Anything that is not DESIRED — will be merely tolerated and, more often, IGNORED.  Consumers have taken the reigns of power away from the marketer.

Consumers have TIVO, iPods, DVD’s, blogs, social networks and a myriad of other tools available that allows them to avoid (or IGNORE) your marketing message.

Consider the methods you are using to market your tiny business — are they ignored, tolerated or desired?

Ignored

Over the last week, Bank of America called my cell phone each day to sell me some added service to my business account.  I continued to push the “IGNORE” button on my iPhone because I do not have time to be interrupted.

Finally, on the sixth day, I answered the call.  The telemarketer was able to get about two sentences in before I cut him off and told him to remove me from the call list.

The service was for some insurance on my credit card.  It promised to pay off my balance if an unforeseen accident happened and I was unable to conduct business and thus pay my bills.  This is actually a very good idea for a service and Bank of America might have had a chance to sell it to me.

But not with a completely rude and interruptive marketing tactic like telemarketing.  NO WAY!

Not only do I not tolerate telemarketing anymore but I have technology in place that allows me to IGNORE it completely.  It’s called a cell phone with caller ID.  I will never answer a phone call from Bank of America again.

Tolerated

Bank of America runs a lot of television, radio and print ads as well.  I still see or hear them once in a while because I still watch some regular television, listen to some AM/FM radio and occasionally will browse through a print magazine or newspaper.

But this is merely tolerated.  I expect to see these types of ads when I am in these mediums.

Let me tell you what is making Bank of America and other business owners very nervous:

• I am using Netflix, Tivo and online video for entertainment and news more and more each day.
• I am using my iPod and online radio stations more and more each day for music and news
• I am reading blogs, forums and my RSS reader more and more each day for my print news and entertainment.

I use these technologies because they allow me to AVOID marketing messages and interruptions.  Although I tolerate these messages in traditional mediums like television, radio and print — I am in the process (as are all of us) of eliminating these mediums from my news and entertainment diet.

Desired

What if I was actually seeking out Bank of America’s marketing?  What if I wanted it?  What if I actually went out of my way to get access to information about their products and services?

That would be powerful.

Bank of America has at least one piece of powerful information about me —

I am a small business owner.

Do I have problems that need to be solved?  Absolutely.
Do I have questions that need to be answered?  Absolutely.
Do I need support from someone that can help me?  Absolutely.
Would I like to be connected with other small business owners?  Absolutely.

So why doesn’t Bank of America spend their time and money building something online that will solve my problems, answer my questions, provide me with support, and connect me with other small business owners?

Wouldn’t I respond much better to a product that would insure my credit card against a catastrophe if it came in the form of an informative article about risk avoidance as a small business owner or if it came recommended to me by another small business owner in a community run by Bank of America?  Absolutely.

I’m not picking on Bank of America here.  All large corporations are this way.  They just haven’t figured it out yet.

You cannot interrupt me, I will ignore you.
You cannot sway me, I will merely tolerate your ads.
You may only talk to me if I desire to be spoken to.

The good news is that your tiny business can learn these lessons and make a quick change.  Realize that you do not have to market they way that they do.

Create marketing that people DESIRE — it is the only way.

Image credit – hebe

Related posts:

1. Do You Seek And Embrace Marketing Messages? You Should.
2. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do?
3. Interruption is Dead! Your Market Will Switch You Off In a Heartbeat

It lists 42 different “vehicles” to use to market your business using informative, entertaining or otherwise valuable content.

It is an excellent resource for those that are wanting to use this powerful (and inexpensive) method of marketing.

Discussed among the 42 strategies are the following that can be put together with little or no money:

• White Paper
• eBook
• Case Studies
• Industry Ranking Systems
• Testimonials
• eNewsletter
• And many more…

You can find the Content Marketing Playbook here.

Related posts:

1. Content Marketing Strategy Building
2. [With Infographic] A Non-Profit Content Marketing Strategy
3. What is Content Marketing And How To Use It To Market Your Small Business?

If you are not aware there has been an important merger between the #2 and #3 search engines — Microsoft’s new Bing search engine will soon be “powering” Yahoo’s search results.

This leaves two major search engines for you to be concerned with — Bing and Google.

Is The Big G Nervous?

It appears that Google has weathered the initial storm of the launch of Bing as they still retain about 70% of the market share in search.  However, I have noticed (and maybe it is just a coincidence) that Google has been changing slowly but surely over the past couple of months.

There is no question that the recent merger agreement between Google’s top two adversaries has spurred the Big G to make some changes… although officially they say that this is not a reaction but just business as usual at Google.

What Will Change?:  Universal Search

Bing has been marketing itself as a “decision engine” instead of a search engine.  They are trying to redefine the market and I think that there will be some very interesting updates to Bing as they continue to roll it out.

The most interesting will be in Universal Search.  Bing and Google are both racing to provide what is called Universal or “blended” search results.  Things like:

• Images
• Video
• Maps (Local Results)
• Products
• News
• etc

The Take Away: It is becoming more important that your tiny business is included in Google, Yahoo and Bing Local, that you are creating video and uploading it to YouTube (and the others), that you are including your products in product feeds, and making it easy for sites like Google News to pick up your feed.

What Will Change?:  Real Time Search

Google and BingHoo also have their eye on Twitter.

The reason — Twitter has become the sort of central nervous system of the Internet.  Example — the moment I heard Michael Jackson had died, I headed over to Twitter.  Twitter was crammed to the gills with “tweets” about the king of pop and the announcement was only made minutes before.

Real time search today is not available but if anyone is poised to deliver it — it would be Twitter.  Google and BingHoo are not yet equipped to deal with the enormous amount of information that is being updated into blogs, forums, and social networks in real time.  It is just too much data.

Expect things to change in this area and change quickly.  There is a huge demand for a service that will be able to return real time information that is trustworthy and relevant.

The Take Away: I have heard all of the complaining that Twitter is a waste of time and you don’t want to hear when someone is having a cup of coffee or what TV show they are watching.  Your tiny business should have a Twitter account and you should be (at the very least) using something like Twitterfeed to update your status and grow a following.  Although in the end Twitter may not be a lasting Internet Marketing factor, there will be some form of real time updating communication tool with us forever.

I am excited about the merger… I think it will improve the search experience for end users… and, in my opinion, a little competition will be good for Google.

Related posts:

1. [Video] How To Create A Local Business Listing on Bing
2. Google Instant and What It Means To The Tiny Business Owner
3. Tiny Action, Mighty Payoff: Google Local

Choice.

[Sarcasm] Let’s assume that your customers and prospect are using the Internet and you have decided that it would be wise to begin marketing to these people using the web.

The trouble is that we all use the Internet differently.  Some people use Facebook every day.  Some people follow their Twitter feed closely.  Some rely exclusively on email.  Myself — I use an RSS reader to aggregate everything that I am interested in into one place.

For example, there is likely a large market of people that would love to receive your message that are using Twitter.  Putting your content on Twitter will open up that market to you.

Make It Convenient

You should be placing your marketing message in as many of these places as possible — and having a WordPress blog will allow you to automate most of the dirty work.

Here are a few places that you should be putting your content because (chances are) your customers are spending time here:

YouTube – Upload your video content to YouTube and while you are at it, upload your video to lots of video sites.

Facebook – You can set your blog posts to automatically update to your Facebook page — this has brought in a couple of pieces of business for me and there are people that regularly consume my message through Facebook.

Twitter – Again, you can set it up so that your blog posts from a WordPress blog to automatically update into Twitter.  Many people follow my blog posts through Twitter.

RSS Reader – RSS comes built-in with every WordPress blog and it allows my customers and prospects to consume my content in their RSS reader.  You can see how RSS works here.

Email – You can install a form on your website using a service like AWeber that will allow your customers and prospects to receive your updates through email.

Your customers are all using the Internet differently.  You need to give them the choice to consume your marketing message wherever they please.

Make it easy and convenient for them to get your marketing message — give them a choice.

AND to make it easy on yourself, use a WordPress blog to automate the distribution of your content to these channels.

Related posts:

1. Rebel With a Keyboard
2. My First Impression Of Your Business Has To Be That I Want More Impressions
3. Use These 7 Technologies Because Your Prospects Are

Content marketing isn’t new. It has been around since the first “stone-moving entrepreneur caveman” carved a Top 10 Ways To Keep Your Stone Looking Shiny And New list for his potential and existing customers.

Why am I thinking about the money I could be saving by switching to Geico right now?

Content Marketing Defined

Wikipedia defines content marketing as “encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases.”

Let’s break this down a bit shall we?

How does Content Marketing Differ From Traditional Marketing?

Easy answer – Content Marketing is developed to assist the customer in some form or another.

Content marketers look to provide FREE content to their prospects that addresses, among other things, the below needs:

• Teach Me Something
• Make Me Safer
• Make Me Laugh
• Make Me More Money
• Save Me Time

The sale comes after a relationship is formed with a prospect — a relationship that is built on trust and former contact with your business through free and helpful content.

Traditional Marketing taps into the “Make Me Laugh” need very often with radio, television and print but generally is about the following:

• Show the product/service
• Communicate the features and benefits
• Show a price
• Create a “Call To Action”

This form of marketing does not perform well on the Internet because we have the ability to choose where we spend our time online.

The traditional form of advertising is having difficulty overcoming new technologies that are filtering its message.  For example, television (TiVo), radio (iPod) and print (Online Newspapers, Magazines and Blogs.)

What Vehicles Can Be Used In Content Marketing?

All forms of marketing requires that you are getting a message out to your audience.  Nearly every method for getting a message out to your audience can be a vehicle for content marketing.

However, the reason that Content Marketing has become a popular term as of late is because creating helpful content has never been easier with Internet technologies.  In other words, I did not have to chisel this information into a stone tablet to get it to you.

Popular methods of distributing content are:

• Text
  • Blog
  • E-mail Newsletter
  • E-book
  • White Papers
• Audio
  • Podcasting
  • Teleseminars
  • Coaching Calls
• Video
  • Video Sharing Sites
  • Video Podcast (Vodcast)
  • Screencast (Screen Recording)
  • Web Seminars
  • DVD
  • Embedded Video

How Can I Get Started With a Content Marketing Strategy?

Woh… slow down partner.  This type of marketing could be a total shift from what you have been doing in the past.  It’s best to take baby steps.

The first thing you should do is start using the technologies that your prospects are using.  Once you are using these technologies for a week or so you will be better fit to choose which best fits your business.  Try the following action item list:

1.  Open a Netvibes RSS Reader account by following the tutorial located here – add blogs that pertain to your industry and this blog, of course.  I love self-promotion.

2.  Subscribe to my podcast and others in iTunes and start listening/watching by clicking here.

3.  Start watching video on YouTube — see what your competitors are doing.

4.  Subscribe to 3 different email newsletters (mine if you like) and read what these people are sending you.

Once you become actively involved in these technologies you should begin to see some opportunity for your business to provide valuable content through one of the vehicles described above.

Set an overall content marketing plan including what vehicles you will use (audio, video, text) and what methods you will use (Blog, podcast, video, newsletter, white papers, dvd, etc).

A Pep Talk

Then ask yourself one question —- What do my existing customers and prospects need?  Then deliver.

Get out there and find out what -if anything- your competitors are doing.  If you find that they are doing nothing – that is good news.  You can be a first mover and reap the rewards.

Content Marketing is not difficult – in fact it is so easy a caveman can do it.

Related posts:

1. 20 Reasons To Market The New Fashioned Way
2. Using Content Marketing To Establish Yourself As An Expert
3. The Perfect Primer For Your Tiny Business Marketing Strategy: The Content Marketing Playbook