People do business with people, not websites.  The more high tech we get, the more high touch we need to be.  Your website is up and running.  You blog on a regular basis.  Your blogs are well thought out and over deliver with value.  Your facebook account is up-to-date and interesting.  You tweet often and are mastering Google ad words and your pay-per-click campaign is a well oiled machine.  Great!  Good for you.  You are doing everything right.  You are a current, hip, cutting edge entrepreneur.  Well done.   If it is working, don’t stop.

But that is only half of the big picture.

Don’t forget about human touch.  Belly to belly.  Old-school.  Eye contact.  Hand shakes.  Meet someone for coffee or tea.  Join your Chamber of Commerce.  I did.  Today, in fact.  I have lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut for 8 days and I joined my local chamber.  I will be a giver, a server, and a consistent contributor.  While I teach the online community how to master the language and posture of running a home-based business, I will help my neighbors, fellow business owners, and entrepreneurs with their online presence.  You can’t have one without the other.  Not in todays time.  You need to stand out.  So when people go to your website – let ‘em know who they are dealing with.  Answer the phone every once in a while.  Give people your cell phone number.  (Well, maybe not everybody…)  Return calls.  Meet people for coffee.  And when you do – send them to your website.   You, Online & You, Offline.  People want to do business with you, not just your website.  Once they like you, and want to do business with you, then send them to your website.  For the folks that you do not see on a regular basis, you know – the ones out of town and in other countries – make sure you have a good website.  But if you like to do business within your community – join the chamber.

And take a picture with the executive director.

I’ll let you know about my adventures at the chamber. I  might even write a blog on how to run a chamber event.  Only 8 days in Ridgefield and I love it already.  Any thoughts?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Actually, it’s HUGE!  It’s exactly how I AM online, and how you should be as well.  First, some history.  The Internet has been around for decades, believe it or not.  In fact, though the common means of navigating the Internet was browser-less in it’s earlier years, even the browser-based user interface (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc) has been around for nearly 20 years, albeit much more primitively.  That was Web 1.0.

With the burst of the dot-com bubble era in the earlier part of this decade (generally accepted as the tipping point), the birth of a new era began.  The era revolved around information sharing, collaboration, and, alas, social media.  Today, we have Web 2.0, where tools facilitate social networking with ease, and presence – You, Online! – is an interconnected virtual YOU as comprised of a plethora of personal blog entries, comments, status updates, friends and followers, videos, recordings, pictures, web sites,…and value.

Online social media sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn (and so on, and so on), and the vast array of tools such as WordPress, Ping.fm, eZine, and TweetLater to name just a few of the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of others, most of which are free to use, can be pulled together to make You, Online! larger than life!  You can be everywhere – and you should be, if you’re really going to connect with the millions of folks out there looking for you.  And, YES, millions of people are looking FOR YOU!

The key and common element in all of these technologies is YOU!  YOU are the brand you’re marketing using these tools.  (I tweeted profusely on the subject of personal branding recently so, if you haven’t read these, hop on over and follow me at http://www.twitter.com/drewberman.)  Social media is about connecting with people and creating relationships.  You need to create an online brand that provides value and instills trust.  Nobody will trust someone they don’t know.  In your business, trust is critical.  As the saying goes:  all things being equal, people like to do business with those they know, like, and trust.  All things not being equal, people still like to do business with those they know, like, and trust.

Everyone has a brand, whether they know it or not.  It’s who you are, what your parents created, and what you evolved.  Here is the kicker:  to create You, Online!, everything you are has to be appropriately reflected in what you say and do online, whether it be in written word, picture, or video.  That’s your online brand.  The more you “show up”, the better your presence, and the further reinforced You, Online! becomes.  You, Online! evolves.

Your evolution happens through content.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – content is KING!  Everything from a simple profile about Tricycle Championships to the description of a picture of Aunt Fannie’s 75th birthday to your status update after a great meal at the local pizzaeateratoria is content.  It could be that simple.  People read/view/watch your content.  Some like it, some don’t.  Some stick around and read/view/watch more, some move on.  At the same time, there is another dimension to social media content – value – and that’s where you attract people on a whole new level.  Again, some will find value in your content – these are the folks with whom you will do business; Some will move on.

Remember, social media isn’t a one-way street.  Conversation is crucial.  Imagine what the world would be like if everyone talked without response – boring, disconnected, random!  Well, it would be the same online.  You definitely need to put your own content out there, but part of You, Online! is also about responding to others.  Comment on others’ blogs and statuses, tweet back in response to tweets, ask questions on your blog, or even create a video response with your webcam!  Converse!  Leave a trail and let it be you.

You, Online! is no better, worse, or different than who you are offline.  You’ve had many years honing your brand offline.  Now it’s time to do so online and reap the rewards of reaching a much larger audience than imaginable!  The final frontier is creating online relationships that cross the divide into the real world where you actually meet, for example, for a cup of coffee.  Go full circle.  In fact, the relationship is primary to the agenda.  There wouldn’t be much point of any form on social media, or even You, Online!, if online relationships didn’t move to personal interaction at some point.

If you would like to meet and learn more about how to create You, Online!, leave a comment below or enter your contact information to the right.  Who knows, maybe, some day, we’ll meet for coffee!

New here? If you’re just getting here for the first time, fear not! Have an opinion, share it! Want more information? Ask for it! All you have to do is put your name and e-mail in the little box below. Presto!

My last blog entry raised an eyebrow or two for sure!  Even better and to bolster my point, all my feedback was offline comments and questions.  That’s exactly why we marketers need to bring our offline and online worlds together, blur the lines!  The number one question on how to bring our offline and online marketing worlds together is … HOW???  How do we do it?  What can we do offline that cannot be ignored, can produce dramatic results, is completely duplicatable, simple, and even fun that can bring together old school skill and the power of technology?  It’s all about High Tech AND High Touch.  Remember – as good as you are on the internet – you still need to keep it real.  It’s still about the people, connecting with and helping people.

Check with the best out there, they’ll tell you the same thing:  drop cards!  Drop cards are simple cards with an image of $1, $5, $20, or even $100 bills (I like the $100 personally) on one side and a quote and your web site address on the other.  It’s simple, inexpensive, and incredibly effective.

Now, how can these drop cards be used?  Don’t just leave piles of cards on retail counters around town.  Be strategic!  Here are some effective drop card techniques, as offered by the drop card KING and from whom I learned these techniques, Cedrick Harris.  Surely, the benefits will be obvious so I’ll spare the details.

Techniques for Duplication and Lead Traffic using Drop Cards

1. Leave a drop card in the gas pump credit card slot at your local gas station.  Better yet, leave one in every gas pump credit card slot at your local gas station!
2. Whenever you receive junk mail with US Postage Paid envelopes, mail it back with nothing but a drop card inside.
3. At the newspaper stand, leave a drop card inside each remaining paper, free real estate magazine, “pennysaver” periodical, etc.
4. Leave a drop card inside the SkyMall magazine on the airplane.
5. Leave a drop card in motivational books, such as “The Secret”, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, and “Think and Grow Rich” in the local bookstore or library.
6. Leave a drop card with a tip for hotel housekeepers, waiters, and waitresses.  (It goes without saying that you cannot be stingy when you do this!)

The possibilities are endless!  Think about how many cards can be easily distributed.  With only a 5% to 10% response ratio, you can still find yourself with more leads than you’ve ever imagined!

Need more information?  Just leave your contact information on the left and I’ll contact you personally with details!  Don’t hesitate!  The first step is yours!!!

I started networking using “old school” methodologies – the 3-foot rule – and so on.  I am insanely successful with this.  I am a master of offline marketing.  Then I realized the power of the Internet and its ability to allow me to connect to far more people through online marketing than I’d be able to see or phone in any given day.  The strength in generating leads through online marketing strategies and methodologies is massive and cannot be ignored.  But where is the magic?  The offline marketing principles cannot be ignored and if you are not taking advantage of the world of online marketing you might as well close shop right now!  The magic will come to you when you meld these two worlds into one.  Blur the lines!  Be everywhere!  Draw no distinction between your online marketing world and your offline marketing world.  Then you will see the magic!