Archive for the ‘Entrepreneur & Small Business’ Category

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Change Isn’t Coming…It’s Here

Monday, April 30th, 2012

The Agents of ChangeThe most important channels today are search, social & mobile. Here’s a conference with all three.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you know that for the past few years I’ve been running a conference called Social Media FTW with a couple of friends.

We retired that brand after three successful years but I wasn’t quite done.

So this year I started a new conference that would focus on the three most important channels for businesses and organization today: search, social & mobile. These are the Agents of Change.

Earlier today we launched the website for The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Conference.

This all-day conference is happening in Portland, Maine and online on 9.14.12. 

And while the speaker lineup is just getting started, we’ve got some amazing speakers already lined up:

  • Chris Brogan, co-author of Trust Agents and Google+ for Business
  • Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Business
  • Derek Halpern, brains behind the insanely popular marketing website Social Triggers
  • Rich Brooks, who hasn’t done anything, but might. One day.

So, how much are tickets? you’re probably wondering.

The physical ticket is $199 and the digital ticket is $99. The digital ticket gives you access to the live stream and you can watch the presentations over and over again for a full year!

But for a limited time only, we’re offering an early bird ticket: you can get the physical ticket for only $99 and the digital ticket for only $49…that’s over 50% off each!

But wait…there’s more!

If you order the physical ticket by 11:59pm, Tuesday, 5.1.12, we’ll throw in the digital ticket for free! (And yes, it’s still only $99. That’s $298 worth of edutainment for only $99!) Why would you want both the physical ticket AND the digital ticket? So you can watch all the presentations over and over again, or see presentations you may have missed.

If you can’t make it to Portland, Maine on 9.14.12 we’ve still got an amazing deal for you. The digital ticket is only $25 during this 36 hour sale!

Whether you plan to attend in person or virtually, don’t miss this amazing, very limited sale.

Get your tickets now!

Rich Brooks
Agent of Change 

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Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Web Marketing | 1 Comment »


Blog Monetization: How Do You Make Money from Your Blog?

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Action JacksonCan you make money from your blog?

Dear Rich,

I have a full time job, but I’m very passionate about staying healthy, eating right, and exercising, all on a limited budget.

I want to start a blog so I can share my story, provide tips and advice, and help others. 

I also want to make some money doing it!

Can I have a blog without a website? If so, how can I monetize my blog?

– Monetizing in Machais

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business | No Comments »


How to Run a QR Code Campaign

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

How can you use QR codes for marketing and lead generation? (Hint: throw in a leg of prosciutto.)

QR Code Marketing

That was the question that we pondered as we worked on a pilot program with Braden Buehler of Narrative Design for The Rogers Collection, a Maine-based importer of luxury foods. They wanted to promote Pio Tosini’s prosciutto in an engaging fashion, and build their email list at the same time. 

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Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »


What’s Your Upgrade?

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Want to “wow” your customers? Give them an upgrade.

Boston Skyline

A few months ago I checked into the Lenox Hotel for my brother’s 40th. (Yes, he’s significantly older than me.)

We were told that the room we had originally booked was not available, but they would upgrade us to one of their suites.

Needless to say, my wife and I were completely stoked by the news.

The room was beautifully furnished, had views out two windows (one shown above,) and plenty of room to move around.

It got me thinking of all the times we go to pick up a rental car and get the upgrade to a bigger vehicle, and how happy that makes us. (It almost makes up for that Dante-esque line they make us wait in.)

So much of the customer experience is managing expectations. 

Promise people an 12″ sub and give them a 10″ sub and you’re a thief. Promise a 8″ sub and deliver that same 10″ sub and you’re a hero. (No pun intended. Seriously, I only caught the pun on re-reading this.)

Managing expectations from the beginning of the relationship and then over delivering on those expectations is a sure way to ingratiate yourself to your customers and clients. When they’re pleasantly surprised they leave happy and tell others.

As business owners, we need to create upgrades within our business.

Upgrades don’t have to be costly, but they should be unexpected.

So, what’s your upgrade?

Seriously, feel free to share your thoughts below.

Rich Brooks
Lenox Fan 

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Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business | 3 Comments »


How to Rank Higher at the Search Engines in 5 Minutes and 27 Seconds

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Tech Guru Rich Brooks on 207 Talking SEOHow small businesses can rank higher at the search engines.

I enjoy my segments as the “tech guru” or “tech expert” (depending on who’s interviewing me) on 207, but I don’t generally get to talk about technology as it pertains to small business marketing.

So, I was very excited when they suggested I do something that focused on small business. (95% of Mainers are employed by a small business, so it’s something that affects a lot of us.)

Of course, you can’t get too in depth in 5:27, especially for a topic that spawns multi-day conferences with multiple tracks. However, I did my best.

You can watch the video below or at the 207 site on a page entitled Tech Guru Rich Brooks on SEO.

If you’d to learn more, check out this week’s flyte school lunch & learn I’m doing (if you live within driving distance of Portland, Maine) or the Search Engine Optimization: Rank Higher, Sell More! webinar I’m putting on.

Below are my notes from the segment:

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Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, How-To Web Marketing Videos, Search Engine Marketing | 1 Comment »


What Do You Do When Social Media Doesn’t Work?

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Wet FloorWhat do you do if you’re active in social media but it’s not helping your small business?

Dear Rich,

I run a commercial cleaning business and I’ve been using social media for almost a year. I have been blogging three times a week, creating videos, and tweeting several times a day. We have a Facebook page that gets updated multiple times a day but has very few fans and only my employees and family members engage with it, and only when I threaten them! Even when we ran a contest with an iPad 2 as a prize we only got a handful of new likers.

We set up a Google+ page for our business, but almost no one has circled us, despite the fact that we’re putting out fresh content daily.

Most importantly, in looking at our traffic reports, almost no traffic comes from our social media activity, and none of our new clients mention social media when we ask how they found us.

What are we doing wrong? I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall.

–Confounded in Cornish

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Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media | 5 Comments »


Social-Local-Mobile & SEO Workshops in Portland, ME

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Take your web marketing to the next level with these in-person workshops.

As part of flyte‘s commitment to education this year, we’ll be putting on monthly lunch & learn seminars we’re calling flyte school.

And as part of my commitment to not hog the spotlight all the time, I’m teaming up with some amazing marketing experts to help me out.

The first one is Tobin Slaven of Dream Local. He’s going to be presenting on The Perfect Storm: Social-Local-Mobile.

Last year social media was all the rage, but 2012 will mark the widening gap between businesses that are harnessing social and the power of word of mouth advertising versus those who are going to miss the boat. This presentation will focus on the new consumer and how their use of tools to tune out and filter away traditional forms of advertising, is creating a whole new opportunity for customer service marketing.

Key takeaways will include several free or low cost tools any small business owner can use to build and monitor their brand reputation on social media, local search, and mobile phones.

Sounds awesome, and I’ve seen Tobin present before a number of times. He’s got great material and an easy-to-follow style.

Once Tobin’s done I’ll be presenting on Search Engine Optimization: Rank Higher, Sell More!

You know that search engines can provide your business with loads of new prospects, but why aren’t you getting as much traffic as you’d like? Why are your competitors ranking higher than you? What can you do to increase your search engine visibility? In this seminar, you’ll learn how to improve your organic search engine ranking and drive more qualified leads to your Web site.

Attendees will learn:

  • How to uncover which keyword terms will drive qualified leads to your site
  • What on-page changes will increase your search engine visibility and how to make them
  • How to get more incoming links to improve your search engine ranking
  • The Do’s and Don’ts of search engine optimization

Lunch is included with your ticket.

Seating is limited, so act now! Early bird tickets are available only through January 31st.

Date: Thursday, 2/16/2012
Time: Noon – 2:30pm
Place: Rines Auditorium, Portland Public Library (directions)
Cost: $35 early bird, $50 angry bird

If you can’t make it to Portland, Maine, be sure to check out our web marketing webinars.

Rich Brooks
Maine SEO

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Web Marketing | 1 Comment »


Web Marketing Influence: Scarcity

Monday, January 16th, 2012

DiamondsThings that are scarce are perceived as more valuable than things that are plentiful. How can you use this to improve your web marketing and social media?

In the final tenet of Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he examines scarcity.

Like reciprocity, commitment & consistency, social proof, liking and authority before it, scarcity has an undue influence on us due to our desire for shortcuts.

We have been trained that things that are rarer have more value than things that are common. Therefore, to make things appear to have more value, marketers can promote or even fake the scarcity of an object or information.

Like many people, I subscribe to a number of daily deals, like LivingSocial. I know that if I don’t act now, I’ll miss out on 50% off a massage, food  or snow tires. Interestingly, I’ve noticed I’m less compelled to buy a daily deal these days because I know that if I miss this half-off yoga class, there will be another one from a competing studio next week. The deal is still a good one, but the scarcity has been removed.

Scarcity also plays on our fear of loss. In one example from the book, homeowners who were told how much they would lose by not insulating their house bought at a much higher rate than another group that was told how much they would save.

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Social Media, Web Marketing | 7 Comments »


Web Marketing Influence: Authority

Friday, January 13th, 2012

You Will Respect My Authoritah!People are trained to follow authority figures. How can you establish your authority in your web marketing and social media activity?

We’ve discussed the power of reciprocity, commitment, social proof and liking in Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, so far. Now it’s time to look at the power that authority holds over us.

Like social proof, authority gives us a short cut in dealing with the complexity of the modern world. We listen to our doctors about health care issues, professors about scholarly matters, and talking heads on TV for everything from child-rearing to national security issues.

Often, this is a good thing. People often become authorities after years of rigorous study. However, in a famous experiment by Stanley Milgram, average people were persuaded to shock another person to near death by a person wielding nothing more than a clipboard and a white lab jacket. (Thankfully, there was no electricity and the person being “shocked” was a confidant.)

Experiment after experiment showed that humans are completely unaware of the amount of autonomy they give over to others, just because of a title, clothing, or trappings.

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Social Media, Web Marketing | 1 Comment »


Web Marketing Influence: Liking

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

We like to do business with people we like. So, how does that impact your web marketing and social media activities?

You like me! You really, really like me!

In Robert Cialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he talks about the tenets of influence. So far we’ve seen reciprocity, commitment & consistency, and social proof in action, and now we move on to liking.

It’s no surprise that we’re influenced by people we like…what’s surprising is the degree to which we’re influenced by people we like, or even those who leverage the names of people or things we like. (This is why the Tupperware party is so powerful, and why organizations send our kids’ friends to sell us candles and popcorn buckets we don’t need.)

We can see this at work on some of our favorite social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, that “suggest” that we might like a number of other people on the network, thus strengthening the network and lessening the chances that we’ll leave. The social ads on Facebook are similar, when they show a product and let us know a friend “likes” it.

There’s a number of things that impact our liking of a person or brand:

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Social Media, Web Marketing | 3 Comments »

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