ADG Omnimedia

Joint Venture for Joint Success

2011-08-11T12:16:00.000-04:00

This week ADG Omnimedia announced a joint venture with Restless Production of Los Angeles, CA - a social media marketing company. Many clients, colleagues and friends are asking the merits of such a union. I will gladly share the reasoning behind our decision to join forces with Restless Production. In true Susy fashion, I will make a neat little list because that's what Type A folks like me do. Here goes.

We are both small businesses who are highly specialized in particular areas.
Since we are not generalists, the joining of forces allows us to offer clients not only a complete solution, but one that is far superior and specialized to one any a generalist marketing firm may offer.
The JV allows us to source clients in multiple regions.
We share in the work and cost of marketing our own wares.
We share in the risk.
This makes sense for a small business in this economy.
The principals of both firms all graduated from the same college - University of Miami.
We are all big UM football fans.
Two of the principals are members of the same sorority - Zeta Tau Alpha.
All three principals grew up in Miami and attended public high schools.

Okay, so some of the reasons don't have anything to do with business but it makes the business relationship that much more gratifying which in turn makes the experience that much better for our clients. Hope you will check us out.

Let it simmer

2011-04-12T20:05:00.000-04:00

In this day and age where faster is better, it is evident that we as a business culture, have lost our ability to wait. Yes, I said it - wait.

As a collective mindset, we have become averse to waiting. We are insulted if we are asked to wait and we expect things yesterday. The average American’s attention span is 3.3 seconds. Apparently, our patience also lasts about that long.

There is one particular aspect of business that makes you sweat it out – cultivating relationships. Many have lost the art of cultivating relationships, in general, so it is no wonder that we should also see this rear its ugly head in business, too. Remember that we are humans and we are dealing with human interaction and feelings. Those who succeed in cultivating relationships, be it in business or otherwise, are deeply aware of that fact and can effective use that skill.

There was a time when people returned all calls, when correspondence was answered, when job applicants were given enough respect to receive a rejection letter, when taking the time to really get to know your client was the norm. Many business people pound the pavement looking for leads or people with whom to network, never once interested in who the other person is, does, or likes.

What separates the superstars from all the rest is the understanding of certain rules that work. The laws that govern building relationships were not written by me and one only has to look at the laws of nature and science to see what’s right and what works. Yes, those laws also apply to human relations. Allow me to elaborate. Planting a seed today will not give you fruit tomorrow. Watching a pot of water boil will not make it boil faster. Cooking a recipe at a higher temperature to make it cook faster will not always result in a culinary masterpiece. These are my rules of engagement on how to let a relationship simmer to perfection.

These are my 10 Commandments of Cultivating Business Relationships:

If someone calls you, call them back or at least have an assistant get back to them.
If you meet someone at a networking function, follow-up with them promptly and tell them how nice it was to meet them.
If you promise to get back to someone, do so. If you forgot, do so now and apologize.
Take time to chit chat. Invest time in learning about people.
Call your contacts just to say, “Hello”. Let them hear your voice.
Listen because people want to be heard.
Treat people with respect, even when no one is watching.
Be a resource to others without any expectation of getting anything in return.
Be a connector. Don’t be stingy with your contacts. Help another person out by making an introduction when they need one or better yet, even when they don’t.
Be prepared to wait an average of 2-5 years before a lead becomes a client.

Social Media – this Millennium’s blinking VCR clock

2011-02-28T12:09:00.003-05:00

For us 80’s kids, we can remember when our parents first brought home the latest technology – the Video Cassette Recorder. The parental units had to be convinced why we needed to record Madonna videos and Sixteen Candles off HBO. Slowly our parents saw the many uses for the VCR, but one thing that confounded many was that blinking clock. Not many took the time to “program” that blinking, blue display. “No big deal,” they thought. “I know how to turn it on, rewind, fast forward, play, and record - the basic functions.”

The kids knew the necessity of taking the time to program that clock. That clock represented recording when we were out or when we were watching another program. We fully embraced the technology and pushed it to the limits of its usefulness in our 1980’s lives.

As adults, we are seeing this strange phenomenon again with social media. Time and again we meet with potential clients and we recommend social media as an integral part of their communications strategy. We invariably get one of two responses – “That doesn’t work for our business.” or “Sure, we do that already.”

Both answers are insufficient. The automatic shut down over social media seems to come from the more mature, seasoned professionals. Their knee jerk response may come from their lack of understanding of the impact social media has on reaching target markets, their belief that social media is equivalent to snake oil or a passing fad, and most importantly, that they have grown their business over the years without it.

The younger professional tends to support the “idea” of social media but in many cases experiences a disconnect on why it is important, why it needs constant tending, and why it can be much more than a social tool. The younger professional understands that others are doing business on social media platforms and may have profiles set up, but much like that blinking clock, they have not “programmed” Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to do anything for them other than be an inert billboard with their name, maybe résumé, and hardly a picture.

If you somehow fall into either of these two categories, don’t be resigned to be just like your parents. Banish the blink, blink, blink. To help you along, here are a few tips on understanding this virtual world and this whole other plane in which to interact with your potential and current customers.

Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In

If you don’t have a profile on all of these, get one. If you have one, make sure you are using it to cultivate relationships with your target markets. Three tips to make sure you are at least close to doing what you should be doing on social media sites are:

Update your status daily. Make sure it’s not the boring play-by-play of “Going to get coffee” or “I love sushi.” It should be saying something about who you are, how you help your clients, or what value you add. A good example would be, “Just came back from completing a great client installation. Now they will be saving 25% on their IT costs.”
Comment on others’ statuses or re-tweet. Again, you are trying to cultivate relationships and creating a dialogue is a great way to do so. Ask questions and get involved. One caveat, avoid controversy, unless that’s your line of business.
Create a page for your business. Each of these platforms allows you to create a corporate page. Invite your Facebook “friends” to “Like” your page. Create a hashtag for your business to use on Twitter. If you don’t know what it is, Google it. Create a business page on Linked In which tells more about your company, what it does and its clients. Be descriptive in all of these so that you have a better chance of coming up in searches.

Yes, all of these are more complicated and time consuming than programming the clock on the VCR, but if you don’t resolve to get in the game now, imagine how far behind you will be 5 years from now when the “DVD” of social media is released.

Questions or comments?

Contact me:

susana@adgomni.com