Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









Is helping others the best way to market your company?

Written by: Scott C. Margenau

Article Overview: There is a country song I sometimes hear called the Chain of Love by Clay Walker. It’s a nice little story about how helping others inspires others to help, and that one day the favor you started will return kind fate to you.

Free Download - Pump Up Your Product Branding – Steroids for Your Business By Scott C. Margenau
Name: Email:

Is helping others the best way to market your company?

How social media can drastically affect your brand image, position and growth potential. There is a country song I sometimes hear called the Chain of Love by Clay Walker. It's a nice little story about how helping others inspires others to help, and that one day the favor you started will return kind fate to you.

Isn't this how we should market our business products and services?

We know, we know... who has the time to give away services? Well, we tried this approach recently by providing in-kind services to companies that couldn't afford our rates and we were rewarded in spades. In fact, our last two contracts came from referrals from people we've helped in this way. Ah, feels good and generates revenue - now that's a nice combination.

Enter social media: The new chain of love.

What is social media? Wikipedia defines social media as information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies.

When implemented properly your social media should actually help others. It should educate, raise awareness, teach, inform, and interact with interested prospects seeking information. Seeking INFORMATION, not necessarily an exact product or service. By presenting your brand (and your products and services) through helpful tools, articles, ebooks, whitepapers, blogs, reviews, press releases, authority articles, etc. you will catch your prospect "leaning in" looking for you rather than the "leaning back" invasive approach of traditional advertising or direct sales.

"But if I tell them all they need to know they won't need to hire us!"

That's the art....you tell them enough to generate substantial interest, helping the prospect realize that they need your products and services. In most cases, they really don't want to do things themselves; they want to hire a professional.

By publishing helpful, insightful content, including video, presentations, widgets, articles, guides, etc., and using social media to promote this content you can attract customers who are looking for you. And because you have helped them, they will be much more likely to do business with you.

Related Articles
  Razor cut-through!
  Increase Sales-Be a Trusted Advisor
  Some Great Ideas for a Small Home Based Business Opportunity
  What do I like about being a contract executive?
  Telemarketing Solutions of a call center

Home > Advertising > Scott C. Margenau > Is helping others the best way to market your company
Article Tags: brand image, business products, clay walker, contracts, exact product, helpful tools, helping others, image position, interested prospects, invasive approach, kind fate, press releases, publishing technologies, referrals, spades, substantial interest, traditional advertising, video presentations, widgets, wikipedia

About the Author: Scott C. Margenau
RSS for Scott's articles - Visit Scott's website

Businessman, marketing veteran and published author, Scott C. Margenau funded and founded ImageWorks Studio in 1995. His creative nature and 20 years’ experience in business, sales and marketing have enabled Scott to build ImageWorks with a “marketing first” focus to ensure that clients’ media not only looks good, but also effectively generates revenue and brand awareness. Scott is president of the company and oversees creative and marketing direction. Scott has been a featured speaker, a radio guest, and is often quoted and referenced in business, trade and other media, such as Create Magazine and The Washington Post, Channel 9 News and numerous online publications. Scott is currently at work on his new book, Outside Perception: Influencing How Customers View Your Brand, which is targeted for release in 2008. In his free time he enjoys golfing, cooking, boating and fishing. Favorite Quote: “Some say the glass is half empty, some say the glass is half full. I say, are you going to drink that?” ~ Lisa Claymen

Click here to visit Scott's website
Dashed Line

More from Scott C. Margenau
Marketing in a Recession
Branding Marketing Defined and how to fuse them together for maximum results
Marketing When Youre Down
Give Your Sales Effort a Kick in theBrand
What does a professional website design cost What type of price should you pay


Related Forum Posts
How to gain access from manufacturers to sell their products How to gain access from manufacturers to sell their products - I work in a company that specializes in distributing industrial products of several brands. In other words, I am an agent/representative for the brands that I sell. My vision is to be a company that is able to add and market new products of high equity brands over the years. The problem is that the prospective brands that I would like to add already have their own representatives, even though I believe several still need more agents to maximize its potential. I believe I should be given the opportunity to market these brands but it is hard to get permission from the manufacturers/principals. Do you have any advice on how to convince these manufacturers to allow me access to represent their brands and have their products be successful in the big market of Indonesia? What are the steps that I should take? Thanks. bmbearindo
Analyze the market and competitors Analyze the market and competitors - How do I Analyze the market and competitors to see the best way to market my security consulting company? Thanks in advance, Diane Griffin
MLM Master Distributor Needed MLM Master Distributor Needed - Hi, We are launching a brand new MLM company this month and we need to bring on a Master Distributor to launch the company. If you have built a large downline, we want to talk with you asap. This position will be at the forefront of the company, and we are considering giving this position overrides on all company sales. Note, this is a one-time offer to interview with us as our initial Master Distributor positions will no longer be available. If you believe you are capable of helping please contact me here: skipsanzeri@yahoo.com Please send along any detail about downlines you’ve built including size etc. Thanks Skip
General Guidelines to sale General Guidelines to sale - Without knowing more about your market, company, products, etc. all I can do is provide a general answer. Determine who is your ideal prospects, craft an offer or two that you believe, based on information you have about your market, company, prospects, etc., these ideal prospects will respond favorably to and then deliver the message. Methods of message delivery might include telephone calls, in-person visits, mail/email, advertising, etc. Does that help?
Re: How to Promote a MLM Business? Re: How to Promote a MLM Business? - Yeah, to be honest, if you aren't allowed to mention your company name on a website or link out or get backlinks from other websites then you should be looking for a new company. There are plenty of great MLM's that will let you do all of that and if you are going to market online then those things are extremely important.


Recommended Article for You close

  Razor cut-through!

Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

2011 Global Brand Trends Letter

What Makes an Extraordinary Business Consultant?

Environment and productivity at the office

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.