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September 26, 2010 By 4 Comments

Marketing and Technology Review at AMTA National Convention 2010

I had the pleasure of attending the AMTA National Convention in Minneapolis last week. I really look forward to this event every year and seeing so many familiar friends was a wonderful experience.

As usual, I paid close attention how marketing and technology was utilized during the convention. Here are some observations.

AMTA National Website

First off, the new AMTA website looks really good. It was launched a few weeks ago and aesthetically, it is light years ahead of the old website. I am particularly pleased with the softer tone of the design and the more modern branding.

However, the structure of the website is still not very search-engine friendly. The deep links into the content are not very keyword-rich and a lot of opportunity for SEO juice is being lost in its current state. A simple update to the Content Management System that creates the page links could fix it.

I was also disappointed in some of the navigation choices on the website, such as the “Contact Us” item being placed all the way at the bottom of the website. Form fields are also placed in staggered format rather than stacked, which makes them harder to use for some users.

I was happy to see the massage locator service placed prominently on the home page but I was a little unclear about how it was supposed to be used. As someone who knows massage, I understand that I could type in “trigger point” or “craniosacral” into the “Find” box. However, as a consumer, it seems that it would be a little confusing. I think adding a little bit of additional text or perhaps a pop-up box with some examples could help make it easier to use.

Overall, the new AMTA National website it is a great improvement but there is still some work than can be done from a structural level.

Social Media Session at Chapter Leadership Training

Next, I attended Chapter Leadership training on Wednesday. I chose to check out the Social Media session taught by Maj-Lis Nash. I was curious to see what sort of information on social media was being taught to chapter volunteers. Maj-Lis was a good presenter, clear speaker, and a nice person. However, I had some disagreements with what she presented.

First off, the session title was “Social Media” (actually it was called “Social Networking” but that’s old school) but the session was 100% on Facebook. I felt that was a bit misleading.

Next, Maj-Lis recommended that chapters create a policy that requires board members to acquire written permission from the President or 1st VP before posting anything on the chapter’s page/group. In my opinion, this is a sure way to stifle activity. Part of her suggested social media policy for chapters also prohibited board members from engaging on confrontational discussions online. Though I see how these types of conversations can go terribly wrong when mis-managed, sometimes a confrontational discussion can be respectful and useful. I would favor responsible transparency over a policy that keeps all uncomfortable conversations behind closed doors.

Next, she recommended that chapters set up a group rather than a fan page. I disagree with this since fan pages have a number of advantages over groups and are more appropriate for associations and chapters.

Additionally, Maj-Lis spent some time bashing email marketing and saying that people don’t really read emails. Again… I disagree completely. When done effectively, email is one of the most powerful ways to communicate with members. It’s true that spammy emails don’t get opened but it’s irresponsible to make a grand generalization that people don’t read emails.

Some deeper tactics were also left out, such as blogging, linking social activity to websites with automated tools, etc. However, since we only had 45 minutes, I can understand not having too much time to cover it all. I just wish the session title was more accurate. I would have called it “Basics of Facebook” or something like that. Maj-Lis was a good presenter but I would love to respectfully discuss our points of disagreement in more detail sometime.

Exhibit Hall

I took a quick tour through the exhibit hall and was a little disappointed this year. It was smaller than it has been at past conventions and did not offer as much variety. I did see some familiar faces and introduced myself to some Facebook friends that I had not yet met in person.

I did notice that a lot of the people working at their booths were sitting down and not engaging with the crowd. If you’re paying for booth space and your goal is to sell product and acquire new customers, then at least one person needs to be standing up and greeting passers-by at all times. I saw a lot of booth workers sitting down, talking to each other in closed conversations, and working on their laptops. This sort of activity discourages prospective customers from talking to you.

I did have a great time meeting Ryan Hoyme of Massage Nerd fame at the exhibit hall. Ryan is a video specialist and he shot a quick video of me promoting the RISE campaign for the Massage Therapy Foundation. Thanks, Ryan!

Convention Updates for Attendees

On a general note, I was disappointed to see that AMTA was printing out daily (full-page glossy color) info sheets throughout the week and made this the primary method of distributing schedule information. I checked the AMTA website and did not see any sort of detailed information, however. Here are some ideas for AMTA that could be very useful for next year’s convention:

  • A daily email sent to convention attendees with the day’s schedule information and updates on it. This would have been really convenient to pull up on an iPhone or Blackberry (of which there were many).
  • Post a detailed, updated schedule on the AMTA website with times, locations, maps, and any other useful information. Unless I missed it, the schedule of events online online did not contain room numbers.
  • Use AMTA’s Twitter account for daily schedule information. It would have been really easy to schedule it all out in advance with HootSuite. In all fairness, AMTA was using the Twitter account throughout the convention but I think it could have gone a bit deeper.
  • An option to sign up for daily text alerts with event details and scheduling. Tatango offers a great, affordable way to do this.
  • Offer an AMTA iPhone app with convention info on it. During the rest of the year, an app could also be used to integrate with the Massage Locator service. What a great way this would be to build AMTA’s brand and strengthen consumer loyalty to AMTA therapists. About 80% of the people I talked to at convention had an iPhone. Hint hint…
  • Create a more convention-specific Twitter hashtag before the event to build buzz. The only hashtag in use when I arrived was #AMTA so I created #AMTAConv and it caught on quickly. Thanks to AMTA for using it, as well! This helped me (and others) group convention-specific tweets in one place. If AMTA were to start using this hashtag a few weeks before the convention (and advertising on the AMTA website), it would help market the event, as well.

Let me stress that I was happy to see AMTA making some use of technology during convention and there were some good things happening. However, I would love to see the tips above implemented next year and perhaps save some of the members’ money by not printing as much.

Connections and Friendships

As always, the highlight of the convention was connecting with fellow members… some old friends, some new. I loved hanging out with my Indiana board, as well as all the other chapters I’ve had the pleasure of working with and socializing with. I also finally got to meet one of my favorite massage marketing bloggers, Allissa Haines. Her stuff is really good and any therapist who is not subscribing to her blog is missing some great business and marketing advice. Seriously, go subscribe now. Yes, right now.

AMTA is making progress when it comes to the use of marketing and technology but I think there are still some simple things that can be done to improve the effectiveness of how the leadership communicates with members and stakeholders. I look forward to seeing how things go in Portland next year. I can’t wait to see everyone there again for another great AMTA National convention.

What were your observations? Please post them below!

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September 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Business blogging tips

Blogging is a fantastic way to build awareness for your business and area of expertise. Blogging allows your constituents to see the real voice behind your business and demonstrates your knowledge in your areas of expertise. It is also part of your permission marketing channel that can lead to new connections and opportunities.

However, blogging is hard.

Most people I talk to have a difficult time blogging because they are not sure what to write about, how to write, or how to keep up. Here are a few business blogging tips that will hopefully make blogging easier for you.

1. Keep a list of ideas and capture them in real time. If you try to come up with great ideas every time you sit down to blog, it can be difficult to maintain inspiration. However, if you capture your ideas into a list whenever they come to you, it will be much easier to blog when you have the time because you already have a list of ideas ready to go. I use Jott to capture ideas on the go.

2. Blog in a conversational style. Don’t try to use marketing speak or a stuffy corporate tone. Blog as if you are explaining your thoughts to a friend and write in simple, plain language. Content on the web should be easy to read to accommodate the shorter attention spans in this medium.

3. Don’t promote… educate, instead. No one wants to read a blog that blathers on and on about your company and how great your service is. People do want to read things that help them and provide value. If you want loyal readers and content that gets shared, keep it constituent-focused.

4. Don’t worry about word-count. Say what you need to say and stop there. A blog can be 500 words or a single paragraph. Seth Godin sometimes blogs in one sentence.

5. Blog about things that matter to your customers. If you provide marketing services, teach your customers how to market. If you provide health care services, teach your patients how to maintain proper health. If you sell products, teach your customers how to get the most from that product. The possibilities are endless.

Blogging can and should be fun. If you are passionate about what you do and you know what you are talking about, then relax and let the words flow. Don’t over-analyze it. Your constituents will appreciate an honest tone and valuable content. Future customers will take notice, as well.

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August 19, 2010 By 2 Comments

Top 10 reasons to attend my session on becoming an email ninja at Blog Indiana

So I found out this week that my session at Blog Indiana is at the same time as Kyle Lacy’s social media presentation. When I found this out I was, of course, a little concerned. Sure, everyone needs help with their email and pretty much all of us want to lower our stress levels, but Kyle is an awesome speaker and even wrote the book on Twitter marketing. How can I compete with that?

I started to sweat a little. What if there are hundreds, even thousands (or millions!) of Blog Indiana attendees out there who are on the fence and not sure which session they want to attend at 4pm on Friday? Such a quandary! Such angst that must cause!

Well, please allow me to offer you some advice. Here is why I would humbly suggest you attend my session on email management.

10. Sure, you could read Getting Things Done and learn all the stuff you need but as good as that book is, it’s honestly really boring. Wouldn’t an hour with me be more fun?

9. Inbox Zero is endorsed by Lorraine Ball. She even requires that all of her employees learn it!

8. Sure, you could go to another awesome social media presentation by Kyle Lacy but honestly, don’t you already know everything about social media by now?

7. Think of how desirable you will be to your significant other with your new email skills. It’s way sexier than bow-hunting skills…

6. How often does someone email you just to say “did you get my email”? Enough said.

5. There will be ninjas in the room.

4. Because 5,732 messages in your inbox is not good for your liver. It’s true… look it up.

3. Think of how much more productive you will be at work with your new email management skills. You might even get that big promotion!

2. C’mon, does Kyle’s ego really need your help?

And the number one reason to attend “Inbox Zero: How to Become an Email Ninja” at Blog Indiana on Friday:

1. Look at your inbox. Now look at mine. Now back to your inbox. Now back to mine…

See you there!

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July 10, 2010 By 3 Comments

Resume or productivity footprint?

What is the standard procedure when applying for a job? You inquire about openings and the first thing you are told is “send us your resume”, right? Is this relevant anymore?

I would argue that resumes are antiquated, lifeless leftovers from a time before rich online communications. A resume is just a simple document outlining where you’ve worked before, what you did there, and how well you can embellish.

We have tools today that are so much better than a resume. The first place I go to research a prospective employee is LinkedIn. This will show me recommendations from others, previous work, communication skills, and connections.

I can do a simple Google search and find out a great deal about someone’s previous work. I would much rather read a candidate’s blog than a boring resume. A blog will tell me how well that person writes, what that person is passionate about, and what that person knows. I’m interested in what he or she posts on Twitter and why he or she finds it important. I look for a personal website that collects previous work and showcases it in a rich, living medium.

We all have a productivity footprint, which is a collection of all the work we have done, words we have published, and profiles we have created online. This productivity footprint tells me so much more about a person than a resume.

This is why I don’t really look at resumes. When someone inquires about a job at my company, I am more interested in that person’s productivity footprint than a lifeless document.

What do you think? Should we stop using resumes?

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June 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Personal Branding with Social Media E-Book

Personal branding is becoming more important today as people are becoming more interested in relationships and personal communication. Sales professionals, job-seekers, and professionals in a variety of industries are finding that how they relate to people and how they are perceived in the marketplace on a personal level makes a huge difference in how successful they are.

Social media is enabling us to strengthen our personal brands like never before. In order to address this, I’ve written an e-book to help others understand the dynamics of personal branding using social media and how to take advantage of social tools to strengthen their personal brands.

The e-book is free and you are encouraged to share it with others. If you have any personal stories you would like to include, please feel free to contact me and I would love to include your notes.

The e-book can be downloaded here:

Personal Branding with Social Media (PDF)

As always, comments and feedback are welcome.

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May 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Smart, simple solutions

There is an abundance of complexity in the world. It occurs pretty much everywhere. Companies create products with way more features than we need, bosses over-complicate policies and procedures, and our government passes ridiculously complex legislation that no one even has time to read.

We do it to ourselves, too. We think we need big, complicated systems to run our accounting and business systems. We create convoluted policies to try to anticipate every possible scenario. We look for that magic piece of software that will do all 500 things we think we need it to do.

After the air clears and we’ve spent a lot of time and money on our complex solutions, what happens? We usually end up only using 10% of it.

This is why our brand promise at SpinWeb is “smart, simple solutions.” We happen to build websites but our over-arching goal is to help you work smarter with simple online tools. Rather than sell you a big website with 27 tools, we’re more likely to encourage you to consider a smaller site first that does 3 things really well. You’re probably more likely to use it and you’ll save some money, too.

Ask yourself if you really need all the complexity that is currently in your business, or in your life. Could you serve your customers, employees, and partners better if you simplified?

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May 26, 2010 By 1 Comment

Better usability in conference websites

As a speaker, I attend and present for a lot of conferences. As an attendee, I register for events online and consume information primarily online via the conference website. As a speaker, I submit proposals for presentations with the intention of presenting at the conference.

As I analyze conference websites, I see a lot of opportunities for improving usability among them. Why is usability important on a conference website? Probably the most important reason is that it can play a huge part in determining how many people actually register for your event, as well as the quality of the speakers.

Here are some things to think about as you plan your conference website or landing pages.

1. Online registration is a must. I know it seems surprising but I still see conferences that do not have online registration as an option. They require you to call, mail, or fax in your registration. This puts up a huge wall between your event and your prospective attendees. Who has time to mail in a registration these days? Not me. I need quick, easy, secure online registration with credit card or I’m probably not going to bother. The same goes for your exhibitors.

2. Use online forms for speaker proposals. As a speaker, few things irritate me more than having to print or fill out a Word document to submit presentation proposals. Many speakers like me are submitting proposals to a variety of conferences and the more cumbersome it is to apply, the more likely I am to skip over your conference. I think I have a lot to offer and bring a lot of value to conferences when I present but making it hard for me to submit a proposal often keeps me (and other speakers) away. Make sure speakers can fill out application forms directly on your website.

3. Create landing pages for each session. I sometimes see conference websites that will give a general outline of the sessions for each day but do not break out sessions into individual landing pages. It’s important to give each session a specific landing page because this allows your speakers to promote their own sessions better, which in turn helps market your conference. It also gives you more specific content to publish on social networks and for search engines.

4. Make your conference website socially-aware. In addition to session landing pages, each session page should allow easy social media distribution. Two great ways to encourage social sharing of your conference material are with a Re-Tweet button via TweetMeme and a share button via AddThis. Both services are free and allow website visitors to easily market your sessions for you with one click. If you make it easy to announce your sessions, your will find that your speakers will help a great deal with your marketing efforts.

5. List all relevant time and location information clearly. This seems like a pretty obvious one but I still see conference websites that neglect to list the times and locations of breakout sessions. Not everyone wants to attend every session so make it easy for them to see exactly when and where each session is. Also, make sure your website includes interactive Google maps to your location so that your attendees can easily find it.

6. Include detailed speaker bios and photos. Few things are more boring than a big chunk of text listing presentation titles with no information on the speakers. Be sure to include speaker photos and bios with the session pages and perhaps even create speaker landing pages to help showcase them. Link out to their own website and social profiles, as well. This helps your attendees feel more connected to the speakers and can sometimes encourage people to register because they have an interest in seeing a particular speaker.

Paying attention to some basic usability details can make a huge difference in the quality of your speakers and the number of people who attend your conference. Do you need to make any adjustments to your conference website?

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April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Top 5 things to consider when redesigning your website

I had a wonderful time speaking for ISAE yesterday and serving on a panel on website redesign projects. After my keynote presentation and a great lunch, we had some excellent Q&A around what leads to a successful website redesign project. Special thanks to Katie Voorhest for inviting me to speak and for being one of the most effective, organized planners I have ever met.

Here are the top 5 takeaways that I want to share based on our discussion.

1. Know your audience. Be sure that your new website is not designed for your internal staff. It should be designed for your constituents. The personal preferences of your CEO or other executives should not dictate your design. Your brand identity and your constituents should drive the design.

2. Avoid “design by committee”. Choose one point person as your project lead. This person should solicit feedback but filter accordingly. However, make sure all decision-makers are in the room during approval meetings.

3. Instead of writing complex RFPs, try starting with interviews. RFPs can sometimes lead to an over-complicated vendor selection process and can also result in inaccurate pricing. Start by talking to qualified web firms and see what their processes are like.

4. Choose a good website design and development firm. This makes a huge difference. Look for a firm that has experience in your industry (or similar types of websites), a deep portfolio of work that you like, and (most importantly) a proven process.

5. Budget for content and photography. Great content and professional photography can make or break a design. Remember, website visitors make snap decisions about the credibility of your organization in less than a second based on your design. Don’t skimp on content and photography.

For further reading, here are the websites I referenced during my presentation with further information on design trends and usability:

A List Apart (design and development trends)
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox (usability)
Redesigning Your Website (my presentation given at the event)
7 Habits of Highly Effective Websites (my presentation on website best practices)

Thanks again to ISAE and all who attended for a great event!

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April 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

Law firm marketing plans and how video can help

I was in Reach class (which is life-changing, by the way) yesterday engaged in a lively discussion with CJ McClanahan and the rest of the class about how to differentiate our businesses from the competition. One of our class members, James MacAbee, is an attorney and we were brainstorming some ways that attorneys can create a law firm marketing plan to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

One complaint we came up with about attorneys is that they have a reputation for not being the best communicators. Their clients can sometimes feel in the dark because of a lack of communication while they are working. Jim suggested that maybe he could make a guarantee to his clients that he would send a weekly update to all his clients on a consistent basis via email. This sounded pretty good but then I thought, why not take it a step further and use video? How can a law firm use video communication in a marketing plan?

The attorney-client relationship is a personal one and email may not always be the best way to stay in touch. In addition, it can take quite a bit of time to type up a bunch of email updates all of your clients. So here’s my suggestion: use video email as your weekly update tool.

As part of your strategy to differentiate yourself as an attorney, make a guarantee that you will send a weekly video message with a status report on the project to all your clients. Most laptops now have built-in web cams and it would only take a couple of minutes at most for each message. As an attorney, you save a ton of time because you don’t have to type a bunch of emails. Even more importantly, your clients get to see and hear your expressions, your personality, and your tone. It is an extremely personal way to communicate and really keeps the relationship warmer.

Delivering these messages is very inexpensive (or even free). Take a look at TokBox or talk to Jim Britt. Imagine how unique your law firm would be if you marketed your practice using this point of differentiation. Attorneys that send me video updates on my project? What great customer service! Additionally, this creates a buzz-worthy and memorable selling point that will cause others to refer you more often.

Law firm marketing is tricky because attorneys are not supposed to directly solicit business and so they must rely on a solid marketing plan to generate leads. In addition to a great website and SEO, law firms usually rely heavily on referrals to gain new clients. Unique service offerings like video status reports are likely to generate more referrals from existing clients because they will want to tell their friends how innovative their attorney is.

As a law firm, try marketing your practice with a unique service proposition like video status reports. It can save you a lot of time and may just turn your firm into a purple cow.

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April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Nonprofit web design and why it matters

Modern websites should follow some standard best practices in design and usability in order to be effective as marketing and communications tools. Smart businesses understand that following these best practices leads to increased sales and revenue.

However, nonprofits also need to understand how design and usability affects their revenue. Nonprofits are interested in many of the same things that businesses are: increasing revenue, building trust, and reaching the right audience.

For some reason, many nonprofits seems to skimp on marketing and communications because they feel that they need to do everything on a shoestring budget just because of their nonprofit status. I believe that the opposite is true and that nonprofits should be especially conscious of investing in the right tools for marketing successfully.

So how does a nonprofit use the web to grow? Here are a few ways.

Invest in great design. Website visitors make snap judgments about your organization based on the quality of your website. If your website looks outdated, cheap, and unprofessional, what assurance do I have that my donation will be used effectively?

Invest in quality content. Many nonprofit websites have very little content or poorly-written content on their websites. Your website must tell a story for donors, volunteers, and the media. Make sure researchers can find the information they need to understand your mission.

Don’t be afraid to ask for money. Many nonprofit websites seem to forget that they need money and for some reason make it very difficult to make a donation. Be sure that you accept online donations via credit card. The donation button should be easy to find and easy to use. Remove barriers to making a donation and giving will increase.

Understand your audiences. Nonprofits need to target multiple audiences: donors, volunteers, sponsors, and the media. Be sure your nonprofit website has the right tools for all these groups. The media will want press releases and press kits. Volunteers will want clear job descriptions and specifications. Donors will want easy ways to give and will want to know how their money is being used. Event sponsors want to be able to sign up quickly online.

Keep content fresh. Nonprofit websites need to pay special attention to how current website content is. Interested parties want to see that your organization is making a difference and that your mission is current. Blogs and press releases are a great way to tell your story and keep your message fresh. If possible, update content at least once a week.

It’s tempting to try to design and maintain a nonprofit website on the cheap, but this does a disservice to your mission. By investing in a high-quality web presence, your nonprofit will actually become more successful in the long run and attract more donations, sponsors, and volunteers.

Won’t this help you make a difference?

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