Yeah, you know, actually talking to people? Letting them know what you do. Looking to help when you can.

Just being a nice human.

Sometimes it’s just about the fundamentals. Getting back to basics. Making one sale and then another and then another, not “crushing your six-figure goals” but slowly getting there brick by brick.

Build a business and not some crazy thing with a ton of tech that you don’t even know how to work.

Sound radical?

Yeah, I know. But billions of dollars in business have been generated just like this for generations.

It’s how my Dad and my Grandad built their farm business (and other business interests.)

It’s called Main Street, and it’s how the economy’s used to work before the age of conglomerates and big-box retail took over.

It might not be as sexy as a Silicon Valley startup but chances are, you’re not a Silicon Valley startup.

You sell professional services.

And I’m going to help you sell more of them.

I call it – new school goes old school. You can call it good for business.

Don’t worry; it’s still online; it’s just a way to stack habits, create scripts, and develop a Simple Marketing Plan that brings you, clients.

So if you’re looking to level out your freelance income, if you sell graphics design, web design, writing, and even consulting, then this is for you.

Make it Easy for People to Give You Money

What’s a problem you solve for people?

Maybe you’re great at helping businesses connect the dots between content and sales.

You understand the difference between Top of Funnel 101-level material and the “ready to buy” mindset of those searching for comparisons and success stories so they can make the case for your solution to their boss.

But you need a way to package and sell it.

Make it easy to understand so your prospective clients immediately grasp your offer.

You can go analog with a pen and paper to ask yourself a few questions and spur your subconscious.

Grab a notebook, a pen, your favorite beverage, and a comfortable spot. I’m a fan of a comfy chair in a patch of sunlight.

Next, give yourself a “container” to simplify things.

Step 1: Create the “container.”

Can you sum up the current situation in three sentences or less? What’s the problem you want to solve? (Hint: this is what I ask prospects in our initial calls.)

It’s easy to ramble here or be overly broad like, “I want to make more sales.” But if you get serious about drilling down, you’ll find the gold.

For example, “I know businesses need help generating more leads with their content. Many don’t know what their top performing content is and don’t a logical process for collecting email addresses from it. Many of them are also missing important interlinking to help their visitors easily find the answers to their questions.”

Russell Brunson didn’t invent funnels, but he did invent the term “funnelhacking” and turn a traditional direct sales technique into a gazillion dollar empire. Aka, he created a “container,” making it easy for people to grasp his offer.

Step 2: Think about your prospective customers

• What problem does your offer solve? (e.g., Turn more hard-earned traffic into customers.)
• How important is it to your prospects that they solve it now? (Is it a “nice to have” or is it critical? Revenue is critical! Vanity metrics are not.)
• What do your prospects already know about your solution? (Are they looking for strategic help?)
• How can you bridge the gap between what they know and your offer? (Can you repackage it with a catchy name, e.g., “funnelhacking?”)

Step 3: Map the path to sale

Once you know you have a strong offer, it’s time to sell it.

If you already have an email list or a big social following, make an announcement! Show them how it works and can boost their revenue.

Write useful posts about the value of your offer. Go on podcasts/make videos, etc. The entire purpose of a business is to provide value, so the more you can share value, and make it easy to understand, the more you’ll sell.

Don’t worry if it doesn’t come together right away. There’s no magic button for human psychology. However, the more you understand your customers and how their desires/needs intersect with your skills, the more value you can provide.

Once you have that in place (or as you’re figuring it out, there’s nothing like real-time feedback!) start reaching out to potential customers.

You can start with your existing network and expand. Show them how you can help them by sharing case studies and helpful content. Start conversations in the DMs, and invite them to a call if they seem interested.

Build those sales (and relationships) with targeted content and outreach on a daily basis, and you’ll amaze yourself with what’s possible.

If you need help with your marketing plan (or SEO content), reach out. We have been recognized as one of the top Pennsylvania SEO Companies by DesignRush.

But they do.

Especially, if they haven’t become a patient of yours yet.

See, there are three primary states of mind before they become your customer and that’s what we’re calling the “the buying cycle.”

The 3 Stages of Becoming a Patient

1- Knowing your practice exists (this is known in marketing circles as “awareness.”)

2- Knowing your solution can help with their problem and considering your practice.

3- Choosing to make an appointment.

This is a simplified version first dreamed up by marketing legend Eugene Schwartz back in the 1960’s and it’s all based on psychology.

Let me explain.

Think back to the last computer you bought. You probably didn’t wake up in the morning and decide “today’s the day for buying a new computer!”

I know I sure didn’t.

Instead, you probably asked around for recommendations, read reviews online, browsed Amazon or another e-commerce site. You thought about, it was a considered decision. One that you came to in days, weeks, or maybe even months.

Here’s how that applies to you as a wellness service provider. Yes, you’re

Your potential client has started thinking about a solution to her problem. Maybe she has chronic neck pain and is seeking a natural source of pain relief. She may go to a local Facebook group and ask for a recommendation. She may google “natural pain relief solutions” and similar terms.

These are the habits of a person who is seeking for a solution to a problem.

If you have the solution, you want her to find you.

Preferably via both Google AND social media referrals.

Let’s say you keep up with your blog and have developed a good understanding of Blogging for SEO. You pop up in the search for “natural pain relief solutions in your city” and she likes what she reads. She visits your “About Page,” likes what she sees, and you’re recommended by others so she books an appointment.

The whole process takes anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks depending on how motivated she is to find a solution.

In both of these, you can see “the buying cycle” in action.

Awareness – She becomes aware there may be a solution for her neck pain. Then she becomes aware of your practice (because you’ve followed the best practices of online marketing).
Consideration – She reviews your site, asks for recommendations, probably looks at other websites too.
Decision – Books an appointment.

This is also why it’s so important to be found online in your community.

How Blogging Helps Wellness Providers Connect with Future Patients

Blogging is a good tactic for acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors, and other small practices because with a decent SEO strategy and consistent action, you can be known, build credibility, and get found by your potential patients.

One of my long-term clients is a chiropractor practice. I’ve been blogging for him for 6 years. As a result, his website traffic has doubled and he’s the “go to” chiropractor in his town.

One approach I use is to create a keyword strategy based on frequently asked questions and frequently searched for questions.

Here’s an example.

Google keyword planner tells me how many people search for topics like “pinched nerve” and “low back pain.” Armed with that information, I wrote blog posts that incorporate those terms – “Find low back pain relief with chiropractic care” and “What is a pinched nerve?”

It’s all about being helpful, relevant, and strategic.

People Google those terms, find his posts, see all of the other helpful content there, see his testimonials, and guess what? He’s now the chiropractor they think of. When they’re ready, he’s the first one who gets the call.

That’s the “buying cycle” in action. Want to find out more about the blogging for business? Over 650 people have taken my Business Blogging for Beginners class.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Every boutique hotel website has dozens of beautifully produced photographs to entice future visitors and help them imagine themselves there.

Yet, judging from the number of boutique hotel websites I see, many of you are unaware of another way your photos can help you make more bookings.

Via search.

Yes, every single one of your photographs can help more of your potential guests find you through a simple Google search and you may be missing out.

Let me explain.

You probably have a very big picture understanding of SEO (search engine optimization.) You know it exists, you know you need it to help your website get found online, and you may think it’s overly technical and there’s nothing you can do to improve your rankings.

On that last part, you’d be wrong.

See, there are many things you have control over when it comes to helping your boutique hotel website rank higher. None of them require coding or much in the way of tech skills.

I won’t cover all 10 elements of on-page optimization in this post, if you want to know more about keywords and metadata, you can read up on it here.

In this post, let’s focus on your photographs. Those beautifully presented photographs are only doing a small part of the work they could be doing to increase bookings.

The reason is, if you’re like a lot of the boutique hotel websites I see, is that you’re skipping two simple steps.

And it’s all in naming your images.

Apply These Two Simple Steps to Your Hotel Images and Get Found More Often

Applying strategic SEO to your hotel images is simple and easy. In fact, they’re so easy to do that you’ll wonder why you never knew this before. Plus, you can start seeing results within just a few weeks.

1. Name Your Images – 123.jpg will never help your would-be guests find you. Renaming your image as “Relax in our boutique hotel lobby with a delicious glass of wine” or even “boutique hotel lobby – New Orleans” will.

You’re probably familiar with the “images” portion of Google search in which you type something and click “images.” Images with descriptive names can then appear, images titled 123.jpg won’t.

Yes, it takes a few minutes to rename pictures when they’re uploaded to your computer, but it will pay off both in SEO value and your own in-house needs for keeping track.

When you upload the image to your site, you’ll want to fill out the “Alt” text. Here’s a screenshot to illustrate what I mean.

2. Fill Out the “Alt” Text – Ok, maybe this sounds a little geeky but if you can send an email you can do this. Depending on your CMS, it may look a little different but they all work essentially the same. Upload your named image to the photo library and a box will appear offering you the opportunity to name your image. Remember, a short description will be best.

If you want more detail, you can read up on alt descriptions here.

While I realize this might sound a bit daunting if you’ve never done it before, once you’ve done it a few times, it’ll be second nature.

And, I think you’ll agree, these are simple tweaks to the way you handle your photography to help you get the most value from it. It’s also a great example of all the details that make up SEO. You may be surprised at the difference you can make by applying the basics to your content. I’ve had clients go from obscurity on Google to triple the conversions within weeks after revamping their content according to SEO copywriting best practices.

The alt tag is just one example of the little tweaks can help your boutique hotel website rise to the top and get found by more guests. They can, quite literally, boost your revenue by thousands of dollars.

That’s just one of the best SEO practices for hotel marketing. If you want to know more, please contact me for your mini website audit.

Imagine answering your phone and it’s an ideal client. When you ask her how she found you, she says, “I read your blog post on handling bored dogs and I know my Max needs a mid-day walk.” How does that feel?

Great right?

Best part is, you wrote that post months ago and it’s still bringing in leads. That’s the kind of power blogging has in your business.

But you may feel like you don’t have the time or the knowhow to write a blog post. Or, the blank screen intimidates you and you can’t get started because you don’t know where to start.

If any of these describe you, fear not my pet sitting friends, this post will share tips and ideas for writing blog posts that will attract your ideal clients and book your schedule solid.

These are the same techniques I use to write blogs and content for hundreds of clients that bring them business. In fact, I’ve had clients whose websites jumped from page 20 to a top three placement on Google after we’ve worked together so yes, it works.

Beginner Blog Writing Tips for Pet Sitters

1- Choose a topic – This is where most non-writers or beginning writers stall. You want to write about puppies but you don’t think to narrow it down. Should you write about taking care of puppies? Housebreaking those puppies? Puppy proofing your home? Introducing them to other animals in the house? How to walk on a leash?

The answer is, choose one and write on that topic. Instead of thinking “puppies,” narrow it down to one topic such as “how to puppy proof your home for first-time puppy parents.” Do you see how that immediately gives you focus?

2- Outline – Now that you have a focus, you can outline what you want to cover so that you have structure. Outlining your topic keeps you focused and it’s a proven technique to save time and money. Why else would Hollywood spend outline every scene in a movie before they shoot?

Let’s look at an example.

Puppy proofing a home for first-time puppy parents is your topic

• What is puppy-proofing?
• Why puppy proof
• The problem with NOT puppy proofing
• Examples of puppy proofing (great opportunity to provide examples from your own experience.)
• Summary

That’s not so hard, is it? You’ve probably had similar conversations with lots of your clients. The only difference is you’re putting it down on paper (or the screen.)

You can even dictate this into your phone and then clean it up. The goal is to impart useful information to potential clients and get found on search engines.

Want more guidance on how to write a blog post or how to incorporate SEO best practices?

My Writing Process

Some people like to better understand the writing process from the perspective of a professional writer. I happen to know that legions of professional writers follow a similar process as the one I’m about to share with you so it can hurt for you to try it. ?

When I write, I tend to give myself 20 minutes to brain dump everything into outline form. I’m not trying to make it “pretty,” I’m not concerned about grammar or flow, my goal is to get it down. If I’m missing information, I’ll mark it with “xyz” so I know to come back later and fill it in.

Then, I’ll take a 5- minute break and take a first pass at editing. I’ll work on the flow, tighten up the sentences, find missing information. 20-30 minutes.

Then I usually do another task. Work on editing another blog post for example. That keeps me in the editing mode but gives my brain a break from the post I just drafted. Later, I’ll come back to the original post and go over it again.

When you give your brain a break from the task, you can return to it fresh and see gaps, typos, etc. far easier than if you try to go from first draft to complete product in one sitting.

Usually, I try to let my writing “marinate” overnight but an hour or two will also be useful.

Not so hard right? You’re the expert in animal care, your goal is to share useful information that shows your knowledge.

Best of all, when it comes to your marketing resources, blogging can “compound” over time. Just like a savings account grows on compound interest, each post will continue to live on your blog and can bring in leads for years to come.

If you’d like more guidance on how to blog or SEO for your blog, be sure to check out these classes.

America is a nation of pet lovers – and that’s great news for the thriving pet industry.

As of 2017, 68 percent of all households in the United States owned pets, and an estimated $69.36 billion was spent on them last year alone.

The competitive marketplace and the huge demand for pet products and services have led to a diverse and prosperous industry.

Pet companies now offer a wide range of products and services to increasingly savvy consumers, and new trends and categories are continuing to develop.

So, what can we expect to see more of in the coming months?

Let’s take a look at 4 pet industry trends that are gaining momentum as we enter the second quarter of 2018.

1) Transparency About Ingredients and Manufacturing Processes

Pet foods made with natural ingredients have become mainstream in recent years. In fact, sales in the category accounted for a 25 percent share of the total US pet food market in 2016.

But besides knowing what’s in their pet’s food, modern pet owners want to know where the ingredients are sourced from and how the foods are manufactured.

This has resulted in increased transparency from pet food companies about manufacturing processes, and a move towards educating consumers on the health benefits of ingredients and where they’re sourced from.

Expect the trend to continue this year as pet food companies strive to win the trust of discerning pet owners in a competitive marketplace.

2) Specialized and High-End Pet Services

Specialized pet services are more popular than ever thanks to the busy lives of modern pet owners. Services such as pet-sitting, grooming, and training are now commonplace in most urban areas, and the trend looks set to continue as demand increases.

High-end pet services such as holistic pet spas, pet behavioral consulting, and luxury pet hotels are proving a particularly popular sub-niche in the pet services category.

The trend for high-end pet services appears to be driven in part by millennial pet owners who treat their pets as part of the family – and don’t mind paying premium prices to pamper them.

3) Technology

Technology is having a huge impact on the pet industry as a whole. Companies that understand digital marketing and e-commerce are connecting with the new generation of millennial pet owners and winning their custom. As a result, companies that fail to embrace technology risk being left behind.

Pet companies are also developing a wide range of tech products and services to improve the lives of pet owners.

Expect an increase in tech products and services including interactive pet toys and feeders, wearable tracking and health monitoring devices, and software that connects pet owners with pet service providers.

4) Home-Delivered Pet Food

As the popularity of e-commerce increases, pet food companies are realizing the potential of home-delivered pet food. While most pet owners still buy their pet food from brick-and-mortar stores, 17% of dog owners and 14% of cat owners have purchased pet food online for home delivery in the past 12 months.

Pet food companies are responding to this trend by offering a wide selection of home-delivered pet food options, including customized meal plans and pre-made, fresh pet meals.

With the convenience of home delivery and pet food options to suit the preferences of every pet owner, it’s likely that home-delivered pet food will continue to gain popularity in 2018 and beyond.

After all, choosing a POS system that’s right for your retail operation can be confusing. There are a lot of options and you want to choose the best one for you. After all, the best POS system will make it a snap to run reports, check on inventory, and keep a finger on the pulse of your business.

However, if you choose the wrong one for your business, then you can lose precious time trying to make it “fit.” Better to assess your business prior to buying a POS system so you know you’re getting one with the features right for you.

Let’s take a look at some of the top features and how they help your business run smoother.

Top Features (and Benefits of POS Systems) for Retail

While at its core, a POS system eases your customer’s payment processes, it also does so much more. Today’s cloud-based POS systems will help you not only manage customer payments, but also, inventory, staffing, payroll, and even customer support.

Let’s review some of the top uses for a POS system:

• Ease of Purchase – The beauty of a cloud-based POS system is that you can pair it with an iPhone or iPad, scan any product with a barcode and accept payment right on the spot with an integrated mobile card reader and payment processor. That means you can run your entire sales process right from your phone no matter whether you are in your store or if you take inventory to a seasonal market or pop-up shop.

• Inventory Management – Every time you sell a product, your POS system will automatically deduct it from your inventory due to the built-in barcode scanner. With some systems, you can also set an alert so you know when you’re running low on inventory. Plus, with some POS systems, you can run reports to compare past seasons for a big picture view.
• Receipt Tracking – You’ll never waste time looking for old receipts again, with a good POS system, you can track them as easily as searching for an old email.

• Real-Time Sales Reports – Successful businesses maintain positive cash flow. With real real-time sales reports, you can see exactly how business is going and monitor customer behavior. Wouldn’t it be nice to realize that you have a hot product as soon as possible?
• Flexible payment – Want to accept all credit and debit cards as well as Paypal and Google or ApplePay? You can! There’s no reason to limit yourself or your customers.
• Loyalty programs – Customers love loyalty programs, if you have one in place (or want to add one) then make sure to choose a POS that will help you track yours. Some will even show you your best customers, so you can drop them a note when items of interest come in.

• • Payroll – Some POS systems can compute payroll saving you hours of time. In fact, sync it with your Quickbooks account and you’ll always be on top of your numbers.

• Safety – Cloud-based systems are far more secure than the typical retail owner’s back up on an external hard drive. What if the hard drive gets damaged or stolen? Then you’re responsible for all your customer’s data.
• Ease of Use – Shop owners will want a POS system that will integrate with other systems they already use. For example, the best POS system for you will also connect with your suppliers so that it can automatically update your inventory.
• Budget-Friendly – Look for a POS system with a monthly subscription that you can adjust as you grow. If you’re on a tight budget, you may be able to start with a barebones payment processing system and add more features as you grow.By now, you’re probably nodding your head and thinking, “Yes, I want to be able to do all of those things.” Now that you know some of the possibilities, you can better assess the right POS for your small business.

 We recommend reviewing the size and scope of your retail shop and the way you currently work. Many smaller stores work well with a centralized iPad system paired with an integrated card reader. If gives you the flexibility to participate in markets and other mobile events and maintain your same POS system.

Larger stores may require terminals and even traditional card readers as opposed to a mobile reader.

No matter what POS system you choose, you will have certain hardware needs like a receipt printer and barcode scanner so be sure to assess those prior to making a decision.

Now that know some of the many ways a POS system can streamline your retail business, what are you waiting for? You can start using one today and see how efficient your business can run.

Do you create blogs, articles, and videos with the intention of it attracting clients?

If so, then you know how important SEO is to your marketing efforts.

However, if you’re not starting with this foundational element, then you’re probably missing out on potential clients…because they’re not finding you.

Let me explain, SEO (search engine optimization) is a complex topic that most business owners don’t understand.

And why should you? It’s a complex topic and I’ve personally spent hundreds of hours studying it, implementing it, and teaching it to other business owners like you.

In all that time, one of the BIGGEST misconceptions I’ve seen is a fundamental misunderstanding of how SEO applies to writing.

People don’t know or understand what keywords are, they think they’re something you “makeup” instead of using special software programs and evaluating them based on how many people search per month for the term and how much competition already exists.

Or…they have outdated notions about “keyword stuffing,” which is so 2008.

Here’s what a keyword is not. “Bag”, let’s say you’re selling beautifully crafted purses. “Bag” isn’t a relevant keyword for you. Think about it, how many types of bags are there? There are trash bags, plastic bags of all types, reusuable grocery bags, vegan satchels, etc. Google says there are 843,000,000 BILLION searches for the term “bag.”

And you know who comes up first? Ebags.com followed by Zappos and they spend thousands every month to be there.

Let me guess, you don’t have six figures to spend monthly to buy your way to the top of Google? No?

There’s an easier way.

It just takes a little detective work.

I do it for many of my clients and in the “How to SEO Your Blog Posts Like a Pro” I’ll teach it to you.

The best part is, once you learn these techniques, you can implement them over and over in all of your blog and article content.

These are the same techniques I use with my clients and that I once used to build a website that attracted 90,000 visitors/month!

Let’s use an example with a service provider. Say a therapist.

Now I think you’ll agree that most therapists see people physically in their offices.

Which means, they’re drawing their clientele primarily from a 5-10 mile radius.

That means you’ll want to incorporate references to your town/location in some of your posts as that will help your posts show up top in Google.

Let’s unpack this. Let’s say you specialize in eating disorders. Your keyword research using Google Keyword Planner and/or Keyword.io turns up terms like these.

Now, if you’re an eating disorder specialist, then you probably have a page on your website that is called “Eating disorder specialist or Eating disorder therapy” or something similar that describes your approach.

However, you can take that same term, “eating disorders” and apply it to your blog post with a title like, “How Eating Disorders Affect Families in Your Town,” then, write the post based on your experience.

Do you see how that can be useful information for your potential clients AND leverage the power of the internet to get found?

After that, there’s a formula you follow to get the best results.

I share it all in my new Skillshare course, How to SEO Your Blog Posts Like a Pro 

“We hired Jen to bring us up to first-page search results. The process included interviewing me, analyzing our site and researching our industry. Not only did we bump our company to where we want to be on Google, analytics tells me viewers are staying engaged with our site a lot longer than before. Our web-based calls-to-contract have tripled!

~Carla Odell, Odell Painting”

And perhaps the best part is, anyone can learn it!

It’s not razzle-dazzle and it’s the same approach used by reputable web agencies who charge thousands of dollars per month.

These techniques are worth learning IF you create free content regularly and you want it found by a LOT more of your ideal clients.

How to SEO Your Blog Posts Like a Pro is an online Workshop

“72% of marketers say relevant content creation was the most effective SEO tactic. “(Ascend2, 2015) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

When you implement these time-tested techniques, you’ll be amazed at how much quicker your business can be found online!

In fact, you might be surprised at how many people would rather worry about Facebook’s latest algorithm change or spend hours attending a networking event (without their ideal client) rather than leverage something they CAN control.

Or maybe you’re not surprised.

Yes, it may be considered a “dinosaur” in some circles and it’s certainly not “shiny” enough for others, but if you want a reliable, effective and measurable marketing channel you can’t beat the most reliable online tool for leveraging your time.

As far as cost-effective? Sources say that for every dollar spent, you receive an average of $38-$44 in return.

Don’t you think that sounds like a good investment?

Hopefully, if you’re a realtor, attorney, financial service pro, business coach or healthcare practitioner, this will spark an “aha” moment and show you that it’s quite possible to leverage your time and knowledge far easier than you thought.

Let’s take a look at the top four “reasons why” service professionals forget about this under-utilized lead generation tool known as “email marketing.”

Yes, it’s “old-school.” However, that also means it’s stable and unlike some old-school marketing practices (Yellow Pages, anyone?) it’s still effective.

The Top 5 Reasons Most Service Professionals and Other SMB Don’t Use Email Marketing as a Cornerstone of Their Businesses

#1 – Confusing Technology

Constant Contact surveyed small business owners and found that 49% do not use email marketing data to assist with their email marketing campaigns because they do not know where to begin. (Source: Constant Contact, 2016)

Yes, there are a lot of email services available. Frankly, the best one is the one you’re going to use….especially at the beginning.

Choose something that meets your needs and you can grow into over the next couple of years.

Mailchimp, Aweber, Convertkit or anyone of the dozens of others will work. If you want to have the ability to enable soft and sift your prospects and clients based on their click, then you’ll need a tool that allows that action. However, that’s more sophisticated than most offices need at the beginning.

#2 Don’t Recognize the Value

Yes, email has been around for 20+ years.

Which means it works. Chances are, you use email to communicate every day and unlike shifting algorithms, you own your email database and if you lost access to social media tools, you could still communicate with your prospects and clients.

Of course, like anything else, you want to have a marketing strategy behind it.

A good email marketing strategy well-executed will showcase your credibility and help you stay top of mind.

Campaign Monitor says that email marketing averages a $44 return on investment. (Source: Campaign Monitor, 2016)

#3 Don’t Think They Have Anything Relevant to Say

People always ask me, “What would I put in a newsletter?” Since one of my skills is helping professionals come up with useful material to share, I can always rattle off a list of ideas on the spot.

As an expert in your field, you share insights and tips all day long with your clients. However, like most of us, you’ve probably forgotten that everyone else doesn’t have your years of experience and insights.

Here’s a quick exercise to stimulate your creativity that I use in my workshops. It never fails to spark new ways of thinking.

I call it the 5 x 5 method — write down the 5 questions that your clients ask you the most and answer them. Next, write down the 5 questions they DON’T ask but you wish they would.

If you can’t think of anything, go to Amazon and type in your topic. You’ll get a list of best-selling books in your industry, all of them planned and researched. What do they have in their Table of Contents?

What do we REALLY need to know but don’t know enough to ask?

Chances are, there’s a lot!

#4 Don’t Want to “Bother” People with Emails

This is a misperception.

It’s based on a mix of mindset and lack of understanding of how email marketing “done well” actually works.

You don’t want to add just anyone with an email address. Some businesses approach it this way and which definitely gives email marketing a bad rap.

Instead, you can approach it like the savvy business person you are and use the time-honored tradition of permission-based marketing.

Here’s an example, let’s say you’re speaking at a Chamber of Commerce event. Let’s say you’re a tax professional and you’re sharing tax-saving tips for small business owners. A crowd of 20 is listening and making notes.

Now, at the end of your presentation, you could offer the standard “free tax review” of previous taxes that most accountants offer, or you could offer a list of common “traps” that cost small business owners big.

If they want to receive this checklist, they can give you their business card and you’ll make sure they receive it. (Or, you can offer them a URL for the opt-in page but you’re better off taking the business cards.)

A few days later, you can follow up with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Maybe you offer them another piece of educational content. (Hint: It doesn’t even have to be created by your office.)

A week or so, offer them another piece of useful information.

As you probably know, only a few people are actively looking for an accountant at the time they meet you, but if you stay relevant and top of mind, they may reach out to you in the future.

Do you see how this works?

Hopefully, you see the possibilities for any service professional.

As you know, email is still something that nearly everyone checks nearly every day — if not several times a day. If you provide useful tips in your emails, then you’ll gain trust and credibility…as well as business.

Why not leverage your time and expertise with an email newsletter? (Done for you services available)

In fact, 22 million texts are sent a day! Which isn’t so surprising when you think of the millions of mobile phones in the world. Couple that with the statistic that 60% of Google searches happen via mobile and you have plenty of reasons to incorporate text messaging into your marketing mix.

You can imagine your customer searching for a business like yours, seeing yours pop up and clicking the button to text you a question. You can also imagine that if your business doesn’t offer a texting option, but your competitor does, that your potential customer may text them instead.

In today’s world, texting is a competitive advantage. It makes sense. People don’t have to be connected to the internet to receive texts and unlike email that can get hung up in spam filters, they will receive your text messages. It’s fast too, in fact, 93% of texts are opened within 3 minutes of receiving them.

Now, you know the benefits of texting and you may wonder how your small business can use SMS (texting) as a lead generation tool? Here are 5 ideas for you.

5 Ways to Boost Your Lead Generation via Text in 2018

1- Make sure your customers can find your text number easily. Include your text number in your Google My Business listing, Yelp, Facebook, any web platform where you have a presence should include your number and an invitation to text. This way, if they have a question, they can message you right there and receive a quick response via text.

2—Encourage people to sign up for your texting program to receive special deals or events. This works great for bars and restaurants as you can text specials of the day and other special promotions. You’ve probably seen those table toppers that invite you to send “special” to a # for a discount, that’s sms texting in action.

It also works for service-based businesses. Imagine that you’re an insurance broker specializing in local businesses, you invite prospects to text you to receive a custom quote or a guide to the questions every local business person should ask prior to buying insurance. Once they do that, you can send the information along and put them into a lead nurturing sequence.

3- Ask for reviews – You already know that online reviews like Google, Yelp, Trip Advisor, Facebook and more can drive business. Why not send a text to your customers and invite them to leave a review? That “social proof” combined with the ease of sending a text, can make it easy for your future customers to start a conversation.

4- Immediacy – Studies show that 93% of texts are opened within 3 minutes which means that if your response is as prompt, you can develop a great reputation for customer service. Besides, people want an immediate response, and when you deliver it, you create trust and likeability.

5—Integrated marketing – You already know that your prospects usually have to see your message at least 7 times before they’re ready to buy. SMS texting is a great way to engage your prospects and integrate your message with Facebook and other digital channels at an affordable rate.

Texting is perfect for sending confirmations, passwords, special offers, and much more. It also has an advantage over other communication channels in that it’s still relatively “clean.” Most people don’t receive dozens of business-related texts per day so those who do, stand out. Plus, people are more likely to respond to texts vs. emails or phone calls.

It simply makes sense to incorporate SMS texting into your lead generation strategy. Why not get started today?

If you’re like a lot of business owners, you may feel overwhelmed at times by marketing. After all, there are approximately 98,321 ways to market your business, which are the right ones for you?

Great! This post is for you. By the time you finish reading it, you’ll understand the difference between your marketing plan and a marketing campaign and why it makes sense to have both.

If you want to skip straight to the video, you can do that here.

But first, let me share a common confusion among business owners when it comes to the whole marketing game. As you know, your goal is to generate more leads. People who are interested in what you sell.

Your job is to show them how what you sell helps them save time, money, makes them feel great…whatever the core benefit of your service does. It’s your job to get super specific on WHO you help and HOW so they can see that your product or service is meant for them. That’s part of your marketing PLAN as you’ll see in a moment.

Your marketing campaign is drop-dead specific.

1 item/product/service to 1 type of person and usually for a specified amount of time. It may feel counterintuitive to focus on one thing at a time and yet, that’s the MOST effective way to grow your business.

Here’s an example from the big leagues.

Have you noticed how a car manufacturer like Ford advertises?

They have the Ford Focus AND the Ford 150 pickup truck, right? They make separate commercials for each. Same for the rest of their vehicles. The reason is, the Ford Focus buyer is a different person with different needs and desires than the pickup truck buyer. Otherwise, they’d just make one commercial that shows all their cars and trucks. But that would confuse their customer and confused people don’t buy.

I’ll explain this a bit more in a moment but first, know that you don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to market effectively.

See marketing principles are the same no matter whether you have a staff of 5000 or you’re a solopreneur and after I explain this further, you’ll understand and be empowered in your marketing.

In this 13-minute video, I explain the difference between a marketing PLAN and a CAMPAIGN (they’re not the same thing and when you understand this, you just MAY have a AHA moment

If you’re not a video person (and that’s ok!) read on.

At its core, a marketing plan is strategic. It’s not a pile of random tactics that don’t move you forward. Because you have better things to do with your time.

Instead, you create a clear focus for your business that includes:

• Who your ideal customer/client is
• Your Core Service (s)
• How you’ll communicate your value to those potential customers
• Your Business Goals (including your revenue goals, plus things like your desired work hours)

You’ll want to know your numbers. What are your most profitable activities? Where do your best leads come from? What communication channels (Facebook/email/LinkedIn/etc.) will you use to reach them? What will you STOP doing this year?

You want to create a system for attracting new leads and nurturing them.

These are at the crux of your business.

Too many people start a business and work themselves to the point of burn out and/or run out money because they don’t know their top revenue-generating activities.

So, let’s plan.

These big questions provide you with a guide. After all, if you know you bring in most of your business via public speaking to local networking functions, then you’ll want to focus your marketing on obtaining more of those speaking gigs (and have a system for the follow-up.)

That’s at the heart of your marketing plan.

Are you beginning to see how thinking through these questions can guide your entire business?

You do?

Great! We’ll go deeper into that topic on another day, but for now, let’s look at the role of the marketing campaign in your business.

Define Your Marketing Campaign

This has ONE specific goal and usually for a predetermined amount of time.

For example, let’s say you’re hosting a webinar. Your webinar has one primary topic that aims to solve one type of problem. The people with that problem are the ones you’ll target in your ad content, posts, graphics, etc.

You don’t want everyone. You want the people who are going to most benefit and be a good fit for your business. The webinar is meant to be a lead generation tool to help you collect email addresses for people who’ve indicated they’re interested in what you’re offering.

This is so important that I’ll say it again, the webinar is meant to be a lead generation tool to help you collect email addresses of people who’ve said they’re interested in something you offer. There’s a deeper strategic goal to it than simply hosting a webinar. Yes, you’ll share valuable content in the webinar, and you’ll want to have a follow-up strategy for afterward.

In case that’s still confusing,

I realize that can still be confusing, here’s another example, one that everyone is familiar with from the retail world.

You’re probably familiar with holiday “specials.” Black Friday for example. Retail organizations start planning their Black Friday ad “campaigns” months out. This past season, Amazon focused on their efforts on building awareness — and desire – for the “DOT”, a smaller version of their Echo, both of which are voice controlled smart speakers that play music, tell you the weather, keep your grocery list and do other simple tasks.

Here’s how this applies to you as a small business owner.

If you offer professional services, such as an acupuncturist, you can choose a “theme” such as “back-to-school” time in the Fall and offer a special on a package of 3 treatments that will boost the immune system. Or if you’re a VA, you might offer a webinar on a particular piece of software and then make an offer to attendees that you’ll set it up for them.

As you can see, these are focused activities set for a defined amount of time. It doesn’t mean you won’t sell that activity or product at other times, but for this specified time period, you’ll focus on this one thing.

That way, you can create relevant marketing materials around it. Your social posts, blog posts, Facebook lives, Facebook ads, will revolve around this theme.

You’ve created a marketing CAMPAIGN.

If you do nothing else in your marketing today, take a few minutes and jot down the top thing or things you sell, consider how you can tie each to a season or a popular trend. Drop that in your calendar a few weeks from now and plan a few marketing materials around the topic.

When you keep in mind exactly who your top prospect is for this service, you’ll see how much easier it is.

Want to see this in action and get your free Design Your 30-Day Marketing Roadmap? Join us here.