Barbara Walters Price

Marketing Info You May Have Missed – By the Numbers

• 17 Content Creation Ideas to Inspire You [Infodoodle] - MarketingProfs
• 10 Commandments of Social Media for Financial Services - The Social CMO Blog
• 7 Google Tools Every Marketer Ought to Know [New Ebook!] - Hubspot Blog
• 10 Fascinating Facts About Phone Numbers - Mashable (Ok, I love this one. Did you know how New York came to get the 212 area code?)
• 4 Innovative Keyboards - Inc.
• 10 Life Lessons from a Reluctant Runner - Zen Habits
• 5 Easy Tips to Create Video Screencasts Like a Pro - Hubspot Blog
• 15 Keyboard Shortcuts to Enhance Your PC Productivity - Mashable

Good Overview of Google+

I've got to say that I'm pretty interested in Google+. It seems to solve many of the frustrations I have with social network platforms - both personally and professionally. The idea of "circles" is wonderful and sorely needed. 

This short presentation from Ben Gaddes provides a good overview of Google+.  

What Google+ Means for Marketers

View more presentations from Ben Gaddis

More resources on Google+ (from Jay Fleischman at Legal PracticePro):

• Google Launches Google+ To Battle Facebook (Mashable)
• Google Plus Sparks – Staying Up To Date On What Matters To You
• Google: Plus Or Minus? (Geoff Livingston)
• Google Plus: Is This the Social Tool Schools Have Been Waiting For? (ReadWriteWeb)
• Sorry Guys! I Love Google Plus, but it’s Destined to Fail (BuzzOm)
• Google Plus (Google+): The Painful Realization (Social Media Today)
• How to invite friends to join Google Plus
• How To Invite People To Google Plus (Tutkiun!)
• How to mention someone in the Google Plus
• How To Video Podcast Using Google Plus Hangouts (Phandroid)
• How To Blog With Google Plus (Chris Brogan)
• How To Share Google Plus(+) Posts On Facebook And Twitter? (Buzzing Up)
• Google Plus Tips And Shortcuts (Local SEO Guide)

Thought Provoking Presentation: "The Real Life Social Network"

While this presentation, The Real Life Social Network, was created for developers (by Paul Adam), there is much, especially at the beginning (page down to scroll through) which should help marketing professionals (and interested fee earners) understand social networks and how they are evolving.

I recommend spending some time with this and thinking about the concepts presented and how they impact not only you personally but how you interact with your clients, referral sources, and prospects.

The Real Life Social Network v2

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10 Marketing Tips for Time-Pressed Professionals

In my experience, most professionals realize that "marketing" and business development are really not that hard to understand. There's no magic to them and marketing consultants that try to convince you otherwise are selling you a bill of goods.

So while "marketing" and business development themselves are not necessarily hard, doing them on a consistent basis is. Too many professionals fall into the trap of marketing only when they are not busy. You can't build any momentum this way and you know it. But you've got billable responsibilities and only so many hours in the day. What do you do?

Stacy West Clark has a useful article at Law.com entitled "10 Marketing Tips for Time-Pressed Lawyers." These tips apply to all professionals, not just lawyers. Stacy's main points are:

1. Don't shoot for the moon
2. Calendar marketing as you would a court appearance
3. Every Thursday breakfast or every Thursday lunch, meet with a client or referral source
4. Outsource ministerial marketing tasks to your secretary
5. Mentor a terrific associate so he or she can help you deliver responsive service to the client
6. Make marketing part of something you really like to do so it becomes part of your relaxation time
7. Create fast and easy communication devices to let clients know you are thinking of their business needs and goals
8. Look at where you spend your time
9. Focus your marketing activities on things that have the greatest payoffs
10. Use "downtime" to check-in with clients and referral sources

Read the article for helpful comments on each item. 

The point is that while marketing is not hard, taking the time for marketing activities can be. The easiest way to deal with this is to take small steps -- and take them consistently. I know this is not new advice but I post this because while most of you know what you should do but are currently not doing it (even though you have the best of intentions to, say, start a new development program after your vacation), a little nagging helpful reminder can't hurt.

Hat Tip to Tom Kane at Legal Marketing Blog where I found Stacy's article

Marketing Info You May Have Missed

• How ICANN's Approval of New Domains Will Change the Web - Mashable (A must read)
• How smart people who are poor writers create great content - David Meerman Scott (good stuff here)
• Google's Un-Personalized Search. Tools to Hack the Code - SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog (GREAT stuff here to "turn off" Google's personalized search)
• LinkedIn Can Lead to New Business: A 5 Step Approach - Social CPAs (this one discusses using Groups to your advantage)
• The 25 Wackiest Mobile Apps Ever - Schaefer Marketing Solutions (Just for fun)
• How to Grow Your Business by NOT Marketing - Michael A. Stelzner via RainToday (But isn't content marketing still marketing?)
• Protect Your Law Firm Name or Suffer the Consequences - Larry Bodine (Something to think consider given ICANN's new top level domain naming scheme)
• The Mystery of Chronic Pain (Elliot Krane) - TED Talks (while this is not a marketing topic, I thought it was fascinating)

 

Good Advice from Ian Brodie

In Ian's post, It Never Happens to Me, he provides simple, yet powerful, wisdom that can help you develop business. Check it out.

Smart QR Codes

Check out this post by Drew McLellan - Creating Smart QR Codes. It contains good resources for QR code creators that provide good stats. If you are using QR Codes or planning to, read this post.

It's Not About the Technology, It's About the Experience

Loved this quote from Chris Brogan in a recent post (Don't Get Hung Up on the Tech):

Don't Get Hung Up on the Tech. Think instead about how you can enable your buyers to connect with experiences in meaningful ways. ... Who cares about the tech that brings it [the experience] to you? Focus on the experience of what that’s going to do for your buyer.[emphasis added]

We can get so hung up on the technological tools available to us that we forget to think about the experience for the user. I was on a website today that I'm sure was easy for the owners of the site to update but was a horrible experience for me, the end user, to use. Don't fall in love with technology. It's just a means to an end. Spend your time on creating a positive experience for your prospect and/or client.

 

22 Ways to Use Evernote

This post from Ian's Messy Desk, How to Use Evernote: 22 Ways, is worth a read. I LOVE Evernote but don't use it as expertly as I should. This list helped me and I know it will help you.

Marketing in a Recession - Inbound vs. Traditional Methods

This presentation from Hubspot is old (2009) but much of it is still good.

Inbound marketing, or drawing prospects to you via content marketing and SEO, is all the rage in marketing today.

It's amusing to me because many professional services firms have been using some form of the content marketing strategy for decades. Most firms were not as strategic as the good folks at Hubspot would have liked if they had been around then, but then again, it's only fairly recently that we've been able to leverage information efficiently. I remember when bulletin boards on this new technology called the internet were the way to go. I guess that makes me old (and I'm not even 50 yet.) The point is that we sometimes take for granted where we are in terms of connectability today and we shouldn't. It provides an amazing opportunity if approached correctly.

So, all that being said, there is much good in inbound marketing - especially for firms that have a tight marketing budget and no marketing staff. Take a look and I'll bet you get a few ideas.

Marketing In A Recession - HubSpot

View more presentations from HubSpot Internet Marketing