However, free online competitions will work. What they do is let you grow a specific list that you could then market and promote to at a later date. You understand that they’re interested in that which you produce and they’re going to trust you as they build a relationship with you simply by entering the marketing and promotion competition you are organising.

One of several successful competitions I ran for a few years was an ‘Australia Day Competition’. I have an association of micro and home based businesses and I requested members to offer a free gift for the prizes. In return, they would get the list of serious viewers who would have to complete an Opt in Box and leave their details so that they would get the free gift.

This was a real win/win marketing an promotion process. People who donated a gift also were required to advertise the competition to their set of contacts, thus improving the number of people who were going to hear about this competition and hopefully engage in it.

One year I ended up with over $20,000 worth of prizes. The competition consisted of players addressing three issues which required them to check out three individual pages on the site. This not merely got the website a large number of visitors (and thus improving the Google ranking) it also gave me a big list of potential clients that I could target with my marketing and promotion activities.

You will need to give your competition a particular time line (some only give one or two days, however I give one week, because I know how hectic people get) plus you can send out an email notifying them prior to the deadline ceasing. One time, I had more people get involved following the warning than I did beforehand!

The smallest number of players I had was 200 while the largest number was 2,000. They were all names which I could then focus on via a newsletter; make further offers; give specials; provide superior information; (to develop my reliability with them); and sales. Never ever merely send a ‘sales’ notice. If you need to promote anything for sale, put a link at the end of the content that you are providing that’s giving some really valuable and amazing material. This way, the sales offers are simply offering a solution to the
problem you have just been discussing in the body of the article.

Utilize an autoresponder to distribute your messages and always combine an image (most folk like to look at a colourful and eye catching picture, rather than just plain text). If possible, incorporate a link to a video (or imbed it). Your autoresponder should inform you how many open your information and click on the links. I frequently have around 80% opening the text and 20% clicking on links.

If you have not run free online competitions to grow your small business, then perhaps now is the time to try one.

To help you with accessing a list of interested potential clients, join Home Based
Business Australia and utilize the member’s directory. Members support fellow
members and joining HBBA gives you a great marketing and promotional tool

To develop your business marketing and promotion, you will need to improve
yourself. The basis of developing your own uniqueness should be to ‘give
without wanting to get’. This personal development tip is perhaps the most
important one for you to recognize.

You must realise why you are in business and why you want to be successful. I
really hope it is not simply to make money; if it is you may well be sadly
disappointed. Another fundamental personal development tip is to ensure that
you feel really fulfilled when undertaking marketing and promotion activities
for your business. By being equipped to ‘make a difference’, either by
developing a really super product or truly satisfying a client, your personal development
and the marketing and promotion of your business should improve.

Once you decide to make a difference, you have to select to live in a positive
world. Being positive can be a blessing and the best way to feel positive is to
take part in positive pursuits. If you realise to be positive about yourself,
it will be relatively easy to make your customers feel positive too.

A personal development tip that is quite difficult to fulfil is to not merely
to market and promote your business, but also to market ‘you’ – many times we
ignore and forget ourselves while we give full attention to our business. This
false pride can actually hold your business back.

Is it possible to clearly say ‘why’ you are in business? Do you get up each
morning with a clear thought on why you really feel positive about your life or
business? Does your ‘why’ make you ‘cry’? In other words, is your passion and
dedication so huge that it brings tears to your eyes?

Everyone has a personal development plan that is either negative or positive.
One of the most effective personal development tips I can give you is that your
plan must be designed on giving and feeling positive about your life; it will
go a long way in bringing both you and your business marketing and promotion to
a high level.

Get rid of your old, negative thoughts and change them into positive statements
and activities. Look after yourself and look after the people in your life and
you will feel much more fulfilled and relaxed.

Join the many Australian and overseas business operators that
take advantage of the huge range of marketing and promotion opportunities
available to members. There is also a free membership available.

Work out what it is you actually like about your business; you will find that when you are planning and goal setting, you will need this information to complete your marketing and promotion strategy. Make a list of the things that make you happy (you like them – right?)

If you run a Home Based Business you probably enjoy the fact that you do not have to travel to work every day and when you do travel you can pick non peak hour times; you can be with your children when they are at home; being able to bring the washing in if it starts to rain; you can eat more sensibly by making fresh salads etc

There are many benefits of working at home. Once you have identified the things that make you happy, you will be more grateful for your working conditions.

Get Rid of the Junk in Your Business Life!

Next decide what are you surrounded with that you want to get rid of? Believe it or not, this is also important to know when planning and goal setting for your home based business (which will become part of your marketing and promotion strategy). This may simply mean that you wish to get rid of the clutter e.g. files you never look at and are now out of date; accumulation of magazines that you will never read; DVD’s that are old and out of date, etc.

It may even be the fact that you don’t like getting so many emails (you can’t cope with them); perhaps your office chair gives you a backache; or the room gets too hot in the summer; or that the lighting is inadequate.

There may be some issues directly relating to working from home e.g. it is too easy to get distracted; you miss the company of fellow workers; you never ‘leave work’ etc. Write everything down that you currently put up with but would like to change or get rid of.

What do you want (need) to make your business more successful?

What would you like to achieve or add to your business? This becomes your list to include in your planning and goal setting. Write them all down, even those that seem impractical or unreasonable.

Take these three lists you have made into consideration when planning and goal setting. Goals will only work if you put a time frame to them and write them in detail e.g. don’t write ‘make more sales’; rather write ‘make 5 sales per week’.

If you do not attain your goals, don’t worry; simply adjust them to be more practical. We often set goals when we do not have the knowledge to know if we can achieve them or not, so we often need to change them until we reach a more reasonable level. But without planning and goal setting, you will seldom achieve any growth or progress in your business. Indeed it may appear as though your business does not advance or evolve; it just stays stagnant.

So get moving! NOW is the time to start your planning and goals setting! If you want help, why not join Home Based Business Australia and you will be gobsmacked with the level of support you will receive!

You can request a free mini DVD to be mailed to you. It is titled ‘Promote or Perish’ and will point you to loads of marketing and promotion opportunities for your business which can be built into your planning and goal setting.

 WHAT! I don’t get it!

Business is about making money and a website is the most powerful marketing and promotion channel that any business can have. You don’t have to have a ‘product catalogue’ type website to make sales. Services, eBooks, DVD’s etc can all be offered for sale online. Your ordinary website can make you money – as long as you have it search engine optimized (with keywords, content and social media) to get you a high ranking with Google.

A high ranking means more traffic and that means you can develop Lists of interested potential clients and can market and sell to them. It is a marketing and promotion process and it is simple to achieve.

Most people spend a great deal of money and time developing their website, yet very little of either on developing an Internet marketing and promotion strategy. And the sad thing is that it does not cost much and even those ‘technological dummies’ (like me) can do it for themselves (as long as they have the facilities to maintain their own website).

And if your website is not designed to take advantage of internet marketing and promotion strategies – then create a second website! You can do it yourself for free (by using WordPress) and HBBA has members who can help you get it right!

Internet marketing and promotion strategies must not be overlooked or ignored by website developer as a good strategy can boost your business beyond your wildest dreams. However, just remember, there is no instant success with marketing (online or offline). It all requires time and effort. But the good news is, there is very little cost and the results can be awesome!

Tips & Hints

1. Publish each page of your website as it progresses (Google takes into account for ranking, the length of time your website has been around)

2. Don’t write ‘Under Construction’ or similar – it is off putting and often a visitor will not return if they see this.

3. ALWAYS have a measuring tool attached to your website (e.g. Google Analytics) and check it out weekly. Make changes when the stats tell you what is not working well; and promote the pages that are doing well!

More details on Internet marketing can be seen here

_____________________________________________________________________

     Let us help you with your Internet Marketing

1. WordPress Websites and Blogs
Expert Members to advise and/or build a SEO site for you

* Charly Leetham http://askcharlyleetham.com/
charly@askcharlyleetham.com
02 6100 3881

*Peter O’Connor
Peter@hbba.biz
0417 519 740       

2. Keyword Optimization
You need to have support from someone who has already achieved great success in this area and who will share their secrets with you!
 
Barbara Gabogrecan
barbara@hbba.biz

Free Video
Access some very relevant and eye opeing solutions with these videos – and they are free!

‘Exactly Where to Place Your Keywords’
http://youtu.be/q_q1UOZmeW4

‘Finding the Best Keywords Via Google’
http://youtu.be/ttyaKHEYTms 

3. Online Training
There is no question that if you learn the skills and can do the work yourself, it will be far more coste effective. Therefore it is a great idea to make a small investment and take advantage of online training; it will save you time and money!

‘How to Generate Leads’ 
Keyword Manual

1. Provide a solution to a problem

You can build interest and make money from writing articles if you clearly indicate to readers how the problem they experience can be solved by the solution you provide. Your solution is better, more successful and more relevant than others which may be available. It is important to remember that when you are offering a solution to a problem, you are more likely to capture the attention of your readers and ultimately make sales.

If you take the time to point out to them what they may be doing that is wrong, while encouraging them to make specific changes, you will help them understand the true advantage of the solution you offer. A powerful marketing and promotion exercise is to point out how much it is costing the readers if they continue making the same mistakes of trying to cope with the ongoing problem and how much your solution can save them.

2. Take action

To make money from writing articles you need your readers to take action. Ultimately the action you want them to take is to purchase your solution. However, word your article in such a way that you are encouraging them to solve their problem rather than simply telling them to purchase your product or service. By purchasing your product, they will, in fact, be taking action to solve their problem. But you want them to come to that conclusion without you having to ‘force it down their necks’!

Readers are more likely to take action if you point out the advantage your solution provides by clearly listing the main benefits. Explain why your solution will work, then give them a course of action to follow e.g. purchase your product, pointing out why that action will make their ‘lot’ easier.

3. Don’t be too specific

Many home based business operators, when setting up their marketing and promotion procedures, make the mistake of giving too much information away so that the reader does not really need to purchase anything; you have already provided them with the solution! Because it is important to give valuable, relevant and useful information in your articles so that you can capture the attention and win the respect of readers, not giving away ‘too much’ really can be difficult.

This particularly is the case when offering an eBook for free then trying to sell one based on the same topic. But to make money from writing, it would be best if you give more general information in the freebie (or offer the first chapter of the eBook that you are selling, for free) and then provide very specific information in the eBook which is for sale. To be successful with this marketing and promotion process, it is extremely important for the opening chapter to be really ‘hot’ so that it will make the reader want to know more (in other words, they will want to purchase the entire eBook).

4. Writing Structure

Readers like the’ bullet point’ technique where you list the important points of your article. It is easier to read and you are more likely to get action. Adding a number to your list can be effective, especially when it is included in your title/heading e.g. 7 Steps to successfully writing an eBook If you would like #2 free CD’s on ‘How to Market and sell an Ebook’ simply click on the link.

If you join Home Based Business Australia you will be able to access many marketing and promotion ideas and services (many are free).

This Video will also show you how to use some special software to help you write articles. You can purchase this software here.

However it may be that you can also make money by selling thoughts – your thoughts! Try to think of yourself as a specialist and imagine selling thoughts that you have accumulated over many years of experience. Your income will then be dependent on your expertise and knowledge. You then need to develop some creative marketing and promotion strategies.

To make an income selling thoughts, you will need to operate on low running costs and have a high margin. You have to make as much money as possible early in your development because you can only earn your income while you are still able to create the thoughts to sell. No one else can help you (the specialist) sell your thoughts.

Successful businesses need to create systems and eventually be able to replace themselves. The specialist can never be replaced. The specialist’s main job is to think and be creative. They also have to sell their thoughts and deliver the content of those thoughts through ‘sexy; marketing and promotion strategies. As well as being prepared to work hard, you also have to love what you are doing. The more creative you are, the more likely you are to love your work (think of how an artist enjoys producing their works of art).

Have a look at this creative way to market and promote yourself!

For a business to be successful it does not have to depend on the owner/operator; it can be quite independent of this entrepreneur. If the business is set up well, it can be sold. An unsuccessful business is often not a business at all; it is simply a way of providing a job for the owner. The owner usually has to work hard for a boss who is little short of being a maniac – of course this boss is themselves!

Many business operators say they want to achieve freedom, but it is usually more important for the specialist to experience fulfillment. It is so easy for those trying to guide us into being ‘better business people’, to ignore the all important aspect of fulfillment. Many people who put fulfillment first see themselves as failed business people because they do not seem to follow the basic principles of business.

When you decide to engage in selling thoughts, you are no longer one of the ordinary business people and you should not feel insignificant or a failure because of this different approach. Just keep in mind that the specialist needs to build a number of profitable ventures to ensure the income stream keeps flowing.

When a specialist decides to earn an income from selling thoughts they must have a very clear message about what they are selling that they can send out to potential clients. This form of marketing and promotion will only be successful if you have developed a method or procedures that will help you not only get your message across, but will also develop a sense of organisation in your lifestyle.

Once you decide that selling thoughts is the way you wish to earn an income, then you have to work out how to market and promote yourself. You will become known as a leader and others will follow you. This method of earning an income is suitable for a coach, presenter, author, trainer, mentor etc. It is possible that the specialists who are selling thoughts may be involved in all or most of these activities.

If you wish to market and promote that you are selling thoughts, join Home Based Business Australia and promote and market yourself via the Members Directory, which is the most frequently visited page on this website

1. Your Web Site is hardly a new business trend….is it?

A website remains an important marketing and promotional tool for your business. Combine it with social media links, freebies (e.g. an eBook) that will enable you to collect contact data for future marketing, and SEO (particularly keyword optimization) that will get your site highly ranked in search engines, and you have the ultimate new business trend (as very few websites combine all of these features).

2. E-Books are now considered to be a new business trend

As an author, I find it relatively easy to write an eBook, but I know just how stressful (if not impossible) it is for others. Thank goodness there is some great software that can actually help you construct sentences while researching your topic.

The question is ‘why should you be looking to write an Ebook?’ The answer is simply; they are fast becoming more popular than paper books and make great marketing and promotional tools. Amazon has made ebooks a new business trend and is now selling more Kindle Ebooks than paperbacks, with one of their eBooks selling over one million per week during this holiday season. Ebooks are now considered to be main stream and you should definitely consider writing one. This EBook will show you how to market and sell your eBook.

3. Social Media has a new player that is fast becoming a new business trend

With LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter vying for our time, who needs another! Perhaps home based businesses and start ups do! Google+ is owned by Google, and therefore if you are trying to increase your website ranking through marketing and promotional strategies, then your involvement with Google+ will affect how Google will rank you.  To be fair, Google is now taking into account the interaction between your business and all social media accounts you have.

4. Videos are now so easy to produce that they are fast becoming a new business trend

To make videos has been a costly and difficult process in the past, requiring skills that many home based business operators simply did not have. However new technology has pushed videos into the realm of a new business trend. YouTube (also owned by Google) has over 1 trillion views and if you have a video on You Tube and include the link to your website, this, too, is taken into account when Google ranks your website.  If you are serious about growing your business, don’t miss out on marketing and promoting your product and services via You Tube. Check the Description on this video and note the use of keywords and links.

5. Communication and Learning skills through Webinars is considered to be a new business trend for many

Again, technology has made the concept of Webinars far more functional and easier to accomplish a professional marketing and promotion message. Not only can you communicate (similar to a presenter) but you can educate as well. You should produce a webinar that takes advantage of being able to suit the viewer’s needs of the flexibility of time and convenience.

Join Home Based Business Australia and get Constant Support on how to Utilise these New Business Trends 

What many do not realise is that it is not simply having the product for sale online that leads to success; it is how well they market the product. My art product sells well; I even received a number of orders when I was in hospital recuperating from a stroke and the removal of a brain tumour!

The potential clients were told what happened and offered to have their money returned. But they all opted to wait until I was well enough to complete the orders (and were very happy with the product they eventually received!)

Around the same time, I also received a commission for a large wall hanging for the Heritage Listed building in East Melbourne (which is beautifully restored) for the business of Blamey and Saunders Hearing. I sent them the working sketch to approve before I commenced the painting (see below). To keep your customers informed during the process of any job that takes a while to complete, is essential to maintain good customer relationships.

The Ten Steps I Use to Achieve Success with Internet Marketing and Promotion

 1. I set up a landing page website offering the product for sale (with good photos, prices, description, guarantee and payment system)

 2. I set up a flyer and distributed it to my lists i.e. people who have already signed up for free product that I have developed and previously offered online. Having a List that you can sell to is a key to the success of Internet Marketing.

3. I made a video of me at work and had it displayed on You Tube (see above).

 4. I organised for a number of people to ‘like’ this video and to leave a comment

 5. I promoted the product with some ‘handy hints’ on how to sell your art work in a Blog

 6. I also organised for people to ‘like’ this article and leave comments

 7. I had information from the Blog automatically appear on Facebook and Twitter

 8. Consequently my landing page, Blog etc increased their ranking and this meant more people visited my site.

9. I wrote articles and had them published in Article Directories (giving me more backlinks to my website). I also used Backlinks Rotator to automatically get me hundreds of backlinks, thus causing Google to rank me higher.

 10. I saved money (this process cost me around $100) and it made me more sales. I got coverage with the media and I won awards.

I am 67 years old and a self confessed ‘technological dummy’ – so if I can do it – so can you! The Internet is a marvellous way to sell your product and increase your profile. You can see some of my product and how I set up my landing page for sales.

Whether you believe in the philosophy of Feng Shi or not, much of the Feng Shui principles can be successfully applied to business. Like most oriental philosophy, Feng Shui is based on common sense and natural activities.

When you are involved in the marketing and promotion of your business you do need to use your common sense as this is what most people will respond to. The many fancy and ‘ya – ya’ hype in marketing leaves potential customers cold. Perhaps Feng Shui can help your marketing and promotion strategies be more successful.

Debra Jarvis of http://debrajarvisfengshui.com/  is a worldwide expert on Feng Shui and her massage is very powerful. Read more of her guidance, tips and hints.
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Feng Shui and the Workplace By Debra Jarvis

The cornerstone foundation of Feng Shui is the 4 aspects of the Classic Configuration.
1. Opportunity
2. Security
3. Boundaries
4. Grounding

1) Opportunity: We make our environment (home/office/workshop) attractive. It’s said opportunity comes to us in direct proportion as to how easy we are to find and that the quality of the opportunity is related to the attractiveness of the welcoming energy. (Visually – does it look attractive? Feeling – does it lift our energy? Do we feel good when we arrive?)

In our Marketing does our headline call out to our target audience? Does it highlight who should read our message and why? And how’s our target audience going to find it? Have we identified the places they hang out and used a medium they will see? Have we designed our message to be appealing to the people we want as customers and that our business can serve well?

2) Security: We have a private backyard or courtyard. We are safe protected and nothing can get in or out except via gates or doors. Stuff can’t be easily taken away by people who might like to sneak up unexpectedly. No one can come up behind us and bash us over the back of the head with a piece of 4×2.

Once opportunity comes in most of us want to convert it into profit. Do your target audience feel safe connecting and interacting with you? Do they trust you? It’s important your copy the body of your marketing material speaks to your audience about their problem the reason they would buy from you. Do not try to sell upfront. People need to know that you can help them. They want to feel that they can trust you and they like to think you understand. The body of your copy should be building this relationship.

3) Boundaries: When our physical boundaries (work and home spaces) (ours and the neighbors (or council)’ land) are indeterminate then in Feng Shui we say that there will be issues with the people in our lives.

Be clear about your offering about what it is and isn’t. People appreciate honesty and it will save time consuming issues in the future. This is your call to action. Let people know what to do next and what to expect from you when they do.

4) Grounding: Have a firm foundation. In Feng Shui we say the centre of our buildings should be clutter free. (We will speak more about clutter later in the week.) For now; if it’s past it’s use by date then get rid of it. Create a vacuum! While you hold onto and keep stuff that’s no longer serving you it’s clogging up your ability to attract something different.

Tips and Hints

1. Get rid of marketing you no longer use. Sit down and work out a strategy for 2012 and plan and prepare now! Have a springboard ready to launch from that you can build on as the year ticks by.

2. Get professional help when you need it. Use a graphic designer and get fliers printed by professionals. The printer who offers to do your layout is unlikely to be your best choice. Getting good help costs less than you think and rather than looking like an amateur – you look professional. The same goes for your website! (And I’m talking Australian – not someone offshore you have to micro manage.)

3. Find someone who understands marketing and can show you a strategy that you understand and you can see will work for your business and how to market to your customers. If it sounds like hocus-pocus it probably is! Find someone who has a proven track record in sales and marketing with bricks and mortar businesses. An objective professional is invaluable

Website Marketing by Tracey Jarvis of tracey@xpandonline.com.au

Your website is the most important online marketing tool your business can have. People get really frustrated when they visit a website and the information they are looking for is not there or not easy to find.

Here are 9 pages you most definitely should have on your website:

1. Home
This is your main page! So make sure you grab their attention and really show who you are and what you do. The homepage should show a summary of everything that you offer.

2. Services or Products
If you offer services or products, then you should include at least one page providing a persuasive summary of the services you offer or a page that lists your individual products by name.

3. Why Choose?
This page is highly important. There should be either a page or video on the site that outlines why the person should choose your business/product or service.

4. About
The about page should be an insight to who YOU are. This is where people want to find out about you as a person, to see if they connect with you.

5. FAQs
This is obviously the page where you list all the most common asked questions and answers. This page makes the visitor feel that you know your business and you know your customer.

6. Testimonials
Absolutely imperative to have testimonials on your website. People want to see that you have these.
Best is to have your favourites on one page, and then some sprinkled around the site, and at least one on the homepage.

7. Tips, articles, blogs
Having tips, articles or blogs has a few different purposes. One: to encourages visitors to stay on your site longer, two: for SEO purposes, google ranks websites higher that update content more regularly.
Under each blog post you need to have the ‘like’, ‘tweet’, & ‘share’ buttons. This is how your content gets spread onto social media platforms.

8. Call to Actions
Should be on every page in the same position, usually on the top right hand side is the best spot. Make sure that your call to action buttons e.g. subscribe, sign-up etc. is in a colour that stands out from the rest of the site. The most common colour for call to action buttons is either red or orange.

9. Social Media Icons
It is absolutely imperative to have all your social media icons on your website, usually placed on the top right hand-side above the call to actions (on every page). You need to make it easy for your visitors to join your online platforms.

Always remember the point of your website is to get your visitor to become a customer or lead.

The New And Innovative Marketing Methods
Social Media marketing methods are being used to promote all things in business, even though they were initially set up for personal interaction e.g. FaceBook and Twitter. Trying several types of marketing is usually the best way of eliminating marketing methods that fail, and determining which marketing methods are successful for you. 

Cost Effective Advertising
While millions of dollars are spent on advertising, promotional marketing methods are relatively less expensive and can be more effective. Web marketing methods are detailed and meticulous, with the best interactive ones being blogs, social networking sites, bookmarking sites, and niche forums.

Direct marketing methods are capable of reaching many new clients in a specific target market. The use of catalogues and party plan still has quite a good impact as a more personalised marketing method.

 Traditional marketing methods are constantly being challenged when compared to the digital marketing methods. Home based businesses are opting for digital rather than the offline marketing methods of newsletters, trade shows, brochures, flyers, advertising in newspapers, and passing out audio CD’s about your product or business. This is probably due more to cost than anything else.

Successful Traditional Communication
However, it should be remembered that today businesses receive very little ‘snail’ mail and if they do, it is often bills or junk mail. Therefore there is a real opportunity to mail out gifts, CD’s, Cards etc that look good and have warm and friendly, caring messages. It could be a sure fired way to win over a client or gain the respect of a supplier.

Effective Marketing Methods
Some of the most effective marketing methods are ‘low-cost’ or ‘no-cost’ options; networking to cultivate relationships; using the Web and e-mail etc.  Old marketing methods are failing because potential clients will no longer accept ‘brute force’ advertising that tries to win users over through sheer volume, using abrasive web-page banners, door knocking and phone calling.

One of the most effective ways of finding out which of your marketing methods are working is simply to ask customers how they heard about you.

My question for you is: when did being able to form a coherent sentence become
an optional extra? Who has the courage to be a revivalist of good writing skills? I do!

We’ve all heard the call for a return to the basics in literacy and numeracy and there are many who argue that technology as we experience it to-day requires speed and unlimited access at all costs. All too true but well-constructed and grammatically correct writing is surely an asset in a world where reports still need to be written and customers still need to have their queries answered with clarity and respect? If your marketing and promotion is not professionally written and communicated, then your business will suffer.

I am not advocating a return to the quill and parchment age. I am asking whether enough attention is being paid to the mechanics of the written word and how did quality communication become irrelevant to many businesses.

What impression are you leaving with your clients and customers by your written
material? Many potential clients will be discouraged from doing business with
you if your written material and correspondence lack professionalism, especially in the area of marketing and promotion.

What can you do about it?

• Take charge of your business communication. Do you really know what is going out under your business logo?
• Take an audit of your current written material (both internal and external to your organisation). Are there areas for improvement?
• Don’t depend on spell-check – it doesn’t pick up the difference between ‘form’ and ‘from’ nor will it pick up the difference between ‘manger’ and ‘manager’. Many of your clients will notice the difference.
• If you are in doubt, consult someone who can audit your communication and give advice.
• Let your staff know that this is an important aspect of your business by sourcing training and supporting professional development courses in business writing skills.

Written by Emerald HBBA member Frances Cahill

One of the most frustrating things I have found with language (particularly customer service) is that we have all become ‘guys’…. “what can I get you guys?” “Well I’ll leave you to decide guys”, “how you guys doing today”…. the last time I looked I certainly wasn’t a ‘guy’ and if I am in a purchasing position, believe it or not, it will help me decide to go somewhere else.

This was made obvious to me when we bought my husband’s car last year. The amount of
sales people (both male and female) who called us ‘guys’ was extraordinary! So just a marketing tip to anyone who provides sales and service, a mid 50′s woman does not like to be referred to as one of the guys!

As a writer of children’s books, I have to go back to my ’8yo’ voice and talk to some children around that age to make sure I am speaking ‘their’ language.  eg. In my book What Happens When You Die? I mention the amount of flowers that were delivered to the house after the young boy’s uncle died. Initially I had written “it looked like a florist” then I realised that children of that age would call it a ‘flower shop’ so it was changed, still grammatically correct, but in a language appropriate to that age group.

This is where writing to the appropriate level of your audience is so important in business. I write as I speak, as if I’m talking to the person – in person!  So many times I hear the comment – “I could almost hear your voice as I read it”. Why? Because it is genuine and authentic!

When you say hello and goodbye to someone on the phone, you don’t say ‘dear xxx’ and
‘yours faithfully’, rather Hello or Hi xxxx. Then ‘Nice to speak to you again’ or if it is a request, ‘Thanks’, ‘speak to you soon’. I believe all of these create an offer of friendship – I find even just putting ‘with my kind regards,‘ or just kind regards, so much more personal than ‘regards‘.

Written by MCEI member Robyn O’Connell

Fear of rejection or fear of getting a “no” is the major reason preventing people from asking for the prospects’ business and closing the sale. Research shows that 90% of business people have a fear of rejection which stops them short of asking for the sale and this alone is costing Australian businesses millions in lost business each year!

If you have a fear of rejection, you may find yourself doing or saying things on the phone or in a meeting which has the other person respond with a “no”, and so they reject you anyway. The fear becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Once you resolve these beliefs, you will be freer to succeed at having the business success that you desire.

Being comfortable with and enjoying the marketing and promotion of yourself are keys to business success. Here are five ways to promote yourself more effectively so you can turn your prospects, leads and enquiries into customers.

1. Watch your assumptions
What are you thinking and saying to yourself as you meet with prospects? Are you thinking that they are not interested in your products, services and ideas or are you questioning the value you offer? Are you worried that they will think you are coming across as too pushy or that they won’t like you?

Research has shown that 80% of the people that walk into your store, call you on the phone or email you have already imagined owning a product or service like yours. So you could be serving up to 80% of all prospects because if you don’t, your competitors will! Imagine the impact on your bottom line if you had an 80% conversion rate. Instead, if you assume that people are not interested; this can sabotage your business success and your marketing and promotion.

2. Where is your focus?
What you focus on you will create. How much of your focus, time and energy are you spending on the people who say “maybe” or “no” to you? Too many people in business spend too much of their time on the “maybes” and the “no’s”. Because their focus is caught up with getting these prospects to buy, they have very little focus left for following up the prospects (‘follow up’ is part of your marketing and promotion) that are really interested, so they miss out on their business. Remember spend most of your time with the prospects that are ready to buy now and have a system for following up the rest at another time as appropriate.

3. Build the relationship
Most people need more than one experience of you before they do business with you. So rather than selling your product or service at the initial meeting; instead sell your relationship with them. Build instant rapport, tailor your language to their preferred style, ask powerful questions and really listen to how you can best help them. Also, make sure that you are responding appropriately to what your prospects and customers say, so that you avoid souring those relationships.

4. Serve the need
Selling isn’t about telling – it is about asking the right questions, in the right way and at the right time… so that you can best understand the prospect’s needs and how you can best serve these. Reading your prospects more effectively, assisting them in their buying decisions and really understanding what makes them tick will also help you to serve them better and will make your marketing and promotion message more powerful. Also remember that if there is no need, thank the prospect and find another customer. After all, there are plenty of customers out there for all of us!

5. Follow through
It is only by following through and completing things that we achieve results. Some people in business start strategies for generating leads, while others start to follow up and only see them through to partial completion. The highly successful business people actually focus on a select number of strategies and follow each one through to completion and, therefore, achieve amazing results. Put off procrastination and start following through your leads, prospects and enquiries and watch your sales grow!

Written by Dr Vesna Grubacevic of QT Transformation

The Cost of Procrastination
Some people have mastered the art of putting off doing certain tasks (like marketing and promotion), despite knowing that they will be worse off for the delay. Research has shown that around 15% to 20% of adults regularly put off activities that would be better done right away; around 40% of people have experienced a financial loss as a result of procrastination; and procrastinators have higher stress levels and more severe health problems than people who act right away.

3 Ways to Stop Procrastinating

1. Is it what you really want?
Think about the activity you have been putting off and ask yourself: “Is the activity aligned with your life purpose, business vision and goals? Will it bring you closer to your purpose/vision/goals or steer you in another direction?” By asking yourself these questions you may find that the activity is not going to help you achieve what you want and you have been putting it off for the right reason. It is important to then act on that insight.

If the activity is aligned with your purpose/vision/goals, perhaps you needed to see the fit with the big picture before you were motivated enough to do it! When we do things without a big picture context, we can feel unmotivated, see no real reason or benefit for doing it. Without a clear big picture to give us direction, we can more easily be distracted from such things as the marketing and promotion of our business and are more likely to procrastinate.

Once you are clear about the big picture, and then ensure that you have clear goals with clear commitments and timeframes to help you to achieve your purpose and vision. Ensure that your goals are clear and specific enough can be measured, are achievable and realistic, create win-wins for all concerned and have a specific timeframe.
People with vague goals are almost as unmotivated as those without any goals at all! Research at Hofstra University demonstrates that procrastinators who had clear intentions and specific commitments to a time were eight times as likely to follow through on the commitment as those without them.

2. Are you sufficiently motivated?
As you think about an activity (like marketing and promotion of your business) that you have been putting off, how motivated do you feel about doing it? Motivation is a feeling, so do you actually feel motivated as you think about the activity or not? Do you feel other positive emotions (eg. confidence, passion, determination, etc.) or negative emotions (eg. resentment, guilt, shame, anger, etc) as you think about doing it? It is difficult to put off doing things that you feel motivated to do.

3. What meaning do you give it?
What meaning do you give to the activity that you have been putting off? Do you anticipate such things as marketing and promotion activities for your business, as being boring or fun? Do you anticipate that it will take forever or be quick? Do you imagine that you will be able to do it easily or worry that you will stumble or get stuck? If you imagine positives around that activity, you will be more motivated than if you imagine the negatives.

For some procrastinators, anticipation of the task is often far worse than what the task turns out to be. Are you anticipating the task turning out well or not? By visualising the activity being a success, you will be much more motivated to take action. Imagine how much more productive, fulfilled and successful you could be once you master motivation and put off procrastination!

Written by Dr Vesna Grubacevic of QT Transformation

Relevant Keywords are the keys to your ebook marketing and promotion strategy. However, even though many know about the importance of keywords in a marketing and promotion online strategy, most don’t take the time to learn why they are so very important. To bring you the greatest success, you have to know how and where to use them on your website or social media outlets.

If you are looking for a professional and highly relevant program that explains everything you need to know about keywords, then you should Check this out now. It demonstrates how to apply keywords to have your website and product  ranked high with Google, bringing you more targeted traffic. This program is not expensive yet supplies a powerful ‘step by step’ guide to get you on page one in record time!

Barbara Gabogrecan (a self confessed techno dummy) designed four websites and had them ranked on page one of Google in a few days, by simply using this program. You can find it here.

YOU CAN GET FREE TOOLS TO SUPPORT THE
‘DAY TO DAY’ RUNNING OF YOUR BUINESSS

If you are going to work from home you must have a computer and a good internet connection. You must also be able to network and create relationships with a great number of people, be they suppliers or potential clients. Because of the power of the internet, networking is relatively easy these days. You can communicate with a great number of people via phone, video conferencing, email, blogging and social media outlets.

People looking to start their own venture may find that MLM programs are quite inexpensive, and those who have internet connection and a whole lot of free time can earn as much as many corporate executives.

But they do need to have a correct mindset for going after what they want. They have to be persistent, determined and motivated. The marketing and promotion of business ideas that can be run from home do require certain skills and capabilities. There are abundant opportunities for income out there in the cyber world, but diving in without research and skills is a sure way to fail.

A PRODUCT THAT SELLS ITSELF COULD BE THE WAY TO
START UP YOUR BUSINESS

You have to determine whether or not an opportunity you are looking into seems suspicious. But if you try it and it doesn’t work out for you, it does not necessarily mean that it is a scam. A scam means that the idea is an illegal or fraudulent activity.

A business idea does not deserve to be labelled as a scam just because it ‘overpromises and under delivers’. There is a big difference between fraud and simply portraying a product as better than it really is. Keep in mind that all advertising and marketing and promotion messages, portray products in a favourable light that likely exceeds the product’s true capabilities.

There is an old saying “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Nearly all ideas that you come across on the Internet are capable of making you money if applied correctly and accompanied by some hard work. The main reason many internet business ideas fail is that the type of people interested in them are basically lazy and are looking for some quick income.

It takes a good deal of work in the area of marketing and promotion for most internet business ideas to be successful. Even when you automate much of your processes, it still takes a great deal of work to set up the procedures.

You must make a decision as to what you are willing to do and how much effort you are willing to put forth to succeed. Don’t pretend to be a victim and blame others, accusing them of scamming you. Such an attitude will never lead to success.

YOU CAN KEYWORD OPTIMISE YOUR WEBSITE EASILY AND
CONSEQUENTLY HAVE IT RANKED ON PAGE ONE OF GOOGLE

You may want a part time business or you may need to commence with very little start up funds; whatever your restrictions are, you will be able to find a business idea that is just right for you. The main thing to do is to research first and make sure that you do not fall foul of scam artists.

You may decide to start a business based on your previous employment or you may prefer to develop a home based business around your hobbies. But the most successful businesses are often the ones that offer a solution for a problem that people have. Offering to do the chores for the elderly, or gardening or house cleaning can be very rewarding and do not require high level of skills.

But, regardless of what business you decide on, you must spend time and effort (and sometime revenue) on marketing and promotion.

Marketing and promotion is simply ensuring that potential clients know about your product or services. What are you offering; why should they use you (rather than your competitor); what it costs to use you etc. You can make this information known via the traditional form of flyers, business cards and advertisements or you can ‘go with the flow’ and utilise social media.

To get some innovative ideas and support with your marketing and promotion, join an appropriate association; you may also find these DVD’s and Workbooks of great value as 10 experts share their marketing secrets with you.