Marketing Your Radon Business

Editor's Notes

• #2: What all do you guys want to cover today? (WRITE ON BOARD) CONFIRM COVERING ## %
• #6: Whats the first thing you see?
• #24: Factors that aren’t controlled by you but that help you to rank Links to your website – why is this one linking better? Shares from social media networks Social bookmarking like StumbleUpon or Pinterest Anchor text in backlinks
• #26: Attributes to pay attention to in local search: Consistent titles Categories Reviews & Ratings Photos & Videos Social Factors
• #28: Find actual examples
• #35: Because of this social media campaign, ALS Association raised nearly 6 times the amount of money they did last year.
• #37: In case some aren’t familiar: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge involved dumping a bucket of ice water on one’s head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations to the ALS Association for research.
• #39: Because of this social media campaign, ALS Association raised nearly 6 times the amount of money they did last year.
• #40: In case some aren’t familiar: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge involved dumping a bucket of ice water on one’s head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations to the ALS Association for research.
• #48: It’s about ENGAGEMENT and getting a conversation going.
• #49: A good way to encourage engagement is with a contest. A great way to interact with your current fan base. BUT I encourage you to broadcast the contest to people outside of your page. This will help you to expand your fanbase!
• #50: It’s not an exact science. We boosted the contest post for one week with a budget of $50. 64 post engagements: likes, comments and shares CTR: # of clicks divided by the number of times the ad was served. Depending on who you ask, an average (or even good) rate of click is 0.020-0.050%, so our ad performed well.
• #51: Talk about who we targeted and why.
• #52: FB standard practices: brand yourself. Get your logo out there. Be interactive.
• #56: Create graphic for how to pay for keywords
• #58: Change to our ad – make our graphic something targeted to them, show website this is on
• #59: Tell the truth. Feature real people, real situations, genuine emotions, and facts (more about that in a minute). As much as possible, your content should show, not tell. It should show your product as it exists in the world, through customer stories, case studies or client perspectives and narratives. How do you add value? Why do you matter? That is your story. Use data. Data puts your content in context and gives you credibility. Ground your content in facts: Data, research, and numbers are the foundation for any story. Your ideas and opinions and spin might be part of that story—or they might not be, depending on what you are trying to convey. But the more credible content is rooted in something real, not just your own beliefs. Said another way: data before declaration. In other words, if you are going to tell me what you think, give me a solid reason why you think it. Cite sources. Give credit where credit is due: If you use an infographic from another company, cite the source and link to it. If you create that infographic based on someone else’s data, say that, too, Joe wrote in a piece in Mashable. Also, if you interview someone and use what he says either directly or indirectly, attribute the ideas to that person, even if you don’t use his exact words. (Like I just did that in this paragraph.) Seek out the best sources, and know the difference between “on the record,” “for background,” and “off the record.” Newspaper reporters go to the scene of an incident to report what really happened; in the business world, you should, too. Are you blogging about a new technology? Talk to the guy who developed it, not the PR or marketing person promoting it. My newspaper editors used to tell me this: Find the person standing as closest to the center of a story as you can. Check your spelling. It pains me to have to say this, but my name gets botched all the time in social media, and I see others suffering a similar fate. Make sure you double-check proper name and company names and use them consistently correctly. Otherwise, your work appears sloppy, and you risk losing credibility. Said another way: My first name does not have an E at the end of it, and my last name, “Handley,” has a D in the center of it. Dig? Root out opposing viewpoints. As Joe Chernov says, “There’s a name for something with a single point of view: It’s called a press release.” Incorporate multiple perspectives when the issue lends itself to that. At the very least, don’t ignore the fact that other points of view might exist; to do so makes me not trust you. Be aware of hidden agendas. If you interview a source, be clear on what agenda is behind their point of view. In business, often that means you should follow the money: Who butters their bread? Are they a competitor? Investor? PR professional retained to maintain a specific point of view? They might still be credible as a source—in fact, PR folks can be awesome background sources—but you need to be aware of any agenda. Edit. At newspapers and magazines, editors are the bottom line in what gets said and where it gets said and how long a publication will dedicate to saying it. Brands need to adopt a similar economy to the content they produce and focus on producing the very best stuff in the very best way they possibly can. Keep things simple. Business—like life—can be complicated. Products can be involved or seem impenetrable. But your content should deconstruct the complex to make it easily understood: Lose the corporate Frankenspeak and convey what you want to say in human, accessible terms. I first learned this from my journalism professors: Assume the reader knows nothing. But don’t assume the reader is stupid. Think visually. The visual Web is the norm—so consider how you might add visual elements to any story you tell.
• #74: Most web development companies will install Google Analytics on your website. However, if you put your website together or you had a novice web developer do it, you may need to get Analytics on there. Here’s how to tell.
• #80: As a rule of thumb – if your website is not responsive, anything over 25%, time to go mobile.
• #82: Are you targeting the right people? See where people come from who visit your website.
• #84: BACK TO WHITE BOARD – CONFIRMING WE ANSWERED ALL QUESTIONS – need to end 15-20 early