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do you have a follow up system in place for your business now? If not, Follow my Ultimate Follow Up System process and build a system that will work for you for years and build rock solid relationships with your prospects and customers for life. Check it out and see how The Ultimate Follow-Up System can help you in your business.

Transcript:

• Episode 22 Driving Your Marketing: Simple Newsletters

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Sure enough my events page has been re-designed. See here in Phoenix AZ we have a free live networking event that we put on every other week and we also have an Internet TV show that we broadcast every other week. Each of those events are posted on Facebook so that we can invite our friends to attend or watch.

But rather than create each post, each week, we go through and create a few at a time. This way we don’t forget and miss one. (Since this has never happened……ya, right…)

So because of this, even though we have regular events, I don’t always look at the page. If it wasn’t for Mashable I could have been days before I even noticed.

But I did look and so far I have to say it is pretty good. Some of the comments people are leaving on the Mashable post say that they hate it. I have to say I don’t agree. I think it is a nice clean new lay out. It is different and everything different takes some getting used to, but different isn’t necessarily bad.

So here is a run down of the changes:

• Moved the “Attending” to a list on the top left side.
• Put the “Maybe’s” and the “Haven’t responded’s” just under the “Yes’s” on the left side.
• Still show the “No’s” but it is hidden unless you click the “view all” link, and they are also moved over to the left side.
• The moved the RSVP buttons to the top of the page and made them more obvious.
• The information about the event is in a nice big area right in the middle of the page.
• And the graphic about the event is also moved over to the left side (it used to be on the right)
• I also found a nifty little “export” link at the bottom of the page. (It might have been there before, but I never noticed it so it must not have been very effective). This lets me click it and choose to send myself an email about the event.
• The date and time and location are in a nice, easy to read, easy to find format right in the top center of the page.
• And the “Select Guests To Invite” link is now a nice bold grey button right under the graphic. This is much more noticeable and might make people more readily share your event with their friends.

Some of the initial complaints that people posted included the ability to only invite 50 people at a time to an event, even if you were the creator. But it looks like that was a temporary limitation since I was able to invite 200+ people to an event just moments ago with no issue.

So far this change looks like just a change in look with no additional options or features being added as of yet.

I can keep hoping though….

The one and only thing I wish they would add is the ability to have events repeat. That’s it, just that one feature and I would be blissfully happy.

But, it is a free service after all, so I will take what I can get

Have you checked out the new look yet? What do you think of it? Does it matter to you one way or the other? Do you see it as a good change, a bad change or none of the above? Please share your thoughts below…

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Are you looking for more ways to grow your online marketing presence? Have you started using social media yet? If you have, are you using it EFFECTIVELY? A great place to start is with Twitter. If you want to really take using Twitter for Business to the next level, find a ton of followers and use Twitter as an effective business marketing tool, download our free Twitter For Business Step By Step Guide where I’ll walk you through some great resources on where to find followers, build your list and make Twitter a great marketing tool without spending a dime!

Transcript:

• Episode 21 Driving Your Marketing: Don’t Expect Return Business

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• Episode 21 Driving Your Marketing: Don’t Expect Return Business

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Are you looking for more ways to grow your online marketing presence? Have you started using social media yet? If you have, are you using it EFFECTIVELY? A great place to start is with Twitter. If you want to really take using Twitter for Business to the next level, find a ton of followers and use Twitter as an effective business marketing tool, download our free Twitter For Business Step By Step Guide where I’ll walk you through some great resources on where to find followers, build your list and make Twitter a great marketing tool without spending a dime!

Transcript:

• Episode 20 Driving Your Marketing: Expand Your Network

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• Episode 20 Driving Your Marketing: Expand Your Network

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In case you are new to our world a blog challenge let me explain. Across the internet there is a wonderful group of people that blog on a regular basis. One of these particular people put together a “challenge” to post one blog post each day for thirty days in a row. Thus the original name of “30 Day Blog Challenge”

In this particular one you got to “sign up” and join the community. Jeanette Cates, the organizer of this little shindig, set up a wonderful site where everyone participating can post their bios, links to their sites, a picture of themselves, etc.

This allowed us to “get to know each other”. Also part of the challenge was to check out the other bloggers. Go to their sites, read their posts and share your thoughts.

This made for a huge community of people all learning and growing together.

30 days ago I wrote a post (my first for the challenge) about the fact that I did not blog. I explained how I believe in blogs and blogging and how we even teach blogging as part of our business. But that my partner was “the blogger” in our business.

30 days later I can now say (with this post) that I have met the challenge and this is my 30th post in 30 days.

Here is what I have learned:

1. I can write (Not to bad sometimes even )
2. I do actually know this stuff (I knew I did, I just wasn’t so sure I could get it “on paper”)
3. People can be very generous (I have “met” some WONDERFUL, generous people in the last 30 days)
4. I can write a blog post, find a picture, re-size the picture, publish the blog post and tweet about it in under 15 minutes if I am down to the wire…
5. And last but not least….30 days in a row of blogging is HARD, but…do-able….(I was not so sure about that when we started)

Would I do it again? Sure, I had a good time.

Should you do one…Definitly!

It is a wonderful learning experience.

Yesterday I saw a statement that made me think. It said “If you can’t think of 50 blog post topics in your industry within a few minutes, you might be in the wrong industry.”

That really made me think…

I have to admit I had many a day of writers block in the last 30 days. But when it came right down to it I was able to come up with the topics (sometimes the actual content eluded me but…).

I can now proudly say I have made it to the end. I posted 30 blog posts in 30 days.

I will be on the look out for the next “Challenge” and I will not hesitate to join. Will YOU be with me?

Now anyone that knows me knows that I spend a lot of time in coffee shops. I like them and I do love a large mocha (or three). I tend to spend a lot of money with a good coffee shop that I like.

Now I don’t know if you know this or not but I also co-host an Internet TV show with a friend of mine (you can check it out at www.WhatIsTheFusion.com). We had been hosting the show at this small independent coffee shop both because we liked the place but also because we wanted to help get them some extra exposure.

Recently the place was sold to another owner. We go in and set up for our show (not knowing it had been sold) and meet the new owner. It was obvious right way that she wasn’t kicking us out for that taping but she really didn’t want us there.

It seems that she expected to get a flood of people (more than the usual 10 that we usually see while we are taping the show) and that she wasn’t pleased with us taking up space in her new place.

Now, let me set the stage for you. We promote the location at least twice on every show. We blast it out to all our Social Media sites (about 5 people involved with this all doing this), we post their link on our website, we tell all our friends and other people we meet about the place and tell them to come down and watch the taping live.

On top of this, I know that between us every time we go in just to tape a show we end up spending over $30 during that one hour.

You would think that alone would encourage the support from the new owner.

But she was not seeing the big picture. She saw us as “taking up space” instead of seeing all the publicity we gave her just for letting us use the chairs in the corner once every two weeks.

There’s more to the story that fed into us finally not only moving the show to a new location but also to telling others about the experience and that we were not welcome in this place any more.

Long story short, her lack of seeing the big picture had lead to what I would estimate as easily over $200 per week in coffee sales. For a small independent coffee shop, that’s a decent amount of income. Especially since we were helping grow the business by our word of mouth.

The point of the story is that you need to look at the big picture in your business. Are there great raving fans that you are driving away because of policy or small picture thinking like “are they taking up space for other customers?”

Remember that we all need to keep a pulse on our customers and take care of them. Make them feel cared for. Make them feel wanted. And don’t let small thinking cloud your vision of how things should look.

When someone comes up to us at a networking event we can become so focused on making sure that they know what we do that we forget everything else.

I have had 20 minute conversations with people and had them walk away and I don’t even know their name. This is because they are so focused on telling me what they do and how they can help me and what kind of referrals they are looking for that I am pretty sure they forget to tell me the most simple thing….their name.

Here is another common thing that happens…

I am at a networking event and someone comes up to me. They say hello and tell em their name. I tell them my name and then before another sentence is said they launch into their pitch.

They tell me how they have been in business for over a year and they quickly ask if I have a website. I barely say yes when they move on. They go on to tell me all about how they can help me “optimize” my website and get me to the first page of Google. They can get me in all the online “yellow pages” sites and have customers banging down my door to do business with me and coming to my shop and buying my products and services and my phones will be ringing off the hook. All for ONLY $____ a month.

I generally listen politely because I always find this pitch amusing. (Sadly I have heard it a ton of times ).

After a few minutes they tend to run out of pitch. So I politely ask them a couple of questions (for my own curiosity). Things like “What sites will you add me to?” And “Do YOU do the work?”.

They (seeing a possible sale..) rush to assure me that I will be on dozens of sites and that they don’t actually do the work “they have people” that do.

They then ask “So do you want to set up a meeting and get started?”

This is where I have to break their hearts. Mind you we are now about 10-20 minutes into this exchange. And now they are going to discover they have completely wasted their time (and mine to be honest, but they seem so desperate I don’t have the heart to stop them).

I explain to them that I don’t have a store front. I explain to them that I don’t particularly care if my phone rings since I am an internet based business. I explain to them that I am already on the first page in Google (in fact I can tell them I am #1-20 on Google depending on how you search). I explain to them that I know how to get on everyone of the sites they “get me on” for free. And then the last one….

I explain to them that I have a course that I sell for $197 (one time fee, instead of  $XXX per month forever) that will not only teach people how to do what they are selling, but also how to do 3 other marketing tactics 100% for free other than a few hours of their time.

This is usually when they politely thank me (sometimes not so politely) and wander off in search of their next victim.

I say victim kind of tongue in cheek, but sometimes unfortunatly this is how these people make you feel.

If they had taken 2 minutes to ask a couple of questions about me, my business, my business model, etc. They would have saved themselves and me a ton of time. They would have saved themselves the heartache and frustration of doing their entire pitch only to discover that it was in vain.

But they had blinders on.

They were so focused on them and their objectives that they forgot the point. They forgot to look for prospects. See…I am not their prospect. I am NOT their target market. BUT I might be a good connection for them. I meet people all the time that just want “someone to do it for them”. Of course now that I have been accosted I am certainly not going to send my customers over to this person. But that is another story

Does this situation happen to you? Have you been the “victim” of the story? Please share your thoughts….(or horror stories )

So what is it that makes us different?

Well, let’s look at the movie industry and one movie specifically that might put it in to perspective for you.

The latest Twilight movie just came out. People were going nuts over the whole thing. And…

It was a huge hit… again!

People stood in line for over 5 hours to watch the movie and it was sold out AGAIN! In case you don’t know, this is the third movie in the series. Each one gets more popular.

I was lucky enough to get out of it this time. (*happy me*)

I’m personally not a fan but I have to give them amazing credit where it is due.

So, let’s examine why, in a “down economy”, a movie franchise like that can create such raving fans.

1. They know their target market
Teen girls are the primary target market for the series. They read the books, buy the t-shirts and watch the movies. It’s a great market. They have expendable income. Once they love something, they keep coming back for more and more, and have boyfriends, parents and little brothers that get sucked in as casualties of war.

All leading back to more sales and repeat business from their happy and excited target market.

2. They keep delivering the goods
I did mention this is the third movie right? I don’t even know how many books they are up to yet, but I know there’s more. It’s a great recurring revenue model. If you liked the movie but never read the book, what do you do?

Go buy the book! That’s called an upsell. Buy one book, then you end up buying them all. Then what about the next movie? Yup! Gotta go to that too! And don’t forget about the awesome new t-shirt with Edward’s dreamy picture. Gotta have one of those too.

It’s all based around the upsell and continuity. It’s always easier to sell a happy customer the second time. Why not give them a whole catalog of items to pick from?

3. Most importantly, they have created Raving Fans
Anyone that follows the whole thing becomes a raving fan. They talk about it with their friends, they get giddy about what’s going to happen in the next movie.

I know of someone that had a party for the movie premiere at her business. Do you think she got more business just by piggy backing on their buzz? You bet!

They created a cult following. It’s huge! Wouldn’t it be great to do that with your customers? You can if you are willing to get these things in place. Get them excited. Build a following. Get them talking about you and your business.

That’s how you can grow your business in a “down economy” and really get your business to explode with your own arm of raving fans.

The gist is do you want to learn what I did each step of the way from the beginning so that you can follow my exact steps? This is a loaded question..

Most people will immediately go “Yes, yes, yes teach me every little step so that I may copy you and gain your success!”. But in this case the second half of the question is the most important. It goes:

“Or would you like me to teach you what I am doing now?”

Again a lot of people would respond “yes, sign me up”.

But they trick to the whole thing is that some of these guys have spent 10+ years getting to where they are. Now…where they are is great, but…do you want to spend 10+ years getting there?

No..

You want to skip to the front of the line. You want to get there (or at least significantly closer) NOW.

So you want them to teach you what they are doing today, yesterday maybe and definitely what they are going to be doing tomorrow.

This greatly shortens your learning curve.

3+ years ago I would say that I knew every little about marketing other than what I refer to as “common sense” things. My partner has been a student of marketing for 15 years and been in the “Marketing” arena just as long. I on the other hand had a “day job” and it was not in marketing.

I did do some marketing in that job, but it falls into again what I refer to as “common sense”. Since I have been in the full on marketing world I have discovered that my “common sense” stuff is not quite so common, but that is another story…

But when I did dive into marketing I did not look for books about specific tactics from 10 years ago. I did not look at business plans from 10 years ago. I looked for what the big boys are doing now, today, tomorrow.

I have also looked at the classics. But that is not what I am talking about here. Those classics are the tactics that worked 100 years ago and still work today. But I am talking about the down and dirty, nitty gritty how-to stuff.

I did not want to spend 2 years learning how to do video and the inner workings of a video camera and such. I wanted to create a video today and post it today and start getting traffic from it today.

So I found someone who was doing videos today and asked them how they did it. I bought courses that had videos on how to do the things I wanted to do.

Could I have found out on my own without spending any money? Sure…

Could I have researched, searched Google, read articles, watched videos, bought equipment, figured out that it didn’t do what I wanted and bought more equipment all on my own with no help? Sure….

But why would I do that when there are people out there that are doing what I want to do. There are people that have done the research, bought the wrong equipment, tested things out and found the best way to do that thing I want to do. And now they are willing to share their knowledge with me.

If I can “skip to the head of the line” why would I not do that? Again I call this “common sense”.

So I ask you…

Do you want to learn how someone got where they are today so you can follow in their footsteps…OR do you want to know what they are doing NOW so you can join them tomorrow…?

In my world business is a constant. Why is that?

Because I am an entrepreneur. Therefore the most correct and true answer to the question “What do you do?” is and always should be “I am a marketer.”

Even if I sell vitamin supplements or own a wonderful coffee and smoothie shop or am a nail tech. Even if one of those is “what”  I do, my position is marketer.

I understand that especially as an entrepreneur you are probably responsible for a lot of things. There are many hats that have to be worn in business and most times with entrepreneurs we feel like we have to wear most of the hats ourselves.

But wearing all of those other hats does no good if there is no business. And there is no business if we do not market.

AND…you never know when the stage will be set and you will have the opportunity to market your business. So if you think like the marketing director of a company where you LOVE your job and making that company a raging success is your primary goal, then you will be on the right track.

Here’s an example. I went to a movie last night. It was actually a set of 3 movies with the final one airing at 12midnight because it was a new release.

I attended this event with my daughter and the daughter of a friend. We had a wonderful time hanging out in the line, playing card games and talking with the people around us.

Once we entered the theater to take our seats we had the opportunity to meet some of the people behind and in front of us.

One of them made a comment “I should have brought business cards, I could have handed them out”. She was a massage therapist.

But notice the issue with her statement?

“I SHOULD have brought business cards.”

Now she was going to a movie marathon and if she was like us she had already been at the theater 4 hours before they let us in the theater at all.

The fun part was that both me and my daughter immediately pulled out business card holders fully loaded from our bags.

The woman laughed. Then she explained that she was actually OUT of business cards and needed to order more. So that is one reason she had not brought them with her.

We then had a very nice conversation with her and she told us that she has been a massage therapist for 4 years and works from her home. She loves her business. But notice I have not given you here name?

It is because, sadly enough…I do not remember it. And I do not have a card to reference.

My daughter ended up in a conversation with the people in front of us about books and such. In the end they asked her for her social media information so they could connect with her online. She wrote down her social media information and gave that and a business card to them.

Now did we go to a “networking event”? Were we at a business function? No.

But we were still prepared.

We were ready at a moments notice to put on our marketers hat and get to work. Even if it was only for 2 or 3 minutes before the opening scenes of the movie began.

Now 3-4 people in that sold out theater have my business information. Will they use it? I hope so. But they certainly wouldn’t if I had not been prepared to give it to them.

Are you missing out on business opportunities? Are you “turning off” and not being in business mode? How much possible business are you leaving on the table by not being prepared?

Most of the time, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we spend out waking thoughts on “How do I get more customers?”

This is the norm for most businesses. But, what we should be thinking about is how we can get our existing customers to come back and keep buying from us.

Remember that a customer should never be a one time sale. It should be a long term relationship with a customer being converted to a raving fan.

Think about the long term effect of this. Someone starts out as a suspect. Someone that might be interested in our products or services but we don’t know yet.

Then we filter them out to prospects. Those are the people that actually either need our products or more accurately, want our products and services. They are the people that might actually buy.

From there we convert prospects to customers and clients. The people that actually bought out stuff.

That’s where most businesses drop the ball. There are a couple of additional steps in the process that gets skipped a lot.

Those customers should be converted to raving fans. People that don’t just like what we sold them, but LOVE it. They love working with us. They are excited about the experience we gave them.

This is one of the most important steps. Why is that? Because that’s where they move to two more steps that will make them exponentially better for our business.

First, as raving fans they will come back. They will buy more often. They will buy the deluxe model. If you do it right, they will buy pretty much everything you offer them as long as it fits their needs. Some times even if it doesn’t. They are so happy with what you have already given them that they want to keep getting more. It’s almost like a drug to them.

This is where you want to be with your customers. They become loyal to the bone and it’s going to take a really big shift for them to even consider buying from anyone else. This is where you become a category of one. You have eliminated the competition because you gave them such a great experience that they won’t even talk to anyone else in the industry.

This is business bliss.

That brings me to the last step of the raving fan. They tell their friends about you. When you do a great job with your customers, they are more than happy to tell everyone they know about how amazing the service was. That leads to referrals and of course the cycle starts over with a brand new customer.

If you could get more customers that are pre-sold before they even get to know you, wouldn’t that be great? No advertising costs involved. Just plain and simple great customers that were happily referred to you by other great customer!

It’s a business made in heaven.

So, do you have a follow up system in place for your business now? If not, Follow my Ultimate Follow Up System process and build a system that will work for you for years and build rock solid relationships with your prospects and customers for life. Go here and see how The Ultimate Follow Up System can help you in your business.

Notice one word in that last statement… “Connect”.

See the thing with Social Media is that it’s all about connecting people. It’s about relationships.

This is why having a Social Media Marketing company run the show for your business is really a bad idea. Think about it.

Your prospects and customers want to have a connection with you
Your company. Your employees. Not a third party company that isn’t part of the company. They are paid to say what they THINK is the right thing. They are going to do research with facts and figures and a bunch of other numbers to impress you with what you think is really important stuff.

But, the connection you have with your customers and prospects is worth much more than a bunch of facts and figures.

You don’t have any clue what’s really going on. You need to keep your pulse on your business and it’s connection with your customers.

Your customers and prospects want to know YOU
I will tell you from personal experience that I get a lot more interaction with my connections in the Social Media world when I post actual life events and what’s going on in my world than I do if I post promotions, articles and just basic business stuff. You need to be real. Show your personality in your Social Media Marketing. Let people know that they are really connecting with someone that is a real person AND that cares.

There isn’t anything wrong with promoting your company as well, but be sure to make a connection as well. It needs to be real.

Your customers are smarter than you think
Today, people are smarter than we give them credit for when it comes to dealing with anything fake. They can see a scam a mile away and a fake “done for you” Social Media profile is just the same. If they don’t feel a connection they will see right through it and drop you in a heartbeat. Not only will they stop following you but they will also feel insulted and stop buying.

I’ve seen it from a ton of businesses where what I see online looks like a polished script written by a robot and not something that a real person thought about.

It’s a huge turn off and doesn’t make me feel at ease with them at all.

Social Media Marketing is a great tool to add to any business but you really have to pay attention to what you are doing and build a relationship with your followers. It’s fine to have someone help get you started but you need to be the one that really makes the connections with your followers. They want to hear from you, not some nameless, faceless geek with a computer on your behalf.

This is where most business owners miss the boat. They think that they can join their local Chamber of Commerce, go to a few meetings and pitch their products to the people in the room. Well this is the exact wrong thing to do. It’s about about building relationships. And… The game of networking has changed over the last few years.

With Social Media taking over the world and more people going online, there is a huge opportunity out there that most people don’t even think about. People are going to less and less live events and spending more time online to build their relationships and follow up.

Here’s 3 steps you can take to build better relationships with the prospects and connections you make and convert them from occasional acquaintances to raving fans.

Step One – Make it about them
Whether it’s a face to face meeting or someone you meet online via Social media, ask about them. Find out more about their business, their life and their thoughts and ideas.

This one is a classic and should be common sense but I can’t count the number of times that I have met someone and all they talk about is how wonderful their products and services are. I even have someone that I have known for years and even to this day, I can’t have a conversation with her without her telling me about how great her company and product is.

I know that it’s great. I do believe that, but after the 200th time of her telling me about it, I loose interest in not just the product but also in her. I don’t even like talking to her any more because I know the conversation will always end up with her talking about how wonderful the product it.

Now, I do believe that she is passionate about her product. I am about mine too. That’s fine, but you need to be able to talk about someone and something else as well or you will loose the conversation.

Step Two – Connect Online
Social Media is an awesome way that you can easily and quickly follow up with people you meet at a live event. Connect with them on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn. This way you have a way to easily keep in touch between face to face meetings.

Many times people actually prefer to connect online. They are used to it and spend a large amount of time connected to Facebook and the others.

This gives you a way to keep in touch and get to know each other even if you don’t get a chance to get together for coffee or pick up the phone.

Step Three – Be Consistent
It’s all about staying in touch and following up. If you don’t follow up you can’t build the relationship. That’s just a fact. People aren’t going to trust you, let alone give you money, if they don’t know you at all. Meeting one time in a room of 30 other people isn’t enough to build a relationship and build the trust needed to get people to want to do business with you.

That’s it. I know it sounds simple. Well… It is. You just need to follow those steps and you’ll build better and longer lasting business relationships that will not only bring in new clients but a flood of referrals as well from people that will happily vouch for you and your business.

Are you still confused on how you can use Social Media effectively in your business. I’ll show you how you can keep up with all your Social Media in 15 minutes a day and build new relationships and followers each and every day for your business. Check out http://MarketingMentorTraining.com/social-media-extreme

I have a theory…

It is a FREE service so I have relatively little room to complain. I regularly go through my accounts settings and make sure everything is still good. I also don’t post things that I don’t want the world to know.

But every so often a rumor spreads like wildfire through a dead forest. Generally this rumor is about Facebook and some evil thing they are now doing to wrong us all.

One such rumor is beginning to spread this weekend. So I looked into it. I ALWAYS take the time to investigate these “rumors” before I go posting them and adding another match to the fire.

So here is the rumor and my findings regarding it…

IMPORTANT:WARNING!!! FB IS MESSING AROUND AGAIN!!! Go to the top right of your screen, click Account & then click Edit Friends. Go to the left side of your screen and click Phonebook. Everyone’s phone # is being published. Please repost to let your friends know of this change in security, so that they can remove their phone numbers or change their privacy settings.

So if you follow the steps outlined in this “rumor” you will see a Phonebook. That part is true.

But…

This is not Facebook showing the world your private information. This is Facebook showing someone you are connected to the information you have told Facebook it is okay to show that person.

The last line about your friends checking their privacy settings is also accurate. You should check your individual privacy settings. But you should be doing this anyway. On a regular basis.

Say one day you are feeling particularly generous and you go into your profile and fill in your address and your home town and your cell phone number and your main email address etc. Then a month later you are wondering why random people are calling your cell phone so you ask one of them how they got that number and they tell you Facebook.

Facebook is not to blame. You may not remember why in a time of sharing you decided to post this information, but you did post it. Facebook did not look up this information and post it without your permission. They have multi-millions of users and to be honest they don’t have that kind of time.

They did however take the time to include privacy settings that make it so you can determine EXACTLY who can see each piece of information you post on your profile. Right down to the individual if you want.

The key is for you to take the time to learn how to set these things up. Take the time to learn what setting goes where and for what purpose.

If something is showing “to the world” on Facebook….I hate to break it to you, but it is user error.

I even went so far as to test this specific “rumor” myself. Here is what I did:

I logged out of my account and logged into my partner’s account (http://facebook.com/elydelaney). I went to his profile and added our company phone number in the Land Line/Main Line field. Then I saved it.

I then went over to his privacy settings and set that information’s privacy setting to “Me Only” (side note: if you are setting things to “me only” then why are you posting them on Facebook to begin with? Just curious, this never made any sense to me… Anyway that is another post entirely ). Again I saved the settings. Then I logged out of his account.

I then logged back into my account. And followed the instructions in the “rumor” to view my Phonebook.

Guess what?

No phone number. Facebook didn’t show me anything I wasn’t supposed to see. In fact his name isn’t even on the list because he is not “showing” any phone numbers at all.

So what is the point? My point is this: Please, Please, Please stop re-posting this kind of stuff. It doesn’t actually help anyone. Everyone is so focused on the bad evil thing that Facebook is supposedly doing that they forget their part in the situation.

If you want to “Help” your friends, instead of posting “rumors” post reminders to check their privacy settings once a month or every couple of months. This is helpful and useful advice.

And as always….if you don’t want people to see it….don’t post it on the internet…..

(Just my two cents.. )

Other Resources

• ALERT: Facebook Phonebook Is Not A Security Threat
• Facebook Privacy Settings
• Facebook Launches New Resource To Educate Users On Privacy

And, it’s not all about price either. Competition is becoming more and more fierce with more businesses popping up each and every day. But, price is actually not the main thing consumers are looking for.

As a business owner, you need to stand out from the crowd. You have to remind your customers and educate your prospects as to why you are the best choice for them.

So how do you do this?

Start off by educating them. Give them a ton of help. Make them feel at ease. Make sure that there is no doubt in their minds that you know what you are doing and are the most knowledgeable.

I’m not talking about bragging about your certifications or degrees. I’m talking about sharing your knowledge with them. Give them suggestions. Help them out.

This not only lets them know that you are the real thing and know your stuff, but also makes them feel more comfortable with you because you are willing to share and help them.

Even if they don’t get all of it or remember most of it, they will remember that you tried to educate them and make them feel at ease in their decision to use you as their provider.

By providing a free report, informational blog posts, video training, etc, you will stand out from most of the competition.

Funny thing… Most businesses are afraid to give too much away because they think that their prospects won’t buy if they do. Well, I’m here to tell you that is a very negative way to look at things.

Good prospects will see the value in the stuff you share with them and it will establish you as the expert. You become an authority in the industry just by sharing out more than everyone else.

Besides, if you are giving great stuff away, people are more likely to curious about what your paid stuff will be like. Amaze them with what you share with them and they will be hot to buy what you didn’t share.

Next, keep it coming!
People want a conversation. They want to know that you are still there after they gave you their hard earned cash.

Keep sharing with them. Tell them how they can use your product more effectively. How they can take care of it so it will last longer? Just keep in touch with them. Let them know you are still there after the sale. Just that one alone will not only give them more comfort in the fact that you are still there for them but also keeps your name in front of them in case they need more products from you in the future.

Simple email newsletters, blog updates, Facebook posts and even the old fashion printed newsletter will go a long way to keeping them involved with you and your company. Just because you keep in touch with them you will stand out from the competition because most of the others won’t even bother with that one step.

Most companies miss the boat on this one just because they are too lazy to follow up and look at a customer as a one time sale, not a lifetime partner.

By following these simple steps, you will establish yourself as the expert and build relationships for years to come with your prospects and customers.

You have to stand out from the crowd and let people know exactly why they should buy from you instead of the “other guy”.

It is a little site called Sprouter.com.

They launched as a private beta site almost a year ago. But then they opened to the public back in November 2009.

For a seasoned Twitter user it will look very similar since it has a few of the same qualities. Things like 140 character limits and hashtags are the same as Twitter.

There are a couple of small differences as well. One thing is that Sprouter has not yet been “discovered” by millions of people. Now you might think this is not a good thing.

But it can be a good thing if you think about it. Many people are simply overwhelmed by Twitter. The “Twitter Stream” is flowing at a million miles an hour and even if you are only following a few people you can quickly get overwhelmed by the speed at which it moves.

Sprouter.com on the other hand as of now is a quiet little site that still has enough traffic and accounts to keep you busy.

They also have an event feature that is built in and kind of cool. You can enter the name of your event and some details like location, description, date and a special hashtag then post it. People can see your event and choose to follow it to see what is going on or they can even RSVP right on Sprouter.com letting you know that they are planning to attend.

They encourage people to interact and ask questions of the Sprouter community. And as a member of the community they encourage you to help by answering questions that other members post.

Sprouter.com’s focus is the business community and they say in their about us section:

Sprouter facilitates networking and collaboration between entrepreneurs globally. Providing a platform for users to connect with other innovators, entrepreneurs can expand their networks to include fellow entrepreneurs and startups with similar interests and goals. By answering the question “What are you working on?” in 140 characters or less entrepreneurs can discover and join events in their local areas, start discussions and follow topics of relevance to their business.

Another plus to Sprouter.com not being flooded yet is that you may still find the address you want. Twitter has millions of users, multi-millions. This means that some people are having to be very creative with their Twitter “handle” in order to get something even remotely understandable.

With Sprouter having 10,000+ users the likelyhood that your desired account name is available is much more likely to be possible.

You can click the Everyone link on your profile page to see a stream of all members of Sprouter or click Following to only see the stream of the people you are following. You can also create Filters (Like lists on Twitter) so you can see only people you have put into that Filter.

One unique point on how Sprouter.com uses hashtags is that you can actually follow a hashtag so you can see everything that is going on within that tag.

So if you are looking for a new site to add to your marketing mix or if you are just looking for a site that is not as “noisy” as Twitter I highly recommend this little startup. I see it’s potential to do great things in the future of social media.

Are you on Sprouter.com yet? If so be sure to tell us your Sprouter address below so we can follow you…

While I do listen to them and follow their teachings and implement what I learn from them in my own business, I was resistant to this particular advise. And yet again, they are proving themselves to be right.

I resisted for many reasons…

• I can do it myself…
• I can do it right and someone else won’t…
• I don’t know how to explain it to someone else…
• It is easier to just do it myself instead of having to show someone else…
• Etc, etc, etc

When you are just starting out you tend to be more resistant to having someone else do things. Now don’t get me wrong, I like help as much as the next person. I like lawn people to take care of my lawn. I like someone to help me with filing (I HATE filing). I like it when I get help with the dishes or cleaning the house.

Notice a trend here…I did. Most of these things are household chores, not business things. Oh and I hate doing most of them myself.

Now in my business in the other hand, I LIKE doing those other things. You know…those tedious things that need to be done particularly to market my business. I like doing them.

• I like tinkering with the blog look and feel…
• I like posting videos all over the web…
• I like posting articles all over the web…
• I like converting article to powerpoints, to make videos….

So see I didn’t think I would like it to have someone else doing those things for me.

MAN WAS I WRONG!

It is WONDERFUL having someone else do these things for me.

But…here is the issue. I have no system.

Do you know how hard it is to train someone else on how to do something when you aren’t really sure how you do it yourself? I just do it. (Like Nike says ).

But now I have to stop and re-think everything. I have to analyze how each task gets done. I have to think about the steps and the order they need to be done in. where to start, what the end result should be, and each and every step in between.

NOW I Get it….

Those guys tried to warn me. They said “Create a system. Record screen capture videos outlining the system. Or write up step-by-step guides on how you want each task done. Do it now AS you start doing each thing.”

They said that if I did if to begin with, then later it would be done. Later when I came to my senses I think they meant…

They were not saying to do it myself. In fact they said I could do it myself all I wanted. But someday I might want help. Or maybe I would want to take a vacation and still have things done. Or maybe I would want my partner to do something for me because I didn’t feel well.

Whatever the reason….if there are no processes and systems then no one but me can do the things that need to be done.

And while some people feel this is the right thing to do in a JOB to make sure they are still needed..it is kind of silly in your own business. I mean who did I think was going to replace me? It is MY company for goodness sakes….

So….stop, think and systematize. Determine the starting point, the ending point and each step in the middle. Then record it (http://www.jingproject.com, http://www.screentoaster.com). Write it down. Whatever but create a system you can hand to someone else (anyone else).

Then go take a day off

Do you have systems in your business? How do you “record” them? Where do you store them? Do you post them somewhere so you can just send a link or do you have them on your computer somewhere? Please share your ideas, who knows you might inspire someone else….

But is that really going to make a customer choose you over the next site they click on?

Doubtful.

What makes an effective website is much more than that. It’s a site that talks to the visitor. It’s a site that really helps the site visitor not only make a decision but an EDUCATED decision knowing that you are not just there to sell them something. You have the solution to their problem.

If you want a site that is truly an effective marketing tool for your business, look at your website and see if it has the following aspects to it.

Is it customer focused?
Does it talk about how great you are and throws out a bunch of facts and figures or does it tell the visitor how you can solve their problem?

You need to focus on them and what they will get by choosing your company. What is the problem they have and how can you help them? What assurances do they have they they will get their problem resolved? What is the process involved? How is it that you really help them?

These are the things people are looking for at your website. Not a bunch of “me, me, me” statements about how great you are.

Do you talk to the visitor?
Nothing bores people more than a website that sounds like a bunch of fake corporate mumbo jumbo. People want to feel like they have a connection with the company they buy from. The days of the small guy sounding like the fortune 500 company are gone. People buy from who they know, like and trust.

That means people want to know who they are dealing with. They want to feel a connection.

Talk to them. Make them feel like they already know you. Be sure to add a little personality to your website. Show more about the culture around your company and make them feel like, as a customer, they are part of your family. Not just a number.

Is it easy for them to buy?
Nothing is more frustrating than going to a website, finding what you want and not being able to figure out how to buy.

I’ve made a decision. Now, what’s the next step?
Do I “Add To Cart”, “Call Today” or “Fill out the form below”?

Tell them what you want them to do. If you want them to call you, you need to be sure to add the phone number right there and in big bold numbers. Don’t hide it. Make it as obvious as possible. You don’t want to leave it to their imagination.

There is a great quote that I have always remembered related to marketing.

“The confused mind never buys”

You need to tell them exactly what to do. Don’t make them think about it. Don’t hide what the next step is. Get it out there big, bold and loud. Don’t leave any room for question.

So many business owners are afraid to ask for the sale. If you want someone to buy, you have to tell them what the next step is. Don’t be afraid to do this. Make it a no brainer for them.

So, by just checking these basic points against your own website, you can see how a few simple changes can make a big difference to how effective your website is as a marketing tool for your business. Don’t just let your website become a static boring online brochure and make it as effective as possible. By making these few adjustments your prospects will know that they made the right choice and your bank account will love you for it.

Tired of that stubborn web guy that charges you a fortune for every word you want to update? Whether you are just getting started on your first website or want your website to be an effective 24/7 lad generation machine for your business, check out http://YourWebsiteStartsHere.com and claim your free training videos and learn how to make your website an income stream for your business and not just another expense!

Are you looking for more ways to grow your online marketing presence? Have you started using social media yet? If you have, are you using it EFFECTIVELY? A great place to start is with Twitter. If you want to really take using Twitter for Business to the next level, find a ton of followers and use Twitter as an effective business marketing tool, download our free Twitter For Business Step By Step Guide where I’ll walk you through some great resources on where to find followers, build your list and make Twitter a great marketing tool without spending a dime!

Transcript:

• Episode 19 Driving Your Marketing: Followers That Care

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But one thing I hear over and over is…”Good Enough is Good Enough”.

What they mean when they say this is that no idea will ever do you any good if it is up in your head where no one can see it. And no idea in your head will make you money until you can get it out and get it produced.

But we tend to want it to be perfect.

We spend hours and hours and days and days and weeks and weeks and so on, making it “just right”. And that idea never actually makes us a dime because we could not get it “just right”.

Sometimes you have to throw together a website. Throw together the idea and post it.

Then you can go back and tweek it and make it “perfect”. But in the mean time it is out there. It is up and it is (hopefully) making you money.

I agree with this idea and try to practice it in my own business. We like to refer to ourselves as “recovering Perfectionists”. And as we talk to other people we are discovering that by no means are we alone.

But…here is the kicker…

It still has to be good enough.

What do I mean? I mean it still has to function. All of the links have to work. The data has to at least make sense. Some basic graphics are also a good idea.

In the title of this post I said “One Missed Detail Can Break the Bank”. Here is why this has come up.

I know someone who is participating in a rather large event over in Los Angeles. Star studded and the whole nine yards. And I received a message from her asking me if I would post out to my list (Twitter, Facebook, etc) about her event.

I am more than happy to help out people I know with promoting things that look worth while and possibly interesting to my list of connections. But I ALWAYS check it out first.

So I followed the link. And it took me to a basic page that didn’t really say much bout the event. Which is fine. It did say one thing that was of interest and that was that tickets and some sponsorship opportunities were available.

Now I say this is interesting because it made me curious enough to click on the link it gave to get more information.

And this is where I discovered the issue….

The link worked. It took me to an event page on a site called Event Bright. If you are not familiar with this site is is a place where you can put your event and actually sell tickets right from the site.

And this was all good accept for one tiny detail…

The page said that I had to have a password to access the information….huh?

The text on the page told me I was in the right spot. But that this event was password protected. So not only could I not see the pricing. But I also could not register, pay, give them money, you know all of those things that tend to be the goal when you are selling tickets to an event.

Oops!

I quickly emailed her and I got a notice back thanking me for letting her know. A few minutes later I got a note from her saying it had been fixed. Then in a third message she said “Maybe that is why on one was signing up lol”

Now her event is still a bit away, so she has time to promote it and I am sure she will do very well. But this is definitely a case of “One Missed Detail Can Break the Bank”. This particular detail meant the bank stayed empty…

So while “good enough is good enough” is a very valuable mantra to remember be sure it IS “good enough” before you blast it out to 5000 of your closest “followers”

Well, I have to tell you something. You’re right!

Sort of…

You see, there are some people that email me every couple of days. I signed up for something they had or maybe even bought their product. Here is the thing. Many of them, I don’t have any problem with them emailing me that much.

There are times where I even send out 4 or 5 emails to my list in a single week.

Rarely do I get anyone complaining about it. The funny thing is that people that complain are usually the people that never bought a single thing from us. So, do I welcome those guys to leave? Sure. It’s not hurting me at all.

As a matter of fact, usually I get a ton of great responses from people that loved getting my emails and that always talk about what I sent out.

So, do you want to know how to do that? It’s actually quite simple.

Give them something useful that they will like to read.

That’s it. It’s not really complicated.

Here’s how you do it.

First off, make sure that if you are sending your prospects and clients an email that you are giving them something useful.

Your latest discount on tube socks isn’t usually going to be that interesting to them. How often do we really need to buy those?

Make sure that every email that you send have great content. Give them something meaty to read.

People like to read about your latest product line if they are in the market for your product, but what about the rest of the time? Do they really care? Not one bit.

So you need to space it out with other great information that they will not only find useful but also entertaining to read. Which brings me to my second point.

Be educational.
The more you share, the more they will care. Try to be educational and informative. Give them tips, tricks and ideas related to your industry. Make it good.

Even when I send an email that is promoting a product I have, I always try to base the promotion around a great educational tip or suggestion. I try to teach my readers something that they can use. Even if they don’t buy the product.

Why do I do that? Because it helps build the relationship. It’s pretty simple. I don’t hide that I am selling something. Some times I even tell them in the first line. But, if they take the time to read the email, I usually surround the promotion with a great tidbit of marketing advice that they can use no matter what.

So they don’t buy this time. That doesn’t mean that they won’t buy in the future or that they won’t forward it to a friend. It shows them that I am not just about the sale. I’m here to help.

Plus, just by doing this, they barely even notice that I am selling or promoting something. They still click the link and check out the promotion. But just because I didn’t try to hard sell them on the email, they are still interested and I have build the relationship with them.

If you give your audience great information and share your knowledge to help them out, they will not only get used to more emails from you but learn to expect it and even miss it if they don’t get an email from you.

You just have to keep them interested in what you have to say.

Like this article and want to learn more? Discover The Top 10 Mistakes That Most Businesses Make When Using Email Marketing & How You Can Avoid Them. I’ll show you how to get your emails opened and keep them out of the junk folder. Claim Your FREE Report today and get your emails opened and read!

So of course now the world is trying to figure out how to use it for marketing.

I will be honest, this is not something I have looked into much. Not as a marketing tool. I text. I have a teenager so of course I text. And I have done the things where you text a certain word to a certain number to vote at a sports game or to get a coupon for something.

But I am starting to see more and more people talk about using text messaging as a way to market their business.

The first time I ever experienced true useful texting in a business environment was at a conference here in Arizona. When we got there they asked everyone to “register”. It wasn’t required, but it was talked about so much all morning that you kind of felt left out if you didn’t.

I figured, why not.

But I thought how they used it was actually pretty cool.

A few minutes before each session started back up they would text you to let you know. A the end of short breaks and at the end of lunch.

And they have a vendors area at this event. Throughout the weekend each vendor did a give away. To enter the giveaway you would text a specific code to the number. Then they would text you back when it was time for the drawing. You had to be present to win…

But you didn’t miss the drawings because they told you when they were having them.

And they didn’t have to interrupt the event to make these types of announcements. Only the interested people knew about it because they were the ones that had “opted-in” or entered the drawing in question.

Some of the speakers also used the system to send out addresses where you could go to download extra tools or free stuff.

I actually found it really useful. And like I said this was the first time I had ever seen text messaging used to this extent in a business setting.

Now the contact management system that we use in our business has teamed up with another provider and they have integrated text messaging technology into the system. So I can set up my followup campaigns to not only include emails but also text messages.

But I am still not convinced….

I understand that in other countries texting is how they survive. And it is getting closer to that here in the US.

I also like the way that they used text messaging in that specific setting during the conference.

But I have to admit that I might get annoyed if I was still receiving text messages from the speakers now that it is 4 months later.

So I pose the question to you…

What do you think of text messaging as a marketing tool? Have you seen a good use of it that you found to be helpful in that situation? Would you “opt-in” to receive text notices about blog updates or newsletters being available? In what situation can you imagine text messaging being helpful to you from a marketing standpoint Incoming or outgoing)?

Please share your thoughts…really…I want to know….

Well guess what? The conversation is happening whether you want to be involved or not. And, it’s stronger than you might expect.

In today’s world, the customer has the power. As a business owner, you are NOT in control. People will spread ideas and opinions about your business faster than you can imagine. That’s called Viral Marketing. And you better believe that they will spread it. Good or bad.

So how do you work with Social Media and keep your PR under control? We’re going to go through a few things that you should do in order to make the best of the tools that are out there.

Accept that it’s not going away.
Yes, I know some people want to hide under a rock and hope that the whole “Fad” of social media will go away. Well, its not going to. As a matter of fact, its going to become less of a fad and to most it will just be a way of life. People are conversational creatures. They feed off of communicating. That is why Social Media has such appeal to the mass populous.

You just have to accept that it isn’t going to go away and start being part of it. Just like the days of not having a business website are all but gone, not having a Facebook page are also going to be the downfall of running a business.

Now I know businesses that still don’t have a website. Some even do fairly well without one. But, most aren’t that lucky. I even know of businesses that have lost million dollar deals just because they didn’t have a web presence. People don’t want you to send them a brochure. They want to check out your website.

Simple as that.

Be Active
You can’t just sign up for a Facebook or Twitter account and expect it to run itself. You have to be proactive. You have to actually post things. Share useful information. Promote it to your customers and prospects. It’s all about relationships. You have to actually connect with people. Ask questions. Answer other people’s questions. Share ideas. And thank people for being part of your community.

You have to build a tribe of raving fans. People have to feel that they can connect with you and that you are a real person that cares, not just another faceless corporation.

Give people a reason to like you. It’s all about liking and trusting you.

Be PROactive!
If you do get negative press or someone does say negative things about your company, be proactive. You have to make an effort.

Now we all get customers that are just unreasonable and there is no pleasing them. There are people like that out there. That is part of doing business. But, if you have publicly tried to work with that customer and have done all that you can, if you are proactive online and share that with others, people will see right through the negative people like that. They will see that you tried to fix the issue and that you are an honest and willing person or company.

They will love you for it. You’ll more likely get a stronger following because of it.

People want honesty and want to be heard. In today’s world, they not only have a voice but they have a very loud voice. Do you want to be on the other end of the megaphone or would you rather be right there with them with your loyal following waiting to hear every word you have to say?

New to Social Media and don’t know where to start? Learn how to use Twitter as an effective business marketing tool, download my free Twitter For Business Step-By-Step Guide where I’ll walk you through some great resources on where to find followers, build your list and make Twitter a great marketing tool without spending a dime!

Most over think it and end up trying to write a short novella instead of an email.

Writing follow up emails should be something that you can do quickly and easily. The best thing is that once you have a few written, you can use those as templates for other emails in the future. Many times you are writing pretty much the same information over and over. Why not just re-use the basics of one good email and then adjust it for other emails in the future.

Here’s three tips to make writing follow up email easier and faster for any business.

Write like a conversation
No one wants to read a bio about how many years your company has been in business or how many products you have. They want to get to know the person they are communicating with. Make it conversational.

Think about the last time you sat to write an email to a friend or family member. It most likely went really fast and you didn’t have any problem typing up everything you wanted to say.

Think of the person you are emailing like a friend that you are sitting in front of over a cup of coffee.

You can still be professional yet make your email more personal. Make a real connection with the person. It will go much faster and the person reading it will enjoy reading it much more. Nothing bores people more than just reading how wonderful someone’s business it.

Keep it short
Remember the purpose of an email is to build the relationship and usually to get them to click a link to your website. Don’t try to fit every little detail in to the email. Give them the information they need to get them interested and then give them a link to check out the full details on your website.

I know that this is personally a hard one for me. I like to give a lot of details. Resist the urge to give too much in the email. Remember that many people are reading their email on their smart phone. They don’t want to spend 10 minutes just trying to read one email.

Don’t make it complicated
Adding a bunch of photos, attaching PDF documents, etc just slows down the process. Don’t get too fancy with it. Remember, it’s an email, not a brochure. I can’t count the times that I have received emails from people that you can tell they spent a ton of time putting together to make it look really fancy. I skipped most of it and just read what it said.

Most of the time, when it comes to email, people just want to know what it says. They don’t care about the pretty pictures or fancy layout. Just give them the meat.

Remember, if you are following up with a prospect, client or someone that you just met, they want to know the details. That’s what is important for them, not making it too complicated. Don’t over do it. Just make it conversational and get them interested in what you have to say, not how pretty it is.

Over the last couple of years, one more thing has made a huge shift… Branding.

When I was first taught about branding, it was all about your logo, the fonts you used, the colors in your marketing pieces, etc. It was very much about corporate branding. It’s all about the company and having this professional image.

That’s all fine and well, but over the last few years, we have shifted from corporate branding to “personal branding” or the art of branding your own image over a company.

This is a huge shift. As small business owners, we were supposed to get an 800 number, have a professional voice answer our phones, and make everything we did sound like a big company so we could make believe we were a Fortune 500 company. Even if our big “corporation” was just one guy in shorts and flip-flops running the show.

But now things have changed…. Personal Branding is now mainstream.

So what is personal branding?

It’s about you building your own brand, not focusing on the company.

Think about it. Do we really trust big companies any more? Not really. We want a connection with someone. With the rush of Internet TV, Social Media and the ever growing ease of everyone being their own star, it’s easier than ever to create your own brand that can easily overpower any expensive logo out there.

People want to connect. They want to feel like they know the person they are working with. Remember, people buy from who they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. You can’t know a company. You can know a person in the company though. That’s why personal branding has become so big over the last few years.

The goal is to build your own branding. What is it that makes YOU stand out from everyone else? Not your company. It’s going to be your personality. Your style. Your voice. That’s what is going to make you really stand out.

THAT is how you can really make an impact and grow your sales.

What can you do to let people get to know you? How are YOU different? That’s what you want to be thinking about.

Is it your accent? Is it your personality? Your wit? Your fashion sense? Or simply how you help those around you? Those are the things people will remember.

It doesn’t matter if you are the owner of a billion dollar company or a sales rep for a small family owned copy shop, you need to be developing your own branding that people will remember for ages and keep your name on the top of their minds.

You get told to write a blog post, post it to your blog, submit it to Ezine Articles, create a video and submit that to YouTube, convert it to a Powerpoint and submit THAT to SlideShare. Then you need to share ALL of it to all the social media outlets.

And that is just the tip of the iceburg…

But every time you hear these things you think the same thing. I know you do, because I think the same thing too…

“I don’t have time for all of that! I have WORK to do!”

I understand completely. After all, someone has to actually do the work. Someone has to help all the customers that you get from all this marketing effort you are putting in.

Well there is a new tool available that will help save you time and still re-purpose your content.

It is a WordPress plugin that Ezine Articles has developed. And (the best part..) it is even free.

If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog site you can install this plugin. It will not work with WordPress.com because they won’t let you upload plugins to their hosted version.

So why is this plugin so great?

Because you are already logging into your blog to post articles (right…?). Normally you have to login to your blog and post the article, add your bells and whistles and publish it. Then you have to go over to EzineArticles.com and login and post it again. Choose a category, add the resource box, enter the keywords, all again for the second time.

But with this plugin you only do it once. You only log in once.

It links in to the EzineArticles.com account you already have. It lets you pick a category, enter keywords, and even choose one of your pre-done Ezine Articles Resource Boxes. Or it will let you do a custom one for that specific article. Then you can even validate the article right there to see if it passes their basic test. Then you click the submit button and it is posted to EzineArticles.com for them to review, just like if you were going to go and login and post it separately.

Now…you finish adding in your blog bells and whistles and click the publish button on the blog.

And now you have posted to your blog AND to EzineArticles.com and only spent a minute or two extra over how long it would have taken you to post that article to your blog.

Now you have done 2 things to market your business today and you can happily move on to the rest of your To-Do list for the day.

This plugin might only save you 10 minutes (if you are really quick on other sites), but that is 10 minutes each time you post a blog post/article. If you post everyday like you do (right…?) that is 60 hours a year!

One little free plugin saving you 10 minutes each day earns you 60 hours a year in time saved. AND you are posting to two places at once.

What could be better than that?

But these sites have already become so popular that other services are starting to come online that make these sites even more attractive to their users. And these new options help ensure that the location based social network is now here to stay.

One such new service is a site called Topguest. It is brand new. In fact they had full blown “launch” party just over a week ago.

Now they are just launching so they are still sort of in “beta” but I can definitely see them expanding and exploding very quickly.

So what do they do?

You register for an account with them (they link to your Facebook or Twitter). Then you link your location based service of choice (Foursquare, Gowalla, etc).

And you can now earn “points” each time you check in.

Points?

Points as in reward points. Right now they are only linked to one Hotel chain and that is “The Standard”. So basically each time you check in on your chosen app in one of their hotels or any of the vendors such as the restaurants inside of each location you earn additional points towards free stays.

Again right now they are only linked to the one system.

But they are in talks with Delta to become linked to the Delta Sky Miles program. And they are in talks with many other reward points programs as well.

So basically you link your accounts together under them. Then you keep doing what you are already doing by checking in at your destinations. And you earn offline rewards points for cool things like hotel stays and other rewards that these programs offer.

Now this is just one service. There are others that are starting to pop-up all over the internet.

The entrepreneurs of the world are brainstorming ways to join in the fun with these services and find a way they can make them even better.

So this trend is bound to continue.

What do you think of these types of add-on services? Are there add-on services you use in connection with your current social media accounts to make them more useful to you? Or do you think these services are silly and a waste of time? Share your thoughts below…

“Why didn’t my old web guy tell me about that?”

Well, it’s because most web designers are not marketers. They know the programs that make your website, brochure or business card look great. They are very creative. But, most of them have never learned marketing, copywriting or the power of persuasive marketing.

Honestly, most don’t even care about it. They just want it to look great.

I know, I was one of them. The difference was I wanted to expand and grow my business so I started learning from the best marketing gurus out there.

So how can you work with a designer if you don’t quite see eye to eye on things? You have to give them direction. You need to take control and make sure that your website not only looks good but is also as effective as possible.

Here’s three tips that will help you both stay on track and get you both pretty design AND a marketing tool that will work for you 24/7.

Copy Is King

Don’t go for the fluffy corporate boring stuff. Keep it personal. Talk to your site visitors and make them feel at ease. Don’t just brag about how cool you are with all your awards and certification.

If you can write, I highly suggest writing your own copy text. This gives it all your own voice. Add your own personality to it. You can easily build a great relationship with someone without even actually meeting them if you can write it with the right voice.

If you can’t write, be sure to work closely with your copywriter to make sure they write with your voice. You need to add the personality to it.

Don’t let them keep you hostage

Make sure you have a content management system with your website. You need to be able to make simple text edits yourself without the need to go back to them every time you want to make a change.

This will save you money but more importantly, keep you from having to wait to fit in their schedule.

If you want to add a special to the website, you shouldn’t have to wait a week to get it up there.

Keep it customer focused

What problems do your visitors have? How can you help? What solution do you offer?

Remember to keep this in front of your designer at all times. This is the most important part of your website. Not the pretty pictures.

You need to talk this through with them. Make sure they understand up front what you want. You will quickly find the difference between a good designer and a great designer. Good designers might argue with you about what to do. A great designer will keep your focus in mind while making your website look like a piece of fine art.

And with this, you can win on both sides.

In fact it is widely agreed on that it will only explode from here and we are still seeing “the beginning”.

Social media will be one of those thing that we will all look back on and tell our grandchildren “we remember a time before ______ even existed”. To them this will cause giggles and proof of just how “old” we really are.

So the question remains, are you where your customers are?

I hear you saying “Yes, I am on Twitter, LinkedIn and I set up my Facebook pages.”

But there is more to today’s social media sites that Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I know for some this is new information, but trust me it’s true.

There is in fact an emerging type of social media that brick and morter business people should be VERY aware of. And also those people out there that host events where (hopefully) large groups of people gather.

These services so far are referred to as Location Based Social Media. And believe it or not there are more of them out there than you might think.

So why should you care?

You don’t want another goofy game to play or another app on your phone, you say?

Well there is another way to think about these sites. You need to think about them from the destinations point of view.

What I mean is….is your business listed on all of these sites? Is your event listed on all of these sites?

Because if it isn’t you can bet that the people that use them will just add you in. And then you are stuck with whatever they enter in for you.

Also if you are not listed when someone goes to “check-in” then you are missing out on potential FREE advertising.

Here is why.

I personally like Foursquare. Now, if I go to check-in somewhere and they “don’t exist” I tend to take the time to add them. But if I don’t have time or I can’t figure out the actual address of the place I need to add, then I skip it. Now that business has missed the opportunity to have me (and who knows how many other people) advertise them to my “friends” and “followers”.

But if you take the time to add your business or event, you have control. You can make sure the information is right. You can make sure you are listed. Now you can take advantage of that free publicity.

Here are a few of the sites that are out there right now:

• Foursquare
• Gowalla
• Brightkite
• Yelp
• Loopt
• Whrrl

And more are coming online every day. Smart phone apps are created and people are signing on and checking-in.

Social Media is not going away, no matter how many people stick their heads in the sand and try to avoid it. At a certain point it becomes a “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” situation.

Do you want to be the one with your head in the sand or the one standing on top of the castle?

Are you where your customers are?

Well, its not as hard as you might think. One of the first things that I suggest is to brainstorm out ideas around your topic. You can do this on paper at first. I personally like to use mind mapping software to do this as it puts everything in one cluster of ideas I can go back to and review when I need to find ideas to talk about.

First, write down your main topic around your business. Then just start letting ideas fly out. Don’t over complicate it, just start writing out one or two word ideas of things people ask you about related to your business. Here is an example:

Let’s say you are a landscaper. Landscaping is your main topic.

Heres a few quick ideas to brainstorm:

Tree care
Shrub care
when to reseed
Why reseeding is important
How often to water
How to keep bugs off my flowers

Thats just a quick list done in about 5 seconds. Write down as many topics as possible like this. Give yourself about 20 minutes to do this. Ask your coworkers or partners to help with ideas. In no time at all you’ll have a dozen or so topics to write about ready to go.

Once you have this done. You can even batch write your articles. Just start writing about each of the topics you just came up with. Nothing says you can’t write a ton of articles all in one sitting. If you do this right, you could end up with 20 or 30 articles ready to be loaded in to your blog in a couple of hours.

If your creative juices are flowing, just keep writing. If you come up with a couple of things to say about one topic, go ahead and write 2-3 articles based around the same topic. Just keep writing as long as you have ideas coming out.

If you don’t have time to write everything at once, that’s ok. Now you have a list to come back to every time you need to think of a new blog topic to write about.

I like to have a running list of topics that I add to all the time. This way when I sit down to write and I don’t have something come up off the top of my head, I can always go back to my mind map and see what I have on the list. This way I don’t forget about any ideas I come up with and I always have a list of things I can talk about each and every time I need to write up a new blog post.

Most of us in today’s world are very busy. And it is easy to forget that things are our responsibility. Especially when it comes to certain aspects of our businesses.

If you look around and listen to anyone that has been in business for a long time you will see and hear people talking about outsourcing. Or depending on the business they will talk about hiring employees.

The reason for these employees or for outsourcing in general is to lighten the load of the person in charge. And I agree 100% with this practice.

We have 2 businesses and on one of them we have been outsourcing for quite some time and in the other one we have recently started outsourcing some of our daily tasks. It is wonderful. It is really nice to be working on something and magically have something else just…done.

But there are certain things that no matter what will always be my responsibility. Some of those things include:

• Setting up new accounts on various sites for various tasks (social networking, affiliate accounts, video marketing accounts, article directories, etc.)
• Keeping a record of ALL usernames and passwords.
• Checking ALL email accounts.
• Creating systems that outline exactly how I want things accomplished and what the results of each task should be.

These are just some of the basics.

Now some of these things you might be thinking, but I can (and do) outsource those things. And if you are lucky enough to find someone that you 100% trust with your business that is wonderful.

But I have my reasons for wanting the initial control over these tasks.

Let me give you an example:

Someone I am connected to on Facebook recently started posting all over on every venue he could to please “re-Follow” him because his fan page was going to be taken down later that day. Mind you the notices started going out in the morning the day the page was coming down.

All day he posted requests and asked his current fans to do the same.

Now this was not your average person. This is a recognized best selling author with 1000′s of fans.

So what had happened?

After much proding from his fans he finally admitted that his “former” business manager was pulling down the page. See that business manager, during a time of complete trust had created a Fan page on Facebook for this person. But…the person who originally creates the fan page ALWAYS has ultimate control over that page.

So it seems there was a falling out and…you can probably guess the rest.

So this famous person rushed into his own account and created a new fan page, gave his new manager a secondary admin control over it and frantically began trying to get his hard earned fans to move. But in the future no matter what happens with the new manager, he will always hold ultimate control over the new page.

Here is another example:

When you allow someone else to set up accounts for you, you need to make sure you have the login address, the email account associated with that account, the username and the password for the account.

I talk to may people each day who have their website suddenly go down. The reason…their domain name expired.

Yep it is that simple.

The issue is, they don’t know where their domain name is registered. Now to me this us just strange, but I guess it happens all the time.

Generally I believe the situation happens when someone hires a web design company and they have that company register the domain name. The company has access to all of the registration information, the site gets completed and life goes one. But then something happens.

Maybe you want to switch providers. Maybe that company doesn’t make it. Maybe you have a falling out with that company. And now…even if they would have been willing to give you the information, they didn’t keep track of it either.

They may not have seen it as their responsibility, after all it was your site, it is your domain name.

So by keeping track of ALL of the information regarding your online real estate and your desired procedures you are always prepared should something change and you need to move things, login somewhere and make changes, train a new employee or outsourcer, etc.

And, don’t get mad at those extra people that you interact with for your business if they don’t have the information you need.

It is YOUR business, so it is YOUR responsibility…

But, most people just build a basic website and expect to get a ton of people rushing to get to their website. Your website marketing is just like anything else you do for your business. You have to get it out there. Building a website and not driving traffic to it is like printing up 5000 brochures and leaving them in a closet. Both are pretty much useless.

It’s called the World Wide Web for a reason.

You need to create a web of pages that all drive traffic back to your main website, or to a specific page on that site.

There are hundreds of ways to do this. Your goal should be to keep adding in new streams of new traffic coming in all the time. It’s not a set it and forget it process.

Here’s a couple of things to get you on your way with this.

Submit your sites to the big search engines
Just putting the site up alone isn’t going to do much for you. You need to let the major engines know its there. They all have their own ways of doing this so we will use Google as an example. Just go to Google and search for “Google webmaster tool” They give you a ton of free help and tutorials to make your site better for their search engines. Including how to submit a site map to them for indexing.

This is just the tip of the iceberg but it’s a start. Start there and be sure to update your site regularly. This will help Google find you easier and they will index your site faster.

Start a Blog
Search engines feed off of fresh content. The more content, the more they like you. So the more you can post to your blog, the more search engine robots will come back looking for more to eat.

If your blog is on a separate site than your main website, then be sure to have a nice big button on your blog that will point them to your main website. It’s not a hard thing to do but I can’t believe how many people miss this one.

Organization Directories
Are you part of a Chamber of Commerce or other organization like a trade association? You need to make sure that your website is linked there as well. This will get you more exposure because of the people searching that directory and if that site ranks good in Google, you are likely to get a bump up from Google as well because of it.

Too many people believe what we call the “Field Of Dreams” myth… If I build it they will come. Well, it doesn’t quite work that way. With some online marketing basics under your belt you can get a ton more traffic to your site and make it an effective marketing tool for your business.

How effective is your website? Still working on getting your website up and running. Whether you have a site already or are considering getting it up and running, you need the right tools to make it as effective as possible. Check out this free video training and I will show you how you can make your website an effective marketing tool for your business. Claim your free training now at http://YourWebsiteStartsHere.com

Do you have a follow-up system in place in your business? Are you loosing prospects because they never hear from you again after you initially meet? Learn how you can set up a set it and forget it follow-up system to keep in touch with your prospects and turn them into raving fans with The Ultimate Prospect Follow-Up System Training program. Where you can watch and listen as I go through the process of setting up a follow-up system that will run automatically while you are working on other aspects of your business, and help you boost sales and grow your business 24 hours a day!

Transcript:

• Episode 18 Driving Your Marketing: Follow-up is Key

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• Episode 18 Driving Your Marketing: Follow-up is Key

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It is a pretty simple question. Yet for some reason many business people have no answer when they are asked.

Or one answer I hear pretty often is “well I did some marketing yesterday, but today I had to work on other stuff.” Okay….

I understand that the “real work” has to get done too. But what about tomorrow? If you do not market today, will you need to work tomorrow? Will you have any new customers to work with?

If you want a steady stream of new customers you need a steady stream of marketing. In fact if you want a steady stream of repeat business from your current customers, you need a steady stream of followup (commonly referred to as…..wait for it…..marketing.)

I know what you are thinking…

Cause I hear this one everyday too…

“But I don’t have time to market EVERYDAY!”

I am hear to tell you, yes you do. General daily marketing doesn’t have to be hard or time consuming.

There are things you can do each day to market your business. Things to get your name out to the world. Things to show your current and potential customers that YOU are the authority and the one to go to when they are ready to buy.

When you first start doing some of these things they may take you a bit, but as you become more comfortable you will get faster at them. Then before you know it you will be able to do them in under an hour a day. (Not all of them each day in one hour, but one of them each day in under an hour )

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Find a networking group in your area and attend one of their meetings
• Write a blog post and post it to your blog
• Add a link from a past blog post you wrote to your social media sites (If you don’t have things set up to do this automatically)
• Take a blog post you have written and turn it into an article and post it to EzineArticles.com
• Make a video of you talking about your blog post/article and post the video on YouTube
• Create a power point of the article so you have something to do presentations on to those local groups
• Contact a local authority in your industry and set up a time to interview them so you have information for a future post.

There. That is 7 ideas for things you can do in about an hour (once you get in the groove of doing them) to market your business each and every day.

Is there something else you can think of? Maybe you have something you already do each day to market your business? Be sure to share your daily marketing ideas below, maybe it will spark ideas in others

You’ll see that they tend to pick one thing that seems to work for them and they stick with it.

Now at face value, this might look like the right thing to do. Pick something that works and stick with it. But what happens when that one resource stops working? What do you do then?

Most of the time, they just sit there waiting for it to work again. They are stuck in their way of life and don’t try to make a change.

When you are marketing your business, you need to create multiple streams of marketing income for you business. Yes, if something is working, you should keep doing that thing. But you need to also look at other things to drive new customers in your door.

How can you leverage the things that already work?
What can you do to make what works already, better and cross promote it to another marketing venue?

As an example, lets say you usually keep in contact with customers via your email newsletter.

Start promoting your Facebook page and Twitter page as well. This gives you an additional way to keep your name in front of those existing customers at all times.

Get more interactive
How about doing a quick 5 minute video about one of your products.

Lets say you have a restaurant, you can do a featured dish of the week. Do an interview with a customer that always buys that dish. Upload the video to YouTube. You will get traffic from YouTube that way, which brings in more attention to your company, but you also can post it on your website and link to it in your newsletter. This gets them in the door and gives them a reason to come back.

Partner up
Do you know another business that might compliment what you do already? Talk to them about cross promoting each others services.

Carpet cleaners and dry cleaners do this all the time. It works like a charm.

Create your own little alliance of partners that help cross promote each other’s business.

Remember that in the game of business, you always need to be working towards change and adding new resources to your marketing mix. If you want to market you business effectively, you should never rely on just one place to get your customers from.

As you add more and more revenue sources to your business, you will become a lot more stable and will be able to adapt much faster if something does stop working.

Have you noticed it yet?

Go ahead, take a look around. In today’s world a lot of effort is being placed on how “bad” things are. You don’t dare watch the news if you have any desire to stay positive about your world since they will manage to kill that thought in a matter of minutes.

And many businesses are so focused on just keeping their doors open that they are certainly not doing this (the thing I noticed)…

But if you take a look at companies that are growing, exploding in fact, you might see it.

I will give you a hint…change…or maybe growth would be better….

Now I am not talking about growth in their dollars, although that is a side effect. I am talking about growth in other areas. Things like growth in their product line. Or growth in their services.

And as a result they are literally exploding!

Here is what I mean.

I learned yesterday that Foursquare is adding an online store to their offerings that will offer customers physical products. I predict that this will be a huge explosion for their service. They will get revenue from people who buy the items and advertising when those people show their friends and wear the items they purchased. Two points for them.

Now today I found out that Facebook has added yet another feature.

About a month ago Facebook broke free of it’s own website and spread across the internet like wildfire with their new like button that could be added to any website online.

Well today they have added a new feature on their own site that adds even more interactivity among current users. They are still in the process of rolling it out, but you can now “like” individual comments.

So for example say I make a post on my Facebook and a friend of mine adds a comment. All normal right?

Well now there is a small like link right under each individual comment. So someone else (or me for that matter) can click that to “like” or basically agree with what that new person has added to the conversation.

So they just added one more layer of conversation to the options that already existed.

Cool huh?

These are just 2 examples of the hundreds I am seeing all around me. Companies that are not letting their own definition of their business define who they are. They are not letting “current times” define them.

They are moving on, moving forward, and growing. They are not focused on bringing in business. They are focused on providing more…

• Providing more choices
• Providing more value
• Expanding beyond their own boundaries

By doing these things they are growing. And I am sure that their revenue will grow right along with them.

How are you growing? What are you offering your customers that they might need or want that you have been resistant to offering before?

Remember Growth = Growth…

We tend to get very wrapped up in our day to day lives. Marketing our products and services, frantically trying to bring new customers in to door or drive them to our websites.

But to you ever just stop? Sit back and think. Think about a different way to do things. Think about a new product from your service or a new service for your product?

Well this is exactly what Foursquare is doing…

Foursquare is an online service. A free online service at that. It is part of a newly emerging area of social media called location based social networking.

There is even a built in game aspect. Most people that I know who are using Foursquare did not start using it for the game. In fact I know people who avoid and even hide every single game on Facebook because they are not interested in the least. So they certainly didn’t join Foursquare to play a game.

But somehow Foursquare has managed to do something that Facebook couldn’t. They have included a game that you play no matter what, but it is not intrusive and you find yourself playing even it you don’t want to.

This game includes things like badges and earning the right to be called the “Mayor” of a place. Foursquare has also taken over the term “Swarm”. (The mayor is a person who checks in at one place more than anyone else and a swarm is when a large group of Foursquare users all check in at one location at about the same time)

So you are probably wondering how this is outside of the box?

Well the type of service alone is different. They took a couple of different services and kind of mooshed them together. A game kind of like Facebook, A stream kind of like Twitter, and location based lookup, throw in the ability to “become friends with someone” or “follow a brand” and you have Foursquare.

But now they are taking it one step further.

See as part of the game you earn these little graphics called badges. There is one for being a newbie, there is one after you check into 25 places that is called the Explorer badge. There is even one you get if you check in at 5 different airports.

It is fun to check in places and have these little unexpected announcements pop up saying you have won a new badge of some kind. There are even contests and plans on how to get certain badges, so people will go to certain venues just so they can earn a new badge.

But today I found out about a new outside of the box idea from Foursquare. They are taking those fun little badge graphics and opening a store. They will have pins, patches, t-shirts, stickers and more all available through their store.

In fact if you go to their headquarters they have some of this stuff now. They had it made up as fun things to give out to the tourists and at events and as their giveaways when they have tables at trade events. But the demand for these items has become so big that they stopped and thought…

Hmmm, we are a FREE online service. We enter into agreements with large brands to market and promote them (this is how we make money), but our users are asking us for more. Our users was badges and swag they can touch. Our users want to promote us and brag to their friends….

So…we will product a product to sell.

So they have figured out a way to turn their service (their free service at that) into a physical product.

And poof… they will instantly increase their revenue massively. They will go into new markets that have nothing to do with their online service.

Take the pins for example. I almost jumped for joy when I read that in the article from Forbes.com today. You see I have collected pins since I was 10. That is ____ years. I love them. I have them for everything. Now they are going to put out an entire set of new, never before seen pins! Yaaa!

There are people who collect stickers, t-shirts, pins, etc all over the world. These people may not even register for an account on the online social networking site, but you can bet they will want to add these new and popular items to their collections.

So…have you stopped and thought outside of your box lately…?

So is it really worth it all? It’s time consuming. Many people still don’t really get it. There’s new sites popping up almost every day. How do you keep track of it all? And most importantly, is it actually a good use of your time?

Well, here’s the deal. It is worth the time IF you do it right. Here’s a few tips that will make your social media marketing a great tool to add to your marketing mix.

Go in to it with the right mindset
Social Media isn’t about blasting out all your latest specials and promotions. Think about a carnival barker. They are loud and annoying and usually the only reason you end up playing is because your daughter or girlfriend wants that really cool over sized Scoobie Doo stuffed animal.

Not because you were actually convinced by the staff.

You need to think about Social Media Marketing the same way. You need to have a conversation. Not just bark out your latest wares. Share great information. Build relationships.

Everyone is NOT your target
The size of your list is not what is important. It’s your relationship with a responsive list. You want people that love what you have to say. Not people that are just on your list so they can say they have 10,000 friends!

Don’t use auto follower tools. Don’t try to game the system. Don’t connect with everyone you see just because they are on Facebook. Are they actually someone that is interested or at least might be interested in your product? Are they someone that you could build a good relationship with?

Those are the people to work on.

Limit your time
Some people spend hours every day on Social Media sites. Are they actually effective though? Most of the time, nope!

You need to limit your time. Set up an egg timer. Be as active as you can in a short amount of time. Are you going to miss some things? Yes! Could you do more? Of course. But, is it actually going to be that much more effective for you? Most likely not.

Automate As Much As Possible
Schedule out your posts. Nothing says that you have to be in front of  Twitter 24/7. Spend one hour once a week to build out a campaign of things you want to talk about throughout the week.

Fill in the rest of your time with direct connection, responses to people’s comments, etc. But get a bunch of stuff in a system that will allow you to focus on the more important stuff in your daily tasks.

Social Media is a great tool to help market your business but remember it is just a tool. Also keep in mind the first word “Social”. You can’t expect to get great results if you aren’t social and don’t build relationships with the people on your list.

Are you new to Social Media Marketing and want to know how to get started quickly and easily? Check out my free Quickstart Guide “Twitter For Business” and I’ll show you some great tools to help get you started with one of the easiest Social Media tools out there. Visit http://mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/twitterbusiness and download your free guide today!

But without all the little details none of those big pictures would amount to anything.

Think about it. Relatively speaking from our vantage point the stars are small. But without all of those small points of light up in the night sky it wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful.

During a wedding, which can take months to plan and make happen, little things like the rings and the happy tears of the bride are actually what makes it a wonderful event.

This is true in both life and in business.

When we are marketing our business there is usually a lot of talk about what we want the result to be. Why are we running this campaign? Why are we doing that particular mailing? What is the reason for the sale and what do we want to happen?

But without all of the little details nothing gets done.

And remembering the little details can make all the difference to help you make your big picture come together.

For example I know of a local coffee shop that specializes in the little details. Their big picture is they are a local business trying to get new customers in the door each day and and keep the ones that do come in coming back.

They do that with the little details. Things like only using bananas in their smoothies that are just ripe enough. To the point that once they are not “just right” they do not use them.

Things like putting a little drink umbrella in each smoothie.

Things like saying Aloha (hello in Hawaiian) to EVERY person that walks through the door and Mahalo (thank you in Hawaiian) to EVERY person as they leave. Whether they are a regular or someone who has never been through their doors before. Everyone is welcomed and greeted, everytime.

It feels like you are coming in to see friends, like you are welcome and invited in. This keeps people coming back time after time.

If you are holding a live event again you need to make sure you greet EVERYONE that comes in the door. It it is a large event, bring in extra friends or family to help if need be.

I attend a lot of workshops and seminars throughout the year. And there is a distinct difference between some of them. There is one person who makes it a point to look to the details. You always feel like you are “home” when you go. People welcome you. Hugs are normal. Candies on the tables and ice water is readily available.

There was another one that I attended just recently, which really brought home the difference.

It was quite a bit smaller that the other ones. It was held by someone in my local community. And by the end of the day all was good. But I was a bit concerned when we got started. When we first arrived people were already sitting down and when we walked in no one said anything (including the persentor, who was there). I noticed a clip board with a bunch of hand written information on it, that I determined was a sign in form. But there was nothing that told me that.

So we signed in and quietly went and found a seat. It was quiet as a library and no one was talking.

The next person who came in happened to notice that there was bags of “stuff” in a box by the clip board. They peaked in the bags and the presenter noticed and told them to go ahead and take one. That everyone should have one.

No one told us that…

So we got up and went over and got a bag of goodies. It turned out that it included the book for the days training.

Now once everything got started the training was very good. They provided lunch and everyone eventually relaxed enough to start talking and networking. But the initial entrance was very uncomfortable.

Something little like an assistant to greet people as they came in and help them get settled and maybe even introduce them to one or two of the other people already in the room would have made a world of difference in the feeling of the event. And therefore a difference in the feeling of success.

So while it is good to see “the big picture” don’t over look the little details. It’s the little details that make or break an event. And it is the little details in both life and business that make things great.

Most of the time, you hear these buzz words from big marketing and advertising agencies and your first thought is “branding” translates to “expensive”.

The truth is that branding is much more than expensive logos and letterhead yet much less at the same time.

First off, branding does not have to be expensive. It does not require an expensive logo or a market study to see what colors your target market will like better.

Its more about your persona. Your company should have its own persona. One that stands out. One that means something. A persona that stands out on it’s own.

You also have what we call personal branding. This is what I like to talk about the most.

The ability to create your own celebrity status in your industry and be remembered in your community and within your target customers.

Forget about the logo. Yes, you need one but don’t obsess about it. Think more about what you stand for.

• What is your personality?
• What are you giving out to the community?
• How do you help your prospects and customers?
• What is it that makes you stand out from the crowd?

When it comes to traditional branding, I like to keep it simple.

Pick a font. Pick a color. Stick with it. That’s it.

What you really should think more about is what REALLY makes you stand out from your competition.

Do you use fresh ingredients when everyone else uses canned stuff?

Do you show up in a “Men In Black” outfit when you are on a service call?

Are you the surfer guy that everyone loves and wants to be like?

What is it that makes you different from everyone else. That is branding.

Your personality in itself can be your brand. I know of one motivational speaker that is rude, blunt and really ticks off many of his listeners. But… 1. He is not someone that you will forget and 2. Those that do like him LOVE him. They are his own fanatics and they follow everything he does.

Think about it. What is it that will get you remembered? Your actions? How you talk? What you say? These are the things that build your brand much faster than a fancy logo and that special font you are so excited about.

Take a stand and do something different. Stick with it. Build a reputation that will last for years with your action.

Your logos, colors, etc all play a part in your branding but it goes way beyond that. If you want to really be remembered, you must do something worth remembering. It’s a lot easier and will cost you a lot less.

You know you met somewhere before but can’t remember who they are, where you met them or what they do.

I get that all the time.

I meet as many as 50 new people each and every week. Sometimes even more. As much as I try, I just can’t remember everyone.

It’s very awkward and makes it hard to start the conversation.

I know that many other people have the same problem as well.

You should make it as easy as possible for others to remember you and make the conversation as smooth as possible. So here’s a couple of tips that will make it easier for others to remember you when the situation comes up.

Wear a name badge
This is one of the cheapest ways tools you can get for your business and it makes a world of difference.
They will run you about $15 for a nice one that includes your company name, your name and most likely even a logo. And, they last for years.

Here’s how important this is. First off, make sure your name is large and easy to read. When you first walk up to someone, you want to make it easy for them to see your name right away. This will help refresh their memory. Even if they don’t remember your last meeting at least they can say your name. Don’t take offense to someone not remembering you name. Make it easy for them to read it so they can remember quickly.

Next, your company name and logo.
I love having my company logo on my name badge as well. If they don’t remember my name, chances are they will still remember my company name. That makes it much easier for them to recall our last meeting.

Plus, many people know my company name and reputation even if they have not met me before. This helps get the conversation going. I have a ton of people that I have met at an event that had never met me but were following our company on Facebook or had been to our website. They instantly get excited because they have something to talk about and it gets the conversation rolling much faster.

Third, Remind them when you first walk up to them.
Something like “Hey here! We met last time month at the Chamber mixer. Hows it going? Its been a while.”

If they then have your name on your name badge and you have reminded them of where they met you last, it will set the conversation at ease and help them remember who you are much easier.

It makes the rest of the conversation go much more smooth and you can re-connect better.

Remember that people have a ton of connections and are very busy in their worlds. It may take a bit for them to remember who you are. Don’t take it personally. Just help them out and you will make a much better connection with them and build the relationship.

Want to build better relationships with the people you meet and build a follow up system that will work for you for years to come? Check out The Ultimate Follow Up System where I’ll teach you how you can build an automated follow up system that will keep your name in front of your prospects and clients and build you as the go to resource for years on autopilot.

But I feel this is something that has to be said.

People need to think before they post on ANY social networking site.

Before you hit that update status button, you need to stop and read what you are about to post. You need to consider what your posting and how it will affect the world around you. How it might be taken and WHO might be seeing it.

Then if you have done all of that and you still see no issues, go ahead and post away.

However…

if you use that same social networking site to promote your business you will want to look one more time and REALLY think about it before you post some of your thoughts.

Consider the groups or the activities that you “like” and take a deep breath before you share that thought with the world.

I am all for being yourself. I am all for standing up for what you believe in and freedom of speech. I am all for being passionate about your causes and your feelings.

But I am also for respect. Respect of my fellow humans. Respect for the other people round me that I may be offending with my thoughtless comments. Respect for their families and their children that might see my comments and my thoughts and be hurt by my lack of respect for their loved one.

Almost weekly I hear people talk about how silly some social networking sites are and how they see them as a waste of time. Usually the statement “I don’t care if someone had peanut butter and jelly for lunch” is thrown around. everyone laughs and agrees. Those of us that are very active on social networking sites assure these people that you learn to tune some of that stuff out.

But that does not mean we do not see it. If you are joining groups about killing people or voicing things about how no one would care if someone were assassinated, people are going to notice. And they are going to form an opinion of you.

If you are using social networking to promote your business then unfortunately that opinion of you will also now be linked with your business.

If you are constantly posting negative comments about your kids, spouse, ex, life etc but them 30 minutes later post some motivational quote, you will not be believed.

Or how about the poll that circulates every so often about what sexual position you like best that then posts to your profile.

Maybe think about it before you make a rude comment about someone that implies they are an idiot because they are a certain religion. I have news for you, religion doesn’t make someone an idiot…being an idiot is not specific to one religion or one nationality for that matter.

Again I say you are welcome to your opinion. And you are welcome to voice it when and where you wish to. Those are the freedoms we enjoy in this great nation we call home (The United States of America). But….

A good rule of thumb that I like to go by is this…

If I was standing at the front of a room with a podium and a microphone and my 500+ Facebook friends live in the room with me (These people include my real live friends, my real live family, my business customers, my potential business customers and people I have never met before) and they were all quietly waiting for me to say what I had to say….would I say THAT? Would I read them the article I am linking to? Would I tell them the group I just joined? Would I tell them I agreed with the cause that I just “liked”?

If the answer is yes, then I post it. In a heartbeat.

If the answer is no then…..

Photo By Svilen Milev

Are you looking for more information on how to blog in your business? Have you started a blog but you’re not sure what to write about? Learn step by step tools to help you never run out of post ideas and how to write good posts quickly. Check out Business Blogging 101 where I’ll walk you through answers to some of the blogging questions I hear every day and show you how to grow your followers and fans with this easy to use business marketing tool.

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• Episode 17 Driving Your Marketing: The Power of Blogging

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You have great food and fair prices. So what should you do next?

Mailers. Coupons. Co-op advertising with the movie theater next door? Online advertising? There are 1000s of thing you can do to market your small business. But you don’t have the budget to do a lot of advertising so your choices become more limited.

How would you like to know of one of the easiest and most effective ways to market your small business? What if I told you that this idea is drop dead simple AND free to do? Would you start foaming at the mouth to know what it is?

Well, I’m going to give it to you. It’s about as easy as it comes.

It’s called being friendly!

I know that this one should be a given but from what I see in today’s world, it really needs to be mentioned again.

Here is a true story.

Not too long ago, friends and I went to a Pizza place to get together and talk shop. Six of us in all came in to this pizza place to hang out and have a good time.

From the moment we walked in the door, we were greeted with a great friendly person. He took our order with no problem even though a couple of us had a hard time deciding what we wanted. Someone even changed their mind and he had to change things on the register. From what he told us, the programming on the register was very old and it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

It didn’t phase him one bit though. He stayed friendly and made sure that everything was right.

Throughout the rest of the night, he came over a couple of times and made sure that everything was good. We ended up ordering a bunch more stuff than we had actually planned and went back up to the register 3 times total.

By the end of the night, we really felt we got to know this guy and knew he had gone out of his way to make our dinner great.

This seems all normal right? That’s the way it should be, right?

You would think!

But too many businesses don’t make the effort to give their customers that type of experience. They aren’t friendly. They don’t ask you if everything is going good. Many times, I feel like they just want to run me through the register and kick me out the door so they don’t have to actually work for my money at all.

This guy at the pizza place had the right idea.

If you want more business, be friendly. Ask your customers if there is anything else you can do for them. You never know, they may spend more money with you because of it.

That one thing alone made me talk to several other people already about how great the food is and how great the experience was. I know he will get more business because of my talking about the place. He didn’t have to spend money on advertising. He didn’t have to send out postcards or use door hangers. All he did was be friendly and make my experience a good one.

See, that’s how easy it is. If you want to get more customers in the door. Recruit a group of raving fans to talk about your business for you. Referrals are always the best types of customers to get. They can easily grow your business without you having to spend any money on hit or miss advertising. Once you get them in the door, get them to stay and tell all their friends!

If you are an entrepreneur you need to be. For a business owner, especially in today’s world, there is no such thing as turning it all off.

I have been at the grocery store shopping for milk and eggs and ended up trading business cards with the person in line with me. My partner has exchanged business cards with the guy handing him his coffee at the Starbucks Drive Thru window.

But I have also attended workshops and when talking to someone else that was attending this same event I asked them if they had a business card and they said “No I didn’t think to bring them since it is Saturday and I am not working today.”

That person missed an opportunity to market their business to me. Even though I had a pad of paper with me, I did not take the time to write down their information. I did not take the time to write down their web address so I could go look at what they had to offer later. But if I had been able to get a business card with that information I would have that information at my fingertips.

Also there is more to networking than just shoving a business card in someone’s hand. The first step is to actually talk to someone.

If you attend a live event do you go to the event, check in and go sit down in your seat and wait for the event to start?

This is what most people will do. They will check in and then go wait for the event to start. They will sit quietly in their seat and check their phone for new email. They will surf their Facebook using the app on their phone. Maybe they will talk to the person they came with quietly.

Today I was attending an event where everyone was just like this. Everyone quietly sat in their seat and waited for the event to start.

That is everyone accept one person.

One person in the room found their seat, put their stuff down to claim that seat and then walked over to the closest person and introduced herself.

She walked up shook hands and introduced herself. She then asked them about what they did and why they were at the event today.

She did this with EVERYONE in the room. At one point after she had met everyone that was currently in the room, she moved over by the door and greeted everyone new as they entered the room.

Now even in the face of this opportunity, no one else in the room took advantage of the opening she provided. They all talked to her. Everyone had what appeared to be a pleasant conversation with her. But as soon as she moved on to the next person they each went right back to sitting quietly waiting.

If you do not talk to the people around you how are you going to know who you are in the room with.

There is a thought process that says that every single person you need to know to make all of your dreams come true, no matter what they may be, is already connected to you in some way.

So if you have a goal in your business, there is a possibility that the person you need to meet to make that goal happen is sitting next to you in that conference you were sitting in this weekend. And if they are not the person, they may be friends with that person.

But you will never know because you didn’t say hello.

I hear people everyday in today’s world complain about the volume of work they have. They say they are not getting enough new customers or enough business. But they close their business at 5 each night and go home and relax and take weekends off and only have their business cards with them during office hours.

So my parting words to you are…

“If you want a different result you have to do something different…”

What are you doing today to market your business and change your future (and current) reality?

There are crafts and home repair project not to mention auto repair projects that you can learn to do yourself relatively easily if you put your mind to it.

But as you might notice if you look around a bit this is not a blog about auto repair. (In fact we outsource that little chore quite happily). This blog and our business in fact is about marketing.

All kinds of marketing, online and offline and everything in between as my partner is prone to saying. We gear our training towards small business and entrepreneurs with a bit more advanced stuff thrown in to keep things lively.

We essentially teach do-it-yourself marketing. But this isn’t even completely what I was talking about in the title of this post.

What I am talking about is actually having control of things yourself, especially in marketing your company. Sometimes we tend to take the easy way out when we are starting something new. If there is a click a button and it magically works 100% for free way to do something we are all right on board.

And let me tell those of you who do not know this that we DEFINITELY teach about free tools and automation. But sometimes there are things that you should not cut corners on.

This was brought to glaring reality this week by a little hiccup over at WordPress.com.

If you aren’t aware, WordPress.com is a 100% free version of WordPress blogging software that they host for you where you can have your own blog without spending a single dime. Simply fill in about 5 blanks and wa-la you have a blog.

This is wonderful….on the surface. (And it is better than having no blog at all…) Until they have a little hiccup in their programming, which you have absolutely no control over. And that is what happened this week.

Headlines all over the internet read “WordPress.com goes down and takes millions of blogs with it!”

For awhile yesterday millions of blogs ceased to exist all due to a small programming issue. Now when the dust settled all was restored to normal and it was only down for about an hour.

But a couple of lessons are to be learned from this little incident.

• Back up often, back up early and back up often.
  If something had happened and they were gone then all of those blogs, all of those hours of typing and uploading and making things just right would have been gone in a flash. And there isn’t a single thing that anyone would have been able to do about it.

• Consider a self-hosted blog.
  I understand that servers fail all the time and having your own self-hosted blog will not guarantee that you are safe. But…you have a lot more control of the situation and you can back things up a lot more thoroughly when they are 100% in your control. (As long as you also learn lesson #1 from above…)

Also by learning to create your blog, upload and install plugins, upload and install themes, back things up when needed (often) and everything else involved with having a blog then you have a better understanding of the entire process.

You will know what you are looking for when you are ready to hire someone to do these tasks for you. You will know how to ask for what you want in the correct words that get you the end result you are looking for. So now as a business person you are more confident in your ability to run your business.

You are prepared to ask for help or hire help, but you know that if push came to shove you could do-it-yourself and be no worse for the wear.

So, the moral of today’s story is…..Have you backed up your blog this week?

That in itself is pretty common. Most people do it if they can. why not? It adds credibility to what you sell.

If it is done ethically!

You have to be careful about when you are name dropping and there are a few strict ethical rules you should be following any time you are using someone else’s name.

There is a difference between someone you have met, seen at a seminar, even had coffee with at some time, and someone you can call a friend.

I’m seeing this more and more with people when they call me up to “get together to get to know each other” and it’s nothing more than a ploy to get me to listen to their sales pitch.

It’s bad enough that they aren’t being honest about their intentions, but what about when they start dropping names. “I’m a good friend of ______________ and they said I need to meet you!”

Ever heard that one before? I have! Just recently, a girl called me up with this line. She said she was a good friend of one of my best friends and wanted to meet me.

Come to find out, she wasn’t a friend. They met once over coffee ONCE.

Now, if I was interested in her products before (which I wasn’t) I surely wasn’t going to be once I found this out.

She didn’t “Twist the truth a bit”. She flat lied to get a meeting with me. See where I am going with this?

Had she said she had met my friend and that they told her she should meet me, it wouldn’t have been as bad. But the “Good friends” line just killed her credibility with me.

To make it worse, come to find out she had done with with many other people my friend knows.

Don’t make this marketing mistake in your business.

Name dropping or claiming to be friends in order to get an appointment or sale is just bad karma. You will get found out and it will kill your reputation.

Be honest. Be upfront. If you just met a person, don’t claim to be their friend. If you plan on pitching your wares, be honest and tell people that. Don’t go around telling people that you just want to get to know them or make a new friend if that is not your intention.

It won’t do you good, might hurt the reputation of the person you are talking about and will definitely ruin your own reputation very quickly.

It’s unethical and people will see though you’re scam very quickly. No matter how great your product is, it will not serve you in the end and you will loose more business than you would have ever got by just being honest up front.

I remember ages ago her book being one of the first books I ever bought on marketing myself when I was just really getting going and learning with my business.

Tonight, she brought up a term that I had never heard of before. I’ve been teaching the concept for years but she actually came up with a great name for it. Brand Blending.

This is the art of blending your brand online and offline. Taking your traditional offline brick and morter business and combining all of your offline efforts and taking them online to blend them together.

Here is an example she gave, This pizza place in Atlanta she has known for years used to have a great big sign with the company name on it. Nothing abnormal about that. But the great thing is that they have recently changed the sign. Instead of it being the name of the company, it now is a great big sign with their website address and a tag line under it that says “Follow us on Twitter”.

Have you noticed more and more companies doing this? Watch a sports channel for a few minutes, every few minutes of their latest programs, you will see a plug for their social media links.

They are blending their traditional marketing efforts (neon signs, printed ads, TV shows, etc) and encouraging people to connection online as well.

In today’s world you need that brand blending. Do you do networking at a local group? The next time you do your 30 second commercial, be sure to add your website address to it. Things like that are now remembered a lot more.

Like I said, I have been telling people to do this for ages but it is great to hear one of the greats talking about it. Plus she even coined a name for it.

So, get out there and blend!

See I just got back from a run thru a local drive thru to pick up dinner. When I left the house I had a list of items I was to order. Mine, my daughter’s, Ely’s and one extra (for the dogs ).

But then I got there. I looked at the menu and verified the items I needed to order and began placing my order with the nice girl over the speaker.

Sounds good so far right?

Well this is where the picture came in. There it was big and tasty looking on the end of the menu board. It took up almost one whole section of the menu and had a catchy name. But the name didn’t do it, it was that picture. Of course the final product won’t look like that…we all know it. But it didn’t matter.

The picture looked wonderful. So…you guessed it…I bought it. The special milkshake. And I have to admit, it is delicious.

But the key here was that they didn’t “sell” me a milkshake. They simply presented my with the option. They provided me with a bribe that made me WANT the offer. And this was done with a tasty looking picture of what I was going to get for my hard earned $2.50.

I see people post things for sale everyday. They have websites for their items, they post on eBay, they post on a barter network we participate in and 80% of the time they rely in words to sell their product.

When you are trying to sell a product or a service to someone always remember the old saying “A Picture is Worth 1000 Words”.

Now you might be thinking “But it was only $2.50?” And you are right I only spent $2.50, but how many other people around the country (it is a national chain after all) have spent that same $2.50 today, or yesterday or maybe tomorrow?

So go look at your products or services. Are you showing pictures of what exactly the customer will receive? Are they good solid pictures (maybe even professional) that truly showcase the product and what it will do for me?

If not maybe it is time to rethink that plan. After all today $2.50, tomorrow….

You have to become known as the expert in your industry and in your area. You need to be the go-to guy or girl in everything related to your industry.

So what is it that makes you an expert?

So many people I know are in business but they don’t view themselves as the expert. My first question for them is…

“So you want me to buy your product but you aren’t an expert? That doesn’t put my mind at ease and make me want to buy from you!”

So how do you become an expert? Simply by letting people know you are one.

If you are in business, chances are you know 90% more than most of the people out there. Guess what, those 90% are willing to pay you to educate them and solve their issues as long as you are the expert.

They need to trust that you know what you are doing.

You need to share with them how you can help them. What your process is and how it will solve their problem.

That is how you become an expert.

Here’s a couple of easy ways that you can quickly and easily become the expert in your area:

Blog about tips and tricks in your business.
You can share tips, tricks, ideas and even reviews of products with people. They will love the help and ideas. The more you share this type of information, the more they will see you as a trusted source and you will become the expert in their eyes.

When someone asks you a question, do a blog post explaining the answer. Then share that answer with your list. You can bet that if one person had the question others do also.

This builds great credibility for you.

Speak Up
Do presentations for your local networking groups, chambers, etc. many times these groups need speakers to educate their members and you can do this to help share your information. This alone has become a huge piece of how I have grown my own business. I am always looking for new groups that want me to come in and educate their ranks.

It’s all about education. I give them a ton of free stuff in order to help them with their businesses and let them know I am the expert. Many become customers of mine. Those that don’t usually at least refer others to me because they got so much already.

If you don’t think you are a public speaker, you need to give it a try. Start with a smaller group. You might do a workshop that is limited to 10 people so you can get your feet wet. Do enough of them and 100 people won’t even phase you.

This is a great way to get your name out there and build your reputation.

Ask For Testimonials
Using testimonials is a great way for other people to see you as the expert. They aren’t likely to believe you by just your own promotion. You need others to help you spread the word. You need raving fans to help spread the word as well.

Follow these simple steps and it’s a great way to get started as an expert in your area. Don’t let fear set in and think you are just like everyone else. You need to create your own personal branding and build your reputation as the go-to person in your industry. Following these simple steps will help you become the expert and grow your business.

Looking for more ways you can make your business and yourself stand out from the crowd? Check out the “Branding Your Business & YOU!” training program at http://MarketingMentorTraining.com/branding. I’ll show you step by step how you can create your own personal brand and become a category of one in your industry.