We had a great day yesterday talking about New/Social Media for Business Advisors at the XPX Summit at Babson College. This is a great group that helps professionals help their clients make more money - gotta love that.
The graciousness of the team organizing the event was matched with the grace that they demonstrated in a fun, informative, and packed schedule of sessions. Thanks Joan and Michael, and Steve, and Ellen and everyone! (one of the shots above is Jeff Mortimer, from Bainco International Investors providing colorful equity research advice... and shadow puppets)
Tara Goodwin Frier, Todd VanHoosear and I presented to inform and inspire. The goal is to increase the effectiveness (Got Sales?) of business communication and collaboration. Our session and breakout discussions were called "The 7 Web Habits of Highly Successful Business Advisors." - there were, of course, more than 7.
Below is the presentation for your convenience. Let me know if I can help you get started or get more (sales!) from what you are doing.
In true "Exchange" style, we debated what works and what doesn't around Web Marketing - including Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and some of the most effective tools at Google.
Let me sum up the conversations with a few "L" words:
> Listen - Pay attention to what is being said online in your industry, around your clients/prospects, and about you and your company. Here are two free services that will feed you custom alerts on your favorite keywords popping up on the Web:
- http://www.google.com/alerts
- http://www.tweetalarm.com/
> Leads - Most questions were about how this time-wasting Web can get more clients... it can. But you have to work it like any other sales and marketing channel you use - advertising, print collateral, and perfecting your pitch. The secret is to create content that will allow search engines to find you.. so when a qualified prospect is searching Google for what they want, your content is more likely to come up in their search results page. Ask me about SEO and "inbound marketing."
> Legal - Since the government won't let you say everything you want about financial advice, you have two choices. The first is to play their system of approving content and posting items that are several weeks late but still relevant. The other is to build your "personal brand" online about ... you - your community service, charities, golfing, etc... and you will learn how to use this New Media stuff!
> Love - Embrace these new ways to communicate and collaborate so you will be a more valuable resource for your clients. This stuff is fun. Have fun with it! For our previous post about adapting to these opportunities, read this - http://bit.ly/MakingChange
FYI - Here is our presentation:
... and we divided the breakout sessions into Beginners (why bother?) and Advanced (what content?) for deep dives into both.
