Last week, I attended a workshop about Personal Branding. We were asked to list 3 adjectives that describe our personal brand. Some struggled to choose the “right” three, so, the instructor guided them by asking, “Well, what do your clients say?”

This got me to thinking about the comments I have heard repeatedly over the years. The top 4 comments are: 

1. “You explain technical stuff in terms that I understand.”
      
2. “We are suprised at your abililty to interpret exactly what we want and develop a solution that melds seamlessly with our website”.
     
3. “The thing I like most about working with you is that you do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it - and - if there are any changes, you contact us and let us know the situation and solution.”
     
4. “The administration modules you created make updating the information on our website so easy.” 

It was nice to recall those comments, and reflect on them then and now. In the course of the day, trying to meet deadlines, managing projects, and responding to last-minute requests, I forget about the things that I am doing “right” - that service my clients in a most satisfying and sometimes suprising way! I think I’ll sit with that for a while

BTW - The three adjectives I chose were sincere, reliable, and thorough. On another day, I will explore how those match with what my clients are saying and with the image my website portrays.

Happy Blogging!

Today I am attending a virtual conference for B2B Marketers - Market Profs B2B-2.0 Expo. First presenter of the day, David Meerman Scott, provided an information-packed presentation called “Tuned in to Extraordinary Opportunities - New Rules for B2B Marketers”.

Some notes on that session…

David suggests that marketing on the Internet is marketing to buyer personas not to nameless, faceless prospects. He suggests that each company develop detailed persona profiles for each of its client types. Then create different content geared toward each of the personas - using their lingo and referencing things of interest to them. He even suggests dumping the copywriters and hiring journalists because journalists know how to write for different personas.

Today’s online marketing is about “idea spreading and solving problems” and not about begging and paying for attention as was done in the past.

David asserts that “You are what you publish” on the web, and suggests producing eBooks and allowing FREE downloads, creating and consistently stocking your company’s online media section (.e. what’s new, news), and providing opportunities for people to talk about you and make your content viral (viral marketing). He cautioned that with the viral marketing campaigns, expect to fail, and move on to the next campaign.

David’s message really hit home for me. I have been introducing similar ideas to my clients for a while now. David’s presentation gave me ideas about how I might be able to get the stragglers to follow. I’ve downloaded his eBook “The New Rules of VIRAL MARKETING: How word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free” to provide inspiration, and indeed, a reminder to get clients producing more content.

Want to know where your target audience is? Keep an eye on these Web 2.0 social media websites.

• YouTube
• Google Videos
• Flickr
• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Technorati

Some of these sites are social sites - where all the action is taking place. The others are directories to social sites.

When you find your target audience involved with one or more of these web sites, join in, befriend them, gain their trust, and eventually, the “doing business” thing will emerge.

If you do not find your target audience, you’ve still gained information for your marketing efforts. You’ll know not to advertise on these social web sites.

Happy surfing!

Ego searches are free and simple searches designed to monitor blogs, news portals and forums for mention of your company, your products and services, your competition, or any other keyword phrase you want. Using appropriate keyword phrases, companies can stay abreast of industry trends, business deals, hirings/firings, product launches, and more. Ego searches provide free marketing research.

How do you do it?
In your RSS Reader (see this post: What is RSS?) , you enter the keyword phrases about which you want to receive news. Each day the articles and posts that contain your keyword phrases display in your reader.

Need a reader?
Try one of these free services:

• Bloglines (Web-based)
• BlogExpress (freeware you download to desktop)
• Pluck RSS Reader (freeware you download to desktop)
• Sharp Reader (freeware you download to desktop)

You may have noticed that more and more Web sites are displaying their logos in the URL bar of the browser.

If you bookmark the site or save it in your favorites, the logo displays next to their listing.

How’d they do that?

1. They create a 16 pixel x 16 pixel graphic and save it as a .ico file. The .ico indicates to the browsers that it is an icon.
2. They add a single statement to the (behind-the-scenes) header section of each page of their Web site.
3. They upload the graphic to the graphics folder on their Web site.
4. They upload each page of their Web site.
5. Voilà, c’est fini.

This is an inexpensive way to brand your logo. Call @dventures Online at 508-480-8833 to receive your quote today.