Selling Your Home In The Digital Age

By Kyle Reyes

I bought my first house when I was a bachelor.

And as you might expect, I turned it into the ultimate bachelor pad.

Never anticipating getting married, I dumped tens of thousands of dollars into the new house.  

Ugly siding...gone.  New siding...in.  

Extra yard space?  Adios.  Hello second patio where you could step down into a hot tub.

And don't even get me started on the man-cave that I created.

Then life threw me a curve ball and I reconnected with the girl I was in love with throughout high school.  Cue wedding bells.

The problem?  We each had our own house.

The real estate agents in the area tried to tell me what the price would be based on the comps.  But after pouring blood, sweat and tears - along with a ton of money - into the house...I wanted to be able to dictate the price a little better.

So how did I do it?  A few cocktails...a video camera...and then an open house.

Although this video was far from the quality of video work that our agency usually provides, it racked up tens of thousands of hits pretty quickly.

How did we do it?  Tell you what.  Click here to watch the video.  Then in the next blog...I'll tell you how a blog...a video...and bartending at an open house helped sell it and save the bottom line.

So tell me - how are YOU marketing in the digital age?   

----
Kyle Reyes is the President and Creative Director of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology.  You can find him on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.  He's the Chuck Norris of marketing.  It's outrageous - we know.  That's kind of the point.

Using Content Marketing and Lead Nurturing to Grow Your Business

By Erin Quinlan

As a business owner, you obviously want your business to grow.

To do this, you should implement a strong content management system and nurture your leads to help drive conversion rates among these leads.

The Silent Partner Marketing can help you with both of these tasks.

The idea behind content marketing is simple, give people interesting and relevant information about topics they care about. Content marketing generates interest in your site as a rewarding place to visit, establishes trust and improves brand and website loyalty, attracts a community of like-minded consumers, and earns links and builds your target audience.

The purpose of content strategy has also been described as achieving business goals by maximizing the impact of content.

Followers will come back to you as loyal customers, and they’ll share your information and link to your site. The more they like and link, the higher you’ll rank on search engines’ algorithms and the more potential customers will see what you have to say.

Now that you have these people interested, you have to close the deal. But how? 

Lead nurturing. 

When acquiring leads, make sure they are quality leads. Quantity is less important than quality for a small business with limited sales resources.

Have an instant response system. Make sure to alert the prospect that you are going to contact them. Also ask for more information right away, driven by what you received from the lead source. Then make sure you contact the prospect within the time you promised.

Offer immediate value to the potential customer. What could you give them just for interacting with you? 

You will also want to listen closely to understand what the prospect seeks.

Once you have the lead, give him or her a special place to interact with you. Make it easy to find, and a conduit to a live person that responds quickly. 

Get permission to stay in touch and give the prospect options for either e-mail or phone communications. Then make sure to stay actively in touch. Remind them of the details of the conversation, which have been captured in your nurturing system.

You can also offer the lead more value. Make a special offer or package deal – also driven by what you learned while you were listening and noting the needs expressed by the prospect.

One great way to see how things are going is to track the content and results of all interactions.

We’ve already discussed listening, but listen some more. This includes keeping all relevant information in one place so that you always have the lead’s history with you close at hand. 

You can also ask for a referral. You don’t have to wait for the sale to close to ask for a referral. However, use your judgment and only ask people who are clearly happy with how you have handled them so far. 

A big part of lead nurturing is learning from your mistakes and adjusting your lead generation and conversion systems to improve your return on investment. 

Ready to jump in?

Give The Silent Partner Marketing a call at 866-432-6456 or e-mail Kyle Reyes at kyle@thesilentpartnermarketing.com and we can get you started.

----

Erin Quinlan is the Content Marketing Manager of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology. You can find The Silent Partner Marketing on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Car Dealership Hole In One Marketing Fail

By Kyle Reyes

Talk about a choke on the green.

Hear the story last week about the car dealership at the center of a dispute after a charity golf tournament?

Allow me to summarize.

Allan Ross of California thought he'd won a $66,000 Kia Sedan after he sunk a hole-in-one at the tournament.

But when he went to claim it...the dealership told him he was getting a gift certificate for $25,000 - the amount they had insured in case someone actually won.

There's a lot of pointing fingers now between Folsom Lake Kia and Ford and the insurance company - who they say should have put signage up saying the limit was $25,000.  The insurance company, of course, says they shouldn't have placed a $66,000 car at the hole.

Of course countless people have taken to social media blasting the dealership.  It seems that the dealership thinks that people actually care who was at fault.

Now they have a public relations and a reputation management nightmare on their hands.  Ironically - because they originally tried to do something good.

There are countless "reputation management" and "social media" companies out there.  But do you really think they are going to guide you through public relations nightmares like this?

It's just one of the benefits of having an outsourced marketing agency like The Silent Partner Marketing.  Call us today at 866.432.6456.

----
Kyle Reyes is the President and Creative Director of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology.  You can find him on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.  He's the Chuck Norris of marketing.  It's outrageous - we know.  That's kind of the point.

What's the Difference Between All the Social Media Sites?

By Erin Quinlan

With so many social media sites out there, where do you begin? What’s the difference between Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest?

Let The Silent Partner Marketing explain it all for you. 

Facebook is the most common among all the social media marketing tools out there. Facebook uses the social graph and activities to target demographics and people. Of course it’s extremely important and necessary to share your products, offers, and services, but you also need to prove that you are an expert in your field. People aren’t going to automatically trust you. 

You need to build that trust, and doing things like sharing valuable content, news articles, and information on the latest and greatest in your industry will prove that your fan base can trust what you say.

With Facebook, you can build your fan base, share your page with friends and family, post your Facebook link anywhere you can, and give incentives for people to like your page. Maybe you’re giving something away once you reach 10,000 fans. People love challenges and techniques like this work well.

On Facebook, you can share valuable content and interact. People love to see that there is a real person behind your brand. If you don’t show your face, people get weary if it’s really you or not. Make sure you keep that Facebook page active, interesting, and never stop engaging.

Twitter is quick, frequent, and has the smartest of the audiences. With over 140 million registered users, Twitter is a sea of information waiting to be read, followed, and re-tweeted. Twitter can transform your lengthy blogs into small snippets of information. This is great for grabbing people’s attention quickly and driving more people to your blog.

Twitter is also great for directing people to your website to generate leads. However, you need to have content that is enticing enough for people to stop and read. People are normally scrolling through quickly and only clicking the ones that stand out the most. Make sure when you’re constructing your tweets, each one has hashtags for searching purposes and a link that is directing your viewers where you want them to go.

Many are saying that Google+ is the up-and-coming Facebook. With over 250 million registered users, that’s definitely a possibility. With Google+ Circles, you can separate your followers into different groups so when you’re making an announcement or just posting your latest press release, you can choose who you want to share this information with. Another unique feature with Google+ is the “Hangout,” where you can video chat with up to 10 people at once. 

With Google+, use images, make your profile open to search, and use your Circles wisely. Whether you choose the tiled images or the one to span across the top of your page, choose the best one you have. It is the first thing someone sees when they click on your page. Make sure to also add some albums. 

And since Google is king in the search world, you need to make sure your profile is open to search. If not, no one will find it and all the time you put into making your page won’t count. Circles is probably Google+’s best selling point, so you really need to use this feature at its fullest. 

As one of the new members to the social media marketing tools, Pinterest is climbing very quickly. With over 30 million viewers, it’s kind of hard to not be found and visual content rules all on Pinterest. If it’s not appealing, it won’t be re-pinned. From pictures to infographics and tutorials, it’s full of all things appealing to the eyes.

Pinterest is divided up into boards and each board has a category. Boards are important because it’s how people are going to find certain images they’re looking for. Pinterest is great for showing the personality and culture of your brand, and getting offers and content out and into the search engines.

Ready to jump into the world of social media marketing?

Give The Silent Partner Marketing a call at 866-432-6456 or e-mail Kyle Reyes at kyle@thesilentpartnermarketing.com and we can get you started.

----

Erin Quinlan is the Content Marketing Manager of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology. You can find The Silent Partner Marketing on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Establishing Yourself as a Subject Matter Expert

By Erin Quinlan

In marketing, differentiation can be a source of huge competitive advantage. 

One way you can differentiate yourself is to become – and identify yourself as – a subject matter expert. 

Establishing yourself as an expert on any topic involves equal parts knowledge and personal branding.

Not sure how to do this? The Silent Partner Marketing can help you get your thoughts in order and get your message out to the public.

When you’re establishing yourself as an expert, show your passion. To become the expert that you are, you invested a lot of time, energy, and focus. 

Do your research. Find out what other experts in this area are saying. Are these things something you want to talk about? Do you want to take a different angle?

You’ve learned a lot on your way to becoming an expert, but continue to learn. Always welcome questions from colleagues and other interested parties. If you don’t know the answer, go and do some research. The more you engage with others on the subject and the more questions you are asked, the more research you do and therefore the more knowledge you build up.

Networking is also important. Join some peer-to-peer groups, attend events, and meet people that are also interested in the subject matter. Ask questions and join in discussions. Industry associations are a great way to network with like-minded professionals. 

Now that you know everything there is to know about your subject, it’s time to share. Once you begin to build a credible reputation as an expert, opportunities to shine will come to you. Write, write, write!

Your clients may or may not use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networking sites for business, but you should. Social networking is a way to create buzz in your industry and start to stand out as the go-to person on a topic. Of course, this can't and shouldn't take the place of face-to-face networking at conferences or other events.

Nothing beats experience. In his book "Outliers," Malcolm Gladwell advocates that 10,000 hours is the amount of time it takes to get really good at something. With experience comes a deeper and truer understanding of the subject matter. Take advantage of the experience you have.

Want to become known as the go-to person in your industry? Let The Silent Partner Marketing help you out.

Give us a call at 866-432-6456 or e-mail Kyle Reyes at kyle@thesilentpartnermarketing.com and we can get you started.

----

Erin Quinlan is the Content Marketing Manager of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology. You can find The Silent Partner Marketing on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Speaking to Your Customers Through YouTube

By Erin Quinlan

As a business owner, you want to let the world know that you exist and have products or services for sale, but you’re not sure exactly how to do it.

One of the best ways to do this is to show the greatest number of potential customers who you are, and YouTube is a great way to reach these people.

Do you know that YouTube is the third largest website in the world behind Facebook and Google in terms of number of visits per day? In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views. This adds up to almost 140 views for every person on Earth. 

YouTube is localized in 39 countries and across 54 languages, with 800 million unique (new) users each month. 

Wow. 

The Silent Partner Marketing can help you produce videos that will spread your message to potential – and current – customers.

Videos, long or short, can have a positive impact on your website’s traffic or for conversion. Apart from reading content, consumers also love watching videos. This is easier to do, and hence gaining popularity, compared to reading text.

Customers always love being entertained, and what better way to inform and educate than videos?

The goal of video marketing is to attract your ideal customers with relevant, valuable content while they are searching for information or tools to solve their problems.

When you’re doing a video, authenticity is essential. Always be yourself. Also, if you use customer testimonials, let them speak without using a script, it’ll likely sound more natural and honest.

You will want to educate the customers by answering common questions. As a business owner you’re likely getting the same questions over and over again from your customers and prospects. Create videos to answer those questions.

Make sure you use the right keywords in your videos. Video ranks high on search engine results, but it’s critical to use the right keywords in the description of your video to help the search engines find it. 

You can also make your video into a content foundation. Once you create the video, transcribe it and turn it into an article. Doing this is an excellent way to make your content accessible to the preferences of your audience. Articles can be posted to your blog and other sites to extend your brand even further.  

Sound like something you want to be part of?

Give The Silent Partner Marketing a call at 866-432-6456 or e-mail Kyle Reyes at kyle@thesilentpartnermarketing.com and we can get you started.

----

Erin Quinlan is the Content Marketing Manager of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology. You can find The Silent Partner Marketing on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Knowing When To Break Rules in Marketing

By Kyle Reyes

Society has gotten so damn politically correct that everyone is afraid to break the rules.

And that often means lost opportunities for your business.

Let's take for example the senior citizen just fired from Cracker Barrel.  Let's keep in mind - this is the same company that pulled Duck Dynasty products from the shelves during a recent controversy...only to have to put them back up and apologize after a huge backlash.

Here's the story (summarized) - in case you missed it.  A homeless person comes in and asks for packets of ketchup and mayo that he can use to cook fish.  The old Vietnam vet helps the person out...and throws in a muffin.

Boom.  Fired.

In fairness, it's not the first time Cracker Barrel yelled at him for being a good person.

Because, you know...the rules are the rules.

Good job with those rules, Cracker Barrel.  You guys look like blubbering idiots trying to fix this one.  Perhaps you need a team like The Silent Partner Marketing.

What about your business?  Do you force employees to abide by "the rules" ... even when it means sacrificing customer satisfaction?  Or do you encourage them to do whatever it takes to satisfy the customer...even if it "breaks the rules"?

Let's use social media as an example.  In case you didn't realize it...you can speak with customers in a VERY different way on Facebook and Twitter than you can on other conversation platforms.  The idea is that everything you do or say on these different platforms should be NATIVE content - meaning it should be customized and tailored to deliver the message in the best way possible.

Even if it means breaking the rules.

One might argue we broke the rules when we partnered up with Tilted Kilt of Milford recently for the world's first successful delivery of wings via drone.  Want to learn more and see the video?  Visit our partner's site here.

Want to learn about how outrageous marketing can help grow your business?  Get ready to at least have a conversation with us about the "rules".  Click here to hit us up.

----

Kyle Reyes is the President and Creative Director of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology.  You can find him on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.  He's the Chuck Norris of marketing.  It's outrageous - we know.  That's kind of the point.