Social media is truly today’s wave of marketing and it doesn’t have to require a multi-million dollar marketing budget to really create a name for yourself. Jason Hartman talks with Sinan Kinatsiz, Chairman and CEO of KComm and Chairman and Founder of The Internet Marketing Association. Sinan shares his expertise in making social media marketing a success without going broke. For details, listen at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. Building a brand for yourself starts with understanding Google Analytics and social media, and creating a robust website with strong content. Sinan also recommends a content management system and a strong e-newsletter to create a strong social media presence. E-newsletters and e-zines are quickly replacing paper newsletters and magazines. In today’s marketing world, a good newsletter is paramount to your brand. It should be personalized and contain educational material promoting the industry you work in, without a big sales pitch for your own business. Consumers respond to stimulation, so the newsletters should be well illustrated and laid out, and with all of the new gadgets available today for reading, such as eReaders and smart phones, it should also be created with portability in mind.
Sinan also shares with listeners how to market their brand through other brands without using pay-per-click. He discusses the basics of loosely defined partnerships, advises giving away for free some of what you do in your business, and using organic search engines for SEO. Sinan Kanatsiz is the Chairman and CEO of KComm, a marketing communications firm specializing in Public Relations, Public Affairs, Internet Marketing, Events and Strategic Relationships, founded in a sewing room in Sinan’s parents’ house in 1995. It has grown to be a large business, with a client roster that encompasses large and small, local and global clients. Sinan is also the Chairman and Founder of The Internet Marketing Association (IMA), a professional organization that currently boasts over 515,000 members in various fields, including sales, marketing, business ownership, programming and creative development. Sinan started IMA with four key values as a foundation for success in today’s highly competitive business environment: integrity, communication, professionalism and education. IMA is one of the fastest growing Internet marketing groups in the world. Its mission is to provide a knowledge-sharing platform for business professionals where proven Internet marketing strategies are demonstrated and shared in an effort to increase each member’s value to their organization.
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Jason Hartman: Welcome to the Speaking of Wealth Show. This is your host Jason Hartman where we discuss profit strategies for speakers, publishers, authors, consultants, coaches, info marketers, and just go over a whole bunch of exciting things that you can use to increase your business, to make your business more successful, and more and more passive and more and more automated, and more and more scaleable. So we will be back with a great interview. Be sure to visit us at speakingofwealth.com. You can take advantage of our blog. Subscribe to the RSS feed, and many other resources for free at speakingofwealth.com, and we will be back with a great interview for you in less than 60 seconds.
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Jason Hartman: It’s my pleasure. Welcome my old friend Sinan Kanatsiz here. And here is chairman, and CEO of Kcomm, a public and government relations firm, as well as chairman and founder of the Internet Marketing Association, and many other things as well. He is a fantastic marketer. He has done a great job marketing his business through public speaking and of course public relations, and internet that is his specialty. And it’s just great to have him here today. I think he will share a lot of good information on how you can increase your exposure whether it would be through social media, any form of internet or the platform as well. Sinan welcome, how are you?
Sinan: Thank you so much Jason, great to be on your show. There is one person who has done marketing as good or it’s not better than myself. It would be yourself, and I’ve learned a lot from you and your success with your business, and that the great name you have got across the nation, it’s a pleasure to be on your show, and looking forward to helping your audience.
Jason Hartman: Well, thanks so much Sinan. It’s funny how we met. May be we will just share that with the listeners because it’s just such a funny story. I was working on starting a web based kind of press release distribution system. And I saw an article in the Orange County business all about you doing the same thing, talk about coincidence. So I called you up, and we just met after that, and hit it off. And it’s just been great knowing you all these years. Tell us about some of the trends that are really shaping the marketing world Sinan, and how they are affecting, and how small, the medium size companies can use them?
Sinan: Well, I’m going to even go further back. I’m going to talk about the economy. And as I have been following a lot of economic trending, and just looking at global data as well as just domestic you know there really seems to be a collective economic re-bound that’s going on.
And we are feeling it strongly not just in the marketing industry, but among the 500 plus clients that we represent. We see a lots of surges happening in technology, services, manufacturing across multiple SIC coach. What that offers the marketing industry is a lot of business opportunities. So you’ve got people that want to market a product or a service, and people that want to communicate a product or a service either to the consumer level or to the business level.
And people need these tools to get their message out. The opportunity to all your listeners is the marketing world has shifted dramatically over the last five years because of the internet medium. The internet medium has really just neutralized the game field, so small businesses can appear to be billion dollar businesses with the really nice website, a content management system, a strong e-newsletter, and a very strong social media presence. You don’t necessarily have to have a multi-million dollar marketing budget to really create a name for yourself.
You just need to understand how Google Analytics works, how social media works, and how to build a robust website with strong content. So I want to start by encouraging your listeners to challenge themselves to creating these tools for themselves. You know I started my business as myself out of my parent’s [song room 0:04:35], and all we had was a website and a newsletter.
Well 15 years later, we still have that same newsletter that goes out every single month. And my database that started out with 16 people now is above 68,000 people that are influencers, and buyers of our products and services. It has never cost us a dime to market, so the advertising industry has seen a tremendous convergence, and there are a few people that are admitting to that, but I feel confident enough to say that you can create a zero based dollar budget marketing plan for yourself, your personal brand or your service.
Jason Hartman: Yeah you know Sinan that is so true nowadays. I mean the opportunity has never been greater for the little guy. This is the true democracy of business what we’ve got going on right now I mean its funny because I am getting goose bumps as I’m saying that and thinking about it because it’s just such a world of opportunity. I mean it’s challenging as things are out there nowadays.
At the same time there are huge opportunities for entrepreneurs to really get their name out to make a difference to get their message out cause marketers as well. I haven’t seen here for a little while, but the last time we had lunch seen on you said to me something really, really telling, and I’ve never forgotten it. you said that when you are talking to this Fortune 1000 companies that you deal with everybody wants to know about internet marketing where you are called a PR firm, but its funny how that has even changed in the PR world much more so an advertising, but PR has changed as well, hasn’t it from traditional public relations to internet marketing. Everybody wants to be an internet marketing now. Tell us about that.
Sinan: Well, Jason I mean you were one of the first people that I know of with an iPhone and an iPad, and the medium has shifted, so in order to get public, making the public aware of content and communication you need to be able to get it to the medium that they are using. The public is now using tablets, laptops, more than ever in the history of time, and that convergence is going to continue to grow.
As you can see every Starbucks, every coffee been every McDonald in the nation is now offering Wi-Fi. That allows people to be mobile with their content, so the future of public relations is really in the internet marketing, and so the public relations practitioner of the past who used to call on you know traditional print newspapers or magazines are now making sure that contents being delivered to e-zines and internet based content vehicles like MSNBC, and CNN which are driving the majority of content, and so what this also provides your listeners is an opportunity to provide their own sort of magazines so I don’t necessarily need to just read the news on CNN’s website.
I can also read the news of what my friend Jason Hartman is posting on his Facebook page because he has a lot of influence in the real estate market, and his opinion to me matters more than what I am reading in the Wall Street journal’s real estate section because I don’t necessarily know that reporter. This is a very important fact that’s happening across the nation around the world is the credibility of content is shifting away not just from publications, but also to public that have strong following from Twitter and Facebook, and so this opens up a Pandora’s box of media for small business, or a business owner to actually go in, and sort of create their own marketing message without having to spent money on advertising, so there is a big opportunity there for your listeners to create some market share for themselves without having to spend any money on advertising.
Jason Hartman: Yeah it really is a phenomenal time no question about it. And you know Sinan, your email newsletter is just, its fantastic. What tips would you have for people listening to want to market themselves of course they can do with the mediums that are already established Facebook, Twitter etcetera, and that’s a very easy.
In fact I was talking with another one of my show guests about this recently how Facebook is just a great way to sort my news, and feed to me the things that you know and which I am interested because all of the people I know, and trust they sort the news by posting things to their pages, and I see them in my news feed, totally different concept of how to get news versus you know the old way of turning on the television or something. With your email newsletter, its just got such a great format. I mean do you have any like real specific tips on how to number one build the database, and number two how to create the electronic or the digital piece that goes to that audience.
Sinan: So one of my great sayings is that I like to say is the greater your network, the higher your net worth, and really if you want to increase your exposure, you want to get as many business cards as possible, and any business that you are doing you know be it real estate, or if you are trying to sell salt shakers whatever that may be you just need to know people.
And you need to let them know people that you are a specialist in doing something, and what I have done from the very first day even when back in my days at college at Kaplan University was like our business cards, and my colleagues, my teachers the guest speakers that came in professional people that I wanted to do business with or become like, and so I put them into an email database, and I just started growing that because if you give me your business card then I consider that an opt in, and I will send you my newsletter, and you can decide whether or not you want to receive it or opt out.
If the content is really good, and the visuals are very exciting then people are going to want to keep your newsletter. Some of the tips that I would recommend to your listeners is personalize it, so when the newsletter comes, make sure the subject line or in the actual body of the newsletter says good morning Jason or good afternoon Jason and so its greeting you by the first name so you will have a higher likelihood at least an 18% chance that you are going to actually open and read through the newsletter.
The next thing you want to do is you have content that’s educational and not “salesy”so you want to make sure that your content is really something that’s not promoting yourself, but its promoting the industry that you are talking about, so in essence as what you do Jason, you are going to be talking about real estate trends on the east coast, you could talk about the median house in Arkansas, you can talk about all sorts of different data that builds credibility around your brand and who you are, so to your listeners I challenge you to think about how you can be an educational person, a thought leader in what you do, and make that content really specific around education then towards the bottom you can promote a couple of different services, and product, but don’t make it cheesy, don’t make it “salesy” drop the Tony Robbins and make it something that is resonates well with people, and its okay to give away a little bit.
In our newsletter once in a while we will give away an iPad, we will give away from Starbucks gift cards, and by giving things away people are more susceptible of listening, and you are able to build trust with your perspective customer and once they evaluate the content that’s coming to them their likelihood of working with you is much, much greater, so those are the tips and techniques that we would recommend and the visual aspects of the newsletter are just as important as the content. You have to make sure that the graphics you are using stimulate the eye, and you know that stimulation, Las Vegas is fantastic at stimulation.
You walk down or drive down Las Vegas Boulevard you see stimulation everywhere and what you want to do is learn from that stimulation and apply that to what you do because as consumers we respond to stimulation and those are the things that you have to think about in your newsletter, and the final aspect is portability with about 35% of internet surfing now happening on iPhones and Androids and Blackberry’s its important thing your newsletter can display on this portable devices, and a lot of times people forget about portability and mobility and to making sure that your newsletter displaced on these mobile devices especially the tablet generation they are truly replacing laptop so you have to make sure that your newsletter is being seen on these tablets in a correct environment, and a company called Knowledge Marketing, knowledgemarketing.com, they are very strong in this area, and we use them for all of our newsletters, and they are a fantastic organization to use for email distribution, so there is a very long wooded answer to your short question Jason.
Jason Hartman: Yeah that’s fantastic. Another thing Sinan on the database side of it that you just did so well, I mean this was just a brilliant stroke, and you did it a long time ago, and that is that you started a trade association in your area of expertise, and your area of interest and that’s the Internet Marketing Association, you are the founder of that. Tell me listeners if you would a little bit about how that idea came to be, and how you grew it, and what you are doing with it now.
Sinan: This is an idea of entrepreneurs and to encourage your listeners that if they got a good idea pulled over to the side of the road, write it down and look into it, and that’s basically how the Internet Marketing Association was born. There are a lot of organizations in the year 2000 like the Public Relation Society of America or the American Marketing Association that requested me to come, talk about internet trend, and how they relate to their respective industries, and I thought you know what I wonder who is doing the Internet Marketing Association.
Well, we looked around. We couldn’t find one, so we established it. we trademarked it, and we’ve been doing events for the last 10 years, and so we’ve actually evolved into the largest professional association of internet marketers, and in order to be an internet marketer in our perspective its you know you got to have an education and you’ve got to be somewhat a business owner, or interested in business, or in the marketing field or in sales or the CEO of small business that all applies, so we’ve got 330,000 members now that has grown consistently.
We’ve had our largest shares in the last two years. As you know with brands like Facebook and Google and Twitter that has helped expand our industry so there are more people now than ever that want content from us, so we’ve got some fantastic partnerships with analysts that cover this industry and we provide whitepapers, and articles to our members. We also have a webinar series which are — with one of our academic partners, University of California, Irvine and we are providing a series of webinars on topics like newsletters and web based communications and organic search engine optimization and social media.
And we are having hundreds if not thousands of people sign up and view these webinars, and this content is invaluable because its educational material and they are able to apply to their respective businesses, and we are also introducing our professional certification which is something that professionals that want to get certified in internet marketing can take our course, and they receive a plaque and a certificate that gives them credentials that they can promote to their employer and to their colleagues, and at the same time we promote the student aspect of certification with UCI, so we’ve been referring lots of students and younger folks who want to actually get a degree certificate at University of California, Irvine to them, so its just been a fantastic evolution, this association, and we are just getting started.
Jason Hartman: Hey Sinan I know you need to go soon, but I want to give the listeners a couple of quick tips on may be two areas here if you can. Number one you are fantastic at creating partnerships with big respected brands and your recent partnership with IMA and UCI, congratulations on that so a huge credibility booster and audience expander, and then also SEO since you mentioned that just give the listeners if you would just a couple of quick tips on those things. The partnerships with the big brands and so forth, and then also anything on SEO that you want to mention Search Engine Optimization.
Sinan: So being that Kcomm was a small business. No one had really heard of it even Internet Marketing Association you know what we did was we market our brand through other brands, so in the subject of our newsletters, we would say eBay, Wells Fargo, and UCI present with IMA, and this is a tactical strategic approach that we use over the years that really elevated the credibility of our organization, so partnerships are invaluable, and what we do is we keep partnerships very lose because you know the minute you start getting things in writing, and you get things really legal, you know it becomes more and more difficult to have partnerships so what we do is we have very loose ended partnerships to where we have the autonomy to be ourselves without having to be weighed down, and we don’t expect much from the partner as well and they really kind of provide an area of strength that we may not have value to our members, so to your audience I would recommend you know give some of what you do away for free.
To build up partnership with the brands that could perhaps carry you to the next level as a business. This is been sort of a secret recipe in building our firms over the years that just kind of happened on its own. We didn’t really think it through, but when we did start to promote some of the work we were doing for the larger brands we were representing it really did elevate our company’s credibility even to this day if you go to kcom.com on our website we display some of the brands that we are very proud of representing including Wells Fargo, eBay, IBM, Oracle, and these types of brands have really elevated our agency status as an organization that could represent Fortune 500 companies.
Think about how you can do that for your own business, and always seek the permission of the brand that you are promoting because that is something that’s very important when you are ever doing some type of partner based branding. So going back to organic SEO or SEO which is called Search Engine Optimization you know this is just the wild-wild west of marketing. You know you’ve got everyone who is got a gimmick in the product on how to do search engine marketing. We definitely are specialist in this area, and we can tell you exactly which route to take. We like to really pitch our clients on not spending any money on paper clip.
What we like to promote is organic search engine marketing, so we have an office in India that does a lot of our engineering and we have 15 full-time workers now that work three shifts and they are the ones that are in selling the metadata which is like html code on your website and that’s basically like food for the search engines, and it basically searches and it sees that code, and then it ranks your website based on the different levels of content that you have on your website and we have become experts here.
Our domestic office in Irvine that meets with our clients and actually takes them through and shows them what their competitors are doing, and where the opportunities, the holes are to increase their search engine ranking, and its amazing Jason, I mean we log into our data everyday, and look at our analytics for our clients, and we go for all green everyday which is that is increasing percentage wise, and time and time again with the 50 or so clients that we are doing search engine marketing for we have had days that all 50 clients increase, and that the whole page was green.
I actually shot a screenshot of it, and I posted it on Facebook, and it only grew our business even more, but that’s the truth. We cracked the code on how to get clients up higher on search engine ranking, and we share our secrets because we know it takes a lot of engineering, a lot of time, a lot of skill, and really, really good content writers to put all that together, and we welcome the market to take our secrets and grow the markets because that only motivates us to diversify ourselves even more, and to do things that are different in the search engine space, but for anyone with a website search engine marketing, search engine optimization is more important than the website itself, so if there is anything I could be of assistance with please don’t hesitate to email me call or write me, and there will be no cost for my advice, and I just like to help people. It is a blast.
Jason Hartman: And some great advice there, Sinan Kanatsiz, Chairman and CEO of Kcomm, the website is kcomm.com, and thank you so much for sharing your insights today. We appreciate you having on the show.
Sinan: It’s a pleasure Jason. Thank you so much.
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The Speaking of Wealth Team
Transcribed by: Renee’