Mktg Strategy | Seattle Online Marketing, Communications, Strategy

Online video resumes are a bad idea

October 22, 2008 By Joe Hage 6 Comments

Have you heard about video resumes?

I suppose they could help you find a job. I suspect they could hurt you instead.

If you were hiring and HR sent you the candidate’s resume and a video application, would you watch it? Probably. I would.

But before you hit that play button, what would you be thinking? According to a Vault.com survey, 58 percent said they’d view it “out of sheer curiosity.” Curiosity? Is that a euphemism for “source of amusement?”

Imagine you get the job. A generation later you retire. Do you think that video might show up again … over drinks and laughter? Not the kind of digital imprint I’d want. Not my idea of forwarding your best online profile.

My conclusion: online video resumes are a bad idea.

Um, I think he’s serious.

Bad idea, yes?
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Cash incentives vs. merchandise

September 30, 2008 By Joe Hage Leave a Comment

Contributor to The Business Report Serving South King County Judy Dunn interviewed me for her marketing strategy article entitled, “Want to romance your customers? Give ‘em gas.”

Her point? In the cash incentives versus merchandise battle, merchandise can work nicely to further your marketing objectives. (Click the article to enlarge.)

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

In the customer’s eyes, what’s the difference between offering a gas card and cash off the product price?

“There is very little romance to cash,” said Seattle marketing strategist Joe Hage. “But [Read more...]

Build your digital imprint

August 23, 2008 By Joe Hage Leave a Comment

In “Why I keep a blog” I detailed the five reasons I’m here in cyberspace:

To learn, compete, help, entertain, and build credibility.

Building credibility

Through the power of social media, my digital imprint is taking on a life of its own. 24 people wrote a compliment about me on Biznik. And four wrote entire articles about me.

In “Social Media Training with Joe,” SEO expert Barry Hurd wrote, “Joe has … an extreme grasp of both tactical and strategic marketing … a sparkling resume … Joe is the ‘full meal deal’ when it comes to marketing strategy.”
In “Don’t spend a dime on marketing until you read this,” Professional Life and Business Coach Tshombe Brown wrote, “I just read two absolutely amazing articles by Marketing Genius Joe Hage … you will be blown away at how much value you’ll get from them.

It’s indulgent all right, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the attention. [Read more...]

Mortgage broker foreclosure help

August 3, 2008 By Joe Hage 5 Comments

Boy, it’s dismal out there in real estate land.

I drafted this letter to help mortgage brokers secure new business among homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages.

I’ll email the letter to you for a modest fee. You can use and mail to your target audience as often as you like.

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Dear [Name],

I haven’t felt this good for a long time. I feel empowered writing you this letter. I genuinely think this letter can make a material difference for you and the 300 other Snohomish County families I am writing. (Why 300? Keep reading.)

I became a mortgage broker to help people realize their dream of homeownership. When I started nine years ago,
… I didn’t expect to have people crying in my office.
… I didn’t expect to see anguish on people’s faces.
… I didn’t expect that I would console people on the verge of losing their homes.

The people I’m describing – like you – have an adjustable rate mortgage coming due. They are frantic because … email me for the rest of the letter.
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Find the Heat

July 10, 2008 By Joe Hage Leave a Comment

Lisa Johnson is speaking. She’s awesome, very approachable, speaking with the audience, not at us. She put out more content than anyone else in the marketing to women space and became the #1 consultancy to that market in 12 months. She says, “Small businesses have an opportunity: the big guys are getting smart fast, but those with content can compete with a $30MM budget.”

Some notes from her talk may spark a business-building idea for you right now:

“Find the Heat” — explore the edges of your field. Where would you have to go to be among the top four percent in your field?

Example: Common Craft “swung on the pendulum.” Everybody is talking all techie about Twitter and all that — Common Craft went as low tech as possible to make it accessible for the masses.

“Revenue Quadrants” — how to monetize your services.

Services – Lisa started here. Consultations were her only revenue stream. As she gained an audience, she couldn’t accept any more than one or two clients at a time.
Live presentations. When she wrote a book, it opened a new opportunity. The new advance for a new book is $10,000 which works out to less than minimum wage once you’re done. You make about a buck a book, so you have to sell 10,000 books before you even break even. But it brought her credibility. She got asked to speak and threw out a number: $10,000 to speak. They said “yes.” And she found a new way to monetize her skills.
Product Sales. She bought 5,000 of her own books at $7 and realized she could bundle the book in with her package.
Advertisements/Affiliate Programs. “Content that sells the best helps people do something that they are sort of desperate to do.” After 2004, the #1 activity online became content overtaking communication (basically, emailing one another). What kind of content can you create that your audience would find valuable?

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Seattle Marketing Strategy according to Google

June 23, 2008 By Joe Hage 1 Comment

In Those other Joe Hages! I groused about some other Joe Hage who was overshadowing my own Joe Hageness. And while “taking him down” did give me great joy, I’ve won a bigger prize. I’m the #1 Seattle Marketing Strategist.

Seattle Marketing Strategy was free for me, paid for them (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

As of this writing (updated 11/15/09), I have the first local result and the first three results (among millions!) for the term “Seattle Marketing Strategy” refer to me. Biznik helped me get there.

Biznik is routinely among the top three Google results for “Business Networking,” along with better-known BNI and LinkedIn. Biznik brands itself as “Business Networking that Doesn’t Suck.” I can attest: I care about a number of the members and they reciprocate. We share ideas and referrals. We endorse one another for customer testimonials. We use one another’s goods and services.

Me? I’ve spent tens of thousands for Biznik members’ services since October 2008. In fact, Biznik is the first place I look for professionals in the area to help me do everything from restoring my hard drive (thanks, William Fulton) to writing my business copy (thanks, Karen Anderson) to building this website (thanks, Tia Peterson)!

Since Biznik generates tens of thousands of hits per month and ranks highly in Google search results, my Biznik profile builds my credibility as a marketing expert. I’ve written four highly-ranked articles on Biznik and earned an “Expert” Badge which confers more credibility. And as a supporting member, I get 26x more web page traffic than a basic (free) member. I strongly encourage you to join.

Why is my marketing credibility important? In a word, opportunity. According to Howard Nestler, CEO of Executive Options, “The typical executive sees himself or herself as an employee and not as a brand.” Note to Howard: I’m not a typical executive.

Take my Biznik profile, for example. I have a great and meaningful job as Director of Marketing Communications at Cardiac Science. Success there means saving lives (watch this!).

Still, the Joe Hage brand delivers marketing strategy expertise and I use my Cardiac Science accomplishments as supporting points. That positioning is relevant to my target market and opens me up to more opportunities.

For example, I’m certain that Kelly Sharples, President of Northwest Enterprising Moms, would not have asked “the Cardiac Science guy” to speak at an upcoming event. She’s not looking for someone to extol the virtues of accessible defibrillation. She’s looking for an expert marketing consultant to guide her members about best practices. I’m happy to do it; it expands my network, adds credibility to my brand, and is just plain fun away from the office.

Just today my brother-in-law John Greer (who hasn’t done practically anything on the site since he joined months ago) emailed me and said, “Wow, this Biznik thing really works. Out of nowhere, someone pointed me to an opportunity to write an article!”

So, how about you? What’s your selling proposition and what piece of Google real estate do you want to own? Think about it, and start here.

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