Barack Obama Embraces the Power of the Internet: Sales Lessons for Small Businesses

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate has really embraced internet technology! Barack Obama won the primaries in Iowa, North Dakota and Montana! His campaign raised over $ 300 million during the Democratic primary campaign! He defeated the well-known US Senator Hillary Clinton! Using social media and web 2.0 tools, Barack connected with millions of potential Democratic voters and raised millions of dollars. As it did? Why was it so successful? How does this relate to you and your business?

Brent Leary, an award-winning CRM expert, speaker, popular columnist, and blogger who has a popular web show, “Technology for Business Sake,” says, “You can make history if you become our next president. Not just by being our first. in the nation African American President, but he is also potentially known as the first president of customer relationship management (CRM). You can also consider him the first president of social media based on the intelligent use of the Web in his campaign. ” Brent wrote a comment in Black Enterprise Magazine. Also, he created a great slideshow on Share Slide. Recently, Brent hosted a recent webinar titled “Barack Obama’s Social Media Lesson for Small Businesses” with the successful and popular business development expert, David Bullock.

Clearly, Barack Obama has embraced a new media strategy and it is having a positive impact on his political campaign! For example, it is everywhere on the Internet! You announced your candidacy through the web! Barack Blog! A blog is a website that contains the personal thoughts and observations of an individual. Millions of people read your opinions and political views online! Barack is doing podcasts too! A podcast is a video or audio file that can be downloaded from the Internet. He has a YouTube channel with over 1,145 videos! On one video in particular, it had 1.2 million views and over 4,230 comments! Over fifteen million people have watched a music video for singer / producer Will.I. Am. That encourages people to vote for Barack! Also, people can download videos of Senator Obama to their cell phone every day! “I Got a Crush on Girl,” a popular music video about a woman’s crush on Senator Obama has received a lot of attention. It has over 9 million views and over 42,000 comments! Amber Lee Ettinger, the “Obama Girl” in the video has 115 videos on YouTube! Barack has mastered the power of the moving image and applied it successfully to his campaign! Imagine if more entrepreneurs learned about this new technology and adapted it for their own marketing campaigns. What would be the impact on sales? How would YouTube benefit your business?

YouTube is not the only network that has been successful. Barack is also active on other online social networks! He has over a million friends and followers on his Facebook page! Barack’s tweets. I mean, you are using Twitter. Twitter is microblogging. Subscribers can communicate and stay connected with friends and associates by sending short messages. Barack has more than 39,594 followers who track his daily activities. It also tracks 40,872 people! How many people does Senator Hillary connect with? Only 4,148 and does not follow anyone! What does that communicate to potential voters? What if more business people actively participated in business-oriented social media? How many more clients, strategic partners, alliances and connections could you make? How would this improve your sales?

The Obama campaign has created more than 123 widgets! These viral agents are added to any website or blog to share their vision, mission, and message for change! Widgets are mini websites that contain specific and unique information. Over 4,150 video widgets, 3,252 news widgets, and 3,240 convention widgets have been installed on websites or blogs! That’s over 10,642 enthusiastic supporters and fans who have placed an “Obama Button” on their website or blog! Conservatively, if only 100 people saw this widget, that would yield over 1.6 million more views for Barack! What if those visitors also installed it on their websites? The viral impact for Barack would be enormous! What does this mean? What would the business impact be if entrepreneurs had widgets promoting their products and services? Especially how would you benefit from the exposure?

Additionally, Senator Obama sends daily emails and press releases that are distributed daily to supporters, community organizers, friends, politicians, and financial contributors. Millions of people are informed and updated daily on Barack’s activities, speeches, opinions, views and campaign stops. If more business owners use the power of press releases, newsletters, and emails, how would this improve awareness of your business and your brand?

Most people would agree that Senator Obama’s new media strategy has been quite successful! How has this relatively unknown US Senator from Illinois improved his digital image and web presence? If you search for Barack Obama’s name on Google, you will get almost 57 million search results. Barack’s viral marketing campaign has been a success, not only in the United States but around the world. If you search by your name, business, or keywords that describe your business, what search results do you get? If it’s not on the first page, guess who’s getting the business? Your competition! By understanding, accepting, and harnessing the power of the Internet, every entrepreneur can be more successful!

What does this mean for you and your company? How would this affect your sales and business if you adopted a new media strategy and action plan? If you are not actively using the internet to attract leads, get started now! You can’t afford it, don’t start now! Your business can depend on it! There are many opportunities to develop your web presence and your digital image. You must start now! Ignorance is not an option. Don’t let the Internet and others define you, your brand and your company! Take the control!

Here are some suggestions:

o Do a search for your name, company and keywords.

o Learn more about the Internet and how to use it to your advantage.

o Start reading business blogs and press releases.

o Discover interesting videos in your industry or profession.

o Join a social network to connect with potential clients and referral sources.

o Start blogging your personal views and observations within your industry.

o Start video and audio podcasting.

o Start writing articles and submitting them to directories that will search your target market.

o Start an electronic newsletter.

o Start a monthly or weekly press release promoting your business.

o Review your company’s website and its SEO parameters and guidelines.

o Offer free trials and tools to encourage potential customers to try your products or services.

o Find out which web 2.0 tools you can use in your business and start using them now!

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