Internet Marketing Solutions

I will be paying a visit to my beloved Emerald City the week of August 3rd.  The purpose of this visit will be to meet with prospective clients and to network in an effort to increase business in this part of the country. If you are thinking about implementing social media into your marketing strategy or are considering an AdWords campaign or search engine optimization (SEO), let me know.  I would be happy to sit down with you and discuss how this could be achieved and, if there is an opportunity for RainierDigital to help you, we could discuss that as well.

If you would like to meet while I am there feel free to email me at travis@rainierdigital.com or call me at 206.388.2580.

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original marketing, Seattle, SEO, social media

by Travis Scott | June 24th, 2009

This afternoon at Starbucks, I had a great meeting with Jennifer McLeland .  Jennifer is an Independent Marketing Consultant at The McLeland Group (a CreativeXchange Partner), whose primary focus is PR consulting.

She asked me a great question today and one that I hope every one of my clients or potential clients will ask when we are going

Illustration by Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig (HikingArtist.com on Flickr)

over their needs analysis:  With so many people claiming to do social media marketing consulting, how do you set yourself apart? Read more…

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original consultant, social media marketing

by Travis Scott | RainierDigital LLC | June 21st, 2009

Because of my background in recruiting and staffing, many of my clients are recruiting firms.  In a few weeks I will be presenting a webinar on using social media to recruit – which will be applicable not only to agency recruiters, but to corporate recruiters as well.

I have heard a lot of buzz about TweetMyJobs, a Twitter service that helps match your jobs to the appropriate candidates, sending them a text message of your job opening.

It sounded interesting and I was a little skeptical going in, so I wanted to see if they could turn me into a fan.  Some of the questions I had include:

• How is it any different than receiving an email from Careerbuilder or Monster with jobs that are supposed to be a match for what you are looking for? (other than costing you money with every text you receive if you don’t have an unlimited text messaging plan)
• How is this service going to truly navigate the “noise” of Twitter to bring job poster and job seeker together?
• Is it really worth paying for (if you are posting a job)?

Let’s just say that I didn’t get very far in my research this morning.  I went thru the registration process as a job seeker only to not be able to login afterwards.  Didn’t even get a confirmation email that I registered.

OK.  Maybe I did something wrong when I signed up, even though nothing told me of the contrary.  I then decided to try to register as a job poster- same thing happened.

So, long story short.  I couldn’t even register on their site to try their service so I could ‘plug’ them in my webinar in a couple of weeks.

We’ll see if they can change my mind between now and then, but as of now my ‘plug’ is to not even waste your time.  There are other resources I can show my audience with respect to posting jobs- and they are FREE!

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original recruiting, TweetMyJobs, Twitter

Do you feel like you have a good idea of what your competitors are doing?  If you don’t, it is now easier than ever to peer into the walls of their offices.  Of all of the marketing benefits of Web 2.0 and social media, one area that you may be overlooking is the ability to supplement your competitive analysis. 

As easy as it is to use these tools for your own reputation management, they are just as easy to use to monitor your competitors’ reputation management as well as their engagement with potential clients. 

The visibility you can gain with Twitter and LinkedIn alone can be priceless.  If you happen to be lucky enough to be connected to your competitor’s sales people on LinkedIn, just sit back and watch who they are connecting with on a daily basis.  Since these connections aren’t very likely, you can still monitor this type of activity through your customers you are connected with.  Maintain a watchful eye on who they connect with and you will be able to see if your competitors are trying to penetrate that account.

If you’re competitors keep their LinkedIn profiles open, you can also search their list of contacts for potential leads.

Twitter can be just as easy to monitor.  Simply find people who work for a competing company and ‘follow’ them.  You can also set up a search in Twitter’s search engine to find people talking about other companies as well as an RSS feed that can make it easier for you to monitor this type of communication.

Other networks exist that allow similar visibility, but I feel that these two channels are the most used and easiest to monitor.

The flip side of this visibility is that your competition has the same opportunity to see what you and your sales people are up to as well.  But my opinion on that is if you have a great product and are confident in your company’s products, services and customer service then that is what will win out in the end.  Do what you do and do it well and you will have nothing to worry about.

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original competitive analysis, LinkedIn, Twitter

by Travis Scott | RainierDigital | April 19th, 2009

A few weeks ago I espoused Digg’s URL shortening tool- DiggBar. It is extremely convenient and I began using it fairly consistently to not only link to various articles I would post on Twitter or send via email, but to also promote new content on my blog via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to name a few. After a day or so of doing this I noticed something strange when analyzing the Google Analytics for my website. I was generating a lot of traffic from Digg.com but next to nothing from the other sources that had consistently sent readers in the past. I realized that, regardless of the website my users were visiting when they clicked on my link, it would always show them being delivered by Digg.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t help me when I am trying to fine tune the marketing of my blog because I obviously am not getting an accurate picture of where my traffic is coming from and any trends that may be associated with this.

With that said, its a great tool for general use and I am still using the it to shorten the URLs of other pages I link to via Twitter or email, but have ceased using it to promote links on my own website. In the meantime, its back to using tinyurl and bit.ly.

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original Digg, DiggBar, URL shorteners

by Travis Scott | RainierDigital | April 14th, 2009

Which do you want first?  The good news or the bad news?  I like to end on a positive note, so let’s get the bad news out of the way.  The bad news for non-profits is that the current economy is making it one of the most difficult times in recent history to raise money (if you’re a non-profit this is not breaking news).  The following was in a March 30^th, 2009 story on FoxBusiness.com titled Charitable Fundraising Hit New Low in 2008.

Overall, just 46 percent of organizations raised more funds in 2008, a new low in the eight-year history of the survey. In a typical year, about 60 percent of respondents raise more money than compared to the previous year. The previous low was reported in 2002 when just 49 percent of organizations raised more money that year than compared to 2001.

In addition, the percentage of organizations (40 percent) raising less money in 2008 compared to 2007 was an all-time high. Another 14 percent raised about the same amount of money in both years.

That’s not good news given the fact the recipients of the fundraising need those funds now more than ever. 

Ok.  That was depressing.  Now for the good news.  Social media and online advertising make it easier than ever to reach more people than could have been accomplished at any other time in history.  Let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there who seriously want to help contribute to non-profits but simply can’t afford to at this time.  That doesn’t mean they don’t want to help out any way they can.  Therein lies the beauty of social media.  What better way to reach those that can help than through people who are very willing to spread the word for you in order to feel like they have helped in some way, if not financially. 

The following are just a few of the ways I would recommend using social media to promote your organization:

Twitter:  Twitter is the ultimate word-of-mouth tool.  Create a Twitter profile to let people know about your fundraising goals.  You can even spread the word about upcoming fundraising events you will be hosting.  For a simple explanation of how Twitter can be powerful at spreading the word, please read my recent article- Twitter Made Simple (I Hope!)

Facebook: Facebook can be an extremely viral tool.  The key here is to create a profile dedicated to your organization and promote it to your employees, friends and those who have helped or contributed to your efforts in the past.  They then essentially become “fans” of your organization and opt in to receive updates on news and events that you post.  This is a great way to promote fundraising events and share photos of past events with your followers.  It becomes viral when your “fans” initially become fans or interact with you in some way because that information will be posted in their friends’ feeds and, in a perfect world, they will then become “fans” and further spread the word.

LinkedIn:  Similar to the other platforms, LinkedIn can be valuable in promoting news and events, albeit to a different demographic.  LinkedIn tends to be a more professional network.   

Flickr: Flickr is a photo-sharing network and this can be a valuable way to promote your upcoming events by posting pictures from previous events.  This could entice people to volunteer for upcoming events if it looked like the previous events were fun.

Blogs: Blogs, although not for everyone due to the amount of writing and planning that can be involved, can be a great way to demonstrate your organization’s expertise and provide your followers, volunteers and donors with more detailed information about your cause and organization. 

This list obviously does not encompass the entire breadth of social media platforms that are available, but I chose to highlight some of the more popular and more heavily trafficked ones. 

One of the most appealing aspects of social media is how inexpensive it can be.  The primary investment that will be required with using social media is time.  Since you will be interacting with your followers it is imperative that you do not allow your efforts to become static and stagnant as people will begin to lose interest. 

So, as you can see, it is not all doom and gloom in our current economic situation.  Down times like this usually foster creativity and innovation and that is exactly what is happening now.  We are finding better and more efficient ways of doing things and we will be better off in the long-run for it.  As I previously mentioned, although less people can contribute money in these tough times, they are still willing to help in other ways.  Take advantage of this non-monetary generosity through social media and see big results!

If you have any questions or if you are with a non-profit organization and want to find out more about how you can use social media to promote your organization please don’t hesitate to contact me via email at travis@rainierdigital.com.  Due to the special needs of non-profits, I offer discounted pricing for these types of organizations. 

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original Facebook, flickr, LinkedIn, non-profits, social media, Twitter

by Travis Scott, CEO at RainierDigital

This week Digg, the popular online content aggregator, launched DiggBar – a URL shortening tool that lets you shorten any URL without leaving the page you are viewing.  It is a great tool!   Nice work Digg!  Gone are the days of copying a URL, opening a new tab or browser, navigating to a URL-shortening website such at bit.ly or tinyurl.com, shortening the link, copying it, opening Twitter and pasting it. Now you can shorten a URL without leaving the page you are viewing.

DiggBar gives you two ways to shorten the URL…the best way is to add the DiggBar button to your browser’s Bookmarks Bar.  This is something you only have to do once.  Once this button is in your browser’s bookmarks Bar, you simply press it whenever you find an article you want to share.  DiggBar will then shorten the URL and the result will be shown in your browser’s address bar.  Copy this and paste it into an email, your Twitter or Facebook status or any other service you use to share information with your peers.

The other way is a little more cumbersome, but still a great alternative to navigating to another website.  If you find a link you want to share, simply type http://digg.com/ in your browser’s address bar in front of the URL you want to shorten.  Press enter and voila!  Shortened URL.

Here’s an example…say I just read an article on ESPN.com about Ichiro, the star player of my favorite baseball team, the Mariners and found out he will not be playing in the season opener next week.  Now I want to share this story with my friends on Twitter and Facebook and need to shorten the original URL.

In my address bar, the original link is:  http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4039525

By simply typing http://digg.com/ in front of this URL in my browser’s address bar and pressing enter I now have the following URL I can use in Twitter or elsewhere:  http://digg.com/u18ql

Sharing content is only going to get easier and this is one more step in that direction.

Get the DiggBar button for your Bookmarks Bar here:  http://digg.com/tools/diggbar

I would love to hear what you think.  Comment below with your thoughts on DiggBar.

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original Digg, DiggBar, Twitter

Provided you have not been living in a cave the past couple of months (which is not all that far-fetched given the imploding housing market in the U.S.), you have probably heard a lot of buzz about social media sites, especially Twitter.  You have probably also heard a lot of discussion about companies using Twitter and other social media to market their products and services.

If you are like most business owners, you probably haven’t had enough time to dig into what all the hype is about, let alone try to implement these new methods into your existing marketing strategy.  Which is why I decided to write this article.  Its time to shorten the learning curve because these new ways of marketing are inexpensive and highly effective at driving traffic to your website, which ultimately will lead to increased sales.  Who wouldn’t want that?

What are two of the most fundamental, yet most inexpensive methods of marketing your products and services?  Networking and word-of-mouth advertising.  Do you remember the days when you had to physically be present at networking events to try to increase awareness and generate leads for your business?  What about when someone had a positive experience with your company and would then tell 1-3 of their friends about it?  Actually, you should still be involved with both of these methods of increasing brand awareness, but imagine those things on steroids.

Now, instead of spending your evening attending networking events,  you can now simply find group discussions on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.  Imagine a customer who recently had a positive experience with your product or service not only telling 1-3 of their friends, but now hundreds or thousands of people in under 30 seconds on Twitter or Facebook.

That is just the tip of the iceberg with social media as a marketing tool.  In addition to supercharging basic and traditional marketing channels now you can create an environment of interaction between you and your customers like never before.  You can provide a platform for your customers to sound off about your exceptional service or the quality of your products.  Through Twitter and Facebook you can promote events you will be hosting, discounts that are available and useful information that will help your customers get even more out of their purchase and possibly even educate them about complimentary products or services you may have to offer – which is referred to in the biz as cross-selling.

Erin Nelson, the CMO of Dell, said it best in an article she recently wrote on Forbes.com:

For most organizations, engaging customers through social media has to become a fundamental part of marketing. Good marketing has never been just about staying on message. Now, in this connected era, it’s increasingly possible and important to participate in conversations and foster communities of loyal customers.

You may be thinking, “it’s great that Dell is using these cutting-edge tools, but my marketing budget is 1/100th of theirs.”  That is the greatest part of social media marketing- it is very cheap!  You could be a multi-national company, like Dell, or you could be a one-person sole proprietorship working out of your basement and still have access to the same tools.  The largest cost associated with using social media marketing is time.  It takes time to build your network large enough to get to an economy of scale that will begin generating increased business and, because its not a one-way communication channel, it takes time to respond to and communicate with those in your network.

Time is usually at a premium for most small business owners and startups, which makes implementing social media marketing into your current marketing strategy difficult.  Given that, it can still be done.  One idea is to use college interns to help manage the content and responses of your social media channels.  Its a great way for them to learn about marketing in the new Web 2.0 world we live in and they are usually very cheap, if not free.  Another suggestion would be to hire an outside marketing company that focuses on social media marketing <cough>..like RainierDigital..<cough> who can either manage the entire channel for you or at least educate you and get you up and running so you can then do it yourself.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic as well as why you may or may not be considering social media to market your company.  Comment below or drop me an email at travis@rainierdigital.com.

If you would like to read Erin Nelson’s entire article on Forbes.com (highly recommended), click here:  Online: An Essential Path to Igniting Brand Passion

Travis Scott RainierDigital Original Facebook, LinkedIn, marketing, social media, social media marketing, Twitter