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Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

If you want to run a successful local business, you have to stay up-to-date on emerging technologies and new marketing techniques.

The easiest way to do this is to start reading blogs every day.

But how do you know which ones are good and which ones are a waste of time?

Keep watching and you’ll find out.

By the way, for more useful tips on running a local business, be sure to check out my blog at CarmenSognonvi.com.

There are so many great blogs out there, but to make your life easier I’ve picked out the 7 best business blogs that I think every local business owner should be reading.

1. Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Marketing is a blog about small business marketing written by John Jantsch.

If you read Duct Tape Marketing on a regular basis, you’re going to learn how to become a better marketer.

What I really like about John is the fact that he always brings it back to how small business owners can grow their businesses.

He doesn’t get caught up in shiny new object syndrome.

He’ll cover new technologies, but he’ll always give you practical advice on how you can use those tools to grow your business.

2. Escape From Cubicle Nation

Escape From Cubicle Nation is a blog about entrepreneurship and marketing, written by Pamela Slim.

If you read Pam’s blog on a regular basis, you’re going to learn how to become a better entrepreneur from the inside out.

Yes, you’ll get solid marketing advice.

But even more importantly, you’ll begin to understand why the emotional and spiritual aspects of running a business are just as critical to your success.

3. Big Brand System

Big Brand System is a blog written by Pamela Wilson about graphic design, branding, and marketing for small businesses.

If you read Big Brand System on a regular basis, you’re going to develop a better sense of aesthetics and be able to tell good design from bad design.

And being that we live in an increasingly design-driven world, that’s becoming a critical skill for business owners.

4. The Sales Lion

The Sales Lion is a blog about online marketing, written by Marcus Sheridan.

If you read The Sales Lion on a regular basis, you’re going to learn how to become better at inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing refers to all the efforts you put into search engine optimization, blogs, and social media.

All the things you do so you can be found by customers who are looking for your type of product or service.

Marcus used inbound marketing to take his pool company from one that was almost failing to one that ranked in the top 5% in the country.

In other words, he’s a fellow business owner who’s been there and done it, and he really knows his stuff.

5. Outspoken Media

Outspoken Media is a blog about internet marketing, but with a heavy focus on search engine optimization.

If you read the Outspoken Media blog on a regular basis, you’re going to better understand search engine optimization and how to make it work for your business.

Lisa Barone, one of Outspoken’s co-founders, writes most of the posts and she is always funny, irreverent and not afraid to tell it like it is.

And that’s what I love about the Outspoken Media blog.

It packs in a lot of practical information, but keeps you entertained as well.

6. Tiny Business, Mighty Profits

Tiny Business, Mighty Profits is a blog about marketing and sales, written by Russ Henneberry.

If you read Russ’s blog on a regular basis, you’re going to learn how to use the small size of your business to put yourself at a huge advantage over your bigger competitors.

What I love about Russ’s blog is that it’s specifically tailored to the tiny business – the type that has zero to five employees.

As a tiny business owner myself, I find his tips and insights to be really useful.

7. Kikolani

Kikolani is a blog about social media and blogging, written by Kristi Hines.

If you read Kikolani on a regular basis, you’re going to learn how to get the most out of your blogging and social media efforts.

My favorite part of Kikolani is the weekly round-up posts she does called Fetching Friday.

Every Friday, Kristi collects the best blog posts she found that week on blogging, business, freelancing, personal development, SEO, and more.

If you do nothing else but read that one post every single week, you’re going to be way ahead of the game.

Subscribe to These Blogs Now!

And there you have it – the 7 best business blogs every local business owner should be reading.

I’ll include links to all seven of these blogs below.

If you found this video useful, sign up to get email updates from me!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to www.carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Thanks for watching.

What’s your favorite business blog?

I’d love to hear your picks, so leave a comment below!

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If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get more great local business tips and occasional special offers from Carmen:

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Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

If you’re a local business owner who wants to stretch your marketing dollar, consider cross-promoting with another business.

In this video I’m going to share with you 5 different cross-promotion examples that you can put to use right away.

By the way, for more useful tips on running a local business, be sure to check out my blog at CarmenSognonvi.com.

The key to a successful cross promotion is to partner with a business that targets the same customer as you do, but that offers a product or service that doesn’t compete with yours.

For example, if you own a ballet school, you could partner with a children’s hair salon.

You’re both targeting kids, but your service offerings are totally different.

Or if you own a day spa that offers prenatal massages, you could partner with a maternity clothing store.

You’re both targeting pregnant women, but you don’t compete with each other.

In this video I’m going to use the example of the spa and the maternity store and show you some different ways they could cross-promote to each other’s customers.

1. Flyers

Hands-down, the easiest way to start a cross-promotion is for the two businesses to display each other’s flyers, either in the waiting area or near the cash register.

This costs almost nothing, and it’s a great way to start testing the waters.

For a more in-depth discussion of how to use flyers to market your business, check out the video I did on the topic.

You can click there or on the link below.

2. Gift Certificates

Another good way to cross-promote is to offer gift certificates to each other’s customers.

For example, when a client is paying and checking out at the day spa, they could receive a gift certificate for $20 off any $75 purchase.

And whenever a customer buys something at the maternity store, they could get a gift certificate for 25% off any prenatal massage.

Yes, I know these are essentially coupons, but sometimes calling it a gift certificate gives it a higher-end feel.

3. Business Card Drawing

Business card drawings are another simple way to cross-promote.

The day spa could have a bowl by the receptionist that encourages clients to drop their business card for the chance to win a gift certificate to the maternity store.

And the maternity store could have one so that their customers have the chance to win a free massage from the spa.

For a more in-depth discussion of how to make the most of a business card drawing, check out the video I did on the topic.

You can click there or on the link below.

4. Events

Hosting a joint event would also be a great way for these businesses to cross-promote to each other’s customers.

For example, the maternity store could host a fun shopping event and invite both customer groups to attend.

The day spa could set up a couple stations inside the store where the ladies could get free foot massages.

Of course, the massage therapists can talk up the day spa and offer them some type of gift certificate for the women to come and try it out.

Inviting an outside speaker whose expertise is relevant to both customer groups is another way to go.

For example, the day spa could host a free workshop on “7 Ways a Savvy Mama Prepare for Childbirth,” presented by a well-known childbirth expert.

And of course, serving non-alcoholic cocktails at the event is a must!

5. Email or Direct Mail

If both businesses have developed good mailing lists, it can be very effective for them to send a promotion about the other business to their customers.

For example, the day spa could send an email promoting the maternity store to their customers.

Or the maternity store could send a postcard promoting the day spa to their list of mailing addresses.

For a more in-depth discussion of how to make the most of your direct mail, check out the video I did on the topic.

You can click there or on the link below.

And there you have it – 5 examples of how local businesses can cross-promote with each other.

If you found this video useful, sign up to get email updates from me!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to www.carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Thanks for watching.

Have you ever tried cross-promoting with another business?

If so, what type of cross-promotion did you do and what were the results?

I’d love to hear about your experiences, so leave a comment below!

Get free local business tips from Carmen

If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get more great local business tips and occasional special offers from Carmen:

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Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

The great thing about the internet is that it’s given business owners like us such an abundance of resources to further our self-education.

You probably already know that blogs are a great place to learn, as are videos like the one you’re watching now.

But there’s a whole other realm of content you may not have considered before. I’ll tell you what it is in this video.

Have you ever listened to any audio podcasts?

Podcasts are kind of like online radio shows, and they’re a great way to learn how to be a better entrepreneur.

There are so many great podcasts out there, but to make it easy for you I’ve picked out the top 3 podcasts that I think every local business owner should be listening to.

1. For Immediate Release

For Immediate Release is a podcast about the intersection of communication and technology.

It’s a weekly podcast, about an hour long, and it’s co-hosted by Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz, both of whom are veterans in the communications industry.

“Communications” in this case encompasses everything from public relations to media relations, from investor relations to employee relations.

And often the discussions will spill over into advertising and marketing too.

What I love about this show is that Shel and Neville do such a great job of explaining the business impact of emerging technologies.

They’re not just talking about technology for technology’s sake – they show you how it can be used to achieve business goals, and discuss which companies are doing it right and which ones are getting it wrong.

I’ve actually been listening to FIR since 2006, and I’ve always considered it to be my secret weapon in keeping on top of technology trends.

2. Marketing Over Coffee

Marketing Over Coffee is a weekly podcast about marketing, about a half hour long, and it’s co-hosted by John Wall and Christopher Penn, both of whom are well-known in the marketing and new media space.

This show is a great way to keep up with marketing-related news items.

But what I really love is that John and Christopher will often share specific marketing techniques or technology tools that make your life easier as a marketer.

And if you’re a local business owner, you’re a marketer – whether you like to think of yourself that way or not!

3. Media Bullseye Radio

Media Bullseye Radio is a weekly podcast that in their words, “explores the changing communications landscape for media, marketing and public relations professionals.”

It usually runs about a half hour and it’s produced by a company called CustomScoop, which is a media monitoring service.

Jen Zingsheim, one of Custom Scoop’s VPs, hosts the show with a rotating cast of co-hosts.

Jen does a great job of summing up recent news stories.

So just by spending 30 minutes each week listening to this show – you’ll be caught up on all the big marketing and PR news of the week.

But what I really like about the show is that the hosts don’t always drink the social media Kool-Aid.

For example, it’s quite fashionable among social media types to publicly shame big companies who make mistakes in their social media efforts.

But Jen is not the type to jump on the shaming bandwagon.

She’ll often offer a different point of view that’s rooted in an understanding of a company’s business goals – and as a business owner I find that really refreshing.

Subscribe to These Shows Now!

And there you have it – the top 3 podcasts every local business owner should listen to.

Please go check them out!

I’ll include links to all three of these podcasts below.

If you found this video useful, sign up to get email updates from me!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to www.carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Thanks for watching.

What’s your favorite podcast?

I’d love to hear your picks, so leave a comment below!

Get free local business tips from Carmen

If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get more great local business tips and occasional special offers from Carmen:

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Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi and I’m coming to you with another “Steal This Idea” video.

This is an occasional series where I share with you cool things that I’ve come across that other companies are doing and I show you how you can apply these ideas in your own business.

Today’s tip is how to do a better version of the business card drawing that you see so many restaurants and shops do.

So, one day I was in Chelsea in Manhattan, and I walked into a deli to get a cup of coffee. There was a jar sitting near the cash register that really caught my eye.

The jar was full of business cards and above it there was a sign that said, “Free Lunch, drawing everyday at 11:45 a.m. Drop your business card in the jar.”

Now, there are so many restaurants and stores that use this idea of doing a business card drawing, but this is the first time that I’ve seen it spelled out in such a specific way.

Not only do they specify exactly what you get by dropping your business card, but they make it clear that there are going to be many, many winners because they are going to do this drawing every single day at 11:45 a.m.

Now, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this jar was probably the fullest I’ve ever seen than any other restaurant or store.

By the time I stopped in there it was about 10 a.m., so the morning breakfast crowd had already seen the jar and thought, “oh I’ve got to get my card in there at 11:45, otherwise I’m not going to be eligible for this free lunch drawing.”

So, if you collect business cards for lead generation in your business, think about how you can make your offer more specific and therefore, appealing to your customer.

If you don’t specify how often the drawing happens, people are going to wonder if those cards have been sitting there for months at a time.

So, if you can actually set a set schedule for when the drawing happens, it’s really going to encourage people to want to drop their card.

If you found this video useful, I would encourage you to sign up to get email updates from me.

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with some occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, all you have to do is fill out the form below, or if you’re watching this video elsewhere you can head on over to www.CarmenSognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Thanks for watching and let me know if you try out this idea in your own business.

Get free local business tips from Carmen

If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get more great local business tips and occasional special offers from Carmen:

Transcript

Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

It’s the start of a new year, which means it’s a great time to set new goals for yourself.

But how can you create goals that actually excite you, and how can you make sure you that follow through with them?

That’s what this video is all about.

Even though I’m a classic Type A personality who’s good at getting things done, goal-setting itself has never been a strength of mine.

In other words, I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert in this area.

What I am going to do though, is share with you a new approach that my husband Serge and I are trying out this year, in case you’d like to give it a shot too.

By the way, for more useful tips on running a local business, check out my blog.

1. Write a 3-Year Vision

The last time I made new year’s resolutions, I wasn’t very excited because they seemed like small, timid goals.

So this year Serge and I decided to try something I heard about from Fabienne Frederickson at ClientAttraction.com.

She recommends writing out a 3-year vision.

The idea is that you imagine what your ideal life would be like three years from now.

You date the document January three years from now, and you write it out in the present tense.

You describe in detail all the things you’ve accomplished in your business, in your relationships, in your health, in your spirituality.

All the major areas of your life that are most important to you.

When we did this exercise, we found ourselves really stretching, really thinking big.

Especially because we know from experience that a lot can happen in a 3-year span.

In February 2008 Serge and I were hustling hard with no real end in sight.

We both worked dead-end office jobs and spent our nights and weekends working part-time jobs in the restaurant industry to make extra money.

But three years later in February 2011 our lives were completely different.

We were married, had a 2-year-old daughter, and owned a thriving martial arts school that allowed us to live comfortably while working much fewer hours!

The transformation was pretty remarkable.

So having lived through that, I can’t wait to see the way our lives will be transformed again three years from now!

2. Plan Your 1-Year Goals

Once you have your 3-year vision written out, figure out where you should be a third of the way through that journey.

In other words, what will you need to have accomplished by the end of next year in order to make your 3-year vision come true?

For example, if part of your 3-year vision is to do a lot more traveling, you’ll need to be able to spend time away from your business.

So figure out what you need to do over the next three years to make that happen.

Which responsibilities can you eliminate, streamline, or delegate to others?

What kind of additional training do your staff members need?

Do you need to hire more people?

Out of all the things you’ll need to do, figure out what will have to get done within the next 12 months to move you towards your vision.

3. Schedule Your Planning Days

This is the part I’m most excited to share with you.

After we wrote out our 3-year vision, we actually scheduled an entire day to plan out our 1-year goals in detail.

We rented an office for the day because we wanted a distraction-free zone, plus it was important that we got out of our usual environment.

It was such a great feeling to be able to dedicate an entire day to working on our business, and not in our business.

We enjoyed the process so much that next year, we’re going to devote one full day each quarter to revisit our goals, assess our progress, and course-correct if necessary.

I hope that by scheduling in these check-up days, we’ll able to hold ourselves accountable and really make our vision come true.

As the year goes on I’ll keep you posted on how this new strategy is working for us in my email newsletter, so if you’re not already subscribed, you should sign up!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to www.carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Thanks for watching.

What’s your favorite technique for setting goals for your business and your life?

I’d love to hear your tips, so leave a comment below!

Get free local business tips from Carmen

If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get more great local business tips and occasional special offers from Carmen:

Transcript

Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

This is part 3 of a 3-part video series on how to get publicity for your local business.

In this video, I’m going to show you how to ensure that no matter which quote of yours a journalist chooses to include in their final story, it’ll be one that makes you sound smart, interesting, and compelling.

—

1. Prepare three talking points

Once you know what kind of story the journalist is working on, come up with the three main points you want to get across in your interview.

Each of these three points should relate to the action that you ultimately want people to take.

Let me show you how this works.

We’ll go back to the example of the health food store owner.

She’s being interviewed about how parents can help their kids lose weight.

The main action she wants is for more families to buy natural foods and prepare healthy meals at home.

But she can’t just repeat that over and over again, so she comes up with these three talking points:

1. Cooking helps maintain weight
Research shows that people who cook their own meals are less likely to gain weight than people who eat out all the time.

2. Fad diets don’t work
If you want sustainable weight loss, you have to make an overall lifestyle change.

3. Parents are the best role models
Parents need to model the behavior they want from their kids. So if parents don’t eat healthy themselves, neither will the kids.

Each of these points brings a richness to the discussion, but they also allow her to easily transition back to the importance of buying natural foods and preparing healthy meals at home.

2. Always bridge back to your talking points

Let’s say you spent an hour on the phone with a journalist.

There’s a good chance that only a one-sentence quote from you will end up in the final story.

Now, if you allowed yourself to get sidetracked and go off onto different tangents, that one quote might have absolutely nothing to do with what you originally wanted to say.

That’s why it’s so crucial to take control of the interview process.

The most important technique to master here is that no matter what question the journalist asks you, you need to bridge it back to one of your three talking points.

How? Just answer the question very briefly, then link it back to your message.

For example, the journalist asks the health food store owner what she thinks of a certain celebrity’s campaign to end childhood obesity.

The health food store owner would answer like this:

“I think it’s a great effort. But I also think that if you want to change how kids behave, you have to start by changing the way their parents behave…”

And then she would get into talking point 2, which is about how parents are role models for their kids, and from there she can transition to talking about the importance of preparing healthy meals at home.

If every single answer you give includes one of your talking points, you pretty much guarantee that whatever quote ends up in the story will convey the message you wanted to get across.

3. Talk in soundbites

Journalists have to pack a lot of information into each story.

Let’s say that you give a long, meandering answer.

Meanwhile, the other expert they interviewed gives a short, punchy answer that makes the exact same point you made.

Which quote do you think will make it into the final story?

Right! The short, punchy one.

That’s why it’s really important to learn how to speak in soundbites.

Soundbites are short, memorable phrases that communicate your message in a compelling way.

But what makes for a good soundbite?

Cliches can be really effective.

Phrases like “it’s not rocket science,” or “that’s like comparing apples and oranges.”

Bold, absolute statements work well too.

Statements like, “The Master Cleanse diet is the worst thing to happen to America’s health since the Big Mac was invented.”

Using visual language is another good technique.

You could say something like, “Believing that banning Happy Meals will end childhood obesity is like believing you can empty the ocean one thimble at a time.”

You paint a picture in the reader’s mind and that really brings your message to life.

If you enjoyed this video, I’d like to encourage you to sign up to get free email updates from me!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to www.carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

If you missed the first two videos in this series, be sure to check them out.

In part 1, I show you how to get media coverage without having to pitch any journalists.

In part 2, I show you how to avoid the biggest mistake you could make when you first get a call from a journalist.

Thanks for watching, and I’d love to hear your tips for how to get publicity for your local business, so please share them below!

Get free local business tips from Carmen

If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get more great local business tips and occasional special offers from Carmen: