From the monthly archives:

November 2009

Is Social Media the Answer for Your Business?

If you’re like most people, you’ve put terms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in the “things for kids and passing time” category.  If so, you’re missing the boat – a very large boat – for your business.  Whether you’re a corner barbershop or international manufacturing company, in order to grow (let alone maintain) your business, you must start paying attention to social media.

Social media is the collection of internet-based technology that allows the widespread creation, distribution, and collaboration of content (e.g., articles, opinions, videos, entertainment).  The technology is typically low cost and accessible to anyone with access to the Internet.  Contrast this with “industrial” media such as magazines, newspapers, radio, and television, which are expensive to produce and limit content creation and distribution to just a few.

The old world of industrial media allowed businesses to distribute specific messages regarding products and services, while the general public could choose only to accept or deny those messages.  Consumers had no other say in the matter and generally they accepted marketing messages in direct proportion to their prominence (i.e., number of times they were seen).

Although this model was the accepted environment for many years, the tide has turned. In fact, the New York Times reported that many top publications like Forbes and Fortune were down over 15%.  Thanks to advances in technology and access to high-speed Internet connections, for the first time in history, consumers have their own far-reaching voice, separate from corporate marketing messages.

For businesses this represents both good and bad news.  The bad news is that the way people buy has changed.  Social media provides such a rich source of information and opinions on any product, business, or service that many can choose to simply ignore advertisements, taglines, and positioning statements.  Even the “expert” review has yielded its authority to peer reviews from fellow consumers.  Forrester Research found that the people who say companies tell the truth in their advertisements has dropped from 13% to 7%.  Today’s consumer is more savvy, research-driven, better educated, and talking to other consumers worldwide to make very informed buying decisions.

The good news is that social media does not discriminate. Businesses have the same access to social media sites, technology, and tactics as the consumer.  This is considerably good news for the small business owner that can’t afford traditional industrial media.  Like many advances brought by the Internet, social media provides a very level playing field.

As many more businesses now come to this realization, many make the fatal assumption that, “All I’ve got to do is learn how to set up a blog, or Twitter account, or Facebook page, then start posting!” While these are absolutely important steps in the process, businesses must first familiarize themselves with the most critical pieces in social media: strategy and conversation.

A typical approach for businesses new to social media is to start selling by broadcasting their marketing message.  Imagine a single male that’s desperate to find a wife, walking into a backyard party and shouting, “Ladies, I’ve arrived! Come over here if you wanna get hitched!”  I bet you’d agree that is not the best strategy.  A solid strategy requires careful thought and planning in consideration of your overall objective, your audience, your audience’s objective, and the specific actions required to get them from where they are to where they need to be.

Because consumers have so much data available upon which to make their buying decisions, a simple one-liner won’t do the job.  Just like making friends at a backyard party, you must master the art of conversation.  People buy from people they like, and today’s Internet technology and online culture allow you to create meaningful connections with others you meet at the online party.  This is the key to social media – creating and taking part in meaningful conversations with others that will lead them to want to do business with you.

Social media CAN BE the answer for your business, provided you recognize it as another valuable tool in your marketing tool bag, create a solid strategy for its implementation, and respect the new buying landscape.

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Social Media Ain’t for Weak Brands

You must read this recent post from Al Reis called "Social Media Not The Answer For Weak Brands". Aside from his pithy observation that "word of mouth" has become "word of finger", he really hits the nail on the head regarding the proper way to approach social media.  Most companies have essentially bought the flashiest, fastest sports cars on the lot, hoping it will get them to where they want to go (wherever THAT is) in the best way (whatever THAT is).  Companies have to see social media for what it is – a tool.  If you start with a solid strategy, you'll know exactly IF that tool fits and WHERE it fits. What do you think?

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Hypnotic Video Marketing

If you want quick and efficient growth, you know the importance of getting traffic. The best widget in the world will not create a profitable business if no one knows about it. The rapid growth of online video is our cue to use it as a marketing channel for your business. Rather than pull people away from where they’re going so that they can view your message, simply bring your message to where the people are already going.

With the Internet’s wide reach and the reduction of technology costs, even small businesses are now able to leverage video in their marketing efforts. While the “big boys” can continue to spend millions of dollars producing Super Bowl commercials, many small businesses and people are claiming their piece of the opportunity. The proverbial pie has indeed gotten bigger. In addition, tests have shown that traditional online sales pages convert at 2-3% while those using video convert at 8-11%.

In both offline and online marketing efforts, most businesses focus on persuading their customers by using logic and unique product features. While that can play a role, as you know already, people buy based on emotion and back it up with logic. You probably experience this every day when you watch television commercials. The ones that are most popular and move you to actually buy the product are those that evoked a strong emotion within you.

So how do you begin to leverage emotion through your online videos? The key lies not in WHAT you tell your viewers, it rests in HOW you communicate with them. While some would consider themselves “naturals” in moving people emotionally, it is absolutely a skill that can be acquired by discovering the fundamentals of how the mind works, and applying the proper system.

While Hollywood has distorted the phenomenon of hypnosis to a resemble a form of mind control as a way to create compelling plotlines, the concepts upon which hypnosis is based are very real and useful to the savvy marketer.  Simply put, hypnosis is an altered mental state in which one does not use their critical, logical mind to evaluate information before accepting that information and acting on it.  By understanding the science behind hypnosis, will allow you to transform your videos from ordinary to powerful tools that will compel your customers to take specific actions like signing up to your email list or even purchasing your product!

Foundations of Hypnotic Communication

There are two parts of your mind: the conscious and the subconscious.  The conscious mind is your mind’s “gatekeeper”. It is responsible for logical thinking and reasoning, and the voluntary actions you take such as moving your hand to pick up an object. Your subconscious mind is like a computer, with no reasoning or making value judgments. It’s that part of your mind that controls involuntary actions such as your breathing, blinking, heartbeat, and emotions. It also stores all your memories and experiences.

Dr. Ray Birdwhistell of the University of Pennsylvania studied human non-verbal communication, or kinesics. He understood that a person’s words contributed only a portion of the overall message they were communicating. By filming people in social situations and analyzing their interactions, he discovered that there was much more being conveyed in a conversation that what was being said.  His research showed that a person's words only accounted for 7% of the message being conveyed.  Body language accounted for 58% and voice tonality accounted for 35%.  Video allows you to use the entire spectrum of communication to deliver your marketing message and more effectively influence your audience.

Everything we as individuals have experienced in our lives is based on the filtered translations of the outside world. The filters and translators we use are our 5 senses: sight, sound, feel, smell, and taste. The more senses we engage in our communication with others, the more likely they will receive our message. We want to engage our audience’s senses directly. The key for more successful delivery is to relate those abstract concepts to tangible, sensory-based experiences. Great communicators (e.g., salespeople, orators, authors, teachers, etc.) throughout history have shared this rare talent.

Hypnotic Techniques for Video

To create more effective and influential marketing videos you must use these psychological foundations as part of your video creation process (i.e., concepts, scripting, post-production, distribution).  Here are a few ideas you can begin using immediately.

  • Build rapport by identifying with their current point of view and where they want to go.  This will significantly reduce resistance from the conscious mind.
  • Tell lots of stories to get people engaged in following your train of thought.  In order for them to comprehend and identify with your story their conscious mind must accept what you're saying as true.
  • Music is one of the most powerful ways to engage people's emotions and other subconscious triggers.  Using appropriate intro or background music to your message is a key hypnotic influence strategy.
  • Make sure you (or your spokesperson) use body language and voice tonality to reflect the way you want the customer to feel.  For example, if you want them to feel calm and comforted by your message, you may want your voice to be quiter and slower, and your gestures to be slower and more reserved.
  • Engage your audience's senses even more by using appropriate visuals (movie clips, photos, props) and audio (sound effects).  While these elements can be incorporated directly into the video, eliciting a strong sensory memory can be just as effective (e.g. tell them to remember the smell/taste/touch of their favorite meal).

As more people and businesses use video as a means of online marketing, you'll want to use these techniques and many more to differentiate your message and ensure your audience gets the greatest impact.

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