Stay on top of trends and information by allowing the Media to come to you. Make your strategy effortless.
Ever feel like you’re playing catch-up? Whether it’s work, family or even just some rest and relaxation, playing catch-up is annoying and frustrating. I feel like I’m there every week! Things get too fast or they’re not fast enough. Either way something must be done quickly and other items are pushed down the to-do list. It’s a huge bore. HUGE.
When it comes to plotting your strategy to take over the world – or your industry – the Media never seems to sleep. It may move at a snail’s pace, but it never fully stops. This does get very overwhelming and tiresome. It’s a never-ending marathon. And I hate to run.
What’s also great about it is that there are tools to help you stay on pace with the Media and not lose precious hours working. You can literally find the Media knocking at your door by taking advantage of some time-tested tools. They’re very quick to put in place and honestly these tools are becoming more and more essential.
First, discover Google Alerts. Sign-up for an account with Google and you can have search items sent straight to your inbox. Like to keep up with the Chicago Cubs? Set a Google Alert to literally search for ‘Chicago Cubs’ and email you either daily or as-it-appears with a link to the article, page or website mentioning ‘Chicago Cubs’. This works great for keeping up with your industry.
One of my clients uses it to keep up with her franchising company. Results are delivered to her inbox. Sometimes its odd articles about other nationwide locations and sometimes it’s a friend mentioning her location on their blog. It’s really usefully to keep random news coming to you without having to routinely search.
Second, find some way to track and analyze traffic to your website or blog. Do not use a ‘Hit Counter’! Those were cute when you could build an AOL Free Webpage back in 1997. They’re useless now. You want to know where people are coming from. Is it your Facebook? Is it your local newspaper? Your YellowPages ad? Knowing where people are coming from helps you in so many ways.
Let’s say you sell toy animals. You advertise, you’ve joined the Chamber of Commerce and you’re tweeting away. You’re sitting pretty good. You then begin to analyze your traffic and see that there’s a local toy animal fan club you knew nothing about that is accounting for a good portion of your traffic. You now have the knowledge of a great source of customers and advertising that you had no idea about before. It’s almost magical where your web traffic can come from!
Lastly, discover Trending. Whether it’s Twitter’s topic trends or Google’s Hot Trends, knowing what is capturing the attention of the online world can help you know what’s new, hot and in demand. All with no effort from you.
Do you sell collectable 1980′s movie posters or former child star memorabilia? This morning sadly, Corey Haim was discovered dead. Too young to pass on in my opinion and I’m sure in yours but if you specialize in such material, maybe you should advertise your Corey Haim products because their demand and value have increased. Sure you could search news sites and search the web for every person you may have products for – but why waste time? Discover breaking news fast.
It seems spring is finally arriving! I’m so excited – ready for warm days and bright sunshine! I’ll see you all back here on Friday to get ready for the weekend – keep in touch with comments!
Tell a Friend,
TZ
Tony Zazza, a 15-year media, marketing and advertising expert, is the Principal of Zazza Media Strategies, a Dallas Texas Marketing Firm, that specializes in growing small to medium sized businesses to their fullest potential.
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