Branded Matters

Tweets, Notes and Resources from InnoTech in Okahoma City

Following is a list of websites, vendors, notes and tweets mentioned or seen at InnoTech.

I've sifted through the tweets from attendees to compile these highlights from the eMarketing Summit:

• 64% of viewers will finish a 30-sec video!
  
• Mix up some fun stuff in your tweets. All serious all the time gets old!
  
• You can manage your Twitter in 30 min a day!
  
• NEVER underestimate the rule of reciprocity!!
• Just heard @mkokc say that the "pingFm guys are from tulsa" Thats cool.
  
• Use social media to listen as much or more than you speak!
  
• Huge eMarketing mistake: having an intern manage your Twitter account.
• The number 1 reason people use social media sites is to showcase their own identity.
• Use social media to attract, generate interest. It's not a place to convert.
• ACT - attract, convert and transform.
  
• Content is driving conversion, but can happen slowly.
• Easiest place to SPARK conversation is Twitter. Best place to HAVE conversation is Facebook.
• People ready to purchase typically use 5 to 8 word phrases to search.
  
• Being Ominpresent? @giovanni dubs http://ping.fm as an absolute must-have.
• Do a 301 Redirect if you have irrelevant posts out there--link them to something fresh.
  
• Get a clue - merge offline with online - take advantage of opportunities.
  
• You can't break the rules if you don't know them.
• My job is to decimate my competition (@giovanni in reference to making sure his clients are promoted with most efficacy).
• Social Media To-Do List Hack: Schedule 15 minutes, 3 times a day. 
  
• Pick one or two (social media) sites out there & focus on them. 
• Yes, there's too much info out there. Waah. Get busy.
• ijustine - gets 2.5 million hits a week. Leveraging new media - MORE bang for your buck.
• High profile ppl in your company (executives, etc.) need to be on your watch list even though they have personal lives. 
• Watch Your Back. Monitor your articles of interest (i.e. Wikipedia "Watch" function).
• "Bring the Donuts" - Share Freely.
• Get on the homepage of (all) the (social) sites you can.

(Thanks to @Giovanni, @Shama, @tmonhollon, @mkokc, @kermitrocks, and @blogging4jobs for sharing your insight; thanks @JLanie, @AlanDanielson, @tmonhollon, @allisonAllioppe, @kklockhart, @freshpeel and @kermitrocks for tweeting the highlights).

Websites/Tools mentioned:

iPhone Business Card Scanner - Finally!

An exciting new iPhone app is now available that scans business cards and then syncs the data directly into your Mac address book. The app is from a German company and is called Cardreader (iTunes link here).

The new app costs $7.99 and even though it took me several tries, I eventually got used to it and could successfully scan about six out of ten cards. The app allows you to scan in landscape mode or portrait mode and each scan takes just a few seconds. There are some subtle nuances to scanning correctly (holding the card right for appropriate lighting, sizing up the card right for landscape or portrait mode) but this is a promising app, one that I hope our German friends will keep improving.

Note: on iTunes there are already negative reviews outweighing positive reviews for the app but as someone who has been considering spending anywhere from $150 to $250 for a business card scanner, spending $8 and living with its limitations is fine with me.

On a related note: don't forget about Shoeboxed: you simply mail your business cards or receipts to Shoeboxed and they scan and provide you a file for importing, a particularly useful service for the person who requires frequent, large volume scanning on a continual basis.

One Expense You Absolutely Must Not Cut

You might have seen this survey before, if you have, the words of Dr. Samuel Johnson might be fitting: most people should be "less taught and more reminded".

Why do your customers leave you? 

1% Die
3% Move away
5% Influenced by friends
9% Lured away by the competition
14% Dissatisfied with the product
68% Indifference

Everyone has a customer. Bankers, politicians, even teachers have customers. Non-profit professionals know they have a "customer" and these customers have many options about where they spend their time and money.  It may help to move away from the language of "customer" and begin to think of all the Very Important People in your world. Your VIP's could be vendors who are strategically important, influencers (your mentors and advisers), employees, constituents, students, supervisors, and more. It is an interesting exercise to draw a graph like the one on the left to discover your VIP's. If 68% of your VIP's leave you because of indifference, you are either genuinely indifferent about them or they interpret your lack of communication as indifference. Fact is, most businesses cannot afford an attitude of indifference in this economy. Indifference toward your VIP's is a slow suicide in a good economy, it's a death spiral in a bad economy.

The good news is, there is a way to eradicate indifference and the solution is a simple one: gratitude.

A simple "thank you" at the right time goes a long way and there are plenty of occasions fast approaching that will help you get about the business of recognizing your VIP's. Gifts of gratitude, whether they are hand written notes or gift-wrapped "thank you's" carry a lot of weight these days. As technology becomes more hi-tech, we must become more hi-touch in order to achieve an impact. A one sentence email saying "thank you" is just not enough if you want to make a lasting impression. Besides, some VIP's contribute significantly to your success, can you really not spare more than a few seconds to appropriately express your appreciation? Don't let the speed of today's hyperactive world delude you in to thinking that you don't have time. You must carve time out of your busy schedule to tell people you care about their contribution, otherwise, your business could be guilty of chasing away 68% if its customers.

68%!

What is your plan to recognize your VIP's this year? Have you stopped to think of all the people who contribute to your business?

Note: I happen to know a great little company that has developed client appreciation programs for brands for nearly twenty years. Email me for more info. We can help you apply the right amount of TLC to your VIPs ASAP. ;-) (Emoticons and acronyms are no charge).