It’s a wireless world out there. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops are no longer for the techies. Everyone and their grandmother are connected to their favorite piece of hardware and using it relentlessly until that battery is depleted. Here on the East Coast that was painfully obvious when Superstorm Sandy took 10-14 days of electricity from most of us. Where do you charge up? That’s what I heard from most people who saw me with working technology. “Car Charger” was my most popular answer. People scurried around looking for outlets to plug into and it made me realize just how much the average person now relies on computers and technology.
The question I post to you today is this. How are you improving marketing for your personal brand or business, with technology? I’m going to discuss a few ways and then open up the comments section below for people to chime in with their favorite ways to use technology to promote their interests.
Cell phone Apps = Marketing on the Go. Using apps like Pinterest and Instagram you can show people visually what you are up to at any given moment with a snap of a pic and a few clicks. It’s the ultimate branding tool and it shows proof of what your company/brand is all about. Work in a hot industry with celebrities? Take a quick picture and send that baby into the social media universe and maybe you get lucky and it goes viral. Invent or design something cool? People are bound to be interested in seeing it. The read of social media alone is a thousand times what you could have accomplished before the smartphone era. Use apps from LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, and a host of other popular Social Media destinations to your advantage. Mobile Marketing has grown to a new stratosphere. You can also check out my previous post of the Top 10 Social Media sites for 2013 and then download the apps for the ones that interest you the most and start getting active.
Cold Calling Still Works! And you can leverage that same smartphone to keep your communication lines open on the go. There is a huge marketing machine out there saying that telemarketing is dead. They couldn’t be further from the truth. If you have a cheap product, yes, you can use the internet for the majority of your business and never speak to someone if you choose. But if you are in any kind of business service industry you still need to convince people to sign contracts with you to get the job and earn a living. Use that smartphone next time you are in the park on a break, look up a company you think is a good fit, and give them a call. You might be surprised what kind of results you get. When a huge market share abandons a methodology like telemarketing, it’s only making it that much easier for you to get that call put through to a decision-maker.
Use the Internet to join Industry groups. This is a simple one but you would be amazed how many people just don’t do it. Are you a Graphic Designer? Go to the Freelancers Union and sign up. This goes for any line of work you may be in. You can also join geo-based groups for New Yorkers, Californians, Texans, you name it there are business support groups out there if you only take a moment to identify them and sign up. Some do cost money, that is something you need to weigh for yourself on an individual basis and I can’t really help you there with the validity of Group X. Suffice to say if the membership rates warrant what you will get out of it, go for it and make those connections. Do you offer something nobody else in your local areas group has? You are ahead of the game. Did you just find 2 big fish in your industry trolling these events making you and your business feel small? Forget that. Learn from them. See what they are doing that you’re not! Never allow yourself to feel bullied in life or in business. Business Bullies are probably the most unnoticed in society since everyone discounts it as It’s Just Business, Nothing Personal.. yeah sure. Tell that to the guy who spends $1500 to network at a conference to have some bozo make him feel unwelcome. Get active in what will drive your brand awareness up.
Do you have a way you like to use technology to your advantage promoting your personal brand of business? Write a comment below and share with the rest of us.