Don Schindler

Executive Reputation Coach & Digital Marketer

Month: February 2010 (page 1 of 2)

Benchmarking Your Website

February 26, 2010 / / 0 Comments

When I was speaking with the Mendoza College of Business School at the University of Notre Dame Marketing team the other day, we did some quick analysis of their site to see how they ranked vs. their competitiors.  Now I’m not going to show you their stats, but I am going to show you nd.edu vs. some of our competition and how I would do it quickly just to set a benchmark.

There is much more in depth analysis you can do but this is down and dirty and gives you a snapshot.

First, I head over to Compete.com.  Now depending on how much traffic your website gets, compete.com can give you a pretty good reading of your website.  Now this is not based on internal analytics so it’s not perfect but for a quick analysis, it’s fine.

Here’s nd.edu vs. stanford.edu vs. duke.edu and bc.edu.  Interesting results that aren’t really far off from our internal analytics.

nd-edu-compete-analysis

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Hammering Social Media in Business

February 25, 2010 / / 0 Comments
Link to Slideshare

Links to Slideshare Presentation

I used to beat people with my social media sledge hammer.  In fact, at my old job, I did carry a heavy hammer (not a sledge hammer) around all the time.

In a presentation of over 150 people at Junior Achievement, I used a sledge hammer to smash apples.  That was a fun presentation.  I hope Mitch Maxson had fun, too.  He was co-presenter.

Yes, it was all very Gallagher.  If you don’t know who he is, then I’ve aged myself quite well.

Social Media isn’t a hammer but it is a tool.  A great tool.  But it’s not a strategy.  It’s a tactic that you should use as a tactic.  But I wouldn’t consider it as much of a marketing tool as a customer engagement/service tool. Continue reading

Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin? What should you be using?

February 18, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I get lots of questions on this.

Facebook Fan Page? What is Twitter for?  People keep sending me invitations to Linkedin, should I join?

Should I be using this social network or that one?  What should I be doing online with social media marketing?  It’s all the buzz – I should be out there, right?

It really, really depends on you.  You, the marketer or marketing department.

Yes, I’m a big advocate of social media – when it is used to benefit your audience, the relationship and yourself.  That’s right, I said – yourself.

The reason I say this is because of experience.  In my early days of social media, I pushed many of my clients into social media.

“You’re gonna love it.”

“It’s great.”

“You’re building relationships.”

“Look at how many people I’m connected to.”

But just because it works for me, doesn’t mean it will work for you.  Why?  Because it’s a different mindset for a marketer.  This isn’t what they taught you in school about outreach, frequency, and return on investment.  There are really no classes on how to do it – even though, I’ve been known to teach a few. 🙂

I know what you are thinking.  This isn’t helping me, Don.  You are telling me nothing.

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Do You Trust What Your “Online Friends” Say About A Brand?

February 12, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Image Provided By: whatmegsaid According to a new report, you don’t.

Leave it to marketers to try everything in their power to ruin the internet.

I should know because I’m one of these marketers.  People know that when I’m talking about Notre Dame or any kind of product, really, that I’m lying.  Why?  Because that’s my job.

Or is it?  I believe that my “friends” think I’m a reliable resource of information.  Sure, occasionally, I’ll push something because someone reached out to me and asked me to but most of the time, I push things that have helped me, that have made my life easier, or that I think is just fun.

Image Provided by: whatmegsaid – Flickr Creative Commons

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Is it time to fire your marketer?

February 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments
You're fired.

You're fired.

People often ask me if the person they have in charge of their marketing is really the person that should be there and often they say it like they already know the answer.

I get tired of those looks.

The last thing you need to do is replace the person who knows your department/college inside and out and is dedicated to spreading the word about your success.  Most marketers I know love their job.  They love crafting messages and trying to get the word out about what’s going on.

The problem isn’t the marketer.  The problem is that while you have been busy asking for new websites and social media and video, they are having a rough time just trying to keep with all of these things.

But you do need to understand that they probably need some love and attention.

Because here’s really what a marketer should be doing  – whether they are old school with brochures or brand new with blogs – they should be telling “good stories” about you and your faculty, staff, center, college, etc…

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