Search This Blog

Four Principles That Use Leverage to Market Your Business and Produce Powerful Results

twitter y macworldImage by juque via FlickrThere seems to be a huge cloud of mystery that surrounds the whole industry of social media marketing and Internet networking. I see business people flailing around with all manners of marketing techniques that are supposed to help them grow their networks. However, most people are attempting to "go it alone" without investing the time needed to learn the basic marketing principles that will provide them with success. In this article, we will focus on the principle of leverage. We will cover how it is used to make your work easier yet help you produce great results. By using leverage properly, you will receive results that exceed the sum of time, effort and money you invest. The dictionary says that leverage "produces a mechanical advantage". As a business owner, you want this advantage. It also defines leverage as, "The power to influence a person or situation to achieve a particular outcome." In essences, leverage is a means by which you can multiply your work and amplify your results. In marketing, we mean that leverage produces a result far beyond its intended run, even when the original advertising has ended.

I often hear business people say that they can't keep up with social networking because it is too time consuming. This is true, if you're not using leverage. It's very easy to get engrossed with social networking. You are busy inviting friends, answering post, uploading your latest information and posting your own messages and pictures. It is common to hear someone say, "I sat down at 8 o'clock, and before I knew it, it was 3 AM." It's no wonder that business people say that social networking consumes too much time. This article will provide you with useful marketing tools and techniques that will leverage your time, efforts and resources. These techniques may seem simple; however, they will save you many hours of work and increase the shelf life of your marketing message. Use these to develop your social network, get more leads, receive more referrals and grow your business.

Leverage Principle #1 Make it easier for people to find you.


If you use twitter, always use hash tags within your post to extend your reach. Hash tags make any word that is tagged searchable. By tagging specific words with hash tags, you make it easier for 200 million Twitter subscribers to read your message. Hash tags turn your words into key words. That's right, instead of it just being shown to your 283 followers; all 200 million Twitter followers can look it up by just typing in your key words.

An example could be where you tag the words ecology and green in your post that said something like "check out the newest #green technology, it helps the #ecology." The hash tags will turn the words ecology and green into key search words that can be found by millions of subscribers. No doubt sending a message to potentially 200 million subscribers is a great example of leverage. It's definitely would provide more leverage than sending the same message to just 283 people.

Leverage Principle #2 Regular posting raise your ranking.

YouTube videos and Tweets show up in Google's searches! They also have high organic ranking in many cases because they are often current and relevant to someone search. Most businesses today have a website. One of the biggest concerns of any businesses is that people won't be able to find their website. Their concern is that the Internet is so vast, that it will be lost in the crowd. I have heard customers say that their website is like a billboard in the desert. A good way to make sure people can find your website on the Internet is to leverage your social networks by having all of them linked to your primary online presence.

Google ChromeImage by thms.nl via FlickrAnything that is posted to Twitter using hash tags or YouTube is added to Google search mix. If you often post consistent messages to YouTube and Twitter, your post will start to show up on page one organically in Google and other search engines, (assuming the prospect types in your key words for their search). People like their information to be current, short and relevant. Tweet and videos are often current, short and relevant. Tweets are 140 characters or less in length, and most videos average five minutes or less. They also include many current events. If your prospects search key words match the key words in your short marketing message, (i.e. your tweet or video), your message will rise to the top of the search page listing. Google pays particular attention to key word matches being exact, current and relevant. It also places an emphasis on video since Google owns YouTube. It is no wonder that YouTube is the number one destination on the Internet today.

Leverage Principle #3 Back Links are like magic for ranking.

Creating "back links" to get exposure and to increase your organic search engine position is a powerful method that only requires an investment of time. A back link can be defined as any link on the Internet to leads back your website. Google places a high emphasis on back links. The total number of back links pointing to your website will have a big impact on your page placement.

Google Webmaster Tools Shows 12,041 Inbound Li...Image by Frederick Md Publicity via FlickrEvery location on the web that contains your business name should list every primary URL you own and all your contact information. This will make it much easier for people to find you. It also increases the number of links pointing to your primary website. This includes Face Book, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Space,
Four Square, Google +, Merchant Circle, the Yellow Pages online, profile websites and literally hundreds of others not mentioned here. These links are a type of back link to your primary web address. Don't forget review sites. Review sites that list what people are saying about you, your company, your product or service also count. These can be extremely valuable, especially if your customers are providing you with recommendations and testimonials. Review sites can also hurt you if you're not taking care of your customers.

Link exchanges are the best-known type of back links. You can create lots of these types of links by participating in link exchanges. Contact like-minded companies and agree to exchange links with them. By participating in link exchanges, both businesses will benefit and improve their reach and search engine rankings.

Another type of back link is a URL link listed as part of a bio for an article that gets published on the Internet. This includes articles published on your blog or in article database like EzineArticles.com. Most article sites provide a place where readers can leave comments on the articles they have read along contact information for the person leaving the comments. This contact information usually includes your name, email address and a web address. These comment areas become back links to the URL you list on them. If you read lots of blogs and online articles, make sure you leave lots of comments and always include your website URL.

Leverage Principle #4 Make your Marketing material Go Viral

Use effective web links in all online marketing material. This includes Internet ads, banners, directory listings, articles, blog post and eBooks. By including links to your landing pages and website, you increase the chances that your marketing piece will go viral.

twitter logo map 09Image by The Next Web via Flickr
Make sure that the URL listed is a landing page designed to close business or capture prospects information. If the URL is just your home page, it will not have a big impact. If you don't provide a reason for the customer to leave their contact information, they just will move on to their next destination. Give them a reason, a gift so to speak for visiting. Your landing page will be ten times more valuable to you if it's more valuable to them. How much does it cost you to buy their cooperation? Is it a free white paper, eBook, discount coupon? Find out what will persuade them to provide you with their contact information, and you will really start to take advantage of your online presences.

A great way for your message to take on a life of its own is to produce a marketing piece that has lots of useful content in it. Give this item away as a gift. Make sure you include lots of back links to all your web URLs, especially landing pages. This will allow you to close more business and more capture leads. The item you give away could be a useful document, an educational video, audio recording, a white paper, a donation to their favorite charity or any item that is perceived as useful and valuable, etc.... It can even be a combination of things. Get your gift out to as many people as possible. If you make your content useful, entertaining, and easily copied, it will be passed around even more.

People want information that's entertaining, relevant to them and ultimately meaningful in some way. Your gift must have intrinsic value. Anytime, you provide a gift, make sure it is designed to allow others to re-gift to their friends. Doing so will ensure that it will be copied repeatedly. The pasting of your gift from friend to friend will create a viral message that can often produce a flood of new business. Viral marketing is a great tool for social networking. Just make sure your message doesn't look like any kind of scam. It must provide some form of value to your prospect. If your gift has no perceived value, it won't be passed on to others. If it looks feels or smells like a scam, it won't produce anything at all. It must provide a gift of knowledge, fun or other useful information. If it does, it will produce big results with little effort on your part.

There you have it, four principles that use leverage to market your business. This article has introduced you to four marketing principle that did not exist before the beginning of the 21 century. These leveraging techniques will make it easier to do business on the Internet and with your social networks. Use these techniques every day to minimize your work and time investment. Use them to amplify your message and use them to create marketing messages that acquire a life of their own. By doing so, you give up working late, and losing sleep. On the other hand, gain the profits and marketing results, you seek.

That's my opinion. I welcome yours.

Hector Cisneros has been an entrepreneur for 25 years, a veteran of BNI for 18 years and was a BNI director for over five years. He is still an active BNI member and follows the philosophy of Givers Gain. He is the owner of several businesses in Jacksonville, Florida. He actively coaches business owners in the fine art of Internet advertising, Networking and Word of Mouth marketing. He is the president of Website Know How, Inc. a holding company for his business ventures that include online advertising, word of mouth marketing, real estate holdings, health and wellness product sales and Adventure sports. He is also a partner in a new company called Successful Campaigns LLC. This company provides training and support for nonprofit organizations helping them with their marketing efforts, growth, retention and sustainability. To learn more about Social Media, Internet Advertising and Word of Mouth Marketing read my other article on the Networkers Apprentice workshop. To visit my companies website visit http://www.Websiteknowhow.com. To get a free preview or find out about my new book http://www.60secondstosuccess.com.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Three Internet Marketing Techniques That Use Leverage To Produce Great Results

SAN ANSELMO, CA - JANUARY 27:  In this photo i...Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWe all know that internet marketing is vital for the sale of many types of products and services. It is also very important for the growth of many businesses. We live in a society that is seeing rapid change with completely new market segments cropping up in what seems like over night. As a consultant and small businesses owner, I need to keep up with these rapid changes. A marketing, management and learning principle I have always adhered to for staying ahead of the game is leverage. The principle of leverage allows you to do something once and then repeated it several times without having to add more energy. In essence, it allows you to do more with less effort. This article will discuss how to use the principle of leverage on the internet and in social media. Although there are numerous ways to use leverage for internet and social media marketing, this article will focus on three examples that any business can implement. Although this article will only provide three examples, it will become a nice down payment for understanding and using leverage to get results from your social media marketing.

Leveraging Technique #1 Link Your Networks

linkedinImage via WikipediaUse the linking applications built into most social networks. These applications are usually free and are often included in the setting section of social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, Face Book, MySpace, Google + and others. These applications let you automatically share the same post on multiple networks without you having to retype anything. These applications are free and usually have the approval of the social media host providers. They also work even when you are posting via your smart phone, table or web browser. Enter your post once and it is share to multiple social networks.

Leveraging Technique #2 Use Aggregator Software

Another way to achieve leverage is to use third-party aggregator programs that are not directly connect to the social media networks. These applications allow you to post to several networks simultaneously just like the "built-in apps" but the also allow you schedule your post at some future time. Another important feature of aggregator programs is that "you can pick and chose" which social networks sites receive your posts at the time you make your entries. The "build-in apps" generally don't allow changes after the fact. It's an all or none type post. Again, this allows you to leverage your communications, your work and your time. You can actually enter two dozen post today that are scheduled to be released over the next three or four weeks. Two good examples of these are Tweet Deck and Hoot Suite. Both are available as free downloads of as commercial applications.

Leveraging Technique #3 Make it Easy for People to Find You

Any time you're in the public eye, make sure these potential customers can connect with you. If you're posting information, make sure you include some kind of contact information. It can be your phone number, business address, your web URL, or email address. Email and URLs are easiest to remember so I often include these. Now this is not appropriate for all social network sites posts. For example, both Face Book and LinkedIn users would frown if you posted your contact info with every message. They already have your contact information as part of your profile and it is not necessary since your connection is automatic.

Having said that, all your email communications, business cards, brochures etc... should include your contact information. All your printed ads should include references to your social network URLs, website and more. In other words, all your regular advertising should invite people to connect with you through whatever means they like.

I use Twitter quite a bit. It definitely lends itself to including URLs in every message. Your web address can be used as a mere link, or as a push link with an added enticement. The point I am making here is this. Always make it easy for people to find and connect with you, the way they prefer to communicate. The more way a person can find you, the higher they likely hood they will.

There you have it, an introduction on how to use leverage in social networks. These three techniques are just the tip of the iceberg when compared to all the different leveraging techniques you can implement today. The sole purpose of using leverage is to do more work in less time and these three techniques deliver by multiplying your message and amplifying your work it in a viral way. By doing so you give up the countless hours of late night posting and prodding of tweets and comments that so many entrepreneur complain about and trade them in for a good nights sleep while your marketing leverage works for you.

That's my opinion. I welcome yours.

Business Network InternationalImage via WikipediaHector Cisneros has been an entrepreneur for 25 year, a veteran of BNI for 18 years, and was a BNI director for over 5 years. He is still an active BNI member and follows the philosophy of Givers Gain. He is the owner of several Businesses in Jacksonville, Florida. He actively coaches business owners in the fine art of internet advertising, Networking and Word of Mouth marketing. He is the president of Website Know How, Inc. a holding company for his business ventures that include online advertising, word of mouth marketing, real estate holdings, books sales, health and wellness product sales and Adventure sports. He is also a partner in a new company called Successful Campaigns LLC. That provides training and support for non profits organizations. To learn more about Social Media Marketing, Internet Advertising and Word of Mouth Marketing explore The Networkers Apprentice workshop or visit us at http://www.Websiteknowhow.com or http://www.60secondstosuccess.com. Friend us on Face book by clicking here.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Get your copy of 60 Seconds to Success

This book is not about a get rich quick scheme, its about how to be successful 60 seconds at a time.

You will learn how to use powerful words that compel and motivate people to action. You will learn my methodology on how to construct your messages so that your referral partners will be able to repeat and pass your message on for you.

You will also learn how to keep your message fresh so that your listeners will be compelled to hear your message, even after hearing it many times.

If this sounds interesting, read Dr. Ivan Misners testimonial. To check out the book, click on the link for the FREE pre-view copy.

Enjoy;

Mr. C.

My new Book

My new Book
60 Seconds to Success

Read the Testimonial

Read the Testimonial
Endorse by Dr. Ivan Misner and others