Connecting on LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn allows you to search for connections by entering your email, you won’t have trouble finding people to follow. You can also search by company, university or browse the site’s suggestions of people you may know, generally people your connections know.

While most casual LinkedIn users know how to add connections, don’t overlook the Groups feature. Join Groups that reflect your interests, like alumni groups for schools you attended or professional-interest groups. The “Groups You May Like” feature connects you with a click to groups that share your career interests, and you can also search for specific Groups. Be active on Groups and participate in discussions to stay current in your field. When you’re ready to make a career move, put out feelers in Groups.

Getting recommendations

Don’t be shy about asking for recommendations on LinkedIn. Once you connect to coworkers, clients, fellow college students and peers, ask them to write you a recommendation. LinkedIn even has a template for you to make the process easier! Collect recommendations from schoolmates and coworkers across ranks. If you’re reluctant to ask your current employees, look to connect with peers in professional organizations, past employers, past coworkers, and others. If you’re not yet in the corporate world, it’s still important to connect with your college friends, classmates, and professors. They may be the links you need in landing that first job. Reading others’ rave reviews gives potential employers a vision of your work style, achievements, and personality. The reviews can reinforce your resume accomplishments by calling attention to the same traits you highlight. Think of LinkedIn recommendations like less formal references, and ones that you get to curate and groom.

Integrating with your resume

Ramping up your LinkedIn presence is only one part of the equation. In order to draw employers’ attention to your LinkedIn profile, you’ve got to market it. Sure, you can assume potential employers will look for you on the site–and they may–but promote your LinkedIn presence yourself. You’ve worked hard on it. Display your LinkedIn URL on your resume. Create a signature for your personal or professional email that links to your LinkedIn profile.

Benefits

Not only will using LinkedIn at a higher level allow employers to learn more about you, it helps demonstrate your competence with social media. If you tweet, use an RSS plugin to display your Twitter feed on LinkedIn. When you put in the time to master all the features of this site, including searching for connections, joining and participating in groups, and following discussions, you gain skills you can use across social media sites.

LinkedIn might not be the first place to start when job searching, but the website is full of resources that will be essential to ramping up your search. Get familiar with the tools, and use them often to start building your professional network. There are dozens of job searching networks online but, when used correctly, LinkedIn can be the one that makes a real difference for you.

Lindsey Paho is a professional technology writer. She lives in the Indianapolis area and is currently working on her Master’s Degree. Lindsey writes on behalf of Colorado Technical University.

Prediction is the key. Whilst it is all but impossible to say what an individual will do in set circumstances, an attainable goal is to know within very strict limits what a known group will do. The bigger the group, or for us the bigger your email marketing lists, the more accurate the prediction.

Bulk email marketing deals in large numbers so with sufficient information we know what our subscribers as a whole will do. Reality mining uses anonymous data collected passively. We, however, use personalised passive and active data.

If your email list has been sourced entirely in-house then you will, as a minimum, have a name and email address. This will be enough to identify the recipient and give something to pin the personal information to. But you will already have more. There is the date they subscribed, how many emails they have been sent, their open rate, how many click-throughs, what they have bought, returned, and so on.

This information can be of greater use than more personalised data. Take the age of subscribers to your email lists. When considering, for instance, activity holidays you might consider a cut-off point of 45 years. Whilst one does not want to be ageist, there is the problem of the law of diminishing returns. However, if a person clicks-through to an off-piste skiing holiday then their age is of no concern, at least to you. You will know that they are fit, active and willing to consider an adventure holiday.

This data will have been collected passively via the statistics supplied by your email service provider. It will, as time goes on, enable you to predict their response to your next marketing email. Better than that, by classifying your subscribers by such returns you will be able to define their response with greater accuracy.

Most people are put off by questionnaires. If you ask too many details in the subscription process they may well feel it is too invasive. There is a balance to be found of course but the imperative is to get them to click the box. Anything that might make them turn away is to be abhorred.

Once you have details specific to a subscriber then you will be able to pick the offer that will tempt them. You will eventually be able to create an email list populated by those who are similar enough to give the same response to the email. Once there you will be able to predict the returns you will get from the email and so price the offer accordingly.

The kind of reality mining method used in email marketing has changed the way we do business. That is the real reality.

1.    The utilisation of online marketing is an absolute must. Almost every business is now online and failure to be found online can be a costly mistake.

Having a website will:

• Make your business more credible because it is easily located.

• Allow you to demonstrate why a customer should choose your business.
• Offer a contact point between you and your existing customer base.
• Allow you to reach a global audience.
• Provide a 24 hour service that runs even when you are not working.

There is greater potential in the online market than is described above and making the move to becoming an online business or having an online presence can save you money whilst also giving you access to a far wider audience.

2.    The developments in data storage have enabled companies to grow larger and faster than ever before. Installing a data centre for storage is a good way to develop your company and be able to offer more.

3.    Management software has been developed which can help with everything from staff rotas to record keeping in anticipation of end of year accounts. There are numerous types of management software so it is important to search for the offering most suitable to you. Whichever you decide to utilise will offer you reduced staff costs and better efficiency. These pieces of software also enable you to maintain easily navigated records, which can include data from multiple sources.

4.    The advent of tablet computers has offered the potential for staff to be able to work even when they are travelling. The use of an iPad or tablet PC on a train is far easier and convenient than the use of a laptop and enables staff to be able to respond to emails whilst they are travelling. Whilst the initial cost may deter you, having 30 minutes of extra productivity from your staff could generate a far greater benefit in the long run.

5.    Audio Visual production has recently become far easier and more impressive. The use of audio visual aids to reach your audience is also becoming far more prominent. In many cases it will leave you lagging behind the competition if you do not utilise the full potential of videos. In any office you should have a room in which you can make video presentations to customers or business partners because they have a greater impact than traditional presentation methods.

The developments of technology for businesses should be followed at all times so that you can make the most of the developments. There is now a huge gap between those who engage in the new technology and those who remain with the old. It is time to embrace the developments and be the first to offer improved services to customers.

One trap many Internet marketing newbies find themselves falling into is spending a lot of time researching and planning every single article.  While research is imperative to great writing, there are ways to stretch yourself, and your work, to make more of what you have.  For instance, the same statistics and quotes can be rearranged and emphasized differently to produce several very different articles.

The same is true of a well written outline.  Once you have all your facts straight, you can easily turn them into articles that will drive people to your website.  This is true whether your selling ceiling fans, music stands or Cuisinarttoasters.

Once Again, With (a Different) Feeling

Basically, repurposing content involves reworking what you’ve already written in such a way that the new piece says the same thing the original article did, but from a slightly different perspective.  For instance, I once wrote an article lambasting modern article marketing schemes.  The point that I made loud and clear was that article marketing as it is generally practiced today is useless.

The interesting thing is that this article will appeal to different people for different reasons.  If someone reads it when they are just getting started in the business, it might keep them from making some serious mistakes.  However, if someone has already gotten involved with article marketing, my article could show them how to get out with the least amount of damage to their reputations, and indeed, how to cope with any damage that is unavoidable.  The difference lies in the reader’s perspective, so I wrote two different articles, from the same outline, to appeal to two different perspectives.

Mining the Most Diamonds from the Same Shaft

Look, everyone knows modern article marketing is dying a slow death as search engines and the companies that run them become more and more adept at weeding out trash.  So when I wrote my first article on avoiding article marketing, it only took me about three hours to gather all the data I needed to prove my point, as well as appropriate Google quotes and a few notes about my own horror stories.  With this information I created a 3,000 word outline on the pitfalls of article marketing.

Now I could have just written an article.  But instead, I created an article pyramid.

Beginning with the 3,000 outline (the “capstone”), I created two articles of differing lengths.  I submitted the longer, more detailed one to one website and the shorter one to another.  Both were published and I began to reap what I’d sown.

Because the articles were picked up by high ranked sites (PR3 and PR6), I quickly saw my web traffic soar.  Also, I was able to parlay their popularity into a good SERP ranking, not to mention picking up more and more business from the anchor text that each article featured.

But Wait, There’s More

In addition to getting hits directly from the articles I wrote, a good many people who enjoyed the articles Tweeted their URLs to friends, driving up my hits even more.  This led to me getting invited for a podcast interview with ABC Affiliate.  That interview, in turn, went so well that Geekcast picked it up next and rebroadcast it.  Finally, hired two freelance writers to write 10 articles that I posted on to ten more blog sites, stirring up even more interest in what I had to say.

But the best is yet to come.  Because each article had two backlinks to my site, I now have 24 backlinks pointing to me from high quality sites.  This is hands down the best way to build my rank online.

But it all started with the original outline.

My article was about article marketing.  What will your cover?  Fashion pet leashes, monogramed dog bowls or Cuisinartautomaticcoffeemakers designed to match your pet’s coat.  It doesn’t really matter what it is your writing about, anything can be repurposed.

Don’t Ever Call This Article Marketing!

There is a major difference between what I am describing and article marketing.  I care about my readers and see them as human beings and potential customers.  I also believe that if I offer them useful information they will feel that they can count on me for a useful product.

In no way are these short little SEO articles written to appeal to search engines over humans.  These are lengthy, well written and re-written pieces designed to be read and enjoyed by those who want more information about a topic.

Nor is this spinning, which is typically done by software programs that switch out and rearrange words so that they say the same thing again and again without any creative input.

In fact, these articles are much too nice to subject to the indignity of those software programs that claim to send your work to hundreds of “directories” every day.  As soon as Google spots all those identical backlinks they recognize them for what they are and send them to the bottom of the search engine well.

So once you’ve gone to the trouble of creating interesting articles, take the final step and send them to good, PR3 or above sites that are willing to consider you as a guest poster.  While this can be a little complicated, I promise you that it is well worth the effort, especially when you see what it does to your SERP ranking.

Now that you’ve listened to me, I’d like to return the favor.  Let me know what you think in the comment box below.

The business side of SEO

What’s truly weird is that people in business don’t seem to make much of an effort to understand how important SEO is to their businesses. They set up an online business at great expense, and are then surprised to see that their site ranks number two million on search results. Even big companies fall into this trap. Their sites only get hit when someone searches the name.

The truth is that most businesses really don’t pay enough attention to bread-and-butter SEO. SEO helps people and search engines find what they’re looking for. Search engines are automated. SEO is in some ways a “language”, telling the search engines where to look. A lot of business sites don’t speak this language very well.

For example:

An electronics wholesale site in Chicago uses these keywords:

• Wholesale electronics
• US electronics
• Electronics distribution
• Illinois electronics
• Cheap electronics
• XYZ electronics
• ABC electronics
• EFG entertainment systems
• Widget netbooks
• Personal mobile devices

There’s something missing. If someone searches for “computers + Chicago”, what would you say their chances of finding this business are? They’re not good, on the basis of those keywords. That’s how basic SEO and business can be. In this case, if the person searching is a retailer, that simple fact is costing the business money.

The business side of SEO is based on ensuring that the core business elements are reflected in search terms and that content is organized to make it clear to search engines that the site is relevant to searches like this. SEO materials are very like advertising in one way- They’re attention getters for search engines.

The SEO keywords are compiled to give the most accurate information to search engines. Searches are based on relevance.  The search for “computers + Chicago” will be qualified by the search engine looking for related terms like:

• Computers Chicago
• Computer retail sales Chicago
• Computer wholesalers Chicago
• Buy computer Chicago

This would be a pretty long list of relevant terms, but straightforward list of things for the search engine to look for, when getting results for a search for “computers + Chicago”. The search engine is designed to look for relevance.

Search engine rankings are ratings based on relevance. Generic terms are generally pretty lousy keywords, particularly in hardware. The example company would have to go back to the drawing board to make its search engine optimization work properly for people looking for computers. “Electronics” would come into the equation at a lower priority, simply because “electronics” is a huge generic term and applies to a lot of things other than computers.

Forget the mumbo jumbo, the hype and the myths. If your SEO isn’t delivering for your business, talk to the experts.

While content is a key aspect of an email marketing strategy, aesthetics and layout is just as important. After all, an enthralling, knowledgeable sales e-mail amounts to nothing if the layout and formatting do not do the content justice. That’s why it is recommended that companies looking for an email marketing service should peruse the firm’s email marketing templates.

Understandably, some companies believe that loading up their targeted emails with eye-catching graphics and big, bold words will attract the sales they need. However, this is not always the case. It pays to be disciplined about graphics as too many bright colours could turn off consumers, citing garish, brash presentation. At worst, the graphics could overwhelm the content when, in fact, they should be complimenting each other.

In addition, the load times become longer and many older PCs may struggle when it comes to showing the graphics.

Instead, graphics and content should go hand-in-hand – an equal amount from each side. A few strategically placed, solid images regarding the specific product you’re trying to sell – as a guideline, no more than 4 – should suffice in a single email.

It is crucial that your email marketing template allows your firm to link to other products and services. Ideally, as many as seven other links – all professionally hyperlinked, rather than several long, complicated URLs – can be used in a targeted email. After all, if your target market is looking for sunglasses, you can link to several pairs which may interest the customer.

Providing the consumer with more choice may increase your chances of making a sale, after all. Don’t mistake that mantra as an excuse to overload your email with thousands of pairs of sunglasses – three or four pairs will suffice, coupled with links to others on your website, thus boosting click-through rates.

If you’ve already nailed the problem of crafting a catchy subject line to entice the user, then don’t squander other aspects of your service. If you make sure your content and your graphics compliment each other, you’re well on your way to a winning campaign.

Images encourage click throughs and keep subscribers both reading and on your email lists. What’s not to like?

Pictures have a number of practical functions. They can be pretty, generating emotions such as calmness to lessen the chances of the email being deleted. Chosen wisely they can create and define a receptive mood for the sales pitch.

They should be eye-catching but not so much that they take interest away from the offer. It is a delicate balance: attractive enough to pull the eye but not for too long.

You might like a particular photograph of Mount Fuji. The drama of the sleeping volcano is certain to intrigue. However, if the nearest you get to the Ring of Fire is Basingstoke, it is best not to use it. Pictures should not confuse or dilute the message.

Use the image to explain something regarding the offer. You are pushing it with 50 words of copy in an email so a picture painting a dozen words can be a definite bonus. Do not ask too much of it though. If it is vital to your offer then put it in a headline as well.

Further, do not wax lyrical about the appearance of, say, your golfing trolley. You should demonstrate it by a picture. It will save space, words and doubt.

Use the image to reinforce the message. If a sales point of your new printer is that it is state of the art and high tech then illustrate this with the picture. Show the lights and clever little gimmicks. If it is the size of the paper tray that is remarkable, then a picture of it being dwarfed by a thousands sheets of A4 will convince.

The source of the thousand word phrase was evidently a liver advert in early 20^thc America with the much more sensible comment that: Every picture tells a story. This is a useful premise to bear in mind.

You can use images to link parts of the email. An offer on a holiday on the Amalfi coast could start with a picture of the area. If your readers are not instantly convinced then the next headline could mention Sorrento with a picture alongside showing a view of the town.

If your readers have still not clicked through perhaps a plate of seafood or gelato might cause them to left click. An image of the night life should convince the stragglers.

I will be seen that images can be used in the same way as headings and text: in a planned effort to convince everyone on your email list that this is the offer just for them. It should be a double-pronged attack, the text and images reinforcing each other’s message. Whilst pretty is pretty nice, what you want is something that works for you.

Marketing in its simplest form is:

• When you are involved in the buying and selling of products.

That is it.  Everything else that people try to make it into is pure BS. 

When marketing products there are 4 main areas that you need to be concerned with:

1. Product
2. Place
3. Promotion
4. Price

These 4 areas all have to do with the buying and selling of products.  The only way any business has a chance at being successful is if they buy at the right price and sell at a profit.  Anything else will put a company out of business. 

You may attend a fashion marketing school that will teach you all sorts of things about the fashion industry.  But if they don’t teach you the basics of business and sales then they are not doing their jobs.  Marketing is business and fashion is a product.  It is important that you realize that so there is no misunderstanding in your mind what knowledge your ultimate job will require.

A fashion designer has a specific job.  It is to produce products that the consumer will find attractive and be willing to purchase.  If the fashion designer does their job properly then the product should not have any trouble moving through the supply chain, into the retail environment, and ultimately being purchased by the consumer.

Of course the fashion marketing strategy will take into consideration the price point that the company is trying to position itself and the product into.  Also of great importance is who they think will be the ultimate consumer of the product.  In order to sell successfully you must know your customer.  You need a really good feel for what they want and how much they are willing to spend for it.  It does you know good to have a product in the market that you are trying to sell at too high of a price.  Nobody will buy it and you will be left with a deep loss.

What companies have done to make sure that this inequality in the sales equation does not occur with any great amount of frequency is called fashion brand marketing.  If you have a “brand” that is considered high end or designer, then people will automatically expect to pay more for it.  There is a solid base of customers that look to purchase at this end of the spectrum.  They become fans of a certain brand and actively seek it out. 

Branding also works at the lower end of the sales spectrum.  There are certain fashion brands that have become synonymous with affordability.  Just like the higher end there are people that seek out these brands because they know they can afford them.

People and companies that have been successful in branding include:

• Tommy Hilfiger
• Marc Jacobs
• Betsey Johnson
• Donna Karan
• Calvin Klein
• Ralph Lauren
• Alexander McQueen
• Vera Wang
• Carolina Herrera
• Vivienne Westwood
• Coco Chanel
• Versace
• Armani
• Gaultier
• Oscar De La Renta

Fashion marketing trends change as quickly as the weather.  In order to have a proper marketing campaign you would certainly need to keep up with the latest trends.  What has become popular in the last few years is to send people out onto the streets and observe what the “young and hip” crowd are wearing.  If it seems it is a fashion that might catch on and the companies believe that fashion customers will buy it then the new ideas are passed on to the designers and then the marketers.

Fashion promotion with a new trend can be tricky.  If you push too hard then the kids feel as if they are being manipulated and you can lose them rather quickly.  If you don’t push hard enough then the trend can pass by without your being able to take advantage of it.  It certainly is a balancing act that has to be played out in real time with real money on the line.

The fashion business certainly is not for the weak at heart.  It is cut throat, with design, marketing, sales, and image.  But once again you must remember that it is a business.  If you forget you will be left in the dust and unemployed.  There is a heap of talented people who thought that their talent was all that was needed to be successful.   They were wrong.  Business knowledge is just as important, if not more so, then fashion sense.  In reality they are both important, but you can’t survive with just one….you need both.

Fashion design, marketing, and business sense will determine your success.  It is best to be prepared early in your career to have a good base of knowledge with all three of these areas.

Any top rated fashion company will make sure that your fashion marketing sense is rooted in business.  They will do that because they realize that to stay in business the people that work for them always need to make decisions based on fashion and business.  It is constantly drummed into their employees the importance of sales when it comes to marketing.

Global fashion marketing is a department that has really taken off as the world has become a smaller and smaller place with the help of technology.  It is much more cost effective to be able to include in your fashion marketing strategy a global push rather than just a regional one.  This is not always possible because of cultural differences, but it is certainly a goal worth pursuing whenever possible.

Fashion advertising  can be tailored for customers around the world in media, print, and internet.  Images can remain the same with words and speech changing to include the core audience.

Fashion marketing, advertising, and design all go together to create one fluid business model that creates product and then is able to see that product through with the precision of a well orchestrated  marketing campaign.

Fashion merchandising starts on the runway and concludes in the retail store.  It is the coming together of product, placement, promotion and price.  This is really where the rubber meets the road.  If you want to sell you must get this right.

Retail fashion marketing is where your money comes from.  You absolutely can’t overlook the retail store.  If you do you will fail.  All fashion marketing research leads to this one area-The Consumer.  The consumer will determine if you will be successful or just another has been in the fashion industry.  The retail store, and more and more internet shopping sites, is where the consumer will cast their votes.

Fashion marketing is a large industry that serves a great purpose in society.  People feel good with fashion, they make decisions based on fashion, and project images that depend on fashion.  Fashion marketing helps people develop these ideas.

Well to a certain extent the above is true.  Marketing products and advertising do go together.  And so it is with information gathering and prospecting.  But there is so much more to marketing.

What Is Marketing?

Simply put marketing means that you are in the arena where buying and selling is taking place.  If you are buying or selling then you are marketing. 

When marketing a product there are 4 main areas that play a part in the successful execution of any sales strategy:

1. Product
2. Place
3. Promotion
4. Price

Product:  When we talk about product we may be referring to a tangible object such as a car or an information product such as a course on how to market.  New product marketing of information products is becoming more widespread thanks to the internet.  And let’s not forget about marketing research products.  This is a growing field that shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.

The product is the most important of the 4 areas as it pertains to marketing.  Without the proper product to market you are just wasting your time and effort. 

Most companies will spend countless hours and put forth massive efforts just to find the smallest product that they think the public might be interested in buying.  They know that with the wrong product no sales will result.  With the right product they will have sales and growth.

Place:  When marketing new products or old products the place where you choose to sell is very important.  It would make no sense to try and sell ice to Eskimos in Alaska, even though people try it all the time.  Nor would it make sense to sell winter coats to people who live by the equator.

Promotion:  Promoting a product is a lot like positioning products.  Promotion can be accomplished face to face, by advertising on TV or in print, and of course by internet marketing products.

There are direct marketing products that people will sell face to face like Amway, Tupperware, or Avon. 

There are also promotional marketing products like pens, calendars, statues, and the list goes on and on.  Normally a product name or company name will be put on these type of products with the hopes that the product or name will get stuck in peoples heads.

When marketing promotional products you need to be careful not to come off as slick but rather inline with helping a client achieve their objectives.

These custom marketing products can be helpful in the right situations.  Just be careful not to go overboard with them.  They can quickly turn cheesy.

Price:  Price is the easiest.  You may sell a product at whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.  It really is that easy.  It always helps to know what a majority of people are willing to pay so that you can sell the most products.  But all in all charge as much as the market will allow.

Target marketing is when you go after a specific group of people in a certain demographic.  It can be based on age, geographic location, or even height or weight.  The possibilities are endless.

A business marketing products can be very rewarding and financially uplifting.  It takes a certain type of person to make a profession out of marketing products, but there never seems to be a shortage of people willing to give it a go.  Perhaps, because in many cases you are able to learn on the job and not start with a specialized education.

Marketing success depends on how much work you are willing to put into your job.  The return you receive is equal to the hard work you put in.  No other job equates your work with success any more than marketing products.

To make a business marketing products is to make a commitment to work long hours and take a lot of rejection.  Rejection is part of the game.  You can’t take it personally but rather see each rejection as a learning opportunity.  You may  walk away without a sale but gain experience in answering a question that comes up repeatedly.  How valuable can that be?

Just remember when marketing products you must keep focused on the customer, completely understand your product, and lastly truly know what your goals are.  Goals are important because sometimes you want to sell right then and there and other times you just want to introduce a prospect to a product. 

The old sayings still applies:  “The customer is always right, unless they are wrong.”  Your job is to make the sale or get the word out….Not to be somebody’s guardian angel.

Today we have internet marketing products.  It is a whole new area that has opened up and many people are learning about it and taking advantage of it.  It is a billion dollar industry and growing.  Don’t be left behind.

Marketing products  is a business that should be taken seriously.  It is what drives the economy of the world, puts food on the family dinner table, and brings us new and exciting things to make our lives better.

When marketing products do it as a professional and you will be rewarded like one.