There is a lot of truth to this statement however there are still many people out there who simply don’t get it. I think the recession also set back whatever momentum was happening out there around the value for professional experience. Since the recession hit us, it appears everyone is a so-called professional even those who sold promotional products for 14 years and now are so-called social media professionals.
You do get what you pay for in today’s world and you know something….the cheapest isn’t always the best solution for your business. But, still today, many real professional organizations still are getting beat up on price. As a small business owner myself I totally get the importance of healthy cash flow and the issues many of us face around preserving cash. However I also understand the value of “investing in our business”. Here is the secret…Sometimes this value costs money, are you prepared to invest in this value.
Another critical component is around focus. Does the person you are chatting with about your online marketing do this full-time?
In the social media landscape we are drowning in a red sea of so-called professionals ranging from people who do this sort of stuff as a hobby, virtual administrators are moving into social media and SEO and then there are those who think they can simply do it after selling promotional items for 14 years. There are many people who do what I do as a profession as a hobby (like my days in the computer support business in Calgary). Not to toot my own horn but I spend every waking hour focused on delivering value to our Ulistic clients – plain and simple. Social Media, search engine optimization and online marketing is not just another thing that I do in addition to a job I may have or another business which draws my focus away.
You get what you pay for and you get value from those who are professionals. What works better for you?
I am reading a very interesting white paper today on “10 Key Marketing Trends in 2010″ which covers the overall adoption of online marketing strategies in small business. Number 9 jumped out and hit me on the side of head and something that at one time in my life was very near and dear to me. Last week when I was at Spring Training For Business in Arizona with MSP business coach Stuart Selbst I mentioned during my lunch presentation on exactly this topic.
IT Bottlenecks Drive adoption of on Demand Marketing solutions
In this published report (you can download here) the author report on the disconnect between IT and Marketing, especially how IT and marketing are not seeing eye to eye on the whole online marketing momentum. The marketing folks see IT as a complex bottleneck and IT sees marketing/sales as an expense or risk to the organization. To be completely candid in my opinion, no wonder so many small business IT shops are horrible in their own marketing efforts and struggle with this important part of business.
Also in the report, the author identifies how more and more marketing folks are starting to use software as a service (SaaS) offerings where the IT departments, MSP or IT Pro are bypassed and not involved in the process of choosing a solution. 67% of those surveyed complained about their IT service provider (or in-house IT) and are moving towards other online or web-based solutions to bypass the complexities put in place by IT and also the high costs demanded by some technology firms. Marketing solutions are moving towards the “on demand” model vs. the old on-premise models. These include social media platforms, CRM solutions and even email technologies.
By the way, how does IT respond – they invest in more complex solutions to block applications or web services, building more of a separation in the organization.
During Spring Training I mentioned to the group that consulting with their clients on marketing and removing the barriers will bring additional value to those they serve and position them truly as a business consultant and not just another techy firm. This is why Ulistic launched the Ulistic Partner Program to help those Managed Services Providers and IT consultants help serve their clients in a different way and with services they are looking for.
And he should be!
I still listen to news radio (only when I am not in the mood for my usual selection of 80’s hair band metal) when I am driving to our Ulistic office in Southeast Calgary. It is only for the 15 minute drive, just enough to get the latest traffic, stock market information and news headlines. Sometimes, I will even tune into Dave Rutherford to hear his daily rant on QR77 or listen to what Charles Adler has to say in the afternoon. That is the extent of my news watching, listening or reading.
I read the Calgary Herald Business Section the odd Monday morning just to see what new small businesses are starting up and the odd time will I read or even glance through the entire morning paper. When I travel in the United States, the hotels deliver USA Today or Wall Street Journal or other US Papers which usually end up in a pile in one corner of my hotel room. Goes to show that the news in print for me is just something I am not interested in reading.
I, perhaps like many of our colleagues are electing to tune into online sources for news. Why? Perhaps it is the grass-roots reporting, the real story without the right or left-wing opinions attached with the story. I will however tune into my niche blogs on the industries I work with and have Twitter alert me when something happens which requires my attention. How about you?
This weekend I read an interesting article online on how the President of CNN is concerned about Social Media. I am not shocked by this concern from a major US media source and I am sure others in the world share this concern. CNN and all major news outlets should be concerned on the power of social media has for sharing of news related items. There is an old saying, see it in the paper tomorrow, see on TV later in the day, hear about it soon on radio or get notified immediately on social media. This is where news is now breaking and you just need to turn to the US Airways crash in New York for an example of the power of Social Media in the news world today.
Today my news sources are guys like Chris Brogan, Joe Panettieri, Larry Walsh, Bob Burg – just to name a few. These guys are now journalists in our online world. I truly trust what they have to say for the niches I follow.
Who is Stuart Crawford
“Stuart is the go-to person for anything social media. He has an in-depth knowledge of not only all the parts that make up social media, but also how to make them work together for you. He is an entrepreneur to the core and he understands that whatever is implemented: twitter, blog, rss, video, etc. it has to be streamlined so that it takes the least amount of time possible and yet still be laser sharp as far as effectiveness goes.
Stuart is great to work with and if technical roadblocks occur, he is an out of the box thinker when it comes to remedies.”
Service Category: IT Consultant
Year first hired: 2009 (hired more than once)
Top Qualities: Personable, Expert, High Integrity
Monica Santiago, On Page Productions
Are you attending an event? Putting on a show? Twitter now has a feature which enables your posts to be identified with your location. Not your exact location unless the third-party application like Foursquare or Yelp. Twitter’s location service will identify the community or public building you just tweeted from.
In order to use this feature when it comes to Canada, you must turn “Add a location to your tweets” on within your profile settings.
So far this feature is only available in the United States.
What do you think about all this location aware stuff happening with social media services?
For more information on how this service effects Twitter for business in Calgary or even your hobby tweets visit http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26810/entries/78525
Today I am on my home from Spring Training For Business 2010 put on by good friend and trusted colleague in the MSP business Stuart Selbst. It was a great event and lots of great ideas, concepts and tips were shared by everyone. Thanks Stu for putting on a great event and I am looking forward to next year’s Spring Training in March 2011 and Fall Training Camp in Niagara Falls, Ontario this fall. More details to come!
I have a few moments in Denver and thought I would post something about my experience traveling once again on United Airlines. They are not that bad but they are not that good either. However, I am noticing that they are trying real hard to improve customer service.
Today is my day of grumpy people, I must be attracting them to me today. It first started with the guy working at the Red Carpet Club in Phoenix. He opened up the club in a grumpy mood because the people from the night before left the place a total mess. Then there was the Vancouver guy who was using every four-letter word because he couldn’t figure out how the code share works between United and Air Canada. Then finally the grumpy old guy who had his foot out in the aisle of the plane and the flight attendant hit it with the beverage cart. Of course we was using the same four-letter words screaming at the flight attendant.
Boy, some people are grumpy at 5 AM in the morning. Will be back in Canada soon, unfortunately these grumpy folks with the exception of the Red Carpet guy were Canadians…time to bury my head in shame!
Thanks to Trico Homes and others for some amazing guidance!
For the past couple of years I have been involved with a really great group of guys who help each other with marketing and personal development. MAX is the name of our group and a number of great Calgary companies are part of this marketing exchange group. Our group meets once a month for a couple of hours and also have regular networking events for our members and clients.
Trico Homes, McLean and Partners and Karo Design are just a few of the companies who are part of this core group, including us at Ulistic. It is great to have the leadership of these great firms to help guide us in the right direction.
Why is it important to have a core group like this? Well, it is easy…we all get stuck! Where can you turn to when you are stuck and simply need a bit of a shove in the right direction? Recently, I asked our group about business networking and where can we turn to use our time better while networking in Calgary? Also, they provided some amazing direction to help with something I was struggling with.
It is a good idea for you to search out who and what group can help you.
