Marketing Monday: Small Things Lead to Big Results

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
Vincent Van Gogh

Today’s Marketing Monday topic is about one of the limiting beliefs (or mindset) about marketing that holds many small business owners and independent professionals back.  

Too many small business owners and independent professionals believe that marketing their services means spending a lot of money on a big, flashy ad campaign. Or that they need a marketing team to strategize and implement very creative and very expensive ways to attract clients. Their mindset about marketing is that it’s “too expensive”.

That’s simply not true. Large corporations may have million dollar budgets that they spend on “image” campaigns and celebrity endorsements but SMART Business owners don’t need them!

I discussed “Marketing Ball” in my post on May 9th, and if you haven’t read it yet, please take a few minutes to review it so you can get a better picture of how we teach our clients to approach marketing.  (Please read the post at Marketing Is A Game)

As you can see, the purpose of Marketing Ball is to move your prospect along the “bases” so that you  develop a relationship which allows them to trust you enough to hire you.  And there are many free or low cost strategies you can use to advance the relationship.

For example, at “home plate” you start off as strangers.  You want to get on first base which is familiarity.  The best route to familiarity is via “affiliation”.  An affiliation is a group or special connection your share with your prospect. This can be as simple as networking events within groups (social or business) to which you already belong.  You can also research other events and organizations which are attended by your target audience.  Even if you find groups that you don’t currently belong to, you can often attend one or two meetings before you have to become a member.  This gives you an opportunity to find the best and most profitable groups instead of spending hundreds of dollars in membership dues only to find out that your ideal clients aren’t there!

The next step is to get your prospect’s attention.  How?  By offering something of value, a take-away which is useful and timely.  A white paper or special report, an audio program, or a free workshop can all be effective attention getters with a very high perceived value.  It doesn’t take much to money to write a report and reprint it, and it’s even less expensive if you send it via email.  Audio programs and free workshops (especially if done in a teleseminar format) require a minimal investment and the return can be tremendous.

Here are more examples of low-cost marketing strategies:

Increase your prospect’s familiarity and allow them to experience your expertise by:

• Publishing an online newsletter
• Submitting articles online and to local and trade publications
• Speaking at networking events, chambers of commerce and trade associations
• Actively participating in online forums which your prospects frequent
• Including a powerful message in your email signature perhaps directly people to your free offer or upcoming workshop

As you can see, there are dozens of ways to market your business effectively without a “corporate” budget.  Don’t let money become the excuse for inertia.  Small things done in the right order and executed consistently will produce outstanding results.

About the Author

Merlyn Sanchez, Business Coach and Marketing Consultant, teaches small business owners, consultants, and other solo professionals how to attract more clients, make more sales and have more time to enjoy their lives.  For a free report outlining the “”8 SMART Strategies that Successful Business Owners Use to Attract More Clients™ and more tips on how to create a successful business, visit http://www.smartbusinessowners.com/.

 
Like this post? Publish It On Your Own Blog

 

 

Business System Improvement

One thing that almost every small business benefits from is putting into action the systems and processes that help everyone in the business perform at their best… or even like a star!

Now, if you’ve been able to just hire people who are naturally great, then you probably don’t need to read the rest of this. But if, like me, you’re struggling to find talent, than you have a look at this 3 step system. It just might dramatically increase employee performance inside your business. And because it’s a system, even your stars will perform better.

Over the years I’ve proven that you can get profound results in your business if you work on it (rather than just in it) starting with only one hour per week. The key is that one hour is designed to be effective and you’re committed to improving your business and it’s systems incrementally.

Let’s quickly review a core “Kaizen” philosophy.

Bad is better than nothing.
Good is better than bad.
Perfect is the enemy of good.

So the system setup point here is that you must get started. A small movement forward will bring positive changes, that you can easily build more positive movement on. To the system…

Step 1
This system starts with your commitment to working on your business, each week. Commitment is a powerful force in itself. It sends a message both to yourself and your environment that you “mean business”… you’re going to do this. Commitment in this case is simple – schedule a time.

Step 2
Next pick an aspect of your business to work on. For example – how to pump up your marketing; or how to free your own time, so you do more of what you are excellent at; or how you get appointments.

I suggest that you start with brainstorming in one of 3 areas: one; How do I take more time off? Two; How do I free myself up to do more of what I am best at? Three; What is the structure of my company at my desired next stage of growth?

Step 3
Next, at the scheduled time each week, think or brainstorm about how to make that area just a bit better. My experience is that by tackling the first areas I’ve identified, you will gain significant momentum and personal energy for your business. Applied to other areas, by the time you reach ten sessions or 10 weeks, you can easily have a major improvement in that area.

Small improvements might not seem like much in themselves. When you dig into all the pieces of an area of your business, and then multiply improvements happening across many aspects of your business, you start to see dramatic changes. Faster than you think.

For instance, if you looked at your sales process… you can address targeting your best accounts, getting appointments, presentations, objection handling, closes, strategic objectives you want to achieve from every call, etc. When you break down an area like getting appointments, you can look at areas like amount of action, number of telephone calls, who’s targeted, positioning what’s said, what research or tool do the sales team have/need, etc.

Safety Tip

If you are brainstorming about a specific area, have the staff involved in that area participate with you. Get them involved and leverage their expertise. They will have more ownership of the better ideas generated and will take action on “their ideas.”

In summary, start working on your business – this week. Commit and schedule the time, pick the area of your business to start with and spend the time thinking and brainstorming. Your business will grow, and you’ll soon have more staff operating at their best. 

“97% percent of all business failure is due to the system – not the person.”

W. Edwards Deming.

Source: business process improvement

The Business-Growth.com blog is a growing, free information source for small business. The articles are about strategies for growing your business predictably and being able to take more time off - at the same time!

This article is written by Michael Walsh and is provided by Kaizen Consulting Services Inc.

This is where you can get the most effective business growth strategies… strategies that have been proven over many years of producing large scale growth for a diverse range of companies; both in market, size and geographic area.

Do you Twitter?

What’s Twitter and why should you care?  Well, today’s article is written by my colleague, Shama Hyder of http://www.afterthelaunch.com.  She’s an online marketing expert and has partnered with me so I can offer my clients the latest information and tools on Web 2.0 and creating a powerful online presence. 

By the way, you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/missmerlyn

Here’s her take on Twitter:

Twitter: Why it Should Matter to You
by Shama Hyder

If you haven’t already heard of Twitter, you are probably hiding out in a cave! Twitter is the social media site which allows you only 140 characters at a time to convey your thoughts. Think of it like a huge ongoing chat room. Doesn’t sound too appealing you say? Keep reading!

1) Why Twitter?

Twitter is like having your own personal search engine. Once you build up enough followers, you can use Twitter to:

• quickly mastermind with others
• find resources and make friends
• share links to interesting articles (your own and others)
• learn what’s hot and relevant in your industry
• people watch online! (think e-cafe)
• drive traffic to your site (20% of After The Launch’s traffic comes from Twitter)

2) Get started!

Go to Twitter.com and setup an account. This takes less than a minute. Then add me as a friend by clicking “Follow Me.” I will follow you back. This way you will have your first Twitter follower. You can follow whoever you like, but also have the option of keeping your own updates private. Meaning: you get to approve who follows your “tweets” (or messages). Then, watch and learn. See who is saying what and contribute your own two-bit when relevant.

3) Manage your Time

It’s easy to get carried away with Twitter, but that’s not the best use of your time. When starting out, give it 15 minutes twice a day. Log on, see what’s happening, and have your say. Eventually, you will be able to find your own rhythm for tweeting. At first it can seem like noise, but over time (a few weeks), you will be able to start making connections and finding value.

Questions on Twitter ? Comments? Feel free to ask me on the blog at http://www.afterthelaunch.com.

� 2008 Shama Hyder and AfterTheLaunch.com 
Shama Hyder is an expert marketing consultant to independent professionals and professional service firms around the world. You can get her f’ree report, 101 Ways to Market your Business” at http://www.AfterTheLaunch.com. 

Marketing Is A Game

When someone says “marketing”, what is your immediate gut level reaction?  If you’re an independent professional or small business owner, the very word may fill you with dread.  Here are some of the answers that we’ve gotten from our clients:

• “Marketing is just a different way of saying ’selling’ and I hate to sell!”
• “I don’t have time to market, I’m already too busy!”
• “I’ve tried marketing before and it didn’t work.”
• “It’s too expensive!”
• “I’m a doctor, lawyer, accountant, consultant, business owner…, not a marketer.”

That’s why one of the 7 principles of our marketing program is to overcome these negative mindsets.  To that end, we present marketing as a game.  It has a set of rules, which should be followed in a particular order, and which, if done correctly, will ensure a victory.  The particular game that we use to help clients visualize this, is baseball, except we call it “Marketing Ball”.  Here’s the diagram:

 

Part 2 will focus on “Spring Training”, the pre-work you’ll need to do before you ever make it to the dugout.

 

Free Resources You’ll Want To Have

Free Gifts For Professional Service Executives

I’d like to share a tremendous resource with you today. Fellow Certified Action Plan Marketing Coaches and colleagues at Zee2A have posted their first video on YouTube.

They work with independent professionals and professional service firms in the UK and EU, but I recommend that you sign up for their newsletter and free bonuses no matter where you live.

Their “Transform Your Networking With A Verbal Signature” audio workshop is powerful. It will help you craft a compelling audio logo which will have your prospects asking, “Tell me more!”.

Kudos David and Vanessa!

Microsoft’s Vision to Venture Workshops ~ Special Discount

Microsoft is sponsoring a series of one-day workshops in several cities this Spring.  The workshops are geared towards women entrepeneurs and offer advice on starting your business, online and offline marketing strategies, and a panel discussion with successful women business owners.  The agenda includes an exhibitor fair and time for networking. 

 

Here’s a list of the cities:

• SAN DIEGO  APRIL 15
• MIAMI  APRIL 22
• AUSTIN  APRIL 24
• SEATTLE  MAY 9

The cost for the one day event is $59, but I have a promotional code which you can use for a 50% discount.  Just register at:

https://microsoft.crgevents.com/MicrosoftV2V/Register/Login/default.aspx and choose the “Register with a Registration Code”.  The promo code is:  ATDS2041.

I’ll be at the event in Miami, so if you plan on being there, please let me know so we can meet!

SMART Business Owners Invest in Their Education

That’s why when I come across a particularly useful book or program, I love to share it with my
community.

Today’s recommendation is a brand new book called “UPPING the Downside” by Master Developmental Coach, Mike R. Jay.

Mike’s book is all about how to create professional resilience by design (did you know you could actually design your life to be more resilient?). Though most people think resiliency is about the ability to bounce back, or about having a hardy personality, the most resilient person is one who is READY for anything. And in today’s fastpaced world and volatile economy, it’s survival of the most resilient!

The book also comes with an incredible assortment of bonus materials including software, audios, videos, live teleclasses, online courses, e-guides, blogging support, coaching, and consulting.

Mike Jay is an author, entrepreneur, and founder of B/Coach Systems which is one of the top business coach training programs. He’s not just a colleague, I received my business coach training from him and have participated in many of his programs. He is a true professional and an expert on professional development and leadership.

For more information on the book and bonuses, visit “Upping the Downside”.

Technorati Tags: business, business owners, education, SMART business owners, SMART business owners invest in their education, UPPING the downside, Master Developmental Coach, Mike R Jay, UPPING the downside by Mike R Jay

The Results Are In! SMART Marketing is a winner!

We launched our new SMART Marketing Mentoring program this fall after I received my Action Plan Marketing Coach certification. This intensive one-on-one program is geared towards the small business owner and independent professional who wants to attract more ideal clients.

Our first client was Jane Morrison of http://www.moreinsight.com and Women Connections. She’s been gracious enough to share her experiences working with me.

As a Life and Business Coach in practice for 7 years now, I am aware of marketing tools and strategies that I use myself and with my clients, yet I still had blocks, fears and dilemmas about my own business and turned to Merlyn Sanchez, a Certified Action Plan Marketing Coach, for help.

I was intrigued with the idea of using a marketing system and have been so blessed with her services: her listening and coaching skills magically brought me the clarity I was seeking during each session, while her knowledge of marketing tools and use of a system provided me with new ways to look at marketing and structure my plan with achievable concrete steps.

I now have a working marketing plan that allows me to manage my time much more effectively with the outcomes I was looking for. I would highly recommend Merlyn of Smart Business Owners for business development and marketing success.

If you are a small business owner or independent professional who wants to work smarter, not harder and dramatically improve your bottom line, please contact me for more information on how we can make it happen.

Technorati Tags: SMART marketing, marketing, SMART Marketing Mentoring Program, Marketing program, Action Plan Marketing Coach, marketing coach, Jane Morrison, More in Sight, Women Connections

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker… and Marketer?

Smart business owners and independent professionals think and act differently than their less successful counterparts. They don’t differentiate between their vocation (doctor, consultant, widget maker) and marketing. They know that to have a profitable business or practice, they must integrate marketing into virtually everything they do.

Of course, a large professional practice or larger business can delegate or outsource their marketing. There might be a dedicated marketing “team” but the most successful enterprises know that marketing is everyone’s job.

Marketing is simply telling people what you do, repeatedly, in as many ways as possible. Each time you’re asked “What do you do?”, you have an opportunity to compellingly convey your message. There are literally hundreds of ways to tell your prospective clients about you and your business.

In my experience, the problem lies in the negative mindsets that many business owners have when it comes to marketing. Here are a few common beliefs:

• Marketing is not my “job”. We just covered several reasons why marketing is your job.

• I don’t know where to start! Many entrepeneurs are inundated with resources on marketing so it’s not a lack of knowledge but a case of information overload! That’s why you need an actionable marketing plan which can be systematized and measured.

• I don’t have the time! Is this really true? Are you doing things that you could easily delegate to someone else? Figure out how much your time is really worth and ask yourself if it’s worth doing yourself or hiring someone to do it for much less.

When you see marketing as a primary, indispensable part of your job, you can start putting systems into place which will make it easy to choose simple, effective strategies and do them consistently.

Technorati Tags: Market, Marketing, Marketer, smart business owners, business, business owners, smart business, success, successful, mindsets, entrepreneur

Are You Ready To Go From Having A Job To Being Your Own Boss?

Are you still working full-time for someone else and working on your own business on the side?

Maybe you don’t even have an idea for your own business but you know that you want to be your own boss.

You aren’t alone. A lot of potential entrepreneurs face the fears of leaving the security of a job and going out on their own.

Tony Robbins said, “If you want to be successful, find someone who achieved the results you want and copy what they do, and you’ll achieve the same results.”

What if someone you trusted gave you advice along with the step by step instructions you needed to take, in order to become wildly successful in YOUR business?

From Employee to Entrepreneur not only brings you tips, secrets and formulas from some of the most masterful entrepreneurs on the planet, but you’ll be taken behind closed doors to hear the stories of how these entrepreneurs transitioned from having a job to being a phenomenal success…

Click here for all the details here.

Technorati Tags: Are You Ready To Go From Having A Job To Being Your Own Boss, be your own boss, boss, business, marketing, entrepreneurs, potential entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, from employee to entrepreneur