Another Transformation in Business and the Economy

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about the state of business, my clients, and what's next. It seems that although many of the new search engine optimization and social media marketing tactics that MarCom is doing are working very well, I have felt restless and as if there's something on the horizon that I am missing.

Last December I proclaimed that I wanted to work on business and for clients who are making a difference in the world. As always, the law of attraction takes hold, and that's what I called in. Clients in health care, environmental technology, and businesses with fair practices tools. Now in my most recent exploration of what's next, I found that some futurists are saying that we are now in the midst of another extraordinary shift. There was the Industrial Age, and we have most recently been through the Age of Information. Now authors like Patricia Aburdene are talking about the constants of ever-present creativity and innovation and how this is now leading companies into a new era that's all about consciousness.

For the last six years I have been focusing much of my personal time on spirituality. Now it would seem that this it's the new changing values that will be leading the economy via transforming capitolism. In her book Megatrends 2010, Aburdene talks about this "new economy of consciousness" at length and conveys new concepts which, as a marketer, I can already see taking root among my own clients. Even the trends of my work in social media marketing is starting to make a difference, and our clients are popping up in Google Alerts all over the Web. Today it's all about full disclosure, as you can read about in my last blog. PR isn't just about the "spin" any more, and if anything putting a spin on a clients products or services may just do them more harm than good.

Take blogging for example... What a great way for people to share truths, wisdom and perspectives. Reality TV is another media trend that we have seen spawn shows like The Biggest Loser - programs that ultimately are doing much good in society today. Online radio or podcasts are available 24/7 with content about any topic that people can watch or listen to any time any day of the week. Here are some recent stats to check out:

–Box office is down 7%
–Newspaper circulation peaked in ‘87
–Down another 2.6% in 2006
–Radio was down 4% in 2006

Even the recent news that I wrote for one of our clients this week, will have a tremendous impact on the future. Acutrack, Inc., a fulfillment house with on demand replication technology and e-commerce solutions (http://www.acutrack.com/) applauded the recent announcement by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVDCCA) to approve a final copy-protection specification for on-demand disc burning. The DVD CCA is an industry copy prevention organization, and this approval is the authorization for companies to sell digital downloads for on demand viewing.

As more and more people (including the aging Baby Boomers) jump online to watch and read the news, less people read magazines, view TV and/or listen to the radio. After all, personal iPods are fast replaced the radio. Today, people use search engines, like Google, to get what they want, how they want it, and fast. The biggest challenge now is how to communicate your story over multiple channels, including the Internet.

Now is the time that marketers can make a difference and effect change, using the new tools and techniques of SEO and social media marketing, and consequently, have an effect on economic change and the future. Are you with it?

Keyword Analysis - The First Step in SEO

There is a lot of confusion about just what search optimization (SEO) is. There are a number of steps involved, but the first and most important step is to do a keyword analysis to figure out what key words people use when they search for a product or service via one of the search engines like Google or Yahoo.

Here are the basic steps for a keyword analysis:
1) Take a look at your client’s key messages, and jot down the words and phrases that stand out.
2) Go to http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-playground.php
3) Enter your keywords and or phrases and copy the results for searches per month containing the keyword phrase(s) into an excel spreadsheet. One column is for the search term and the other column is for search volume.
4) Go to http://google.com and enter each keyword phrase one at a time. Just above the search results on the right hand side on Google is a line with results 1-10 of about NUMBER for each keyword phrase.
5) Enter the value of this number in the third column (heading of Competition) for each of your keyword phrases. Repeat for all the keyword phrases you can think of. Then sort your spreadsheet under search volume column in descending order.
6) Now look for applicable keyword phrases that have high search volume and low number of competition...these are the keyword phrases you will want to use--the PRIME keyword phrases.

Use your keywords in press releases, online articles, and link to your website with links that use your keywords. All of this will help your website's rankings in the organic listings of the search engines so people can find your site when the use the same keywords.

Launching Early Stage Companies

Last evening one of our clients launched a new product that will help real estate agents get a leg up on the competition. Dogtor Paco™ technology (www.dogtorpaco.com) provides end-to-end electronic mortgages locked in 30 minutes. We held a small cocktail gathering so people could view and interact with the product, a great tactic for early stage companies and products. We had excellent feedback, especially from the mortgage brokers in attendance, and this venue even allowed guests to show us, or demonstrate, what they were already using. Of course when we compared Dogtor Paco afterwards, there was no comparison -- Dogtor Paco always came in first -- as a mortgage calculator and loan organizer that's transforming real estate financing.

As a marketing and PR practitioner, these kind of events provide valuable resources for customer testimonials - because we can go back to them after the event with a customer Q&A and obtain publishable testimonials which can be used on the client website and in press and marketing materials.

We also offered those who attended our event a discount on the product subscription, and an incentive for recruiting others to try Dogtor Paco. The evening's discussions also brought forth new key words and key word categories that we will be using in the client's Search Engine Opitimization (SEO) efforts. Our advertising and branding expert Brad Stone watched the demonstrations and what people said very carefully and in the end has some ideas for what he needs to do to begin a branding and advertising campaign. But perhaps best of all, the venue also provided a unique forum for which we actually discussed some very valuable co-marketing opportunities with other special guests.

In the end, inviting people and employees to an end-of-the week gathering from 4 to 7 PM to learn about your products and services can be an excellent way to garner new marketing and PR ideas, thank employees for their hard work, and ultimately grow a business while having some fun doing it.