01.25.12
Posted in Online Marketing at 12:39 pm UTC by Michele PW
Ah, the lure of the Internet. On the surface, it’s a dream come true. You can start a business out of your home selling your products and services everywhere and anywhere in the world without big marketing budgets or lots of advertising.
Then you put your first website up and the dream comes crashing down with a big thud. It’s not nearly as easy as it first looks.
So you do your research. You start learning everything you can about Internet Marketing.
But it’s still not as simple as what the “gurus” say. Maybe you’re still stuck at your current revenue goals and you know you could be making more. Maybe you feel uncomfortable or “icky” around your marketing. Maybe you agonize over every negative email and feedback you get. And maybe you feel like there MUST be a better way.
Well, never fear — help is here! Read on for 3 tips to help you get more success with your Internet Marketing strategies.
1. Pull up those big girl panties and get some business training. Look, I get it. You started your business for all sorts of reasons that have really nothing to do with owning your own business. You wanted freedom, to provide for your family, to not have a boss, to get your message out into the world, to make a difference. None of those reasons started with the words “I love business.”
So, it only stands to reason you have little to none training or experience in business. And if that’s the case, why do you think this is somehow going to come naturally to you?
Learning to run a business is like learning to do any skill. And if you learn to run an effective, profitable business, then you’re more likely to put Internet Marketing in its proper place, which is…
2. Internet Marketing is a tool in your marketing toolbox, it is NOT a business model. There’s a certain amount of confusion around this whole Internet Marketing thing, that this somehow is a business model rather than a collection of strategies. Now, while it certainly CAN turn into a business model, that’s not a desirable situation. Typically, when that happens, your business has turned into a “launch after launch” model, which is highly stressful on a number of levels (not to mention it’s not terribly sustainable for the long term).
If you view your Internet Marketing as simply another tool in your toolbox, then your mindset changes. It’s just another tool — nothing more, nothing less. Certainly nothing to agonize about. And now you can focus on using that tool correctly.
Which leads me to my third point…
3. If there’s a part of Internet Marketing you really struggle with, take a good hard look at it. One of two things will most likely happen — either you’ll see the reason you struggle is because you have a block around something else, and if you want to fix it you work on the block. Or you realize this piece is just not going to happen — either you really hate doing it or maybe you feel like it’s not in alignment with you or your business. Now, if it’s the latter, you’re going to either have to find another way to get the same results or you’re going to have to accept the consequences of not doing it.
But how do you know which it is? If it’s a block or something else? And if it’s something else, how do you make that choice to do something different? And how do you know what the consequences even are before it’s too late?
Well, I have the answer — and because it’s not a short and sweet answer, I created an entire special report around it: “Why EVERYTHING You’ve Been Taught About Marketing on the Internet Will NOT Work for You and What You Can Do To Turn it Around.”
You can download a copy for free — here’s the link: http://www.MichelePW.com/sand
This is a problem I’ve seen over and over again — conscious entrepreneurs making a choice around Internet Marketing based on faulty or incomplete information and not realizing the consequences until it’s too late. It’s something no one else is talking about and I finally got tired of seeing this so I decided to create a special report around it.
Here’s that link again: http://www.MichelePW.com/sand
Permalink
01.24.12
Posted in Ask PW at 10:19 am UTC by Michele PW
“My question is the following: I just launched my business and want to ask for testimonials from women, but I know they need some guidance because it is not common here to ask for testimonials. [She's from Uruguay.] Should I ask them questions or have them complete sentences? If so, what kind of questions or sentences do you recommend?”
Luz Mara Sande
Since your clients aren’t used to being asked for testimonials, you may want to try a few strategies. Asking questions is a great place to start. A few questions to try would be:
“What were you struggling with before you hired me/joined my program/used my product?” (Or you could ask “what were your challenges before…” or “what was your life like before…”)
“Why did you decide to hire me/join my program/use my product?”
“How did your life change after hiring me/joining my program/using my product?” (Or you could ask “what results did you experience after…”)
What you want to do is paint a picture before they used your products or services and what their results were after using it.
Remember, what people buy are results and the transformation. So make sure your testimonials focus on that.
Now it’s your turn — what are your strategies for getting testimonials? Please share below in the comment section. Or if you have a question about marketing, business or writing copy, feel free to put in the comment section and I’ll answer those in a future Ask PW column.
Permalink
01.21.12
Posted in Business at 10:09 am UTC by Michele PW
You just put the finishing touches on your kick-butt marketing plan that’s going to skyrocket your business. Hooray!
Only problem is that kick-butt marketing plan isn’t going to do a thing for your business unless you actually put it into action. And that, alas, is where most marketing plans end up — a really good idea that never got implemented.
So, how do you stop that from happening? Here are 3 steps to help you move from thinking to doing.
1. Figure out what you need to be doing versus what you can get someone else to do. Look, there’s no reason why YOU have to do all the implementation. Get some help!
If you already have a team, fantastic! Now you just have to start delegating. If you don’t have a team or you don’t have the right person on your team to do a specific job (for instance, a technical person to fix your shopping cart) then you need to put finding that person to your to-do list. In the short term yes it does add to your workload, but in the long term it will save you a lot of time.
2. Block off time in your calendar to work on your plan. The only way these things are going to get done is if you actually take the time to work on them. So start by actually setting aside the time.
You may be someone who works better in shorter, more frequent bursts of time (15 or 20 minutes every day) versus a longer time less frequently (2 hours or half a day once a week). Only you know what appeals to yourself more and I would suggest scheduling your time accordingly. (Look, it’s tough enough to get things done, you might as well make it easier for yourself by working with your natural tendencies than against them.)
3. Set yourself up for success. Just because you set the time aside doesn’t mean you’ll actually get anything done on your plan during that time. So you need to keep yourself focused and motivated and don’t allow yourself to get sidetracked.
Now there’s no question that’s much easier said than done. So how do you do that? Here are a few tips to try:
* Remind yourself WHY you’re doing this. Is it so you’ll be able to take care of your family better? Is it because you want to sell a million copies of your book? Is it because you’re so tired of the way things are you’re ready for a change? Whatever it is, remind yourself of the bigger WHY before you sit down to work. That will keep your motivation up.
* Make it a special time just for you. Maybe light a candle, put on some favorite music or pour yourself a fave cup of tea. Or maybe you head out to a local Starbucks to hang out. Whatever it is, make it special — something you look forward to.
* Create a “squirrel” file. If you ever watched the movie “Up” there’s a talking dog in it that keeps getting distracted by squirrels. So he’ll be talking and in the middle he’ll shout “squirrel” and completely lose his train of thought.
As entrepreneurs, we are surrounded by squirrels. And there’s no better time for the squirrels to come and play then during this time we’ve set aside to implement our marketing plan. “Oh, I’ll get to my plan as soon as I get this email out…as soon as I return this phone call…as soon as I clean up my desk.”
You get the idea.
So the way to keep the squirrels away is to create a “squirrel” file (or call it something fun like squirrel nest). Any of those squirrels come running out, capture it and stick it in the file to work on “later.” If you want, you can even designate a time to work on all those squirrels.
But the most important thing to do is DECIDE you really ARE going to implement your plan. Once you do that, the rest will fall into place.
Permalink
01.19.12
Posted in Ask PW at 2:52 pm UTC by Michele PW
Welcome to another edition of Ms. Social Networking/Biz Manners. Ms. SN/B Manners has made it her mission to rid the world of business etiquette faux pas — both online and offline. While Ms. SN/B mourns the day when readers would mail her handwritten questions, she will accept digital correspondence at Ask@MichelePW.com.
Dear Ms. Social Networking/Biz Manners,
I think I am a good Twitter buddy. Honestly. I send out thoughtful and humorous tweets. So why is it that people unfollow me? I get so frustrated when I see my Twitter followers drop. Why don’t they like me? What did I do wrong?
Signed,
Keep Following Me
Dear Follow,
Alas, Twitter was not designed with proper etiquette in mind. Proper etiquette would require you to send a note expressing your regrets that you can no longer follow said person, but clearly that is not how Twitter works.
Since we do not live in a perfect world and there is nothing we can do to correct Twitter’s obvious etiquette faux pas, Ms. SN/BM wonders why you worry about the people who decide to stop following you. There are any number of reasons why someone stops following you — perhaps they are too uncouth to appreciate how brilliant you are or they are too dense to understand your jokes. Regardless they probably wouldn’t make very good customers for you anyway, so they are certainly not worth worrying about. Ms. SN/BM encourages you to focus on all the people who have the good taste to continue to follow you. They are the ones who would make the best clients. Take care of them and all the rest will fall into place.
Permalink
01.16.12
Posted in Ask PW at 11:53 am UTC by Michele PW
This question came from Facebook and it’s a great one to start 2012 off since I know many of you are looking for ways to get more traffic to your site and blog.
First, what is it? It’s when you’re reading a blog post and a word/phrase/sentence is hyper-linked to another blog article (in the same blog) or to outside source (article, video, etc.)
If you provide links to your own blog articles, you increase your readership of your blog (i.e. your readers will click on the links for more info, thus spending more time on your blog and you have the opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with them). Obviously this is a good thing because the more raving fans you have of your blog, the more popular your blog becomes.
Now, if you have a popular blog and you link to other things outside of your blog, you increase the likelihood other blogs will link back to you. And depending on what you’re linking to, you may increase your credibility as a blogger. But there’s no question you are sending people off your blog, so if you do this, I would have the link open up in another window so your readers can easily find their way back to your blog.
Now it’s your turn — have you used this strategy on your blog or is there something else you’ve done to increase blog traffic? Please share below in the comment section. Or if you have a question about marketing, business or writing copy, feel free to put in the comment section and I’ll answer those in a future Ask PW column.
Permalink
01.13.12
Posted in Business at 9:47 am UTC by Michele PW
There’s no question you can start and grow a business without a marketing plan. However, I can tell you from personal experience, if you’re feeling stuck and can’t get to the next level, it’s probably because you never took the time to put a marketing plan together.
Having a marketing plan really is the key to growing and sustaining a successful, profitable business. Otherwise all you’re doing is winging it, and winging it only takes you so far.
So if you’re ready to craft your 2012 marketing plan but you’re not sure where to start, read on — I’m going to walk you through 3 steps to get you there.
1. Start with the end goal. If you don’t know where you’re going, then you really don’t need a plan. (And it’s impossible to plan without knowing where you want to end up anyway.)
It’s probably easiest to start with the money. How much do you want to make in 2012? Write that down. You probably also want to divide it up into monthly or quarterly goals so you know how much you need to make each month or quarter to reach that goal.
Now figure out how you’re going to make that monthly or quarterly figure. How many of your products/programs/books/service packages do you need to sell to hit that number? Write all that down too.
2. Put the big blocks in place. In order to meet your quotas are you going to need to do some launches? Put those in first. Or is there something else you need to do to get clients or customers? (Attend networking events, host teleclass, etc.) Make sure those are all accounted for before you do anything else.
Once you’ve put in the big blocks, take a moment and eyeball your calendar. Is it packed with launch after launch? Or do you have hardly anything in there? Check that it’s balanced — you want to have enough launches or big marketing events in there to generate some visibility and momentum for your business but you don’t want so many you feel exhausted and overwhelmed just looking at your calendar.
3. Fill in the details. Marketing is a dance — a dance between promoting and giving. Creating and building relationships then harvesting those relationships. You need to make sure you have all both things covered. (And if you’re wondering what I mean by marketing activities that create and build relationships, I’m talking about doing things like an ezine or answering people’s question on Facebook — content-rich activities that don’t obviously lead to a promotion.)
You may also want to take the time to actually fill in the actual launch steps. When are you doing the preview call? When do you want the emails to go out? When are you going to have all the copy written?
The more specific plan, the easier it’s going to be to execute. Not only will you know exactly what you’re supposed be doing at all times but your team will be able to help you a lot easier.
If you’d like help crafting your 2012 marketing plan, that is a service we do offer — you can read more about it at http://www.MichelePW.com/services or contact Stacie for more info — Stacie@MichelePW.com
Permalink
12.29.11
Posted in Business at 1:26 pm UTC by Michele PW
There’s no better time to take stock of your business than the time between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It’s “out with the old, in with the new” and that includes out with anything that isn’t serving you or your business at the highest level, and in with what you want your business to look like.
To help you get on track for the fresh New Year and all it’s possibilities, I thought I’d share 3 simple steps to get you and your business started on the right foot.
1. Start by cleaning out the old year. Are you surrounded by stacks of papers or old files? Now is the time to clean those up and make room for all the new business and opportunities that are bound to come your way (unless there’s no room for them).
What about old products or programs? Is everything you’re offering in your business still a good fit? Or maybe there’s something you’ve outgrown or doesn’t work with your brand anymore?
And don’t forget to look at your mindset or your habits. What are you still not doing you know you should be? What habits or blocks are you finally ready to ditch for good?
Get it all out there. Write everything down you want to throw out with the old year. Then you may want to destroy it — burn the paper or shred it. Remember, this is all about clearing away what you don’t want or don’t need anymore.
2. Be grateful for what you HAVE accomplished. Now that you’ve gotten rid of the old and worn out, don’t forget to take a moment and write down everything you’ve accomplished last year. What are you grateful for? What are you most proud of? It’s time to celebrate your accomplishments — take the time to do this. (If you’re anything like me, this is the first thing to go. It’s difficult for me to celebrate anything, I’m constantly looking at all the things I WANTED to do and didn’t.)
3. Now, get set up for the New Year. Some of the things I do include getting my new calendar in place and writing down my goals in it. Then I put together a marketing and promotional plan for the year so I can reach those goals.
You also may want to take some time to lay out a plan for getting rid of those blocks. Is there a program you need to buy? A coach you need to hire? Or maybe there’s something you need to implement. (Ditto for the changing those habits — what do you need to do to ditch those old habits that no longer serve you for good?)
Now, when you set up a plan, make sure you do what many people do when training their dogs — set yourself up for success. Create the plan with your success in mind. Don’t make it so overwhelming or paint yourself in a corner so there’s no way for you to succeed. Push yourself but be realistic too. There’s no shame in taking small steps toward your goal — the only shame is making yourself feel bad because you didn’t give yourself a realistic plan to meet your goals.
And, whatever you do, don’t forget to celebrate! You deserve it.
Permalink
12.01.11
Posted in Ask PW at 1:45 pm UTC by Michele PW
This question came from Anne-Marie Szabo and it made me chuckle. As someone who is a probably a little too blunt for their own good I’m probably not the best person to answer this.
But I’ll share what I do, which I have had success with. First off, don’t assume they want to hear what you have to say. So I usually start by saying something like: “I’m looking at your website now — how is it working for you? Are you getting results from it?”
Typically what will happen is the floodgates open and you end up listening to a barrage of how they’re seeing no results and they paid a bundle and they’re really frustrated, etc. etc.
Then you can follow up by saying “well, I see a few things that could be contributing to that, can I share them with you?” (You can probably guess what the answer is.)
Now, every now and then you may run into someone who gets defensive or tell you how much they love the site. If this happens, you’re probably better off changing the subject and not mentioning it again until they seem more open to hearing about the problems.
Now it’s your turn — how do you tell a client or a potential client there are grave mistakes on their web site? Please share below in the comment section. Or if you have a question about marketing, business or writing copy, feel free to put in the comment section and I’ll answer those in a future Ask PW column.
Permalink
11.29.11
Posted in Business at 4:04 pm UTC by Michele PW
I love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. Family, food, friends and football thrown in for good measure. But I digress.
What I REALLY like about Thanksgiving is it’s about giving thanks. And I think gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions out there. Why is it so powerful? Because it has the capacity to change your life.
My business and life are going great right now, better than I had planned, but it hasn’t always been that way. There were plenty of times where things were looking pretty bleak. During one particularly bleak time, a friend told me to just start listing everything I had in my life to be grateful for. Now, when things are looking pretty bad, in can be easy to say “everything sucks, I have nothing to be grateful for.” But, if we’re honest, we know that isn’t true. There’s always something, no matter how small, that is in your life you can be grateful for, and sometimes you just need to take a step back to see it.
What’s so amazing about gratitude is it’s so simple yet it has so much power – in fact, it’s so powerful it can start turning things around for you. Now, granted, being grateful all by itself will probably not turn a sinking business into a profitable one. But, it CAN be the catalyst to a transformation.
Why does this work? Well, if you’re a fan of the Secret and law of attraction, you’ve heard the phrase “what you focus on expands.” So if you focus on all the things you’re grateful for instead of all the things that aren’t working, the universe will bring you more things to be grateful for and less of the things that aren’t working.
Now, while I do think this is true, I also know a lot of people do not believe this or don’t think it’s true for them. So, might I suggest another, more practical reason, for why gratitude works — because it makes you feel better.
Yes, if you start to think about all the wonderful things that are in your life and that you have to be grateful for, things don’t look quite so bleak. You’re able to break, even for just a few moments, the funk you might have sunk into. And, with that improved mindset, you most likely can see your situation a bit more clearer and start coming up with some solutions (and maybe even take some actions) to get yourself out of it.
But gratitude isn’t just about when things are going wrong, it’s also powerful when things are going right. When you’re on top of the world, it’s still an amazing practice to give thanks. If nothing else, it gives you a moment to fully appreciate how wonderful things are right now. (And isn’t that a nice feeling to enjoy?)
So, how do you start adding a practice of gratitude to your life? Here are 3 tips to get you started:
1. Feelings are important. It’s not enough to just think about being grateful, you have to feel grateful as well. When you think about all the things you’re grateful for, really feel that gratitude throughout your body. Focus on it, and feel it radiate everywhere, from your fingers to your toes. Another tip is to imagine you have a dial in front of you, and when you turn up that dial you’re amplifying that emotion. It only takes a few moments to do, but the results are amazing. Try it and see if you don’t feel so much better afterwards.
2. Write it down. My coach, Melanie Benson Strick, Success Connections, has a great daily journal which includes a space to write 5 things you’re grateful for each day. Writing is a physical activity, so again you’re anchoring that gratitude feeling in your body. If you’re really struggling right now, I would suggest taking a few minutes and writing down everything you’re grateful for each day.
3. Put out a reminder. My grandfather gave me a stuffed bear. But not just any stuffed bear, this bear has a little button on it and a story. The story is a bit longer than what I want to get into now, but the gist of it is this — the bear comes from a magical land and represents an emotion. When you push the button and give it a hug, the emotion is released. My particular bear is about love. I’ve put the bear out so I can see it every day, and when I see it, it reminds me to be grateful. (And yes, sometimes I push the button and give it a hug as well.)
I agree, it’s a little silly. But it works. And if there’s something you can put out that reminds you to be grateful, then it’s an easy way to make being grateful a daily part of your routine.
It only takes a few minutes, but the results can be amazing. I challenge all of you to try it for 30 days and see if your business and your life start to improve.
Permalink
11.22.11
Posted in Copywriting at 4:11 pm UTC by Michele PW
Guest post by Cathy Demers
In 2007 Discover Card conducted an independent survey to shed light on the characteristics of the 22 million small business owners in the United States. The number one trait common to small business owners? The study revealed: “Independence is their prime motivation.”
While there are many personality characteristics common to most entrepreneurs, a very independent spirit is the one trait shared by each and every one. Most small business owners would not give up the freedom that comes along with owning their business to work for someone else, even if it meant making more money.
But there is a danger to being too independent. This one trait of extreme independence can be the biggest roadblock to success for entrepreneurs. No one person has all the answers. No one person can work alone and always aware of potential problems or roadblocks. Everyone has their blind spots. No matter where they have been or what they have accomplished, everyone is missing vital knowledge and experience in one area or another.
Small business owners need to seek out a trusted network. Entrepreneurs need a place where they can discuss issues with others in a similar situation. Sometimes, when working alone, it is very easy to continue down the wrong path until suddenly you discover what a costly error you have made. Working alone is like that.
Another challenge that entrepreneurs face was discussed by Michael Gerber in his classic book The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most New Businesses Fail and What to Do About It. Gerber talked about the importance of working ON your business and not IN your business.
But how do you change from being a day-to-day business “technician”, dealing with customers and putting out fires, to spending time as a visionary executive looking at your business from the outside in? The best way: schedule committed time to work “on” your business!
If you are like most entrepreneurs, who are surrounded by “busy business noise” in which it can be difficult to even hear yourself think, you will have to structure your time in such a way that the urgencies of the moment will not deter you from this important work. You and your business will benefit from a structure which ensures that you use the time you allocated for exactly what you intended, regardless of the emergency du jour.
If you are really committed to being successful by working on your business instead of just in your business – if you want to prevent failure which so many others have experienced – then join your peers for weekly education…free and only 20 minutes!
Next week at the Business Success Cafe, I will be interviewing Michele about how to craft your website so it get you results by using the real website of one of your peers as an example.
http://tinyurl.com/bskuszp
Permalink
11.17.11
Posted in Copywriting at 9:17 am UTC by Michele PW
In the movie, The Prestige, one of the main characters dissects the elements of a magic trick.
You start by showing the object you’re going to manipulate in some way (i.e. make disappear).
You manipulate the object, in this case you make it disappear.
Then, you bring it back. This is the prestige. It’s not enough to make something disappear. You need to bring it back.
In essence, what he’s talking about is closure. You need to bring closure to whatever you’re doing or it will feel unfinished. This is true for a lot of things in life, including your marketing and copywriting.
How do you do this? Well, let’s look at how people buy. For the most part it looks like this:
* Someone has a problem
* They look for a solution to their problem
* They determine the best source for their solution
So, to give you an example of this, let’s say someone wants to lose weight.
* Their problem — they want to lose weight.
* The solution — they want a diet and exercise program that will work for their specific solution
* The source — they look for the best nutrition/fitness person to give them that solution (whether it’s a book or a home study course, work with someone one-on-one or something else).
If you look at a sales letter, many times it mirrors this process:
* Outlines the problem
* Agitates the problem
* Explains the solution
* Emphasizes that the business writing the sales letter has the best solution
See how this works? Okay, so let’s look at another copywriting example — how you write benefits.
First, what is a benefit? In a nutshell, benefits are what people buy. It’s the “what’s in it for me.” It’s what gets people excited about buying your product or service.
As an example, if we go back to the weight loss example, people aren’t really buying losing weight. What they want is the BENEFITS of losing weight — i.e. they look good, they feel good, their health improves, etc. Think about it, if someone didn’t care what they looked like, how they felt or if they were sick or not, why would losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight be a priority in their life?
They want the benefits of being thin, not so much being thin for thin’s sake.
So, with that in mind, when you write a benefit, you can work in both the problem and the solution. For instance:
Frustrated because the scale has been stuck at the same number for MONTHS no matter WHAT you do? You’ll learn my secret for smashing through that plateau and getting back on the weight loss track.
It’s not enough to simply talk about the problem. People need to know they’re going to get a solution. They already know the problem, they want to know they’re getting a solution. You need to bring it back, show the prestige.
Now, why do you want to go through all of this? Because providing closure feels comfortable to people. And the more comfortable you can make them in the sales process, the more likely they’ll become a customer.
Permalink
10.30.11
Posted in General at 5:17 am UTC by Michele PW
Of all the things entrepreneurs struggle with, this one is probably the most difficult and most dangerous. Why? Because it directly impacts the success of your business.
I know I’m not revealing any big eye-opening secret when I tell you that if you don’t regularly and consistently market your business, your business won’t grow. I know you know this. But none of that helps you when you hate marketing. (In fact, it probably makes you feel even worse, doesn’t it?)
So what did you do? Here are 3 steps to get you started (hint — these work even if you love marketing):
1. Find a marketing strategy or tactic you enjoy. There are LOTS of ways to market yourself, I guarantee at least one of them you will like doing. Your job is to find it and then build your main marketing strategy around it. Here’s a list of a few marketing activities to get you thinking:
a. Writing — blogs, articles, etc.
b. Speaking — live, on teleclasses/webinars/livestream, or even podcasts
c. Being interviewed on radio or television
d. Video
e. Chatting with people via social networking
At least one of those should resonate with you. (And if you’re really struggling with this, my “Your Internet Marketing Success Story” product can help you find what I call your “Ka-Ching!” factor — http://YourInternetSuccessStory.com)
Once you figure out your favorite marketing activity, the next step is to build your marketing strategy around that activity. (More on that in step 3 but first…)
2. Outsource what you hate to do. The problem is no matter how much you may love one marketing activity, there are probably other essential activities you don’t love quite so much (hence why you probably hate marketing to begin with). So the trick is to build your marketing plan around what you enjoy doing then you outsource the other pieces you don’t enjoy.
Sounds pretty easy when I put it that way, eh?
Okay so what if you have no one to outsource to and you’re worried about cash flow. My advice is to take a deep breath and find someone. Look, outsourcing your marketing is the easiest way to see a return on your investment — if you start consistently marketing your business that money WILL come back to you.
Start by looking at your budget. See what you can put aside each month for marketing help. Then find someone who can do the tasks you need done in that budget. You might not be able to get everything done, but prioritize what’s most important (i.e. what you’re going to see a return on your investment the fastest) and focus on that.
3. Start small and build from there. Yes I know there are lots of marketing activities out there you could be doing, and the more marketing you do the better your results. However, that doesn’t mean I want you try getting everything done tomorrow.
Here’s the minimum of what you need to have a successful, growing business — one main lead source bringing leads into your business and one main way of converting those leads into customers and clients. That’s really it (at least for the marketing side). You get that nailed down and the rest will come.
And here’s some examples of how this can look:
1. Lead source (speaking, blogging, videos, interviews, social networking)
2. Lead cultivating (ezine, free calls)
See how simple this can be?
And to take this one step further, let’s say you love speaking and hate writing. You can focus on speaking and hire a virtual assistant to take care of putting an ezine out for you.
Voila! Marketing plan built around your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses.
Then once you have that nailed down you can start adding more marketing activities to the mix. Before you know it, you’ll find you have built up an amazing marketing system that’s feeding your business (and better yet, you may discover you don’t mind marketing quite as much as you thought you did).
Permalink
10.29.11
Posted in Marketing at 10:41 am UTC by Michele PW
Of all the things entrepreneurs struggle with, this one is probably the most difficult and most dangerous. Why? Because it directly impacts the success of your business.
I know I’m not revealing any big eye-opening secret when I tell you that if you don’t regularly and consistently market your business, your business won’t grow. I know you know this. But none of that helps you when you hate marketing. (In fact, it probably makes you feel even worse, doesn’t it?)
So what did you do? Here are 3 steps to get you started (hint — these work even if you love marketing):
1. Find a marketing strategy or tactic you enjoy. There are LOTS of ways to market yourself, I guarantee at least one of them you will like doing. Your job is to find it and then build your main marketing strategy around it. Here’s a list of a few marketing activities to get you thinking:
a. Writing — blogs, articles, etc.
b. Speaking — live, on teleclasses/webinars/livestream, or even podcasts
c. Being interviewed on radio or television
d. Video
e. Chatting with people via social networking
At least one of those should resonate with you. (And if you’re really struggling with this, my “Your Internet Marketing Success Story” product can help you find what I call your “Ka-Ching!” factor — http://YourInternetSuccessStory.com)
Once you figure out your favorite marketing activity, the next step is to build your marketing strategy around that activity. (More on that in step 3 but first…)
2. Outsource what you hate to do. The problem is no matter how much you may love one marketing activity, there are probably other essential activities you don’t love quite so much (hence why you probably hate marketing to begin with). So the trick is to build your marketing plan around what you enjoy doing then you outsource the other pieces you don’t enjoy.
Sounds pretty easy when I put it that way, eh?
Okay so what if you have no one to outsource to and you’re worried about cash flow. My advice is to take a deep breath and find someone. Look, outsourcing your marketing is the easiest way to see a return on your investment — if you start consistently marketing your business that money WILL come back to you.
Start by looking at your budget. See what you can put aside each month for marketing help. Then find someone who can do the tasks you need done in that budget. You might not be able to get everything done, but prioritize what’s most important (i.e. what you’re going to see a return on your investment the fastest) and focus on that.
3. Start small and build from there. Yes I know there are lots of marketing activities out there you could be doing, and the more marketing you do the better your results. However, that doesn’t mean I want you try getting everything done tomorrow.
Here’s the minimum of what you need to have a successful, growing business — one main lead source bringing leads into your business and one main way of converting those leads into customers and clients. That’s really it (at least for the marketing side). You get that nailed down and the rest will come.
And here’s some examples of how this can look:
1. Lead source (speaking, blogging, videos, interviews, social networking)
2. Lead cultivating (ezine, free calls)
See how simple this can be?
And to take this one step further, let’s say you love speaking and hate writing. You can focus on speaking and hire a virtual assistant to take care of putting an ezine out for you.
Voila! Marketing plan built around your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses.
Then once you have that nailed down you can start adding more marketing activities to the mix. Before you know it, you’ll find you have built up an amazing marketing system that’s feeding your business (and better yet, you may discover you don’t mind marketing quite as much as you thought you did).
Permalink
10.24.11
Posted in Ask PW, Product launches at 1:25 pm UTC by Michele PW
“I am hoping to do a product launch (my first) in November but this is my first and it is the very start of my business. As such I have no list! I would LOVE some guidelines on doing a launch at the very start or a business. How do I get out there without a list (which I do obviously hope to build) and without any momentum?”
Warmly,
Lisa
Hi Lisa — this is a GREAT question and I’m glad you sent it to me.
First off, what I would do is focus the launch around building your list rather than selling a product. It’s very tough to do both when you’re first starting out and have no list (it gets easier to do both once you have a list — once of those catch-22s). So what that means is putting a lot of effort into getting people to sign up for your free teleclass or special report (free calls or webinars work very well to get people off of social networking and onto your list) and don’t worry as much about what people end up buying at the end of day. The point right now is to grow your list.
For that free call or special report, you could either have a low-cost upsell (a product less than $100) or you could simply offer a chance to talk to you one-on-one for a chance for you to sell your services.
Now, you’re probably not going to grow your list that much this first time out so you’re probably going to want to rinse-and-repeat every month or every other month. Each time you do it you’ll grow your list plus you’ll increase your chances of other people hearing your calls and wanting to interview you, which expands your visibility and reach.
So do you have any tips for launching a product with no list? Please share below in the comment section. Or if you have a question about marketing, business or writing copy, feel free to put in the comment section and I’ll answer those in a future Ask PW column.
Permalink
10.20.11
Posted in Business at 6:49 am UTC by Michele PW
You may have heard the phrase “playing to win or playing not to lose.” And while it sounds good to say “you’re playing to win” in your business, what exactly does that really mean?
Okay, well first off, let’s define these phrases. To me, playing to win means playing all out. Going for broke. Leaving nothing on the table. You’re putting everything out there to win and holding nothing back.
Playing not to lose means holding something back. Being conservative. Taking some of your chips off the table. Making sure if you don’t win, you minimize your losses.
Now is there a time for each of these? Of course. Playing not to lose makes a lot of sense in certain situations. Vegas for instance. Betting your retirement on a spin of the roulette wheel isn’t real bright. (Even if by some miraculous chance it works, it’s still not too bright.)
And if that’s the way you want to approach your business and your life (playing not to lose) then there’s nothing wrong with it. You can still be successful playing not to lose.
But typically, if that’s your approach, you’re not going to play as big as you could be. And you’re probably not going to make the kind of money you’re capable of.
So how do you know if you’re playing to win or playing not to lose? Well, here are a few signs.
Playing to win in your business:
* You take risks (and a lot of those risks other people just don’t “get”). Maybe you invest in a high end coaching program or mentorship. Maybe you decide to launch a product that looks on the outside to be a bad idea. Maybe you decide to expand and hire a team even though you really can’t afford it right now.
* You take advantage of opportunities even if they don’t appear to be a good idea on the surface.
* You turn down opportunities even if on the surface they look perfect. (Ah, didn’t think I’d say that, did you?)
* You make decisions from the place you want to be, not necessarily the place you’re at now. (Even if that’s a really scary place to be.)
Playing not to lose in your business:
* You make decisions based on what you can afford rather than what you need. Okay, a caveat here. I’m NOT saying you should spend your life savings or go into massive debt with no way of paying it off. What I AM saying is sometimes you have to take a risk. For instance, hiring team members. What happens a lot of time is you need the help desperately but you don’t quite have the cash flow. If you never take that first step and hire someone, even on a small basis, you’ll never free yourself up to start making more money.
* You’re ultra careful about the risks you take (or you don’t take risks at all)
* You probably aren’t marketing as much as you should be because deep down inside, you don’t want your business to grow very big (after all, you’d start to lose control of it if it did grow to big). Or you aren’t marketing as much because what if it doesn’t work? What if you make this big public splash with your marketing and it fails? It’s bad enough it doesn’t work but now everyone will know it.
* You don’t try a lot of new things — speaking, marketing, etc.
Now, I want to be clear. There’s nothing wrong with playing not to lose, but chances are you WILL be playing small. You’re going to miss opportunities to get your message and vision out in a big way. You’re not going to take chances where you might fall on your face (especially if you fall on your face in a public way).
But, if you decide to play to win, the rules change. Sure you might fall flat on your face in a public way. But you also could be growing a business that makes a huge difference in the world (not to mention makes you a handsome income to boot).
Permalink
« Previous entries
Next Page »
Kill Their Sales…And How to Prevent Them” and “Conversion Secrets: 5 Expert Strategies for Turning Leads into Clients.” Sign up here or 
