Mladenov spoke at the NATO summit in Chicago, held on May 21 and 22.

State and government leaders of NATO Member States announced the establishment of the shield’s first stage.

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Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Socially Connected World 

I love the premise of this book because it is utterly realistic for small businesses.  Engagement marketing, according to the book, is the art of “getting new customers through your existing customers, while driving more repeat sales at the same time.”    It’s about serving your existing customers well, and deepening your relationship with them by engaging on social media and online.  The outgrowth is a stronger customer bond and more satisfied customers.  That leads to natural word-of-mouth — and more repeat business and sales to new customers who learned about you through existing customers.  And in fact, referrals and word of mouth are how many small businesses get new business today.

The second thing I like is the marketing blueprint that the book lays out. Chapter 1 starts with the “engagement marketing cycle” — a framework for growing sales with the help of social media.  Think of it as a 3-step process:

• Step 1 is that you provide a great experience to existing customers — the book calls it a WOW! experience.  As the book points out, customers unfortunately have come to expect mediocre service and the bar is low.  Small businesses, being nimbler and able to make changes more quickly than larger companies, are in a better position to make changes to create exceptional service.
• Step 2 is to entice customers to stay in touch. This is about persuading customers to opt in and stay in touch — whether through email marketing or via social media such as Twitter, Facebook or Google+.  When customers want to stay in touch, you are able to keep that great experience alive and stay top of mind.
• Step 3 is to engage people.  Engaging people means sharing content on your blog or social media channels that inspires followers.  It’s about interacting with followers on those channels through encouraging them to participate.  It means holding events or doing surveys — activities that actively involve them.

“Developing this cycle until it’s a well-oiled machine,” says the book, is what will lead to more sales by increasing repeat sales and referrals.

Everything in this book is practical, including a chapter on overcoming common obstacles. Obstacle #3, for example, will resonate with many business owners: “I don’t like imposing on people.”  But as the author explains, one way to overcome that is to focus on creating great “enticement offers” such as a coupon or free report to persuade people to sign up for your email list or follow your Facebook account.  Then you’re not imposing – you’re giving people something they want.

There’s even a Quick Start Guide and a Glossary to help you get up to speed quickly on the sometimes baffling terms (like “hashtag’” or “plus one”) in social media.

Most of the book concentrates on pointing out techniques to help you learn how to engage people through social media, email marketing, blogs, events and other activities.  And that’s the third thing I like about Engagement Marketing.   Intead of talking in generalities, the book explains what types of content  to share on social networks, the types of activities to perform to engage with people on social media — and similar useful lessons.  It can help you put the building blocks of a social media strategy and action plan in place.  It answers the “why” and also the “how.”

The book is filled with examples, including screenshots and images.  Examples are ones that most small businesses could attempt on a small budget or with a small team (or even no team).  The book avoids one of my pet peeves: using big-budget corporate marketing campaigns as case studies.  While I appreciate that Ford may be doing brilliant things in social media, a Ford marketing campaign will be so out my company’s budget that we couldn’t hope to emulate it.  Small business examples like the ones in Engagement Marketing are more useful.

About the Author

If you or your company are one of the hundreds of thousands of small businesses usiing Constant Contact, then the author’s name is likely familiar.  Gail Goodman (@Gail_Goodman on Twitter)  is the CEO of Constant Contact (an occasional advertiser on this site).  Goodman architected her company’s expansion from an email marketing provider, to one that now includes tools for social media marketing, surveys, event marketing and mobile marketing. She brings vision and subject matter expertise to this book.

Who Should Read Engagement Marketing

This book is ideal for a small business or non-profit with anywhere from 0 to 100 employees, and even larger.

I highly recommend reading Engagement Marketing if you:

• are scratching your head trying to figure out why your organization should get involved in social media, or
• are already convinced of the value of social media, but you just want someone to explain how to integrate it with the rest of your marketing and develop an achievable strategy, or
• want someone to demystify social media and show you and your team how to jump in and get started.

From Small Business Trends

Why You Should Read Engagement Marketing

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Nikolic has won 49.2% of the votes in the runoff of the Serbian presidential elections on Sunday vs….

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Those questions include:

• Who is your target audience?
• Where are they geographically?
• Where and how do they access information?
• What do you hope to achieve?

Now give some thought to what kind of marketing help you need. This can change as your business changes. You may start in one place and then realize you need other things.

For example, starting with branding makes sense. Once you have your brand identity you may be ready for help with advertising or PR. So, what do you need right now? This is a critical question because not all marketing firms are created equal. Some specialize and some are generalists. Some excel in certain areas and others offer a combination of services:

• Branding:  logo design, business cards, literature, and web design.
• Social Marketing:  Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn business pages, Twitter accounts, Pinterest, and overall social marketing plans and execution.
• Advertising: print, radio, TV, billboards, or internet ads.
• Public relations: press releases, event coverage, securing interviews on TV, radio, or internet radio, and gaining exposure for product launches, grand openings, anniversaries.

Determine what you need right now. You may also want to think about your marketing needs along a continuum – what you need now, a few months from now, next year. This can help you when you are interviewing potential firms.

One of the most critical parts of finding marketing help is doing your research. There are so many companies in this space. Finding the right one(s) takes a commitment of time and energy on your part.

A good deal of marketing is subjective. They may be considered one of the greatest firms in town, but if you don’t like their design or end product, they aren’t right for you.

Explore the following:

1. Type of firm: do you want a firm that specializes in the type of marketing help you need right now or would you prefer a firm that covers a variety of marketing methods?

2. Do you want a firm that has expertise in your industry or is that not an issue for you?

3. Does their location matter to you? Would you prefer a firm that is local?

4. What is your budget? Is it realistic for what you need? How does that limit the prospective marketing firm pool?

5. Method value: what is their viewpoint on the various marketing methods ? For example, if you want to gain national exposure and believe that gaining interviews on internet radio is a good marketing venue for you, does the firm you are looking at share your belief? AND, do they have that expertise?

Now that you know what you are looking for it’s time to interview potential candidates. Find 3-5 companies that look like they fit your needs. Develop a list of questions you can ask to divine whether they really are the right match for you. Those questions include asking for samples of their work, asking for links to sites they’ve created if you are looking for web design, and how they manage their clients.

If you are looking for help with search engine optimization or search engine marketing, ask them how they handle this for their clients. You’ll find some companies that haven’t really gained a grip on how to help companies with today’s page rankings. The more you know, the better off you’ll be.

Interview some of their clients. Ask about timeliness and follow through. How long have they been in business? How long have they been doing the kind of marketing you need? Remember that a lot of firms have had to adapt to the new landscape. Some have done this well and others, not so much. By asking specific, pointed questions you can find out how skilled they are, and therefore, how well they’ll be able to deliver what you need.

Example: I have an associate who needed an e-commerce website. She had very specific needs and was quite clear about what they were. She met a web designer at a networking event who told her they could do the job. She didn’t take the time to ask her questions, or research the sites they’d done for other clients. She just hired them. Not only did they have trouble delivering the end product, but their communication was lacking. They didn’t understand some of the basic things she asked for. By the time she realized they were the wrong firm, she’d invested months with them. Those were months she was without her e-commerce website.

And by all means, trust your gut! If you don’t feel like they are strong with their answers, or there’s something about their work that just doesn’t sit right with you, walk away. You don’t have to be able to quantify the feeling. Just the fact that you have it is reason enough to look elsewhere.

Finding the right marketing help is something that takes time, energy, and research. You have to learn some things about the industry so you can identify the good firms. Anyone can tell a good story and do a good sales job. What you want to know is how well can they deliver on what you need. Marketing is a field that is changing quickly.

Marketing firms need to stay ahead of the curve, adapt to the new environment, and share their level of expertise honestly with their prospects. You, as the prospect, need to be able to discern who is doing that, and who isn’t.

Searching Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Pointers on Hiring a Marketing Firm for Your Small Business

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“Our goal, our strategy, our timetable remain unchanged,” Rasmussen said Sunday, as cited by international media.

Rasmussen said that new position does not indicate fresh cracks in the alliance….

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Borisov thus snubbed a forecast made a day earlier by opposition ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) leader Ahmed Dogan, who said he could “smell” early elections in October-November 2012 as a result of a collapse of the Cabinet of Borisov and his center-right party GERB.

Dogan’s prediction coincided with the holding of the 48th Congress of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, which reelected its Chair and ex PM Sergey Stanishev with calls for toppling the GERB government.

…

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Borisov thus snubbed a forecast made a day earlier by opposition ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) leader Ahmed Dogan, who said he could “smell” early elections in October-November 2012 as a result of a collapse of the Cabinet of Borisov and his center-right party GERB.

Dogan’s prediction coincided with the holding of the 48th Congress of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, which reelected its Chair and ex PM Sergey Stanishev with calls for toppling the GERB government.

…

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