social media | marketingforhippies.com

hippie restaurant with a kick ass newsletter

By: Tad | Published: December 23, 2010 · 3 Comments

A client of mine (Alison Pope, President of Maverick Services: Office Administration & Special Projects
Facilitating the Success of the Holistic Health Community) recently sent me an email newsletter she loved from the Camros Eatery in Toronto. Hopefully you can see it by clicking on this link here but if not – you can go to their website here: http://www.camroseatery.com/

While overall I’m not sure if the layout is the best example I’ve seen, I happen to be acquainted with the founder, and have seriously enjoyed eating their food, and my experience has been that

1) FREQUENCY: they normally only send out an enewsletter when they have some worthwhile newsy stuff to share, rather than monthly content regardless, so I tend to read it.

2) START WITH THE WHY: He starts right off with two sentences that are based on a belief, philosophy, that I agree with and have been trying to get more of myself in alignment with more consistently, then he goes on to indicate how this value is part of their business.

3) WELL CHUNKED: From there the content on the left and right seems to flow well, that I follow at least the headlines of each.

4) VALUABLE CONTENT: And it all seems so balanced, and relevant, and a good coverage. Something about Green Enterprise Ontario, a featured video, a recommended book, a valuable new service (Camros delivers, wow – wish I lived closer to there! , a recent Cdn Organic Growers event they partnered with (very cool, somehow I’d missed that), a nutritionists corner. I like the solid balanced coverage, and it all seems related to what they do, and how we have values / interests in common, and they seem active, connected in the community, with their GEO membership & COG partnered event. And reminded me of the upcoming annual COG Toronto event, which I’d forgotten about.
If you'd like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you'll also get a 
free copy of my fancy new ebook "Marketing for Hippies" when it's done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, Case Studies of Inspiring Business, newsletters - Tags: becoming a hub, building trust, generosity based business, online marketing, social media

be strategic, but don’t be a dick

By: Tad | Published: December 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I just watched this video about being ‘too strategic’ with social media on a new site I cam across. What tagline, “Less stuck. Less struggle. More awesome.” I like it.

And how that can actually hurt you.

Simple wisdom. And funny!

Go watch the video by clicking here.

And of course – I bet he has more awesome stuff on the rest of his website – http://www.sankofasong.com

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing strategy, Social Media - Tags: authenticity, becoming a hub, building trust, conversations, online marketing, social media

Online Video: How YouTube is driving innovation

By: Tad | Published: September 16, 2010 · 2 Comments

Did you know that Youtube is the second largest search engine on the planet – next only to google? Online video is becoming more and more used. It’s a more and more powerful tool to get your message out there – whether you be for profit or non-profit. Online videos are one of the most perfect ‘word of mouth’ vehicles there are. They’re zero risk for the viewer, you can communicate a lot of info in a short period of time with tremendous emotional impact and use of music – and they’re super easy to send to people.

As Seth Godin puts it,

The idea is one of those big ones, a simple one that will stick with you for a long time… Online video radically changes the reach and speed of the improvement cycle. Things like dance, snowboarding and TED talks keep getting better, and faster, because artists see the best and improve on it. Even more than that, it requires you to top what’s out there, or you’ll be ignored.

The same thing has been done with scientific journals for two hundred years. Now, though, instead of a long cycle and a few readers, we have a nearly instant cycle and millions of ‘readers’. Video scales, now. And to quote the other Chris Anderson, there’s going to be a long tail of these video cycles.

Also worth thinking on: Chris is using the medium itself to do something that would have required a traditionally published book five years ago. His video will be seen by more than a million people by the end of the week–something he could never have achieved with a traditional method

In this TED Talk,

TED’s Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation — a self-fueling cycle of learning that could be as significant as the invention of print. But to tap into its power, organizations will need to embrace radical openness. And for TED, it means the dawn of a whole new chapter …

| Categories: marketing tactics, Social Media, word of mouth - Tags: communicating value, marketing 2.0, online marketing, pink spoons, pressure free, social media

The Three People Who Can Help You Build Your Website

By: Tad | Published: September 15, 2010 · 3 Comments

If you’re a conscious service provider – listen up.

As Jay Abraham is fond of saying, “I need to get this off my chest before I explode.“

There are three kinds of people who can help you build your website.

But only ONE of them will make you any money for sure.

Back story . . .

A few months ago, I was at the Body Soul Expo in Edmonton.

I was wandering around and seeing the usual suspects: crystal dealers, energy healers, massage therapists, holistic clinics and all manner or strange machines.

And then I saw a banner that said, “Fire Your Web Designer”.

And so I stopped and walked over.

And was floored with what I found.

Here’s the thing. There are three kinds of people who can help you with your website.

Web Designers: these people will make your website look beautiful. People will compliment you on how gorgeous it is. And you will feel good. While you starve. Because the website may not get you clients. And don’t get me wrong – beauty matters. Beauty can help. But beauty, in and of itself, won’t sell half as much as beauty + marketing strategy. Beauty and aesthetics are not a replacement for marketing smarts. If you’re interested in making your website more beautiful and communicating who you are in an authentic way – there’s no one I can better recommend than Carrie Klassen with Pink Elephant Communications.

Web Nerds: these people totally get the ‘back end’ and ‘under the engine’ side of things. You’ll get cool widgets that will work wonderfully. And you can play with them in between scrounging through the couch for change because this website doesn’t get you clients ever.

Online Marketers: these people will make you money. They understand a bit about design and minor bits about back end. But what they understand incredibly well is how your website fits into the larger marketing picture of your business. They get how your website relates to your blog, youtube, facebook, twitter, google etc.

And the people I met at this booth, Brendon and Christine, were strongly in the third category. Online marketers.

I listened in amazement as they told me about the Pyramid Power marketing model they used with clients – almost identical to what I talk about. Their perspective on marketing resonated with everything I knew – and even took it further.

But I was excited for another reason.

Many of my clients have struggled with websites.

They have a web designer who they have to pay to make any updates. But they can’t reach them. Or it’s expensive. They are secretly embrassed by (and sometimes even hate) their website. They feel trapped. They spent a bunch of time and money on their site and . . . no new clients.

It’s a bit heart breaking.

Brendon and I stayed in touch and I eventually invited him to lead an hour of content at my day long marketing workshop for holistic practitioners. And both times it was one of the participants favourite parts of the day. Brilliant stuff.

So, if you’re an holistic pracitioner or offer some green, conscious or local service – and you need more clients and a way to sustainably grow your business online, I want you to check out . . .

http://www.letyourlightshineonline.com/

Oh! And one more thing – if you go to the link above – you’ll see a video where Brendon and Christine share a bit of their story and business philosophy (and there’s a free thing you can get).

| Categories: becoming a hub, holistic practitioners, marketing strategy, Social Media - Tags: becoming a hub, blogs, building trust, communicating value, generosity based business, holistic practitioners, marketing 2.0, online marketing, safety, social media

Using Facebook to Build Your Practice

By: Tad | Published: September 13, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Eric Brown is at it again. I don’t know how he does it. This fellow is one of the most strategic, precise, tactical and nuts and bolts marketing people I know. He works specifically with massage therapists around how they can grow their practices. No hype. All practical.

And now he’s got thoughts on how to use facebook to build your practice. I just got this message from him below – Check it out.

Thanks for joining the BodyworkBiz Group on Facebook!

I appreciate you getting involved in my little social media experiment and as a thank you I’m going to post some exclusive resources specifically for you and the other group members.

While you’re waiting for the Social Media Marketing webinar on Wednesday evening, here’s a little something for you:

I’m publishing 28 short videos (about 5 minutes each) on using Facebook to build your practice. The first seven are now up. Just click the link below . . .

www.bodyworkbiz.com/facebookvideos

This first set is a basic introduction to Facebook and outlines how to create a profile and edit your profile information. The other 21 deal more with using Facebook as a marketing tool and they will be released within the next couple weeks. Matthew who did these videos has a great understanding of Facebook. I’ll create a few additional videos to supplement what he’s done.

If you think this is a valuable resource I have a favor to ask you. Please click the “Share” button on that page and post it to your Facebook Wall. Why not let your friends know about it?

Enjoy,

Eric

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, holistic practitioners, marketing tactics, Social Media - Tags: becoming a hub, marketing 2.0, social media

Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign

By: Tad | Published: August 14, 2010 · 1 Comment

There’s a lot of ‘good washing’ out there. Major corporations putting a little money and a lot of hype into good works in the community. And perhaps Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is an example of that. What do you think? Regardless of whether it is or not – the ad itself is brilliant in making its point.