to miss out. If your headline makes your audience feel that whatever is behind the title is important and that they’ll need to take immediate action, they’ll be much more likely to click through. When you evoke the sense of urgency your audience feels as if they might miss out on something really good, which causes fear, which can be an excellent catalyst to encourage them to take action.

MAKE IT EASY Your audience doesn’t want to have to work for results. No one really does. Make your headlines stand out by telling them that what you’re going to show them is simple and won’t take much time or effort. If your headline makes them feel as if it’s easy to do, and even easy to read, they’re going to be more likely to click through to see what you have to say or show them.

PIQUE EMOTIONS Whether it’s anger, joy, insecurity, or relief that you want to evoke, it’s important that you not only put this into your content but put it into your headlines. People will click on these types of headlines faster than others. As mentioned before, negative emotions actually get more clicks than positive. Try all sorts of emotions in your headlines to test what works best for your particular audience.

PROVIDE PROOF Using proof to get people to click through to read your content or watch your videos right in the headline can do wonders for your click-through rate. It’s one reason the “4 out of 5 14 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

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STRATEGY

NOT It NEVER Will Be It’s About You And

W

BY PAM IVEY

hen it comes to customer engagement there is something that you’ve got to get through to your brain. That is this: It’s never about you.

Not ever. Not even your about page is about you. Everything you do, say, write and every product or service you offer is about your customer. It’s always about your customer.

It Starts With Your Mission Statement Every business needs a mission statement that they can look at before creating any form of product, service or marketing.

The mission statement defines your why and your why is a benefit to your customer. Ask yourself these questions: Who is your customer?

What benefit do you offer them?

Why are you the person to do it?

How will you accomplish it?

When will it be realized?

When you do answer these questions you must phrase them in a manner that puts your customer first. Think about the benefits of your services or products and explain that through the words you use keeping the customer in mind at all times.

It Moves To Your Elevator Speech When you can develop that mission statement, you can then also develop your elevator speech. When someone asks what you do, don’t tell them anything about you other than what benefits you provide your customers. Turning a phrase into a benefit for the customer, while showing a great understanding of their needs will delight your customer like nothing else.

It Shows on Your About Page Many people use their about page to tell their customer about their business founding story without even considering the audience. The audience doesn’t really care that much that you wanted to stay home with your kids, or that you didn’t want to punch a clock. They care about what you will do for

them, what benefits it will provide, why you’re the person to do it, and how and when it will be done.

It’s Proven by Your Actions on Social Media If your social media is full of announcements about yourself, what you’ve done, and what you’ve accomplished and you don’t mention your customers you’re making a huge mistake.

You may even be alienating your ideal client. Your social media pages need to also focus on the same 5 questions all focused toward the customer.

It’s Apparent on Every Sales Page You Create Sales pages are probably the closest example you have seen where you talk about benefits over features with the customer in mind. But, frankly, many sales pages are seriously lacking and even irritating in how they talk too much about the creator of the product. While that’s important information in terms of why you’re the right person to provide the product or service, it has to be done in a manner consistent with putting the customer first.

It’s Even Obvious by The Products & Services You Create Finally, even when you create a product or service the only thing you should have in mind is the customer. Many people create their product, then try to find the customer. This is backwards. Find the people you want to work with, who you want to be your customers, and create products and services especially designed to solve their problems. Pick three pain points, and solve them. You’ll soon be well sought after if you do that.

Customers are first and foremost in everything you do and say.

It doesn’t matter that you’re awesome and provide this great service because you wanted to work from home so that you could be home for your kids. No one cares about that. They only care about how what you do helps them achieve their goals. As soon as you can communicate this in a way that your audience finally feels heard your business will take off.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 15

SOCIAL MEDIA

HASHTAGS FOR BUSINESS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW! You can gain MORE VISIBILITY and CONNECT WITH MORE PEOPLE when you use hashtags

BY LEIGH FOWLER, ONLINE CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIST, PRESIDENT RISE MEDIA + DESIGN

WHAT IS A HASHTAG? A hashtag is actually a nickname or modern name for the pound symbol (#).

It’s a symbol used on social media platforms that helps people organize topics and conversations, ultimately making them more visible and helping them connect with others who are talking about the same thing.

When used in a status update, the platform will activate the word attached to the hashtag, which then creates a link to a feed where everyone else is talking about that particular hashtag.

5 WAYS TO USE HASHTAGS IN BUSINESS The strategies below are most commonly used in connection with Twitter, however some of them can be applied to other social media platforms.

1 | Event Promotions

As an event organizer, creating a custom event hashtag is a great way to promote an event and help connect attendees and sponsors before, during and afterwards. You can use an event hashtag in a status update to share event highlights, schedule updates, insights, photos, questions, ideas and other related content.

2 | Twitter

Chats/Parties An online event where a custom hashtag is used and a particular time/date is established where everyone chats using the hashtag to

connect. Often a tool like Twubs.com or TweetChat.com is used to access the conversation more easily. This is often a recurring online event with specific thought leadership around a certain topic, interview, resource or live event. In business, to host or participate in a chat will increase your visibility and connect you with like-minded individuals.

3 | Trending Hashtags

Use pre-existing hashtags to get into the conversation, attract new eyes to your brand and expand your reach. For example, if there is a business show that your ideal customer watches, why not use TV Shows like #DragonsDen #SharkTank to attract attention to your brand and your point of view?

4 | Existing Hashtags

Strategically use pre-existing hashtags to attract your ideal customer into the conversation.

For example, if your client wants small business tips, use #SmallBizTips as a hashtag to get into the conversation and introduce yourself! Use the tools in this article to find related hashtags for your business.

5 | Custom

Hashtags

Creating your own custom hashtag is a commitment and requires a complete strategy.

It will take time to build and create awareness around.You will eventually drive the conversation around your hashtag and ultimately connect with more people. This could help reinforce your brand and your products too.

LEIGH FOWLERis an online content strategist who has created the Confident

Content Creator Clinic - a 5-week virtual program to help entrepreneurs who are tired of not knowing what to say online, when to say it and feel like nothing is working! Graduates from the program will walk away with an online marketing plan for their biz and the confidence to pull it off! www.ConfidentContentCreatorClinic.com.

16 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS to HELP PICK HASHTAGS: When you’re picking out hashtags to use in your marketing, you have your choice of existing hashtags, trending hashtags and the option of creating your own customized and/or branded hashtag.

Use these tools to research the power and reach of possible hashtags as well as the context they are being used in. Ultimately, you want to make sure you can add value to the conversations around these key topics and that they attract your ideal customer at the same time.

1 |

HASHTAGIFY.ME

Look up the 10 most popular and related hashtags of a hashtag that you’re considering for context and options.

7 | TWUBS.COM

A tool to help you register hashtags (custom/branded ones), create event pages for Twitter Chats, Live Events and other promotional services.

8 | PLUGG.IO

A simplified scheduler just for Twitter.

You can see mentions, notifications and monitor your keywords.

9 |

TWEETCHAT.com

Use this app/tool to participate in Tweet Chats so that you can read, respond and even interact with participants from one dashboard. Also great to get a sense of real-time popularity of hashtags being used.

2|

TAGDEF.COM Don’t understand a hashtag acronym like #FF or #WCW? Type it into the box here and find out!

TOOLS TO HELP MANAGE HASHTAGS, LISTEN AND MEASURE ROI:

3 | TWITONOMY.COM

10 | MENTION

I like this one, as it’s a way of tracking hashtags not just on Twitter, but throughout the whole World Wide Web!

Look up your competition and the top 10 hashtags they are using

4 | WHATTHETREND.COM

International trending hashtags with daily stats and definitions

5 |

HASHTAGS.ORG

Great articles, trending hashtags, how-to and information.

TOOLS TO HELP SCHEDULE POSTS, and MANAGE PRODUCTION OF HASHTAGS: Reduce overwhelm and save time by using some of these tools to manage your use of hashtags.

6 | RITETAG.COM

A real-time app that will help you create your posts and pick your hashtags.

11 | TWEET REACH

Once you’ve started using a hashtag, find out the potential reach, # of impressions and visibility it’s getting.

12 |

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Set-up a FREE account, install the tracking code on your site (takes less than an hour if you pay someone to do this) and then find out where your traffic is coming from, what keywords they’re using and where your efforts are paying off!

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 17

CONTENT MARKETING

TRENDS

C

opywriting today consists of more than ads and sales pages. Today, inbound marketing accounts for most of the copywriting done. Blog posts, white papers, articles, product descriptions, video descriptions and more all have to be written with an eye to the audience, encouraging engagement, and action.

The predicted upcoming trends for copywriting are:

#1 | Shorter

Sales Pages Long sales pages are popular but people are starting to grow numb to them and get bored reading the same thing over and over again. Instead, shorter, more to the point sales pages that use words more carefully with every word having a reason for being.

#2 | Use

Infographics Infographics combine the best of both worlds. Images that have meaning, plus short and to the point text, which explains data in way that resonates with the audience works extraordinarily well to convert.

#3 | Relevant Images

They say an image is worth a thousand words, so smart copywriting includes images that provoke the audience and make them feel something. Use high quality images. You can also make your own images using a digital camera and software like piktochart.com or canva.com.

#4 |

Content Instead of Advertisements

Copywriting used to be mostly for paid advertising. But today copywriting principles are being used for white papers, blog posts, articles, eBooks, videos and more. Inbound marketing is far more effective than advertisements.

#5 | Plan

BY PAM IVEY

Content but Be Ready to Adapt

Creating content calendars and editorial calendars is an important element in success. But, you must also be willing to turn at a moment’s notice to something more newsworthy based on current events and the market.

#6 | Use Data to Drive Ideas

Don’t just write blog posts, or white papers, or sales pages without knowledge driven by data. Analytics are your most important tool to use to ensure that everything you write is exactly what your audience needs.

#7 | Benefits over Features Still Wins

Nothing has changed when it comes to preparing content for your audience. You must describe the benefits of your products and / or service in a way that the audience understands how it solves their problems.

#8 | Remember AIDA

This is a common acronym in marketing and stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and action. Everything you write, or record that is a marketing message even a blog post should include these traits in order to be successful.

Writing everything with an eye toward smart copywriting will encourage more success than blindly creating copy without any goals. Each piece of copy you create needs to grab your audience’s attention, keep their interest and inspire a desire to take some sort of action. You can’t do that without thoroughly studying your audience and knowing your product or service inside and out.

18 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

PRODUCTIVITY

ONLINE PRODUCTIVITY

TOOLS

U

sing online tools to make your life easier as a virtual business manager or owner is very important. The right tools will help keep things organized, making planning and executing easier than if you did not use any online productivity tools. It’s actually the existence of these tools that help you even have an online business in the first place. And guess what, even if you do not have an online business, these tools will boost your organization and help you take your business to entirely new levels you may not have even considered.

According to Josh Kaufman every business has five important parts.

BY PAM IVEY

VALUE CREATION In order to have a real business you must create something of value for your audience. This requires researching the audience you want to serve and creating something that will solve their problems.

The best way to do that is to use online tools for research such as:

Twitter Search

You can search Twitter for trends and connect with your audience to observe what kinds of questions they’re asking and what they want to know.

Google Search Same type of thing, you can study what your audience is looking for and look at your competition too.

#1 | Value Creation #2 | Marketing #3 | Sales #4 | Value Delivery #5 | Finance

Project Management

It’s also important to use some sort of project management system. It will help you collaborate with your team easier than using email. It will keep you organized so you can focus on value creation instead of trying to remember where you put that file or whether or not your contractors are on task or not.

File Storage & Backup

These five parts help define the different areas of your business. Depending on the size of your business you may have more, but you will never have less. If you do not create and deliver value to someone you do not have a real business.

In order to do that, you have to market and sell. In order to know if everything is going as it should you must keep track of finances. Online productivity tools can help.

There are different choices for file storage. Dropbox.com, and Google Drive are two good choices. But they’re not really true backup software so find something that really is for backup like Mozy.com. You’ll be very glad you did. Don’t think that an external hard drive is good enough either. People’s homes do burn down and all hard drives can fail. Cloud based storage is safe, effective, and very unlikely to be destroyed due to the redundant systems they use.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 19

PRODUCTIVITY MARKETING

FINANCE

You must market any products you create. It’s essential.

Online there are many great ways to market such as using search engine optimization, blogging, pay per click ads, and more. There is of course software and tools to help you be more productive with these tasks.

Finally, if you aren’t doing something about controlling your finances, you could actually have a successful business that fails. Why? Poor cash flow management. Using bookkeeping software and billing software is important. Go Daddy Bookkeeping has an all in one that is single entry bookkeeping but its inexpensive and adequate. It works with PayPal and other gateways and can even connect to your bank. There is also Freshbooks.com, which is great for managing projects to a point too.

Email Marketing Software such as Aweber.com, Mailchimp.com, Infusoft.com and more all work to do email marketing legally, and pretty much automatically.

SEO Search engine optimization is important and you can make it easier if you use certain software to help.

Software like Moz.com will help you with choosing keywords and ranking them right. Plus you can use plugins if you have a WordPress website that will also help you like Yoast SEO plugin.

Social Media Marketing Software that helps you manage all your social media accounts in one dashboard are helpful. Hootsuite.com is a very popular one, as is SproutSocial.com. Which tool you use depends on your needs, preference and budget.

Putting all these tools together will ensure that you have a business that is a lot more successful and productive. You’ll not be rushing around trying to find files because you don’t have a good management system. You won’t be searching your email for lost messages and assignments. Everything that can be automated without ruining your relationship with your customers should be done. You’ll be glad you did and so will your customers.

SALES To conduct sales properly you need to have a a shopping cart of some kind. You can use a shopping cart like 1shoppingcart. com, Amember.com, or use a WordPress plugin or a website builder that has a built in shopping cart. Look for what works for you in terms of your technical knowledge, budget and other resources. But remember, if you’re not willing to spend some money on your business, why would anyone else? The main thing about sales is if you want to make them, you must have exceptional customer service and a planned sales process that works for your ideal client.

ADVERTISE

in

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine

VALUE DELIVERY This is all about giving your customers more than they thought they’d get. Sales don’t end once the person pays.

Sales continue based on the relationship that you have with the customer. This means using an email marketing system that is segmented, as well as safe and secure downloads and payment systems. Using Paypal.com, Authorize.net, Stripe.com and other payment gateways that are secure will help a lot.

Reach Your Target Audience

Affordably

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20 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Online Marketing Maven Extraordinaire & OMS Mag Publisher

PAM IVEY

P

BY KATE SMITH

am Ivey came to the online marketing world from a corporate 9-to-5 job in 2001 and has never looked back. Starting as a real estate virtual assistant, she

eventually grew her business to include owning several virtual assistant associations as well as a multi-VA business that catered to coaches, speakers and trainers. Always a staunch champion of the VA industry, Pam continues to support VAs and online business owners alike. Now she has brought her passion for teaching others to her rebranded business at Pam Ivey International. The new brand is focused on the REV FormulaTM, which, through various

training programs and other offerings, supports business owners become more relevant, engaging and valuable to their clients and prospects. Join Pam for her Online Sales Machine 6-week LIVE training program starting July 6.

Visit www.pamivey.com for the latest courses, free content and more.

IN CONVERSATION Kate: How long have you’ve worked in the online world and how did you got started?

Pam:

I started 14 years ago in 2001. I was working in corporate and I had the boss from hell. I used to call her ‘Satan’s Wife’. I knew I needed to find anything I could do from home, especially since I had to travel three hours a day back and forth to that job and had a mortgage to pay. I searched high and low. I looked into everything from MLMs to something in my neighbourhood called Coffee Time News.

None of it was for me until I stumbled across the term Virtual Assistant. I thought “Heavens, I can do that!”

So I started my own virtual assistant company. Before I gave my letter of resignation, I had four clients on board. That meant I was working full-time at my business as well as my job. And when I left the company, within the first month I was making more money than at corporate, which I never, ever thought possible.

PAM IVEY is a trainer, speaker and coach, founder of Pam Ivey International, and creator of popular programs like the Online Marketing Manager Certification program, the REVolution Solution, and the Online Marketing REVolution live workshops. She’s the go-to girl when you want to turbo-charge your marketing using the power of the Internet for more visibility, greater authority and to generate more sales for your business. Using her powerful REV Formula™, Pam uncomplicates and demystifies online marketing, providing easy-toimplement strategies and tools for her clients to use right away in their own businesses. Learn more at www.pamivey.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 21

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Kate: How did you get those clients?

Pam: I decided right away to find a niche. At first I thought

Kate: Was that around the time you built your first website?

Pam: Yes. It was. I had always dabbled in design. My first

I could be a generalist. I actually started a business in the 80s and it was called At Your Service. It was the same type of work a virtual assistant would do, but administratively. We didn’t have the Internet at that time. I used to go to offices and pick up stuff and do typing and that kind of thing. So I thought I could just carry that on. I quickly figured out that if I narrowed my marketing message and really spoke a particular industry’s language, I could really resonate and stand out in that industry.

computer was Texas Instruments TSR80. It was one of the very first personal computers on the market. I used to do game programming for my leisure time, and I knew HTML enough to be dangerous, so that’s how I created my first website.

So that’s what I did. I had a great love of real estate and I was selling my home at the same time. But when I was looking for a real estate agent, I couldn’t find anyone who really got marketing.

Kate: So where did you go from there?

Pam: I did a lot of research on other virtual assistants who did the same thing I did. And I came across a fellow named Michael Russer. He was a big name in real estate coaching at the time. With a couple of virtual assistants, he had formed a group called Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistants (PREVAs). I joined his group which was like a discussion forum. And the next thing I knew, I was invited to assist at one of his 3-day live events. Then I really got to know people in the industry.

At the same time, I got involved with another organization called Cyber Star VAs. It was a virtual assistant group for real estate assistants. They offered a certification program, so I took it. I learned how to do the listing coordination and the transaction management and all the good stuff in between.

Shortly after getting certified and getting to know the ladies who owned that organization, I became co-owner. Then we changed the name to the International Real Estate Assistants Association (IREAA).

Nobody stood out from anyone else. And actually, no one got back to me either. I knew they needed help. So I started in the real estate industry and got my first client who was local. But once I honed that message, it was just like pow, pow. I got those first four clients right away and they were all in the real estate industry. And I’d never worked in the real estate industry before either but I knew marketing so it worked quite well.

I’m also the sole owner of REVA Institute which is for real estate virtual assistants, and I also have REA University and I certify Real Estate assistants. I help people get into the industry.

And for those who are a little more seasoned, I help them really hone their skills so they can bring even more value to their real estate clients. I also purchased the Canadian Virtual Assistant Network (CVAN) in 2005, and it really catapulted me as a leader in the virtual assistant industry. I’ve done a lot of speaking in the industry. And I’ve done a lot to elevate my visibility, so I quickly became a leader in the industry.

Then I started coaching virtual assistants. I seemed to have

MEET

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22 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT a real knack for that. I also owned a multi-VA business called My Creative Assistant, and at one point, we had 28 people on the team. It was absolute insanity but we were able to grow the business to that size. I quickly learned that wasn’t where we wanted to head and pared the team down to 18. Never one to stop there, I then opened the Virtual Assistant Training Academy in 2008, and it still exists today. Its core program is still widely used by both new and seasoned VAs. The Virtual Assistant Success Blueprint is a self-study program that breaks down every single step of how one starts and grows a VA business – helping participants avoid the barriers and challenges I did when I went through the process.

Kate:

What made you decide you’d be good at coaching and leading associations? Did you feel this was part of your entrepreneurial calling?

Pam: Absolutely. One thing that really lights me up is teaching. I believe teaching and coaching go hand-inhand. I have a real love for the virtual assistant industry. I was working really hard to increase the visibility for virtual assistants worldwide. At that time, the VA industry was quite well known and accepted in the U.S., in particular because of the coaching associations. For instance, one of my coaching clients had already hit the 6-figure level in her business and she really wanted to grow a multi-VA team. As a result, she tripled her income within three months. Besides working with private coaching clients, I also taught at the local college occasionally on the topics of marketing, starting a virtual assistant business and entrepreneurship. All this naturally lead me to online marketing coaching and training.

I’ve always had a huge love of marketing. I love a challenge.

And when the Internet first came on the scene, I had to be one of the first to get on and do business. Back then email marketing was big, but we still didn’t have social media. I’m

very competitive so I had to be emerging in that area. So I continued building my business working with clients as their marketing manager, business manager, as affiliate and joint venture manager, etc. In 2010, I joined a very large group coaching program where the majority of my colleagues were coaches. Nearly everyone asked me to be their marketing manager or JV manager, etc. There just wasn’t enough of me to go around!

It was around that time that my husband Rob became very ill. He eventually passed away in 2012. One of the things that came out of that experience was it made me take stock of where I was and what I really wanted to do. I knew there was demand for online marketing managers but there was no one in my huge network that I could confidently recommend.

Then the lights went off for me one day and I decided that I was going to create a veritable army of online marketing managers who could support all of these people. So the Online Marketing Certification Program was born.

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 23

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT It’s a seriously comprehensive 4-month self-study program, complete with assignments and a live case study assignment as well. We get raves from our case study clients because we have high level, highly visible business owners who participate; students create marketing plan and campaign for them. We also get raves from clients who have hired our graduates.

Kate: So through that transition you made the move from working for clients to training business owners and support professionals through your programs and other offerings.

Pam: That’s where my absolute passion lies. I love teaching others. I love it when students have that ‘a-ha’ moment. It absolutely thrills me. I love to pass along what I’ve learned so others can thrive. That’s where I get my charge.

Now what we’re introducing is online marketing for business owners themselves.

Even if they’re not going to do the marketing themselves, I think it’s absolutely critical that they understand at least an overview of the steps that need to happen in order to make a successful online marketing campaign.

What we’re targeting with the Online Marketing Sales Machine training I’m offering right now, which starts July 6th is helping both business owners and support professionals (coaches, speakers, trainers, actually anyone who does business online and doesn’t have a huge team to assist them) get a proven system in place with the right strategies to make sales funnels really shine. Again, whether the business person does some online marketing themselves or not, they need to know how it all works. Certainly they can contract out some of the tasks, but they will no longer be confused or overwhelmed, which will make them much more strategic and successful in the long run. The Online Marketing Sales Machine will teach business owners where they can focus their efforts that fit with their personality, their style and their business.

Kate:

With all you’ve done over the years in the online world, how do you ensure that you stand out in the online marketing training and coaching realm?

Pam: First off, if I didn’t have a team, I couldn’t do it. Having the right people in place who are proactive is really important.

And I have the best. Just saying.  Secondly, I finally did something which had been on my bucket list forever – publish a magazine. Creating Online Marketing Success Magazine has really amped my visibility and it’s been a hugely satisfying labour of love. Contributors and readers alike are always singing its praises. It feels so great to provide another avenue for business owners and support professionals to come together and learn and share from each other.

Social media is another area where my business gets good traction. We focus on certain areas and dominate those channels. We are on the ‘big 3’: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and Google+ a little. We have the magazine. So we focus a lot on content marketing. And I do a lot of speaking which is fantastic for elevating authority and visibility.

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24 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Kate: What roles or activities do you delegate to your team and what must you do yourself?

Pam: I delegate everything I can. I delegate repetitive tasks to my team. For instance, my ezine is delegated to my team. Anything that has to have my voice is done by me.

The personal note in my ezine needs to be done by me.

Personal social media is done by me. Everything else can be outsourced.

Kate:

And having a team that understands your brand, your voice and your mission is critical, correct?

Pam: Absolutely critical. And it’s important to have systems and processes in place so people can do those repetitive tasks without ever having to ask a question. But if they do, I welcome it because I believe in open and respectful communication.

Kate:

What do you feel are the essential skills an Online Marketing Manager really needs to have?

Pam: Number one for me is confidence. I’m asking these marketing managers to step up to work with their clients at a high partnership level. They need to have the confidence to work in that capacity and feel comfortable challenging their clients in order to make the most practical and strategic decisions possible for the business. Secondly, they MUST be proactive. Clients at that level (and really, most clients super appreciate this) want their online marketing manager to go off and do their thing without constantly checking in and asking what they should do next.

Online Marketing Managers are taught to go through the business goals and develop strategies with their clients. One of the first things an OMM does is do an audit of the client’s business, then create the strategy and plan that addresses the goals in both the short and long term.

I also teach OMMs that they don’t have to do all the online marketing tasks themselves. In fact, I don’t want them to do everything because they need to perform at a management level. Certainly there are tasks they might want to do that they are really interested in and would enjoy doing. They are trained to understand all facets of the major areas of online marketing in order to delegate properly. And then oversee and manage everything well.

Kate: Do you have a favourite go to tool or system you use?

Pam: One of my top favs is Roboform. I’ve used it for over 10 years. I love that I don’t have to think. My passwords are just there all the time. Teamwork is my all-time favourite online project management tool. It’s an essential one for anyone who works online, whether you have a team of two or 20. Hootsuite is also great for aggregating content quickly and easily.

Kate: What was one of your biggest challenges as an online entrepreneur and how did you overcome it?

Pam: Honestly, going through the business blahs. I’m sure most entrepreneurs deal with this at one time or another. I just sometimes feel I’m not sure if I want to continue doing what I do. I think it’s because as solo business owners who work at home, we don’t interact face-to-face enough.

The best way I know to get out of that, and what’s really helped me is having a coach. I’m also part of a mastermind group which has also been an integral part of getting out of those blues. If I’m having one of those days or one of those weeks, I can call my mastermind buddy and do some focused accountability. We try to keep each other motivated.

And that’s the best thing that’s helped me out of these funks because it ensures I keep moving even when I don’t want to. My mastermind group is pretty awesome. They also have been laughing a lot, too. My other biggest challenge is finding the right team members.

Kate: Any advice on how to do that?

Pam: This is an interesting thing because we often found when I was running My Creative Assistant that people who applied to be on the team might look good on paper but they didn’t perform. So we created a way to get laser focused at assessing a potential team member’s abilities by going through a particular process. It started with asking a list of set questions. My online business manager would do all the application intake, decide on who should be interviewed, interview them and then narrow the field down to one or two who I’d talk with. Then we’d give a potential vendor a scenario or two, like a dummy assignment and purposely leave out information to weed out those who were proactive, detail-oriented and on the ball. Another way to find good team members is to ask your colleagues who they have ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 25

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT hired and ask if they’d recommend them/how that team member performed.

Kate: Can you give us one technique or strategy that you

one. I find most entrepreneurs try to be on every social media platform that exists, but all that does is dilute their message.

It’s not going to the right target market where they hang out.

find invaluable in making your business work better?

Pam:

Speaking. Working with Kristin ‘Rock Your Talk” Thompson as my business and speaking coach, I can tell you that nothing will elevate you faster, make you more money and position you as an authority in your industry faster than speaking. And that’s speaking in front of the right crowd.

And when it comes to your lead magnet or free offer, consider this.

If you wouldn’t pay for it, don’t put it on your website. Your freebie MUST be irresistible to your target audience. A newsletter is NO T an irresistible give-away.

Your free offer has to answer a problem or challenge your potential client has. If it doesn’t, you’ve totally missed the boat.

Kate: You mean not just at live events, right?

Pam: I take any kind of speaking opportunity

that I can get my hands on. The more people I can get in front of, the more visibility it builds for me, the more credibility and the more authority I gain in the marketplace. I love doing virtual events. That means I don’t have to travel all the time. It’s always helpful for list building as well.

Kate:

Besides speaking, is there one overarching nugget of advice you have around trying to build a business online?

Pam:

Choose a minimum number of avenues to market yourself, especially initially.

For instance, with social media, choose two platforms at most.

Then dominate them. Don’t spread yourself thin by trying to be on all of them. Choose Facebook if that’s where your tribe hangs out.

Find out where your potential clients are. Don’t try to be everywhere. Once you master one, then you can add another

Kate:

Do you have any advice for business owners in

general?

Pam: Don’t try to do everything! That just invites major burnout. You can’t grow a business by doing it all yourself.

Kate: Do you have an upcoming speaking event you’d like to highlight?

Pam: Yes. For the first time, I’m going to be taking center stage at Kristin Thompson’s LIVE The RISE Event, October 15-17th at the Sheraton Downtown, Phoenix, Arizona. If anyone has plans to go, please get in touch with me first as I have a special goody for you! www.theriseliveevent.com.

KATE SMITH (aka Kathy) is a writer, master virtual assistant and an exceptional project manager. A seasoned interviewer and prolific writer, she has authored more than 165 newspaper and magazine articles for mainstream publications that include Reader’s Digest, as well as maritime industry trade journals. Kate also writes B2B and B2C marketing copy for a wide variety of clients. Visit her website at www.bit.ly/kathysmithwriter 26 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

STRATEGY

FLIP THE

MARKETING FUNNEL A

BY LISA MANYON “THE BUSINESS MARKETING ARCHITECT”

re you wasting your time creating a “funnel” to stair-step clients towards your highest level offerings?

Many people are teaching you to create multiple offerings that spoon feed your products and services to consumers starting with the lowest investment first. This is often referred to as your marketing funnel. While this can work, and I’ve shared this strategy, too…

I wonder if it’s really in YOUR best interest?

Maybe it’s time to FLIP the FUNNEL and focus on your highest ticket items. It takes just as much time to close a small deal as it does to close a larger deal. Now, this doesn’t mean you should abandon your efforts in other areas, but maybe, just maybe, it’s time to put a little energy into larger transactions with bigger payoffs for YOU and your clients.

If you’re feeling like you’re a bit tired of attending seminars, training events and working with coaches and consultants that keep you busy with busy work that isn’t paying off NOW, you might be interested in this…

LISA MANYON is “The Business Marketing Architect.” and creator of the NEW marketing and copywriting model for success, a simple 3-step “Challenge. Solution. Invitation.™” formula to create marketing messages with integrity. Lisa reverse engineers your most powerful solution into profitable revenue streams (known to produce million dollar results). Recipient of the People’s Choice Award at the 29th California Women’s Conference, Lisa has created training for Small Business Development Centers and is available for speaking engagements. She offers a FREE Copywriting Action Plan on her award-winning blog here www.writeoncreative.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 27

STRATEGY

“

Could you be building relationships and focusing on higher yielding efforts (this means your clients and you are getting better results with grace and ease)?

”

Is it time for you to FLIP the FUNNEL? You decide.

Take a moment to map out your revenue streams and

Here are some things to consider:

reassess your focus.

How much time, energy and training does it take to create, promote and close sales for your lower ticket items? Is this a good Return on Investment?

If working less, earning more and getting really focused on

Could you be building relationships and focusing on higher yielding efforts (this means your clients and you are getting better results with grace and ease)?

What brings you the most JOY and your clients the best results?

what is in YOUR best interest resonates with you, consider reassessing your current business model.

What’s working in your business? What’s not? How can you FLIP the funnel?

Join the conversation on my blog here http://bit.ly/ FlipTheFunnel. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Lisa Manyon

“The Business Marketing Architect” A Content & Copywriting Strategist for Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs

Discover the NEW marketing model for success and get your FREE Copywriting Action Plan to help you improve all of your marketing messages (as seen in Inc. Magazine and Wonder Women: How Western Women Will Save the World). www.writeoncreative.com ~ Powerfully communicating your marketing message to get results! ~ 28 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

As Seen In

STRATEGY

9 Landing Page Trends Worth Following

D

esigning effective landing pages is important if you want to sell products or services online. A landing page needs to be engaging enough to keep the visitor reading while they are being educated on their problem and the benefits of the solution you’re providing.

Some important trends are emerging as ways to increase conversion rates and improve sales.

1 2

Larger CTA Buttons Studies have shown that larger buttons get more attention than smaller. Be very clear that it is a clickable button by using different shades of color to show change as the mouse is pointing to the button.

Avoid Impersonal Copy People don’t want to read anything full of jargon and text that is impersonal and unfeeling. You must tug at their emotions while explaining to the visitor how your solution solves their problems and how simply it does so.

3

Limit Visitor Choices Giving your visitors a laundry list of choices is a bad idea on a landing page. Give them one or two options at the most. For example, you might give them different levels of access to your product, but you don’t give them the choice between many products.

4

Keep Copy Simple The copy of your landing page should be simple and direct to the point while also telling the story of your product in a creative way to keep their attention.

5

BY PAM IVEY

Name Drop If you’ve worked with, or talked to high profile corporations, businesses and press be sure to name drop in a subliminal way, such as including their logos and badges on your site. For example perhaps you’ve been mentioned in the press several times, you can include logos for them on your site “as seen in” area.

6

Provide Detailed Testimonials An important part of a high converting landing page is the testimonials that you include. Use the most detailed testimonials and product reviews that you can include will entice your visitors to desire your product or service more.

7 8 9

Craft Solution Driven Headlines If you want someone to even see your landing page it’s important that headline text tells the audience about the solution rather than the features of the product.

Show the Product Being Used If you have images of the product you’re promoting being used, show it.

Pictures of happy customers will drive sales higher than keeping everything only to their imagination.

Provide an Easy Opt-in Process Don’t give your audience a lot of choices when it comes to opting in to your email list. An easy option is to just include a name and email address and that’s it. Making it too difficult will cause people not to sign up.

Landing pages are an important aspect of making sales on the Internet whether or not you sell products or services. If you can perfect your landing pages you’ll improve conversions, increase your ROI and expand your business.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 29

SOCIAL MEDIA

4 POWERFUL TIPS to Make your Instagram

FAMOUS

I

have had many people ask me how to receive more interaction on Instagram. In fact, many are frustrated that they can barely get 10 likes on nice images that they upload. I understand the frustration and I have had to learn myself on how to create a healthy presence on Instagram.

Instagram, the image sharing network is becoming more and more popular. In fact, many business owners have found their clients by sharing their photos across the network. It is not a surprise that the popularity is increasing since many individuals are the visual type and are attracted to pictures. It is definitely a great idea on how to learn how to attract more engagement on this network as a result. I want to share four powerful tips on how to just do that.

BY MIRIAM SLOZBERG

#1 | Upload Images that you know will Catch People’s Attention Most of the time many people know to do this anyway. However, just in case you want to be reminded of the types of pictures that strike a bunch of fancies- I will tell you. Pictures of food, striking looking food that is like desserts or scrumptious dinners always get people curious. Taking a picture of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is definitely not discouraged, however you may not get as much interaction on a post like that because it just may not be interesting enough for most people. Pictures of animals, beautiful scenery, plants, flowers and even image quotes you can download onto your phone from sites will certainly capture the interest of others. You are also encouraged to take

MIRIAM SLOZBERG is a Canadian author, mom, blogger, SEO and social media specialist teaching small business owners how to be influential in their niches and to harness the power of social media. Learn more at www.miriamslozberg.com.

30 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA pictures of places you visit, or even pictures that are related to your business. It is best to mix types of photos up as well to diversify. Some social media consultants may disagree with this. Mixing niches too often in other social media networks like Facebook and Twitter is not recommended. However, with Instagram, I think it is perfectly fine to do! Instagram is an excellent platform to really express yourself. Common sense will also tell you to never post images that are downright disturbing, which I don’t feel is necessary to elaborate on.

Unfortunately I have seen shocking images on Instagram and have reported them as well.

#2 |

#4 | Post At Least One Image a Day

Be consistent with posting on Instagram. If you post less than one image a day, you will have not much of a presence on Instagram. That means less interaction than you would like. If you are not sure of what to post, you can either go and take pictures of a nice outside scenery, or your delicious dinner, your pet, or you can download royalty free images that fit into a category that you know will pique people’s interest.

To sum up, post at least one image a day, hashtag it, and interact! Happy Instagramming!

Always Use the Following Hashtags

Hashtagging your social media posts is a sure way to receive extra exposure! However for Instagram you will want to use the following hashtags to receive more interaction and likes for your images- #likealways #instagood #instadaily #instalove #instaquote #picoftheday #instacute #likeforlike #like4like #20likes. If you are posting a picture of a dog, it is fine to also add #dog or the type of breed. If it is a picture of dessert, then hashtagging the dessert is also fine. However you don’t need to use all of the hashtags in one post listed above. Be sure to not to use more than 7 hashtags for your Instagram pics or else it will appear too spammy (For other networks like Facebook and Twitter it is not advisable to use more than 3). Doesn’t it annoy you when you click on someone’s Instagram picture and underneath it is filled with 100 hashtags that you need to scroll down through? How many of them have you read as a result of that as well? I bet none. Be mindful when hashtagging.

#3 | Engage Back

If someone likes your images, then be sure to engage back. If you don’t, then other users will lose interest. In fact if someone comments on your images, mention them and thank them. They will appreciate it and keep an eye out for your new stuff!

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine is a rich resource to help online marketing consultants and other service providers step into their power with confidence and know-how.

Do you have a story that demonstrates a way forward and can be just the information or insight they need when they reach roadblocks or feel like giving up on their business dreams?

Connect with us at kate@omsmagazine.com with your story idea.

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 31

STRATEGY

Putting RELEVANCE In Context B

BY PAM IVEY

e relevant. You’ve heard this before, but do you really know what it means in context with your business?

Before we start talking about relevance you need to understand what it means for your business.

As marketers, you need to be relevant not only when talking to new clients, and making that new client connection, but also throughout the entire buying cycle of your clients. So, that brings to mind the first two questions.

important for you to know so that you can direct information to them accordingly. Let’s go over a basic sales cycle.

A selling cycle is essentially the process you and your clients go through as they sell a product or a service to a customer making them a client. There are various steps described but for our purposes we’ll use these 7 steps.

#1 | Prospecting

This may involve many moving parts such as networking, creating an impressible offer, but it definitely includes knowing exactly who the prospect is by creating buying personas.

• Do You Understand Your Client’s Buying Cycle?

• Do You Understand Your Client’s Selling Cycle?

In order to understand your customer’s buying cycle you need to have studied your audience, know exactly who they are and how they think, what they need and want, and how to lead them through the steps to becoming your client. Right?

5 STAGES OF THE BUYING CYCLE: #1 | Awareness of Needs & of Your Offerings

#2 | Setting Appointments

People selling services need a way to set appointments for prospects so that they can talk to them.

#3 | Qualifying

Some form of qualifying happens from the moment you identify your ideal client, through to this stage when you may have an appointment with the potential client. You’re ensuring they fit with you not just the other way around.

SEO (on an off page), social media, PPC, Ads, blog posts

#2 | Consideration / Assessment / Research

Videos, interviews, blog posts, newsletters, eBooks, articles, brochures, white papers.

#3

#4 | Presenting

Either during the appointment or once you’ve qualified the prospect then you have to present your offer.

| Preference / Alleviation of Risk Case studies, testimonials, demonstrations, brochures, price estimations, return on investment calculator, social media, blog posts, free trials or a lower price to determine fit

#5 | Addressing

| Purchase / Decision Implementation, under promise but over deliver, training videos, how to get the best from “xxxx services” reports, blog posts.

#6 | Closing

#4 #5

| Results / Retention / Repeat Post sales surveys, Q & A, Customer only webinars, social media, newsletters, blog posts.

During each stage of the buying cycle you need to provide relevant information to potential clients and current clients alike such as the examples mentioned above. Each stage of the buying cycle must be filled with relevance to match the client’s needs, wants and desires – plus solve their problems.

The next part of the equation that will keep you relevant is for you to understand the selling cycles of each of your individual clients. Each client may do it a little differently, but it is

Objections The offer should cover any objections the client might have. If each objection is addressed before they ask questions closing will be easier.

Always ask for the sale. Right then, not

later.

#7 | Asking for Referrals

When you have a satisfied customer, or even if they say no, ask for a referral.

Now that you understand those two major issues more closely, now you can ask yourself how you can be more relevant at every stage to your clients. What can you do to be more relevant is first understand what it means. If you want to be relevant you must be connected to the issues that are important to your audience. To do that practice being more authentic, empathetic and action oriented. In other words, be more proactive with your clients in the areas mentioned above to stay relevant.

32 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media Then and Now: A Brief History

T

BY KATE SMITH / IMAGE COURTESY OF STUART MILES AT FREEDIGITALPHOTOS.NET

hese days it’s hard to imagine a world without Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many other popular social media channels. Even harder to fathom (at least for the baby boomer generation) is how mobile our society has become. We can surf the Internet and check our emails from just about anywhere using a variety of devices like smartphones, tablets, and now even a watch.

A generation ago, we couldn’t have imagined grade schoolage children knowing how to text and post to their Facebook accounts, take pictures with their cell phones, or comment

on other people’s social media posts or blogs. Now in mere seconds, practically anyone can “talk to” someone halfway across their city or halfway across the world. It seems the global village is here to stay.

Besides the countless connections social media networks give us, they’ve also become news wires of sorts. But it wasn’t that long ago that these sharing applications didn’t exist.

To begin with, you pretty much have to go back to the roots of the Internet itself to find how this modern-day phenomenon began. And that goes back to the days before everyone had personal computers.

“

Early social media network sites around that time, also included classmates.com where people could connect with people they went to school with and catch up. This network is still active today.

”

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 | 33

PRODUCTIVITY SOCIAL MEDIA A company known as Compu-Serve, which opened its doors in 1969, gave businesses the ability to connect to the Internet via what was known a dial-up service.

The technology involved hooking up a computer’s modem to a telephone line in order to “call” a pre-assigned number to access the Internet. Baby boomers will remember the staticsounding squeaking, burbling noises that signalled when the link was being established.

By the 1990s, CompuServe had hit its popularity height.

People were interacting through a variety of discussion forums, sharing files and events and even sending email. By 1998, the company was bought by America Online, known by its acronym, AOL. AOL went a step farther by providing users with the ability to share in more sophisticated member communities (users filled in member profiles and could search the member database for other people’s profiles).

Early social media network sites around that time, also included classmates.com where people could connect with people they went to school with and catch up. This network is still active today.

And in the late 1990s, blogging came into existence when Pyra Labs developed their platform called Blogger (the company was later acquired by Google) and suddenly, people could launch their own blogs with the exciting feature of being able to accept comments.

quickly grew a huge database of users and increasingly large investments to keep it afloat. Its usability also allowed for third party application programming interfaces (known as APIs) to work within the platform, practically securing its place at number one. Twitter – a social networking site that allows people to post brief updates of 140 characters or less called tweets – made a similar move, which sounded the success bell for them as well.

In 2005, YouTube was launched and revolutionized the way in which videos could be shared by individuals and businesses.

It also launched the careers of some very famous people.

Today mobile technology has brought even more social media sites into the mix. Networks like Instagram (mobile photo and video sharing service that integrates with Facebook and Twitter, etc.), Snapchat (a video messaging application), and Foursquare (used for personalized local searches) are just a few of the countless other ways people can connect and build communities.

Social media has definitely taken everyone on a fascinating high-tech ride in how to use the Internet to learn and share with each other. It’s now come full circle, and where it’s headed will undoubtedly be even more engaging.

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However, it was around the turn of the millennium that social sites really started taking off. The Friendster.com site, launched in 2002, was initially based on linking like-minded people who wanted to find new friends or someone to date.

Now it is a social gaming site.

Next up was MySpace, launched in 2003, which was geared to the young adult crowd of music and video followers. It was considered quite “hip” and it enjoyed immense popularity until the advent of Facebook (MySpace still exists but is geared to musicians and bands almost exclusively).

The same year, a new network for business professionals was born. LinkedIn, arguably one of the most-frequented social sites, is nearing 298 million users.

Does Facebook even need an explanation? It is still revelling in its amazing success. With over 1 billion active users, it practically dominates every other social channel.

Facebook initially launched in 2004. Built by university students, it was meant as a sharing site for other university students. When it exploded onto the public scene in 2006, it 34 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015

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STRATEGY

YOUR Lies In The Results You Provide Your Customers

E

BY PAM IVEY

nsuring that you are able to provide value to your customers is imperative in today’s competitive society. Today it’s not really about how much someone pays you to do something as much as it is how much value you provide them in return. They should feel as if it’s a great deal no matter what they pay you.

You can maximize the value your customers feel they are getting by doing the following.

PLACE FOCUS ON YOUR CUSTOMER It’s so easy to get confused when making sales pages, blog posts, or any type of marketing collateral. It can turn easily into something about you, and your why instead of your customer’s why. If you want to create customers who will talk to others about you, provide testimonials without a second thought, and who essentially become walking billboards for you, you’ll always put them first and focus on their needs and what you do for them.

UNDERSTAND WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOUR CUSTOMER You can find out what matters most to your customer by going to the places they ask the most questions. What are they asking? What answers are their peers providing? Find ways to engage and converse with them. The more vocal you are and the more vocal they are the more information you’ll be able to obtain about what it is that matters most to them.

Then you can deliver the value you know that they need.

UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU REALLY PROVIDE TO YOUR CUSTOMER What you provide to your customer isn’t really the service or product they purchased. It’s the benefits of them that is the value. Maybe you provide knowledge, or time, or peace of mind to your customer. You must understand what you

give them in terms they feel, not in terms you want to believe but in the way they describe it. Ask some of your current customers what is the most valuable thing you do for them.

You never know what the answers may be and how they will help you.

MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOUR CUSTOMER TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK You need to set up systems that make it easy for your audience to engage with you. This may mean that you provide a help desk, chat support, email support, phone support, social media support or a whole host of options for your customers. You must provide more than one method so that different consumers can engage with you in a manner that they enjoy and works best for them. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them and how you can provide the most value. This doesn’t mean that you have to be available 24/7 or at the drop of a hat, but you do need to offer multiple channels of communication.

IMPLEMENT CUSTOMER FEEDBACK When customers take the time to provide feedback they don’t want it to go into a void or abyss. They want to be acknowledged in some way. That’s why when you put into place anything customers have suggested you should make a big deal out of it on all your channels so that they know they were heard, and that you acted, and here are the results.

Remember, it’s all about telling the story.

One of the most important elements in ensuring that you are valuable to your customers is to put to use the customer feedback that you get. Your customer took the time to provide feedback, and you should take the time to let them know you heard them, and exactly how their feedback is making a difference and what processes you’re implementing due to their helpful dialog. They will feel heard and totally appreciate it.

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UPCOMING EVENTS Have an event you’d like included in our list? Drop us a line with all of the details to editor@omsmagazine.com

DATES

EVENT NAME

LOCATION

URL

ABOUT

July 13-15, 2015 MozCon Seattle, WA http://moz.com/mozcon DIGITAL MARKETING August 2-5, 2015 Affiliate Summit East New York, NY www.affiliatesummit.com/15e-conference/ AFFILIATE MARKETING August 10-13, 2015 eTail East 2015 Boston, MA http://etaileast.wbresearch.com/ eCOMMERCE August 16-19, 2015 Cross Channel Lake Tahoe, CA http://www.mediapost.com/crosschannelmarketinginsidersummit/

Marketing Conference DIGITAL MARKETING August 23-26, 2015 Dialog Conference Stromstad, Sweden http://www.dialogkonferansen.com/2015/ DIGITAL MARKETING August 25, 2015 Leadscon New York New York, NY http://www.leadscon.com/leadsconny/ LEAD GENERATION Sept 8-11, 2015 Content Marketing Cleveland, OH http://www.contentmarketingworld.com/

World 2015 CONTENT MARKETING Sept 8-11, 2015 Inbound 2015 (Hubspot) Boston, MA http://www.inbound.com/ DIGITAL MARKETING Sept 10-11, 2015 SearchLove: San Diego San Diego, CA www.distilled.net/events/searchlove-sandiego/ SEARCH MARKETING Sept 16-17, 2015 Dmexco Cologne, Germany http://dmexco.de/2015/en/Index.html DIGITAL MARKETING Sept 20-22, 2015 Digital Marketing San Antonio, TX http://www.digitalmarketingexchange-usa.com/

Exchange DIGITAL MARKETING Sept 27-29, 2015 AMA’s Annual Austin, TX https://www.ama.org/events-training/Conferences/Pages/

Conference DIGITAL MARKETING Sept 27- Oct 1, 2015 eMetrics Boston Boston, MA http://www.emetrics.org/boston/2015/ ANALYTICS Sept 29-Oct 1, 2015 SMX East: New York New York, NY http://searchmarketingexpo.com/east/ SEARCH MARKETING Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015 Information San Jose, CA https://www.etouches.com/ehome/113382

Development World 2015 CONTENT MARKETING October 3-8, 2015 DMA 2015 Boston, MA http://dma15.org/ DIGITAL MARKETING October 4-8, 2015 Gartner’s Orlando, FL http://www.gartner.com/technology/symposium/

Symposium/ITxpo DIGITAL MARKETING October 5-9, 2015 Pubcon Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV http://www.pubcon.com/las-vegas-2015-dates SEARCH MARKETING October 8-9, 2015 RACE - Russian Moscow, Russia http://race-expo.ru/en

Affiliate Congress & Expo DIGITAL MARKETING October 10-16, 2015 Social Brand Forum Iowa City, IA http://branddrivendigital.com/socialbrand2015/ SOCIAL MEDIA October 16, 2015 SES Denver Denver, CO http://sesconference.com/denver/ SEARCH MARKETING October 18-20, 2015 Ascend Summit Philadelphia, PA http://www.ascendsummit.com/ DIGITAL MARKETING October 20-23, 2015 Marketing Prof’s Boston, MA http://mpb2b.marketingprofs.com/

B2B Marketing Forum DIGITAL MARKETING October 21-22, 2015 ClickZ Live Singapore Singapore http://www.clickzlive.com/singapore/ DIGITAL MARKETING October 28-29, 2015 Conversion Conference London, UK http://conversionconference.co.uk/ CONVERSION October 28-29, 2015 eMetrics Summit London, UK http://emetrics-summit.co.uk/ METRICS October 29-30, 2015 Performance London, UK https://www.performancemarketinginsights.com/15/london/

Marketing Insights DIGITAL MARKETING November 3-4, 2015 Conversion Conference Berlin, Germany http://conversionconference.de/ CONVERSION November 4-5, 2015 ad:tech New York New York, NY http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/ DIGITAL MARKETING Nov 9-11, 2015 UnGagged 2015 Las Vegas, NV http://www.ungagged.com/ DIGITAL MARKETING Nov 17-19, 2015 ClickZ Live Chicago Chicago, IL http://www.clickzlive.com/chicago/ DIGITAL MARKETING Nov 25-26, 2015 ClickZ Live Bankok Bangkok, Thailand http://www.clickzlive.com/bangkok/ DIGITAL MARKETING