Prelude…

It was raining and misty in Foxboro, MA…but that didn’t hide the towering football stadium from hovering above me. I entered through the Fidelity entrance and taking the escalator, slowly advanced to the upper level. After checking in, I saw a vendor area and a room probably half the size of the stadium filled with row upon row of tables. At the center of all the tables was a small stage and podium. Surrounding the entire room were flat screen TVs and large projection screens.

I was early (thankfully) so I had the luxury of finding a seat at a table right in front of the podium. Much to my surprise, the tables were equipped with several power strips to charge my tools. “These people don’t mess around”, I thought to myself! I settled in (after grabbing a delicious breakfast pastry) and powered up my equipment. I was ready for my first experience at the Inbound Marketing Summit (#IMS10) at Gillette Stadium.

I was amazed to see the hundreds of people that quickly flooded in the room. There were so many attendees that they had to add additional rows of just chairs. I felt bad for the people in the chairs, they must have got severe writer’s cramp! As everyone took their seats, the room became filled with marketing gurus and techies donning laptops, iPads, smartphones, video cameras, digital cameras, Livescribe pens and who knows what else. The WiFi was flowing!

Not sure what to expect or what to do, I quickly glanced at everyone else’s computer screens. I saw a variety of social media dashboards on the monitors, so I quickly loaded up HootSuite. I opened up a blank Word document and turned on the audio recording on my Livescribe…I was ready!

…Or so I thought! Having never attended the IMS, I wasn’t prepared for the inundation of information I received. We heard amazing speakers from all facets of inbound marketing, technology, and even government. The Twitter stream flowing on hastag #IMS10 was out of control! You could be physically watching the presentation and then in real-time, see a tweet response about something the presenter said (one of our tweets was even featured on The Pulse Network).  It was a whirlwind for two days and my head is still spinning. As I continue to digest what I’ve learned, I have found a lot of applications relevant to our small business clients and Partners of Berry Insurance. So for all local business owners in the Massachusetts area, here are some of my greatest takeaways from the conference that directly apply to you.

IMS what?

But first, what is Inbound Marketing? Inbound Marketing is the idea of putting content on the web so that people can find it and are then drawn in to contact or buy from you. Why is it important? Traditional “push” marketing is falling by the wayside. The retail shopping experience has completely transformed. Consumers are now doing their research online before they buy. You need to be there, get found and have great and engaging content. Essentially, inbound marketing makes it easier for potential clients to find you, instead of you finding them.

Now, on to the takeaways:

Don’t copy, emulate. Dharmesh Shah, co-author of “Inbound Marketing” said it best. You need to know your competition. Don’t copy what they are doing, but learn from them and do it better! It reminded me of this great book called “The Problem with Penguins” by Bill Bishop. Most business have the same problem – they look just like their competitors – like a waddle of penguins. Your job as a business owner is to get your company to stand out from the crowd. If you don’t, then you have now commoditized your business and potential customers will choose the company with the lowest price.

Don’t fear the big guys. “Intimacy is your friend” as stated by Gail Goodman. If you’re a coffee shop, don’t worry about what Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are doing. As a small business, you don’t have to jump through bureaucratic hoops before you can get permission to blog or tweet. You have the advantage of getting personal with your followers. Why? Because you don’t have as many! You can thank every customer that says something nice about you and you can reach out to those who say negative comments. If you had a million followers, could you do that?

Social media is only a tool, real-time is a mindset. I know, I harped on this in my first recap, but it’s so true. David Meerman-Scott, author of “Real-Time Marketing & PR” said it best – “So many organizations don’t have a culture of speed”. In today’s world, if you have something to say, you need to say it, NOW! Don’t bog yourself down on which social media tool to use to get your message out, just get it out there! The key is to be able to reach your audience quickly and with content that will engage or interest them.

The more time and resources you devote to social media, the greater your yield. As Gail Goodman said, “Nothing is instantaneous – things build”. A lot of small businesses we work with think that creating a Facebook page or a Twitter profile is enough. It’s a check off their social media to-do list. Wrong! Just having an account isn’t good enough. You need to work those tools daily to benefit from them. Engage with your followers by posting interesting and relevant content. Interact with others and their conversations. The great thing about social media for small business is that all the tools you need are free! You just need to dedicate your time to getting them to work for you. Start with a half hour or hour a day. I dare you.

Social media is about people, experiences, and conversations. Tell your story. If you sell inflatables for kids parties, don’t just blast out the rental fee, the dimensions and a product description. Tell the story about how Little Jimmy’s eyes lit up when he saw the big castle inflatable in his backyard for his party. Or maybe you are a wedding photographer. Don’t just list your package details and pricing. Talk about how it feels when your customers get their pictures back and cry and how beautiful they are, or laugh at the picture of their uncle doing the chicken dance which they didn’t see on the day of their special event. Don’t have time to write that story? Make time! And don’t be afraid to ask your clients for testimonials. If they are happy with your work, they’ll want to gloat about their experience!

So there you have it. I could have written on and on about some great advice for small businesses as they travel the social media landscape. But I figured you all are tired of reading at this point. If you have any advice that I missed, I’d love to hear it. You can comment below or tweet us at @Berry_Insurance.

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For more information about this topic, or if you have any questions about our Partners Program or any of your Massachusetts business or personal insurance needs, our agents at Berry Insurance would love to help! Call us at (800) 941-3317, visit our virtual insurance office at http://www.berryinsurance.com/ or stop by one of our locations in Franklin and Quincy, MA.

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