Leadership

Lunchtime Links: Maintain Your Relationships

Engaging influencers doesn't stop once your marketing campaign wraps up. Plus: Three online advertising alternatives.

Marketing folks love connecting with new people. But sometimes the best—and most valuable—relationships are the ones you already have. How to keep the conversation going beyond that initial introduction, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links.

Checking in: Communication is key to any marketing initiative—but the interaction shouldn’t end once your campaign is done. Writing for Internet Marketing Ninjas, Ann Smarty asks, “[W]ouldn’t it make more sense for [associations] to cultivate that relationship for further collaboration, rather than just dropping the whole thing and going on the hunt for more influencers?” Among Smarty’s suggestions: Reach out to your influencers by tweeting them, invite them to join your campaign, or, for a more intimate connection, arrange to meet them in person. “Connecting on a personal level is far more useful than connecting on an impersonal one,” she writes. “You are reaching out to them as a person, on behalf of your brand.” How does your organization reach out—and maintain— relationships with influencers?

Motivational mojo: Mistakes are inevitable. But take a deep breath and remember: There’s a little “magic” hidden in every negative outcome. That’s just one of many bits of advice Holly Duckworth, president and chief connections officer of Leadership Solutions International, shares in a recent blog post. Recall, for a second, that old “childhood curiosity” and look past the problem at hand by opening up “to the possibility of something new,” she writes. Your organization is capable of doing great things—so long as it’s willing to get out of its own way.

Cash click: Online advertising is harder than it seems. Even if you get ads up on your site, there’s no guarantee you’ll get enough visitors, or clicks, to turn a profit. But traditional advertising isn’t your only option. Writing for CMSWire, Marisa Peacock offers up a few alternative mobile advertising platforms. VigLink, for example, provides users with code that can be placed anywhere on their website, such as embedded in articles as hyperlinks, freeing up space otherwise reserved for underperforming banner ads and giving the participating website credit when a reader clicks a link and makes a purchase. There’s also Airpush, a mobile ad network that offers users a selection of ad formats—from push ads to dialog ads. And Outbrain, the online tool that pushes audience members to other content they might be interested in. How does your association make money from mobile content?

What are you reading this week? Tell us in the comments.

(iStock/Wavebreakmedia)

Emma Beck

By Emma Beck

Emma Beck is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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