The Follis Marketing Report

Listen to the podcast that lets you hear how other buisness owners solve their tough marketing problems.

In this hype-happy, what-to-believe world, it comes down to a very basic, fundamental thing: credibility. How does one get it? How does one convincingly communicate it? And is there a Good Housekeeping Seal of the 21st century? Yes, there is, and it’s called “G cred.”.

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G-Cred, a term coined by John Follis in ‘05 and accepted by Wikipedia in ‘06, has become part of the Web 2.0 vocabulary. What is it? And why must every product, service, professional person and business have it? Listen to the interview:

g-cred-interview.mp3

Listen to the podcast that lets you hear how other buisness owners solve their tough marketing problems.

So I was on the phone today with yet another expert promoting yet another marketing seminar. Considering that this “expert’s” website gave me a big fat ERROR message when I logged in, I was even more curious to find out about this marketing genius.

Apparently, her “How to Market Your Business” seminars were doing quite well. (According to her, anyway.) So, as she was answering my questions about her fabulous seminar — and trying to sign me up — I Googled her. (more…)

(From my Social Media 2007 talk in Chicago.)

1. Smart/Sexy Brand Builder
It’s a Cost-Effective, Easy, Cool Way to Get Your Company Message Out:
• Do something that fits your brand.
(ie. Church podcasting sermons, Publisher podcasting book excerpts.)
• The “Cool” factor.
It establishes and/or reinforces a forward-thinking/leadership perception.
(Depending how well you do it. Be creative.)

2. Broad, Free, Easy, Distribution.
• RSS feeds (ie. Feedburner)
• iTunes
3. Ad Media Outlet/Tip #1: Take advantage of the self-promotion without being tacky.
• Use “soft-sell” plugs for your own products/services. (Embedded content.)
• Because of the strong niche aspect of podcasting, listeners will be much more receptive.

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In our hype-happy, what-to-believe, Information Nation, it comes down to one very basic thing — credibility. What is the Good House Keeping seal of the of the present and future?

For many, it’s blogs and other social networking venues that foster and spread open discussion and untainted perspective on everything. That open-source context has given way to the term “Street Cred” as a new barometer of credibility. With the proliferation of this Internet Truth formula, I suggest one better…

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SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be an effective way to attract business for many, but not for all. If you’re selling a niche product or vendor service, it can be a great tool. But, if your business is a top tier professional service you might want to think twice before investing too much time and money in SEO. Here’s a real call I received from someone who found my ad agency through a search:

Caller: Hi. We’re looking for someone who can do TV commercials. Do you do that?

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