Staying Focused: Marketing Made Simple

Staying focused in a social world is becoming more and more complex every day. It's not uncommon to be inundated with tweets, facebook posts, IM's and other communications throughout the day. Although I feel that I've done a reasonably good job of managing these "updates", I have to admit that it's quite distracting.

Those who are successful with online marketing or marketing in general have learned to focus. I've been working towards improving my focus each day and reminding myself that I'm in control of my schedule. I know this is easier said than done. That said I wanted to share my strategies for staying focused on your most important marketing projects and getting them done.

Here are my tips and strategies for staying focused, being productive, and getting results.

1. Write down all of the goals and tasks you have. I never realized how exhausting it can be to keep a mental list of everything you need to do in your head. For a long time I've been in the habit of writing my goals and tasks down every day. Although my goals don't change daily, my tasks do.  The great Earl Nightingale once said that, "you can't manage time, only tasks." And he was right.  Each day, write down the top 3 - 6 things that you must complete to move you in the direction of your goals and don't go to sleep until you've accomplished them.

2.  Turn off the noise.  You don't have to unplug completely from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Pinterest, but you should schedule time each day to login and interact.  When you establish times to engage, you'll be much less reactive and more in control of your time.

3.  Every day, spend a few minutes prioritizing.  If you've created a list of tasks, you're half way there.  The second step is to prioritize your list.  Start with the tasks that take the least amount of time to complete.  Are there a couple of tasks that you can knock out in a few minutes?  If so, get them done.  You'll feel a great sense of accomplishment and have a shorter list to work from.

4.  Team up with others to complete your goals.  Staying focus can be easier when you share the burden.  Be open to working with others and holding your partners accountable for specific goals and outcomes.  not only does this ensure completion of given tasks that others are responsible for but can help you stay motivated and on track.

These are just some of the ways that I stay focused on my marketing projects.  What are some of the techniques you use?  Do you have your own incentives to complete a campaign?  What other techniques do you use?  Share your strategies with other readers of the Marketing Blog!

The Latest Craze in Social: Buying Twitter Followers

While SEO and article marketing are finally taking shape on the Internet as a viable means to approach online marketing, another effective method to look into is social media marketing. With the huge surge of social media networks these days, it is undeniable that it has a great influence on people, on the web and as well as reality. What greater influence is there than the ability to instill social proof and credibility in an instant?

From a marketing standpoint, a small-medium business owner, corporation, or blogger, requires the help of social media to escalate to the next level of doing great business. One outstanding social media network that functions as the virtual market place to showcase products and promotions quickly is Twitter. Within three years, it has become the number one platform that the world favors to disseminate information quickly as possible.

If you haven't started your own account or profile on Twitter, you should get engaged as soon as possible.  Not only can you develop a following but you can reach others in your niche or social environment.  If you're an experienced Tweeter, you know how powerful Twitter can be for interacting with others and supporting your marketing goals.  As your audience builds, so does your online influence.

Which is why, people are now quick to build and buy followers on Twitter. Today, having Twitter Followers is a valuable asset for any marketing campaign. Here are some reasons why marketing specialists are drawn to Twitter and why having Twitter Followers is all the rage.

1. Building Awareness
Twitter has the uncanny ability to build awareness through tweets from other people. Whether they are from strangers or friends, it is the ability to disseminate awareness quickly in one 140 character tweet.

2. Social Proof And Credibility
It may seem irrelevant to some users, but marketing specialists are now quick to use this platform as a means to garner as much attention as possible for its product. In Twitter, having a large social following is relevant to people online because it enforces the credibility and image of a company. Studies have shown that humans are genuinely curious and having a large following encourages their curiosity.

3. The Audience For Sales Conversions
If you serve a certain niche of products, what better way to attract the right audience than getting the right followers on Twitter to follow your account? Getting Twitter followers to follow your account can get the right people who are interested in your product and can increase your chances of making sales conversions. With the right interaction, these Twitter followers can help spread your tweet further down to their own networks.

This is merely a tactical step to achieve a successful marketing strategy in no time. Twitter also offers the real time interaction between the company and its consumers to secure a long-term relationship. If you are having a hard time getting Twitter followers on your own, then why not consider all of your options.  Whether you chose to develop campaigns that aggressively recruit Twitter followers or purchase followers from credible sources, growing your list of followers is paramount.

About
Buy Real Followers is a company under Buy Real Marketing, a wholly owned company by Clicking Labs, Inc. The company specializes in Web 2.0 Business Applications, Web Traffic, SEO Tools and Social Media Marketing. Learn more to buy followers on Twitter.  Each product specifically addresses a need within the web marketing arena. The scope of their marketing services includes the following networks: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Vimeo, Tumblr, Google Plus and SEO for web properties.  Buy followers on Twitter

Big Changes At Hotels.com

This week we interviewed Vic Walia, senior director for global brand advertising at hotels.com.  The mega brand is making some major branding changes to enhance their brand and expand their reach. Check out this marketing blog exclusive interview:

1. What's the primary motivation for the new Hotels.com logo? We wanted to unify the brand globally and show our customers whether booking from or traveling to the US, London or Tokyo, it’s the same travel experience with hotels.com. We also wanted to convey our expertise and longstanding leadership in the market. 

2. In conjunction with the logo update you're also changing your tagline. Can you provide some insight into the update?Finding travelers the perfect place is really the core of what we’ve done for 20 years so we wanted to remind customers that we’re about hotels, and only hotels. We sell over 30 million room nights every year with up to 100,000 deals so we know our customers count on us to find the perfect room, which is why our new tagline resonated so well with our loyal customers on Facebook.

3. How has the Hotels.com brand evolved in the last year and where do you see it going in the future?The brand continues to focus on its core business, hotels. The travel market and ecommerce market is a dynamic one and constantly changes and Hotels.com will adjust accordingly, as it always has.

4. In your release you mentioned additional changes in the next couple of quarters. Can give our readers some insight into additional brand related changes you'll be making? In addition to the logo change globally, we will be integrating a new look and feel among all of our sites globally to help unify the brands. We have also began using our new font style within all of our creative from TV advertising, sale messaging and emails. New sub-logos have also been released in the new style for the loyalty program, Welcome Rewards and for Deal of the Day to name just a few. We are updating our Photography our Site Copy and overall page designs in order to give users a better, more informed experience as they navigate the site.

5. How will you measure the reaction and feedback to your new branding (logo, tagline, etc.)?The feedback will be measured most clearly by business results. Plus, we have already tested the new logo, tagline and creative with research to ensure that it appeals to our current customer base as well as any new potential customers. 

Special thanks to Vic Walia for sharing his rebranding secrets with us.  He is a Brand Marketing Director with over 13+ years of experience managing several billion dollar consumer brands in the Food, FMCG, Travel/Leisure and E-commerce categories.