The Internet equivalent to an infomercial is a webinar. Intended to be web based seminars (hence the name) they’ve become synonymous with a one-way pitch for a product or service.

As an added bonus, you can record your webinar and post it to your website to use over and over again. You can make clips from the webinar that answers specific questions and use those answers in your virtual FAQ.

Combine the power of coupons with the crowd sourcing of services like LivingSocial and Groupon you will have an almost unstoppable force driving traffic to your front door. By offering discounted goods or services through these sites, you use their power of amplification to extend your message to their clientele.

In their original concept, shipping that many boxes would have required hundreds of calls each day to FedEx to create the necessary Airbill for each box but instead, they piloted a new program with us called Powership.

The Powership program was a stroke of operational genius. Rather than paying operators to take the call (along with their office space, equipment, etc), they shifted the data entry onto the shipping customer. Remarkably, the customer didn’t mind at all!

Why?

FedEx’s customers didn’t mind because they were getting added value from the program as well. In today’s vernacular, it was a win-win situation. In my company’s case, we automated the association of the tracking number with the shipment. It’s simple in today’s standards but a real breakthrough for the time.

Ok, great for FedEx… what about me and my business? There are a number of services that can provide value to your customer and help you at the same time. Depending on your type of business it could be as simple as sharing design files with Dropbox or being able to pay their bill online with PayPal.

POWER TIP: Take a look at BookedIn.net. This web-based appointment scheduling system allows your customers to book their own appointments online, anytime, and will remind them with a text or email. With a little system magic, you can even have your off-line appointments added to the system to take advantage of the reminder system. You have fewer missed appointments and your customers have perceived added value! Win-Win… sounds familiar?

There are a number of good event promotion social sites, the most popular of which is MeetUp.com.

In addition to special purpose sites like MeetUp, sites like LinkedIn and Facebook have support for events as well.

I’d like to have a word with you… The first 50 people to whisper “word of the day” at each Sprinkles receive a free dark chocolate!

Now I’m not a big cupcake fan but this is genius marketing at work. This promotional method has developed a faithful flock of followers who check in EVERY MORNING for deal of the day. As of this writing Sprinkles has 92,000 followers hanging on their every tweet.

If you pursue this pattern, your offers don’t have to be free product or discounts, although those will work the best. You also don’t have to post one every day but do post them regularly. Finally, I would not suggest turning down another customer if they ask for the same discount even though they didn’t know the “secret word.” The discount or free product will cost you pennies but the bad from refusing the discount will cost you much, much more.

He was in a panic because he had gotten a negative comment on his Facebook page, something about a long wait and a non-attentive staff. He went on to explain how it wasn’t fair because he was short a tech that day and, well, you get the story…

I asked him if he’d replied to the negative comment, he said no. I asked why not, he replied that he had no idea what to say.

“What would you say if I were that customer right now Greg?”

“I’d apologize, explain the reason for the problem, and ask you to come back, it was an unusual day.”

“So what’s wrong with saying that in your reply?”

Silence…

The social web is about relationships and just because you’re not speaking with them face to face doesn’t mean the message should change. I encouraged Greg to reply to the comment, he did, and the customer replied and was grateful. Relationship saved!

But wait…

How many other customers had the same experience that day, and rather than write about it just decided they wouldn’t go back? How many potential customers would have read that comment and decided to keep looking rather than deal with a vet that was slow and inattentive?

By responding to the comment in the same venue, you not only give the customer a satisfaction of knowing you care and you’re willing to fix the problem, you also give the scores of other readers a chance to see and benefit from the same interaction.

A word of caution is in line here as well. While I DO believe you should respond to all comments, good and bad, I DO NOT believe you should engage in a shouting match or flame war online. It is very easy to misinterpret the words of others when they are printed on the screen and thus very easy to respond the wrong way to the wrong problem.

If the reply and response break down into name calling, finger pointing, fisticuffs… just delete the comment, ban the commenter and move on. YOU WILL NOT WIN A BATTLE LIKE THAT IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION, no matter how right you are!

Online commerce if fueled by feedback and more so each day, offline commerce is influenced by feedback. You can’t stop it or control it, but you can, you must, embrace it!

On the social web this can take many forms. In addition to the aforementioned email, you can:

● Re-tweet messages of success on Twitter

● Share and Like successes on Facebook and LinkedIn

● Write your own profiles for your website

While it is perfectly normal to focus these efforts of successes your customers have had with your product or service, don’t stop there. In fact, it is powerfully effective to focus on successes not related to your business. This shows that your interests extend beyond a sales pitch and further solidified the relationship both with your customers and with others that see it!

We looked at defining your perfect customer, your avatar. With this information in hand, you can now set out looking for destinations both in town and on the web that may cater to those customers. After identifying these properties, it is not just a matter of reaching out to the owners of those sites to establish a co-marketing relationship.

So what kind of relationships works? If you are a plumber, find an electrician or HVAC mechanic. Veterinarians can partner with groomers and pet stores. Bail bondsman, meet short term loans! There are lots of businesses that serve similar demographics. I bet you can come up with a list of half a dozen or more in just a few minutes. If you can’t, reach out to me on my blog at { http://www.jtrigsby.com/ } and I’ll help!

Now with an idea for a partner, what kind of co-marketing activities can you undertake? Well, just about anything that doesn’t compete with your new marketing partner. Share email addresses or exchange ads in one another’s list. Tweet and re-tweet, like and share, or re-pin each other’s work. The possibilities are endless.

By the way, don’t think you have to have all the answers before contacting your potential marketing partner. They might have some pretty good ideas of their own too!

POWER TIP: One idea I’ve seen used with some success is a virtual scavenger hunt. Two, three, or more businesses join forces to post clues to “hidden treasures” either around town or around the Internet. By hiding clues or prizes at each participating business’ site or place of business, all the businesses benefit from the program.

Even better than creating a persona is just simply being yourself, especially if you are a professional (doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc) but this will also work if you’re a plumber, piano teacher, or bail bondsman. Your customers want to know that they can trust you, they want to connect with the person whom they will let into their house or sharing their personal business with. This is one reason platforms like Facebook and Twitter work so well!

Keeping your message out in front of your prospects and customers is critical to your success and is not as difficult as you might believe.

As part of an integrated marketing plan, your weekly email newsletter can recap blog posts made to your website, updates posted to Twitter and Facebook, even highlight a testimonial or favorite customer. Your marketing calendar will fill out the newsletter with upcoming coupons, promotions or events. Done correctly and using the right tools, much of this content creation can be automated and can certainly be outsourced.

As critical as a piece of your marketing plan as email is, it is useless unless you build a list of quality email addresses. I’m always surprised to work with clients who say they don’t have enough business, would like to have more, but don’t email even their existing customers for whom they already have email addresses!

It doesn’t matter whether you purchase a list or build the list organically from your customers and visitors to your site… as long as you BUILD A LIST!