The #ICON14 Files: 5 Businesses To Check Out Now

Now that my team and I are back from Phoenix, we’re picking through all the marketing treasures we uncovered at #ICON14.

Our sponsorship provided us with a chance to see what other business owners are doing to make a big impact and grow their companies.

#ICON14 also brought up this question for me: Where can Sūmèr make more of an impact? How can we offer our blog readers and our clients more vital resources to help them grow and thrive?

 

 

I’m talking about how to…

Turn one-way marketing into a two-way conversation.

• Integrate e-commerce data with ease.

• Get out of the confusion trap that so many entrepreneurs experience.

• Entertain with your sales conversations.

• Use the next generation in mobile marketing.

 

If not only for our handy dandy signs, we had a great time at #ICON14. More than that, my copywriting team is in a better position to create compelling messaging that converts.

That said, check out these five innovative businesses that we met at #ICON14.

 

 

 

Barry Moltz Gets Your Business Unstuck

One #ICON14 highlight for me was chatting with one of my favorite thought leaders, Barry Moltz, about how Infusionsoft goes one step beyond marketing software.

As Barry writes in his wildly popular blog, Infusionsoft really does care about small business.

Speaking of caring about small business, have you read Barry’s book, How to Get Unstuck? It’s an eye-opener that reveals the 25 most common reasons why businesses get caught in a never-ending hamster wheel.

If you’re not familiar with Barry’s programs, start with Business Insanity Talk Radio. You’ll love the stories you hear about all the craziness of small business.

To snag a copy of Barry’s books, or to listen to his radio show…

Check out Barry’s website here. 

 

Robin Smith from Virtual Logistics Makes Integration Easy

When I met Robin Smith at #ICON14, we discussed how he helps small businesses collect data and implement ecommerce integration for maximized success.

Translation: Virtual Logistics transforms data flow so you spend less time, money, and resources handling the numbers, and more time running your growing business.

Robin and I share the same values: we believe it’s important to form partnerships with clients. When you invest in your clients’ success, they become more than a customer.

If you’re looking to transform your data and integrate ecommerce solutions, Robin’s your guy.

Check out the Virtual Logistics website here. 

 

DilogR Turns One-Way Marketing into Engaging Conversations

DilogR asks an important question to entrepreneurs: how do you know which audience members engage with your content?

When I encountered DilogR at #ICON14, I was wowed by how they offer truly audience-driven video marketing.

In other words, DilogR creates personalized interactions in your videos with the addition of Q&A content. (Think of their service as a Choose Your Own Marketing Adventure!)

In this way, entrepreneurs have a marketing conversation with their prospects, instead of one-way, “talk at you” messaging.

To see how DilogR creates the business/customer conversation, watch their interactive marketing videos here. 

 

MOBIT is the Next Generation in Mobile Marketing

Our copywriters had a blast hanging out with the MOBIT team during #ICON14. (Full disclosure: MOBIT is a client of ours, and we love those guys. In fact, we enjoyed what was quite possibly the the best Mexican food on the planet with them on our last night in Phoenix. Be sure to visit the Barrio Café.)

Carne asada aside, what does MOBIT do for small businesses?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaims that mobile is “the most exciting future platform around vision or modifying what you see to create augmented experiences.”

MOBIT has made that happen with mobile marketing that’s not only visual, but also automated. MOBIT brings the power of Infusionsoft to the mobile platform.

In other words, small businesses that sign up for MOBIT will no longer send black-and-white texts to their audience. Instead, users send videos, landing pages, time-sensitive offers, and much more rich content straight to the customers’ mobile devices. 

To see MOBIT’s powerful mobile marketing in action, click here. 

 

AdToons Turns Sales into Entertainment

Using cartoon and whiteboard animation, AdToons uses personality-driven video content to highlight a small business’ overall mission or a particular product or service.

Perfect for landing pages and email marketing content, these videos entertain and educate your prospects. In roughly 2 to 4 minutes, the audience will understand the benefits of working with you.

I lost count of how many people I spoke to about video marketing at #ICON14. The consensus was that…

A. Animated videos provide an engaging and fun experience for just about any market.

B. Video marketing conveyed a message quickly and powerfully.

Check out AdToons.

Be on the lookout for more blogs from the #ICON14 files in the near future. In the meantime, check out what these amazing entrepreneurs have to offer you!