Red Zone Marketing's Blog

Create a Searchable and Simple Brand Presentation

Without spending any money, firms can create a simple brand presentation and place it where it can be found by prospects. In addition to your website and your online presence, a simple brand presentation is a very viable way to have your services found by qualified prospects online.

To get the most out of a brand presentation, uploading it to a document-sharing website such as SlideShare is a great idea. SlideShare enables viewers to download your presentation, giving the opportunity for many more people to find and see it. And, SlideShare documents often appear at the top of searches for a firm or an individual advisor. So, the next time someone is searching for you on Google, it’s likely they will find your uploaded presentation.

If you’ve ever done a seminar or presentation, you probably have a few PowerPoint slides describing your firm that you could use for your SlideShare presentation. Or you could simply create a company qualifications presentation with of 4 or 5 simple slides. Slides could consist of qualifications of your firm personnel, solutions you offer...

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Spam-alytics: Finding a way to stop the spam

This weekend I went through my junk email box where messages are filtered from my regular email inbox. 1,450 emails! How did I get on that many spammers lists?? Did you ever wonder where all that spam comes from?

A study just done by computer scientists at two University of California campuses have seemingly gotten to the bottom of it. For 3 months the researchers, as reported in an article in The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/kgWtbU), turned off all of their spam filters and TRIED to receive all of the spam they could. From the nearly billion emails, they made purchases from the websites advertised in the emails. Their goal was to find a “choke point” that could potentially highlight a solution to reduce spam.

They found that there IS a way to stop the spam! The researchers uncovered that 95% of credit card transactions for the spam-advertised purchases they made were handled by just three financial companies based in Azerbaijan, Denmark and Nevis (in the West Indies).

THE SOLUTION:

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Social Media: Now what should I be doing?

You’ve spent the time and effort to get your social media sites developed, now what?

The premise of social media is to present something of value to others in your social network. Valuable content is defined as something that others:

•    Find interesting or informative
•    Deem worthy to take the time to read or view
•    Want more of and thus will follow you to see what’s next
•    Will pass along for others to see

So where does all of this great, valuable content come from? Do you have to be a prolific writer or hire someone that is? And how difficult will it be to get content through compliance? The good news is that there are solutions to the continual release of valuable content.

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2 Myths and 1 Absolute for Making Your Employees Better

Motivating and getting your staff to be as good as, or better than you, is an ongoing challenge. And, although I am not the perfect boss, I have certainly learned some truths over the past 15 years with both my own employees and through consulting on the inner workings of high producing financial services firms. In financial services, the employees often deal directly with clients and prospective clients. Their interactions are critical to the success of the organization. Here are 2 myths and one absolute for creating a better more aligned staff:

Pay them at or above industry standard and they will be great employees: MYTH

Empower them to make decisions and they will be focused on proactively serving as if it were their own company: MYTH

These two above will always be myths and will NEVER work unless they… BELIEVE in you and the firm: ABSOLUTE

Employees that are charged with interacting with prospects or clients need to believe in the mission and direction of the firm and, moreover, they really need to like the people they are working for. If they don’t, it is physically impossible to give what others who do believe will be able to give and accomplish.

However, simply sharing the mission and having employees memorize it doesn’t get them to believe it. One firm I worked with thought the solution was to have their 20 employees chant the mission every Monday morning (they were trying to emulate Walmart). The actual impact of this ritual resulted in the staff rejecting the mission and calling in sick on Monday’s.

So, how do you get your employees to “believe” in what you are doing? Here are 3 fairly simple strategies that I’ve seen work at productive, well-aligned firms:

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Endless work to do? No time to grow? Here’s a solution.

Do you ever wish you could bring in a “to the rescue” assistant to help with an overload of work or long wish list of marketing activities? More and more firms we know, including ours, have hired virtual assistants to help with everything from special projects to longer term tasks. The first reaction I get, however, when I mention a virtual assistant is, “Does that really work? How do you know if they’re actually doing work?”

The answer is - it does work, but you need to separate your current thinking about your current employees from the possibilities of hiring a virtual assistant. For instance, you may, from time to time, observe your salaried employees cut off a little time with a longer lunch or leave early when you’re not in the office. And because of that you believe that a virtual assistant would never work because you wouldn’t be there to watch over them. ERASE this thinking!!

You actually have more control over a virtual assistant. You will pay anywhere from $10 per hour to $40 per hour to get very specific work done. You can manage them based on results, and if work is not getting done, you move on. No drama. Providing these services are individuals, companies, and there’s also an association to help you find just the right skill set in an assistant. These virtual assistants specialize in administrative tasks like scheduling client review appointments and sending out email newsletters or mailings, all the way to helping with prospecting, research, sales, marketing support, and social media data mining. Too good to be true? Here are some examples.

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Does Your Staff Take Immediate Action?

It used to be that if you asked someone to do something, it got done immediately. In the “old days” your employees listened and acted exactly as you said. That’s how they kept their job. But today, because of the swarm of communication that happens in a day - directives, projects, initiatives, emails, face-to-face conversations and instant messages – it isn’t easy for an employee to intake all the details, especially verbally, and then prioritize them correctly and get them done right with one request. Even if you think you are crystal clear.

Some of it is their fault and some is yours as the boss. Today, if you assume that one conversation will bring the exact action you want, it will often lead to damage control, crisis or just high levels of frustration when it doesn’t happen just as you wanted.

A Harvard Business Review article, “Effective Managers Say The Same Thing Twice (or More)” makes an interesting assertion. According to research, the key in getting things done is not just in clarity of message (as I certainly assumed). Getting things done, according to the article and research, requires making your presence felt by staying top of mind. How? Redundancy...

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Adding A Simple Referral System Into Your Business

Positive word of mouth is one of the most coveted outcomes of great products and service. It is also possibly the best thing that can happen to any business. A good reputation (that people are talking about) generates referrals -- which are often the most profitable leads that a business can receive. Clients acquired through referrals are more loyal, easier to close, more cost efficient; and in turn are often the ones to give you even more referrals.             

Consumers today trust a personal recommendation over traditional advertising, brochure, website, or other company communications. According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), two-thirds of all economic activity in the United States is influenced by shared opinions about a product, brand or service. Yet according to eMarketer -- a leading website on digital marketing and media research and analysis -- only 18% of businesses have a referral program in place.

While most of us inherently understand the benefits of having our clients refer their friends, family, and colleagues, we simply fail to actively make it part of our marketing plan – and realize that earning and acquiring referrals requires a systematic approach.  Here are 3 simple ideas to add a referral system to your business:

1. Put “Referrals” on your meeting agenda so you don’t forget to address them – even just briefly in your client meetings.
2. Answer the question, “Who Cares?” When you describe your firm, make sure you’re talking in benefits, not offering a laundry list of services. Benefits affect people. Your proposed and perceived benefits will be what is remembered and passed along.
3. Schedule a referral appreciation event. This is an event only for those who have already introduced you to others during a specified period of time (Don’t Miss The Boat). It is in stark contrast to the often ineffective client appreciation events where you hope your clients will bring a friend and often don’t.

The key is focus. Anything you focus on actively in your business will certainly have more results than if you didn’t!

5 Unique Ways to Engage Prospects with Video

Are you using video to connect with prospects, clients, referrals, and potential alliances? Did you know that a website with a video is 53 times more likely to come up on the first page of results on Google than the exact same page without video? (Forrester Research)

Here are 5 simple and effective ways to use video and show off your firm’s personality:

1. Do a quick video tour of your office. Let people who haven’t been to your office see it from the exterior to interior. In less than 2-3 minutes someone can see your office, meet the staff, and feel a little more comfortable with your surroundings before they visit your office. Post your video tour on your Facebook Fan Page or website. It is perfect if you are moving into a new office space or have prospects that may be nervous to come in to see you the first time. Your quick video tour is similar to the hot new trend – a behind the scenes look at your firm. Oprah, Deadliest Catch, Chelsea Handler, Martha Stewart and even Howard Stern have behind the scenes video. Why not you!


2. Record a short walk on video introduction of your company (30 seconds or less) for your website home page.  (See an example of a 10 second walk on video at Red Zone Marketing). It is a unique way to welcome and greet your site visitors that will stand out in their minds.


3. Interview someone in your industry for 5-7 minutes to give viewers some quick insights and value from you and your interviewee. Use prepared questions and answers. For instance, interview another professional that also calls on your target market like an estate planning attorney or economist. Become the media yourself – why wait for them to put you on TV! Put it up yourself!


4. Add a short video to your LinkedIn Company Page describing a product or service you offer. What a differentiator from everyone else! To find out how, here are some quick instructions. 


5. Use video (and a service like AdvisorTLC.com) to invite people via video to your next event or seminar.  If you want to get their attention, try skipping the bulk mail!

Video connects and gives viewers an inside look into your firm, insight, knowledge and personality. Don’t keep your best side a secret!

There Are Only 2 Reasons Your Marketing Isn’t Working

In business, the root of success and failure can often be very complex. However, when you break down marketing successes and failures, there are only 2 reasons a service-based business is not having desired success. 

1) You have the wrong people implementing the strategy

2) You just have the wrong strategy

More often than not we are wasting time and resources fixing the wrong problems.

The wrong people implementing the strategy. Sometimes, you have to look toward your team to determine why your strategy is ineffective. Where are the holes in your process? Do you have a system in place for carrying out the various elements of your strategy? I received a call from a financial advisor last month with a “strategy” issue about the public workshops he was hosting. He had people attending his workshop, he received high evaluations on the presentation, and 75% said they would like more information or a meeting. However, very few ever turned into an appointment or sale. He was convinced that the wrong people were attending, and considering discontinuing the seminars. Crazy enough, after talking with his staff, the real problem was right in front of him. His 2 staff people responsible for scheduling appointments were swamped with their day-to-day work and didn’t begin calling to schedule appointments until almost 1 week after the event. By that time there is no doubt the interest had waned. Conclusion: People problem. We don’t have the results in yet, but he mandated before his workshop last week that his staff schedule appointments at the event or the day after at the latest. He now has a full schedule of appointments for this week and next – already a big improvement!

The wrong strategy. Sometimes, no matter how many times you tweak your strategy, it is the strategy itself that is not working. It’s time to simply try something new. We often spend countless hours modifying something that will never work properly. In another case an advisor was sending out a regularly scheduled email newsletter. The content was well written, but he felt like nothing was happening since he started sending out the email newsletter 6 months earlier – no comments, calls, appointments, etc. After he took a look at the analytics on who was opening his email newsletter, it became clear that very few people were even opening his newsletter called “Retirement Talk.” Turns out, a majority of his email list was comprised of business owners and executives. They obviously weren’t seeing themselves in retirement just yet, and so weren’t even opening his email. He then selected a different email newsletter from his provider that he called “Financial Smarts… for Entrepreneurs and Professionals” and his open rate doubled and continues to go up. Conclusions: Strategy problem.

You may be thinking that these issues are obvious to pinpoint. And they are. But they happen ALL THE TIME! So, try taking a look at your marketing problems in a simpler way. The answer is often right in front of you.

Venture Capitalists Are Looking for Failures

Did you know failure is one of the biggest indicators of future success in an entrepreneur? According to an article in the April issue of Harvard Business Review, “Failing By Design,” many venture capitalists won’t invest in a new enterprise if the founder has never undergone failure. In other words, they are looking for… failures!  Why??

Let me first state that there are two types of failures, the first are those that do nothing and fail, the second are those that take a risk and end up failing. We are focusing on the second type in this case. If you’ve ever had a failed effort, I hope you feel the same about the reams of research on this. I know I do. From failed efforts it is proven that we have our best learning experiences, we grow, and we gain the experiences necessary for future significant successes. The fact is that businesses will not assume the risks necessary for innovation and development if they’re not ok with the idea of failing on some level.
I know those that are so afraid of failing that they will do anything to avoid it. The problem with fearing failure is that you ultimately avoid risk, don’t bet on yourself or your business, and stunt your richest experiences. Apparently those who have never faced a failure in a product, division or business don’t have the experience that is valued in business. But, no one WANTS to fail!

I recently heard someone quote a high-ranking executive and head of a US division of a multinational company saying that he was sure, nearly 20 times in his career, that he would be fired. Fired for standing out, speaking his mind, and taking relatively risky actions. He was never fired, however, only promoted. But it can be a very fine line at times.

And failure doesn’t just come in the form of losing money. If you commit to working incredibly hard, day and night, to get your business off the ground or move your career forward and it doesn’t work – it is also a failure (and perhaps a blow to your ego after pouring your heart and soul into your failed initiative). It could be assumed that it is simply less disappointing and easier to not work that hard and not reach success. The excuse is built in to the equation already. What would happen if you tried your hardest and it didn’t work out? The real questions is – what if you didn’t?  What could you be losing out on by never trying at all?

I mentioned before that I have had some failures in my business over the years. Painful lessons I certainly don’t want to repeat. But I know the key now is to manage for failures. Be prepared to share what went wrong and dissect it. Also, a strategy I have learned is to create a “disengagement process” for getting out of a project that is showing triggering signs of failure. We all should try enough things that inevitably will result in some that don’t work out so that many more will.