Internet marketing Archives - Page 3 of 18 by Mark Murnahan

5 Spam Tactics Good People Use to Kill Business Efforts

I am being pretty generous by using “spam” and “good people” in the same line, but I am trying to be forgiving. As surprising as it may seem, there are instances where otherwise good people will do spammy things which tarnish their business hopes. I don’t mean the canned meat, SPAM®, either. I mean the spam that happens when people try anything to get your attention.

I view spam as a desperate attempt to be productive while using counterproductive means.

When I say that it is an otherwise good person, it is often simply because they don’t know any better. They get confused by so much hype about the Internet, and end up doing spammy things that tarnish their business hopes, and hurt their chances for successful business communication.

Spam Tactic Number One: Company Names

It may seem innocuous to use a company name instead of a human name, but there is a time and a place for each. You may think this is subjective, but the numbers have come in, and if you are making this mistake, you are very likely hurting your odds.

Regardless what some flunky want-to-be “expert” may have told you, if you are not communicating explicitly on behalf of a company entity, it is best to use your human name. Even in those cases when it is “all business”, if you will be accepting any feedback, you should include your name. You know … the one your parents gave you.

An instance of this spam offense which has come back to hurt thousands of unwitting businesses is creating a Facebook Profile under the company name, but then having it deleted for a Facebook terms of service violation. Why would Facebook delete a profile with a business name? The answer is easy … because they should have been using a Facebook Page. If you don’t know the difference, or just how much it matters, you would be wise to read “Facebook Profiles Are Not For Business … Facebook Pages Are!”

You may argue the perceived benefit of using a company name in place of a personal name all you like, but before you get too set on your opinions, you may want to read an article titled “Social Media Profiles: Keywords, Company Names, and Humans“. It will explain how some of the best researched companies in the world are handling the matter. If you think that using your company name as a replacement for your given name is a good idea, think again!

There are many instances when the brand of a person is far more important than the brand of a company. Sometimes the company name adds authority to the person, but it is even more common that a person adds authority to the company. Heck, in my instance, only a small percentage of people I communicate with are aware that I am CEO of a successful decade-old wholesale Internet services corporation. The ones who need to know (customers and potential customers) are very aware. It shows up on their bill.

A real person with a human name will win the hearts and minds of people over companies every time. Many successful corporations know this, and prove it to be true.

Spam Tactic Number Two: Being False

Claiming to be something or somebody else is just asking for trouble, but it happens all the time. It is more common in personal communications than in business, but it happens in business more than you may like to imagine. This is done in many forms, but I will classify it as “Hot Chick Spam”.

I recall a specific instance of a beautiful lady (or “hot chick” if you prefer) whom I quickly realized was not what she claimed. It was a man who used a name and photograph of a beautiful woman instead of his own, because he was sure that more people would listen to and buy from a good looking woman.

There are certain word patterns, even in short Twitter messages which can give away even the best lies, as well as other obvious discovery tools. In the instance of my “hot chick” example, it only took a moment to figure out that it was a man, so I looked up the website owner with a WHOIS lookup and made a phone call. As I expected, when I asked to speak with the woman from Twitter, the truth came out really quick!

He got over this absurd plan for success once I pointed out how easily he could be exposed. His company also ended up hiring me to handle the search engine optimization for a highly competitive million+ page website. No, will not tell you who he/she was … under any circumstances! What I can tell you is that their business communications are far more legitimate and far more effective now that the company is represented by real people.

Spam Tactic Three: Spammy Blog Comments

If you have a blog, you surely get spam comments, but did you know that some people actually think it is a good strategy? This spam offense aligns with the previous two, but it goes further, and it can become a very destructive tactic for the spammer and the blog owner alike.

This is What Blog Comment Spam Looks Like to a Blog Owner

This spam tactic is generally executed by using industry keywords (or a company name) in place of a proper name when posting comments to a blog. Since those keywords will then be the link text pointing to the spammer’s website, it is assumed that it will be great for search engine ranking. It makes sense, right? If it could only be so easy, don’t you think everybody would do it? Then it would just be a battle to see who could produce the largest amount of spam. Actually, that does pretty well sum up this kind of spammer’s mentality, but they are so wrong, and they kill their chances of success like you may never believe! Search engines are simply not this stupid.

Ironically, this particular tactic was also previously implemented by the company I mentioned in “Spam Tactic Two.” In their case, they had paid some guys in India to write thousands of pithy blog comments including their website links. They got some extra website visitors out of it, but not the paying kind. When their website was brutally punished by Google and other search engines, they were ready to jump out of a third story window. You know … not really committed to death, but definitely upset enough for a jump.

If you think that something may be spammy, it probably is. I recently replied to this kind of spammer, and he actually answered back saying that he was not a spammer. My answer to that was as follows:

I am glad you responded. I just figured it was pretty unlikely that Mother Business Card and Father Brochure actually came together and decided to name their little beloved one “Logo Designer”.
REF: SPAM or Not SPAM? The First Test is Your Name!

Many people agree with my view of blog spammers, but apparently some people still don’t grasp the downsides.

Spam Tactic Four: Follow Me!

There are many obvious examples of this spam tactic found every minute of the day on Facebook and Twitter. It is commonly expected that having a lot of people “follow” what you have to say will matter. But guess what?! Those people who are quick to follow you without a good reason are also likely following about a squillion others just like you. They aren’t paying close attention and just waiting for the right time to send you a wallet full of money. They are usually just following you so that you will follow them back. You know, because that way you will both gain some amazing authority.

The truth that is hard to drive home is that more is not always better. I have given examples of this more times than I can count, but people usually have to make their own mistakes before they learn.

It stunned me how many people thought it was a useful action-list when I wrote a completely smart assed article titled “How To Become Popular on Twitter Without Actually Being Useful“. Apparently a whole lot of people missed my disclaimer that stated as follows:

“If you follow this list without deviation, you are sure to become massively popular. Just remember that if anybody says “I hate you and hope you die a miserable death” or “You deserve a really bad case of herpes” … those people are just jealous because they will probably never be as popular as you.”

It does not always have to be an extreme overstatement or effort to be spam-like. If you want people to follow you just to feel better, try buying a feather … they tickle, too!

This obese woman selling weight loss has offered to help me build a huge following on Twitter. — Obese Woman Selling Weight Loss

When the “Twitter Follower Frenzy” or “Facebook Please Like Me” epidemic gets to be so desperate as this obese woman selling weight loss and trying to tell me how to grow a huge Twitter following, it is a clear failure (click the image to enlarge). Note: She has six people following her. Perhaps she meant something else when she said “huge”.

If tweeting and facebooking to a large number of people who do not care about what you have to say is really so useful, how are you measuring that success? Is it in the bank?

People who fall into this addictive need to spam more disinterested people will be better off measuring the cost of their missed opportunities from all that wasted time and energy. If you have fallen prey to the disease, it is time to regroup and get some help to develop a better strategy.

Spam Tactic Five: Shooting at Innocent Bystanders

Trying to reach everybody, instead of a targeted audience is really the widest use of spam. Do you remember how I defined spam as a desperate attempt to be productive while using counterproductive means? Trying to reach everybody is about the worst conceivable spam of all. It not only wastes the time and resources of the spammer, but can create a lot of other possible business communication side-effects.

A Lot of Ammunition is Good, But Sharper Aim is Better!

Before trying to market something, it is important to remember that “everybody” does not want what you offer for sale. “Everybody” is not a target. Lack of focus is the most costly mistake any company can make in marketing, and is often the biggest missing piece in a failed campaign.

The task of targeted marketing using customer modeling based on demographics, psychographics, and propensity analysis really does make the difference. You can count on it!

If you target the right people, and stop shooting blindly, you will no longer need to reach all of the people. The right ones will do the “heavy lifting” for you. When others are promoting your virtues on your behalf, it is no longer spam … it is marketing.

Spam Tactics and the Ignorant

Sure, anybody can be guilty from time to time, and sometimes a small degree of spamminess is just an accident. Ignorance does not mean a person is stupid, but simply that they don’t know any better.

I know that some people will try until their last breath to defend these atrocities. That would be easier than admitting to making huge errors. Maybe they believed a bad pitch from an ignorant marketing agency, or they believed the fairy dust that so many people are promoting each day about Internet marketing.

Sometimes it is the company itself that is the perpetrator of the spamminess, but even more often it is because they trusted the wrong people to handle it for them. I have encountered many companies that believed a crooked marketing consultant, without ever caring to understand whether their tactics were sustainable, and an overall strategy was never even a consideration.

Once the pain sets in, it is too late, and they end up paying somebody like me a whole lot more money to fix their mistakes. That is, to fix the mistake of their prior ignorance.

An even more tragic result is that many companies will keep trying to do the things which do not work, just because they refuse to listen to good advice. When their marketing isn’t working for them, they assume the whole thing just doesn’t work.

These are the people I call the willingly confused. I generally try to be forgiving and patient with them, but those are not my strongest traits. The reason my patience often fails is not because of ignorance, alone, but rather the apathy which so often comes along with it. When you throw a dose of apathy on top of ignorance, the ignorance is sustained because they don’t care enough to overcome it.

Without apathy, ignorance is much easier to fix. When people care to do better, and to know more, ignorance fades with each thing they learn. If you know somebody going down this path, you will be kind to warn them.

Photo Credits:
No Pooping by johannal via Flickr
World Cup Babes Australia by gnews pics via Flickr

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Social Media Emphasizes “Pay Now, Play Later” Mentality

Have you ever heard the term “Pay now, play later”? Sure, it probably sounds familiar, right? It means that you pay your dues, and then, cash in your rewards later. Just ask a successful business person about this, or ask a parent. Most parents try to instill this mentality in their kids with something like “Do your chores, and then collect your allowance.”

This old school work ethic is a popular way that success is taught, even at the lowest levels of education, but we have a new school, now. We have a school that teaches success in overtly misleading ways.

It is astonishing how many people approach me with their marketing concerns and have this all backward, so I decided to share some thoughts with you. Not just thoughts, but experience … earned experience. I see it a lot more in small companies, but no size of company is immune, and we can witness this in Wall Street news stories every day. It is the needle that makes economic bubbles of all sizes burst.

Is Your Company a Job, a Career, or a Slush Fund?

Let’s have a glimpse at reality. You are probably not wealthy. Oh, you may even be “rich”, but I am a numbers guy, and I’m betting that you didn’t just send your butler, Charles, to bring you another chilled bottle of Dom Peringnon and a dish of beluga caviar.

The fact that you have read this far should perhaps tell us both that you have some serious moments of introspection, trying to figure out why all of the purchasing public does not understand the things you see so clearly. Your stuff is the best on the market, but yet, Charles is still just bringing you another Bud Light and some pretzels.

What in the heck is wrong with this picture? Well, here’s a tip: Charles isn’t messing it up … you are!

Yes, I know How Easy it Can Be

I am amazed and amused by how often I see business leaders rip off their own future to have some of that fun right now. They are playing now, and paying later. It is a lazy formula for disaster, but very popular.

I’m not going to claim that I am innocent. I have wasted more money than some small countries, so I know how easy it can be to rob yourself. I am trying to warn you and encourage you, so I hope you take this seriously.

People who treat their company this way are often paying quite dearly for it, with “opportunity cost“. It is worth being conscious of this, whether you are that business leader, or just a random employee behind the scenes. Either way, it can significantly screw up your future to ignore this behavior in a company.

Let’s Think About Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is the cost of all the missed opportunities that companies endure, and the examples are abundant. In simple terms, just try to add up the lost potential for referral business for every customer that goes elsewhere. Then, imagine the loss of market share over time, as their referred business sends referrals to the competition … and so on.

I see a lot of people damn near stroke out and die right in front of me when I tell them how much money they should logically be investing in their marketing. It really scares the heck out of a lot of people. Why does it scare them? Probably because, based on their limited experience, they imagine a marketing budget as risk capitol, rather than understand it as the most mathematically and scientifically sound thing they can do for their company. Many people are fantastic at their job, but if you throw them into marketing, they get ripped to pieces. They already saw failure, and they don’t need another financial bloodbath like that!

In case you missed that link I offered up a moment ago, let me tell you what Wikipedia says about opportunity cost. If you think about it, this should be what really scares companies. Brain-up for a bit … here you go:

Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the best alternative forgone. It is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. It is a key concept in economics. (more about opportunity cost)

When you look at it this way, it really sounds expensive to ignore the best possible alternatives, right? You bet it is! It is money that is flowing right on by and floating somebody else’s yacht while Charles gets your canoe ready for you.

How Does Social Media Add Emphasis?

Social media marketing is so frightening to some businesses that they are afraid to invest in it. Others are taking great advantage of the medium. If you look at the vast difference in potential opportunity cost between the two options, you can see how it emphasizes the loss or gain at both ends of the spectrum.

I want to be fair here, and give you an upside and a downside look at this. There is an amazing assortment of people to meet, interact with, and socialize with in the realm of social media. There are a lot of creative ways to gather market data and promote products and services using social media, as well. It can lead a company to great opportunities of all sorts. It can land you a great new customer, employee, or even a wife, three kids, and a corporation.

Social media is also very misunderstood by many, and from a marketing standpoint, a lot of people would like to imagine it as “free marketing”. Even just today, I was introduced to somebody, and I couldn’t make this up if I had just dosed myself like an under-aged hooker in a war zone … an exact quote was “The beauty of Mark is that he is the best and he’s free!”

Are you kidding me? I don’t even begin to market a company without a bare minimum … and I mean an “I owe you big time for saving my life from that charging grizzly bear” retainer fee of $5,000. It is usually a boot full of bear piss and swollen underpants full of “oh crap” more than that.

Now, although I would argue that she may have meant “free”, in the sense that I will not take money from a company unless I am confident that we can work well together and that I can provide them a huge return on investment … I’ll give her that. If she meant that somebody can get a lot of value by sucking up some of my experience like drinking free grape soda through a garden hose, that’s cool by me. She means well, and she knows that I do, too!

The cost of business is frightening and often frustrating, but only until you understand that a business is an investment. It requires tough decisions, and a good investment and reinvestment strategy. Making money takes money, and continuing to miss opportunities by seeking a cheap solution is like trying to dig your way out of a hole.

Social Media Can Destroy a Company

There, I said it … social media can destroy a company. It may not hit all the major news outlets, but I would put a good bet that it has helped more than a few into an earlier bankruptcy, or a complete failure.

It sounds crazy, right? This amazing saving grace we call the Internet could actually do harm to a company? It is very true, and it really happens. It is often a last refuge of absurd hope that setting up social media profiles will help a company out of trouble, or that this magnificent Internet can absolve a company from making good business decisions.

When I see people with starry eyes about the easy money online, it really brings back days in the early 2000’s when I was marketing for an Internet services company. It sounds a lot easier than it really was. I was marketing wholesale services to Internet access providers and web hosting companies. In the instance of my most satisfying online success story, I frequently had to lift the CEO by the ankles and shake him for every coin in his pockets to get the investment money needed to ensure his success.

A few years into the project, he could actually make better decisions about the corporation. He eventually even set his sails toward a young retirement, and after many years of paying heavily, he started playing (like a rock star). He paid himself handsomely. The corporation allocated $250,000 per year to fund his race team, $50,000 per month for “other miscellaneous business expenses”, and set him up pretty nicely. When he decided to buy a new home and asked the banker and accountant if he was spending more than he should, they literally said “If you want to buy every house on both sides the street, we will be happy to finance it for you.”

So, surely with an income in the top fraction of a percent of money earners in USA, and worldwide, that is a reasonably sensible time to stop investing in your company and soak in some significant leisure. A leader must eventually enjoy the lion’s share of the rewards someday, after all.

Oh, but there is still an “Unless Clause”, which explains that unless you are zombie-stupid, or high on arrogance, you must keep investing it well.

Damn it like mad, but the worst scenario still happened to my client. Corporate suppliers started laying off, killing services, and slaughtering his customers. He ended up losing millions in corporate equity, going back to working hard to earn a living, and teaching people like you to invest well in your company … even until the point when it nearly breaks you.

If you wonder how important it is to invest wisely today, to see a good future tomorrow, just ask that CEO about it. He has built many companies into huge successes. Best of all … well, aside from the fact that he is absolutely not free, you can reach him right here.

If you want to know how much it really takes to be successful, or how much it can hurt to stop looking ahead, you need to read the book “Living in the Storm“. If you were paying any attention at all, you will recognize the author. 😉

Photo Credit:
Playing in the Fountain by Tim Schapker via Flickr

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Ray Skillman, Indianapolis Car Dealer Review: Bad Social Media and SEO

If you are marketing something online, give me a moment to show you how to screw it all up. Since I know a lot of people shudder at all the sacrifices associated with marketing done well, I want to show you an example of how badly it can go wrong if you succumb to being shortsighted and misinformed.

This exemplifies so much of what is wrong with today’s Internet, and why Google keeps splitting skulls on worthless website owners. It shows a downward spiral of desperation of a car dealer, and a trend that is so widely followed in other businesses that it relieves me of wondering why companies suffer from dwindling market share.

This really should open your eyes if you are trying to take the quick and easy road to your SEO (search engine optimization) and social media marketing. If this example does not show the pitfalls of shortcuts and the benefits of playing by the rules, nothing will. I know that you will probably not finish reading this, but then, that is exactly the problem … shortcuts are popular. I made an audio version, in case that will help.

In this case, it involves a car dealership in Indianapolis, Indiana that operates by the name Ray Skillman. For all I know, this fella may be a delightful car dealer. He may even be the kind of guy I would personally like, enough to buy a whole fleet of cars. In fact, his story sounds really great, but it seems that this guy has a reckless streak of delegating his business future.

On the surface, it appears that whomever is making their marketing decisions has chosen to believe an “easy money” approach to SEO and social media, or otherwise perhaps just wants to damage the company deliberately. My guess is that they simply believed a good pitch of SEO lies from a bad search engine optimizer, instead of using diligence. I could make guesses all day long, but I want you to give you what I know about the Ray Skillman auto dealerships, and help you to figure this one out.

I previously wrote about the high level of absurdity of car dealers using social media, and it really is a worthwhile read. This Ray Skillman Auto Group seems to be trying to set the bar at an all new low. Low enough that it seems they are quickly dropping off the net, despite all of their frantic actions.

Ray Skillman Dropping Off the ‘Net?

Based on statistical data, it appears that Ray Skillman Auto Group has messed up bad enough to get virtually slaughtered online. It was bad enough for it to hit my RADAR, and it gave me adequate material to send a warning slap. I will tell you why, but better yet, I will tell you just how badly they are ripping themselves a virtual new orifice when it comes to website traffic, and future search engine rankings. It will be even more obvious as they endure the effects of Google’s Farmer Update of late February 2011, just in time for the car industry’s busy spring and summer sales seasons. Google’s “Farmer Update” was designed to wipe out website farms, and this one will probably yield some pretty bad crops from Google.

Before I show you the company’s new orifice, let me explain that they seem to actually want to reach the auto buying market of the Indianapolis area. Although they are very misguided, I think they comprehend the importance of the Internet for their business, just like you. In fact, it only took me a moment to find that they have a unique domain name for each of the entities as follows:

Ray Skillman Auto Group
Ray Skillman Ford
Ray Skillman Chevrolet
Ray Skillman Buick
Ray Skillman Northeast Buick GMC
Ray Skillman Buick GMC
Ray Skillman GMC
Ray Skillman Classic Cars
Ray Skillman Collision Center
Ray Skillman Hyundai
Ray Skillman Southside Hyundai
Ray Skillman Hyundai West
Ray Skillman Kia
Ray Skillman Auto Center
Ray Skillman Shadeland
Ray Skillman Kia West
Ray Skillman Mazda
Ray Skillman Northeast Mazda
Ray Skillman Mazda West
Ray Skillman Mitsubishi
Ray Skillman Suzuki
Ray Skillman Buy Here Pay Here

Is Ray Skillman Playing Too Much Defensive SEO?

I understand the importance of “defensive SEO”. Heck, my examples in this area are the subject of case studies. Ranking for your own brand name, in multiplicity, is important. Nobody wants to become a “Suture Express” case (yeah, Google it if you are not sure what I mean). The problem here is that it seems they are using frantic tactics for defense, and abysmal strategy.

There is little or no tangible value for the consumer being expressed in their visible efforts. Even their “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” update to the 55 fans of their Facebook page was just another sales pitch to chime in with “It’s going to be a beautiful day… a perfect day to come out and look around!” They should really take the time to read this article about Facebook marketing titled “Facebook Marketing: Pages, Customer Modeling, Promoting, and Awesomeness“. Their Twitter usage is just as bad, too. They are still trying to use interruption marketing rather than building equity in social media.

So, Skillman, do you want me to have a happy holiday, or do you want me to come out and have a crappy time with a pushy car salesman? Don’t tell me your salesmen are not pushy, either. When I get spammed by you from The Philippines, a logical assumption is that it is in your company culture.

Skillman Auto Group and The Philippines?

My introduction to Skillman was in a spammy comment on my blog. The comment originated in Makati, The Philippines.

The commenter whipped out a blurb of horrible English to tout the value of social media for car dealers. They claimed to have shopped at a dealership in Indianapolis, Indiana, so I thought that was a kind of long trip from Makati, The Philippines just to buy a car.

Not only did they shop for a car thousands of miles away, they used a URL from Ray Skillman’s website as their own URL in the commenter profile. They must be a big fan, right? Otherwise, the comment seems a bit fishy? Well, I guess maybe they swam from The Philippines to go car shopping and they picked up a little fishiness along the way.

Sure enough, I was right … that is a really long trip! Check it out on Google Maps and see for yourself.

View Larger Map

Look, if this guy is pulling in customers from clear across the Pacific Ocean to buy a car, and use his website address when they comment on blog articles about auto dealer social media marketing, more power to him. According to what I see from his dwindling SEO and social media results, this is not likely the case. Instead, it looks like a cheap and easy way to get penalized by Google and other search engines, and to annoy people with more spam (as if we don’t already have enough). Let’s also not forget that a blog is social media, and social media is often very unkind to spammers.

Here is a quote from Google Webmaster Central about using comment spam as part of a strategy. Yes, this is actually in Google’s words:

“Comment spammers are often trying to improve their site’s organic search ranking by creating dubious inbound links to their site. Google has an understanding of the link graph of the web, and has algorithmic ways of discovering those alterations and tackling them.”

Here is a link to the full article: “Hard facts about comment spam”

As long as Skillman is actively offending people with their social media efforts with pitchy crap and spamming blog comments, there is no wonder why they are so busy playing defense with their SEO efforts.

Ray Skillman Auto Dealership Websites Sinking in The Pacific

Let me share what I discovered when I looked at just a couple of third-party resources for Ray Skillman’s dealership websites. I will show you results from Alexa.com and WebsiteGrader.com. I chose these, because they are well known measures of websites, and they are easy for people to understand the results.

What Does Alexa.com Say About Ray Skillman Dealerships?

Alexa ranks websites according to their known popularity, and the smaller the number, the better. Google is number one, Facebook is number two, YouTube is number three, aWebGuy.com is somewhere in the 130,000’s (still top 0.45% most trafficked), and etcetera. Alexa is not perfect, but it is pretty compelling when you see multiple of Skillman’s websites dropping in ranking by a million points or more over the past 30 days, and seven of them disappearing completely. This is a bad sign of doing something seriously wrong.

I took an average from 22 of Ray Skillman Auto Group websites and here is what I found:

90 Day Average of Ranked Domains:
9,498,928 average across 16 domains (the rest were not measurable). The best rank was 1,477,739 and the worst rank was 11,867,267

30 Day Average of Ranked Domains:
8,491,088 average across 11 domains (half were not measurable). The best rank was 2,766,597 and the worst rank was 21,187,719

So, are they moving up or down? If you look again, you can see that on a 30 day basis, even their best individual ranking was worse by 1,288,858. Worse than that is the disappearing act of seven more domains. Yes, there were seven of them which dropped completely off the RADAR!

I’d call it a game and throw in the towel before I threw another single dollar at the horrific tactics and utter lack of strategy that the SEO working for Ray Skillman Auto Group is using. My experience says that it will cost them many times whatever they are paying the search engine optimizer.

What Does Website Grader Say About Ray Skillman?

Website Grader uses information about the website to assign a numeric grade. It is explained on their website as follows: “The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data , website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.”

For the Ray Skillman Auto Group websites that I checked on Website Grader, the results did not look so good. Of course, I am a master of understatement. Fine, it looked like a murder scene, OK? Here is what I found from the websites:

Highest Grade: 86

Lowest Grade: 21

Average Grade: 64.6

The results are not just bad, but it shows a huge shortcut from trying to do things well. A website should be ready before it is ever even marketed … even in spam. For comparison purpose, and of course never to brag, this blog has a ranking of 99.8.

Ray Skillman Can Still Win!

With all of these business entities operating under the Ray Skillman Auto Group umbrella, just consider this: If they could increase their profit from SEO and social media marketing by just $1,000 per company, per month, it would add up to $252,000 per year. Even with a miserably low goal like that, they could expect a much greater increase in following years. That $252,000 per year could help them to afford a good SEO strategy, and improved social media marketing reach and response rate.

The trouble seems to be that they may not yet realize that a higher return on investment requires a responsible investment, first.

That, my friends, shows the difference between doing something, and doing something well. Rip me a new one if you like. My ears are wide open.

One more thing! Don’t take this wrong, because I love cars. I love them enough to drive them at over 200 miles per hour, race them at tracks all across the USA, and slap those who abuse them with terrible marketing shortsightedness.

Here are some other automotive-related articles from my petroleum-guzzling marketing head:

Photo Credits:
Bent screw by stevendepolo via Flickr
Screws by aussiegall via Flickr
Xray photo by Laurel Fan via Flickr

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SEO and Social Media Reward: $5,000 for Introduction

Updated 13 June 2011 — This offer is re-opened through 30 June 2011.

I am going to give you an opportunity to pick up $5,000 just for making a simple introduction. This is not a hoax, and I really will put $5,000 in your sweaty palms for introducing me to “the right one”.

Great weather is coming, and I am pretty sure that most people can find a way to spend a surplus of $5,000 this spring. Cruise ships, sandy beaches, mortgage payments, utility bills, and many other amazing delights are right around the corner.

I hope that $5,000 will be worth a few minutes of your time to rack your brain, peel through your list of contacts, and think hard about whether you know this person I am seeking. Mostly, I hope that you will do it because I am a good fit for that acquaintance of yours, and because we deserve to meet each other.

So that you can have a better idea of who you are introducing, I offer you a link for more information about me, but you can come back to that part.

First, I will briefly explain why I am making this offer, what I offer, and who I am looking for. If you just want to skip to the details, click here.

I just reviewed the response to an engagement letter I sent out a couple days ago, and I almost wet myself with laughter and dismay all at once. I send out what seems like a squillion responses to companies that contact me hoping to benefit from my work, but this one was different. It was for a company that was referred to my services by somebody who was referred to my services. Somewhere along the line, it seems that I have picked up a reputation for what I do. This still does not mean that everybody I meet has a brain in their head, a dollar in their bank, or a sincere desire to improve their business.

As I have seen many times before, the recipient of my engagement letter hit me back with something resembling “Duh, wut duh ya mean … ya want us tuh pay fur it?” This was not their exact words, but that was my interpretation. To say the least, I am not very tolerant of cheapskates, or people who talk about action more than actually taking action.

It was after this response that I seriously realized that I had hit the wall at the end of my patience for dealing with this equivalent of The Abominable Snowman on Looney Tunes (video reference). As a husband and father of three, I am all grown up and reasonably mature, but if I must tolerate another of these abominable snowmen who insist I am a rabbit, I will likely use much stronger language than good old Daffy Duck.

Yes, I am a snarky guy, and I prefer to send a good booger from your nose to your computer screen than to make this sound too serious. After all, I am trying to put 5,000 bucks in your pocket, and that should be fun!

In this case, I am going to spell something out in sobering terms. I love the work I do. I help companies to be successful with their online marketing. It is an awesome feeling to see companies succeed. However, I must say this in true Murnahan fashion: “Business is great if not for all the damn customers.” Is that crazy? Perhaps, but it is very true. I am inundated by requests each day to offer my services to build an uncommitted company’s success for a fraction of what my work is worth.

The size of the company doesn’t matter. Building bigger and more profitable companies is my job. Even a small company with a focused desire for business growth can be extremely successful with a good strategy and a decisive marketing approach.

I broke my magic wand a long time ago. So, these days I build companies with other tools like market research, strategy, customer modeling, and well-crafted ideas to help companies look, smell, and feel like sex, bacon, and other things people crave. Yes, you read that correctly. In layman’s terms, my job is to make companies more like sex and bacon. You know what I mean, the things that people like.

That is how companies become popular. It improves their search engine rankings because all of the sudden the whole world wants to link to their website. Understanding their best value proposition and knowing the customers who want their “sex and bacon” improves their social media reach, and response rates. When it all comes together, it makes a lot of other great things happen for a company, including much higher profit.

Seeking a Frog Hair in a Fiberglass Factory

Although I am a very experienced and creative marketing guy, finding the best clients is like searching for a frog hair in a fiberglass factory. I sort through a lot of people rubbing their lamp and hoping for a genie, but a much smaller number of people are ready and able to put a signed check in my hand. They still want their fill of that sexy bacony stuff that comes when I rub a couple brain cells together, but that comes with money.

I have said it many times, and even blogged that “When I go to hell, they will have me selling SEO“. I say that, because I simply do not enjoy the selling process. Sure, you can search Google for How to Sell SEO and find me right up top, but the truth is that I love the work, and not the selling. This is why I am seeking an ongoing project, rather than the short-sighted marketing that many people ask for.

To make this fun for both of us, I am offering you a $5,000 reward to help me find that one special “frog hair in the fiberglass factory”. I want the one who wants the benefits that a great SEO and social media marketing guy can provide.

Claim Your $5,000 Social Media Reward!

The details are easy: If you introduce me to my special someone who is ready to take their marketing to a new level of success with a minimum six month engagement of my SEO and social media marketing services, you get the money.

This could be either contract work, or in-house, working directly for the company. You can introduce me by email, telephone, blog about it, tweet about it, direct them to my resume, or whatever you like. You only have to be the one who brings us together, and the money is yours. I just need to know that you are the actual person who introduced us, so I welcome you to contact me.

When do you get the money? I am sure you were thinking that, right? I will pay the $5,000 reward within ten days of my acceptance of a paid contract, or within 30 days of joining with a company full-time.

This is a limited offer! This is limited to just one … my special one. I don’t take on a lot of clients, and if somebody wants me enough to make me their Marketing Director, that is clearly a one-time offer. I am also limiting it in time, so stop dilly-dallying and claim your five grand!

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Here is That Extra Time You Asked For

I am excited to hear from you if you can relate to this. Have you ever had somebody ask you to do something and use the phrase “when you have some extra time”? It may be just fine if a friend says that, while asking you to go and do something fun. When it attacks your profession, there is a line to be drawn.

I get this “extra time” concept thrown my way almost every day. I am not joking or exaggerating about this. I know that a lot of other professional service people get this, too. It is hard for a lot of people to understand that when your product is knowledge or time, it still has a cost.

Yes, even those intangible things like rubbing brain cells together to create a spark, blowing on it, and turning it into a flame actually have a real and measurable cost. So, how can we deal with this, and make it understandable to people who think there is some magical “extra time” laying around to hand out for free?

It seems apparent that old sayings like “time is money”, “you get what you pay for”, and “time is our most valuable resource” have outlived their usefulness. They have become as cliché as a passing stranger asking “how are you doing?” They don’t really want to know how you are doing when they utter that. Try it out the next time you hear it, and give them a big earful and you will see what I mean. People often overlook respect for other peoples’ time with a similar disregard.

I suppose that free time can be a touchy subject for a lot of people, but not for me. I am going to share my responses when people slip me this sort of “give me free stuff” proposition. If you are a professional who deals with this, I hope it will help you to manage your time. If you are a time-beggar, I hope this will help you to be more understanding and respectful the next time this absurdity begins to spew forth from the vile and disrespectful hole between your lips.

Defending Your Extra Time

If you are ever faced with similar matters of requests for your free time, think about what else you could be doing with it. These are just a handful of thoughts which stomp loudly through my head when people ask me to provide professional services in my extra time:

Extra Time? My Kids Would Love That! – When I am asked for my extra time, the first thing that comes to my mind is how much my wife and kids would really love it if I had some extra time to share with them.

Have You Tried This at a Restaurant? – I imagine it like this: “Hey waitress, when you have some extra food back there in the kitchen, can you do me a favor, please? In return, I will send my hair stylist in to see you, and I am sure he will make up for all of the free food I gobble while I keep you from earning your tips. He is a great guy, and I am on my way to see him for a free haircut as soon as I leave here.”

Doctor, My Toe Hurts! – “I know that you usually charge people for this, and you have huge liability and licensing in the balance, but since we are not in the office, could you do this one as a freebie?”

I Want a Free Car, Too! – This is funny for me, because I have had car dealers offer to trade me very nice cars for my work. This always reminds me to say: “You want my extra time, but you would like it for free? Let me think about that and get back to you when I have something really large with which to hit you over the head.”

Motorcycle! – See the 47 second video … Enough said.

Misconceptions About “Extra Time” Are Worse in Some Industries

I realize that in some industries, the lines are a bit more blurred than others. In my job role, I find that a lot of people want me to simply “look it over” and to give them a “quick estimate”. Although it may not seem to be a big deal, performing marketing asset reviews and building marketing strategies puts food on my table. It is not just the act of implementing what I know that I am paid for, but also the research and strategy.

Researching, planning, and “looking it over” are things which most people expect to pay for in the accounting, legal, medical, and many other fields. Those of us in the marketing industry are also paid for that time we spend doing the things you may imagine to be “quick and easy” for us. Otherwise, it would be common for us to waste enormous amounts of our time writing boilerplate marketing plans for people who are not serious enough about their business to do what they really should be doing. Worse yet, if we provide a plan and you decide to try and implement it yourself or have an inferior marketing person do it for you, we look stupid for a plan that failed but could have succeeded with abundance.

Drunken Sailor Coming Through!

I could really go crazy with some drunken sailor language on this topic, because in my world it is easy to see it as theft of my goods. It is hard to describe my struggle to be diplomatic about this. Any shred of diplomacy I display comes to me because I understand how people may view this from the outside. After all, the vast number of semi-professionals on the fringe of the marketing industry make it appear so “salesy” and like marketing people are all begging people for their money. It creates an absurd illusion that marketing people earn more money for themselves than they earn for their clients.

The reality is that for true marketing professionals, our time is worth just as much as that iPhone you are holding, that car you are driving, or that house you live in. You see, this is because our time and knowledge is what we earn our living with. We don’t sell items … we help other people to sell items. Our job is to earn more money for our clients.

If I had some extra time, wouldn’t it make sense that I would use that “extra time” to work harder and to sell it at its fair market value? Yes, that’s right … that is exactly what I would do. So, here you go:

Dear Friend:

I appreciate your show of confidence by asking me to look at your business and give you recommendations to make it more marketable. I would be delighted to write you a researched marketing plan and proposal free of charge … if it was free for me, too. You see, my time and knowledge is what I earn money with, just like a shoe store uses shoes to make money.

This is my extra time, right now. I am using it to write this blog so that more people will know who I am, respect the value of my time, and pay me money for that extra time I had laying around.

Respectfully,

Mark Aaron Murnahan

All of my extra time is gone. If I find any more, I will use it to further my business reach. Fortunately, you also receive a benefit from it, because I am providing you with a constantly growing blog archive to teach you things that you can put to use in your extra time.

If you want some of my time to help you decide if it is worth paying for, I have already used that time, too. I used it to build a fantastic reputation, and an exemplary work history.

Whether this reaches you as a person who earns a living with your time and knowledge, or a person on the other side, I hope I have helped you see things a bit differently. I have tried my best to express consideration for both parties, and I hope you will do the same.

Thank you for your time.

Big Ben photo credit to peterpearson via Flickr

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