‘Word of MOUSE’ is today’s “word of mouth” marketing; now one person sharing with HUNDREDS of people via social media. We focus on re-crafting marketing to be customer-focused then strategically delivered over appropriate social media channels for take-it-to-the-BANK results! Listen NOW!
Click Here for WOMB Downloadable pdf file How Can You Elevate YOUR Business In The Eyes of Current & Potential Customers? Hold onto your socks, or toes; whichever is easily accessible. This strategy is going to surprise you. AND because only the tiniest percentage of businesses commit to this, it is another, very powerful, strategy to set your business apart from others in your industry, develop raving fans, and loyal customers! So let’s get started. You’ve heard from your family, friends, acquaintances, strangers—a good 1000+ times, if you’ve heard it once, references to ‘gifts that keep on giving.’ Quite probably, this quote could reference both positive and negative examples. This use is all positive. I am not talking about free reports as an enticement for a prospect to provide their email address, etc. I’m not even talking about a “value added” bonus, which you might include with a product, service or information product. Here, I am talking about another powerful opportunity to be of service to your target audience, by providing a gift to address their needs. A gift that will indeed, keep on giving, to you as well as to your target audience: This additive does require ongoing attention Can be a core component to “brand building” for your business Acts as a catalyst toward gathering rewards through your new marketing strategy—rewards for your target audience and for your business’ bottom line. The gift is your business providing some source of digital information—a blog, podcast, Facebook Group, an “Ask Annie / Ask Us” Website or a separate area of your exiting Website—which addresses one or two challenges, or concerns, shared by those individuals which make up your target audience. And . . . this is the IMPORTANT part, you provide these resources . . . without any selling! “What!?,” you say. Yes, this strategy involves a bit of a trust, a leap-of-faith. But if you provide an information venue which addresses issues especially relevant to your target audience; provide this from a perspective this is not part of your actual, going-out-there-to-sell marketing, it will make a huge difference to your target audience—your current and prospective customers/clients. This is your business providing information that is valuable to your target audience. This is you, as a business owner, building relationships, which leads to trust. And when prospects trust you, they’re going to end up coming to you when they do need a product or a service that you offer. They will want to come to you, someone they’ve learned to trust, instead of searching for someone else. This results in sales. It just doesn’t do so initially. This strategy is slightly indirect but still amazingly powerful. This strategy has already made amazing differences for large businesses and even small businesses, such as River Pools & Spas in the state of Virginia. This approach is worthy. Yes, it’s different, but it is worth your time and effort! Do’s: The information can be in a domain you own, even a section of your main domain You must do the ‘marketing’ of your “gift area” to point your target audience to exactly where that information exists Somewhere in your graphic, or at the byline, place: “this blog/venue is authored, or managed, by MyCompany.com” Do say “Go to OurWebsite.com/specialized_information” or “Go to SpecializedInformation.com.” It is permissible, as well as important, to have subtle branding somewhere on the Web pages of your ‘gift’ area, whether that area is within your primary domain or on a separate domain, which you may decide to set up for this information. Don’ts: Do not say, “Go to OurMainWebsite.com and click on such-and-such particular link” to direct prospects to access your “gift information” area Your ‘gift’ area cannot have anything that really tries to take your Website visitor back to your products/services or says, “Oh, hey, click here to see our great products/services.
Click Here for Downloadable pdf file of WOMB8 Once Upon a—Business—Time . . . Adding ‘story’ to your marketing message, is the next level for “upgrading” your “Secret Sauce.” What does “story” have to do with business . . .? Everything! Writing your marketing content as a story, speaking to your target audience through story, helps your customer, or prospective customer, identify with what’s being said in your marketing message. It translates into “your company has what they need.” It improves how your prospect “bonds” with you. Additionally, story multiplies the possibility that your prospect will remember your marketing message! Your customers and potential customers want to hear that someone cares about them and what they need. They want to hear from someone who has ‘walked a mile in their shoes; or just know that they are listening to someone who knows what it is that they (the target audience) want. If you want your message to do more than get through that ‘white noise’ of 30,000 per day marketing messages, if you want your message to really resonate, or ‘ring true,’ for your target audience, then ‘story’ is the tool to use. Story can ensure your message stands apart from the ‘marketing din’ that your target audience is exposed to on a daily basis. As humans, we want stories. Humans LOVE stories. Even if you don’t watch television, how much time do most of the people you know spend watching television? Television is full of story. Do you enjoy reading books—novels, biographies, autobiographies, science fiction? Whatever kind of reading you prefer, there is an element of story. Do you enjoy magazines or newspapers—online or offline? Lots of story there. The same with movies. Movies, dramas, comedies, talk shows, even sports commentaries and news shows—all full of story. Why is ‘Story’ so Important? Let’s say you are re-crafting your marketing messages: You have written a new article/blog post and published it to the blog on your business Website. This new article has been on your site for a couple of weeks now and you’re a little excited about it because it is already attracting more readers than any of your previous posts. So, something new is happening on your Website—more visitors. Maybe some of these visitors are looking through your blog, or even your Website, to see if there’s anything else there that will help them. Now, more people are finding the information which you have re- crafted to ‘speak’ from the perspective of your target audience. Score one for you! But getting “eyeballs” to come and see your Website isn’t all that is needed. Now that more people are finding your Website information, how long will they stay once they arrive? If they haven’t found what they’re looking for in 6-8 seconds, they will move on to the next search result! Statistically speaking, that’s all you get—6-8seconds of “eyeball time” before a Website visitor moves on to the next result, if they haven’t found what they were looking for in your Website. The new article you wrote had to have sounded like information they needed for them to go to your Website. Will that article deliver on the ‘promise’ it implied? What happens next? Will they: start to read and find that it falls short of their expectations, moving on to another search result before they even finish your information? Read the entire piece but then move on because it doesn’t really answer their question, solve their problem or direct them to the solution to their problem (which may be somewhere else on your Website)? Read the entire piece, maybe look at something else on your Website and then move on to do some “comparison shopping” before deciding which business/source to choose? Read your information piece and stop in their tracks, thinking—this is IT. This is exactly what I was looking for, exactly what I need. Then purchase your product from your Website or engage in a live chat to clarify some specificati...
Click here for WOMB7 Show Notes as a downloadable pdf Imagine prospective customers searching for answers to their questions or solutions to their problems—those questions or problems that have to do with the products/services your business offers. Then imagine, that among the best results from their online search are a blog post, an article, a how-to video, or Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) which was posted on YOUR website. And when they reach for that answer, it is you, your business, providing the answer to their question. What would that be worth to you? As a business owner, this is the result you want from your marketing efforts--to be the solution to your prospective customers needs. Now, for the question . . . IS that currently the result of your marketing efforts? Are the new, and return, visitors to your Website / your blog, individuals who need the products, or services, your business provides? Or, if your business is a 'brick and mortar' store and you do not have an online presence--do new visitors to your store return to your store? Do they purchase your products/services? You may be wondering, how can you know if visitors to your Web site or blog are individuals who need your products / services? You can tell by how long they spend at your Web site. Are they there more than 6-8 seconds? If so, they believe that there is information there that they want. If a Web visitor is on your Web site long enough to check out, and read, your product/service pages or articles/blog posts, it signals greater interest, or need. If a visitor returns to your site and again spends time there, they are looking for reasons to to trust you as a vendor for their need. This brings us to the next question . . . do you continue to provide fresh content (information) which your target audience needs? Being in the business that you are in, you probably know several things about your target audience, your ideal customers—those individuals who need your products or services. Such as, what types of problems would someone who needs your products/services have? What challenges might they face? If you can list some of the problems and challenges that your ideal customers have and create a variety of materials (special reports, blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc.) which solve each of those problems, answers those questions, or satisfy those curiosities, you can position your business as the one prospective customers turn to for answers. You can position your business as the business which solves their problems. And if, when your prospective customers are searching for solutions, the best and better results that come up are from your business, you become the solution to their problem. How powerful is that? When your prospective customer is searching for information details about a product/service, they might also look for “How is a certain product made,” “How is service X structured,” or “What goes on behind the scenes of a business that makes your products or provides your services? When their best search results come from your business, you are again positioning your business as a source of solutions for them. As prospective customers see, and continue to see, your business being the source which answers their questions, provides the solutions to their problems, and satisfies their curiosity, those prospects also begin identifying you as an expert in your field. It is then that a trust relationship begins forming with those prospective customers. When those prospects need to purchase the products/services you provide, which business storefront or Website are they are more likely to go to for that purchase? The storefront / Website / business owner that they have come to know as an expert and have grown to trust, of course! Don't you want that business, that business owner, to be YOU? Well, gone are the days when prospective customers are impressed by only how often they see your business name or how you are the "best,
Click here for Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf When the content of your marketing messages is focused on the needs and problems of your target audience with information and keywords important to these prospects, your buiness message is far more likely to be found during online searches. It is also more likely to be remembered, whether it was seen online or offline, because you are speaking to your prospective customer rather than pushing your business at them. No one likes to be “sold,” but most everyone likes to buy things they want. Customer-focused messages transform your marketing into customer magnets! A Step-by-Step ‘Base’ Recipe to YOUR “Secret Sauce” for Customer-Focused Messages Write all your marketing messages content from the perspective of your target audience—online and offline. Talk to your prospects, not at them. Carefully review all marketing messages to make certain they contain words and phrases that your target audience would use when searching for what they want. Caution: be certain you are talking to your prospects rather than search engines. Avoid becoming obsessed and over-packing your messages with keyword after keyword, such that your messages no longer sound like people talking to each other. Search engines are targeting-“tools,” not your target audience. Be the solution to the problems your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website Be the source of answers to the questions your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website. Be the source of answers to the curiosities your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website. Decide upon a plan for how often you will add new content to your Website—remember these are new reasons for prospects to visit your marketing messages, and new opportunities to strengthen your ‘expert’ position as well as develop the trust of your target audience. And all of this is without paying for AdWords and expensive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies! When your marketing messages and Website content are focused on serving your customers, including thoughtful consideration of which keywords your customers and target audience would most likely be using, your Website content IS your SEO strategy. Who’s Doing It Right? While representing only a very small percentage of the businesses involved in marketing both online and offline, there are businesses are out there that do already create their marketing messages from the perspective of their target audience. Would it surprise you to discover that those businesses that develop their messages in this manner are also particularly successful? A few examples: at the Enterprise level include Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, and Red Bull; on the small business level, there are “River Pools & Spas” in the U.S. state of Virginia and Dinesen Flooring in Denmark. I know what you’re thinking. Well, yeah! Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), Red Bull—they have MASSIVE UBER-budgets. They can pursue any marketing idea they want. What can that possibly have to do with my small business? Yes, Enterprise-level businesses have budgets which, if we say them out-loud, could make us break out in a zero-envy rash. We can’t play in their ‘financial’ ballpark. However, we can emulate their strategies by acting on what these businesses, collectively, are doing right. We can also realize not all Enterprise-level businesses are doing it right; actually, most of them are not. So, money is not the difference. Insight, choice and execution, through resourceful and creative emulation, is the difference. And small business owners can capitalize on that difference. The Enterprise business examples above are not each utilizing all of the powerful pieces of effective customer-focused marketing. Only Red Bull is doing it all! I’ve spent a few years reviewing and studying thousands of Websites and several hundred businesses,
WOMB4 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf A Social Media Marketing Example: Business Goes From Zero to Hero in 24 Hours I’ll share with you a great example of one customer’s huge problem with a company, which transformed into an amazing “save” for the business because that company utilized social media channels and actively participated in those channels. This is a true story, shared at a marketing conference I attended: a bride-to-be orders her wedding dress online from a business in New York. Her wedding dress arrives but there is a problem with the dress—it is not the exact dress she ordered. Our bride-to-be is distraught. The time difference prevents her from being able to call the business directly when she discovers the problem. Even if she does talk to them, returning the dress for a replacement won’t help her. She lives in South Africa. Shipping the dress already took two weeks, and she doesn’t have two more weeks to wait. Her wedding is sooner than that. Our bride shares her angst on the business’ Facebook Fan Page, saying she ordered “x” dress for her wedding. She explains that she can’t wear the dress that arrived, and it took two weeks just to get the dress to her in South Africa. Worse, she continues, her wedding takes place before she could possibly get a replacement. The next morning in New York, an employee at the wedding dress shop who shares the responsibility of keeping tabs on their social media, sees our bride’s distressed Facebook posting. The employee notifies the manager of the problem. The business is already checking their sales records to see if they can identify the customer by what was posted on their Facebook Page and work out a solution. When the distraught bride-to-be does call, she is surprised by the business saying they were glad she contacted them. They had been working to identify her order, based on her posting to their Facebook Page. They explained that the Manager was waiting to speak with her personally. A few details were clarified and then they had the exact dress she had ordered. The Manager double checked the details of the dress and told our bride-to-be that the store would pay for immediate overnight delivery of this replacement dress to her. This business having social media channels and being active in those channels, allowed the dress shop to turn one bride-to-be’s nightmare into an unusually positive experience. There would have undoubtedly been more negative posts from this distraught customer, and other prospective customers would have been affected by her upset, as well as several ‘sympathy posts’ from other brides-to-be. Our once distraught bride-to-be did end up writing several other postings. However, in this positive outcome, those posts were all very positive: how the business was expecting her call, was already working to solve her problem before she even spoke to them on the phone, and paid to have the replacement overnighted to her in South Africa. A woman scorned by a business was transformed into a woman understood and taken care of at a time when it mattered most. The business went from “Zero,” potential “social media leper,” to Hero inside of 24 hours! Could the wedding dress crisis have had a positive outcome without the business being involved in social media? For the bride-to-be . . . absolutely! But it wouldn’t have had the over-the-top element of unexpected recognition from the dress shop, already working to solve her crisis before she could even call the business directly. And what would the outcome of this crisis have looked like for the business, were they not utilizing social media channels? Well, if the bride-to-be was unable to share her upset on the dress shop’s Facebook Page—her only after-hours access to that business—our distraught bride-to-be would have definitely released her angst somewhere else. As a matter of fact, she probably did post on her own Facebook profile and/or Twitter in addition to posting on the business’ Fa...
WOMB5 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf Status Quo Marketing: Messages With No “Secret Sauce” There exist tons upon tons of marketing in our world: in print, in display ads, and on the Internet. Almost all of it focuses on the companies which are doing the marketing; meaning, the marketing messages are about how Company X: is #4 in their overall industry, the best of their industry in their home state or county, have this or that award for [fill in the blank], or even have been in business since Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. These ads are also focusing on the products and/or services they offer, including their features and benefits. You may be thinking, “Well, of course! The business needs to state their standing in their industry. If they are highly recognized, have a long legacy of being in business, or display testimonials from satisfied customers—if they can. That’s what inspires confidence in potential customers. So these potential customers choose that business over another competing business. That is the purpose of marketing.” And, if this is your thought, you would be correct. That is what marketing is and what marketing has been for decades—the development of messages that profess the awesome-ness of a company. It starts with how one business owner’s company is better than Company B or Company C because of the features of their product, the length of time they have been in business, the quality of their product, and their dedication to customer service, etc. So What’s Wrong? In the above example, I painted a very generic illustration of most of the marketing we see and hear, Company X claims its awesome-ness is greater than Company B or Company C, examples of their competition. Let’s call that generic example Company A. Well, just as you know everything about your business, Company A’s owner knows everything about Company A. And just like you, Company A’s owner is committed to having his/her marketing materials represent his/her Company in the best manner possible. However, Company A is speaking from its perspective—the perspective of Company A; how great their products and services, are, how great Company A is, what high percentages they may have achieved in their Quality Assurance, how they are the #1, or #2, or #10 out of 400,000 businesses that provide the same products/services, and why we should buy their stuff instead of buying from Company B or Company C, who offer the same, or similar, products/services. Yes, that is the third time I’ve made the point that marketing messages drone on and on about their business. This point is “business-critical” so I want to be certain I’ve driven the point into your thinking. Still, what exactly is wrong . . . ? Company A, as well as a minimum of 85+ % of business marketing media, speaks only from the perspective of the business not from the perspective of the customer they hope to attract to their business. Marketing Then vs. Today’s Marketing Message Tsunami Has this manner of marketing worked? Yes, it has—notice the past tense. Can it still work? Yes, but it is far less effective than it was in its “hey-day.” Consumers now are far more sophisticated. Back in the 1940s, for instance, catalogs, newspapers, flyers, magazines and radio delivered marketing messages were the norm. Some people were actually excited to see advertisements, since ads were the primary way to discover new possibilities in what was available. You just had to say how great your company was, what you had to offer, and how customers could get what you had. If your product/service was something the customer was looking for or wanted to have and could afford—done deal. While I wasn’t around in the 1940s, I have been around since the mid 1950s. No, I’m not going to tell you exactly how old I am; girls don’t do that. And the older we get, the less inclined we are to offer such ‘classified’ information. But why should you care about (approximately) how old I am?
WOMB3 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf Social media ushered a quantum leap change in the manner and speed at which people can share their opinions. And that speed is mind-boggling! But it's important to remember that word of mouth marketing can be positive or negative. You cannot control word of mouth marketing, you can only influence it. People can, and will, ‘sing your praises’ in social media when they are delighted with your products, services, and treatment of them during their purchase. However, one unfortunate feature of our human nature is that we tend to share our negative experiences more readily than our positive ones. No doubt, you realize that you must serve your customers well, for positive word of mouth and word of MOUSE to happen, continue, and to spread. Demonstrate your integrity to your customers with the information you provide to them and your target audience. Don't ever try to scam your target audience. Any bad content you create will be out there forever unless you pull it down. Keep in mind, there are domains where you cannot make the choice to take something “down” once it has been published. How embarrassing would it be for your business to be stuck with some especially self-serving piece of information, over pumped with “fluff” that doesn't help anybody, still hanging around the Internet, Because at one time, you wrote that piece PURELY to try to make your business look good without being interested in serving anyone else? Would you want to have shabby Web pages and/or articles still out there, possibly showing up in searches? For the best and long-term results, use this most powerful marketing tool--social media via the Internet-- with integrity. Yes, social media is the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal, but negative word of mouth marketing is a fact of life. Remember, human nature includes being more likely to actively share a negative experience than a positive one. Let's recap recent marketing history of how word of mouth marketing is carried, focusing on how customers/consumers express complaints. This illustrates how social media is also the most powerful tool in an unhappy customer’s arsenal. This social media sword has two edges! This virtual pen has two points! You need to be aware of both. When word of mouth marketing is negative, gone are the days when a particularly unhappy customer would simply send a letter to your business stating their dissatisfaction with your product/service or their treatment. Can you recall, how long did that process took? Maybe a little over two weeks, allowing for composing the letter, mailing the letter to your business, then your business responding to that customer. Go-ing are the days when the unhappy customer calls you on the phone to complain. Though the phone call is a fairly quick process, unless the customer has difficulty getting through to the person he/she needs to speak with to voice their complaint. Today, customers who are particularly unhappy with a business’s product, service, or treatment of their transaction can send you a scathing email and/or share their upset, globally, in a matter of seconds—via Facebook, Yelp, another online customer review site, YouTube, Twitter, and/or blog posts. The point is—social media is an incredibly powerful medium for both businesses and consumers! As a business owner, this may leave you feeling especially exposed. Are you thinking, “Whoa! That’s scary. I’ll just keep my business away from this social media stuff so I don’t invite ‘complainers’ and their issues to show up in any social media we might have considered utilizing.” Keeping your business from having its own social media presence does not keep social media from affecting your business. Social media is having a powerful effect on your business whether you embrace its use it or not. Either way, the effect it has will only become greater over time. Again, social media will continue to affect your business whether or...
WOMB2 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf Word of mouth marketing has been around for millennia. No doubt, even before the use of “money” as we know it. When ‘currency’ was just the trading of goods or services, there was word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth marketing has always been a best friend of business owners. Let's say, your business takes care of a new customer, we’ll call him Brandon. Brandon is especially happy with your product or service and shares his positive experience with his wife, his parents, and his brother. A few weeks later, he also talks to someone he overhears at the hardware store, needing that same product or service. Brandon’s hardware store acquaintance comes to you, asking that you take care of him as you took care of Brandon. At a later point in time, another new customer comes in. When you ask how they heard about you, they admit hearing about your work from their wife, whose friend’s husband talked about how happy he was with the product or service your business provided. You did not market to these two new customers. One of your very satisfied customers, Brandon, did that marketing for you. These new customers came to you, ready to do business with you, as a result of the quality of business you had already provided to Brandon. That is an example of word of mouth marketing. If you provide excellent service to these two new customers, they may also ‘sing your praises’ to people they know, which is how word of mouth marketing continues to grow and positively impact your business. Well word of mouth marketing has changed . . . As we developed new technologies for travel and communication, the method and speed of sharing our experiences with others has also changed. We move differently, and faster, alongside those evolving travel and communication methods. The Internet is one of those more recent communication methods. As the Internet grew, its content became less predominantly that of educational institutions, governments or businesses producing content directed at organizations and individuals. Somewhere along the way,other online environments started popping up—online customer review sites and other sites where many people—particularly consumers—were able to communicate with many other peoples. These online environments were social networking sites. The one-to-many and many-to-many models of communication that occur within these evironments are the essence of the power of social media, also known as social networking. New technologies developed and new ideas for online social communications were launched or added to existing online environments. These online environments/venues/platforms where many people were sharing their thoughts and opinions with many other people came to be referred to as social networking and finally “social media.” What matters to you, as a business owner, is that online social media is a predominating force on the Internet. It has also become a predominating force in commercial business, education, community development even government, and other organizations. Word of mouth marketing has gone electronic. Word of mouth is no longer only a one-to-one or a one-to-few-person sharing of a positive or negative experience with a merchant. Word of mouth marketing is now - email; - it’s online customer review sites. - It’s consumers responding to articles or posts on blogs saying what they like and do not like about items, products, services, and businesses. - It’s consumers publishing their opinions on your business blog, if you have one. If you don’t a business blog or don't allow comments on your blog, consumers will post their thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Yelp, via a text message to friends, and/or on a consumer blog. - Word of mouth has become “Word of MOUSE” . . . communication to many via one, or more, electronic mediums! Social media is an incredible opportunity to reach more potential customers than you coul...
WOMB1 Show Notes as Downloadable pdf NEW Book Word of MOUSE - Today's Word of Mouth Marketing: How to Use Social Media in Small Business for Take-it-to-the-BANK Results Available on Amazon on 11/12/13. That's Tuesday, Nov. 12 Online Book Launching Party 11/12/13, 1-3 PM Pacific Standard Time Amazon purchases on 11/12/13 get FREE social media marketing consultation for their business Welcome to episode one of the Word of MOUSE Blog Show; an introduction to our show. I'm your host, Viver Israel, Founder and Chief Marketing Strategist of MIYPmarketing. That's M-I-Y-P as in Money in Your Pocket Marketing. What if . . . the customers / clients who need what you do in your business came flocking to your storefront, or Website? What difference would that make in your life? What difference would that make in your finances? What would your business look like if that happened? Does this sound like a fantasy, because it’s not what you are currently experiencing in your business? The ability to bring that image much closer to a take-it-to-the-bank reality can rest in a simple shift of how you develop your marketing messages and where and how those messages are delivered. This shift that will result in: Many more potential customers discovering that your business exists More of those prospects who have newly discovered your business wanting to learn more about what you have to help them Developing those new potential customers into paying customers Getting more referrals from both happy customers and happy “followers” of your business’ informational content ‘Word of MOUSE’ is today’s “word of mouth” marketing. This electronic re-expression of word of mouth travels at far faster speeds and is available for viewing, reviewing and interpretation at the incredible speed of today’s technology. I am on a mission to revolutionize how small businesses develop their marketing messages to achieve those results for small business owners, like you! So why call it Word of MOUSE ? Word of MOUSE is today's electronic, online social networking and mobile device sharing of word of mouth also known as word of mouth marketing. It's true! Word of mouth has gone electronic. Word of mouth has always been among the strongest forms of marketing. In today's market, Word of mouth is no longer only a one-to-one or one-to-few sharing of a positive, or negative experience with a merchant. Word of mouth marketing is now, more often than not, a one-to-many, and many-to-many sharing via social media/social networking. Word of mouth marketing is now email; it’s online customer review sites. It’s consumers responding to articles/posts on blogs saying what they like and do not like about things, products, services, and businesses. It’s consumers publishing their opinions on your business blog, if you have one. If you don’t allow comments on your business blog, consumers will post their thoughts on Facebook, and/or Twitter, and/or LinkedIN, and/or Yelp, and/or via a text message to friends, and/or on a consumer blog. Word of mouth has become “Word of MOUSE” . . . communication to many via one, or more, electronic mediums! The word of MOUSE blog show is one way I can share our work with you, the small business owner. Readers of our new book Word of MOUSE - Today's Word of Mouth Marketing can also use this podcast and blog as a place to pose questions and communicate with other small business owners working toward those take-it-to-the-BANK results. The word of mouse book will be available on Amazon on 11/12/13. That's Tuesday Nov 12. There will be an online book launching party from 1-3 PM Pacific Standard Time. As a book launch BONUS, anyone purchasing the Word of MOUSE book from Amazon on Tues Nov 12 is eligible for a FREE social media marketing consultation for their business. I just finished saying how social media, when used effectively and strategically, is an incredible marketing tool for small business ...