Internet Marketing Tools

Here’s the most exciting networking tool to help you build your Linkedin network.  When you use this tool, you combine your Outlook program with your Linked in Program.  You can have your Outlook program running behind your Linkedin program; or your Linkedin program can run behind your Outlook program.  You can switch back and forth between programs.  In a moment I will show you how to activate this Linkedin feature.  First let me show how you can use it to build your Linkedin network quickly.

Emails You Receive in Outlook

For every email you receive from a person in Outlook, there will be a Linkedin symbol in the right hand corner of the email.  When you click on this, it tells you if this person is a member of Linkedin, their headline and the number of their contacts—a good standard to measure the person’s active with Linkedin.

If they are on Linkedin, you can keep in contact with them or Invite them to join your network.  If you click on the Invite, a screen appears with all the information and choices to send a personalized invitation to join your network.  You decide on the words you want to use or create a template to use on an ongoing basis.  Once you complete the form, you hit send and you are right back at your Outlook program.

The beauty of this tool is that you don’t have to leave Outlook to send an invitation.  And it only takes a few minutes. It’s faster if you use your own template invitation to send the person an invitation.

If the person is not on Linkedin, it will also tell you.  This tool will give you the opportunity to create a different invitation form for these people since they may be unfamiliar with Linkedin.

Another feature of this tool is that if the email you receive contains other names in any part of the address, the CC or Blind Copy, these names are shown in a separate box.  You can click on them and find out if they are on Linkedin.   One email I received had four additional names displayed when I clicked the Linkedin symbol.  I sent out five invitations in the space of five minutes, one to each person.

The Power of the Outlook Tool

Stop for a moment and think about the power of this tool.  First there is the speed and convenience of sending out invitations.  Then, in any given day, I may receive a hundred emails from other professionals in my field.  They are advertising materials to sell, newsletter, etc.  I can click on any of these emails and invite the person to be on my network.  When they receive the invite, it is very easy for them to click and say “Yes” to become a member of my network.  And you can do all of this without every leaving your Outlook program.  How cool is this?

Now I can invite the top people in my field as members of my network without all the work involved in personally contacting these people.  When others see these experts as part of my network, now my credibility soars.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

You have completed your profile—for now.  You feel good about the Linkedin brand you have created.  Now, it’s time to construct a strategy about connecting with others on Linkedin.  As with other parts of Linkedin, your purposes and goals should guide how you do the networking.  Your networking strategy and actions steps should support your goals and purposes.

Linkedin Networking Strategy—Quality Verses Quantity

There are a number of choices you will make before you actually start creating your network.  Your first choice involves quality verses quantity networking.

At first blush, you want as many connections as possible on your Linkedin site.  If a hundred connections is good; a thousand is better.  Going for as many connections as possible is one strategy.

Choosing a large quantity of network connections is fashionable today.  The money is in the list!  Statistics show that at any one point in time, only 3% of any group is ready to buy, with another 7% considering a purchase.

With the quantity strategy you build as many contacts as possible.  Many sales strategies are built on “the numbers game.”  Go for as many numbers as possible and there will always be a certain number of people that are ready to buy what you are selling.

Another strategy is the qualitative approach to networking building.  In this approach you seek a more limited number of connections.  Using your own criteria, you carefully select who to connect with on Linkedin.

If you have a hundred connections on your network and 30% of them are strong connections, then that number equals 3% of 1000 weaker connections.

Different people use different strategies.  Qualitative verses quantitative.  You choose the strategy you believe and feel comfortable using in your business.  You can start with a quantitative strategy and switch later to a qualitative strategy.

Linkedin Networking Strategy—Active Verses Passive

This is another strategic decision.  You can take a very active approach to getting connections.  I will share will you the tools that Linkedin provides for this purpose.

Or you can use a passive approach.  You passively invite others to connect with you by adding a Linkedin Icon to your email signature or your website or your blog.  Anywhere people can click and connect with you.

Some people will click and will invite you to connect with them.  They take the action; you respond.  That is why I call this passive network building.

Linkedin Networking Strategy Other Considerations

Many people make the mistake of waiting to build a network only when they need it.  It takes time to build a Linkedin network.  Start building now for the future rather than waiting until you need it.

Manage your network.  You will need to sort your network, remove dead wood, repair emails, find missing people, etc.  A strong network needs to be managed.  This takes time.

Allow enough time and energy to create your network.  It is work.  It can be fun.  Depending on your purposes and goals, you must allow the appropriate time each week to work on your network building.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

So how do you create and bring this brand which is YOU to the market place?  Let me just focus on one element–being different in today’s crowded market place.

Start by staking out your new position.  Stop marketing to everyone.  Pick out a narrow segment of the market place.  The best way to identify this segment is to find a place where you can be different from your competitors.  Your success depends on the ability to identify your difference and tell the world about it.

Here are three areas where you can look for business differences.  Each business does have a difference to discover!   Each business has a brand waiting to be developed.

• Customer differences
• Product differences
• Customer buying  differences

Customer Differences

You can make yourself different by choosing a specific group of customers or subset of customers to serve.  Some mortgage businesses deal only with high end customer mortgages.   Some businesses sell only to left-handed golfers.

Or maybe you choose a specific problem within a customer group.  Some mortgage businesses cater to the re-financing of high-end mortgages.   Some businesses only sell shoes to left-handed golfers.  Is there one problem or set of conditions that you can solve with your business that separates you from your competitors?

Product Differences

Look at your product or services as a second place to find your differences.   Here are a number of things you can promote about your products or services to make your business stand out in a crowded market place.

• Make your product faster—we live in a time starved environment.
• Customize your product—people want to be treated as special and unique.
• Make your product larger–this can increase the value to the customer.
• Improve the quality of the product—people will pay for quality.
• Make your product safer—people are always concerned about safety.
• Make your product greener—hot social trend in today’s world
• Make your product more convenient—people are looking for ease of use.
• Eliminate a common complaint or weakness about products in your industry.
• Make it last longer—people want durability.
• Make it more portable—take it to the people rather than people come to you.
• Make it more available—people hate to wait for things.
• Package your offerings so you are different from your competitors.
• Combine several elements into one—less complexity for people.
• Make your price the difference—be the lowest or the highest.
• Make the product more innovative—some customers want the newest.

Customer Buying-Process Differences

If you’re not different with your customers or your product, you can be different in the customer buying process.  Customers today put as much value on the buying experience as they do on the product or service.

Can you change the physical environment of your business so it stands out from competitors?   A neat, attractive, well displayed showroom will clearly separate you from competitors.

Do you have employees who have more dedication, more knowledge, more “whatever” than your competitors?   Just saying good things about your employees does not work because everyone claims they have the best and most knowledgeable employees.  If the differences are real, and they affect the customer’s buying experience, use them.

Do you have more credibility than your competitors?  Credibility is fostered by testimonials, credentials, guarantees and evidence of expertise.  For example, if your guarantee was double the industry average, you could use this as a way of separating yourself from your competitors.

Do you have a better follow-up process with your customers?  Follow up and customer support are critical for ongoing relationships with customers.

You can have internal business processes that make you different and better than your competitors.  When the internal system can be translated into real customer benefits, you can use it.

You can also separate yourself by having a better marketing process.   Marketing involves selecting the right customers, offering the right message and choosing the right means to get your message to the right group of customers.

Take these insights I have provided and review your Linkedin Profile.  Does it fully expressing the brand that is YOU?

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

You have completed your profile and saved your changes.  There are five additional steps you will take in the next week to make your profile even more effective.

1.  Take a look at how others will see your profile.  Click on the Button that says, See Your Public Profile.   What you see on the screen is actually what others will see on Linkedin.  Note any changes or revisions you want to make and make them now.
2.  Make a copy of your profile and place it into a word document and then print it for you to use as a working copy of your profile.  Start making notes on this copy by asking yourself the question, “If I saw this profile, would it catch my attention?  How well does this profile push my agenda or goals for using Linkedin?”  Make any notes on this working copy.  You may also wish to view the PDF form of your profile that has been created by Linkedin.  You can send a copy of this to anyone.  (Upper right hand corner of your site page with the PDF symbol).
3. In the next week, use Linkedin to visit Profiles of others people you know or other people in your same industry.  What can you now learn from their profiles to use on your profile?  You will find some things you absolutely want to avoid and other things that you may wish to incorporate in your own profile.  Make notes on the working copy of your Profile.

4.  The following is a check list professionals use to review Linkedin Profiles:

• Add your voice.  Is your profile boring?
• Make sure you are writing recommendations for others
• Find ways to connect with your old colleagues
• Make sure you have personalized your Linkedin address
• Add substance to your Headline
• Make sure your specialties are attention grabbing
• Explain what you did at previous companies
• Add board or advisory positions you have held
• Get more recommendations about yourself
• Indicate your interests outside of work
• Customize why you want people to reach you

5. Wait a week, making notes on the working copy of your profile as you go.  Then go back to your profile and edit your original version with your new additions or subtractions.  The beauty of this effort–when you reedit your profile, everyone who is connected to you gets notified that you have made changes to your profile.  You now have created another opportunity to put yourself in front of others without looking like a sales person!

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

How You Want to Connect with People

How do you want people to contact you?  You have an opportunity on your profile page to specify exactly how you want to be contacted via Linkedin.  How a user should contact you will depend on how they are connected to you.
•    If a connection views your profile, he or she sees your email address
•    If a user in your network, they can use the “Get Introduced” button or “Contact Directly” button.
Besides helping you find people and opportunities through your network, LinkedIn makes it easy for opportunities to find you.  Here are the three areas to complete:

What type of messages will you accept?
I’ll accept Introductions and Linkedin inmail or I’ll accept only Introductions

Opportunity Preferences
What kinds of opportunities would you like to receive?  You get to check the ones you want to use.

• Expertise requests
• Consulting offers
• Career opportunities
• Business deals
• New ventures
• Personal reference requests
• Job inquiries
• Requests to reconnect

Contact Advice
Contact Advice gives a user considering sending you a request some guidance. So be clear about what details you expect, what kinds of things you are open to, and not open to. Also include information about any limitations.
Include comments on your availability, types of projects or opportunities that interest you, and what information you’d like to see included in a request. To avoid unwanted contacts, do not include contact information, since your response will be visible to your entire network.
Here’s an example: I’m in the middle of several projects right now, so my time is limited. Specific, limited-time contracts will be considered, especially if they can be handled via tele-commuting.
To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Completing Your Linkedin Profile

Now you are ready to complete your Linkedin Profile.  You will be completing the following items:

• Your name
• Your professional Headline
• Your Location
• Your Industry of expertise
• Your Current position and past experiences
• Your Educational background
• Your Specialties
• Your Connections
• Recommendations that people write for you
• Your websites and blogs locations
• Your Contact setting—how you want to connect with others
• Your privacy levels

Reviewing Your Input Materials
Here are the materials you to review:

• Review the goals and purposes you identified for using Linkedin.  As you complete the above elements in your Profile, you want all of these elements to be moving you forward in achieving your goals and purposes.
• From the search engine list, pick the top 3-5 key words or phrases you want to include in the profile.  These will be the most popular words and phrases people use to search on the internet.  This makes your profile search engine ready.
• You will want to write in a web format.  By this I mean write in 2-3 sentences paragraphs with bolder heading for each paragraph.   People read on the web by scanning.  You want your Profile to read easily so others can determine quickly whether they want to be connected to you.
• You don’t have to be perfect in this first profile effort.  You can also edit.  In fact you will do a makeover of your Profile after a week or ten days.  All of your connections will then be automatically notified that you have redone your profile.

Your Name

Type in the name that people know you by.  No nick names.  For example, my legal name is Albert but people know me as Al, so I use Al Hanzal as my Linkedin name.

Your Professional Headline

This is an extremely important part of your profile.  It’s what everyone sees under your photo.  It should contain at least one key word or phrase that people use to search the internet for a business like your.  This is your 3 second commercial and should tell the reader what benefit you provide to them.  My current headline is “Helping small business owners successfully use internet tools.”  In this headline I am telling people whom I work with and what benefits they may realize.

Your Industry Expertise

What is the industry or expertise generally associated with your business.   Again, key words here will help internet searches find you.  You are given a drop down list from which to choose.

Your Location

You can indicate the physical area where you do business.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Getting Ready for Your Linkedin Profile

Most people get started on Linkedin in response to an invitation from someone who is already on Linkedin.  They want to get started as soon as possible.  Trying to get on to Linkedin as soon as possible can be a mistake.

I have found that by using some simple preparation steps before you actually create your profile, you can make this task easier and create a more effective profile.  I suggest the following preparation steps be done before you create your Linked profile.

1.  Have sitting in front of you the goals and purposes you have determine as your why for the Linkedin program.

2.  Have available a resume of your business experiences and educational background.   You will be referring to this in the creation of your profile.

3.  Take some time to check out other profiles on Linkedin.  See how people have constructed their profiles.  Check out people who have a large number of connections.  You can learn from these successful profiles.

4.  Do a key word search on terms people are using to search for your type of business on the internet.   If you have not done so, you can use the free Google key word search by going to: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.  Create a list of the most commonly used search words and phrases and keep this list sitting in front of you.  You will be incorporating these words into your profile to help the search engines find you.

5.  Locate and have ready a professional photo of yourself.   Linkedin is a social business networking program.  You want a professional looking picture for your profile.

With these materials in front of you, you now have the ingredients for making a powerful profile.

To be continued, your comments are always welcome…

Al Hanzal

Your Linkedin Profile

Your Linkedin Profile is the most important ingredient for successfully using this social networking program.  Here are three reasons why you want to put time and energy into the profile component of your Linkedin program.

Your Internet Billboard

Your profile is your billboard on the internet highway.  Like billboards along the freeways, you never know when someone is going to take notice of your billboard.  No matter what purposes you have for using Linkedin, getting noticed by others is essential.  Your profile needs to be constructed in such a way that it becomes a billboard that others will notice as they travel the internet highway.

How People Buy

You are always selling on Linkedin.  Whether you are looking to advance your career, looking for a new job, looking for business resources, or looking for new customers for your business, you’re selling on Linkedin.  The fundamental rule of selling is that people buy from people they know, like and trust.  Your Linkedin profile is where people get to know you, get to like you and get to trust you.  Construct your profile, not only to show your business expertise, but also your personality as well.  Remember people buy from people not a business.  You want your personality to be expressed in your profile.  People buy from people they know and they like!

Building Your Brand

Your Linkedin profile is the marketing expression of your brand.  (I will talk more about branding later).  Your brand is the expertise you bring to your customers.  It’s the special something that connects with your customers.  It’s the one idea that expresses what they can get from you that they cannot get from your competition.  If your profile is like every other profile from others in your industry, why would a person want to be part of your connections?  Your profile offers an opportunity to establish your online reputation that will draw others to you.   You don’t want to overlook this opportunity.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

You want Linkedin to serve your small business.  Not your small business to serve Linkedin.

Spending too much time on social network programs like Linkedin is a fear of many small business owners.   By putting your Linkedin efforts into an overall marketing plan for your business, you will eliminate this fear.

If you do not already have answers to these basic marketing questions, take time to answer them.  This will be a step forward for your business and for making Linkedin more effective for your business.

Basic Marketing Questions

What is the target market for your business? Who are these people?  What are their buying preferences?  How will you convert them from prospects to customers?   How many of these prospects and customers do you need in your business on a monthly basis?

What is your brand? Can you describe in one sentence what makes you attractive to your customers and different from your competition?

What are you offering to your customers? What is it?  How will the customer benefit from your product or service?  How much does it cost?  Why should they believe you?

What are your current marketing efforts? Identify each effort, the time and the dollars currently being spent on each effort.  On a scale of 1-10, what is the effectiveness of each marketing effort?  What are you using to measure the effectiveness of each effort?  Which of these efforts are you going to drop to put time and effort into Linkedin?

Applying Marketing Answers to Your Linkedin Efforts

These may seem like simple questions.  Studies show the businesses that have a written marketing plan are 30% more successful in their business.

Neither Linkedin nor any other social networking program can make up for a poor marketing plan.  Throwing a new marketing effort into a confusing mess will only make the mess bigger.

As we go through the various Linkedin tools, you will see how…

• Having a clear focus on your target market
• Knowing your business brand
• Having an offering beneficial to customers
• Measuring your marketing efforts

…will help you use Linkedin more effectively.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al

Linkedin is a social network program.  Whether you’re looking for a job, wanting help with your business or using Linkedin to market your business, you must maximize your connections you make on the Linkedin program.

Chris Muccio, David Burns and Peggy Murrah are the authors of an e-book called 42 Rules for 24-Hour Success on Linkedin. They suggest you expand and enhance your network by using their “CAP” method.  As they describe it, you want to be more than a “billboard in a jungle”.  You want to become a “Linkedin Magnet.”  Here is their CAP approach.

C equals Content.  People want new, they want unique, they want original.   While there are standard formats and tools in Linkedin that does not mean you need to be boring.  Be as original as you can be.

A equals Awareness. Make you self known to search engines, RSS feeds, other social networkers and fellow bloggers.  Publish your URL address every time you make a post.  If you are not going to promote yourself, who is going to do it? You are competing with millions of other people outside and inside of Linkedin.

P equals Passion.  Participate properly and consistently.  Otherwise you will become the “movie of the week” and then totally forgotten.

These are simple and powerful reminders on how to make Linkedin a tool to maximize your business and professional goals.

To be continued.  Your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal