Have you ever been curious about the status of a company or associate you haven’t connected with in a while? If you’re like me, you go to their website for their latest information. Maybe you go to a LinkedIn profile for an individual person.

Have you ever visited a website looking for new, only to find old? You go to their blog and the most recent post is from June, 2013. Then you see a tab labeled “Latest News” so you click it and find a press release from the same month and year talking about the same thing. That’s communicating to you that the company has little regard for its online audience. It could also be telling you that the company may be in trouble if it can’t keep up with basic web updates. Incongruity of messages like “Blog” or “Latest News” with content dated two years ago just doesn’t jive!

As I facilitated a networking event yesterday, a salient point became very clear. The group was sharing success stories in what works for them in sales and marketing. An unmistakable pattern emerged from a very diverse group of professional men and women. Most of them were finding success through content marketing, particularly with organic search traffic resulting from dynamic web content, blogging and email marketing. Some talked about relationships and word of mouth but there was a noticeable emphasis on fresh, relevant web content.

We’re in the content creation business and I don’t want you to think I’m trolling for leads. My point in this article is that fewer and fewer businesses can get away with ignoring their websites because almost all potential customers now search for ALL of their needs on the Internet.

“Set it and forget it” is no option with websites. A beautiful website is a total waste of time and money if you leave it static for a long time. It will fade away to obscurity in the search engines, and tell returning visitors that you haven’t done squat in the market lately.

We’ll be writing a lot about website maintenance in coming weeks because now, your website may as well be your business phone number. If it’s “unlisted,” what good is it?If the content is old and obsolete, visitors will ask, “Is there anybody home?”

The post Are you slowly killing your website? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

While analyzing the reports from our first round of email newsletters, my client instinctively knew where to focus on improving open rates and conversion results. Before I could begin to demonstrate my experience in this area, the client was already talking about the subject line and the newsletter content itself. The other part of our discussion concerned the mailing list – how it was gathered and the company’s relationship with the contacts on the list.

Noted in the previous paragraph are the three things on which you must focus for your email marketing to be successful.

• List
• Content
• Subject Line

We’ll offer a succinct overview of each email marketing success component. The technique I will mostly use here is to ask questions. The answer machine in your head will guide you toward improving your email marketing.

Who is on your list? Who should be on your list? Who should NOT be on your list? Are your contacts signing up or opting in from online and offline marketing and events? Is your sales team gathering prospect contact info with each conversation and at every networking event? Simply mentioning that you have an informative newsletter and would like to send a free copy will add willing new recipients to your list. Include as many prospects or potential referral partners on your list(s) as you and your team can gather in your prospecting work.

Your content must be excellent. Your target audience is mostly indifferent regarding how successful your email will be, so how can you reward them for opening the email and reading it? Promise them something in the subject line and deliver it the content. Ask a compelling question that exposes pain in your customer’s or prospect’s business. Deliver solid recommendations and solutions. Include research, strategy and tactics when possible – provide meat for carnivorous consumption. You may also want to veer off topic with something of general or human interest as your audience grows to know you.

The subject line must arrest and attract. A good subject line will make any inquisitive professional pause and read an email now or mark it for an edificationbreak when they have time. Examine your own behavior when it comes to scanning through your emails. Which sources do you consider authoritative? What in a subject line makes you pause from the delete button and think: “I better have a look at this one…”?

To close this article, thank you!  I’m extremely grateful that you took a few minutes with me today to read this blog post. I hope that you find value, even if just reminders, in the 3 success drivers of email marketing.

The post Email marketing success – 3 things you must do well appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

This post is updated from one year ago and it is more relevant today than ever.

I will need several business services and products to continue growing my business and many of them I don’t need now, or can’t afford yet. That’s why I want you to keep in touch so I won’t forget you.

One of the most common mantras you will hear in business is “Timing is everything.”  I agree. Trying to persuade a prospective customer that he needs your product before he needs your product will annoy him. Just as bothersome is attempting to “educate” your prospect about his “pain” when he doesn’t feel any. If, however, there is a pain point in his business and your product or service will solve it, then by all means take some time to discuss your solution. If you get a “think it over” response, you probably won’t make a sale… until maybe year or two from now. I’m sure you plan on still being around then.

A careful sense of timing – to each individual customer – is critical when planning a direct marketing message or making a sales call.

You may say, “yeah, but how can you possibly live inside every potential customer’s world and know when the time is right?” In traditional business development, a good CRM (customer relationship management) program like Salesforce or ACT works well. So, that’s one way to use good timing but there’s a better way:  It’s all the time!

Junk goes in the trash but the good stuff is opened.

First, identify your target audience by vertical industry lists or by networking and prospecting so you know they have a need for your service or product. Develop your database of names, addresses, phone numbers and EMAIL ADDRESSES. Furthermore, connect with as many as possible on LinkedIn and Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Then get to work being a sought-after specialist to each one of your prospects.

Why are Google and Apple the most successful companies in the world right now? Because they are genius at what they do and how they communicate it. They remainrelevant and communicate value all the time. There are much smaller examples including local restaurants, law firms, IT companies, you name it.

You need to get busy demonstrating your genius to all of the prospects in your database.  Be a collector and generator of valuable content – expertise and ideas that make people say “Hmm… or WOW!  Yes, it’s hard but you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it too, maybe better!

This isn’t about about you but rather the people in your target audience. My closest concrete example of how this works is what you’re reading right now. Every week different people tell me the same thing: “I get so much junk email and delete it but I always save and read your newsletter.” The Chuck Sink Link generates more quality leads – soon to be clients – than any other sales or marketing activity I’ve ever practiced in 25 years. To all of you: Many thanks!

The examples of how this works are sprinkled throughout your life.

Think about the emails you opt-in to and the supplier companies you follow. What about the exceptional sales reps that stand out from the crowd and whom you like hearing from?

There are plenty of great marketers who know how to put value in front of their audience on a regular, appropriately frequent basis so they are top-of-mind at all times for their products & services. So, when the time is right for their prospect to buy, guess who gets the call?

The post I’m interested, but not right now. appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

The post Dress and Code Required appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

I’m in the thicket of online media every day. I’ve studied and practiced all the best practices in
social media, blogging, email and web content. I was a very early adopter of LinkedIn and Twitter, then Facebook. I’ve been doing email marketing successfully for about 7 years now.

My educated opinion is there is something very wrong with current “best practice” marketing models that will have to change at some point. Marketers may be more transparent but they’re also more full of BS than ever. It’s not intentional BS, it’s just a lot of useless information to which I’m referring as BS.

Why is this? Most marketing departments are trying to out-tweet and out-blog each other in an attempt to win the Google position race. So what happens to content? It becomes diluted and cheap, even if it does raise visibility.

Now PLEASE don’t misunderstand. There are many excellent blog writers out there sailing valiantly in the ocean of mediocrity. Much of my continuing education has been gleaned from reading good blogs. They can be entertaining and very enlightening. The perfect turn of phrase in a tweet can open up a whole new area of interest and enrichment, but finding such a tweet is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If in doubt, leave it out!

If planned and executed well, a blogging and social share strategy can certainly raise your keyword rankings in Google. That’s great, and the planning & executing should only include high quality content.

That’s why I’ve cut back the volume of my own social shares for business. If a post doesn’t smack you with a “must see more” kind of experience, you won’t share it. If you won’t share a post or be moved by it to take action, just how effective is it?

When other people – outside your organization – enthusiastically share your content with their valued friends and connections, you’ve struck social pay dirt… if it leads to referrals and new business.

I understand the term “conversions” to include when people fill out a form on a landing page for a free E-book download. You “converted” them from an unknown human entity to a “lead” in the database. You have their email address but did you really convert them? Do they even have the capacity to be a client? Do they have relationships with potential clients?

That’s where good marketing automation OR good salesmanship comes into play to nurture the “lead” all the way to being a paying customer. However, high quality content over high quantity noise will shortcut the lead nurturing. My newsletters and blog posts generate direct sales without a lot of lead nurturing because people in the audience really like the message and therefore conclude that we can help them. People call or email a direct response requesting a meeting or proposal. Those are my key metrics.

Striving to be at the cutting edge of your industry requires cutting edge thinking, better product design, superior service models, strong and deep relationships… What else can you think of?

Being the first to re-tweet a technology advance or scoop news from a third party may be fast but it’s also quite easy. What did you and your company do to advance the technology? Why are you THE BEST re-seller of that hot new technology? If you consistently demonstrate best, you’ll be talked about with just a few well conceived and well placed posts. Others will do the volume sharing for you and your Google search rank will tend to skyrocket when that happens.

Our potential to positively affect each another through communication is enormous with the digital tools we have. We need to channel our messages in valuable ways or it’s a big waste of time. Let’s try to focus more on what really matters in business; quality work, quality relationships and growth – things worth blogging about.

The post Cheap Noise is Getting Out of Hand appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Original subscribers to this newsletter have been receiving some form of it since 2006. It started asBrandworth News, was reestablished as Big Hit Bits and became the Chuck Sink Link in April of 2010.

The ads are never in your face and many of them offer valuable free content

Profit from these free tools!

downloads. I really hope you’ll click our sponsor links below if anything catches your eye.

Learn all you need in 2 hours to develop content that will drive new revenues to your business. Please Join us July 18th in Concord, NH for Content Drives Success!                                                                                                                                                         

The post The Story of Networking and Valuable Content appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

By Chuck Sink

The default position of almost every corporate communication decision is the watered down, safe, politically correct version of the story. Unfortunately, that’s the bogus version.

The risk of offending one vocal audience member has executives cowering in fear of the social and political mobs. Honesty and truth are hiding in the minds of communicators as they try to offend nobody and please everyone.

Did you know that you are often right and those who disagree with you are often wrong?  Seriously, did you know that your deeply held, principled values are very likely better for our society than the values of those vehemently opposing you? Yes it’s true and you need to speak truth to power as well as to ignoramuses.

If you know something to be true and have the evidence behind you, be forthright and honest in your communications, regardless of whom may be offended. I’m fairly certain I will lose 2, 3 maybe 5 subscribers over this newsletter content. That’s okay with me because I have a very loyal core of readers in this audience. You are the people who make good things happen in my world. Thank you! <3

Trust in business is vital to our economic freedom and vitality. The only people we can really trust are those who are willing to tell us exactly what they believe to be true. Keep in mind that discretion and judgement are important in guiding what needs to be said, to whom and when.

Keep all communications relevant, in proper context and based in love. That way, even your adversaries will hear the ring of truth in what you have to say.

The post Crack a Few Shells to Get Food for Thought appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

A FREE NETWORKING EVENT to celebrate our TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

Thursday, May 30, 2013 – 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Eastpoint Executive Center – 264 South River Road Bedford, NH 03110

Create Content  to Drive New Business!

Presented by Chuck Sink Link and Eastpoint Executive Center

Please RSVP  by leaving a comment right here on this post.

You may also RSVP by contacting Chuck:  chuck@chucksink.com  |  (603) 345-7223

Come learn something valuable and make connections.  See you May 30th!

Create content that is engaging!

The post Learn and Network at the Chuck Sink Link Anniversary Event appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

By Chuck Sink

In today’s marketing world you need to be a good Content Curator (Curator, huh?)  Curating the content is also known as getting the content so if I use the word “get” instead of “curate,” forgive me. The last real curators I knew worked exclusively for museums.

Give Me an Easy Tool!

A client of mine recently asked her SEO vendor what they use to generate fresh content for the dynamic news feed on their website. What “Curator Plugin” did they use? The answer came back starting this way: “There’s no easy answer on this one…” The vendor went on to explain how they manually get (curate) articles for their news feed. “We all do a lot of reading and we share the best of what we find…” continued the answer.  That answer is one reason I respect this particular vendor so much. They are diligent specialists and very good at what they do.

The post Curate Content that Drives New Business appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Has a headline or subject line ever grabbed your attention and then everything else in your world disappeared for several minutes while you voraciously read a good article? Did your current project take a back seat while your mind relentlessly pursued more information in the article? Perhaps you stopped and wrote a note to the author because you just had to offer your timely and relevant feedback!

Best of all, maybe the article struck such a resonant chord that you finally made a decision to take some positive action and invest in yourself or your company.

That, my friends, is what good content is all about. We hear about “inbound marketing” and “content marketing” all the time these days, but what is it? Is it an article that’s trending with what most of the target market is thinking? Maybe. Is it a thought provoking piece about a controversial or potentially game-changing subject? Could be.

These examples tend to be lay ups in the world of content marketing. Simply sharing a good blogger’s materials is fine but it tends to get the recipient thinking more about the blogger than the sharer! Lay ups are okay for staying in the game but it’s the more dramatic half court and 3 point shots that win tournaments.

The Secret of Good Content

When you can hit someone with information that experience tells them is prescient and relevant, your’re doing content marketing right. Real world experience and true stories are what grab attention and move people to take action. It’s often the repeated issues that are right in front of us – the problems we can identify and solve right now that we need to be talking about.

You need not always be concerned with innovation or cutting edge technology or the latest best practices to get your target audience’s attention. What you need is authentic value communicated in way that your customers and prospects will benefit from.

If you’re an architect or interior designer, offer easy space planning or simple energy saving ideas. If you’re an attorney, provide ways people can stay informed of changing laws. If you’re a mortgage officer, write about how to manage an escrow account to avoid surprise recalculations. If you’re a manufacturer, share your supply chain expertise in ways that would save customers money. If you’re a printer, show off a direct mail piece with an unusually high rate of return.

These are just the first ideas off the top of my head. I’m sure you can come up with better content ideas for your clients. Perhaps someone like me can help you better develop your content and consistently distribute it.

Keep thinking about things that your audience would like to know more about. Chances are, if something interests you, it will interest them too.  Listen closely to your customers and provide content that answers the questions they’re asking. Keep a file of ideas. Always write down your ideas or you will forget them!

When you see a great article you want share, instead of just slapping up a link, take some time and write down your own thoughts on the same topic. Make it relate even more specifically to your customers.

Clear away the clutter of information overload by serving up content your audience wants to consume and can actually use. You’ll become known as an authentic value provider. You’ll be trusted and called first when it’s time for doing business.

The post Good Content Clears away Clutter appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.