We have some exciting news. After months of preparation and hard work, we’re ready to launch 60 Second University, an on-demand social media training course that you can take any time from the comfort of your own computer.
We created the program specifically for people like you — people who want to improve their social media skills by learning from the top social media experts and who don’t want to waste time and money with costly mistakes.
60 Second University provides on-demand social media training taught by some of the world's leading experts.
Save Time and Money by Learning from Experts. If you’re ready to take your social media campaign to the next level, but don’t know where to start, then this course is for you.
If you want to stop wasting time and start earning money with your social media campaigns, then this course is for you.
And if you’re tired of running campaigns that never get off the ground, then this course is for you.
15 Days to Social Media Success. We’ve divided our program into a 15-day course that teaches you the essential tools and techniques you’ll need to improve your skills.
Each day kicks-off with a 10-minute video tutorial that explores the key concepts for that day and provides action steps you can put into practice immediately.
But that’s just for starters. We also provide downloadable PDFs that take you deeper into each one of the modules.
And we provide MP3 interviews with more than a dozen of the nation’s leading social media experts including Erik Qualman (author of Socialnomics), Amy Porterfield (author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies) and Jay Baer (author of The Now Revolution).
Order Your Course Today. If you’re interested in supercharging your social media efforts, then 60 Second University is for you. It’s taught by leading experts and designed for people like you. And we have some special news for our subscribers around the globe — you’ll be able to order your course in your local currency instantly.
You can learn more about 60 Second University by visiting the site where you’ll find tons of additional information about our course and the experts who teach it.
These are exciting times and we’re thrilled to be able to offer you on-demand social media training that you can watch at your own pace from the comfort of your own computer.
I’ve uploaded a presentation to SlideShare that provides details on how to use mobile marketing to grow your sales and revenues. The content of the slides are all based on Go Mobile (affiliate link), the book I’ve co-authored with Jeanne Hopkins from HubSpot.
If you’re interested in wrapping your mind around mobile marketing, the slides below will help you get started. Alternatively, you could download a free chapter from Go Mobile and get additional instructions there.
In Go Mobile, the book I’ve written with Jeanne Hopkins from HubSpot, one of the things we tried to do was to simplify and demystify mobile marketing. Our thinking was that people are a little intimidated by mobile, so we wanted to provide a simple, step-by-step roadmap in the book.
To our surprise, mobile marketing isn’t all that difficult. In fact, creating a mobile website, running a QR code promotion or developing a mobile banner ad campaign is actually pretty easy.
To help people wrap their minds around the whole mobile marketing thing, I created the comic below that shows 5 things you can to do get started in mobile marketing today. It’s designed to be a fun, easy read — and it even has a bit of edgy humor. But overall, it should give you a clear sense of just how easy it is to get started in mobile.
If you like what I’ve done below, feel free to download it or let your friends know about it.
Are you interested in learning more about mobile marketing? Would you like to understand how to use mobile marketing to drive new customers to your doorstep? If so, then you’ll want to watch the video below which provides 5 steps on how to get started in mobile.
Included in the video are tips on how to become a mobile marketing Power User — that is, someone who uses mobile well enough to understand the differences between an app, a mobile website and a location-based advertising campaign.
Many of these tips are covered in-depth in the new book I’ve written with Jeanne Hopkins, V.P. of Marketing at HubSpot. The book is called Go Mobile (affiliate link) and we spent hundreds of hours researching and analyzing all the tools in this fascinating new marketing channel. We’ve distilled our findings down to 256 pages of essential information outlined in the book.
Go Mobile is available at Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and other fine bookstores, so be sure to order your copy today.
In the meantime, check out the video below. It’s packed with great tips to help you get started in mobile marketing right away.
Can’t see the video? Click here to watch it on the 60 Second Marketer YouTube channel.
Jamie Turner, Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media and Go Mobile, was interviewed recently by Don Lemon of CNN. The topic was about Groupon where Don asked “Is Groupon a safe investment?” and “Tell us how Groupon works?”
Groupon is generating a lot of buzz in the marketplace. Here’s a quick fact-sheet for people interested in learning more.
Groupon is the “fastest growing company ever” (Source: Forbes)
In 2010, Andrew Mason, the CEO, spurned a buyout offer from Google for $6 billion. (Source: Business Insider)
Groupon had 11 million visitors in September. LivingSocial had 7 million visitors during the same time period
25 million Americans, or about 10% of the adult population, have purchased a coupon from a “deal of the day” website (Source: Harris Interactive)
About 1 in 5 people don’t redeem their Groupon deal (Source: DailyDealMedia). Groupon keeps the money that’s not redeemed
Competitors to Groupon include LivingSocial, Bloomspot and Google Offers (which is currently in Beta testing)
Gowalla recently got out of the deal-of-the-day industry and have evolved into more of a Yelp/foursquare blend
At one point, Groupon underestimated operating losses by $120 million and inflated revenue by $400 million. (Source: BBC)
Groupon is the second-highest IPO in history, behind only Google. However, the third highest IPO was Webvan, which tanked a few years later. Buyer beware. (Source: Business Insider)
If you’re like a lot of marketing directors, you’re probably still trying to wrap your mind around this whole social media ROI thing.
After all, it’s not all that difficult to launch a Facebook/YouTube/Twitter/LinkedIn campaign. But it is hard to calculate the success of your campaign on an ROI basis.
You can see the entire presentation in the viewer below. Or, just click here to download it directly from SlideShare.
With that in mind, I created a 1950s-style cartoon story that walks people through the entire ROI calculation process. (You’ll have to excuse my sense of humor in the cartoon — it can get a little sketchy at times.)
My intent was to create a document that people would want to share with co-workers.
Better still, I wanted to walk people through some of the more complex issues like Customer Lifetime Value, Cost Per Sale and the Hub-and-Spoke model. (All of which are covered in-depth in “How to Make Money with Social Media,” the book I co-wrote with Dr. Reshma Shah.)
In any case, I hope you enjoy the presentation below. Feel free to click the little buttons at the bottom if you’d like to share it with others via Twitter, Facebook or email.
If you like what you read today, you can have these blog posts delivered to your in box each morning by clicking here. Or, you can sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter by clicking here.
The biggest challenge most people have with social media is sorting through all the online tools that can help you run, launch and manage your campaigns.
After all, there are literally hundreds of different tools that can help you track and optimize your social media program. The problem is, you don’t have the time to hunt down all the different options.
Click here to download your free copy of "99 Tools to Help You Make Money with Social Media."
Well, good news. We’ve created an e-book that has done some of the hard work for you.
The free e-book is called “99 Tools to Help You Make Money with Social Media.” We spent hours and hours tracking down and analyzing nearly 100 different tools you can use to optimize your program.
If you’d like to download the free e-book, just click the image to the right or click here.
If you want to see samples of what’s included in the free e-book, read on:
Tools to Help You with Content Creation and Integration
Context Optional: Best for marketers with multiple team members, brands or geographies, this platform helps develop applications for Facebook and Twitter communities and monitor and analyze the conversations taking place on these platforms.
Crowd Factory’s Social Campaign: Think social networking is confined to Facebook and Twitter? Think again. Crowd Factory lets you embed social elements into any marketing experience including videos, emails, ads and more.
KickApps: This self-service site allows you to develop and manage social content such as branded communities, widgets, 3rd party plug-ins and social applications.
North Social: Enhance your Facebook page by creating custom applications that allow your brand to do things such as integrate with Google Maps or Yelp, post HD videos, run sweepstakes, and more.
Involver Applications: The creator of the popular “Get Satisfaction” facebook app, Involver provides applications that allow you to easily add polls, RSS feeds, quizzes, music, contests and more to your Facebook or Twitter pages.
Sprout: Not to be confused with Sprout Social, this cloud based software company creates interactive ads and applications perfect for bringing social content to the web and mobile devices.
Lithium Community Platform: This software as a service company creates a social community right on your website that provides a place for your brand advocates to converse, tools to spread the word about your product through social channels and even generate ideas for innovation.
Alterian SM2: More in-depth than some other social media monitoring services, Alterian provides advanced user behavior statistics, demographics, location, positive or negative tone, and trending topics for your brand as seen across a host of social media outlets and websites.
PeopleBrowsr: Research.ly, and Analytic.ly are PeopleBrowsr’s main products, and offer sentiment monitoring, trend reporting and audience profiling. Their main claim to fame at the moment is their recent announcement that they provide 1000 days of Twitter history.
Social Mention: This free web-based application lets you search popular channels such as blogs and microblogs to find brand mentions and analyzes the sentiment towards your brand. You can also set up alerts so that you will be told any time someone mentions your brand.
BrandsEye: A slightly different type of social media listening tool, BrandsEye helps you manage your online reputation by finding all of your brand mentions, the reputation of their source, the sentiment and even flags mentions that you may require immediate attention.
Argyle Social: If you’re interested in monitoring trends and sentiment, this management tool may not be for you. In addition to aggregating your social media accounts, Argyle Social analyzes only hard numbers and direct outcomes of your campaigns.
Trendrr: This site peruses blogs, microblogs, search engines, social networks and even video to see what people are saying about your brand and provides numerical analysis to help you understand what it all means
Involver Audience Management Platform: In addition to providing a host of apps, Involver offers a dashboard that manages all of your social media applications, monitors communication, and provides analytics based on actionable measures so you can see the true ROI of your actions.
MediaVantage: Designed for PR gurus, this tool gives you instant access to TV, print, online and social media content that is relevant to your brand’s reputation, your industry, or your competition.
Objective Marketer: This site allows you to create the content and strategy and just steps in to objectively analyze how people have interacted with the content you have posted. By measuring clicks, views, likes and more, the Objective Marketer discovers trends and finds out what is working for your brand… and what’s not.
Here’s the table of contents from this free e-book:
The Social Media ROI Cycle explained
Tools to Help You Manage Your Twitter Account
Tools to Help you Manage Facebook
Tools to Help you Manage Your Websites and Blogs
Tools to Help You Manage Multiple Social Channels
Content Creation and Integration Tools
Qualitative Social Media Monitoring Tools
Quantitative Social Media Monitoring Tools
Comprehensive Social Media Monitoring Tools
Tools to Help You Reverse Append Email Addresses to Find Out More About the Contacts in Your Database
We’ve put a lot of time and energy into this free e-book, so you can spend your time doing more important things. Download it today and, before long, you’ll be super-charging your social media campaigns.
P.S. If you’re interested in receiving more tools and tips like the ones above, you can have the 60 Second Marketer blog delivered to your in box each morning by clicking here. Or, you can sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter by clicking here.
There’s been a good amount of buzz on the internet lately about a helpful little concept I developed called the Social Media ROI Cycle.
I created it to help people understand three distinct stages companies go through when they launch a social media campaign.
I’ve included a SlideShare version below with additional details on the concept. You’re free to download the presentation and use it for your own purposes with attribution. (To download it, just click on the “SlideShare” link above.)
In addition, I’ve included a 60 Second video of the Social Media ROI Cycle, which can also be viewed on our YouTube Channel.
The Social Media ROI Cycle
Stage 1: Launch
During this stage, 100% of a company’s focus is on launching the Big 4: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some companies focus on the Big 4 Plus More, which include things like Flickr, e-newsletters, blogs, SlideShare and other social media platforms. But most companies kick things off by quickly getting into the Big 4 simply as a way to have a social media presence.
The approach during this Launch stage is very executional with very little long-term planning. The primary objective is simply to get started.
Of course, the best way to dive into any marketing initiative is to start with an analysis of your target market’s needs and how your initiative might meet those needs, but the Social Media ROI Cycle is based on reality, not best practices. In other words, most companies just jump into social media with very little forethought, even though best practices would be to do some advanced planning.
Unfortunately, the results of the Stage 1 process are negligible. Oh, sure, you’ll be able to claim that you’ve “got a social media campaign” but you won’t really see much traction unless you move onto Stage 2.
Stage 2: Management
During this stage, roughly 60% of a company’s efforts are focused on the Big 4 (or the Big 4 Plus More). About 10% of the focus is on creative (content creation) and offer development, 20% on tracking quantitative metrics such as traffic, inbound links, Facebook likes, etc., and about 10% on qualitative metrics such as brand sentiment, survey results and customer polls.
The approach during the Management stage is still very tactical, but the focus is on mid-term instead of short-term results, which is good. The objective at this stage is to engage prospects and customers in some way that gets them to connect with the brand. Ideally, this would mean buying something, but it can also mean downloading a white paper, Liking a Facebook page, responding to a survey or any other tangible evidence that they’re connecting with your brand.
The results during the Management stage are typically a little better than the results during the Launch stage, but they’re still not as good as they can be. Which brings us to Stage 3: Optimization.
Stage 3: Optimization
Most companies today are still at either Stage 1 or Stage 2. But many of the companies I work with have started to reach the Stage 3.
As you can see in the InfoGraphic and video below, about 25% of the focus at this stage is on the Big 4 Plus More and about 30% is evenly split among creative and offer development, quantitative metrics and qualitative metrics.
About 25% of the focus is on improving conversion and optimization of campaigns. What do I mean by that? Improving conversion and optimization means tracking inbound leads and traffic across social media platforms using Atlas and Dart tracking and watching those leads turn into customers, either on e-commerce landing pages or through B2B lead generation programs.
It also means testing your way into success with our social media campaigns. This can be as simple as testing two different landing pages and seeing which one is the winner. Or it can be as complex as doing multivariate testing that tests more than one component of your website at a time.
The final 20% of a company’s efforts in Stage 3 include measuring the success of your campaign on an ROI basis. And, yes, you can measure a social media campaign on an ROI basis, despite what some social media experts will tell you.
The process involves understanding your Customer Lifetime Value (the total revenue the average customer generates for your business during the lifetime of their engagement with you), then using your CLV to compare it to the results generated by your social media campaign.
Here are a few action steps you can take to incorporate the Social Media ROI Cycle into your efforts.
Watch the 60-second video below, then figure out where you are on the Cycle: Stage 1, Stage 2 or Stage 3.
Start tracking the results of your campaign on a quantitative and qualitative basis
Read some of the blog posts on the 60 Second Marketer that provide insights into calculating the ROI of a social media campaign. (You’ll also find in-depth description of this process in my book, How to Make Money with Social Media.)
Set a timeline for your program to reach the next stage. Better still, go public with the timeline — things seem to get done when there’s a public deadline. (Download the Social Media ROI Cycle slides on SlideShare and incorporate them into your public declaration.)
Keep me posted on your thoughts, comments and reactions to the Social Media ROI Cycle. This is a living entity, so we’ll be doing more updates as we go
If you like what you read today, you can have these blog posts delivered to your in box each morning by clicking here. Or, you can sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter by clicking here.
Are you interested in finding out what’s hot and what’s not in 2011?
Recently, I sat down with Patrick Miller, Kyle Wegner and Kwesi Robertson from BKV Digital and Direct Response and asked them to develop a list of what’s hot and what’s not for marketers. Our intent was to provide you a list of tools that are “past their prime” vs. tools that will begin to reach their prime in 2011.
(By the way, we’re always writing posts about the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing. If you’d like to stay up-to-date on the newest trends in marketing, subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter or to this blog.)
We hope you enjoy our “What’s Hot” guide. And feel free to add your own items in the comments section below!
Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response. He is also the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” which is available in fine bookstores (and a few not-so-fine bookstores) everywhere.
Every Friday morning, members of the 60 Second Marketer community receive our weekly e-newsletter that provides new tools, tips and techniques to improve their marketing. (If you’d like to see a sample of our weekly e-newsletter, you can do so by clicking 60 Second Marketer weekly e-newsletter.)
This Friday’s e-newsletter provided several action items marketers should do before the end of the year. The click-through rate was so high on this week’s e-newsletter, that I thought I’d share it with you via the 60 Second Marketer blog.
So here’s the text from this week’s 60 Second Marketer e-newsletter. Enjoy!
Dear ________:
Last week’s e-newsletter included 7 action steps I encouraged you to do that day to get more involved in mobile and social media.
Today, at the suggestion of 60 Second Marketer member Hope Flammer (who is the CEO of VoiceQuilt), I’m going to provide 8 action steps to do before the beginning of 2011.
The first few are action steps for you personally. The last few are action steps for your business.
Here we go.
8 Things All Marketers Should Do Before 2011
Identify Your Calling: Oprah Winfrey was once asked how she knew she had selected the right career. She said, “Because, for me, being in front of a camera is as easy as breathing.” Ask yourself — Is your job as easy as breathing? Is most of what you do natural and effortless? Would you do what you’re doing now for little or no pay? If not, what are you doing to move towards your calling?
Select Your 3 Words for 2011:I got this idea from Chris Brogan, who selects 3 words that he’s going to focus on each year. My words for 2011 are Balance (because I have a tendency to work too much), Focus (because I’m easily distracted) and Connections (because one of my jobs is to connect people like you with the people at BKV Digital and Direct Response).
Take a Spin on the Wheel of Life: A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about The Wheel of Life. It was written to help people balance their personal lives with their corporate lives. The less balance, the bumpier the ride. The more balance, the smoother the ride. Take The Wheel of Life for a spin.
Think Backwards: My friend Jerry Brown came up with this term. It’s designed to remind us that the starting point for any good marketing campaign is to get inside the mind of your customer. In other words, to think backwards. By looking at things from your customer’s perspective, you can more easily identify what need you’re fulfilling. So go ahead — think backwards and get inside the mind of your customer.
Re-Define What it is You’re Selling: If you own a restaurant, you might think you’re selling food. But that’s not correct. Because you’re also selling escape, companionship and variety. Think about what the best-known brands in the world sell. Apple doesn’t sell computers — they sell cool. Porsche doesn’t sell cars — they sell sex appeal. Now, ask yourself what is it that you’re really selling?
Identify 3 Key Buying Emotions of Your Customer: There are 13 primary emotional triggers that influence people to buy. What 3 are the key triggers for your customers? Read the highlighted article, then identify the 3 that are most important for your business. Follow that up by incorporating the emotional triggers into your ads, your press releases and your social/mobile campaigns.
Ask Yourself 20 Questions to Help You Differentiate Your Brand: There’s a process you can go through to help you define where your company is and where it should go. If you read my 20 Questions post, you’ll be well on your way towards identifying what it is that makes your product or service different.
Don’t Look for Information. Instead, Look for Insight:The challenge for most people reading this e-newsletter isn’t that they don’t have enough information, it’s that they have too much information. That’s why we try to do more than just provide information — we try to provide you actionable insights. If you like our action-oriented approach, why not sign up to receive our blog via email? The blog is different from this e-newsletter. And if you sign up, you’ll get short, actionable tips 3 to 5 mornings a week.
You have a lot to do based on the list above. Get hoppin’!
Additional Posts from The 60 Second Marketer Blog:
On Wednesday, I’ll be taking part in Social Media Atlanta, a weeklong series of events put on by a dedicated team of Atlanta’s top social media practitioners, some of whom include Bert Dumars at Newell Rubbermade, Toby Bloomberg at Bloomberg Marketing and Stephanie Frost who is an author, social media strategist and co-host of Gravity Free Radio.
Click here to register for Social Media Atlanta: How to Avoid the Great Social Media Crash of 2011
(There were dozens of other volunteers who worked tirelessly on this event, so please forgive me for leaving you off this abbreviated list.)
If you’re still tying to figure out how to sign up for Twitter, our presentation won’t be for you. But if you’d like to learn how to run a social media campaign on an ROI basis, then you’ll enjoy our talk.
For an advanced peek at what we’ll be discussing, you can check out my recent article on Mashable called “How to Calculate the ROI of a Social Media Campaign.”
Here are the specifics for the upcoming talk on Wednesday:
What: “How to Avoid the Great Social Media Crash of 2011,” part of the Social Media Atlanta series of events
When: Wednesday, November 10th from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm (NOTE: Parking at Emory is a challenge, so arrive early)
Where: Room W525 at The Goizueta School of Business of Emory University
Register: By clicking here or visiting www.TurnerShah.EventBrite.com
If you’re not going to be in Atlanta for this event, fear not — I’ll be doing this presentation in an upcoming webinar for people who have subscribed to the 60 Second Marketer e-newsletter. You’ll be notified about it shortly.
Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you at the event. Thanks.
Other Places I’ll be Speaking This Week
Here are some of the other places I’ll be making presentations this week. I hope to see you at some of them:
A special thank you goes out to all the followers of the 60 Second Marketer from around the globe. None of this would have happened without you.
One reviewer called this book "The best social media guide available." Click here to take a look inside the book.
If you’re interested in learning how to set-up, launch and run an effective social media campaign, then you’ll probably be interested in the book. We cover a lot of ground and it’s been called “The Best Social Media Guide Available” by one reviewer.
To give you an idea of what the book is about, here’s the Table of Contents. If you like what you see here, click through on any of the links to take a look inside the book.
PART I: The Social Media Landscape
Chapter 1: What Social Media Isn’t
Chapter 2: The Evolution of Marketing
Chapter 3: How to Think About Social Media
Chapter 4: The Language of Social Media
PART II: How to Set Yourself Up for Social Media Success
Chapter 5: Laying the Groundwork for Success
Chapter 6: Why Your First Social Media Campaign Didn’t Work
Chapter 7: Managing the Conversation
Chapter 8: Creating Circular Momentum
PART III: Social Media Platforms
Chapter 9: Social Media is More Than Just YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
Chapter 10: How to Use Networking Platforms to Help You Grow Your Sales and Revenue
Chapter 11: How to Use Promoting Platforms to Help You Grow Your Sales and Revenue
Chapter 12: How to Use Sharing Platforms to Grow Your Sales and Revenue
Chapter 13: Mobile Media, Augmented Reality, and Widgets, Oh My!
PART IV: Social Media Integration
Chapter 14: How to Integrate Social Media into Your Marketing Plan
Chapter 15: How to Conduct a Competitive Assessment
Chapter 16: Conducting an Internal Situation Analysis
Chapter 17: Understanding the Customer Thought Processes
Chapter 18: Establishing Your Major Objectives and Key Strategies
Chapter 19: Aligning your Social Media Strategy with Your Brand Essence
PART V: How to Measure Social Media
Chapter 20: How to Measure a Social Media Campaign
Chapter 21: Step 1: Measuring the Quantitative Data
Chapter 22: Step 2: Measuring the Qualitative Data
Chapter 23: Step 3: Measuring the Only Really Important Thing—Your Return on Investment
PART VI: Conclusion
Chapter 24: Social Media Guidelines for Corporations
Chapter 25: 59 Things You Need to Do on Your Way to a Successful Social Media Campaign
Thanks again for all your support. These are very exciting times, indeed.
Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.
Are you interested in learning how to give a speech?
I do about 35 to 45 speeches a year at events, trade shows and corporations around the country. The topics include branding, marketing strategy and social media.
Over the course of time, I’ve jotted down a few notes on how to give a speech that I thought I’d share with you. After all, sooner or later, you’re going to have to give a speech to your CEO, your shareholders or some other interested party, so it never hurts to be prepared.
The most important thing you can do when giving a speech is to have a two-way conversation with your audience.
Kinds of Speeches: For starters, it’s important to understand that there are many different kinds of presentations. In fact, something as simple as a voice mail is, essentially, a short speech.
Here are some of the different forms of speech-giving that you’ll want to be familiar with:
Sales meetings
Staff meetings
Voice mail
Events
Team meetings
Updating superiors
Coaching
Talking to your spouse
Job interviews
Negotiating
Social functions
Mentoring
Dating
Brainstorming
As you can see, giving a speech isn’t always done in front of a large audience. Sometimes, it’s a one-on-one form of communication. What makes it a speech isn’t the number of people you’re giving it to as much as the importance of the communication.
That’s worth repeating — what makes something a speech isn’t the number of people you’re giving it to as much as the importance of the communication. The more important the talk, the more it qualifies as a speech.
Make sense?
Presentation Prep Sheet: If you don’t prepare your speech in advance, you won’t look confident. So be sure to think through the following issues:
What’s my objective?
What’s on the mind of my audience?
How am I going to begin the presentation?
How am I going to engage the audience during the presentation?
How am I going to close with a strong finish?
What’s the desired outcome of my speech?
Looking Confident: It’s important to look confident during a speech. One of the classic mistakes people make when giving speeches is that they think if they move around the room they’ll be seen as energetic and passionate. Actually, the opposite is true — when you move around too much, you look nervous and ill-at-ease.
If you watch my speaking style on my Keynote Speaker page, you’ll notice that, for the most part, I stay in the same place. It may feel strange to stand in the same place when you give a speech, but it’s the best thing you can do to communicate confidence. After all, a rock doesn’t flinch. Neither should you.
(Side note: Energy and passion are communicated through your voice, not your movement. Use your voice to communicate those emotions, not your feet.)
Voice Control: You may not agree with Rush Limbaugh’s politics, but you have to give the guy credit — he’s got a fabulous voice. Next time you’re listening to him, notice how he uses volume, inflection and tempo to express himself. By changing things around, he keeps the listener engaged.
Here’s a trick. Leave yourself a voice mail so you can hear your own voice. Go ahead, just close the door. When you leave the voice mail, see how many different ways you can use volume, inflection and tempo to come across as:
Passionate
Dynamic
Inspirational
Enthusiastic
Commanding
Conversational
Lively
Friendly
Appealing
Intense
Calming
See? Leaving yourself a voice mail isn’t that bad. And everybody in the office thought you were crazy already, so no big deal.
Avoid Verbal Graffiti: What’s verbal graffiti? Just ask your teenager. Every “uhhhh,” “you know” and “like” is verbal graffiti. The key to eliminating verbal graffiti is to recognize you use it. If you don’t catch yourself doing it, have an accountability partner let you know whenever you use it. That’ll stop things pretty quickly.
Get Your Audience Involved: Remember, the idea behind a speech isn’t to have a monologue, it’s to have a dialogue. When you have a back-and-forth communication going on, it makes the talk much, much more interesting for your audience.
Here are some ideas you can use to get your audience involved:
State up-front that participation is expected
Ask them questions
Use the phrase “write this down” followed by a list
Use props: maps, flip charts, dry erase boards, products, drawings
Use an outline that requires the audience to fill in the blanks
Use audience members in your stories
Ask their opinion
Ask them to raise their hands
Use video clips
Handling Questions: I had one very important presentation several years ago that I was really prepared for. About a day before the presentation, I started thinking through the questions the client-prospect might ask.
I ended up coming up with 40 different questions, then broke those 40 questions into 5 different categories. I assigned each category to a different member of the team. When the client-prospect asked a question, the category of the question was self-evident, so the appropriate team member stepped forward and answered the question.
It was brilliant. And it was the best presentation I was ever part of.
Did we win the business? Hell, no. And I’m still pissed about it.
How to Control Fear: There are several tips on controlling fear that you might find useful.
Memorize your first two minutes
Keep notes handy, but don’t lock your eyes on your notes
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
Arrive early. At least 30 minutes prior to going on stage
Mingle before you go on stage. By chatting people up, you’ll have some friends in the audience
Visualize success
Breathe
Be yourself
Don’t drink to much coffee
In the evening, don’t drink too much alcohol
Other Tips and Tricks: Here are a few other odds and ends I’ve come up with over the years.
Start in the middle. Seriously, skip the whole “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them” thing. Just dive in. People hate agendas. Agendas put people to sleep.
In a presentation larger than 3 people, you should stand. (Unless it’s a regular status meeting or something, in which case you can sit. Otherwise, stand.)
Flip your own slides. It’s really annoying when people say, “Next slide…” 57 times during a presentation
Own the room
Don’t lean on anything
Plan for 1 to 2 minutes per slide
If you’re interested in more information on this topic, a good book to read is The Exceptional Presenter by Timothy J. Koegel. It’s short and sweet and packed with good tips.
If you’re interested in having me speak at your event, trade show or corporation, just send an email to Jamie.Turner@60SecondMarketer.com.
For a video sample of my speaking style, hit the “play” button below. Feel free to borrow some of my techniques for yourself!
Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response. Jamie’s book, co-authored with Dr. Reshma Shah, can be previewed by clicking “How to Make Money with Social Media.”
Every so often, we like to remind our readers of the best ways they can get the most from our site. After all, the 60 Second Marketer is more than just a web magazine — it’s a community of marketing professionals from around the globe who comment, contribute and conspire with one another on the best ways to get the most bang from their marketing dollar.
So, with that in mind, here are the top seven ways to get the most from the 60 Second Marketer:
Are you interested in staying current on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing? Then fill out the box to the right and have the 60 Second Marketer blog delivered to your in-box each morning.
Comment on our blog: We respond to virtually every comment that’s made on our blog. So if you have a comment about one of our posts, we’ll follow-up on your comment by providing you additional information and insights. Give it a try. Seriously. We really do follow-up.
Follow us on Twitter: If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on all the latest trends in marketing, you can follow me at 60SecondTweets. I’ll keep you posted on all the latest articles and information all day long. And occasionally, we’ll even say something witty and funny. But only if we’re in a witty or funny mood.
Have the 60 Second Marketer blog delivered to your in-box every morning:Are you interested in learning about the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing? Then have the 60 Second Marketer blog sent to your in-box each morning. Just fill out the box to the right of this blog post and walla! It’ll be delivered just about every morning, like magic.
Sign up for our free weekly eNewsletter: Each week, we send out a whole slew of “How To” articles designed to help you instantly improve your marketing program. If you want tips on social media, email marketing, blogging, direct response marketing or just about any other topic, then sign up for our weekly eNewsletter.
Visit ourQuickTipspage: It includes a long list of tips that you can put to use instantly to get the most bang from your marketing dollar.
Check out our Free Tools page: Our Free Tools page has 18 different free tools or information portals where you can download additional content or tools designed to help you grow your sales and revenue.
Download a free chapter from my book: Are you serious about social media? Then you’ll want to download the free chapter I’m offering from “How to Make Money with Social Media.” It’s packed with good information.
Of course, all this assumes you’ve taken a deep dive into our free Articles and our free Videos, right? If you haven’t jumped into the fray on those pages, you should start there because they’re packed with great tools and tips on ways you can improve your marketing.
So there you have it. Seven ways to get the most from the 60 Second Marketer. Plus a few bonus tips.
Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response.
In last week’s 60 Second Marketer e-newsletter, we wrote about our Mobile Media 12-Step Program (yes, we see the irony). It was designed to help people (like you) get started in mobile media. After all, mobile media is going to eclipse social media in scope and usefulness (you heard it here first).
Given that, here’s our very own 12-Step program for mobile media:
Step #1: Mobilize your website. Set up a mobile website so that it’s simpler and easier to navigate than your regular website.
Step #2: Study your competitors. Are they using Foursquare or Gowalla to drive traffic to their locations? Steal their ideas. Really. Steal ‘em.
Step #3: Start using mobile media yourself. Download LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to your smart phone. Then take the next step and try Foursquare or Gowalla.
Step #4: Read everything you can about mobile media. (Hint: A good place to start is with the Mobile Media Glossary right here on the 60 Second Marketer.)
Step #5: Claim your business on location-based applications. If you own a restaurant, claim it on Foursquare before anyone else does.
Step #6: Run a mobile ad campaign. Now you’re getting into the more advanced stuff. Apple has iAd and Google has AdWords to help you do this. Or you can contact one of the multitude of mobile advertising firms out there.
Step #8: Design an iPhone or smart phone app. Now you’re really getting advanced. iPhone and smart phone apps take time and money to create, but they can be worth it.
Step #9: Encourage interactivity. No matter what kind of mobile campaign you do, be sure that it gives the customer a reason to come back and do it again.
Step #10: Integrate the program into your overall marketing program. Your mobile program shouldn’t stand alone in a silo. Integrate it!
Step #11: Track your results. The cool thing about mobile is that it’s digital. And digital is trackable.
Step #12: Test, test, test. The folks at BKV Digital and Direct Response are always talking about doing A/B split tests. That’s the only way to continuously improve your results.
So there you have it. Our very own 12-step program!
The 60 Second Marketer is a free online magazine brought to you by BKV Interactive and Direct Response. We try to provide quick updates on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing. We also try to accomplish that with a dose of humor or levity. As it turns out, we're pretty good at providing tools, tips and techniques, but we're not actually all that funny. Which would explain why people don't call us "funny" as much as they call us "laughable." Bummer. Our offices, for those of you who are interested, are located in Atlanta (404-233-0332) and Kansas City (913-648-8333). We also have offices on Bora Bora, but they don't have the phones installed yet.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Youtube
Facebook
RSS
GooglePlus