Ask A Marketing Question
Have you ever wanted to ask a marketing question but you didn’t know who to ask or worried about taking up someone’s time? Well today is your lucky day! On my Ask A Marketing Question page you can ask whatever you like!
Why so many marketing questions?
The number one question I get asked by people is why I like getting so many questions!
I am here to tell you that most of what I know comes from someone asking a question that I did not know the whole answer to and had to do some research to find out. That being said, if it is something that I do not know about, I have A TON of references to get you headed in the right direction!
What Should You Ask?
Well, there are no rules, ask about whether you should use a website or a blog, how to do a great email headline, what you should do for your industry. SERIOUSLY, anything is on the table and no question is too basic or silly.
I like talking about marketing (in fact as many of you know, it is impossible to get me to STOP talking about marketing!)
Thanks for reading and I look forward to talking to you!
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Tara, I trust you already know about this,. but it looks as though all the SEO we have done in the past is about do make a massive change. please comment on the article and let us know how this is going to affect my business (or all your clients business for that matter) Here is the article:
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/siri-and-the-end-of-seo-as-we-know-it.html
Hi Larry! First off, let’s talk about the target market for this. My UBER nerdy husband rushed off and got the latest iPhone and talks to Siri. Additionally kids, humans under the age of 25, have always been more mobile based (some never even email – gasp – let alone “surf the web”). Not exactly the target market for your investment property so safe there.
I have heard that in five years most houses will only have a tablet computer and not a desktop, in fact when notebooks came out, I heard that in five years there would be no desktops and here they are.
The principles behind good (white hat) SEO will serve you well for MANY years to come as the search engines (including Yelp and the like) at their core are just databases that search data.
THIS is why we have clients like you on the Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Stumble Upon, blogging, etc. No one knows which new big thing is coming along and which data source they will use so we do a little bit of a lot of them!
PS – If you want to mess around a little, Siri also uses Wolf Ram Alpha as a data source (http://www.wolframalpha.com/)
Hope that helps!!! Tara
PS – Just checked and Wolf Ram Alpha doesn’t answer any business questions at this time…:)
For small to medium size businesses utilizing the power of social media marketing, what is your opinion of Google + vs. Facebook to create brand awareness, now that Google + is allowing biz page build out?
Yah, that is what I thought (LOL).
Thanks for the clarity, much appreciated.
Hi Tara, I’m so glad you’re doing this. I know that there are a LOT of people out there who’d like more access to you and your information.
And, as a blog-hopper myself, I know that you can learn as much reading other people’s questions/replies on blogs as you can from asking your own questions. That said, I want to play too. So here’s a question for you… from one marketing guru to another. I’m co-hosting a networking and training event tonight in Denver and I’ll be sharing some strategies for entrepreneurs to get more exposure for their businesses. What are the top 1-3 strategies that come to mind for YOU, that are no-cost and likely to get new clients or customers in 30 days or less? Of course, we’re assuming that the person implementing the strategies has a good funnel in place that will convert new leads into new customers.
Hi Stacy!
I have to say that with the new Google+ pages and interconnection with Google’s search functionality, that I am SO pro building out a Google page.
So is Facebook useless? NO! There are people who love the Facebook, some who love the Twitter, etc. so you have to be on every major place to be sure to connect with your audience where they live!
I talked with a company yesterday who has had little luck with Facebook because of their target market (Medium Sized Industry Human Resource Directors). While we are moving them over to more LinkedIn and Google Plus, that doesn’t mean they can abandon their Facebook presence. We are just going to make sure that there is at least one post a week and that we respond to anyone who talks to them!
Hi Mark!
Having started an email campaign recently with great results, I would say that sending targeted messages to your database with a mix of great info and sales messages is the fastest way to get the ball rolling for free. Seriously, if people would time-block to get those piles of business cards into a database like constantcontact.com or officeautopilot.com, that would surely be the highest and best use of their time!
Second, have a REAL plan. Pick one or two things to do and then focus on those for 30 days, adding new things only after the old ones are done (for anyone who needs help making the plan PLEASE call me to schedule a consultation – it is only $97 bucks and will make a HUGE difference in your effectiveness).
Lastly, talk to people. You know all those people on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn? Start a conversation (note I did not say try to sell them something). In that conversation, your enthusiasm for your industry will shine through and they will want to find out more. I do this every day and can tell you, this works. Just setting up social media and waiting for the sales to roll in will not work!
PS – Thanks for asking and there is a really good chance I can come to your event tonight!!!!
We want to review our Google analytics to see what we would like reported to us: do you have any recommendations for metrics that we can look at to help us measure the effect of the changes we are making? We want to be able to make changes that help us meet our goals. At the same time we may need to back out changes that move us backwards.
Hi Krista! That was a pretty big question and since you are one of our favorite clients – thought you could use a big answer so I made you a video!!!! http://youtu.be/GV8lbG-44y8
What’s your number one tip for someone who’s marketing a weight-loss program?
Hi Patty Petersen!!!
Okay, my NUMBER ONE, all time advice for you is to have before and after pictures of people who have used the products to lose weight. To start you can use the company sponsored ones but in this day and age of photoshop, no one believes them so have REAL people talk about your product. Oh, oh, oh, then do the videos of real people like this one for an anti aging product http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKRGsYxANJ4!!!! Get testimonials from the people who won’t take pictures or videos!!! Hope that helps…:) Tara
Hey favorite G+ expert, I have a “best practices” question for you! What is your preferred policy – reciprocal “circle & be circled” (as in twitter follow and be followed) OR “circle me – I’m kind of a big deal”???? Curious about your thoughts!
Hi Tara! I love that you’re offering this “Q&A” area AND that you, actually, personally respond and with such thoroughness! I hope that do one of your hour long consults soon! That aside, I would love to hear your advice for small business owners dealing with a disability. For example, one who has been diagnosed with A.D.D. Obviously, I’m not sure if you have any experience or knowledge of this disability. But, in a very understated nutshell, at its core those with ADD/ADHD lack Executive Function aspects of the brain and thus cannot focus or follow through, can get easily overwhelmed, prone to multi-tasking for stimulation or seek more stimulating tasks over mundane ones and have poor time management. So, I’d love to hear what you know about this and if you can suggest any tips for those with a disability as such. Thanks so much!
Hi Rebekah! This is what I have heard and what I am doing…
1. I check and see if someone has posted publicly when they circle me and if so I put them in a circle (unless they seem to have nothing but games or re-shared info). I have some great circles like photographers, competition and misc peeps. The great thing about google plus is being able to effectively sort through streams.
2. I circle A LOT of people who I find interesting. This has caused A LOT people to circle me. SOOOO with the new businesses – I circle them with Tara Jacobsen AND with Marketing Artfully. It is still new so doing that means that there are multiple circles back!
The thinking that I like is that this is a true open platform and making connections now is the way to build big networks (which I know you like!!!)
Thanks for reading!!!!
Hi Heather!
I do not have diagnosed ADD but I do have entrepreneur ADD…:) With that in mind I have developed rigid systems and time management skills that keep me on track.
The first thing I do every day is go to my three squares worksheet and do my top three important task lists (funny thing, lots of people say, “just three things?” – yep just the three most important things to do to move my business forward TODAY).
If you are not on my community mailing list yet, sign up today to get the three squares worksheet! http://marketingartfully.com/2011/11/15/marketing-artfully/
Then I rigidly calendar my time. I have time blocking down to a science and everyone thinks that makes me more unhappy – just the opposite, I am SO happy because I work when I work and have lots of play time when I can not feel guilty because it is on the calendar!!!
When I am working on something I put the phone to the side and work on that only. I don’t check emails or worry that I am missing something, seriously, there are NO marketing emergencies!!!!
Start by trying this for one hour a day. Then go to two hours a day…after that you will see how well it works and jump in both feet!!!
Hope that helps and thanks for reading!!!