Border Line Genius: What is a Marketing Consultant?

Border Line Genius: What is a Marketing Consultant?: I'm often asked, what it is that I do or why do I need a marketing consultant? The truth is that not all marketing consultants are the sam...

What is a Marketing Consultant?

I'm often asked, what it is that I do or why do I need a marketing consultant? The truth is that not all marketing consultants are the same and each individual will have a different approach on how they handle their clients. If I had to give one general answer to the question as to, what is a marketing consultant, I would say that a marketing consultant is a person that can help develop a strategy for a business and the key being that the consultant asks the questions that are not being asked.

Tomorrow's Consumer: Buyer 2.0

If you would have told someone in the year 2000, consumers would be the ones looking to promote businesses, you would have been branded crazy. Today's consumer does exactly this. Social Media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter allow for consumers to interact with their favorite brands and businesses in a way like never before.

Sharing, liking, and tweeting, aren't just useless verbs! For the business owner to succeed today, they must understand and accept the buyer behavior of tomorrow's consumer. The internal sales and marketing professionals within a business should be well coached and educated on the emerging social media best practices for increasing sales, marketing productivity, and ROI.

So what's keeping you from reaching tomorrow's consumer? 

For some companies, it may be that they recognize the potential in Social Media but they don't have time to invest in managing their online presence. For others, it may be that they are not sure how to approach Social Media and they choose to ignore it.

One of the most common issues that we encounter, are that business owners are stuck to their old ways and are resistant to change.

The truth is your business can't afford to ignore social media or the changes in tomorrow's consumer. The only challenge your company should be faced with, is how to leverage social networks so that they reach your target and how to convert those reached to sales.
The Answer

People are looking for advice on the products and services they love. They are engaging with friends, peers, and experts on social networks, so that they make the right purchase decisions.
This is where the opportunities are being created and internal sales reps need to be part of those conversations.

Your business should not only be investing in social media initiatives, but it should also find ways to measure and maximize ROI through achieving specified sales and marketing goals. Goals such as opportunity management, prospecting, and up-selling are all specific goals that your business should have in its marketing strategy.

What's Next?

Coming up with a strategy is half the solution. The next step is implementation of your strategy and leveraging your relationships through social media. Without the proper assessment, strategy, and implementation, your social management attempts will fail.

Our advice is get to the drawing board and invest the time it takes to develop a well managed social media presence. If you're still not too sure how to approach social media, contact a professional.

Giving Back Goes A Long Way

If you've been following YSBM, you may have heard about an event we're coordinating for a local business here in Laredo. What started off as a consulting arrangement, has blossomed to a full forced campaign in hopes to giving back to the community.  

Knowing Your Strengths and Weaknesses

As you know, I've been working really hard on getting  the You Should Be Marketing website up and going. It took a lot of hard work, determination, and most of all time to complete. There are still some minor changes and content that I would like to add but for the most part it's finally finished.

I would say the toughest part about completing the website was the fact that I'm not a web designer and although I was able to come up with content, the look of the site is something I had a lot of trouble with. I struggled for weeks trying to create a site that was user friendly and had a steady flow, but in the end,  it just wasn't doing it.

Border Line Genius: The Transition of Border Line Genius

Border Line Genius: The Transition of Border Line Genius

The Transition of Border Line Genius

For starters, I want to thank everyone for being patient with Border Line Genius and continuing to support us even though we haven't written much content this past month. As you can see, the blog has evolved to more than just a simple read and is interconnected with my business platform.

3 Ways You Can Improve Your Marketing Content

As I sit here, I'm struggling to come up with an idea on what to write about. Writers block sits in and countless hours go by where I'm just looking through articles to come up with new ideas. Then it hit me, why not write about not knowing what to write about.

I'm sure many bloggers have an issue with this especially if they are trying to come up with new content on a daily bases. Luckily for me, I only post a blog once a week so this allows me more time to provide quality marketing content.

Business Etiquette

What Now?

You may have heard the saying "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". Trusted business owners and managers know that this is the foundation of building long term relationships with the consumer and those that don't should learn quickly. I bring this up because just recently my car was backed up into in which my headlight was broken and side fender dented. Anyone who has been through this process knows how frustrating the situation can be and to top it off, it was a hit and run. Guess who had to pay up? I called the insurance company and they were quick to respond and basically told me everything would be fine and just to find a place in which they could repair the damages. I looked around a little bit and finally decided on a local shop located on the north side of Laredo. 

Philanthropy & Social Responsibility

Now more than ever, we are starting to see companies join in their efforts towards philanthropy or some form of corporate social responsibility. Linda Novick O'Keefe writes in her article, Social Ethics: A Peek Into 2012, "In an era of global connectivity and instant media, companies increasingly view philanthropic campaigns as an intrinsic component of a successful business strategy, rather than an external obligation". Companies are becoming more aware of global conscious consumers and are reaching out to those consumers through social media sites in hopes to increase their future margins. 

How to Choose a Logo

There's no clear cut way to determine how to go about choosing a logo but there are many things to consider when choosing one.  A logo serves more than one purpose and can translate the quality of the service or product your business offers along with the competitive advantages you have. Just recently I was put to the task of choosing the right logo to represent me and the consulting services I offer. One of the things I had to identify was my target audience. Who did I want to attract with my new logo and what was the message I wanted to get across?

New Name, Same Theme

First off, thank you to everyone who participated in the renaming of my blog. Your words and suggestions helped me come to a decision that I think help mold the direction of my blog and hopefully ads to my marketing message. Having said that, I guess all that's left is to announce the winner. The polls were very close and two names stood out from the rest but in the end one name prevailed. 

 

Live From YouTube

As I'm sure you have noticed, I am quite the enthusiast for social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. What's not to like? They both offer a way for you to communicate with your target audience on whatever you well please, can be highly influential, easily accessed, and if used properly, are very effective.  A little over 55% of the traffic that my blog receives is from new visitors and from those visits I receive a bounce rating of 53%. Huh? In plain English, I am getting new visitors to view my blog but as soon as they are there, they split.

New FB Timeline Rolls Out March 30, 2012

As many of you know, Facebook is making some changes to the way we view our FB pages. Starting March 30, 2012 the new timeline will be implemented and yes that goes for business pages as well. If you are using Facebook to reach your customer, I suggest you start learning the ins and outs of the new platform before the launch. 

Marketing Mix, No More!

I would like to start off by saying thank you to everyone who has supported me thus far. I really appreciate all the comments, likes, and shares that you have submitted. Having said that the time has come to pick a new name for my blog. Over the past few weeks I have gotten some insight and suggestions as to what my new blog name should be. Although I liked quite a bit of the suggestions, I can only select a few to use in a poll that I will be conducting through Survey Monkey. As mentioned in the Help Rename My Blog Article, I will be giving a $25 Gift Card to the person who's suggested blog name is chosen as a token of my appreciation for their support and creative effort. 

Help Rename My Blog!

Help Wanted!

Glad you could join me for another one of my marketing themed blogs. I just recently published my first blog and I am happy to announce my retirement. No, not really but after reading other blogs from a blogging forum I can see I have a lot to learn. The Marketing Mix, well the name of the blog will be retired but the theme will stay the same. I thought it would be an interesting experience to have fellow bloggers rename my blog.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Social Media

According to research published by analyst firm Access Markets International Partners, 70% of small and medium businesses actively use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and now Pinterest. It's no secret that using social media to promote your business or yourself has advantages. Whether you are a new start up company or a person just trying to stay on track with what is going on in the world, social media can elevate you to success.

I've compiled a list of the top 10 reasons why you or your business should be looking for ways to incorporate social media into your marketing strategy.

No Budget, No Problem!

Juan Garza, Marketing Consultant

If you're like many other business owners, you may be wondering how you can promote your business with little or no advertising budget.  After meeting with a potential client (shout out to Aime's Party Place), it was clear to me that many business owners have a head full of ideas but have trouble translating those ideas into a successful marketing strategy. I think everyone has experienced something like this whether it be writer's block or a brain fart, sometimes you just need a way to put your ideas to action.   

  

The part owner of Aime's Party Place and an old friend of mine, reached out to me after reading my blog. Aime's is an elegant reception/banquet hall located on the north side of Laredo and they offer catering services for events covering birthdays, wedding, quince's, and much more.

Pinterest, The New NASCAR?

Where Will Pinterest Stop?

It seems a new social media platform is on the rise and according to an article on the Wall Street Journal: Pinterest's Rite of Web Passage- Huge Traffic, No Revenue, Pinterest accounted for 11 million unique visitors in January 2012. We have all heard of the term, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and Pinterest is putting it to the literal test. Businesses and marketers everywhere are foaming at the mouth with this new social media platform, where users are able to share their interests and hobbies through the "pinning" and "re-pinning" of visual images.

Nice To Finally Meet You

Hello, my name is Juan Garza and it is nice to finally meet you. My first blog, finally! I have been somewhat of a procrastinator and like many people; I didn't know where to begin. So here we are and you might be asking yourself, why should I be reading what this guy has to say? To answer this, I think it is very important for you to know who I am.

These days I am a college student attending Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. I am in my last semester and graduating in May of 2012 with my BA in Business with a concentration in Marketing. After working in customer service for many years I realized that I had a certain talent (I think so) in communicating and being able to relate with customers on a personal level.Ever since I was in high school, I wanted to be a sports agent, so I thought what better move than getting into marketing is there?