Kevin Mullett presents at the Indiana Ohio Regional Tourism Conference. Many businesses unknowingly place barriers between themselves and the very travelers they are trying to reach and connect with. Others are unaware of key factors that cause potential customers to go elsewhere. In this session we will look at actual examples of changes that can have a huge impact on your social media, mobile, and online marketing effectiveness. We will discuss actions you can take to maximize those that connect and select your business from pre-trip planning through the duration of their stay. And while we are at it, we will toss in ideas for making sure their friends and followers here all about you.
Transcript of Make It Easy for Travelers to Connect and Select You - IN OH Tourism Conference
MAKE IT EASY FOR TRAVELERS TO CONNECT & SELECT YOU
@kmullett cirrusabs.com / @cirrusabs
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Make It Easy For Travelers to Connect & Select You Presented by Kevin Mullett May 16th 2013. “Many businesses unknowingly place barriers between themselves and the very visitors they are trying to reach and connect with. Others are unaware of key factors that cause potential customers to go elsewhere. In this session we will look at actual examples of changes that can have a huge impact on your social media, mobile, and online marketing effectiveness. We will discuss actions you can take to maximize those that connect and select your business from pre-trip planning through the duration of their stay. And while we are at it, we will toss in ideas for making sure their friends and followers here all about you.�Presenter: Kevin Mullet, Director of Product Development/SEO/Social Media Consultant, Cirrus ABS “
HYPE & HYSTERIA Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
There is a lot of misinformation, speculation, opinion and hype being spread about online marketing. Worse is the expectation that social media should be free, effortless, and easy, yet produce greater ROI.
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – HYPE & HYSTERIA There is a lot of misinformation, speculation, opinion and hype being spread about online marketing. Worse is the expectation that social media should be free, effortless, and easy, yet produce greater ROI. And marketers are great at coming up with new terms like inbound marketing, content marketing, earned media, permission marketing, or they will say things like SEO is dead and other such nonsense to try and change the story.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
While social media is free to use, it is not free to do. Weigh time and attention against opportunity and return. It is also not a task you complete!
FREE TO USE, NOT DO
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – FREE TO USE, NOT DO While social media is free to use, it is not free to do. Weigh time and attention against opportunity and return.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
BUDGET & STRATEGY
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Set a Budget and Create a Strategy Winning requires knowledge: To win against your competitors in the search optimization game requires some knowledge, unless your competition isn’t trying. It’s easy to win if there is no competition. To win requires an understanding of the rules so you don’t get disqualified. You can be the best driver, but if you are stuck in the back of the pack you will not have a chance to show it. Optimization is part of the race regardless if you have the knowledge or not. Of course you need to decide early on how much winning is worth and what your budget is to go after it. And like most things if you don’t have a strategy, well, we all know how that goes. At this very race a competitor was disqualified for getting a bit too creative with the rules. This is analogous to black hat search optimization techniques.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
ACTION: FIND YOUR AUDIENCE
Which phone line will you be ignoring today?
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Find Your Audience. Social media isn’t about what you prefer, but rather where your ideal audience is listening and can be engaged. Which phone line will you be ignoring today? http://rapportive.com/, http://gist.com/, https://www.xobni.com/, https://www.rapleaf.com/ ($100 to search social for 10,000 emails)
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
ACTION: WHERE MIGHT THEY BE?
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Where Might Your Audience Be? Easy social media brand and identity checks: Use a service like namechk.com to go grab your brands social id’s. I think it is wise for both branding reasons, and for online marketing presence to grab them. If you have an intern, this would be a great task to set them out on. Which ones are important? Which ones don’t you want a competitor or squatter to have? While the backlink value for many is not high, the fact that search engines are constantly crawling these networks is worth noting. This is especially important while the crawl rate on your website is low. Posting links to some of these networks, like twitter.com, friendfeed.com, ning.com, mybloglog.com, and others where the search engines already spend a significant amount of time, can lead to pages being indexed in under an hour radically improving the time it takes for your sites content to be available to potential searchers. Extra credit actions: namechk.com free, http://usernamez.com/ free (?), http://claimid.com/ free (?), http://knowem.com/ $$ (400), http://claim.io/welcome $ (300)
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
ACTION: STYLE, STORY, & ELEVATOR PITCH
» Be consistent with voice, brand, and message » Optimize your story (Then adapt it to fit in various profile areas like 160 characters for Twitter for example)
» Provide business worthy visuals » Be “word of mouth” worthy » Don’t do social, be social (Can you direct me to cool things? Do YOU know your area?)
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Optimize Your Style, Story, and Elevator Pitch » Be consistent with voice, brand, and message » Optimize your story�(Then adapt it to fit in various profile areas like 160 characters for Twitter for example) » Provide business worthy visuals » Be “word of mouth” worthy » Don’t do social, be social (Can you direct me to cool things? Do YOU know your area?)
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
RESEARCH HAPPENS
Can I find you? Do the decision makers accept how and where we do research in 2013?
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism Can I find you? Do we really accept how and where we do research in 2013?
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
PRESENTATION MATTERS
And if I find you, what will I find?
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference — Presentation Matters #wctourism Recommendations for a restaurant will likely be taken at face value. Recommendations for new hires will be validated. Where do we go to do research these days?
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
WHAT WILL MY IMPRESSION BE?
Bad Reviews
Awful Photography Misinformation
Abandoned Profiles
Unprofessional Behavior
How much is a referral worth when we don’t back it up or instill doubt?
Unresponsiveness
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – What Will My Impression Be? » Misinformation » Awful Photography » Bad Reviews » Unresponsiveness » Unprofessional Behavior » Abandoned Profiles How much is a referral worth when we don’t back it up or instill doubt?
@kmullett
Keep name, address, phone consistent!
ACTION: GET YOUR LOCAL CLEANED UP! And grab local listings if you haven't
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Action: Get Your Local Cleaned Up Grab your local listings:�getlisted.org Bing Places has been updated: https://www.bingplaces.com/
Travelers now have more tools than ever to review who might be able to fill their needs or desires.
VISIBILITY SCREENS Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference — More Visibility Screens Is An Opportunity to Stand Out Travelers now have more tools than ever to review who might be able to fill their needs or desires.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
TRAVELERS PARTICIPATE EVEN IF YOU DON’T
Are you spending money for attention, only to be rejected in the review process?
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Travelers Participate, Even If You Don’t Some of you may be spending money to garner attention, only to be rejected during the review process because you’re not spending resources to mange what their research will surface.
FIX THE PROBLEM 1ST Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
(Full Story)
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Fix the Problem First The hotel handwritten note hiccup. Why are you here spending time and money to bring in more people who will be disappointed with your service? Here the original story here: http://www.kevinmullett.com/the-hotel-handwritten-note-hiccup/
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
No marketing media channel has 100% eyeballs or is 100% effective. We need to prioritize based on goals, resources, and business objectives.
NO ONE SPOT
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – No One Spot Holds All the Fish in a Lake No marketing media channel has 100% eyeballs or is 100% effective. We need to prioritize based on goals, resources, and business objectives.
@kmullett
Are you doing this because it works, or because you have always advertised this way?
WHAT IS WORKING? Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – We Need To Start Questioning What is Working. Are you doing this because it works, or because you have always advertised this way?
@kmullett
Maybe it’s time to rethink what you are willing to spend money on, and why.
WHAT IS THE ROI? Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – We Need To Start Questioning What is Working. Maybe it’s time to rethink what you are willing to spend money on, and why. Should this be as automatic as we make it? How well does this work at night? Are we tracking what IS working, or continuing to do things we believe work?
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – THE PRIVACY EXCUSE But…my privacy! formerly found on street corners are you really all that invisible who did we do business with 30-40 years ago? distribution does not equal visibility
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – THE PRIVACY EXCUSE CONTINUED We give up privacy for opportunity or gain in other ways more frequently than we might realize. surveys on the back of receipts for a cheeseburger your habits tracked and targeted, for rewards
EVIDENCE Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – WHAT KIND OF EVIDENCE ARE YOU LEAVING BEHIND? What are you leaving behind? Pictures at parties, thoughts, complaints, and/or hurtful words. An easy rule to go by is, don't put anything online that you wouldn't want to see on a billboard that your mom drives past. And remember your privacy settings don't prevent people that you have let in, from taking things out. photo by: West McGowan - http://www.flickr.com/photos/westm/3379293362/
HAVING STANDARDS Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
(Full Story)
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Having Standards The online marketing equivalent of a “No Vacancy” sign. Bob’s horrible, but polite “2013 BOOKED SOLID TO APRIL 5TH” page notification. Here the original story here: http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/the-online-marketing-version-of-a-no-vacancy-sign/
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
WHY DON’T THEY LIKE US?
» Are we clear with our message? » Is design or action most important? » What is our call to action? » What is in it for ME? (WIIFM) » Icons are notifications, not calls to action.
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – WHY DON’T THEY “LIKE” US? Are we clear with our message? Is design or action most important? What is our call to action? What is in it for them?
@kmullett Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
DON’T MAKE ME ASK
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Don’t Make Me Ask How do I find you? What is your WIFI password?
Text “like cirrusabs” to 32665.
Which of these will grow their Facebook page?
@kmullett
ACTION: SUPPORT YOUR SOCIAL EFFORT
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Tell Them What To Do Which of these two will grow their Facebook page? Signage helps educates your customers and your staff about your online social presence. Which of these two will grow their Facebook page?
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
TIE OFFLINE/ONLINE/MOBILE TOGETHER
In print, on air, online, and in-store. i.e. connecting the dots.
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – TIE OFFLINE/ONLINE/MOBILE TOGETHER You want to tie off-line, online, and mobile together with a campaign. In print, on air, and in the store. QR Codes and mobile sites need a strategic purpose!
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
HOW NOT TO RESPOND
Is this how your company would handle a complaint?
This IS your company AND is a visual record of its customer service!
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – How NOT to Respond Is this how your company would handle a complaint?
THIS IS HOW YOU HANDLE IT
… only quicker.
@kmullett Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – This is How You Hand It… only quicker.
I had ZERO expectation they were going to know what to do, but I was totally impressed when they did.
@kmullett Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
ACTION: UNEXPECTED SERVICE
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – It Becomes Unexpected Service I had ZERO expectation they were going to know what to do, but I was totally impressed when they did.
@kmullett Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
EASY OR PUSHY?
Allowing people to opt-in easily.
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Make It Easy or Get Pushy? Allowing people to opt-in easily.
DO YOU SEE THE VALUE?
Social media works best when you are a willing participant, see value, & treat it like a lifestyle, instead of a task.
@kmullett Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Do You See The Value? Social media works best when you are a willing participant, see value, & treat it like a lifestyle, instead of a task. And Don’t be surprised when you get very little out, of that which you put very little into. At the end of the day if you really don’t see and believe in the value, you will not be convinced to participate at a level that is likely to yield results. Social media works best when you are a willing participant, see value, & treat it like a lifestyle, instead of a task. Sometimes people try social media out, as if it isn’t known to work, and quite because they see no return. If they were to be honest, they might see that the effort put in was not sufficient to see those results.
» People » Places » Photos » Things
WHAT IS GRAPH SEARCH? @kmullett
FACEBOOK’S INTERNAL SEARCH ENGINE
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – What Is Graph Search? Facebook’s Internal Search Engine for… » People » Places » Photos » Things
» The page type/categories » “Place Sub-categories”
DO NOTHING OR GET READY TO BE FOUND
@kmullett
ACTION: UPDATE YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Do Nothing or Get Ready to Win
@kmullett
Places, places my friends like, places my friends have been to
X
1
2
12
Query terms
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Places, places my friends like, places my friends have been to There will likely be a big difference in results depending on how you formulate your search query. For example, searching “Pizza places in Fort Wayne, Indiana” will return different results than if I were to search for “Pizza places my friends like.”
Appears To Impact Rank: » Claim & Merge Place Page
@kmullett
ACTION: MERGE PLACE PAGES
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Claim & Merge Place Page When we search for Pizza Places in Fort Wayne, Indiana we see this community created page. This is the Facebook created page when people check-in or discuss something there is no page for. What we want to show up, if we are 800 Degrees Wood Fired Pizza, is the one below it It really doesn’t take long to grab your local listings and ensure that you have control over them.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
» Is anyone checking in » See who publically checks in » Watch for positive or negative comments » Catch inappropriate photos » Post specials and events » From Android/iOS, or desktop
ACTION: MONITOR FOURSQUARE
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – MONITOR YOUR FOURSQUARE ACTIVITY Are you monitoring your buildings Foursquare activity? » Is anyone checking in » See who publically checks in » Watch for positive or negative comments » Catch inappropriate photos » Post specials and events » From Android/iOS, or desktop
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
How many of you who desire article comments, amplification of your social posts, and professional recommendations take the time to provide them?
WHY DOESN’T ANYONE
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – WHY DOESN’T ANYONE… How many of you who desire article comments, amplification of your social posts, and professional recommendations take the time to provide them?
OWNERSHIP Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Your Business Is Worth Ownership Pretend that this is the old west and you can very inexpensively go out and lay claim to a piece of property to call your own. It may seem like a lot right now, but it is the best investment you can make, because it is an investment in yourself. And you’re worth it! photo by: me, Kevin Mullett.
@kmullett
WHY THE WEB IS THE MARKETING CENTER
» Works WITH all other marketing 24/7 lead generation » Where people do research (At their pace not yours)
» Easy, quick, and inexpensive updates
A NetCentered approach
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Why The Web Is The Marketing Center This is what we refer to as a NetCentered marketing approach. » Works WITH all other marketing 24/7 lead generation » Where people do research� (At their pace not yours) » Easy, quick, and inexpensive updates A NetCentered approach
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
ACTION: START BLOGGING
Be an expert in your area. » Convert customer question
response emails into posts » More to share via social » Use video reviews & stories » Link to specific information
pages from blog posts » Get guest bloggers
yoursite.com/blog vs
blog.othersite.com
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Start Blogging Thoughts on efficiently blogging for products and services. Convert product question response emails into posts Get guest bloggers Have them share via social Use video reviews & stories Link to specific product(s) and service offering pages from blog posts.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
Clients often talk about how hard it is to find things to blog or post news about when in reality it’s right in front of them. Don’t give away traffic, search engine optimization and brand visibility to third party sites or email only responses.
WHAT TO WRITE
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – What To Write Clients often talk about how hard it is to find things to blog or post news about when in reality it’s right in front of them. Don’t give away traffic, search engine optimization and brand visibility to third party sites or email only responses.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
ACTION: MEASURE IF IT WORKED • Monitor contacts, calls, lead sources (referrals) • Ask them! “How did you hear about us?” • Email subscriptions and network growth (quality) • Check Google Analytics, Google Webmaster tools
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Measure The Results Success can mean different things to different types of businesses and communities. We want to monitor where leads are coming from. Do they result from a happier community? We also want to monitor if there is a higher satisfaction for issue resolution. What is the current customer satisfaction ranking. We can also look to see if social participation is increasing traffic to our website and landing page effectiveness, conversion funnels, bounce rates, time on site, and many other types of clues in order to fine tune ROI. We can also use the new Google Analytics annotation feature so you can look back and recall what caused traffic spikes.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
BONUS: GET COMFY ON CAMERA
Video may give that extra visibility you need! » Differentiate from your competition » Easy and inexpensive to embed from Youtube » Increased visibility & no plug-in
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Get Comfy on Camera Get comfortable in front of a camera because video is playing an ever increasing role. Video may give that extra oomph you need! differentiate from your competition easy and inexpensive increased visibility For our type of business? Will it blend, razor commercial and bubble wrap vs press.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
BONUS: BE PREPARED TO BE SOCIAL
Are you keeping up and prepared to communicate how others wish to be communicated with? » Facebook » Skype » Google+ » Using Social Apps
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Be Prepared Are you keeping up and prepared to communicate how others wish to be communicated with? » Facebook » Skype » Google+ » Using Social Apps
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
Facebook events » No formal signup » No info gathering » No commitment » Not for everyone
BONUS: PUT EVENTS ON YOUR BLOG
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Put Your Events On Your Blog Facebook events are easy and cheap, but you sacrifice real thoughtful signups, info gathering, and at times a commitment to come. What about people who are not on Facebook?
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
BONUS: KEEP TRAFFIC, SEO & VISIBILITY!
Embed signup capability via services like eventbrite
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Keep Your Traffic, SEO, and Visibility Embed signup capability via services like eventbrite Clients often talk about how hard it is to find things to blog or post news about when in reality they are letting things they are already doing go un-optimized. Don’t give away traffic, search engine optimization and brand visibility to third party sites.
Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism @kmullett
Humanize your message, Encourage conversation, Listen first, Promote Less.
H.E.L.P PHILOSOPHY
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – USE THE H.E.L.P. PHILOSOPHY H.E.L.P. philosophy = Humanize your message, Encourage conversation, Listen first, Promote Less.
ME @CirrusABS
search “Kevin Mullett” bit.ly/aboutKM
@kmullett
Text “like cirrusabs” to 32665
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – Let’s Connect Search for Kevin Mullett, find me on a network you already participate on and say hello. http://www.kevinmullett.com/about/ and check out http://www.cirrusabs.com/. Picture by: Joe Shoemaker - http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshoe/5740389452/
Find out what’s in The Puzzle Box. bit.ly/thepuzzlebox
You may also like these helpful slides: » Mobile Marketing (Includes 6 things you must consider before your next website development project)
» Audio, Video, and Imagery for Online Marketing (Includes over 100 tools!)
Text “like cirrusabs” to 32665 @CirrusABS
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism - GET TIPS, TRICKS, INVITES, AND INFO Find out what’s in The Puzzle Box - bit.ly/thepuzzlebox You may also like these helpful slides: » Mobile Marketing (Includes 6 things you must consider before your next website development project) » Audio, Video, and Imagery for Online Marketing (Includes over 100 tools!)
Photography by Kevin Mullett or Stock agencies unless noted below. West McGowan – empty billboard Joe Shoemaker – untitled pic of me
cirrusabs.com / @cirrusabs @kmullett
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// Connect For Success Tourism Conference #wctourism – PHOTO ATTRIBUTIONS Don’t wait to start building your online and offline network. Need an easy start? Search for Kevin Mullett, find me on a network you already participate on and say hello.