Finding your Focus.

Some people have a big vision.  It is complex.  It is beautiful.  It is impossible.  These kinds of people (myself included) need to find a focus for their energy, a single "part" of the vision that we can execute to.  Here are 3 steps to finding a single focus.

1.) Consider a formal marketing plan.  A formal marketing plan (such as I have described how to develop in detail), can help to focus your thoughts... specifically the sentence: "we are a x, that does x, for x, and unlike other x, we x".  Very effective (thanks Barry Raskin for teaching me!)

2.) Minimize your MVP.  I've spoken about MVP in the past, but this time, consider, is your MVP truly minimum?  Sometimes to find your focus, you have to build an MVP & discover if it really is V (Viable).

3.) Revise.  Inevitably you will fail.  Recognizing the failure and buliding a NEW MVP (in line with the original vision) is a must... in short: revise.

Now, get out there and build something!

My new startup, Karmaback, nominated for COOLEST NEW COMPANY from Austin Business Journal (ABJ).

We're very pleased to have been nominated for "Coolest New Company" by the Austin Business Journal.

Please take a moment to vote for us!  (takes just 5 seconds)
http://abjentrepreneur.com/contest_nomination.html

And if you don't know what Karmaback is... shame on you!  Check us out here: http://karmaback.com 

Vote for us... its good Karma!
You could Get Some Karma Back!

Obvious and True: Fans and Followers are a Very Targeted Audience.

One of my favorite blogs (The Marketingsherpa Blog) recently posted the result of a study that showed "like search traffic, social media traffic tends to be very qualified” This stunning statement came from Maura Ginty, Senior Manager, Search and Social, Autodesk.  Is it any big surprise?  


Let me think, people who like you, follow you, fan you, or are searching for you on social networks are a targeted audience.  While this does seem obvious at first glance, what is interesting about what Autodesk has done is that they actually developed a keen way to measure it.  Unfortunately, their measurement stops at "sentiment".  Karmaback would like to take that measurement all the way through the sale.


According to Adam Sutton (Marketingsherpa),  "the [Autodesk] team can calculate the velocity of a marketing message — the number of people a message reaches in a certain amount of time in social media — and combine it with a sentiment analysis".  And while this is nice... speed of message, sentiment of message, I find it lacking in 1 key area: the Sales!  Why is it people assume that sentiment leads to sales?  


Remember, for a sale to happen, you need to have 3 key elements: demand (sure, we can call that sentiment), price (there needs to be a match between price and demand!  Economics 101), and place (a place to buy, to shop, to complete the purchase, that is convenient & fast).


Here's a Social Marketing Tip.  Ask for the sale!  Heck, even play with the price (promotions).  While you are at it, why not let them go ahead and buy, directly inside Facebook?  (place).

Months and Months of work PAY OFF. Karmaback Social Sweepstakes+ is live.

After months and months of hard work, Karmaback's Social Sweepstakes+ is finally live!

My new startup, Karmaback, is finally finished with our private Betas, our testings, our public Betas, and our trials.  We have the case studies, we have the FULLY AUTOMATED setup process, and we've hooked in to Paypal for payment.  Karmaback is now officially live.

In case you wonder what Karmaback Social Sweepstakes is, and why we created it... here's the skinny:

Karmaback is a Social Network Marketing company that helps companies grow fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter and uniquely rewards users for engagement and sharing with Karmaback Points.

The Benefits:

• Gain Fans & Followers
• Build Loyalty & Evangelists
• Get Sales & Justify Marketing

How do we do that?  Simple.

1. Set up a Social Network Sweepstakes with Karmaback (a Social Sweepstakes+)
2. Let us manage the sweepstakes & provide "viral growth" features, like social sharing & more.
3. Use Karmaback's other tools for "after-sweepstakes" follow-up, including Social Discounts & Karmaback rewards for purchase!

Yep.  Our vision is here.  We really can help companies get real measurable increases in Fans and Followers, and help turn that attention into "Rewarded" engagement & "real" revenue.

Enjoy folks,

And do provide feedback to help us make this service even better!