Membership Update
Please extend a warm welcome to our newest member, Herb Stokes.
Herb and his partner Anthony have been in business together for 3
years. They have contracts with schools for senior
portraits and sports photos, etc. They also do weddings,
family portraits and more. Herb got his first camera at 15
from his dad. He now has his BS and BA in commercial
photography. His experience includes being a staff
photographer at NASA as well as working at different studios.
He also had the privilege of working with former member Reg Batt.
Herb has been married 11 years and has a dog named Lucy.
We will have another new member join us next
week...Jake Ulrich of M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank.
Website Update
Lin Schmelzer has exceeded Dave Lathrop's expectations.
She has created a pdf version of the printed brochure that we will
soon be available on the website. Members will be able to download
and print the most current member information with a click of a
button. This will fill a lag that has existed when someone
joins MABE and finally gets in the printed brochure.
We now have testimonials on the website in the
visitor's section. Four members have contributed. Dave
Lathrop asked for more volunteers this morning. Nick Mawrenko,
Dave Crissman, Jim Bache, Roman Okonowski and Chris Curran all
agreed to send in their testimonial this week. Of course
anyone can (and is encouraged!) to contribute. Just take 5
minutes to type up a testimonial in an email and send it to Melissa
Matthews at
melissa@mabe-online.org.
Meeting Update
There will be an open meeting on September 4th. If you are
in town please come and join in the discussion topics.
On September 11th we will have a guest speaker,
Matthew Creek. He has a company called Clear Mind Consulting.
His company works with people on productivity tools to help their
businesses thrive.
Online Update
We STILL have 25 members on LinkedIn. We 22 new
discussions available. We STILL have 14 Facebook
members. We STILL have 5 Twitter members. Not one of
the connections, friends or followers? You need to get connected.
Blogging and Twittering
Dave Barnhart
Business Blogging Pros
www.BusinessBloggingPros.com
www.LearningTwitter.com
Blog: BusinessBloggingPros.Typepad.com
twitter.com/dbarhart
"Helping you use Conversations on the Web to boost your image,
exposure, and revenue"
There are free or cheap tools available to all of us
to market with. This is your opportunity to seize the high
ground in your industry.
Blog
What is the first place people go to find
something...Google! Hopefully they find you but they will also
find your competitors. If you have a blog you can tell rich
stories about what you do.
It is about:
-
Me, your reader
-
My problems
-
How you will solve them
Remember that it is not about you - get over
yourself! Put yourself in the frame of your reader.
Write in the language of the buyer. Call up your last
dozen customers ask them why they chose you instead of your
competitors. The answers may be startling.
You want followers to read that first line and say
"I have that problem!"
Remember, they don't do business with your company,
they do business with you.
Video sample of rich personal content...www.SweetServices.com
Blogs make great complete websites and they are very
inexpensive. They are very professional looking and you
can maintain them yourself.
Twitter
It is a combination of
text messaging, instant messaging and a blog.
The whole idea of marketing through Twitter is to bring people back to your blog,
where you tell your story.
It is like CB radio for the internet. On twitter everybody gets
their own channel and nobody can talk but you and anybody in the
world can choose to tune into your channel and listen to you.
As long as what you say is interesting, they listen.
Listeners are referred to as followers.
Prospecting:
Finding somebody with a need for what you have.
"Giver's Gain" means to give with no expectation of
receiving. That is the culture, but you
will get back.
-
Scan for your brand
-
Scan for your competitor
Referrals
We all have a tribe (friends, family, co-workers,
etc). A lot of us don't
leverage that tribe properly. (Reference Seth Godin author of book on
tribes). Get the most of your business/referrals from your Tribe by
twittering just a few seconds a day and staying in communication
with them. It turns you into a very tight nit group and keeps you
top of mind to them.
Conversations lead to referrals.
If you are trying to sell/market your business, you
want the prospect to be comfortable enough to let their guard to go
down. They get comfortable with you on Twitter.
-
Make sure your Twitter profile contains a link
to your blog
-
Make sure you use a photo or logo
-
Make sure you have a good profile
Tools
He doesn't recommend free platforms. The RIO on Nearly Free is nearly infinite.
Services
