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Tweets
- Jordan Powers + Sydney Baxter, Grad 2013! (@ Delta Grand Okanagan Hotel - @deltahotelsltd) [pic]: http://t.co/zD1GRaoM4S
- @canadiatx Finally! :)
- @OYPcollective thx for the rt! cc @metabridge
- LAST DAY to grab your early bird ticket - @metabridge 2013 Finale Party: http://t.co/D9vYZJGNOi
- @logangraham Hey Logan. Got ur message. Just replied. Looking forward to chatting with you some more about volunteering for @metabridge!
- RT @metabridge: metabridge finale party -- who's coming with us? Early bird price ends in 2 days! http://t.co/TCGKcPIOBMMay 12, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- RT @metabridge: June is approaching fast! Have you got your tix to #metabridge yet? @paulsingh will be there, will you? http://t.co/zi27eDu…May 12, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- MT @AccelerateOK: get behind-the-scenes at 1 of the premiere tech events in the country? Volunteer for @metabridge dennis@digitalokanagan.caMay 12, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Sangria challenge. Lilly makes the best backyard Sangria! Any takers?... I get to be the judge :) @… http://t.co/yz3ahlXx5f
- @punctdesigns ..I have friends in interactive media and game production in Van that still might take my calls :). Happy to refer you.
- @punctdesigns well that sucks... Maybe not for u... But for the community here. If I can connect to anyone down there please let me know...
- @punctdesigns ummm leaving?? ... As in leaving town? ... As in relocating??
- With the Nolan-Kelowna team solving cases and making sales (at @BLENZCOFFEE) [pic]: http://t.co/zD0arpnoxL
- Ditto! :) > RT @Christinianity: @jvdw @squawkfox thanks to both of you for the great talks! Thoroughly enjoyed both of them #MADnightskl
- @punctdesigns glad u could make it out tonight! #MADNightsKL
- RT @digitalokanagan: @sqawkfox talks blogging and getting millions of viewers to your site #brandbuilding #brandgrowth #MADNightsKL http://…
- @kodiebeckley great seeing u out at #MADNightsKL!
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Posts
- Feb 24, 13
Have you ever Googled "Social CRM for Sales"?
There's a lot of information on the subject, but I was little disappointed to find the CRM's dominating the search results not articles on how social media can be used. Let me explain...
Client / Customer / Contact Relationship Management (CRM) solution providers are desperately trying to integrate social media into their products. On a basic level, CRM's allow their users to connect a contact's Twitter and LinkedIn so the user can quickly link to those channels and do some social listening to potentially build a stronger relationship with that contact. Some are trying to go further. Have you ever considered turning this idea on its head... and use social media as your CRM?
First let me state that I love CRM's and have used various ones consistently for the last 6 years. They are an amazing tool for sales, managing leads and measuring what's in your sales pipeline. The following information is not being shared as a replacement for a CRM. It's simply another technique I've employed with some success.
I've been practising using social media as a CRM for sales for a few years now. Let me share what I've been doing and you can see if it is a technique that will work for you. It's quite simple and I've broken it out into the following steps. We'll use Twitter and LinkedIn as our social media tools in our Social CRM solution, but you could probably use Instagram and LinkedIn, Pinterest and LinkedIn or others. LinkedIn is where we end this journey typically as I explain below.
Step #1: Follow Leads on Twitter
Once I've found a company or person I want to work with, I do my best to find all of their social media channels. If they're on Twitter I start there. Twitter is ideal as you need no prior relationship with a person or a brand to start following them... it's not creepy... in fact it's expected. It's helpful also that you break the people / brands you're following into lists. This makes the next step easier.
Step #2: Engage
This may take some time but eventually the leads you're following on Twitter may say something or ask something through Twitter that you can contribute to. As with many things, timing is everything, but it's what we're expected to do on social media - engage, network, provide value, develop new relationships and expand our networks.
I like to use Twitter's lists. I choose a list of people / companies I want to engage with, review recent posts or tweets and if I can add value to a conversation, I'll jump in!
Here's an example of a conversation from the other night:
Now I don't know Tari and Tom Di Bello and they don't know me. But I LOVE Okanagan wine and Tom is one of the best winemakers in the region! I love the winery business and the stories and experiences they create with their brands and I've had the pleasure of working with a few great Okanagan wineries.
It's important to note that I didn't reach out to Tom and Tari to try to develop a business relationship with them. I reached out because I had some valuable information, insight and experience that might help them answer the question they posed. If a business relationship develops where I can help their business or another business in their network - great! If not, I was happy to help them with this question - that's it!
Step #3: Move Contacts to LinkedIn for Conversion
So, once you've engaged contacts on Twitter and you have developed a rapport, you can ask to add your contact to your LinkedIn network. LinkedIn, more than any other network, has been the best network for my business. I have established relationships with every connection and when I message a contact on LinkedIn to meet for a coffee, I always get a meeting.
This may ruffle some feathers out there, but if you and I don't know each other and you are trying to connect with me on LinkedIn - you're wasting your time and mine. LinkedIn is my special happy place where I only keep my most precious business contacts.
LinkedIn has always maintained that you must know the person you want to connect with on their platform. They've lightened up on this in recent years in my opinion and lately I've been getting connection requests like followers on Twitter.
So that's it. For me, by using Twitter and LinkedIn in this way it helps me to filter legitimate business contacts from business contacts I'd like to get to know better. How do you use social media to develop business leads? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Or do you have questions? Connect with me through my website and let's chat!
D - Jan 03, 13
Me chatting with Bruce Stranaghan from Integra Tire Auto Centre Kelowna at our 1st MAD Night.
I'm excited about this! About 6 months ago, I jumped at the chance to be more involved with Digital Okanagan and became a Director. I'm so impressed with the people involved and their passion for a growing creative community in the Okanagan.
I'm still learning the culture, drive and direction behind Digital Okanagan and I'm grateful my co-directors, the steering commitee, are patient with me. One of my first goals was to create a networking and learning meetup for marketers. Digital Okanagan has been very successful with its other meetups like OKDG, #LeanCoffeeKL, Art Brew, #devKL, and UX Breakfast (I hope I haven't forgotten any), but none of these spoke directly to the marketing professionals in our community. I use the term marketers as broadly as possible, because small business owners wear many hats within their businesses and many of them are forced become DIY marketers in order to promote their businesses. Technology allows many business owners the opportunity to be quite successful in this necessary role, so I wanted to include them in this learning and networking opportunity as well.
With the encouragement and support of my fellow directors at Digital Okanagan and my partner-in-crime on this adventure, Richard Taylor, we have launched an evening of learning and networking for marketers and designers called MAD Nights (#MADNights). We had our soft launch back in December and our 2nd night is on January 10, 2013 at the Streaming Cafe in Kelowna. I've posted a recap and a look ahead to what you can expect on Jan. 10 on the Digital Okanagan website and I've set-up an event on our Digital Okanagan Facebook Page.
Please check out this information and RSVP. We'd love to see you there!
- D - Mar 11, 12
So a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of sharing my 20 years of sales experience in this industry at a presentation to the Okanagan Developers Group (OKDG). What industry you ask? Using broad strokes, I can only sum it up as the creative industry. Any creative approach that communicates a story.
If you are a writer, a photographer, a videographer, a filmmaker, a video producer, a website designer, website developer, or in marketing coordinating all of the above in the best interest of the brand for your clients, I hope this information helps your business.
Frame 1:
B2B Sales for Designers & Developers- Why am I here? – I want to provide you - a creative professionals (people who create - marketers, designers, developers/programmers, writers, videographers, photographers) with tips and tools to make your career of choice a little more sustainable. If any of us get out of this business and drives a bus for a living (be honest - you’ve thought of it), it’s because we couldn’t make a decent living at it.
- Why do I want to help? - because you need to know that each of you are amazing. You do what I wish I could do. I wish I had the talent to design or develop a website, produce an amazing video, write an amazing story. And those that can’t do -?- sell for those that can.
Frame 2:
Who Am I- 20 years in media production
- My roles have generally included new business development, account management and project management.
- I’ve worked music production, video and television production and post production, interactive CD/DVD authoring, media transfer/duplication/replication, print production, website design/development, online marketing
- So – going full circle, I now work for Express Design where I sell and manage graphic design and website design and development projects as well as integrated marketing and advertising campaigns that potentially require all of my media production experience.
Frame 3:
Why are sales important?- Selling is not easy. It’s a numbers game, even for those that are good at it. The harder you work at it, the more opportunities you’ll find and the greater the rewards.
- For those of us that work at it regularly it’s like an abusive relationship. When it’s bad it’s really bad and you get rejected time after time. But when it’s good and you find and win those projects you want – Each close is an amazing rush!
- There’s any number of reasons why sales are important to your business.
- If these reasons aren’t inspiration enough and if selling is uncomfortable for you, then make your reason personal - you need a why.
- If your why is strong enough, it will give you the leverage you need to overcome the fear of rejection and get on with selling.
- You’re why could be = wanting to send the kids to university, wanting to afford that big vacation, paying the mortgage, buying that new car… Powerful why’s can provide good incentive to do the things we have to do in our businesses that maybe aren’t as fun as others.
Frame 4:
What a consistent sales strategy solves- This is what feast and famine looks like.
- Feast and famine lead generation/sales leads to feast and famine revenue generation for your business
- Most of the businesses we’re trying to attract won’t live and die by the services and solutions we provide.
- Marketing materials, Internet solutions and applications, despite what we believe, may not be perceived as necessities for the business we are trying to attract.
- The sales cycle can take up to 2 years from lead to client.
- How do we feed ourselves and bring in projects consistently?
- You need to come up with a strategy and process that allows you to consistently develop leads, opportunities and closes and turns this roller coaster into a nice solid sustainable line.
- Have enough balls in the air (juggling) to know that one could drop at anytime.
- And if a bunch drop? Well what a great problem that would be!
- Bottom line? You’ve solved the feast and famine problem for your business.
Frame 5:
What’s my sales process?- That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell.
Frame 6:
Leads research- Through these channels I look for news that companies are expanding, winning awards.
- I look at companies that are actively advertising or marketing their businesses.
- I assess their marketing efforts, their advertising, their websites, their social media and I look for weaknesses in their strategies or solutions. Regarding development/programming, I’m looking for ways where a solution or an enhanced solution can lower costs or increase revenue long-term.
- I’m always looking for ways I can help.
- From there, I’m trying to find who I need to contact.
Frame 7:
Making contact- I use these tools for making initial contact.
- And yes. You do have to make the occasional cold-call.
- When you make that initial contact, there may be a tendency to tell your whole story and value statement as quickly as you can before you’re rejected. This is a mistake.
- People are busy. There’s no time to read a long email, listen to a long scripted speech on a phone call or at a networking event.
- Keep it short and sweet.
- You’re initial goal is to find out if they’re a decision maker, if they need your help and what that need might be.
- Give them a quick pitch about you and wait for buy-in. Wait for your sales lead to invest or engage into your sales process with you.
- If they buy-in – ASK QUESTIONS AND LISTEN
- Ask questions that provide the answers you need to accurately identify the opportunity.
- This is your dance and you need to gently lead the dance to its destined conclusion.
- I don’t do hard sales, soft sell only.
- The turtle wins this race.
- Remember - No doesn’t mean no, in sales. It may mean “not right now”
Frame 8:
Follow-up- These are the tools I typically use for follow-up.
- I usually place a follow-up sales call 2 days after every email if I don’t get a response. I don’t trust email.
- I try to find reasons to stay in touch with potential customers.
- I send emails to potential clients when we’ve worked on a project or campaign that is relevant to them or their needs.
- I stay in touch through social media.
- I stay front-of-mind through enewsletters.
- I watch my cost of sales. Sometimes an opportunity doesn’t develop and at some point your investment in developing an opportunity outweighs the revenue that opportunity will bring to your business – cut it loose or cutback your follow-up. Lots of times an opportunity can simply be given the time to develop on it’s own.
Frame 9:
The opportunity- Doing this right is key to developing a successful proposal and ultimately delivering what the client needs.
- This is a 2-way conversation with both sides listening.
- You want them to provide you with the onformation you need to accurately understand the goals and requirements of the project, especially budget (if you can).
- And you need to explain your approach and make the client understand what they’re going to get at roughly what price.
- From the back and forth of this discussion you should have the information you need to put a proposal together that will help you win the project.
Frame 10
Quotes & proposals- My proposals have these elements and more. My proposals are roadmaps for the production or the campaign. If I fall off the face of the planet tomorrow, I want the team I work with to be able to read the proposal and have all the information they need to move on with production.
- Writing proposals, in my opinion can really hurt your cost of sales. So try to do what you can to understand the budget of the project or campaign and approach the proposal appropriately.
- Small budget = smaller, more templated proposal.
- Big budget = more custom proposal.
Frame 11
Follow-up & close- The goal here is to get feedback and respond to objections.
- As part of my dance and setting expectations for the quoting process and production process, the client will expect my follow-up as part of the process and that I expect some back and forth and may even present a revised proposal until we come to an agreement – a win-win.
- I also expect that the client can say no, or not-now at any point through this process, but it’s ok because - No doesn’t mean no, it means “not right now”. It may even mean not this project, but it’s never - never.
- There are 3 possible outcomes from this point: yes, no, or not now.
- Not now? Follow-up again, watch cost of sales.
- Sometimes opportunities close on their own as well.
Frame 12
The sales job is never over- Never take that sales cap off. I know a lot of us wear many different hats in our businesses, but never take the sales cap off. It’s more like a toque you wear under all of your other hats.
- I take a holistic view regarding a company or a brand in our industry. Every touchpoint you and your company have with a client before, during and after a project or campaign is an opportunity to sell your company and outshine your competitors.
- Current clients are just as important as new clients.
- Stay in touch with customers, continue to provide value.
- My personal opinion, based on personal experience. This is in regards to website design and development especially. I still talk to new leads that have NEVER heard from their website designer after the launch of their website. I think this hurts us all. We have to do better.
- Find ways to stay in touch and support your customers. I review results of the last project with them, if it was a website project we did together I review Google Analytics results with them, I pitch ideas about new campaigns they can consider. Always asking how I can continually add value to my customer’s business?
- If you are not caring for your clients, your customers will eventually become someone else’s customers.
- It isn’t personal, it’s just business, and there’s a lot of competition out there.
- I’ve built successful businesses around simply building trust, providing value, and developing strong long-term relationships with my customers.
Frame 13
Final thoughts and tips- CRM’s are a must for me. They keep me on track, especially with follow-ups. I’ve used Salesforce, Sugar and Highrise.
- Work at leads research, making contact and follow-ups every week.
- How much sales work should you do each week?
- Find out what your opportunities to close ratio is and work back from there using your revenues projections to determine how many proposals you need to do to meet those targets. From there you should be able to break down how many sales calls you need to make a month, a week.
Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with you. I hope it helps.
I try to put resources on my website dennispowers.ca. I’ve got an article about Twitter for sales up there now, and I’m developing an article about using social media as a CRM… It should be up shortly.Cue the PowerPoint frames :) ....- D - Mar 04, 12
Meet the Express Design 2012 Marketing Checklist! Inside you will see hints and tips on how to plan and implement an integrated marketing campaign as well as a handy-dandy checklist of the latest trending tactics. With the checklist, you can select the tactics you need to implement this year. you can refer backto the checklist and hold yourself accountable!
Express Design can help with strategy and planning your integrated marketing campaign and train you on the tactics that will connect best with your target audience. If your tactics include website design and cms development, seo, online or print advertising campaigns, we can design and implement those tactics for you so you can focus on your business. If your tactics include traditional media, content, social media and event marketing and you need a company to manage those tactics for you, we can do that to.
Special thanks to Nicole Perrin, our Art Director at Express Design for applying her amazing concept and design skills to this project and Bill Kellett, President of Kellett Communications and Express Design for his ideas that made the stratgy and content built into this campaign so awesome!
Contact me (dennis(at)expressdeign.ca) if you would like a copy and I will be happy to get one out to you!
- D - Mar 04, 12
- Dec 08, 11
I was introduced to social media about 5 years ago. Ironically, I was not introduced to social media through my network working in my field of marketing and online marketing, but through an ex-coworker and friend working in my past field of video and interactive media production. I was introduced first to Facebook and quickly discovered the personal and professional benefits of staying in touch and communicating with friends and professional contacts. Sharing highlights from my work helped promote myself and the business I worked for as well. I started working with LinkedIn shortly after and when the user-base of Twitter started exploding, I had to get involved and discover the benefits of that platform too.
Ironically, that same friend that had got me hooked on Facebook contacted me 2 weeks ago asking me what I knew about Twitter. I was surprised. I had assumed he understood the benefits of social media for sales (his profession and to some degree mine as well) and had evolved with the technology and solutions just as I had. So this article is for my friend. The following steps are a guide to starting your adventure on Twitter with a goal to increase sales. Take your time with these steps. This is a process not a race.
The first thing to understand about Twitter and especially using Twitter for sales is that it is not acceptable practice to sell on Twitter. Selling is frowned upon on Twitter. Your audience on Twitter is not there to be sold to, they are there to be informed by you and learn more about who you are. When using Twitter for sales, success is determined by how authentic and real you are and how the information you share benefits your audience.
Step 1: Select a Twitter Handle or name. There are plenty of articles out there that support the idea that a sales professional is essentially operating his or her own business within a business. The name of that business is - insert your name – a.k.a. your personal brand - here. So pick a Twitter name or handle that closely represents your personal brand; your name or as close to your name as possible.
Step 2: Customize your profile. One of the worst things you can do is leave the default Twitter Egg as your profile image and leave the personal description field empty. Upload an image that closely represents your personal brand and gives some insight to who you are as a person. You can change your profile image at any time. Describe the real you in 160 characters or less. Again, let your audience know who you really are, be clever, be authentic. Your personal description will evolve over time. Include a link to your website, your LinkedIn profile, your Facebook page, or anywhere you want to direct your followers to that will help convert them to eventually become customers. There is a feature where you can upload a background image for your Twitter page, but this is not important to focus on in the early goings. Content is king from here on in.
Step 3: Do some searches on Twitter for information providers and influencers in your field. You are looking for information that you can redistribute to your customers and potential customers on Twitter that will provide value to them and / or their business. Ask yourself what your customer is looking for on Twitter. It could be industry news, information from suppliers, peers and influencers in their industry and market. Follow suppliers of information that provides value to your customers and retweet that valuable information.
Step 4: Twitter is about sharing information and engaging. We will talk about engaging later. You need information to share with your audience, your customers and potential customers that provide value. Information can be provided in a number of ways. You or someone on your team may write articles that inform your audience. Add those articles to your company or personal website or blog and post a link to the article on Twitter. Google Alerts and Google Reader are excellent tools for providing access to articles and information to share on Twitter. Any articles worth posting should be posted with a shortened link using URL shorteners like bit.ly which also tracks how many clicks your link receives.
Step 5: By now you should have retweeted some interesting posts and posted some good information yourself. You should have attracted some followers and perhaps even received some ‘@’ mentions or direct messages (dm’s) from the Twitter-folk you retweeted or followers wishing to engage with you. This is the part in this exercise where Twitter-folk get to know the person behind the tweets. Respond to legitimate ‘@’ mentions (you will quickly learn which mentions or dm’s are legitimate or spam). Share some information about yourself, a picture of you doing something fun on the weekend, or tweet about a funny situation in the office, respond to tweets from twitter-folk or share a personal view. Let your audience get to know the real you in between your tweets about your business. This is the part we call engaging, and it’s very important. You want to slowly build relationships with the your potential customers and stronger relationships with those who are already customers.
Step 6: Now you’re cooking with gas, you’ve got a system down, you’re more comfortable with Twitter, you’re sharing valuable information and engaging in conversation, you’re not afraid to be yourself, you’re not afraid to make mistakes and admit that you make mistakes, but most importantly you’re having fun. Your Twitter Page is well populated with valuable information and snippets of conversations with fellow tweeters. Now you invite your customers and contacts to follow you on Twitter. Twitter offers features that allow you to send email invitations to these contacts and customers to check out your page and follow you. Perhaps your company has a newsletter and they would be happy make a brief announcement through their marketing channels to have customers connect with you on Twitter. In some cases you may have to go individually through your contacts and customers and search their names and company names to see if they have a Twitter page that you can follow. Generally when you follow someone on Twitter, they will glance through your Twitter page and see if you are worth following back. Provide information that is valuable to them and they will follow you.
Step 7: Now that you are following customers and potential customers, engage those customers. Support their business by retweeting an important announcement that they would like to share. Respond to a question or an opinion that they share on Twitter. Remember to be yourself. Be authentic.
Step 8: There will always be new individuals and organizations that you will want to do business with. Whenever you come across these sales leads find out if they have a Twitter account and follow them. This is a never-ending process for you. You may have a customer that didn’t have a Twitter account 6 months ago, but has started one now. Keep looking for your customers and potential customers on Twitter and follow them. Engage with them when you can. For sales people looking to attract a less targeted, more general and much larger audience, tools like Tweet Adder can be used to help automate your follower acquisition process.
Step 9: Now you’re not just tweeting anymore. You are building relationships and these relationships can start to be taken offline. Invite a follower out for a coffee or a free consult at the office. Create a tweetup at an industry function. Join some influencers for lunch. Ask followers that you have built relationships with if you can add them as connections in other social media platforms like LinkedIn and add them to your company’s enewsletter lists.
Step 10: You’ve been on Twitter for quite some time now, you’ve built up a nice little following, you are positioning yourself as a knowledge leader and influencer in your marketplace. You have had a couple of conversations that have led to some business opportunities; maybe you closed a couple. KEEP GOING. Follow steps 2 through 9 massaging / optimizing your profile (now take care of that background image), finding new resources for valuable information to share, keep writing your own articles or share articles written by your team members. Continue to provide value, engage and grow your audience! - Mar 04, 12
Several months ago I was involved in a conversation on Twitter with Sandra Oldfield, president of Tinhorn Creek Winery, regarding my desire to spend the day working in a winery. Sensing that I must represent at the very least a small niche demographic that was looking for the same experience, we discussed the opportunity that Okanagan wineries and related tourism-based businesses such as hotels, resorts and tour operators might have to create a different kind of winery experience. Modeled after the guest ranch vacations that have been around years, there may be an opportunity for tourism operators to offer a “working in a winery” experience that could include harvesting and crushing the grapes in the fall. The conversation didn’t go much further than a few tweets, but a seed was planted in my mind… so to speak…
About a month ago, I was scanning twitter again and was lucky enough to catch a tweet from Township 7 Vineyards. They tweeted that they were looking for volunteers to harvest their Chardonnay grapes. As luck would have it, I was able to push off whatever I had planned for the following day and drive to Naramata to “volunteer in a vineyard” for the day.
Once I arrived at Township 7 Vineyard, I was introduced to Bradley James Cooper, the winemaker for Township 7 who showed me to the rows of Chardonnay grapes in their vineyard. He gave me a crash course in picking grapes as well as provided me with a brief history of the property, which I really appreciated.
I immediately went to work. It was a beautiful fall day and I worked alone as other employees, friends of Township 7 and volunteers worked alone in their own rows of Chardonnay. Tasting the grapes became a welcome part of my picking process as Brad had told me the characteristics of the grape he wanted in his harvest bins and ultimately in the wine he would make. Sometimes to determine the quality of the grape, the taste would be the deciding factor. He wanted a sweet grape. I didn’t have to taste a lot, but I certainly enjoyed tasting the ones I did!
There were a couple of times during the day when Brad and I were working in rows beside each other and during those times we would talk about the idea of vacationers arriving in the fall, a shoulder season here in the Okanagan, staying in hotels and resorts and taking tours to various wineries to work. Would they simply work for a day? Was that enough to give them a taste of this good life, or would they work for a week? How would the vacations be marketed and promoted? How popular would it be? What kind of logistics would need to be considered? There were more questions than answers, but we agreed that the idea was worth exploring.
At the end of my 4-5 hour shift, we were most of the way through the rows of Chardonnay grapes that needed to be harvested. Most of my fellow harvesters stayed on to finish the job or the day whichever came first. I had to head back home to Kelowna. Brad was kind enough to offer me a couple of bottles of wine which I thankfully accepted even though the opportunity to volunteer in a vineyard was more than I had hoped for and beat my expectation of the experience. I ended up buying another bottle and one bottle of Brad’s own Black Cloud label.
I drove away feeling like I had learned a lot more about the Okanagan’s wine industry, meeting some new friends and acquaintances and acquiring some great bottles of wine. I also developed a burning desire to buy a case of the 2011 Township 7 Chardonnay when it gets released. A side affect of the experience I’m sure, as you feel a connection and a sense of pride that you played a small part of creating something so special as a good bottle of wine. And there’s that Okanagan tourism idea that grows and grows in my mind… - Nov 17, 11The passing of Steve Jobs and a video of him shot several years before his death helps me come to terms with recent career changes in my life.
The past 5 years have been years of intense change for me. I sold my business in an industry that I love and worked successfully in for 15 years. I sold my home that my family had lived in for 10 years. And my family and I moved to Kelowna, BC in the Okanagan Valley, a city where we barely knew anyone. We had no plan except that we wanted to move to the Okanagan and be closer to family. By the way, most of my family lives just north of us in Vernon, BC.
Once we were somewhat settled in Kelowna, I began searching for work that interested me and leveraged the years of experience I had acquired working in video and interactive media production in Vancouver. I chose web development and I have never looked back. I would argue in fact that changing careers and being part of a team that produces media for the web has helped me reinvent myself and will ultimately help extend my career. Interactive CD and DVD production appears to be a sunset industry after all… everything seems to be converging to the web.
Almost 2 months ago I made another change. I moved from the web-focused agency I had been working with for the last 4 years to a new agency startup. An agency that focuses on delivering value-added design to its clientele no matter what the media. The company is Express Design. Based in Kelowna, BC, Express Design is a division of Kellett Communications in Yellowknife. From print to web and everything in between, we deliver marketing solutions and campaigns that are brilliantly designed within a typical budget. Something different in our marketplace.
Coming to Express had been such an exciting change for me and the new agency has been so well received, especially by the Okanagan’s wine industry.
I’ve struggled in my mind to try to justify all of the changes in my life, particularly in my career. Then came the passing of Steve Jobs. Almost everyone I know working in a creative field be it video production, website design, advertising and marketing uses Apple technology. His passing has had a profound effect on creative and technology industries.
A video went viral almost the day after Steve Jobs passed away and I watched it in its entirety. In the video Steve Jobs is giving a speech to Stanford Grads. He talks about his college years, starting Apple, changing careers, reinventing himself and facing death. At the end of the speech he leaves the grads with a final thought – “Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
I guess Steve Jobs statement best describes the changes I’m making in my career. I want to continue to want more, do more, learn more, help more (stay hungry), and I want to take more chances and get outside my comfort zone (stay foolish).
Thanks Steve... - Oct 19, 11
The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on Google analytics. Enjoy!
Travel & Vacation Marketing
We have all read in the papers and magazines, or heard on the radio, or seen on the TV or Internet that tourism traffic and revenue in the local economy is down. The industry here in Canada has been in a state of flux since 2001. If you own a business that works in this industry, you know you need to continue building exposure for your business in order to be front-of-mind to any travelers that might be planning a trip to your area. So, where is the best place for you to spend you hard-earned marketing dollars? Vacationers are looking for your business online, they just need a hand finding it and experiencing what your business has to offer... read the rest of the article here. - Oct 19, 11
The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on how to find out if your website is hurting your business. Enjoy!
5 Ways To Find Out If Your Website Is Hurting Your Business
If your business has a website, how will you know when the website is no-longer working for your business? Here are some questions you should ask yourself about your current website to find out if it is still delivering the benefits your business requires... read the rest of the article here. - Oct 19, 11
The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on business blogging. Enjoy!
6 Helpful Tips for Business Blogging
Blogs are an excellent way to communicate to your audience and they are also a great way to add loads of search engine friendly content to your website. Having a blog for your business; however, can be also be a headache. You need to research the pros and cons of blogging before investing your marketing dollars and time on this potential component of your website... read the rest of the article here. - Oct 19, 11
The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on website design - template vs custom. Enjoy!
Template Website Design vs Custom Website Design
Firstly, in order to provide an accurate comparison, we find it necessary to define custom website design and template website design using language from DotCom Media's world and our methodology in how we approach our projects... read the rest of the article here. - Oct 19, 11
The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on cross channel shopping. Enjoy!
Do You Know What Cross-channel Shopping Is?
Do you know what cross-channel shopping is? Do you know how it can benefit your business? Cross-channel shopping is the growing phenomenon where the majority of online consumers prefer to browse online and purchase offline. Online being your website, offline being your brick-and-mortar store... read the rest of the article here. - Oct 19, 11
The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote some time ago for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on the importance of local search. Enjoy!
The Importance of Local Search
Many of us are cross-channel shoppers. We like to do our research online, then drive down to the business we want to work with and purchase our required goods and services. In order to search online for the local business that's selling what we need, we generally need to perform a local search on the search engines... read the rest of the article here. - Jun 14, 11
It's been a while since my last blog post. The Spring is always a busy time for me. I won't bore you with excuses, but this Spring seems busier than most.
Some might call it lazy, but I call it an effort to create a repository of my online articles. So this post will contain a teaser paragraph and a link to an article I wrote for DotCom Media and Csek Creative on Google analytics. Enjoy!
Google Analytics: A Case Study
Website Analytics isn't new. The software has been around for awhile, but little was invested to improve on reporting features for the longest time. Then Google Analytics came onto the scene. Long-story-short, Google Analytics was first released in late 2005 as a product aimed at marketers with information and reporting features that would help businesses make informed decisions on the direction of their website and their online marketing efforts... read the rest of the article here. - Apr 26, 11I recently finished reading “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People”. My dad gave me the book. Being retired now, my dad felt that some of the books that benefitted his career might benefit mine. Even though the book was printed in 1990, there were many messages and stories presented that were relevant to me today.I would like to share some of the points within the book that really hit home for me. I will be paraphrasing and drawing from my own interpretations of what I read, so please forgive me if my interpretation or understanding isn’t the same as yours.1. The Story of the Golden Goose and P/PC Balance (production and production capability).Stephen R. Covey’s definition of effectiveness was obviously the central thread in the book that tied all other stories and points within the book together. P/PC balance was often referred to many times throughout the book.“… the story shows, true effectiveness is a function of two things: what is produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset… (the goose).”I try to apply most of the information delivered within the book to both my personal (family) life and my professional life. Striking a balance between “production” and “production capability” or the capacity to produce is necessary to achieving true effectiveness with my family and my career.2. Proactive Focus. “Positive energy enlarges the Circle Of Influence.”A positive attitude and confidence in combination with hard work, focus and determination are key to achieving positive results. Practiced in good times and not-so-good times, positive energy allows me to deliver consistently positive results in sales.Since reading the book, I find myself occasionally measuring my circle of influence and can now identify opportunities that have come my way as my circle of influence increased throughout my career.3. Begin With The End In Mind.This point was huge for me. I am now thinking about what kind of legacy I will leave with my family and my career. Although a little morbid, the exercise of writing down how you want your peers and your loved ones to remember you when you are gone is really helpful.4. The Personal Mission StatementCreating my personal mission statement provides focus and direction for the type of person I want to be. It includes the central principles for effective living. My personal mission statement can be found here.5. The Time Management Matrix and Quadrant IILove quadrant 2… stay in quadrant 2!... Learning to say no, staying focused, using my mission statement as a guide, staying principle centred.6. The Emotional Bank Account.I must say that this section of the book offered one of the most prolific paradigm-shifting moments. This is an area I feel I have overlooked in my personal life and am working to change. Life becomes easier and more effective when you work to make deposits in the emotional bank accounts of the ones you love.Understanding the individual, attending to the little things, keeping commitments, clarifying expectations, showing personal integrity and apologizing sincerely when I make a withdrawal are all key points that I will try to remember always.7. Think Win / Win or No Deal!Like many of Stephen R. Covey’s teachings within his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “win / win or no deal” seems like common sense, but common sense sometimes takes a back seat to ambition, beating sales targets, promotions, commissions, etc.Especially in business I want companies I work with to trust that I want to win and I want them to win. For the sake of a healthy long-term business relationship this is the only way… or no deal!So there you have it. My 7 paradigm-shifting points from “The 7 Habits Of Highly Successful People”. I would love to hear what points hit home for you. Comment on my blog.- D
- Jan 03, 11
It's 10:30 PM on a Wednesday evening. The wife and kids are in bed. I'm on the computers (plural) downstairs editing video footage and outputting finished clips to DVD for a client who's caught in a bit of a deadline bind.
I wonder sometimes if people I meet through business and even friends truly understand what I do as a career and some of the "day-in-the-life" type tasks involved within that career. I sometimes wonder if even my wife and kids know what I do! I will do my best to break it down...
I am an Accounts Manager for Csek (pronounced 'check') Creative and DotCom Media.
The focus of my work with these 2 companies is sales, primarily new business development.
Sales is definitely my strong suit. It has been the focus of my career since I began working in the media production industry 20 years ago. For lack of a better term, I am the middle man between our customers and the technical and creative professionals I work with. I present our companies, and the solutions and services we offer, as the solution for our clients' business, marketing or communication challenges. I am always proud of the website, online marketing and online software programming solutions we deliver.
Occasionally I like to do more. Occasionally, I like to roll up my sleeves and contribute creatively to client marketing and communication projects.
I enjoy developing content strategies and writing content for websites whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I love videography and photography and getting opportunities to provide images and video to website projects.
I enjoy developing and implementing online marketing and social media strategies for clients.
If I had to sum up my more creative interests or talents at this time... I would call myself a content manager.
I am not, nor will I ever pretend to be a website designer, online software programmer, website developer, video or film director, video or film producer, professional photographer, professional creative writer or an online marketing / social media professional. I am blessed however, to work with very talented professionals that work in many of the fields I've listed above.
I hope I've managed to clear up some of the confusion surrounding what I actually do. If Csek Creative or DotCom Media can help you solve a business challenge, or if some of my more creative ambitions can help you out when you are in a bind, I hope you will drop me a line...
Email me at dennis {at} csekcreative.com or dennis.has.dpowers {at} gmail.com.
- D - Nov 06, 10
Anyone who knows me knows that I carry around a soapbox in my back pocket when it comes to copyright. I will pull it out and throw it down anytime someone tries to undervalue the contribution the arts and artists bring to the world and how content creators are compensated for their work. Equally enticing are debates regarding the legitimacy of online experiences that help circumvent the process that sees content creators be fairly compensated for their work.
First there was Napster, then Limewire, then Pirate Bay and all the arguments from users illegally downloading copyrighted material about how these rich, overcompensated musical artists, record companies and film producers, directors and actors will never miss the money. Now Internet publishers, software and interactive game producers have to watch their wallets too.
For as many ways there are for us to produce and distribute content, there are just as many ways to steal it.
And who thinks of the small businesses, independent artists and technical people that support these industries? When we steal content in any form, we steal from hundreds of hard-working professionals and their families.
Limewire is Shut Down?... About Time! Small victories. The big victory will come when we all realize the value of good creative content and how it educates and enriches our lives. The big victory will come when we will happily pay the price to enjoy it.
- D - Oct 04, 10
It's funny. I've been told in conversations about my industry, particularly my industry in Kelowna and the Okanagan, that we are approximately 2 years behind what's happening online out there - say in the larger metropolitan centres, like Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, etc.
My industry being the field of website design, online marketing, online media publishing and online software programming.
With every website design and development project I'm involved with, a content management system (CMS) is usually included as a standard feature or solution. Our firm has been using various types of CMS for the past few years now, and I'm sure almost 2 years prior to that, website designers and programmers in the larger markets had already introduced their clients to the benefits of a CMS.
What I'm seeing now is that many clients have the necessary tools or technology solutions or software programming within their websites to easily publish content on their website regularly, but they seldom do. A by-product requirement for these customers then is a Content Strategy and hiring help to implement that strategy.
What is Content Strategy? A content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of content.
I have been seeing this trend or need for a content strategy on many local business websites grow for many months. The challenge to being able to provide valuable services for clients in the areas of Content Strategy and Content Creation has become all the more interesting with the convergence of media on the web. A content strategy doesn't just consider text and images anymore. Video must be considered as well. The integration of social media into a business' online marketing and communications makes a content strategy even more necessary.
As I researched what would be required to properly provide this service and meet the high expectations of my clients, I tripped across an article on Content Strategy published by A List Apart. A List Apart is a resource for the website design and development industry. What's interesting about this article besides the relevant points it addresses, is the date it was written - 2 years prior... creepy...
- D - Sep 28, 10
A recent article published by eMarketer introduces blended media - a healthy media mix including paid media or advertising (on traditional and new media channels), owned media (on websites, blogs, newsletters and social media), earned media (press releases for new and traditional media publishers). It goes on to suggest that blended media is the best way to create success in branding. A further mix of media including video, print and images is suggested as well, as if there aren't enough challenges for business to get their stories out.
Remember, stay focussed on your target audience and how they like to consume media, then consider the story telling medium (video print and/ or images) that best compliments the story.
You can read the full article here.
P.S. - Emarketer published a second report on earned media and purchased or sponsored media. Many bloggers it appears are open to accepting cash from companies for publishing articles on their products. Reader beware... don't believe everything you read... is it authentic? You can read that article here.
- D - Sep 19, 10
I am a sponge when it comes to learning and keeping current with the media industry, technologies and trends. It's impossible however to do this in an industry that is evolving and advancing at such a rapid pace. I do my best though and try to filter through and find the most relevant information as efficiently as I can. One way I do this is through Google Alerts. Google Alerts sends me information posted on the Internet that includes the keywords or phrases that I've requested to my Gmail account. Other ways include subscribing to the appropriate industry newsletters and following posts by industry professionals within my online social networks. Understandably, with everything that is happening online, it's still impossible to keep up. Currently my Gmail has 3,844 unread messages...
However, earlier this week I did manage to find a couple of nuggets of valuable information and data that are relevant to me and worthy of sharing with my networks, clients, etc.The first article came from The Internet Vision and the article was titled Twitter And Facebook Bottom Of The List For Prospecting. The second article came from Emarketer and that article was titled Are Twitter Followers Better Than Facebook Fans.The Internet Vision article speaks specifically to agencies like the one I work for and states that "60% of agencies that are aggressive social media players only generate 20% of their business from this approach. .. 65% of all Agencies surveyed say that 10% or less of the business is generated via these social media methods."The article goes on to say "If time on social is going to be spent anywhere, spend it on LinkedIn."The Emarketer article states "Daily Twitter users who followed a brand were more than twice as likely as daily Facebook users who “liked” a brand to say they were more likely to purchase from the brand after becoming a social media follower."The Emarketer article goes on to say "The pattern among Twitter followers, email subscribers and Facebook fans was similar when asked about whether they would recommend a brand. A third of Twitter followers said they were more apt to make a recommendation now that they followed a brand, compared with 24% of email subscribers and 21% of Facebook fans."As social media networks evolve, new data comes to light that may or may not alter your social media strategy. A year ago I had no idea where my social media strategy would take me. I dove in head first. I made a significant time commitment both at the office and at home to try and promote my personal brand in order to build trust and bring clients through the front door of my agency. Although I did find some potential opportunities on Facebook and Twitter, no measurable business resulted from my efforts, but social media has been anything but a waste of time. Here is what I'm experiencing now and my strategy moving forward:- I have seen positive results from social media both in my knowledge and experience as well as in my personal brand. I have become more recognized and more influential in my professional networks and more knowledgeable and helpful to my clients.
- Much like a CRM, my new social media strategy includes:
- spending less time and being more efficient on the social networks
- continuing to use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to spread my message, share my knowledge and learn from others.
- finding brands, businesses and / or people I want to work with or learn from on Twitter and Facebook.
- continue building relationships, conversations and trust through these and other networks.
- developing relationships and trust to the point where those contacts are part of my LinkedIn network.
- building a business relationship through LinkedIn.
Your social media strategy may be different for your business than mine, but our time and experience in social media will never be considered a waste of time. Ten years ago we were telling clients to stake their claim on the internet with a website and we were right. Staking a claim in the social networks and mobile media (that's another story) will bear the same results for me and for you...- D - Sep 19, 10
Well. Here we are. Once bitten, twice shy and three times lucky. This is my third attempt to create a cost-effective, attractive online home for me. Claim my tiny piece of real estate within the Internet Universe where I can express myself, record noteworthy events of my life (professionally and personally) as well as compile and comment on new technologies, techniques and strategies for storytelling - primarily online storytelling, but I dabble in traditional video, television, film and print as well.
My first two attempts were supported by Wordpress. In its defense, I must confess that I am not the most technical online professional in the industry. As a matter of fact, on a scale of one-to-ten I'm probably a three or a four in my ability to design and / or program for the web. I mean I can find my way around a website CMS, I understand the principles and tools of online marketing, and I can accurately communicate the value of the hard-working talented Internet professionals I work with that actually create amazing storytelling experiences online, but that's where my talent and experience ends - currently.
So. When I saw the little messages from Wordpress and her constant reminders to update my Wordpress software and security settings and / or plugins I chose to ignore them, because past experience had taught me that clicking that update could cause unmeasurable headaches to a novice Internet user as myself in the form of broken design templates, broken plugins, etc.
No. My plan, on my second Wordpress blog website (after losing the first to a virus through a comment) was to shore-up any holes that could destroy my online home by religiously closing-off comments where necessary and cleaning allowed comments as quickly as they came in.
This proved fruitless as my Wordpress blog, just as the first, was eventually compromised and I had to pull the plug. DennisPowers.ca has been offline for over a year now, but with renewed strength and the discovery of the http://flavors.me platform I am attempting to rebuilt my home with partners like Google, Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook... With partners like that what could possibly go wrong... Fingers crossed...
- D
P.S. Lesson learned from a broken blog - write all content to a hard-drive. Save in Word, Notepad, Wordpad, I don't care. Should all your hard work disappear one day from a comment virus or a website hack, you're just a few hours away from from copying and pasting and re-building your online home.
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My Work
- Branding, Website, Video and Print ProjectsBranding, Print and Website Experience:Kellett Communications and Express Design | 2011-2012
- Projects: BioSundara MediSpa, All She Wrote Consulting, Alternator Center for Contemporary Art, Okanagan Film Commission, District of Hope, Free My Grapes.
- Responsible for new business development and coordinating projects. Collaborated with clients and worked with a team of creative directors, designers, and programmers on branding, print design and advertising, interactive responsive websites and online marketing campaigns.
DotCom Media and Csek Creative | 2007-2011- Projects: Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars, Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, Lake Breeze Wine Farm, Recline Ridge Winery, British Columbia Wine Institute, Tree Beer, Kelowna Golf and Country Club, G Group of Companies and Okanagan Land Development Corporation.
- Responsible for new business development. Provided clients with consultation, connected them with the project team and delivered ongoing support for branding, print, website and online marketing campaigns.
GetOn Technologies | 2006-2007- Projects: Radical Films, Sunset Ranch Golf and Country Club, RoomKey, Family Christian Bookstore and Century 21 Executives Realty.
- Responsible for new business development and coordinated projects. Provided clients with consultation, coordinated production and supplied ongoing support for website and online marketing campaigns.
Video and Print Experience:PowerSource Media Inc. | 2003-2006Video Publishing Group | 1997-2003Image Media | 1989-1997- Clients: Oak Bay Marine Group, Butchart Gardens, Columbia Icefields, Tourism BC, Beautiful BC Magazine, Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resorts, Radical Films, Freeride Entertainment, Namtai Electronics, Rocky Mountaineer, Langara Fishing Adventures, Papperny Entertainment, Nettwerk Productions, Bryan Adams, Bif Naked, Omni Film Productions, Canada Wild Productions, Budget Monks Productions, Big Picture Media Corp.
- Various roles included: New business development, associate producer, post-production coordinator, interactive (DVD/CD) production coordinator, coordinating DVD, CD and VHS product manufacturing, packaging and associated print collateral.
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Info
- Connector & Project Manager - Strengths in New Business Development | Marketing | Media Production | Client ServiceMarketing and Advertising | British Columbia, Canada, CASummary
A gun for hire. Providing consulting and contract services focusing on sales and project management, with goals of increasing revenue and improving customer experience. Working in the marketing, media production, tech and software solutions sectors.
Running a small brokering business in the telecommunications, energy and banking sectors.
In startup mode on a community-driven creative unagency connecting companies with creative professionals and managing the work they do together to solve marketing and media production challenges. Working with clients in all sectors, including the construction industry, not-for-profit sectors, professionals, and hospitality-tourism.
I am goal oriented and focused. I am a team player, a creative thinker and a problem solver. I'm always open to new opportunities and always learning.
Specialties: Entrepreneurship, Sales, New Business Development, Proposal Writing / Negotiating, Customer Relationship Management and Project Management.
Interests: Content Writing, Photography, Videography.
Experience- Apr 2013 - PresentAccount Manager / Nolan Business Solutions
Working with an exceptional team and international solution provider developing and implementing leading mid-market business software solutions and custom developed software applications and helping them in the area of sales and marketing.
- Feb 2013 - PresentProject Manager / Metabridge
Working in a highly collaborative team atmosphere. Team leader on the ground in Kelowna responsible for the project execution. Responsible for logistics, accommodations, venues and sponsorship relationships at the local level for the 5th annual iteration of Canada's premier technology entrepreneur retreat.
- Jun 2012 - PresentBoard Member / Digital Okanagan
A contributing member of the Digital Okanagan leadership team. A steering committee that coordinates various grass-roots initiatives and keeps an eye on the big picture and direction of the organization and creative community in the Okanagan.
Co-creator of MAD Nights. The 2nd Thursday of every month, we pack the Streaming Cafe with marketers, designers and businesses that want to learn more about marketing and design. We have 2 presentations where marketers, designers and businesses can take the floor and share their marketing and design experiences - the good, bad and ugly! We hope to see you there!
- Jul 2005 - PresentOwner / Powers Venture Management Inc.
Entrepreneur and consultant. Leveraging my experience in sales and project management in marketing, media production, technology, software, telecommunications, energy and banking sectors.
Education-
1992 - 1996British Columbia Institute of Technology
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Interests:family, media production, music + video production, web development, web design, social media, marketing + communications, music, movies, documentaries, hiking, mountain biking, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, kayaking, soccer...
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About Me
- Dennis PowersA little info about me...My career has taken a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs over the years. Right now I'm essentially a gun for hire and I love it! Providing consulting and contract services focusing on sales and project management with goals of increasing revenue and customer experience. Working in the marketing, media production, tech and software solutions sectors.
I also run a small brokering business in the telecommunications, energy and banking sectors.
I'm also in startup mode on a community-driven creative unagency connecting companies with creative professionals and managing the work they do together to solve marketing and media production challenges. Working with clients in all sectors, including the construction industry, not-for-profit sectors, professionals, retail and hospitality-tourism.I've been happily married to the love of my life for over 20 years, we are raising two very cool kids and we have quite possibly the handsomest German Shepherd you'll ever see... my family will always be how I measure my true wealth... so I'm a lucky man.Thanks for stopping by! Let's stay in touch!Dennis Powersc. 250.718.0273e. dennis.has.dpowers [@] gmail.comw. www.dennispowers.ca
