When I was creating notes for this podcast and planning out these steps, I got curious as to what others would say so I asked “What would be the first step to branding and social media marketing success?” in Google + community Social Media Professionals and on a LinkedIn post by Joe Pulizzi who was sharing “Why Most Branded Content is Awful” which is a great read and I highly recommend.

I received a few responses and all varied as to the very first step would be – which I thought would be the case – as each individual is responding based on their own experiences through their brand and niche. And I’ll be sharing those responses throughout the podcast. A couple responses did match what I consider your first step to be and what I will share with you a bit later but I think before you take your first step it is best to do a little pre-planning.

Pre-plan

The pre-planning I’m talking about is what I consider your number one brand asset and that is your website. Your website is your hub with all social media channels as the spokes; your website must be more than just a brochure on the web; it has to be interactive; with resources – articles, blogs, news items, a hook, etc. Your website is your rock, your anchor, your number one asset for your business. If you don’t put the time, energy and yes money into creating, designing, and molding it into what you are all about and sharing valuable information with the community and market to the right people you are trying to reach, then you won’t be found.

Buy a domain name in your name regardless if you are going to use it (get one for kids too); Domain name should represent you and what you do – you’ll need to be creative as the dot com’s are getting fewer and fewer.

Ten Steps to Branding and Social Media Marketing Success

Step 1

Identify your brand – your personality and values; what makes you different/unique? Who are you? What do you do? And Who Do you do it for?  Be honest with yourself; look at yourself in the mirror and ask what I’m I all about? What are you passionate about? Fred McClimans – the basis of a successful strategy has to reflect (and reinforce) the core drivers and values of the business.   If you can identify who the business is, the value proposition it wants to deliver (the benefit a business brings to its customers, not just a product or service) then you have the foundation of a brand.   Another perspective: be true to who you are.

Step 2

Define your audience on social media – where are they? (clients, business partners, etc). Do a search on various social networks to find your audience, customers. See what they are talking about – can you be successful on those networks? Will they be interested in what you are sharing?

Step 3

Set goals and expectations (sales leads, clients, customer service, networking); what is it that you want out of social media channels. What is your strategy? Joe Pulizzi – social media strategy first starts with a content strategy. Create a compelling, consistent content initiative that answers problems (real or conceived) and position your organization as the go-to resource. Social, search and lead generation initiatives start with a content strategy first.

Step 4

Identify which social media channels based on Step 2 to utilize to achieve your goals (not etched in stone as you may need to be flexible in re-acquiring an audience that might transition from Facebook to Twitter, to Google +)

Step 5  

Establish your brand on social media – Why –  Recruiters, Networking, Word of mouth marketing, global competition. How do you do that for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube. Follow and comment on the top 10 – 20 blogs, LinkedIn groups, forums, etc where your customers are at. Be consistent with your brand across all social media networks.

Step 6  

Find like-minded individuals, clients, competitors, etc on social media channels.

Step 7

Engage in conversation – be positive, ask questions; build trust in your brand; Jim Cole – Be reliable. Reliable advice that delivers long-term benefits to a brand. Share valuable information – information, analysis, etc.– do a Twitter search for a particular subject or hashtag and Politely and respectfully respond to topics that you can share your knowledge

Step 8

Manage your brand through social media tools such as Hootsuite, use Google alerts, Twitter search, Buffer app, IFTTT.Com; Monitor your brand through Google alerts, Mention, and social search – such as Twitter, Google trends, Google blogs searches.

Step 9

Market your products and services – notice how this is step nine? Imagine walking up to someone at a cocktail party and having that person say – hey how are ya? Do you want/need my EP services? Start the relationship first in Step 7 – this takes time to cultivate!

Step 10

Hone your process; tweak, as new social media channels are established you may need to establish your brand (Google +,Path, Foursquare, Yelp, Chime.in, Quora, Instagram) – you will need to diversify your brand to several channels to gain maximum exposure – but do so with a plan.

I want to thank the members in the Social Media Professionals community in Google + for their responses and insights, and I’d like to thank Joe Pulizzi, Jim Cole and Jim McClimans who responded to my question on LinkedIn.

If you wish to subscribe to this podcast it is available on iTunes, The link is https://larrysnow.me/itunes. If you don’t have iTunes available to you this podcast is also available on Spreaker, Stitcher, as well as Blackberry Podcasts and Zune for Windows.

Thanks for listening to this podcast. I appreciate it. If you have any questions or comments please email me at [email protected] or give me a call at 1-781-369-5185

The post Ten Steps to Branding and Social Media Marketing Success appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

I recently received an email from a client who was asking how to improve their website to achieve a higher rank on Google search results.  This is the bane of every website owner – how do I rank higher in Google search? A collective chant of “I want to be number one on Google.” It is not impossible, but it is very difficult especially in a  highly competitive market like executive protection services.

In this podcast I share ways that I think will help your website get you closer to that elusive number one spot in the search results.

1. Look at the data. Google analytics and Google webmaster tools. Analytics provides very detailed information on your website – visitors, countries, how long visitors are staying, what they are looking at the most, and keywords visitors used to find your website. Google webmaster tools helps improve your website.

2. Keyword Adwords Tool. Also a Google product. This tool helps you find keywords for your market – what is being searched and how competitive are the keywords. Input your website and your competitors website to get some ideas on what keywords will help your website be found by searchers.

3. Search Engine Optimization. Optimize your website content with specific keywords you found from the Keyword tool. Place keywords in page title, meta description or excerpt, and the content itself.

4. Create Content.  The more the content, the more the keywords. Helps you stand out as an authority. Content should provide value – information, analysis, etc. Doesn’t mean a blog post. If writing is not your thing try video or audio.

5. Share Content. Share your content via social media networks, newsletters, etc. Always include a link back to your website.

6. Google authorship. Tie your Google + account with your website. Some say this will help your rank – calling it Author rank. Very simple to do.

7. Your website linked on authoritative websites. Authoritative meaning those websites who are authorities in your market or niche; a.k.a “link juice.”  Create a simple directory of authoritative websites, mention those website owners; try link swapping; conduct interviews with authoritative website owners – will share your link (interview) on their website; comment on authoritative websites.

8. XML sitemap. eXtensible Markup Language. An XML sitemap uploaded to the root of your website will help the Google bots do their job easier. You can create an XML sitemap here. Connect your XML sitemap to Google webmaster tools.

9. Google local. Used to be Google places. It is a half a page free ad on search results. Simple to set up. Need verification pin.

10.  Mobile. Mobile friendly website – adjusts size on mobile device. Smartphones and tablets are dominating the market – start thinking mobile for your business. Get your business listed in Yelp, Foursquare, your community on Patch.com, local newspaper online directory. These are all free and necessary – a wider search net – more opportunity for your business to be found. If your website is on page4 of search results, perhaps your Yelp business listing is on page 1.

Lastly, it takes time to increase your website’s page rank. Think of it as a marathon not a sprint, which I’ve mentioned before in my advice with social media marketing. The above recommendations should start you on your way to the finish line.

The post I Want to be Number One on Google! appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

Definition of Stagnant

Not advancing or developing – showing no activity; stale

For this podcast I’m going to talk about Stagnant in context of what I refer to as your digital platform – your website; and what I have seen as an over reliance on social media.

Stagnant Digital Platform

Is your website active? Is your website just a brochure on the web? When was the last time you put up new content? Updated an image? Shared a new testimonial from a client? Perhaps your website is poorly designed by relying on a friend to save a couple of bucks to design your website. When was the last time you put information on your website that is useful for your clients and visitors?

Does that describe your website?

As I have discussed in previous blog posts your website is the hub – the center of your business. You have a platform on the web so that potential clients and current customers can find you. With your website, you can control your brand – who you are, what you do, and what qualifies you to do it. Everything comes out of your controlled website and goes to the spokes – which are the social media networks.

Not only does it need to be updated with your brand elements but in this digital information age you cannot afford have a website without useful, valuable, information.

There is literally tons of information to be shared on your website. The world has gotten a lot smaller with social media tools giving access to information has it happens. This information need to be communicated to your clients. In a way that is understandable – how does it impact their business or their lives.

Guy Kawasaki, a former evangelist at Apple, shared at a recent webinar that there are three forms of value: information, analysis, and assistance. – Information is defined as what just happened. It’s the important things you should know about. Analysis explains the information. Assistance explains how your company can help clients avoid dangerous situations. These types of value should be unique to you and your brand and should have a positive influence. – Examples of value might be: industry news; how you solved a problem; your perspectives on a particular product or service; a safety checklist; or a how-to on a new product or service.

In addition to sharing valuable, practical information with your clients, customers and visitors to your website, you should also be sharing the information to your peers and colleagues through social media networks. It also puts your competitors on notice that you are serious about what you do.

Due to over reliance on social media

Social media is a great tool if used effectively. Not sharing useful information and lurking in Facebook and LinkedIn groups is not effective.

Stop waiting for a nugget to sink your teeth into. If you are only in a few groups or following a few pages and people start making a wider information source. You cannot afford to be idle on social media – be active and proactive.

You must speak even if it is controversial. Always be respectful and not combative  but ask questions to the group

Also please don’t blindly accept what is shared on social media. as the gospel. Just like a doctor’s diagnosis always get two or three other trusted people’s opinions on the matter.

If  a group or in the larger context, social media, is not helping you get you or your business to the next level – don’t linger; leave the group, start a new one, join others.

You’ve really got to hustle. No one promised you a free ticket to a job.  EP/bodyguard industry is probably one of the most difficult to get a FULL TIME position with benefits.

Starting new on social media or in EP – no one knows who you are.

Start tweeting out a link to your resume to companies.

Start marketing your services and products to the people who need them NOT  to the people who are in the same boat as you.

The way I look at social media – ask not what your social media network can do for you, but what you can and should be doing on the social media network. A little cheesy I know, but I wanted to dispel the belief that some businesses seem to be clinging to – i.e. -> “Twitter doesn’t work for me. I just can’t seem to get any sales.”

It’s not at all about you, it’s about providing value.

Lastly I’d like to share 10 Things You Need To Stop and Start Doing By Scott Williams

– Stop focusing on what people think about you and start focusing on what God thinks about you.

– Stop majoring in the minors and start majoring in the majors.

– Stop making excuses about why you can’t make it happen and start making it happen.

– Stop settling and start demanding. – Stop pointing out the negatives and start pointing out the positives.

– Stop putting things of until tomorrow and start doing them today.

– Stop looking in the mirror and saying I can’t and start looking in the mirror and saying I can.

– Stop looking backwards and start looking forwards.

– Stop being fearful and start being fearless.

– Stop believing the worst and start believing the best.

– Stop it, Stop it, Stop it…

Thanks for listening to this podcast episode.  If you need an active, useful website or are totally lost when it comes to social media and how it can really help your business please give me a call at 1781-369-5185 or email me at [email protected].

The post Business of Security Podcast Episode 011 – Stagnant appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

In BoS podcast episode 10 you’ll hear the my second interview with Dave Johnson, president of ITG consultants, and chairperson of the American Board of Certification in Dignitary and Executive Protection. Interview is about 40 minutes long.

Thank you to Eric Konohia, Mark James, Darryl Biggs, and Mark Fair for supplying me with their questions to ask of Dave.

But before the interview I talk about seizing opportunities:

Thanks for listening to this and other podcasts!  If you have any questions, comments, rants or raves, please email me at [email protected] or call 1-781-369-5185.

If you have any additional questions for Dave Johnson regarding the ABCDEP certification, please send them along to [email protected].

The post Dave Johnson Interview #2 – Seizing Opportunities appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

In this week’s episode I’m going to cover OSINT or Open Source Intelligence.  I’ll share with you some tools and apps you can use to scrub the internet for data, and how to use these common tools to your advantage while you’re at the office or mobile.

Now I’m no expert in data mining.  I’ve been learning as I go so I’m not going to be talking about hacks and some super serious tools and super secret squirrels with black hats.  But I think the information that I’ll provide you will be very useful for the security practitioner to protect people, data, and property.

What is OSINT? Open Source Intelligence involves, finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence.

The internet has become the place get answers to your problems.  Gone are the days of thumbing through the yellow pages. When someone needs a plumber, find a bank, a gas station to fix the car, whatever the issue we look to the internet for our answers. With the proliferation of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, more and more people are posting and sharing information about themselves, their families, their pets, jobs, vacations, etc publicly – for all the world to see.  The old Monday morning water cooler,  gossip, gripes, and groans has transitioned to social media networks.  If you are on social media it isn’t private – you might think so, but you are still sharing information with your friends – and your friends can share your information with the world.

The advantage of this information for the security practitioner is that the bad guys use social media networks too. From Al qaida to the Occupy protesters – all are using some form of social media to organize and communicate.

Open Source Intelligence Tools Mentioned:

Social search

Complex search examples for searching the big 3 (Google, Bing and Yahoo):

LinkedIn search

Facebook Search

Replace what’s in the parentheses and quotes with your specific keywords and phrases and replace site with your websites.

What are some of your favorite open source tools that you use?  Post in the comment below.

The post Open Source Intelligence Tools appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

I’m back with Business of Security podcast episode #8.  There has been a 3-week break since the last podcast episode that was due to personal and professional demands. In this episode, I’ll talk about the reasons – but the good news is that I’m back so be looking for BoS podcast to get back to its regular weekly schedule.

Last week I attended the Protective Security Conference. In this episode I’ll give my thoughts on the conference – things I liked and disliked and opinions to make it better for next year.  At the conference, I got to meet up with Eric Konohia of BPI Security and Mark Fair from MODAD Threat Management Solution as well as several other security professionals. All and all a very good trip.

While at the conference I was able to interview Dave Johnson, President of ITG Consultants and Chair of the American Board for Certification in Dignitary and Executive Protection. The ABCDEP certification as you can imagine is a rather intensive process considering how diverse the industry – but Dave and the other members of the board are making it happen. The board’s mission is  “to create an acknowledged and accepted mechanism and process for achieving dignitary And executive protection certification.”

I asked Dave what is ABCDEP and his role, challenges and next steps. In future podcasts, I will share updates on the board as they progress through the certification process.

The App of the Week

This week’s app of the week is iTriage. Created by two ER docs, iTriage helps you answer the questions: “What medical condition could I have?” and “Where should I go for treatment?” Save, easily access, and share the healthcare information most important to you. A free app that has some very useful features such as:

So check out iTriage.

The post Protective Security Conference Recap – Interview with Dave Johnson appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

Happy Easter!

In this episode I talk in depth about social media. Everyone says “social media” but what does that mean. My definition is quite simply – social media is an engaging conversation on a public network. Although it’s simple to say and easy to define, many find it challenging to follow the right people, what to tweet about,  how to engage customers, etc.

In this episode I share my tips and advice on using the big three – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as part of your social media strategy.  In future episodes I will share my tips on LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google +.

First step in using social media is to listen

Find where your niche business is talking. It might be on Facebook but not so much as Twitter. Two tools I recommend for you to listen is Google Alerts and Twitter Search.

Next Step is to Plan

Set up a plan for social media. What are your goals. I recommend that you don’t haphazardly create accounts and hope one sticks.

Why Those Three Social Networks?

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are the largest social networks. You can reach a massive amount of people within each network. But this takes time and energy. Social media is a marathon not a sprint. Be true to who you are – be engaging, entertaining and interactive.

Twitter

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Twitter despite its reputation and the potential to ruin a company with one tweet is still, in my opinion a necessity for your business. This week I spend a bit more time on branding your Twitter account, and what to tweet about.

Twitter is not only a great for social media and engaging with your customers and colleagues but can also be a great monitoring tool using Twitter search and it’s real time data mapping. Using hyper-local apps like Twittelator Pro and Ban.jo can be helpful for the security team at large public events. Other apps mentioned to schedule your tweets are Twuffer and Buffer.

Lastly, as I fun way to remember do’s and don’ts of Twitter I run down my Twitter Commandments.

Facebook

Facebook is not just for finding your old high school friends. It is great platform for your business and your brand. Start by creating a Facebook page, brand it with the large cover image and the apps tabs below. Start connecting with like minded people, groups and other pages.

Create a fan or business page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Set up a Vanity URL for your personal timeline or your business page: https://www.facebook.com/username

Manage your Facebook privacy settings: http://youtu.be/vTcCPhtdd2g

Facebook Ads are a last resort to get likes. If at all possible I recommend you get likes organically. Start with your friends and colleagues, website, blog, newsletters. Promote it everywhere.

Keep business separate from personal by using lists. Always think before you post.  Remember the people who hire and fire are looking at Facebook and other social media sites, so be careful what you post.

YouTube

An enormous video repository. 1 hour of video posted every second! I share working examples on how you can use YouTube to your advantage – whether it be promotional, classroom type, how-to videos, YouTube is the place to post them first.

You will need the basics – a camera, a mic, and video editing software but after that use your imagination to create useful videos for your community, customers or clients. Remember to use keywords and phrases in your title and description to help your videos to be found by your those looking for it.

Tubemogul is a free service with which you can disseminate your videos to many different video directories such as Veoh, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Vimeo, etc.

Use YouTube analytics to monitor your success or failure. Make multiple videos using different style types. You will make mistakes and it can be intimidating to film yourself talking to the camera and opening yourself up to criticism.

The post All About Social Media! What Is It and How It Can Work For Your Business appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

Hello, my friends! Welcome to episode #4 – can’t believe it has been a month of Business of Security podcasts! I hope you are enjoying the shows as much as I am. If you have any questions or comments about the show please call the show phone number at 1-781-369-5185.

In this episode, you will hear the final part of my pre-recorded interview with Tony Scotti. Tony speaks about his beginnings as a business and speaks about opportunities, networking, and marketing as 3 areas to concentrate on to succeed in the security industry. Here are some of my takeaways from this interview:

Tony also mentioned the Man in the Mirror Poem (also known as the Man in the Glass) and Trusted Advisor as recommended reading.

Love to hear from you on what you thought of this second part interview with Tony. Please post your comments below.

Meet up in the works!

As I mentioned this week and last week I will be attending the Protective Security Conference titled “Security Solutions” which will be at the Tremont Plaza Hotel in Baltimore Maryland on May 16-18.  I spoke with Mike Nossaman who is the gentleman who produces the conference and mentioned to him that I’d like to do a meetup, and he was fully supportive. So the idea is to not only say hello to each other but also be productive. I’m in the process of asking leaders in the security industry to be at the meet up so that you can seek their advice, ask them questions, get the information you need to succeed in this industry. I’m very excited for this meet up to happen.  So stay tuned for upcoming info as the details unfold!

The post Tony Scotti Interview Part Two appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.

One of the goals I have set for myself and to share with you is reaching out to leaders in the security industry and talking to them about such topics as how did you get to where you are today, difficulties running a business, and how to manage your brand online and offline.

I reached out to Tony Scotti of Tony Scotti Driving this week, who was very kind and said sure I’ll be your first interview. So I sat down with Tony in his office for almost 2 hours! I learned so much from this interview. Amazing, amazing talk.

This is part 1 of the interview. There will be 2 other parts coming in the next few podcast episodes.

You can learn more about Tony Scotti at his website SecurityDriver.Com.

I have known Tony for the last 23 years, almost have of my life, and over that time he has become my mentor, a person that I highly respect not only for what he has done for the industry but also for what he has taught me personally and professionally.

In this part of the interview, I asked Tony how he got started in the security industry. Almost from the start, he mentioned that he had mentors that had helped him along the way in the early part of his career. Without those mentors, he would not have had the success that he has had in this industry.

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