How Not to be Heard: 5 Marketing Lessons from Hiring a New Programmer

One of my clients recently tasked me with hiring a new programmer for his company. This was my first time being in the shoes of the hire-er; up until now, I've always been the one job hunting, laboring over cover letter wording and concocting elaborately short follow up emails. Suffice to say, being on the potential employer's side of the table for the first time was quite an adventure, and I learned a lot.

The part of this process that shocked me the most was the huge number of applications I received that completely missed their mark. Some applications semi-failed, and only a tiny handful of applications succeeded in holding my interest and landing an interview.

As I think about the successes and failures of the applications I waded through, it occurs to me that there are some important marketing messages to be gleaned. Five messages, to be exact.

1) Pay attention to what the customer is asking for.

Applications that addressed each item in the want ad instantly rose to the top. Sure, it was convenient to have resume, portfolio and experience all at the tips of my fingers rather than having to call or email to get them, but the main reason why these applications impressed me is that I felt that the applicants had been attentive to my requests. In other words, they listened.

Customers aren't going to be as explicit about what they want from a product or service provider as an employer posting a want ad, but the concept of listening applies to both. Truly, genuinely listening to your customer base is the first step towards effective marketing, and tuning in is getting easier. Use Google Alerts, have Twitfeeds dedicated to your industry's most relevant hashtags, run customer surveys and ask your customers for exit interviews. It's amazing to me how often businesses ignore feedback they receive directly from customers. Knowing what customers want and expect from you isn't that hard, if you make listening a priority.

2) Present your message meticulously.

Applications with misspellings, sentence fragments and just plain awkward wording immediately got stuffed to the bottom of the pile. Sure, I'm not hiring a programmer for his or her writing skills, but if you aren't detail-oriented enough to proofread your cover letter, you're probably not the hire I'm looking for.

Every print ad, banner ad, landing page and social network profile is a resume for your business. If you haven't taken the time to make your message clear and engaging, why should your customers listen to what you have to say? You would think that marketers and businesses would make it a priority to make these messages pristine and user-friendly, but it's often not the case. The internet is littered with shoddy landing pages, websites lacking clear calls to action and just plain obnoxious Facebook updates. Take an honest look at your website from a customer's point of view. Is it appealing? More importantly, is it clear, concise and easy to navigate? Does it have all the information it needs to have to get leads to convert? Does it have an appealing call to action? Think about it from an employer's point of view. If this ad were a resume, would you get hired?

3) Clean up your online image.

My most...shall we say interesting applicant was one that showed real promise; the cover letter language was a little rough, but it was engaging and the applicant's portfolio looked great. Then an interesting thing happened. As we corresponded through email, Gmail automatically added the applicant to my Gchat and Google Buzz. The applicant had placed a link in the status update which showed in Gchat, so I clicked on it and was directed to a social networking page dedicated to the growing and selling of illegal botanicals. Marijuana prohibition debate aside, this isn't exactly the kind of image you want to portray to a potential employer. No thank you.

Businesses that don't google themselves frequently or make any effort to clean up after negative reviews open themselves up to a similar situation. Has your business gotten bad press in the past? Hide that dirty laundry by replacing bad press with good press. Do a charity and syndicate an online press release about it. Make your business available in vertical directories, then ask customers to post reviews. If negative feedback is posted in a public arena, go there and respond directly, doing your best to make amends. Demonstrating that you're listening and that you care, even if you're responding to a bad review, is great for your business' image.

Being careful how you and/or your employees connect their business identities with their personal identities online is becoming another big factor in business identity. If this is a concern, have a meeting discussing Facebook privacy settings, personal Twitter policies and what content is appropriate to post on business networks like LinkedIn.

If you need help creating content or managing your online identity, keep in mind I offer social media consulting and creative copywriting services.

4) Be clear about what you have to offer.

I loved getting cover letters or email responses which specifically mentioned what the applicant was NOT capable of. Rather than having to cajole this information out of the applicant or waste time pursuing an unqualified candidate, these rare applicants were upfront about what they could and couldn't do for my client and me. Honesty is important in an employee or contractor, and even if the applicant's skill set wasn't a good match for this project, their application will be kept in mind for future opportunities.

While I don't think very many retailers or service providers intentionally mislead their customer base, many have a tendency to be unclear about exactly what it is they can do for the customer. Highlighting only the positives of a product without mentioning any of its limitations can irritate customers and cause them to put your business on their "never purchase from" list. If I download a piece of software that turns out to be Mac incompatible but wasn't labeled as such, I'm probably going to shun this company in the future for wasting my time and hard drive space. Be clear about what you can and can't do for your customers. They'll thank you for it.

5) Stand out from the crowd.

My two favorite applicants were both very different; one was extremely brief and the other quite long and detailed, but both of them were unique. The short application read like a checklist of everything I'd asked for in the ad, and it was concluded by tasty phrasing like "if my skills look like a good match for your needs, I'd love to talk more with you...". We all love to have our needs considered!

The longer application took longer to check off my list of requirements, but it was full of genuine exuberance. It oozed energy, confidence and interest in new work.

I think marketers and business owners can learn a lot from both of these very different models. A message that's extremely short but to the point can be refreshing for customers who are used to being bombarded with irrelevant information, and it's a message that stands out above the long-winded masses. On the other hand, using a genuine tone and expressing excitement about a product, service or your customers can be a great way to engage customers emotionally. The common element in both types of messages is being genuine.

Should You be Using Twitter for Business?

It's a common question and one of the most hotly debated topics between marketers and business owners today. Should we be using Twitter? What's the concrete ROI of being on Twitter? Aren't all social networks just a giant waste of time?

This video, produced by Earnest Agency, highlights some of the reasons why social media involvement is so important for businesses. Although this video focuses on business to business (B2B) marketing, the message applies to both B2B and B2C industries.

It's understandable that many business owners and CEOs view Twitter primarily as a time-waster. After all, it IS time-consuming, and the results of being active on Twitter are difficult to measure. Worst of all, it's fun.

Many social media evangelists make it seem like being active on every social network the web has to offer is crucial to any business' success - regardless of the business' industry and target demographics. In my opinion, Twitter is NOT the right tool for every business, just as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace, Digg and Flickr don't fit the needs of every business' marketing goals. It's better to think of these as tools in a marketer's toolbox. Why would you pull out a chainsaw, hammer and nailgun when all you really need is a chisel?

Here comes the big HOWEVER. As countless businesses across B2B and B2C industries have demonstrated, Twitter can be more effective in a wider range of applications than many business owners realize. Dismissing social media involvement without researching how competitors and businesses in similar industries are using it could mean losing out on business and market share. Again, I'm not saying Twitter is the right tool for every business, I'm simply saying that it's an option worth exploring.

Let's explore how businesses in a range of B2B and B2C industries are currently leveraging Twitter - to some pretty phenomenal results.

Business to consumer (B2C) businesses using Twitter successfully:

@jetblue (aka Jet Blue Airlines)

Jet Blue Airlines has taken its industry's reputation for shoddy customer service as an opportunity to stand out above the crowd. @jetblue tweets real-time customer service updates and responses with a dedication that shames the rest of the airline industry. A glance at @jetblue's Twitter page, at any given time, will yield information about luggage checking, flight availability, destinations and even the availability of certain produce at given destinations. By leveraging Twiter this way, Jet Blue manages to provide high quality, real-time customer service, promote its services and boost its PR through ceiling in a single swipe.

@homedepot (AKA Home Depot Corporate)

Following a similar model to @jetblue's Twitter strategy, @homedepot's Twitter page is full of responses to customer questions, problems and even compliments. An entire team is dedicated to responding to customer inquiries sent to @homedepot, and from the looks of it, they're doing an excellent job. Home Depot has created a series of short, helpful DIY fix-it videos which it uses to populate its Twitterfeed when it's not responding to customer inquiries, a great applicaiton of "pull" marketing.

@gap (The Gap)

Sure, Gap uses its Twitterfeed to push new product and sale information to customers, but @gap also successfully leverages Twitter to engage in fashion and clothing communities. @gap keeps careful tabs on who is talking about Gap products where and talks right back, spreading the discussion further with frequent shoutouts to active Twitter-ers.

@fivesparrows (Five Sparrows Marketing)

While there's nothing particularly noteworthy about @fivesparrows' Twitter strategy (they essentially use it to share information), they mentioned an interesting case study when I heard them speak recently. One of their clients was a chain of gas stations, all located close to freeway entrances. Rather than funneling out specials on slurpies and hot dogs, they used their Twitterfeed to ping customers on changes in gas prices. Truckers traveling through were able to save hundreds of dollars each week by checking the company's Twitterfeed.

Business to business (B2B) companies successfully leveraging Twitter:

@steelcase (Steelcase)

This office furniture manufacturer averages 4-10 tweets per day without ever slipping into shout-about-our-products-with-a-megaphone mode. The majority of @steelcase's tweets are genuine conversation between customers, colleagues and design professionals, and a small percentage are @steelcase slyly plugging its products by sharing conversations other people are having about them. @steelcase slips in occasional customer service when necessary, as well.

There are plenty of individual B2B professionals who leverage their personal Twitter accounts to expand their network and create "buzz" around their own name, a form of personal branding. @b2btw and @mvolpe are both individual marketing professionals who have gained respect and notoriety in their respective B2B communities by sharing honest, interesting perspectives on industry issues. @b2btw's dry commentary on marketing fails and events serve to engage the B2B marketing community while re-affirming @b2btw's own expertise.

@MIWomensForum is the Twitter arm of a website of the same name. Solely operated by publisher Joni Hubred-Golden, @MIWomensForum acts as a hub for all business-related women's issues in Michigan and has become a powerful authority on information, connections and events. The true bottom line, however, is that @MIWomensForum makes advertising space on www.michiganwomensforum.com far more valuable than it would be otherwise.

So how do you determine whether or not Twitter is the right marketing strategy for your business? It might help to consider the following:

- Is your customer base on Twitter? Do the research. Some businesses may find that not enough of their customers use Twitter to justify establishing a campaign. Others might find a thriving community of untapped potential customers.

- What kind of value would real-time updates provide to your customers? Be creative; research competitors and consult with your creative staff.

- What goals could Twitter enable you to accomplish? Brainstorm a list of your business' biggest obstacles, then explore ways Twitter could help address them.

There are plenty of resources available around the interweb to help you figure out the ins and outs of using Twitter for business. If you'd like help mapping out a successful strategy for your business, I'd be happy to sit down with you for a free consultation.

SEO 102: Longtail Keywords, Business Blogging Secret Weapons

I tend to talk about longtail keywords a lot, for three main reasons:

1) I've had steady success using them, particularly in the context of business blogging

2) Longtail keywords can make up 50-90% of any given site's organic search volume (not to mention traffic brought in from longtail keywords usually has a higher conversion rate)

3) Writing with longtail keywords is WAY more fun and sounds WAY more natural than trying to use a single term to reach an unnatural keyword density.

Still, when a client grows tired of my marketing lingo and asks me to explain what a longtail keyword is, I inevitably find myself saying, "um..."

In short, longtail keywords are long, complex or unusual search queries. Unlike regular keywords, longtail keywords usually have very low - if any - search volume, since these queries tend to be very unique. Longtail keyword search queries are highly sophisticated searches made by search engine users who know exactly what they're looking for and are trying to weed out generic search results.

For example, as a savvy searcher, I might use the longtail search query "aaa ford focus front end repair grand rapids" rather than simply typing in "auto repair" when searching for an auto repair shop. Using a very specific query like this makes it more likely that I'll find exactly the result I'm looking for. From a marketer's end, this means that users who find a website by using longtail keywords are more likely to convert into a sale or lead.

Although longtail keywords have very low search volume and are very often unique, when you count up all the longtail keywords bringing traffic to any given site, they often outnumber the amount of traffic brought in by regular keywords, such as "auto repair". Optimizing for longtail keywords takes some strong creative thinking skills, but if done well, it can dramatically increase quality traffic.

Rather than discussing longtail keywords abstractly, I'd like to show how I've used them effectively in the context of business blogging. This particular case study will show how blogging using longtail keywords helped boost qualified traffic - and likely gather a few inbound links - for a local auto repair shop.

First, take a look at a blog post I made on tire rotation:

I initially landed on the topic of tire rotation by doing keyword research on a number of repair services to see which ones were searched the most. I noticed that not only did "tire rotation" related keywords have a fairly high prominence, but it seemed that many people were searching this term in an attempt to find out more information on when, how and where to have their car's tires rotated.

From there, it was downhill. I did a few quick Google searches to see what information was already available on these topics, then I brainstormed a shortlist of phrases based loosely off my initial keyword search. This is where the creative part came in. Rather than picking short, obvious (and highly competitive) terms, I thought about all the various ways users might phrase questions about tire rotation. My shortlist included phrasings like:

when to have my car's tires rotated

front end tire rotation

all wheel tire rotation

routine tire rotation

how often should my tires be rotated

rotate tires every ___ miles

Keeping these phrases at the top of my mind, I continued to write an informative post about optimal tire rotation maintenance, peppering in other related terms, such as "maintenance", "car", "rear tires" and "misalignment".

Phrases which were most important received the most prominence by being placed in the blog post's title and bolded header.

Now, let's look at the results.

Here's the traffic this post pulled in since it was posted in October. As you can see, it's continued to bring in a steady amount of traffic long after its original post date. Additionally, the bounce rate for this page is well below site average.

Here's a quick look at the keywords which brought traffic in to this post. This is only a snapshot of the top 25 keywords. As you can see, "tire rotation" may be the most common, but the rest of the longtail keywords combined brought in more traffic than the main keyword, "tire rotation" did alone.

Here's a similar example, based off a "failed thermostat" blog post.

Here's the original post, with targeted keyword phrases circled:

Now, take a look at this post's web stats and the keywords for which it was most frequently found:

I can understand why longtail keywords make many old school SEO gurus squeamish; they're amorphous, unpredictable, and using them requires a great deal of intuition. When combined with a well-optimized business blog, however, they can be an incredibly effective tool for getting more traffic and, if the business blog is well written, hopefully inbound links as well.

Why are longtail keywords most effective when paired with a business blog? If you'd like to know more about SEO for business blogs, head over to my website's business blogging resource section. Of course, if you're still confused, I'd love to answer your questions personally.

Next week we'll take a look at basic link building strategies.