Spending too much time and money on working with a cms that does not work with you is not only inefficient but is completely irritating. Know what you want out of your system and website, not only that, but know what your clients want out of your website. Find the best content management system for your particular needs. Don’t rush into any decision too quickly. There are so many options when it comes to a cms, you should take you time in order to create the best website your employees and your clients. Make your mark on the Internet by being a genuine force to trust with your website.

• Instead of asking for e-mail addresses, why not offer customers a free download or coupon?
• Instead of sending snail mail for an upcoming event, why not invite locals on Facebook?
• Instead of just a traditional press release, why not push it towards all your social media profiles?

All the capabilities of direct marketing can be incorporated into a social media forum if you take the time to do some listening as well. I think direct marketing and social media can go hand in hand and it’s definitely something that we have to look forward to in the future.

Any point where this starts looking bad?

Prosper is a peer to peer lending destination. Home Exchange allows homeowners from all over the world to swap homes for a more exotic location. Fiverr is a new site where people can buy what other people have to sell for just $5. If you’re interested in effectively participating in any of these sites, the key is to selling yourself of course! If you’re looking to spruce up your self-selling methods, here are some old favorites that are good to keep in mind.

Give yourself credit. Are you an expert in a certain field? Update your portfolio and keep testimonials handy. You want your potential customers to trust your work and the more specific your examples are, the better.

Add value. When you talk about yourself, don’t forget to include how you can benefit your customers. They want to exactly what they will gain by choosing you over others.

Be yourself. From your social media profiles to your resume, it’s important to stay true to yourself. Don’t inflate your credentials and experiences. Instead, polish up your past successes.

If you can successfully sell yourself, you will inspire confidence in others about your company and its products and services. A meeting with you could well be someone’s first encounter with your brand, and you want to give them the best first impression that you can. Good communication skills will make your job a lot easier.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how much you spend on marketing yourself if it’s not effective. Budget your time and efforts to let your skills shine through. As many would agree, peers will find you if you continue to be honest about yourself.
Have any secret tips for selling yourself?

More Useful Factoids

What Kind of Local Strategy?
Another strong point that Gregg brought up that was many businesses don’t have a comprehensive view of their online marketing strategy. As he put it, it’s not an either/or but an and strategy. This includes efforts in paid search, organic search, internet yellow pages, social media and mobile content. Just because you’re doing well in one segment doesn’t mean that you should scale back or ignore the other ones. The most successful businesses will realize the benefit of having a wide-ranging plan of attack to stand out against their competitors.

Resources for Local Search

If you haven’t already, there are many resources that you can take advantage of in starting your local search campaign. Gregg recommends: internet yellow pages, major search engines, Angie’s list, local search sites (Citysearch/Yelp), industry related blogs (including your local chamber of commerce) and more. Here’s a handy list of tools from Duct Tape Marketing.

Following up with their minimalist Super Bowl ad, Google has launched their social service, Google Buzz today.
Google Buzz will incorporate social media into their Gmail platform while also connecting to other services like YouTube, Twitter, Picasa and Flickr. Of course, Yahoo! and Microsoft aren’t too pleased.

Microsoft released the following statement:

“Busy people don’t want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We’ve done that. Hotmail customers have benefitted from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.”

While Yahoo!, took a similar route in this Tweet:

Two years after #Yahoo! launched #Buzz, Google follows suit. Check out the original: http://buzz.yahoo.com

Although I sortof think that Google jumped in late to this game, I don’t think it will hurt them. Following Apple’s iPad ridicule, Google could’ve at least named their service something different from Yahoo’s version.

What do you think about Google Buzz? Check what others are saying in real-time here.

Chris went over some history about how some of the biggest companies started and flourished by promoting free stuff. Did you know that Gillette promoted free products to create a need for their disposable razors? And Jell-O began by giving out free recipe books with their main product as the key ingredient? Even in early 1900′s, marketers were looking for ways to appeal to consumer wants of “free” stuff. Nowadays, this idea can still be applied to digital goods and services.

This led to another topic that I found interesting – freemium. This refers to web services that are free for the general public, while the upgraded services come at a cost. Great idea, isn’t it? Take a look at Flickr and the New York Times. These sites are free to use but if you really want the good stuff, it will cost you. Free is not just a marketing gimmick, but a viable source that some companies thrive off of.

When it comes to your business or small businesses in general, how do you foresee the use of “free”?

How exactly does this work? If you have good content that your audience can relate to, you can use social media to bring them in the spotlight again. This can happen via Digg, Reddit and even email. After going through your own articles and stories that best resonate with your audience, take the time to make them relevant again. Carol tells us that most of her clients have had success with content that was written months to even one year ago!

Come up with a realistic content plan. Recognize relevant keywords and track their position as you release content that should bring more traffic. Although content marketing is a slow and steady process, it has very real results. Get ready to focus on your content plan today. There are many free research tools that you can use to get started you keyword research that will strengthen your content efforts: Word Vision, SpyFu, Compete, Quantcast, MajesticSEO, SEOToolSet, LinkVendor, Marketleap and PageGrader.

Applying Marketing Goals with Twitter
From raising brand awareness to simply gaining sales, there are many different direct marketing goals. You can even use Twitter as an extension of your customer service. As you think about the goals you want to set for your business, you should also think about using Twitter to reach your audience. There are some different consumers to consider before you start and today, we’re going to discuss the Twitter voyeur.

Taking a Look at the Voyeur
Let’s face it, there are lots of them. They go by many names: the voyeur, the lurker, the shy guy, or even the n00b. Not everyone on Twitter is actively contributing, but their presence can’t be ignored. For example, you may be a boutique owner. Although it’s great to network by following others in your industry, they’re not going to buy what you have to sell. It’s the customers you want to reach out to. Offer rewards and give your followers the inside scoop. Inactive users may stay quiet, but they make take advantages of good deals you offer. Not everyone wants to build and maintain an online relationship with their so-called “friends”. It takes thought and effort, so others may just not have the time.

Monitor with Twitter
Even for those who don’t post to Twitter, it doesn’t mean that they’re not watching. Twitter is a useful, social, and entertaining resource. Some may just browse Twitter’s trending topics to see what others have to say. Twitter is a great tool for small business or individuals to use to gain insight. Bigger companies definitely use it to monitor their brand.

Use Common Sense
Although Twitter is an informal channel, don’t fly blind by forgetting to set a goal. In direct marketing, you have the influencer, decision maker, buyer etc. You can appeal to these same types of consumers when it comes to Twitter. The best thing you can do is to be consistent with your marketing message. Keep some Twitter don’ts in the back of your mind while you do so, and have fun!

Just attended an interesting webinar, “7 Strategies to Convert Friends, Fans, and Followers into Paying Customers”, with Matthew Arndt. He went over some noteworthy things, like the three main problems that people have with social media. Those problems would be how to:

1) Build quality relationships over social networks
2) Effectively communicate with friends, fans, and followers
3) Turn your network into potential leads

There’s No Single Solution

There is no real single solution to these problems. Although you can scour the internet for tips from self-proclaimed experts, you should try your hand at it. There’s no real way to learn and improve your social media strategy without getting involved. It takes time and you may have to change your plan, but the results are worth it. After all, you don’t have to go it alone. There are helpful tools for your profiles. Some being WeFollow, Mr. Tweet, and Facebook Page Insights. Take the time to integrate these resources as you also come up with blogs, PDFs, and even free contests to involve your customers!

You can’t just accumulate friends and expect business to come flooding in. With spammers and robots on Twitter, quantity doesn’t mean as much as quantity. When coming up with a social media plan, you need knowledge and expertise. While it helps to stay up to date with current information, you’ll also need a team to help you implement a comprehensive strategy.

What happens when the Apple giant acquires online music streaming services offered by Lala? Some observers think that this will change the future of how consumers will obtain their music. Gone are the days of a need for tangible objects to hold our music…
From vinyl, 8-tracks, to cassettes and eventually CDs, consumers have always been looking for a more convenient way to store and listen to their music. Lala technology allows users to stream their favorite music over an internet connection. With similar sites, like Last.fm and Pandora, there’s no longer a need for physical CDs or even storage space.

What Does This Mean for the Music Industry?

Since the early days of Napster, the music industry has been scrambling to regain their past vigor. They claim losses of album sales due to internet downloading. But the internet and music streams may be a place where the music industry can regain their momentum. Trendsetters will want to investigate this new potential, so that they don’t get left behind. And you can bet that this is exactly what Apple’s strategy is. Surely, they don’t intend for the Lala technology to cannibalize their iTunes market, but they realize the powerful potential. For now, some experts believe that it is a long way before a majority of users switch to solely streaming their music online. Internet and wi-fi connections are still problematic, even with smart phones. For now, this is a viable market to keep your eye on.

Consumers are Still Key

Music and music fans will always exist. You won’t get anywhere if you blame your failures on consumers. Internet music streaming may frighten some artists, but others have begun to embrace it for novel ways to promote themselves. For example, solo artist, Beck, has always been known for his unique techniques for marketing his music. His 2006 album, The Information, came with a CD cover that fans could personalize by using accompanying stickers and other artwork. Recently, Beck has launched several websites where he releases exclusive new recordings, interesting interviews, and just plain weird videos. This is an easy way to keep in touch with your fan base and keep them up to date with the latest news. So, whether it is an interactive MySpace or entertaining Twitter account, there are many ways musicians can supplement their online presences and embrace technological upgrades. Internet music streaming may seem new today but it’s just a matter of time before something new comes out. Maintaining your consumer base will help you, regardless of the change to come.