Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Customer Service: Forgiveness via baked goods - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

MarketingProf's Ann Handley writes in an OPEN Forum article: "When Canadian home healthcare provider Nurse Next Door makes a mistake, they send their customers a fresh-baked 'Humble Pie'. Along with the pie is a sincere apology and actions to fix the problem pronto. In 2008, they spent $1,500 on pies and saved $150,000 in business." Read the rest >> http://bit.ly/bQaHeB

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Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, mobile phone marketing, podcasts, widgets, YouTube videos, del.icio.us, Twitter, StumbleUpon, social bookmarking, and blogging. When it comes to social media, how can a marketer know what works and what doesn't? Discover how to use the most popular social media tools for your online marketing strategies. Take Mary Gillen's Social Media Marketing course, a live, hands-on instructor-led online course

How to search for niche blogs so you can post relevant comments - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Publishing appropriate comments on other authors' blog posts is a great way to build traffic back to your own blog or Web site. How can you find niche blogs that accept comments? Here's how:

1) Navigate to google.com.

2) Type the following search phrase in the search box:

search term "Post a comment" inurl:typepad.com



3) Change the phrase search term (seen in orange above) to your niche word or phrase and hit the Google Search button.

4) On the search results page, you will find links to the typepad.com blogs that pertain to your niche.

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Social Media Marketing Online Class by Mary Gillen - Instructor-led Online Training - April 19-20 | June 14-15

Free vs. Freemium Content: what's a publisher to do? Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

In his article, "Where's the Money, Bob?" Danish author Thomas Baekdal writes:

"The social web is starting to sound more and more like the dot.com days. We are in the middle of a transition. The ways we do things are radically different. What works and doesn't work seems new. And many people are getting very excited about numbers, but not the right ones.

Back in 2000, it was all about traffic. Just get a million people to come to your site, and you have made it. Today people say that attention, engagement, interactions or number of fans is the new currency. Just get people's attention and you have made it!

I have this weird sense of deja vu. Haven't we been here before? Didn't people learn anything?

The bottom line is this. Money is still the new currency. I can't buy a cup of coffee just by paying attention to it!"

Read more about "the war against the 'everything must be free' culture, and how it will be 'won by the ones who create something worth paying for.'"

More: http://bit.ly/8ZnXDq

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Social Media Marketing Online Class by Mary Gillen - Instructor-led Online Training - April 19-20 | June 14-15

Car Sign: Use your Twitter handle rather than a long URL - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Domain name too long to fit on car signage? Use your Twitter handle on the sign instead to attract prospects to follow you on Twitter. Example of a Twitter handle: @marygillen

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Mobil Marketing: create your own iPhone App - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Need an iPhone app to promote your business?

San Antonio TX-based SwebApps can help, with an online service that helps you build an iPhone application for as little as $200.

Check out http://www.swebapps.com/

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Learn PHP online: Introduction to PHP by Mary Gillen - Instructor-led Online Training

How to earn $85,000 a year...for wearing a T-shirt - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Jason Sadler and Evan White are walking billboards. They wear T-shirts supplied by an advertiser and then use social media tools to promote the firm. Want them to wear shirts to promote the launch of your Web site? Need a unique way to direct people to your blog? According to Reuters, they make about $85,000 a year for wearing your shirts on their backs. Very interesting pricing structure as well. Read all about it:

http://iwearyourshirt.com

Publish Often...and Use Different Media - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

The major search engines are always adjusting their algorithms for tracking the consistency and relevancy of new content publication, video publishing, mobile device access, and social media participation. Google now uses something called real-time search, which grabs content from the most up-to-date tweets from Twitter and postings from Facebook public pages.

Like it or not, social media marketing should be an active part of your online marketing mix in 2010 for the SEO benefits it contributes to your organization's online presence. But don't forget your other Web content. Google is still indexing Web site pages, images, how-to videos from YouTube, local search, maps, blog entries, how-to articles, press releases, news stories and more. In 2010, you need to "mix-it-up" and publish often, using lots of different media.

TO DO: WHERE TO PUBLISH - SOME SUGGESTIONS

2a. Image Sharing: Flickr | Photobucket

2b. Online Video: YouTube | Revver | HowCast | Vimeo | Blip.tv | Daily Motion | Y! Videos

2c. Online Press Releases: Google News | PRLog | PRWeb

2d. Blogs: WordPress | TypePad

2e. Microblog: Twitter | Posterous | Tumblr

2f. Product Search: Google Base

2g. Facebook: Facebook Page | Facebook Ads

Go Mobile with Your Marketing - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

It is predicted that there will be 4 billion "smart-phone" subscribers by the end of 2010. According to research firm Frost & Sullivan, http://bit.ly/5dmkFA, folks have become very dependent on mobile technology, as mobile handsets are the primary contact method for business and personal communication for many.

More proof: Google purchased AdMob, a network for ads on iPhones and similar gadgets, for $750 million. Time to take the hint. Make sure you are not losing prospects because they can't reach your content and call-to-action offers from their mobiles.

TO DO:

1a. Reserve a .mobi domain for your mobile phone Web content.

1b. Create a separate directory on your hosting space and point your .mobi domain to it.

1c. Optimize your web content so folks who use mobile phones can access it, and place this content in your .mobi directory.

1d. Start promoting your .mobi content online and offline.

1e. Learn how to use SMS and MMS to promote your .mobi content.

REAL-WORLD USES FOR MOBILE

Healthcare
Send appointment reminders, cancellation notices, procedure information and promotions

Studios & Businesses with Classes
Send class reminders, equipment requests, and event notices

Retail Stores
Send sales alerts, slow day deals and inventory updates

Service Businesses
Send appointment reminders, open time alerts, and special promos

Bars and Night Clubs
Send event notices, cover and drink specials, and slow night promos

Restaurants and Cafes
Reduce no-shows and send open reservation and specials notices

Lead generation: the 52-week autoresponder training course - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Looking to build your email mailing list, but are worried about how often you should reach out to prospects without email overload? Create a weekly autoresponder sequence of messages and promote it as a 52-week training course on a subject that will interest your prospects. Those who subscribe to this email course know up front that they will receive an email from you once a week. This way you can instruct and promote simultaneously. Give it a try. This "educational series" can help get around the "frequency" prob.

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TIP: no more than 10% of your business should be originating from any one source. Need new clients in 2010? 60 Lead Generation Ideas in 60 Minutes

Reminder Marketing: a message that carries a lot of weight - Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

One of the hardest things about losing weight is keeping it off. A diet counselor we know sends each of her clients a special package 6 months after they've reached their goals: a 10-lb. sack of flour!

Each bundle arrives with a note: "Check the scale. Are you carrying one of these around?" This reminder really hits home, bringing the diet counselor repeat business as she helps her clients stay on track.

Flour Bag Image: http://www.freevectors.com/

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