Let’s say you were advertising your brand as the greatest, most reliable HVAC contractor in all of the land. But you never connected with past clients that would have been more than happy to post on your Facebook fan page just how great, and reliable you are.

And let’s just say that someone does a Google search because they are in the market for a great, reliable HVAC contractor.

Instead of finding a well-crafted social presence that you control, Google sends them a link to a blog post from that nightmare customer a few years back who had a less-than-reliable experience with you. In fact, not only are they are telling everyone how un-“reliable” your business is, they even have a link recommending someone else, your competitor.

It could happen, in fact it IS happening, EVERY DAY. And if you are not integrating your online and offline marketing efforts, you are doing more than just losing a potential customer - you are potentially damaging your brand.

People are talking on many different social media platforms, some you may not even be aware of, and they may even be talking about your business. There could be a conversation going on RIGHT NOW that you don’t even know about. Wouldn’t you like to be a part of that conversation, good or bad?

It’s not enough for YOU to tell people how great you are in your advertisements. People are very skeptical these days when they see what they know are “paid” ads, either online or offline. Studies have shown that only 15% of people actually believe advertisements…and those same studies show that over 90% of people believe peer recommendations.

So get moving…get your raving fans to talk about you & refer you to their friends…just make sure to give them something for their efforts so they will want to continue helping you out.

Stay friendly, my friends!

John Zalepka

We have all heard the many success stories about how average everyday people are just crushing it (you know making million$) with social media. The great news is that these average everyday people are using the very same social media platforms that we all have access to, and the best part is that most of them are FREE!

However, just having access to them for FREE! does not guarantee you anything.

It is the equivalent of having a FREE! gym membership and expecting to have six-pack abs because you go to the gym once or twice a month. You need to put in the hard work necessary to really get in shape.

Similarly, your FREE! social media membership will only benefit you in direct proportion to the amount of hard work you put in.

This is how I’m getting started…

I believe that the best way to get started is to concentrate on your core. Much in the same way it is important to have a strong core when working out, it is important to have a strong core when starting out in social media…my Core 4:

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube

Studies have shown that people only believe about 15% of online advertising, while they believe 90% of their peer reviews.

Get your accounts up and running and start connecting with people. But whatever you do, don’t start selling (adverting) right away. Instead, start posting great information (content). Information that your customers and prospective customers will find useful. Try to become THE source for when people need information about something in your industry. Become the local celebrity expert! We’ve all seen people become famous recently just because of something “crazy” they posted on social media. But really aren’t they just positioning themselves as the expert of ‘how not to jump off your roof onto a trampoline while riding a bicycle’?

After you have connected and engaged your friends / readers / followers / subscribers by providing great content, they will start to give you back their information and hopefully start to refer you to others who may find your product or services useful by retweeting, reposting, liking, etc, etc, etc.

Make sure to put links back to your website where people can get more information and make a purchase; only then will you be able to capitalize on your hard work on the Core 4: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & YouTube.

So let’s get started!

John Zalepka

As a marketer, this comment from prospects and clients has always baffled me. I have always screamed in my head, ‘What do you mean you have enough business already?!’ 

Tonight as I presided over our biweekly meeting as President of the Freehold Phrasers Toastmasters Club, as is customary at the end of the meeting, we took volunteers for the different roles for upcoming meetings; Grammarian, Ah Counter, Joke Master, and the ever-coveted Speaker role. We basically set our agenda until the middle of September…it’s starting to seems like “we have enough business already”.

When I first took over the position of President of the club, I quickly assembled the executive board for a meeting about the upcoming year. When it came time to discuss public relations and new membership, I had a TON of great marketing ideas.

After I was finished presenting all of my “great ideas” to the group, they asked me a very poignant question, “How big do we want to get?” At 32 members, our club is rather large for a Toastmasters club. And because we have so many members, and a limited amount of roles, I understood what they were saying.

Of course we could get more members if we advertised more, but at what cost? By adding too many members too fast, we would risk alienating and discouraging the members that we already have.

However, as a marketer this is unacceptable to me. Maybe we could just add a few minutes to the agenda to allow for more speeches? Maybe we could meet 3 or 4 times a month instead of 2? Maybe we could start a whole new club? Maybe, maybe, maybe…

Or maybe we should focus our marketing internally for now. Perhaps we need to focus on developing the talent we already have and really help our members to grow. Yes of course, that’s it! While we can and should plan for expansion and the future, we should never do it at the expense of what we already have.

So when you feel like you have enough business already, focus on what you have and how you can help your people grow. Then, when the time is right you will grow too. 

Because let’s be TOTALLY honest here, you can never really have enough business, can you?

John Zalepka

Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are our most potent at our most ordinary. And yet most of us discount our “ordinary” because it is, well, ordinary. Or so we believe. But my ordinary is not yours. Three things block us from putting down our clever and picking up our ordinary: false comparisons with others (I’m not as good a writer as _____), false expectations of ourselves (I should be on the NYTimes best seller list or not write at all), and false investments in a story (it’s all been written before, I shouldn’t bother). What are your false comparisons? What are your false expectations? What are your false investments in a story? List them. Each keep you from that internal knowing about which Emerson writes. Each keeps you from making your strong offer to the world. Put down your clever, and pick up your ordinary.

(Author: Patti Digh)

All of my businesses have revolved around some aspect of marketing, advertising or sales. Even as a small child I can remember being a sucker for great marketing… whether is was gum or baseball cards conveniently placed down low on the checkout line at the grocery store, or TV commercials in between my Saturday morning cartoons, or the Sears Christmas Wish Book, I had to have it all.

That’s why it was no surprise that when I saw today’s #Trust30 challenge question, I read it from a marketer’s perspective.

Ordinary, much like beauty, is indeed also in the eyes of the beholder.

Busy business owners often borrow (steal) ideas from successful companies in their industry, often trying to emulate concepts and product offerings that they cannot deliver on. A small retail boutique would be crazy to try and compete on price with Walmart… it’d be like like asking a Little-Leaguer to try and hit a CC Sabathia fastball (I’m a Yankees fan btw).

However, time and again I have small business clients ask me to print up fancy brochures and marketing collateral that contain a lot of industry jargon, that, truth be told, they hope no one ever asks them about. They try to be “clever”, but what they are really doing is over-promising and setting themselves up to under-deliver.

Your marketing efforts should focus on what you already do well and apply it to your ideal market segment, then rinse and repeat as often as possible. Social networking sites and blogs can make your marketing go viral as fast as you can upload a video customer testimonial or whitepaper answering questions about subject matter that you know about.

I firmly believe that if you spend a little “extra” time focusing on what you already do well (ordinary), then it’s just a matter of time before your ordinary becomes extraordinary!

John Zalepka