Show Notes

If you’ve got a business then you’ve got a brand and a visual identity whether you’ve thought much about it or not. But what exactly is your brand? And what about that elusive “visual identity”? And why can’t you get a logo for $5?

Those are just a few of the things we discuss today as we talk to Dave Walker, a designer who works on everything from book covers to brochures and understands the true power and value of a good design.

In This Episode We Talk About

• The difference between branding and visual identity
• Where your logo fits into the equation
• Why you can't get a logo for $5 even if you really, really want to
• Why your logo file type matters
• The importance of consistency in branding and how that can translate to new customers
• What it means to create a "look and feel" for your company
• How good design can instill a sense of quality - for better or worse
• Plus more about what design is, isn't and why it's NOT about the software

Links & Resources

• Find Dave and a portfolio of his work on his website at dwalkerdesign.com
• Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/dwalkerdesign
• Read The $5 Logo by Sacha Greif, who tested the veracity of Fiverr
• Read What Kind of Logo Do You Get for $5?, Sacha's follow up to his fascinating discovery of what happens when you try to buy a logo for $5

Your Marketing Action Item

From Dave: Take stock of all your marketing pieces – lay them out in front of you and see if they are consistent. Does it look the same? Does it look good? How does it make you feel? If it’s not so great, think about how you can streamline and make everything work together, one small piece at a time.

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Show Notes

It’s the last Monday of Freduary! Welcome our final Fred of the month, SuperFred Krithika Rangarajan, also known as “Kit Rodgers” (you’ll have to listen to find out why). She’s a new friend and someone who we hit it off with immediately because she has such a generous heart and a positive outlook.

What’s Freduary?

It’s an entire month dedicated to all things SuperFred. And if you don’t know what a SuperFred is – or I should say who a SuperFred is, then you’ll have to listen in and join the army.

Enjoy Freduary with us! Send your messages and tweets tagged with #superfred and we’ll be sure to connect!

In This Episode We Talk About

• What it means to “own” your content and who should have a right to use it
• The changes over at Pinterest that are causing consternation amongst marketers
• How people built their email lists “back in the day” before social media was around
• The probability that Ralph will die of a cold during this episode
• And more about non-marketing-y things like “having a real relationship” with people instead of always wondering “what’s in it for me?”

Links & Resources

• Sign up at Superheroes of Marketing to be the first on line to listen to Alisa Meredith’s and Kelly Krantz’s new podcast
• Pinterest kills affiliate links, making monetization difficult for bloggers
• Pinterest bans all affiliate links, asks power users to monetize in other ways


SuperFreds

If you message or tweet them, add the hashtag #superfred so they know you’re part of the army!

• Find Krithika…
  • On her website Mindful Marketing
  • Find her on Facebook
  • Connect with her on Google Plus
  • Follow her on Twitter
  • Find her on Pinterest
  • Connect with her on LinkedIn
• Find Jillian Jackson, the SuperFred who brought the Pinterest changes to our attention
  • Follow her on Twitter @onejillian

Your Marketing Action Item

From Kit: Follow your heart and connect with someone online because they make you happy. Skip the marketing agenda and focus on mutually satisfying relationships instead of mutually beneficial ones.

From Carol Lynn: If your email list has been inactive, think about how you can reintroduce yourself to your subscribers. Don’t send a marketing email or newsletter. Reach out and say hello, let them know you’re there and invite them to connect with you or start a conversation.

From Ralph: Since Ralph had a cold, he copped out on the action item but threw one in at the end to help Kit reach her dream: find Aaron Rodgers and bring him to Kit so she can pitch him on writing his biography! Tweet at him with #SuperFred and let him know he’s got a fan who wants to make him shine.

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Show Notes

Have you written a book or are you perhaps still writing one? How about dreaming of writing one?

Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, chick lit or murder mystery, business or history – you’ve got more of a challenge than just committing many thousands of words to a page. Even before you’re done writing, the challenging process of marketing and promoting that book must begin. But with all the books being published, including a plethora of self-published books, where do you start?

That’s what we tackle today with a professional in the PR and marketing industry who knows a thing or two about promoting books.

In This Episode We Talk About

• The difference between marketing and PR
• When you should be thinking about marketing and PR
• The most important thing you need to clarify before you start marketing and promoting your book
• What you should do about negative reviews
• How to pick a good PR person to help you promote your book
• The most important thing you can do to help promote your book that even a PR professional can't do for you
• Where to start if you’re taking on promotion yourself plus some tips for getting the word out and building a super fan base
• Plus more about selling without being “icky”, the value of having a platform and what not to do on social media!

Links & Resources

• Find Meg at tandemliterary.com
• Check out one of Ralph's favorite books and one recommended by Meg, In The Heart Of The Sea

Your Marketing Action Item

From Meg: Don’t be shy! Get out there and talk about your book. If you’re not comfortable doing that, find someone to help you. Your book won’t sell itself.

Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish new content and to stay in the loop on some new podcasts and other fun stuff that’s coming up.

Show Notes

It’s a Super Freduary episode today as we’re joined by Melanie Kissell, the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast and the very first SuperFred to receive an official title.

When it comes to poetry, Melanie doesn’t disappoint. She has graced more than a few of our posts and podcasts with a rhyme or two and we’re going to be collecting them for your reading pleasure soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime you can scan the comments section of most of our recent posts and you’re bound to find one.

What’s Freduary?

It’s an entire month dedicated to all things SuperFred. And if you don’t know what a SuperFred is – or I should say who a SuperFred is, then you’ll have to listen in and join the army.

Enjoy Freduary with us! Send your messages and tweets tagged with #superfred and we’ll be sure to connect!

In This Episode We Talk About

• Some feedback we received on last week’s conversation with the founder of social media tool Snip.ly plus a few more reasons why we’re not fans
• The difference between “being sorry” and a genuine apology
• Why automation can wreck havoc with your online social strategy
• The importance of remembering that there are actual human beings on the other end of your social status updates
• Why you should run the other way whenever someone gives you a marketing “rule”
• Plus more good stuff to look forward to and some really fun things our friends are up to that can help you with your business and marketing. And Brussels Sprouts.

Links & Resources

SuperFreds

If you message or tweet them, add the hashtag #superfred so they know you’re part of the army!

• Find Melanie Kissell on her website at melaniekissell.com and ask her to “make you look good” for your clients and prospects
  • Follow Melanie on Twitter
  • Like Melanie’s page on Facebook
• Follow Jon Westenberg on Twitter who contributed more food for though to the snip.ly conversation

More Resources

• Opt out of snip.ly if you don’t want people using it on your site
• Check out 30 Ways to Bloom Your Online Relationships: Say No to the Glorification of More and Deepen Your Existing Connections Instead. It’s a project run by Téa Silvestre Godfrey with 30 days of lessons and challenges and it’s available in paperback and Kindle versions
• Also check out Butter and Beast: Inspirational Stories & Recipes to Feed the Entrepreneurial Mind, Body & Soul. Another of Téa Silvestre’s projects, this one is a collection of stories by entrepreneurs and tied into recipes. All the profits from this book go to support The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Plus you’ll get my story and recipe for arroz con pollo!
• Read Jay Acunzo’s All The Weird Things Business People Do On Twitter which is both hilarious and frighteningly true
• Schedule a call or Skype with Ralph and share your thoughts or ask your questions
• Visit superheroesofmarketing.com and get in line to hear the first episode on March 4th
• Check out Cynthia Sanchez's Pinterest for Business lessons on lynda.com

Your Marketing Action Item

From Melanie: Pick someone in your existing network and reach out to deepen the relationship. Send them a note to say hello, to let them know you’re thinking of them, to share a thought or idea. Get creative! Send an image collage or a video then see what happens. Challenge yourself to reach out to someone once a week.

From Ralph: Dig out an invoice for your monthly web or marketing service and then call you developer or marketing company and ask them to tell you what you’re paying for, what you’re getting and what you can expect. Make sure you understand what you’re paying for and why.

From Carol Lynn: Find a rule, any rule that you’ve heard about email marketing, social marketing, seo, blogging – anything at all – and email it to cl@websearchsocial.com. Share you’re opinion of the rule and we’ll share ours in return.

Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish new content and to stay in the loop on some new podcasts and other fun stuff that’s coming up.

Read more of our thoughts and get links to the sites and tools we've mentioned at http://www.websearchsocial.com/73

Read the article at http://www.websearchsocial.com/72

Read the article at http://www.websearchsocial.com/71

Show Notes

Freduary continues with another episode dedicated to all things SuperFred. Today we tackle a tough question about email marketing and have an interesting conversation about marketing your Etsy shop.

With special thanks to SuperFred Tammie Rampley for joining us and inspiring a great topic!

What’s Freduary?

It’s an entire month dedicated to all things SuperFred. And if you don’t know what a SuperFred is – or I should say who a SuperFred is, then you’ll have to listen in and join the army.

Enjoy Freduary with us! Send your messages and tweets tagged with #superfred and we’ll be sure to connect!

In This Episode We Talk About

• The latest Taylor Swift/Etsy scandal
• The pros and cons of hosting your own eCommerce store vs using a platform like Etsy
• The metrics conundrum – whether you’re looking at traffic reports, open rates or other metrics
• Plus we explore a question about whether or not we’re training our email subscribers to ignore us. If you’re on our email list we want to know what you think.

Links & Resources

SuperFreds

If you message or tweet them, add the hashtag #superfred so they know you’re part of the army!

• Visit and follow Tammie Rampley, the official Chief Executive Digital Content Roving Detective Reporter of the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast.
  • Visit her Etsy shop to see her handcrafted purses
  • Follow her on Twitter
  • Like Tramp Lee Designs on Facebook
  • Read Tammie's blog
• Visit and follow SuperFred Steve Kluver who inspired us to think more deeply about our email marketing
  • Find him on Google Plus

Your Marketing Action Item

From Ralph: Compile a power group of people you trust – online or offline – and ask them to look at the product or service pages on your website and to give you honest feedback about whether or not your pages are clear and compelling. Use their input to improve your pages.

From Carol Lynn: Pick a product or service that you sell and tell a story about it. Put it into context so people can relate to a situation in which they may use your product or service so they can understand when or why they need it.

Your Homework

Tell us how we can make our email list better – for YOU. What do you want to see more or less of? What would make your subscription more valuable?

Take a look at Tammie’s Etsy shop and let her know what you think of her product pages and how she can improve them.

Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish new content and to stay in the loop on some new podcasts and other fun stuff that’s coming up.

Show Notes

Freduary continues with this all-Fred episode! It’s a short one because our originally planned guest episode with Jeff Sieh ended up sounding pretty darn tinny and Jeff was kind enough to offer to reschedule and try again.

So today we talk about some of our favorite Freds, what they’ve got going on and how that can help you.

In This Episode We Talk About

• Ryan Hanley’s fantastic new book
• Jason T. Wiser and Nicholas Cardot’s “never use another social plugin again” social plugin
• Ian Anderson Gray’s long awaited next blog post
• Plus we welcome a new SuperFred into the fold as we continue our quest to take over the planet!

Links & Resources

• Learn more about (and buy!) Ryan Hanley’s Content Warfare book
• Help get the word out about Ryan’s book with a Thunderclap
• Go get the social warfare social sharing plugin… you will absolutely love it
• Visit On Track Tips (and push the big red button!) to find out how Jason and his team can help speed up your site
• Read Ian’s article and throw in your two cents: Stop being a Robot- Be Authentic with Responsible Social Media
• Visit Manly Pinterest Tips and say hi to Jeff Sieh’s beard. 

Your Marketing Action Item

From Ralph: Make sure your site is not inadvertently blocking search engines. Go to Google and type in your domain and see what comes up. If your pages come up, you’re ok. But if you get a message that your site is being blocked, better fix it!

From Carol Lynn: Think about something in your business or industry that you feel strongly about – love it or hate it – and post your thoughts and commentary in a social status update. Mention a few people that you’d like to hear from and whose opinion you value and see what kind of engagement you get. Keep the conversation going!

Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish new content and to stay in the loop on some new podcasts and other fun stuff that’s coming up.

Show Notes

Even though today is not a regularly scheduled guest podcast day, a lot of interesting and timely topics just begged to be discussed, so we invited Jason T. Wiser of On Track Tips to get to the bottom of some important marketing stuff.

In This Episode We Talk About

• The one word that matters most to the success of your marketing
• Why we love the Social Warfare plugin
• Why we don’t love Snip.ly
• And some philosophical conversation about how to budget for marketing, the best approach to take and why marketing isn’t even the whole picture

Links & Resources

• 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly, one of Jason’s favorite articles
• In Which I Discuss Why Content Curation For Marketing Sucks, an article Ralph wrote that is also one of Jason’s favorites
• More on curation
  • Today’s Marketing Lesson: “Get To The Choppa”
  • What Is The Place Of Content Curation In Marketing? Part 1
  • What Is The Place Of Content Curation In Marketing? Part 2
  • Make Your Marketing Oh So Pinteresting With Pinterest And Avoid Content Curation Noise, The Oh So Pinteresting podcast hosted by Cynthia Sanchez
  • Does Content Curation Make Marketing Suck?, The Content Warfare podcast hosted by Ryan Hanley
• Check out the Social Warefare social sharing plugin (and see it in action on our site!)
• Get the sniply buster (it’s free)
• Watch Jason Wiser get hot under the collar about Joe Schmoe Other Dude putting a billboard on his lawn
• Visit On Track Tips and push the big red button (and watch the show, too)
• Join the snip.ly conversation on Google Plus and read through some of the opinions and comments there

Your Marketing Action Item

From Jason: Ask your sales team what they need in order to do their job - make sales! More specifically, try this: before you add a single field to your web forms, ask the sales team what data they need to be able to contact the customer or prospect to make the sale. Let that inform your marketing and your contact forms.

Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish new content and to stay in the loop on some new podcasts and other fun stuff that’s coming up.

Read the related article at http://www.websearchsocial.com/67

It’s Freduary! No, we didn’t forget the spellchecker. While the rest of the world goes about their business this February, we here at the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast are going to be celebrating Freduary.

What’s Freduary?

Well, it’s an entire month dedicated to all things SuperFred. And if you don’t know what a SuperFred is – or I should say who a SuperFred is, then you’ll have to listen in and join the army.

With special thanks to SuperFred Colleen Conger for kicking us off. It was her brilliant idea and we just ran with it. You’ll find all her links below and I encourage you to connect with her because she’s smart, fun, kind and has a sense of humor that will surprise and delight you.

There are also some additional notes below about some of the things we discussed that took on a life of their own after the mics were turned off. We may come back to some of them in our next episodes but we wanted to keep you in the loop in the meantime.

Welcome to Freduary! Send your messages and tweets tagged with #superfred and we’ll be sure to connect!

In This Episode We Talk About

• What Freduary is, who SuperFreds are and why we’re celebrating
• Why we decided that content curation isn’t a marketing tactic for us and isn’t one that we recommend to our clients or audience
• What we DO recommend instead
• What it means to be an “influencer” and why it may not be what you think
• How to connect with people online and build an audience of superfans even if you’re just starting out and don’t feel like you know anyone
• What we think of a new tool that lets you place a popup with a call to action on websites that don’t belong to you
• What it takes be “be awesome” online and why it matters
• Plus we add “pixel alchemist” and “elixir of goodness” to our vocabularies, tell a story of meeting our very own “online celebrity” for the first time and make the global, exclusive announcement of the title and release date of the first episode of Alisa Meredith’s new podcast!

Links & Resources

SuperFreds

If you message or tweet them, add the hashtag #superfred so they know you’re part of the army!

• Visit and follow Colleen Conger, the official Chief Executive Friend Manager of the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast. Colleen is the mastermind behind the idea of Freduary.
  • Visit her personal site at colleenconger.com
  • Visit her digital marketing agency website at thinkwebgo.com
  • Visit her digital photography and design site at digitalphotoanddesign.com
  • Follow her on Twitter
  • Friend her on Facebook
• Visit and follow SuperFred Krithika Rangarajan (also known s Kit Rodgers). She inspired us to talk about superfans and what it means to be and connect with “influencers” online
  • Visit her website at dialmformarketing.co
  • Follow her on Twitter
  • Go directly to her comment about superfans and check out the great responses from some of our superfans
• Visit and follow Ian Anderson Gray, the official Chief Executive Research Dude of the Web.Search.Social Marketing Podcast. He inspired a conversation about content co-opting that has since mushroomed into quite a debate. If you want to find him on more social networks than we can list here, just go to his website below!
  • Visit his website Seriously Social at iag.me
  • Follow him on Twitter
  • Find him on Google Plus
• Visit and follow SuperFred Tammie Rampley. She is now an official NEW titled SuperFred but we’re not announcing her official title until next week. As a fellow Hello Kitty fan, she’s also rumored to be hand crafting a Hello Kitty purse for us.
  • Visit her etsy shop TrampLee Designs and grab one of her awesome purses for your daughter, granddaughter, best friend, or heck, even yourself
  • Follow her on Twitter
  • Visit her at Tramp Lee Designs on Facebook

Other Stuff

• Save the date! Wednesday March 4 marks the official release date of Superheroes of Marketing, Alisa Meredith's new podcast.
  • Sign up at superheroesofmarketing.com so you'll be notified of all the goodness coming up
  • Visit Alisa at Scalable Social Media
• After we talked about a tool called snip.ly a lot happened!
  • Start by checking out what snip.ly does.
  • Grab a serious cup of coffee and a snack if you want to catch up on the conversation that happened over at Google Plus
  • If you’re not into the idea of someone using snip.ly on your site you can download the free snip.ly buster plugin developed by the team at Warfare Plugins to prevent it.
  • While you’re there, take a look at their Social Warfare sharing plugin. We just started using it here and it’s the best one we’ve tried.
• Thank the team for their hard work.
  • Find Jason T. Wiser on Google Plus
  • Find Nicholas Cardot on Google Plus
  • Find Dustin Stout on Google Plus

More Other Stuff

We always remind you that you can find us on iTunes at websearchsocial.com/itunes but now we’ve made it easier to find us on Stitcher, too. Visit websearchsocial.com/stitcher to listen there!

And while you’re there, we’d love an honest rating and review. You, our SuperFreds have kept us going, provided inspiration and pointed out the places where we could improve. Keep it coming, we appreciate you!

Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish new content and to stay in the loop on some new podcasts and other fun stuff that’s coming up.