The Bella Buzz: Successful Web Design, Internet and Social Media Marketing Strategies from Desiree Scales, CEO--Bella Web Design, Inc.

Interview with Todd Eury - Pharmacy Technology Resource about Using Social Media for Independent Pharmacists

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Todd Eury, Executive Director of Pharmacy Technology Resource joins Desiree and Joe on this week's Bella Buzz podcast. Todd has established a fantastic niche as the "go-to" guy in the independent pharmacy industry regarding the implementation and use of Social Media and Web 2.0 technologies.

Before we get to Todd, we have a followup to the conversation on the October 13th Bella Buzz regarding Google Voice.  Last night on the Google Voice Blog they announced portability for your existing phone number. It is not total functionality yet, but it does provide you with Google voicemail features such as message transcription and custom messaging per caller.  Check it out!

Todd catches us up on how his business has taken off by focusing on a niche of the independent pharmacy and apothecary. Initially his social media efforts were implemented as a way to market his own services, but he has since adapted to include an educational element, where he is teaching his target market to take advantage of social media marketing.This is an excellent strategy in that it can be a challenge to champion the benefits of using new media tools to those that don't understand its significance.

America Pharmacist Magazine approached Todd about writing a 3000 word article regarding the use of these technologies in the industry. It worked out perfectly since he had already started developing an educational document on how to embrace social media as a community pharmacist. As part of his business plan he grabbed Pharmacyweb20.com as a location to start developing and posting his educational content.

Todd has the great approach for his clients in that he understands that social media must be part of, and complimentary to, an overall business plan and is married into traditional marketing tactics.  He points out that the community pharmacist has already built a reputation of trust, has customers visiting the store in person, and can be easily transitioned to greater levels of customer service via the web through an "offline ask."

A challenge for any independent operator these days, whether pharmacy or other industries, is getting exposure to the most relevant information regarding marketing strategies.  Todd is looking to establish a relationship with the Pharmacy School at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh to add an element of social media training into the curriculum.

The pharmacy industry is having initial discussions about how cloud computing will impact operations.  There are many privacy concerns of course, and this delicate balance exists within the realm of the larger US health care conversation. 

If you are in the industry, make sure to look for Todd at upcoming conferences where he is on panels and making presentations.

His various web locations you can find Todd at:

http://pharmacyweb20.com

http://www.pharmacytechnologyblog.com

http://www.pharmacywebsitedesign.com

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pharmacytechnology

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

Interview with John Damiano - Social Media in Real Estate

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 Guest John Damiano appears on this week's edition of The Bella Buzz podcast.  John is the CEO of The Providence Group and Associate Broker for RE/MAX Greater Atlanta. He provides some great insight into the application of comprehensive social media campaign for the real estate industry during his conversation with Desiree and Joe. (John is also one of the best dressed real estate professionals we've ever met!)

John points to the fact that he can differentiate himself from other realtors by being on social networks and in front of younger generations who will be buying homes now and in the future. He references Who Moved my Cheese a #1 Bestseller about coping with change in the workplace. By posting on Twitter and Facebook he is able to get referrals from other agents who consistently send him business.

The Providence Group blog incorporates many guest authors from a variety of sources who are involved in real estate transactions including attorneys, financial advisors, accountants and many other resources.  This helps John generate much needed content as well as provides great value to his clients or potential clients.

Real estate is a relationship business and using social networks enhances the top of mind awareness for agents. It also helps to brand individuals beyond the agency umbrella which is important for agents because it makes them stand out from their competition.

The YouTube channel for Providence Group of RE/MAX Greater Atlanta is a perfect example of extending the distribution of content.  You can view the tours of homes using a collection of stills and appropriate music to give the potential buyer a taste of each property.  The stills end up on a Flickr page as well.

We've mentioned on other podcasts that you cannot forget personal networking, the face to face connections that can really solidify a relationship.  John hosts quarterly Business Mixers that get the business community together to socialize. 

John has determined that the best way to achieve all of these activities in social networks comes from discipline.  By having the discipline to allocate an hour or so each day to participate in social media, he is able to make these efforts pay a large return on his time investment.

John references The Power of Full Engagement, by Tony Schwartz, which discusses how a world class athlete manages time to achieve great accomplishments.

A bit of advice is to start slowly when moving into various social networks, so that you can get a feel for how to best utilize them for your business, but also take full advantage of any opportunity that comes along to dive into the great new tools we have.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

Interview: How Medifast is Using Social Media to Help People Get Healthy

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This week The Bella Buzz gang of Desiree Scales from Bella Web Design and Joe Magennis of Fluid Media welcome special guest Brian Gleason, Public Relations Manager from Medifast. They discuss actual applications of social media marketing including Brian's perspective on how his company went about the practice of developing a vibrant social community.

Brian shares that the company had originally built a closed environment as an online community only for existing customers, but as they went about analyzing the impact of the word of mouth and peer to peer support that took place, they realized that they needed to evolve into more social networking platforms.

The most prominent networks for Medifast are a Facebook Fan Page, a YouTube channel, and Twitter for interaction. This works very well with their Take Shape for Life Health Coaches who use these tools to motivate their clients as well as get the word out to potential clients by simply offering advice and encouragement.

Note the story at around the 7:00 minute mark when Brian shares a real life case study of how he was able to direct a potential customer to the Facebook page and the entire community took over to convince the shopper of the product benefits.  They turned the shopper into a customer ... exactly the results everyone is looking for in their own social media plan!

Brian recommends all companies monitor what is happening on Twitter by keeping the Twitter Search web site open on his desktop all day long and listening for references to the company, customer successes and any other potential opportunity to connect and communicate.

Medifast consciously took the "slow and steady" approach to developing their social community through organic discovery.  The intention was to learn from the process in order to refine the strategy and to ensure the best execution. They use it as a community building effort much more so than a promotional platform.

One key element of this approach is the buy-in from the corporate executives, including Mike McDevitt CEO of Medifast, who was instrumental in getting Brian in touch with Desiree to talk about social media. (Mike and Desiree literally ran into each other while running at the annual 2009 TSFL convention in Phoenix a month ago!) This allowed for some time to roll-out the effort without having to justify through indiscriminate metrics.

Watch for the development of Health Coaches using social media tools as a key part of counseling their client base. Medifast is looking to provide guidance to the Coaches so that they can help their clients participate in "life-streaming" as a way to stay motivated and share their successes.

Brian's final bit of parting advice to business owners is that they should listen and learn as much as possible by immersing themselves in social media personally before diving right in representing the company.  The mistakes can be made there first as a learning experience. 

Thanks to Brian for joining us, and for more information about Medifast visit the web site www.choosemedifast.com or connect via any of the social networks linked above. 

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

Guest Columnist Svy Nekrasas: Why a Strong Marketing Strategy is Critical for your Business

If you took some time to listen to my guest podcast with Desiree Scales and Joe Magennis a few weeks back, we talked about how important it is for small and medium size businesses to have a marketing strategy in place before designing a powerful website. We did not delve into specifics then, but agreed that I would return to the subject and provide a few tips about marketing strategy in a follow up blog post. 

What is marketing strategy? Wikipedia defines marketing strategy as “…a written plan that determines the choice of target market segment, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources.” 

In more simple terms, think about marketing strategy as a GPS device for your business where you plug in your destination (your business vision and short- and long-term goals) and use it to chart potential ways to get there (your marketing creative and execution). 

A well-defined marketing strategy should directly support your business plan. It doesn’t change too often and is usually focused on a long-term approach. When thinking about marketing strategy consider the following tips:

·         Focus on the Big Picture

·         Stick with it for a few years (3-5 years)

·         Center it around customer/client

·         Review, observe, and adjust it periodically based on market conditions 

There are many marketing strategy models to consider. This post is too short to explore them in depth now. However, the most common ones are:

·         The Marketing Mix Model (also referred to as the 4Ps)

·         The Ansoff’s Product Marketing Matrix

·         The Porter’s Five Forces Model

·         The Consumer Centric Model 

You, as a business owner, are free to choose what “go-to market” strategic model fits your individual business best i.e. the model that best supports and communicates your company’s culture, competitive advantage, and marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). Then use the model to build your marketing plan (messaging, branding, positioning) and select the media (traditional media, social media, website) to execute it. A perfect example was Jeff Bezos’, (CEO of Amazon.com) YouTube video announcement about Amazon’s acquisition of Zappos.com last week. He used social media (an 8-minute video) to explain Amazon’s strategic marketing model centered on “Customer Obsession and Innovation.” 

Personally, I thought it was a quick and brilliant way for Amazon.com to communicate the company’s culture (marketing model) and its vision for Zappos.com. Obviously, this communication piece was a part of their overall marketing strategy and fit perfectly with their brand and innovative business model. 

Now take a look at your existing marketing strategy. Does it fully support your business plan and your brand? If not, you need to reevaluate it. You know where you want to take your business, and a well thought out marketing strategy will help you get there.

Why Hiring a Marketing Strategist Before Building Your Website is Crucial

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Are you the type of person who would construct a home by hiring all of the contractors yourself instead of hiring a General Contractor? If so, then you are a rare individual. Most people feel more comfortable finding a good GC they can rely on and can help find the best sub-contractors with special skills and to oversee the entire project ensuring that all of the laborers achieve the overall objective of constructing a quality home. This is just the role an experienced Marketing Strategist can play in your quest for a great website.

On this week's Bella Buzz podcast, hosts Desiree Scales and Joe Magennis welcome Svy Nekrasas. He is just that type of General Contractor or "General Marketer" who works with small and medium sized businesses to develop, review, revise and implement complete marketing strategies.

There is an abundance of marketing tools available for business owners to choose from to deliver a brand message espeically now that social networking tools are so prevalent and efficient. In many cases implementation is more a case of jumping in rather than having a plan. Svy helps businesses to determine that plan before embarking on a web design campaign to review where things are and make recommendations for improvement.

Having a marketing strategist on board also helps when it comes to identifying the best resources for implementing a plan. Svy has been through the web design process before and has vetted specialists with the skill set to tackle specific aspects of the plan will save business owners a considerable amount time and money. The strategist can help find partners to build a web site, create a graphics standard, construct compelling content and craft an appropriate media plan.

When trying to focus a business owner on developing a comprehensive marketing plan, Svy likes to use the basic marketing axiom of Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Each of these elements are something that can be controlled and established when launching a brand message. Consumers today have a lot of access to information and a solid disciplined marketing plan will clearly communicate a brand in the mind of the target consumer.

Svy will also make sure that the full story is composed based upon the information that is obtained by using Google Analytics on a web site. Traffic sources, keywords, users, and goals are just some of the key variables that appear on these comprehensive reports. Making sense of this data and taking action based upon the results serves as a strong foundation of any marketing plan.

Getting involved with someone outside of a company to analyze a marketing strategy can be very difficult for many business owners especially owners who are extremely connected personally to a business. Allowing good ideas to come from numerous sources in this day and age is the hallmark of an open and transparent organization. Consider the extraordinary resource that Starbucks has implemented by allowing customers to submit their ideas through the web site MyStarbucksIdea.com. It is an extraordinary resource, ensuring that the company is responsive directly to their base.

To talk more marketing with Svy, he can be reached at svy@bellawebdesign.com or by contacting Desiree.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.

Why You Might Want to Consider a Social Media Coach for Your Business

Social Media Marketing is here. Is your business ready for it? Think about the following:

• Are you and your company fully represented on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube? 
• If you aren't, why not? What is keeping you back? 
• If you are, are you maximizing each post to benefit and attract the type of people you want to work with? 
• Do you know what Social Media is? 
• Are you currently following anyone who can help you on any of these platforms?  
• Do you know and follow the experts in your field and/or competitors who are currently using these tools? 

A lot to think about, right? 

Business is moving at the speed of light. Using social media tools can help you reach more people in a smarter, more cost-effective way. If you aren't participating in the conversation, you are soon going to be dead in the water. A Social Media Coach will give you the oars to row your boat in the right direction. 

A few things to think of before hiring a Social Media Coach:

1. Is this person maximizing their own use of the tools they want you to use?
2. Can they give you some statistics and metrics which backup their advice? 
3. Are they personalzing the strategy to work for your company or just using cookie-cutter ideas? 
4. Does this person study Social Media every day and know more than you do? 
5. Would you feel comfortable taking a class from this person? Are they easy to relate to and make the topics easy to understand? 

I think the role of Social Media Coaches is becoming more and more important in business just as Life and Business Coaches have become mainstream. Look for this role to be an even more integral part of the marketing arm in business just as it has already for Starbucks, Dell and Whole Foods who have in-house Social Media experts at the helm. 

If you are a small to medium size business just putting a toe into the waters of Social Media, you might just want to spend a little more this year to hire a Social Media Coach for your company to get you pointed in the right direction. You'll save a lot of time and money by not having to research these methods on your own and you'll also learn invaluable tips and tricks from someone who's "been there" and has made their own mistakes already.  

Does Your Website Educate or Frustrate?

There are many types of sites out there: ecommerce, web brochure, informational, data. The ones that bring business to their owners are ultimately the sites that educate their audience.

So ask yourself, are you educating your audience? Five signs of a good educational website:

1. Articles that are updated weekly about recent developments in your industry and/or business


2. A list of links or resources which are updated regularly which help your customers understand your/their business


3. Link to your blog or some other pages which discuss new techniques, news, inventions or anything that can help your customers gain knowledge about your/their business


4. Informational whitepapers or essays of how you helped other customers and have good testimony of how you came up with solutions to common problems for your customers

If you're not doing any of these, start on at least one this month, then slowly move into the others. Customers can get frustrated with a lot of fluff. They don't have time for it.

Education is information which is currency in today's business market. Enpowering customers enpowers your business.

Ready for Social Media?

Our friends (and fellow web developers) at Flyte Media in Maine were interviewed and posted a great video about "social media." Social media means taking the news to the people from the people. "We" create the media and spread the information ourselves. This has great possibilities for business use because it gives businesses another platform to become "experts in their field" and share knowledge easily with others. Take a look at the video of Rich Brooks being interviewed and talking about social media. Click here.

Watch for our Social Media Webinar coming in 2008! Click here for more information about how to make webinars part of your company's online marketing success plan.

Does Your "Long Tail" Wag Your Business?

I'm having so much fun with my guest bloggers, I thought I'd invite Barbara Moss to join us this week!

Barbara Moss, Senior Account Manager at What a Concept!

For the past few decades, Barbara Moss has been a technical evangelist connecting people with the tools that enhance collaboration efforts and streamline processes (starting with dual floppy PCs in the early 1980s!). Her roles have spanned across the spectrum from developer, trainer and recruiter to manager/director, project manager, and sales. Her industry experience includes insurance, banking, software, retail and health care/bio tech.  As a Sr. Account Manager with What a Concept!, she currently helps organizations understand how to implement Web 2.0 interactive technologies into their business practices.

“The Long Tail” and Small Business

I have been reading The Long Tail, Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine.  The basic premise of the book is that businesses with strong distribution power (i.e., online stores) can sell a greater total volume of otherwise hard-to-find items in small amounts than they can sell of popular items in large amounts (see graph below).  This situation has evolved because traditional brick and mortar stores don’t have the physical space to carry the depth of inventory that online retailers can carry, especially when the inventory is electronic or can be produced on-demand, such as publishing on-demand.  Unfortunately, the book restricts long tail theory to large businesses.

The yellow area under this graph represents the Long Tail

So, does the long tail theory apply to small, niche online stores?   If so, how can online retailers apply the theory? 

The answer to the first question is YES.  Thanks to the Long Tail economics made possible by major online retailers, a large number of online consumers now expects and searches for an ever increasing array of “obscure,” niche products.  Smaller online retailers who are also smart can reap the benefits of the path their larger counterparts have laid.

Here are several simple things small online retailers can do to expand their reach to online consumers:

1. Search Engine Optimization: a lot has been said about this subject because it can’t be stressed enough.  Ensure that your website is designed with SEO in mind and revise it as necessary to keep current.  Did you know that the more you talk and are talked about on the web, the higher your SEO rating?  The recommendations below are other ways to increase SEO ratings.
2. Blog: get out there and talk about your passion as it relates to your product.  Have your own blog and comment on other people’s blogs.  Be willing to share ideas and help others.   Don’t make your blog an advertisement - people want to hear about you and your expertise, not be sold to.
3. Post videos on YouTube and pictures on Flickr:  Again, share information, don’t sell.
4. Participate in online communities: Almost all niche markets have at least one community.  Get involved!  Communities like FaceBook and MySpace have all kinds of niche groups – join these as well.
5. Meta Tags: Tagging is a way to categorize web pages and blog posts.  Since any entry can have multiple tags, use as many tags as needed to reach your relevant audience.  Tagging is another way to increase SEO.

Don’t forget, your customers are your best advertising.  Solicit and use satisfied customer comments wherever possible.  Find out if they’re hanging out on the web in places that relate to your business and join them there. 

It’s time to let your long tail WAG THE DOG!

How to Write Good Web Content

This week I'd like to introduce another member of our team, our writer in residence--Sallie Boyles! Sallie has been assisting us with writing our client's web copy for 2 years. Clients love when she steps in to help. We hired her because we saw that most people froze up when asked to send us their copy for their site and caused some serious delays in the progress of their projects. Sallie has now cut the project times in half and has become a very important part of the Bella Web Design team. She is this week's guest blogger. Enjoy her article on "STOP-Wise Words for the Web."

STOP—Wise Words for the Web
By Sallie W. Boyles 

What happened to the days of “build a website and they will come”? It seems that era ended when “we don’t have a website” was no longer quaint. Today, your Web business must not only look highly professional, but it must also communicate effectively. If you want to attract prospects as well as convert them to clients, remember: Good looks will take you only so far. 

Rapidly changing technology, savvy Internet users, and stiff competition demand that our online verbal communications evolve as well. Therefore, as we race to keep pace, let’s consider the acronym STOP:

1. Search Engine Optimization: In order for your prospects to find you, your website better be a headliner among countless competitors. Using the right keywords and phrases in your content is a starting point.

  Does your language accurately define your reason for being?

2. Target the Market: You cannot be all things to all people. The longtime reminder is worth repeating when we see the world and want it all.

Can you effectively appeal to people in Toronto, Tennessee and Timbuktu?

3. One -Two Punch: Get to your point quickly in as few as words as possible.

  How hard are prospects willing to search for the punch line?

4. Point of Difference: Hook them by sharing your unique benefits. Your staff photographer speaks six languages. Your auto mechanic services race cars. 

What extra advantages will customers gain when they choose to do business with your company? 

Though not rocket science, effective Web writing is a skill. If you’re going to take your presence online, make every word count...