Being Smarter

Image courtesy of oaklandish

I wanted to share a simple idea with you around how to get your ‘stuff’ noticed.

Stage 1: Create a site, a blog, an article, an ebook, a video… something of real value which is related to your ‘stuff’. Something which doesn’t sell, doesn’t capture emails, doesn’t advertise, just something which is going to have genuine community interest. If you’re struggling on how to create content like this, you could do worse than checking this out. (Yes I have a vested interest).

Case study: www.watchusgettingreal.com

Stage 2: Develop it fully, promote it yourself as best you can, get it established. Road test it with friends and colleagues. Really make sure it’s fit for purpose and will stand up to scrutiny. Let it sit.

Case study: The site was built for around a month, we’d had a couple of hundred visitors and had written 6 posts and were well on the way to telling our story.

Stage 3: Find the sneezers in your community – people who can help you to spread your word. (This is why stage 1 is so important) and write to them. Use Email, paper, Twitter, Facebook, whatever. But make it short, sharp, personal and relevant.

Case study: http://twitter.com/mark_copeman/status/15838905789

Stage 4: Assuming they’re happy to spread your word, thank them, keep them in the loop, keep them involved in what you’re doing.

Case study: http://twitter.com/mark_copeman/status/15853098651

Stage 5: Find other sneezers, rinse and repeat. BUT keep adding to Stage 1. Keep adding value to the asset you’ve created and develop your community.

Case study result: Dozens of thank you emails, 4,000+ visitors in 5 days, dozens of RSS subscriptions, feedback on the project, multiple retweets…

Not rocket science I know – but a fascinating exercise. It’s amazing what you can achieve in a week and it’s only possible thanks to people who have become Market Leaders in their niche. They hold the power today and it’s what we should all be aiming to be.

Thank you once again to @jasonfried

Two cafes, next door to each other. Sun’s out, plenty of passing trade, yet one thrives, one dies.

Bet you’ve seen this before?

What’s the explanation?

I’m partially responsible for this photo. I sat down, with my son for lunch when there were only two other tables occupied in the cafe on the right.

So why did I choose this cafe over the one on the left?

Because there were two other tables already occupied mainly. It helped they had a menu on display etc, but even like for like, I would have chosen the one on the right, because it was a safer bet.

Seth Godin spotted this phenomenen last year. He called it the 3rd guy. The video is self-explanatory.

What could you be doing on your business today (and no, I didn’t mean in) to get that third customer?

Momentum will carry you forward if you do.

I love finding great examples of how companies have thought outside the box to find ways of attracting visitors, press coverage, links and oh yes – winning more business.

The trade show marketing niche is a competitive one. We should know because we provide an innovative service to help companies with their trade show follow up and that’s how we discovered this story.

Skyline is a trade show marketing company, established in 1980 and so could typically be put into the ‘old skool’ box – your average company, stuck in the dark ages, with a sceptical view of the internet. Not so. They have embraced the power of search and have done something anyone reading this article could and should do to generate more leads.

They have decided to invest in a blog and when I say invest, I’m not talking financially – because it costs next to nothing to set one up… they’ve invested in time and energy. They’ve identified the sort of people they would like to attract and have provided a huge amount of free information to try to attract those visitors.

So – let’s take a look at what they’ve done.

1. Back in June 2009 they decided to set up a site dedicated to giving away trade show tips  at www.skylinetradeshowtips.com
2. They have focused on their marketplace to Tweet, post stories and provide valuable insight into the world of trade show marketing
3. They have generated a site in under a year with great Google authority (PR5), over 1300 backlinks to their site and hundreds of comments, again, creating authority
4. They capture email addresses by giving away (seriously) valuable information in the form of 9 free white papers, whilst at the same time taking people back to their main corporate site and exposing them to their main brand
5. They naturally position themselves as market leaders in their niche

If you had never heard of Skyline, yet through search find an article on the Skylinetradshowtips site, what would you think? Are they generating trust by providing valuable insight to you? Are they demonstrating they know what they are talking about through action? Would you be interested in giving their email address in return for serious insight? Would you follow their Twitter stream to continue receiving advice?

Are you more likely or less likely to call them for a quote do you think?

When businesses quite rightly question the ROI on social media, that last question is the key one. You should always focus on that end result and if an activity is not directly linked to that end goal, don’t do it!

So – what could you do today to attract more visitors to your site?