BlogIndiana – Be There

One of the coolest events of the year,  (atleast for local bloggers) is BlogIndiana.  This two day event brings together experts and rookies sharing advice, ideas and strategies.

It is a great way to connect off line, with people you have met online  ( And in many cases the conversations continue back on line, long after the event is over.)

I will be attending the first day of BlogIndiana again this year. There is a terrific line up of speakers, and it was tough to decide on who I would check out and who I would unfortunately have to skip.

Will you be there?  It promises to be a great event.

Sweet Dreams from Roundpeg Radio

This has been a crazy week at Roundpeg.  We have had to deal with trying to wrap up lots of projects before the end of the month, technical glitches which slowed us down, changes in equipment to run the office, and lots of interesting new assignments.  After a long week, we all need a rest coming in to the weekend

So this week we thought we would look for songs about rest, vacations and dreams.   Ok so some of us also saw Inception, so weird dreams are  in the back of our minds .

We are going to kick off with Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics to get us in the mood.  Then we will be live until 3 PM today , and the play list will be up all week.  Send send your song requests to @roundpegradio.

NOTE: The widget takes a minute to load, and you’ll have to refresh to see the new songs. Make sure your speakers are on!

All Things Marketing – Personal vs Corporate Branding

Last spring I particpated in a panel discussion as part of the All Things Marketing Conference. Here is an excerpt from the discussion. The question was about Personal vs Corporate branding in social media.  Opinions varied between the panelists as to whether you should brand as a company or an individual.

There are pros and cons of each to be considered.  Watch the video for our opinions

All Things Marketing: Give People a Reason to Come Back

In real life, the first time you meet someone, you do not need to tell them everything they need to know about you. More then likely, they will discover those things over time.

The same is true for email and blog strategies. With an ideal length of 250 – 400 words keep your focus on one or two topics. If you have caught the attention of the reader, they will come back for more!

This topic is explored in more detail in this excerpt from the All Things Marketing Seminar this spring.

Seven Link Challenge – Day Two – Posts by My Team

This is the second in a series of posts inspired by Darren Rowes Seven Link Challenge ..  Today’s posts features links to posts by members of my team.

One of the coolest things that has happened over the last few months, is how many really great posts the members of the Roundpeg team have written.  They each have their own style, and bring something unique to the blog, giving it a wonderful mix of flavors.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

1. From Jay: What Websites Have in Common with a Trailer Park
2. From Taylor: So many good choices, but I had to go with: I Don’t Love Heats and Flowers
3. Allison hasn’t been here very long, but she is a writer, so I had so many great posts from which to choose.  I finally decided on this one: Bad Customer Service is Worse PR
4. We’ve had a number of talented interns over the last few yeas, and I went back into the archives for this one by Neil Chaggra who was at Roundpeg last fall: Tie Your Shoes
5. And this one by Melinda Cooper: Retweeting is What Makes Twitter Work
6. From one of our team of current intern’s Kelly Rogers: Music, Food and a Bit of Research. The Life of a Roundpeg Intern
7. And finally a sentimental favorite.  Although my daughter Michelle no longer works here at Roundpeg, I had to include my favorite post by her:  First Post by First Daughter

These are my favorites.  Did I miss one of yours?

Contests Made Simple with Wildfire

Almost any small business can benefit from the buzz a great contest builds.  A well executed contest engages clients, prospects and sometimes even the media.  Powerful tools to build brand awareness and generate prospect lists, contests can often be tedious, time consuming, and challenging to administer.

In the past, the effort involved often discouraged my small business clients from taking on the challenge of a contest.  The we discovered Wildfire.  This is a terrific, cost effective online contest application.

What I like About using Wildfire:

• It was relatively easy to build the campaign.  (Depending on how much time you want to spend on the graphics you can be up in less than an hour)
• Options: Sweepstakes, coupons, photos and essay contests
• Easy Promotion
  • Inserts easily into a Facebook Fan page.
  • Facebook is not required -Wildfire also offers simply widget for website and a microsite you can direct contestants to as well.
  • It creates a banner which can be a part of your website and drives entrants to microsite or Facebook page.
• The simple user interface makes it easy for people to invite their friends and expand the contest virally.
• Reasonable Price:  Depending on the length of the campaign, and the amount of customization you require, your administration budget will be a fraction of what it used to cost to run a program like this. Typically under $200

What I don’t like about Wildfire: ( Lets face it, nothing is perfect)

• You can only share with 6 people a day through Facebook – Maybe this is a Facebook thing.  You can send emails, but I really like the viral nature of Facebook, and it is a shame to limit it.
• In some campaigns we can capture emails of everyone who submits, but not everyone who votes.   To accomplish this, we created a two part campaign using  Formstack for the voting

In general, I am excited about Wildfire, we are testing a number of the variations for clients in the coming months.  Including our own : Biz Card Makeover

Have you used Wildfire?  What experiences have you had with the product?

Don’t forget to – enter your child or grandchild to win a ride on a helicopter, zamboni machine and more!

5 Reasons Your Social Media Isn’t Working? Try Marketing Basics!

The more I learn about internet marketing and effective use of social media the more I am convinced it isn’t really any different then traditional marketing.   Amanda Brooke writing for Drop Ship News identified five reasons a social media campaign might not deliver the results you seeking.

Take a look at her list and ask yourself this question – Is there anything on this list which doesn’t apply equally to the off line world?

1. Targeting the wrong demographic – This needs no translation
2. Failure to use good SEO – In the off line world it would translate to:  Failure to use good advertising strategy, placing media in the wrong places
3. Your content and contributions were substandard – Offline:  Your ads are cheesy, poorly designed or uninteresting
4. You came across as shady and untrustworthy – Again, no translation needed
5. You spread yourself too thin – On or offline, you can not be all things to all people.  Decide where you can be most effective, and commit!

Do you have other examples of how the rules on and off line are the same?  Share them here.

Seven Link Challenge Day One: Great Blogs

One of the blogs I read regularly is ProBlogger. Author Darren Rowse  always has such great tips on how to make your blog more interesting, engage your readers and improve search performance. In a recent post he presented the  idea of incorporating seven links into your post. He suggested a series of topics, and I thought it was such a good idea, I am actually going to write seven posts, each containing seven links.

I hate routine, so I don’t want to publish these posts seven days in a row.  Instead, I am going to scatter them  over the next  few weeks. Today’s Links:  Blogs I read on a regular basis.

1. ProBlogger – But you already knew that! Author Darren Rowse makes a living as a professional blogger and is a great resource when I have writers block
2. Laughing Stalk Blog – Erick Deckers has a sharp tongue, quirky sense of humor and wide range of interests
3. Successful-Blog - Liz Strauss an  influential non-celebrity blogger.  People visit her blog to learn, swap strategies, and meet each other.
4. Ted.Com TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.  The content will range from music and art, to science and politics.  There is always something interesting on Ted
5. CopyBlogger – This is extremely well written ( would you expect anything less?) Author Brian Clark is a writer/producer, entrepreneur, and recovering attorney.
6. Marketing Technology Blog – While Doug Karr is the primary author, he invites many other marketing and technology experts (including me)  to share their content, making this an varied experience every time I check it out.
7. Social Media Explorer – Jason Falls ( who will be here in Indy for Blog Indiana) defines himself as a  social media educator, a social media strategist and a public relations professional.

So these are my seven.. what would you add to the list.

Driving Roundpeg Radio

This is the eighth installment of Roundpeg Radio.  What started as a fun experiment is now a regular part of our Friday routine.

So here we go again! We will be live till 3 PM today, and the play list will be up all week so send your song requests to @roundpegradio.

With the Brickyard 400 this weekend it seems fitting to dedicate today to songs about cars, speed and motion.  Do you have something you would like to hear?  Just tweet your song request to @roundpegradio, or to any of the Roundpeg crew, and we’ll add your song to the list.

NOTE: The widget takes a minute to load, and you’ll have to refresh to see the new songs. Make sure your speakers are on!

Email, Email and More Email

While social media is all the rage, and everyone wants to follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, and link up on Linkedin, I still believe there is a place for email in your marketing mix.

Email is an important part of your overall internet marketing campaign and as a small business owner, it is a simple and affordable way to stay in touch. Over the last few months I have written several posts abut ways to improve your email.  If you have missed any of them be sure to check out:

• Still a Place for Email - This is a compliation of some of my favorite tips on ways to make your email more productive.
• Don’t Torture Your Prospects - Email is wonderful, easy and cheap, but it can also be annoying if you overuse it.
• Marketing Drip Campaigns - Small focused campaigns are a great way to stay in touch with your clients.

Want to learn more?  Sign up for our email newsletter!

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