Helping companies generate MORE TRAFFIC, MORE LEADS, & MORE SALES!

“The most valuable asset is the ‘thing’ that sells – be that ad, sales letter, infomercial, speech, seminar, web site, publicity. The value in all other assets is an illusion.” – Dan Kennedy

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As some of you may or may not know, I earned a spot on the B.C Floorball team this year and will be representing B.C this Saturday and Sunday as we take on Alberta and Ontario.

For those of you new to Floorball, it is the sport that all the Scandanavian NHL’ers grow up playing and use to train their stick handling abilities. In that part of the world Floorball is far, far bigger than ice hockey and matches draw huge crowds.

It is growing rapidly here in B.C and in the rest of Canada and is being adopted by a growing number of young and old hockey players and fans alike. This would be a great thing to bring your kids out to if you have them.

Take a look at this promo video for the World Floorball Championships from last year. If it inspires you to come out on Saturday, then I will see you at the Richmond Oval!

Oh, and be sure to pass this on to anyone you know who plays hockey, or ball hockey- kids included!

Saturday Games:

• 2:00 to 4:00 BC VS Ontario
• 6:00 to 8:00 Alberta VS BC

Sunday Games:

• [Maybe 8:00am (if we finish second or third...)]
• Final Game: 12:00 noon

Adam

PS: I will be playing defense and rest assured, as I am not a “finesse” player, you can be certain to see some aggressive play when the ball comes into our end. Stick handling is not my forte, but I take great pride in my shot blocking ability and using my size to steamroll the opposite team’s forwards!

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We’re already fast approaching the end of the first month of 2011. Yes, i’s going to fly by this year too…

Here’s a quick look at what’s currently hot in the world of digital media and marketing:

1. Facebook

This is probably not a surprise but…

According to this chart from emarketer, Facebook’s revenue will reach $4 Billion by year’s end and apparently they brought home over $1.8 Billion in bacon in 2010.

Surpassing the 500 million user mark in 2010 and having a hit movie released all about its founding, you might say 2010 was the year of facebook. And 2011 looks like it’s going to be even more, and more, and more about: you got it….facebook.

Canadian companies would do well to note that as of this exact moment in time (9:46 AM on Tuesday January 18th) facebook has 16,636,880 Canadian members, or right around 50% of the population.

So if you still think your customers and prospects can’t be reached using this massive social beast, think again. Facebook’s pay-per-click marketing system is one of the most highly targeted advertising platforms in the world. You might want to check it out.

On a related note: something to keep an eye on is Facebook credits. Right now they are used to make purchases in facebook games or apps that run on facebook. In the future, it’s possible they will be used for all sorts of transactions online and who knows…maybe offline too.

2. Groupon

Groupon brought us social shopping or social deals in a big, big way. The interesting thing about the site in my opinion is that it’s taken a really old concept, that of offering coupons, to a new level and new heights by requiring people to share the coupons with their friends socially. It’s working brilliantly and rumor has it that Groupon has an IPO in the works for $15 billion. (Yes, that deserves a source and I have so many tabs open right now that I completely lost it..)

Keys to Groupon’s success include: social sharing of coupons, local focus, heavy discounts, massive traffic volume. Advertisers sell their wares at huge discounts on Groupon and in return they get a massive influx of new customers. They key to making this work is to make sure you have a way of encouraging repeat orders from those who redeem their coupons. Otherwise you’re sacrificing gross for net. I’m guessing social media strategists will soon ad some form of Groupon marketing to their services lists soon if they haven’t begun to do so already.

3. Twitter

Still hot. The question of “is it worth my time?” still lingers. At least for people who place a value on their time. Most do not.

4. Social Games

Huge…has been for some time. Not on most people’s radar yet as unless you’re a gaming company or a gamer, the impact or potential use or benefit to most businesses is hard to see. If you don’t know who or what Zynga is by now, you need to be taken out back and shot. No excuses.

5. Apps & Mobile

It’s hardly worth mentioning one without the other. In a single word: Massive. A post on Wired recently suggested that app use is outgrowing our use of the web. All things iPad and iPhone are kicking but right now. Apparently the Mobile App market is going to be worth $25 Billion by 2015 and is on track to have a 29.6% growth rate over that time period.

Honorable mention:

Quora. Trending upwards. Check it out.

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Yes, I’ve been pretty quiet for the month of Movember, I mean November. I’m squeaking this post in as a recent prospect poked some fun at me around the fact that I am an Internet marketing consultant (or digital marketing for those of you that follow the latest keyword trends) and I haven’t been blogging of late.

So this post is giving you the down low on what I’ve been up to. It will not be a how to guide of any sort and will have little to do with you learning Internet marketing tactics or strategy, although it will have to do with marketing and the web because that’s what most of my business life is about.

Yes, this month I participated in Movember and grew a mustachio and raised money for prostate cancer. For the men reading this, if you do not know what Movember is, see the link above and mark it in your calendar to participate next year. It’s a blast and it’s for a good cause. Your significant other will likely not be impressed but life’s not fair so suck it up and join the millions of men standing together once a year and do your part!

Aside from Movember, business has been busy. I have been to Chicago twice this year, the last time in Chicago to meet with a couple of mentors of mine in the CPA industry. For those of you who don’t know what that is, CPA marketing is a form of affiliate marketing where you generate leads (e.g a form on your website or someone elses website is filled out as a result of traffic you sent to the site) and you get paid a commission on each lead generated.

I paid a small fortune to sit in a room with two guys who generate in excess of $350,000 per month between the two of them to learn their tips and strategies for lead generation. I want to spend more time talking about that experience but I’m low on time tonight. Needless to say, that meeting, those 8 hours will likely have a large impact on the direction of my business in 2011.

In 2010 I invested close to $10,000 (final tally not complete) in my marketing education. This includes the event above and in a future post, before the year is out I want to tell you more about what I invested that money in, what I learned and how I will be changing what I do based on all of that. 2011 is shaping up to be a major year of change for me.

I’m at the risk of beginning to ramble here but as things stand now, I think 2010 was the last year I will tell people I am an Internet marketing consultant. I’m not 100% certain of that but that’s the way things are looking. I am changing my focus. This does not mean web marketing or digital marketing will not be a part of what I do, but the scope of my business, the services I provide and the industries I will serve (and not serve any longer) it’s clear all of that is about to change. My eyes have been opened to a new way of doing things and a new way of thinking about business and marketing and sales in the past few months- and new business models. Soo many new ideas that I’ve encountered since October that I am taking some time off to digest and then change the direction of my work.

As if I couldn’t be any more vague in this post, I’ll finish it off by saying it’s been an awesome year. It’s not quite over and you will hear from me again before it is but it has been good. I now understand some things about business and marketing that have been eluding me for years. I now understand some things that in my gut I knew I was missing and a lot of people I was listening to still don’t get. I’ve found some new sources of information and mentoring that I trust in and I’ve found new direction.

That’s it for the mini update.

Will be doing an end of year recap in December that explains things more fully and also gives you some of the major aha’s and big events (like getting engaged .

Talk to you soon.

A

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