Tag Archives: marketing

How to Create Social Media Content Easily

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We are told over and over again to have a social media content strategy but for most small businesses and solopreneurs posting fresh content every day is easier said than done. Sure you can respond to things other people have posted but finding and preparing fresh content for a long term sustained campaign can be a challenge.

The Formula

InfographicA simple daily social media formula is to of course respond to one or more items that others have posted. Then post at least one non-promotional piece of content of your own everyday and lastly post one promotional piece of content that says something specifically about one of your products or services. You should do that via a number of social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and probably Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube, as well as any other favorite places you hangout every day. You can of course post the same content or a variation of it in each location. But it is still difficult to find and prepare new stuff. So here is one solution I have done that I would like to share with you.

What You Will Learn

What I am going to show you is how I took one piece of free content I had and re-purposed it into more than a week’s worth of social media content. Now look around on your computer because you probably have some material of your own that you can re-purpose, but if not there are royalty free things all over the Internet you can find. In this example I am going to show you how I re-purposed an infographic that I received as part of a bonus in a marketing package I purchased about a year ago.

What You Need to Know

To do what I did you will have to have a rudimentary knowledge of some graphics program such as Photoshop. In my case I use Corel PaintShopPro which I have been using for more than 15 years. They both work about the same. It is helpful if you have some video editing knowledge if you want to produce the video content as well. If not, just skip that part or find someone online or contact me and I’ll help you for a small fee, after all that’s my business.

How to Do It

Okay so this is what I did. If you look at the infographic you will see that it is essentially 5 ways to turn prospects into customers. The nice thing about most infographics is that they are usually made up of a number of sections. In this case with a bit of copying and pasting I was able to take each of the 5 sections and break it into 5 separate stand-alone graphics. Each graphic covers one of the five techniques plus one usable title graphic. Notice that I played with them a little so that each one includes the title header and I was sure to brand each one with my website address. Now I can roll out one graphic “tip” per day. Then the infographic itself in full and finally the video, giving me about 8 days of content from one infographic. Actually pretty easy and I did not have to search for a bunch of graphics, create content or do any real design work. A tip is to be sure that each of the new graphics has an aspect ratio of 16:9 then you can use them to create a HD video as part of your content strategy as well.

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What You Will Gain

So in a relatively short period of time depending on your graphic and video editing skill level I have showed you how to turn one infographic into more than a week’s worth of content. Also as a bonus I got a chance to write this blog article too which is also part of my social media strategy. In your case you might want to simply write a blog article about the infographic topic you choose. Be sure the infographic or other content source you use is copyright free.

How to Turn Prospects Into Customers – Content Marketing Distribution Plan

Day 1 – How to Turn Prospects Into Customers Overview Slide

Day 2 – Tip #1 Create  A Sense of Urgency

Day 3 – Tip #2 Offer Incentives

Day 4 – Tip #3 Collect Email Addresses

Day 5 – Tip #4 Ask Questions

Day 6 – Tip #5 Engage With Your Customers

Day 7 – Post the entire infographic

Day 8 – Post the Video on Youtube and on other social media

Day 9 – Write and post a link to your blog post that talks in depth about the topic shared in the infographic

Keep in mind that you can rerun this series of post several months down the road or next year or whatever. If the content is evergreen you can rerun several times.

This does not have to be just infographics. Maybe you have a brochure from your company or even an article that you might have written. In the case of the article find key phrases and turn them into simple thought provoking tips to share. Maybe you have an old PowerPoint presentation, each slide could probably be presented as a stand-alone tip. The thing is when it comes to content marketing via social media people tend to LIKE and SHARE graphics and bite sized pieces of information. Video is also very popular so fashioning your graphics or PowerPoint into a video presentation can also be very useful. This should help you find and create the content you need to begin a sustained content marketing campaign.

 

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Reno Lovison is Author of “Turn Your Business Card Into Business”, a Marketing Strategist, and Executive Web Video Producer at RenoWeb.net

Target Customers to Grow Your Business

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Create a Customer Profile That Will Grow Your Business

Target the Customers You Need and WantTargeting your ideal customers reduces costs and increases effectiveness because you are not wasting time and resources on clients who will never buy from you.

Ideally you want to send a clear concise message to those individuals who are looking to purchase your product or service.

To hit that target you need to understand who your best clients are and how to reach them.

Designed for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs and small business owners who generally do not get too formal when it comes to business planning.

It’s easy!

Investing a few minutes to better understand exactly who your typical or ideal customer or client is, will help you to make more effective communications and marketing choices that will grow your business more quickly and take you in the direction you mean to go.

 

This online class is ideal for product or service providers who want to build your business through word-of-mouth referrals, social media, traditional advertising and/or targeted communications. It is also helpful for political campaigns and fundraising efforts.

 

Enroll now so that you can get a clear picture that will have you getting more ideal clients, better referrals and more frequent conversions.

 

Whether you are a seasoned marketer or beginning entrepreneur, if you have not done this exercise recently, you are just wandering in a minefield hoping for the best. Take aim and get busy targeting the clients you need and want.

If you are engaged in selling a product or service or ready to launch a new enterprise that requires individuals to take action based on your offering get this course now.

Tuition will increase so SAVE MONEY Get it Today .

There is a full 30 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied for any reason.

So far more than 350 STUDENTS HAVE ENROLLED.  Don’t get left behind.

 

 

A Marketing Must: How to Build Your Professional Brand with Business Cards

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Building a brand is everything, in today’s business environment and this effort requires time and consistency in order to achieve the best results. One of the best ways to build a brand is with business cards.

Business cards are a creative way to share contact information and to showcase who you are and why your services are unique in comparison to your competitors. Almost all professionals have a handy pack of business cards present when building their brand at industry events, but how do you make cards that stand out against the others? When it comes to business cards there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. For example, graphic designers have a far different brand to build than accountants or real estate agents. Therefore, the business cards of graphic designers should be far different from those of accountants or agents.

So Where Do We Begin?

 

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Creative Services

The design and communications industry is known for having some of the most innovative business professionals around to spawn the next big idea. This particular industry is focused on connection, creativity and products that are aesthetically appealing. Crafting a business card that matches this theme is crucial. When pondering what to feature on one of these business cards, it is essential to consider font, color and spacing.

Professional Services

In comparison to the design and communications industry, the professional services industry with individuals such as accountants or lawyers often times requires a more subtle business card to get the job done. For this industry, individuals often stick with dark colors such as grey or black against a neutral background. However, there are instances where color and design play a role with these cards as pictured below.

 

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Service Sector

For those who work in the service industry, it is recommended that elements such as the shape of the card should be considered when crafting the perfect design. If you are a stylist, use scissors or a hairdryer as the shape for your card. If you are a clown include pictures of balloons and use bright colors, and if you are a party planner make your cards in the shape of invitations.

 

Bottom Line

Think of business cards like a cover letter. This is your window to show personality and create a lasting impression on the contact that matters most. The more business cards you hand out, the more potential clients, partners and industry contacts will be aware of your services and, more importantly, your brand.

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Designline Graphics is the premier resource for high-end business cards, custom Silkcards, plastic cards and promotional marketing needs. To learn more visit 4colorprint.com.

Networking Book Included DIY Marketing Package

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We are happy to announce that our popular business networking book has been included in a new Do-It-Yourself marketing package.

Refer-Alls is a manufacturer and distributor who offer a magnetic product that allows business owners to quickly and easily turn their paper business card into a magnetic business card. You just peel and stick.  This is a perfect option for businesses that need a small quantity of magnetic cards quickly.

We created a special revised edition of “Turn Your Business Card Into Business” to be offered in this unique package.  The book is presented as at DIY marketing guide that will help small business owners, contractors, and local service providers network more effectively, generate more referrals, and remain top of mind with potential customers and clients.

Currently this unique package is being offered exclusively to retailers. For more information contact Refer-Alls, Inc.

 

Five Key Elements of Business Image Design

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by Ginger Marks  (Guest Blogger)

What is a business image? It is the unspoken representation of your business. It defines how others perceive what you do and who you are. Simply said, it is your business identity. The business that has no business image in place actually has a poor business image. Therefore it is important they you create an image today if you haven’t already done so.

When you consider what you want your business image to evolve into, think about the way you would want to be perceived. Would you personally go out in public without being properly groomed? I doubt it. The same holds true with your business. Things like, lack of stationary and re-used packaging illustrate to your customers that you are too cheap to or don’t consider them valuable. While you may think that being fugal, pinching a penny here will cut your bottom line, they may conceive this seemingly insignificant act to mean that you may not be in business the next time they need your services.

What are the critical components of a professional business image? There are several pieces to be considered. While the whole may be different for each individual business owner, there are five key elements that make up a solid business image that must be addressed. Can you guess what those five would be?

Let’s put our puzzle together.

  1. Business Name & Tagline

Your business name is vital to you. It is one piece that cannot be ignored or taken lightly. Because you will carry this name with you for many years to come great care should be taken in the selection. It is not unheard of to change your business name, however each time you do you risk losing customers. So think carefully, get input from trusted friends and decided on the name that best fits your product or service.

Your business name should easily reveal who you are where your tagline should reveal what you do. Keep it simple. A long and complicated tagline is easily forgotten or confused. Take a cue from the corporate giants, short and sweet, direct and to the point, make for memorable taglines. See if you know these taglines. Most of these I am sure you will recognize are:

It’s the Real Thing

You’re In Good Hands

Bring Out the Best

Fly the Friendly Skies

The Ultimate Driving Machine

And my personal favorite

We Make YOU Look GOOD!

Here are the answers, how’d you do?

It’s the Real Thing – Coke

You’re In Good Hands – Allstate

Bring Out the Best – Hellmann’s

Fly the Friendly Skies – United

The Ultimate Driving Machine – BMW

We Make YOU Look GOOD! – DocUmeant Designs & Publishing

Be sure your tagline contains two important elements, that of emotional and functional words. It needs to quickly describe what you do. If you want to open a pet store, don’t simply name it The Pet Store, that’s a little stale. Try something memorable like, Paula’s Pet Emporium or Perfectly Petaculous. One note on personalizing your business name, if there is even a slight chance that you may want to sell your business in the future, leave off the personalization. I am sure given the choice, as a buyer, you would prefer not to buy the business just to turn around and have to change the name and lose those loyal clients.

  1. Logo

Selection of your logo is of paramount importance. The three things to remember in designing your logo are that it is easily recognizable, matches the look and feel of what you wish to portray and the colors enhance the image.

When deciding on your logo a bit of soul searching and research before you begin the process is a very good place to start. Find out what is out there already, don’t imitate, be unique and creative. Use the competition as a starting point to give you some ideas, DON’T copy!

The colors you choose should be carried throughout all of your business materials. If you use red and green or blue and white – stay with them when designing your website and stationary.

Speaking of stationary, let’s move on to the importance of well designed business materials.

  1. Stationary

Stationary items that should be considered are letterhead, envelopes, business card, and forms. Your local office supply store has a number of business forms available for your use at a reasonable cost. Nevertheless, what do your customers think or perceive when they receive them? Does it show permanence, longevity and commitment? Spending just a little more time and money to create forms and stationary that are uniform can greatly affect your business’ perceived value.

  1. Marketing materials

Marketing materials should always carry your business identity. These items may be as small as a pen with only the name and address of the business. Items in this category should include brochure(s), flyers, coupon, gift certificates, card and postcards, and t-shirts, hats, and other giveaway items. Pens are often the giveaway item of choice; people tend to hold on to them, and if lost or shared the new owner has your information. We call this “shelf-life” or your product’s “life cycle.”

  1. Storefront/Website

As mentioned earlier, your image gives your business a uniform look and feel when all of the elements retain a oneness. Your storefront/website is no exception. Whether online or offline this is your main source of customer interaction. Solidify your presence and demonstrate your credibility and reliability quickly. Let them know within the first few minutes what you do and how well you do it by presenting your unique business identity in the forefront of your business location.

Take a step back from your business; look at it through your customer’s eyes. If need be poll your customers to get a clearer vision. Once you have decided the image you want to represent you, use through your entire business. Be it fun and whimsical or clean and professional, your image is an unspoken representation of your business, becoming its identity. As such, it will speak for you more clearly than words.  When you have a complete business identity it ensures your customer will easily recognize who you are, what you do and demonstrate your competence.

I challenge you to define or review your current business image. Ask for customer feedback and then solidify your place in the market. With all your pieces carrying your single message you will further exclaim your permanence.

© Copyright 2011 Ginger Marks

Ginger Marks is the founder of the DocUmeant Family of Companies, We Make YOU Look GOOD! For more information, visit http://www.documeantdesigns.com/. Her annual edition of Holiday Marketing Guide, Your business-marketing calendar of ideas is available at http://www.HolidayMarketingGuide.com. She also offers a wealth of knowledge through her ezine Words of Wisdom available on her website.

When Selling – Make It About Them

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Kevin Daum, Author

Kevin Daum, Author

 

Kevin Daum – Guest Blogger 

During these tough times, being good or great is no longer good enough; you have to be awesome. When clients don’t sign with your company, there must be a reason they didn’t choose you. Sure, we’ll cover it by saying things like…“It’s the economy.”  Or “Their situation changed,” but they did move forward with somebody right?! More likely you just didn’t connect in a meaningful, compelling manner and your competition did. Perhaps you didn’t know how to say the right things to the right people in the right way. Or worse, you didn’t recognize that they weren’t all that interested before investing your resources. 

Most of us in these situations show up and throw up all the reasons why people should take what we have to offer without ever considering whether or not our product, service or idea actually benefits the particular, immediate pain suffered by the prospect. Partly of course because we believe that everyone needs what we have to offer. So how can you more effectively make a memorable connection with potential clients?

Establishing Compelling Messaging is the first step to successful promotional efforts. You have to establish empathy by identifying their pain. It lets the buyer know you get them.  Then you can provide an objective solution (too early to sell them just yet). Then once they trust your understanding of their problem, you have to clearly differentiate yourself. 

  • Empathy – What is the pain your business will solve? It’s not about what you want, it’s about what they need, whether it’s potential investors or customers.
  • Objectivity – Why try and force yourself into a situation where your business venture clearly will not fit.  Be objective about what works and what doesn’t. 
  • Differentiation – There are lots of people with smart ideas. What makes yours different and unique? Unfortunately, great service and experience aren’t true differentiators since your competitors say the same thing.
ROAR Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle

ROAR Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle

You have gone to a lot of trouble to create an awesome solution and bring it to your customer.  Don’t waste your efforts!  Approach the opportunity by making it about them and you’ll likely find a client ready to let you solve their problem.

 Kevin Daum is the Author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle and the national columnist for Smart Business Magazine.  He can be found at www.KevinDaum.com

Three Relationship Marketing and Networking Tips

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By D’vorah Lansky – Guest Blogger

Continuing on with our theme of in-person networking, today I am going to share with you three more tips for building relationships by attending in-person networking events.

  1. Bring Friends, Colleagues, and Networking Buddies with You to Events and Introduce Them to Others
  2. Develop a 30-60 Second Elevator Speech That Causes People to Say, “Tell Me More”
  3. Get Together With People Over the Course of the Month

 

Bring Friends, Colleagues, and Networking Buddies with You to Events and Introduce Them to Others

Take someone from your BNI Chapter to your Chamber of Commerce meeting and introduce them to someone in their contact sphere or introduce them to people whom you feel would be a good connection for them.  This will again increase your value and your likeability factor as well as make you an invaluable member of the business community.  You will also be helping people at the Chamber of Commerce event to broaden their contact sphere as you help to connect them to people in your BNI Chapter, for example. 

Bring your Networking Buddies with you to events but don’t hang out with them the whole time.  Visit with them, introduce them to people and then go and mingle and encourage them to do the same. 

Previously I gave the example of making a simple introduction between a Realtor and mortgage loan office.  Following is an example of how to make a much warmer personal introduction. Let’s use the same example of a Realtor but this time, provide a warm introduction.

If you are speaking with a Professional Organizer and you know that her best referral source is Realtors. You may want to introduce her to one or more of the Realtors in the room.  A possible introduction could go like this, “Lisa, hi, I know that you are a Realtor specializing in selling homes in this area.  I’d like to introduce you to my good friend Donna.  Donna is a Professional Organizer and she specializes in helping to increase the value of homes with her Home Staging Services.  I thought that the two of you might enjoy meeting one another for a possible mutually beneficial relationship.”  This can increase the services that the Realtor offers to her clients and this can create a great alliance between these two professionals. 

Again, you increase your value and what you offer to the community and you are deepening your relationships.  As an additional benefit to you, you will become more easily referrable as you will be on their radar and thus you’ll be able to grow your business.

 Develop a 30-60 Second Elevator Speech That Causes People to Say, “Tell Me More”

Rather than saying, “Hi, my name is so and so and this is the name of of my business and I do this, that and the other thing and we have great stuff and you should go to our website and buy our stuff.”  First of all, people will tune you out.  This is a situation where the “less is more” factor comes into play.  Rather than telling them everything that you do, share with them something that causes them to say, “Tell me more”.

I’d like to share a story with you told to me by my very good friend Sasha.  She was at a luncheon for Financial Planners and being the conversationalist that she is, she turned to the person to the right of her and asked them, “what do you do?”  That person went on to tell her all about their financial planner services in great detail.  Next, Sasha turned to her left and asked, “what do you do?”  This person said, “I show people how to get their children to buy them an island”. 

Which person would you be more inclined to ask to tell you more?  So, what can you say to get people to ask you to tell them more?  You may want to practice on a few friends and let them know that you are working on your 30 second commercial and that your goal is to get people to ask you to tell them more.  Ask them if they would listen to what you’ve come up with and then give you their honest feedback.

  Get Together With People Over the Course of the Month

Select two or three people that you’d like to get to know better and schedule a time to meet with them over the next few weeks.  It’s a best practice to meet with at least one person a week, outside of networking events.  Some people make it a practice to meet with several people a week for coffee or over lunch.  People may not have their calendar with them, so set a tentative date and find out the best way to reach them to confirm that you both have the appointment in your calendars.  You don’t want to leave it up to chance with a note on the back of a business card as it might not make it into their calendar.  Ask them what the best way to reach them is.  You can say, “If I send you an emai confirming our appointment, will you be able to get back to me or would it be better if I call you? 

These days many people prefer email as they can get to it when they have a moment, it’s right there next to their calendar and it’s easy to reply back to you.  When you do go out with them, don’t use that time to give a sales pitch, use this as a time to get to know them and find out about their hobbies. This will strengthen that relationship.  This is also a great way for you to get ideas for who you can introduce them to in your network.  This increases your likeability factor and the value you are adding to the relationship.

I hope that the seven tips I shared over the course of this week, were helpful to you. Please feel free to leave a comment, share an idea or ask any questions. Consider taking one thing that you learned and putting into action within one week. I’d love to hear about your results.

Here’s to your success!  Happy Networing!

D’vorah Lansky – Guest Blogger

M.Ed and Relationship Marketing Wizard
www.RealtionshipMarketingCafe.com

Networking is not always accomplished by straight lines

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A few posts back I spoke about my convoluted path to meeting Karen MacNab. Here is another example of how the path to someone is not always a straight line. Since it is a bit convoluted please stick with me. That is the point.

On pages 44-47 of  my book “Turn your Business Card into Business” I speak about the use of magnetic business cards as a useful device to deliver your message and encourage potential clients to keep your name accessible. These are ideal for ambulance and other emergency services; pizza and other food delivery services; and of course insurance and retail agents as well as others find them handy. While browsing through my local big box office supply store I encountered some prepackaged business card sized magnets with a pressure sensitive side that allows the user to afix their own business card to the magnetic material thus creating their own business card magnets in small quantities. I had seen these before and written about them but now it made me think that I should contact this company and see if we might be able to create some kind of alliance.

I contacted the company and was solidly rebuffed by the marketing manager who did not even care to entertain the notion. Figuring that I was not dealing with the decision maker anyway I decided to move up the food chain. Somewhere online I discovered that Chuck Rizzo was the president of the company and decided to take my proposal to him. This however did not end well either as I absolutely could not get through the gate keepers. In a last attempt I sent a book off to Chuck but still did not hear back.

Fast forward almost 2 years later and I read a post at LinkedIn by Chuck Rizzo explaining how he managed to get his product into a major big box office suppply store after being turned down by the product buyer because he sent the product directly to the company president via FedX. Great story. But why was it not my story? I responded to Chuck via LinkedIn and told him how I had tried in vain to get through to him to no avail.

About one day later my phone rings and it is Chuck Rizzo calling to explain that shortly before I tried to contact him he had actually sold the company and left. We had a good laugh! I wondered why the people I spoke to did not at least tell me that Chuck was no longer there. But then I understand that they felt there was not need to help me.

As far as Chuck was concerned we ended up having a nice conversation for about 30 minutes during which he told me about the many items he had developed and marketed through many of the major mass merchandisers. He had left his original company because he wanted to persue what he did best which is develop products and help others develop and sell products that can be distributed through mass merchandisers.

It seems Chuck Rizzo and I did not meet under the circumstances I had imagined but we did ultimately connect and I believe he will be a friend and valuable business contact for me and others in my network. If you have a product or know someone that has a product suitable for a mass market that needs further development and marketing assistance. Take a look at Chuck’s website.  http://www.takemenational.com .

The path to your goal may not be the straight line you envisioned. Continue to reach out and grow your network. Today is June 1st and Day 36 of my challenge to meet 100 new people in 50 days and Chuck Rizzo is number 60. You can see I need to meet 40 more people in the next two weeks so if there is someone you think I should meet let me know.

Guest Blogger Schedule

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We are happy to announce that every Friday begining Friday June 4th this site will feature a different guest blogger here at the Business Card to Business Blog. The purpose of this blog is to share ideas about networking with an emphasis on face-to-face networking and the use of business cards to reinforce your message and deliver your contact information. But we also talk about online networking, social media, marketing and other items of interest to owners of small businesses, those with products and services to promote and entrepreneurs in general.

Be sure to stop by at least one a week or use the RSS feed to remind you.

GUEST BLOGGER SCHEDULE

06/04 Carolyn Howard Johnson Frugal networking tips
06/11 Susan Levin Speaker Services network to success
06/18 D’vorah Lansky Relationship Marketing Wizard
06/25 Nina Bell Letterpress and recycled printing
07/02 Kevin Daum Get heard in the sales and marketing jungle.
07/09 Seng Weiland Measuring social media and social networkng
07/16 Jerrilyn Thomas Women, moms and online networking
07/23 Yvonne Wu Virtual Assistants to organize your networking
07/30 Patricia Weber Introvert Networking
08/06 Drew Gerber Leveraging media coverage to grow your business
08/13 John DiPietro  Using LinkedIn to reach out

 

Update:

August 20     Lonnie Sciambi       “The Entrepreneur Yoda”

August 27     Chuck Rizzo               Marketing to the Masses

September 03   Lynda O’Connor    Radio Interview Tips

September 10   Charlie Newman   Negotiation is a Part of Life