Ants, Coffee and Social Networking

I was in my backyard in the sun this morning, enjoying a freshly roasted cup of coffee. Sitting there, I notice a something very intriguing. A colony of sugar ants were migrating across the sidewalk. As I studied them for a while, and admired how they were so efficient, and dedicated to a single purpose, I remembered that I have seen their migration several times in the past. They were working together harmoniously – networking with the utmost precision. Like clockwork.

This really started my thought process flowing. Regardless of the economy (as in my backyard, which is in a serious drought) the ants seem to stay on course and pursue their mission- which is survival.

This brings the question to mind – how efficient are we in our marketing efforts during this recession? Or any economy for that matter.

In my town, for example, the construction and cabinet industry is struggling. I have witnessed first hand a large portion of cabinet shops lay off people or close, and contractors are not hiring, and struggling to find clients. The interesting thing about these two types of businesses is that they rely on yellow page ads, trade shows, networking and referrals in their business. Yet, most companies don’t use today’s networking tools efficiently. They don’t have effective websites (if they even have one), and the few that do whom I have talked to, told me that they had a friend or a family member create their site because they were more computer literate. – um – ok. In a friendly jest, I asked if they use the same thinking for their business – meaning – would they use this friend or family member to install the plumping for a job. I got my point across.

I am not trying to bash these businesses (well, maybe just a little), but lets get real. There are several components needed for a business to succeed, one of which is a marketing system that has continuity. This system needs to be working 24/7. It needs to be available to everyone (within the market, of course). And if you as a business owner are not experienced, or don’t have the time to set up your system, there are quality professionals available.

And the interesting part is it only needs to be setup once. Sure, as seasons change, there may be some adjustments needed, but for the most part, once it is in place, it will operate for you around the clock, with minimal effort

Here is the bottom line –a construction or cabinet business (any business for that matter) should have the follow mix in their marketing plan:

Off line
• professionally written phone script for all employees that answer business phone, including family members
• professionally written voice mail script for busy signals/after hours calls
• yellow page listing and ad
• a mix of printed media – business cards, brochures, flyers, sales letter prospecting templates, postcard prospecting templates, letter head, etc., all of which have company name, address, phone number, email and website listed, and if room, the company USP.
• A consistent marketing method – timely direct mail sales letters, post cards or card decks, etc.

Online
• professionally designed static Website, with copy written by a copywriter, presenting the USP of the company, its products, services and contact information on every page
• A blog – primarily for business, not personal information. Something can be used to discuss more in depth issues about a company’s products and services.
• Email services with auto responders, a monthly newsletter, etc., again, with contact information listed, that introduces new products and services and provides updates to current ones
• Social network profiles – the company should have business profiles on all major social network venues, such as Linkedin, Facebook, and so forth.

This is a simplified list and by no means should be limited to it. But as a basic system it is absolutely necessary to have these minimum components. You are probably sitting back and saying “Are you nuts? I don’t have the time or money to do all of that!”

With the exception of the cost of the yellow page ad, the initial cost for printed media, and the website design and copywriting, most of the costs can be shared among all of the marketing. For example, you spend x dollars for a logo and professionally written bio for your company, you can use both on all your material, website and social profiles. It only needs to be created once, and you could handle minor updates as needed.

How and what to create/write is not the focus of this article. The focus is the overall system itself. As an example, if you worked a system for about 10-12 hours a month- One hour a week to write a blog entry, 1 hour a month to write a 1-2 page newsletter, and a few bucks you pay for web hosting. 1-2 hours to network on the social sites – introduce yourself, search out and join relevant groups. The newsletter you can re-purpose and use for flyers and direct mail, sending out 100-250 per month – about 4-5 hours printing and stuffing envelopes. And this effort produced 20 quality leads a month, where 60 percent will hire your company within 12-18 months. That is about 1 lead for each hour of time spent. – Highly efficient (for the construction industry). I have seen much higher stats in different industries.

How does the system work?

Here is an example: By writing a short article or two and posting it to your blog weekly, the blog can be set to ‘ping’ the profiles that new articles exist, the profiles then ‘ping’ the search engines, and the search engines begin to re-rank your website higher because it sees activity. Search engines love linked sites, and they love blogs and social sites. By having your business profile on 10 major social sites, all linking back to your web site, you will increase the ranking of your website because of relevancy. Your profiles will begin to rank higher on their sites because of relevancy and updates, and as more people view the profiles and follow them to the articles, your site will increase traffic because of the exposure. Your site then attracts more prospects through your email campaign; your email list is where you establish direct relationships, which provide the quality leads and so forth. And you are doing this unattended. The printed media reinforces your branding, reaches prospects and points them to your online system where they can learn more about you and your company, products and services, and by them visiting your site, increases search engine statistics, in short – improving your rankings.

Now there are set rules and processes you need to follow to make this work effectively. A well defined marketing plan, properly set expectations and goals, effective USP, professionally written copy for all sales messages and a full commitment from you are a few. You also need an expert to assist you developing and implementing your marketing plan. There are a lot of hurdles to jump thru, difficult at best if you are not sure what you are doing. A knowledgeable professional can do most of the work for you in a few hours, saving you many hours of trial and error (and money) to get it right.

And about those ants- In the hour it took to write this article, the ants have moved on to their next destination (neighbors yard, I hope), as proficiently as ever. They have worked as a well tuned network team, carried the necessary food, eggs and materials needed to set up camp at their next destination. I suspect they will be back in about a month- like clockwork.