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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is business bliss.

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

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

It’s a business made in heaven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These are just some of the basics.

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

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

Let me give you an example:

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

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

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

So what had happened?

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

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

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

Here is another example:

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

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

Yep it is that simple.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is YOUR business, so it is YOUR responsibility…

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

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

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

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

I know what you are thinking…

Cause I hear this one everyday too…

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

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

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

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

Here are some ideas to get you started:

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

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

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

Have you noticed it yet?

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

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

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

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

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

And as a result they are literally exploding!

Here is what I mean.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cool huh?

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

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

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

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

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

Remember Growth = Growth…

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

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

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

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

However…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If the answer is no then…..

Photo By Svilen Milev

Well surprise! It’s not. It is actually about Geek Speak in general. The “geeks” of the world made this term popular a few years ago by forgetting that everyone in the world does not understand how to format a hard drive. And many people, even today, don’t understand the difference between a hard drive and ram.

But what we tend to forget is that WE ALL speak geek. It just happens to be our very own dialect. Kind of the same as I can’t tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese, because since I don’t know either of them they sound very similar to me.

I also don’t understand the things that my accountant says to me, or things that I hear everyday at live networking events.

Accounts payable, accounts receivable, P & L reports, swedish massage, deep tissue massage, etc are all words we may hear on any given day. But how many of us TRULY understand them. I mean really understand to the point that we could explain it to our 10 year old child who may have never heard the words before.

Car people speak geek speak. Marketing people speak geek speak. Fundraising Non-Profits speak geek speak. Real Estate Agents speak geek speak. Every industry on the planet has their own version of geek speak.

I find myself doing it, even though I am aware of it, it still happens. I was talking with someone the other day about my blog. I was telling them how often I post and that I added a new plugin and had made some changes to the theme. Then I noticed it. The look. You know it, you have seen it or maybe you have felt it. That glassy eyed, confused look that says “I am listening to you because it is polite but I have no idea what you are talking about” look.

I stopped and asked the question I should have asked to begin with “do you know what a blog is?” The answer I got was “I have heard of it, but I don’t understand what it is”.

Geek speak strikes again!

I asked if they wanted to understand (some people don’t after all) and when they said yes, I explained it in basic detail. I made sure to ask questions often and let them know that if I said something that didn’t make sense to stop me and ask.

Sometimes people will not ask you to explain something because they don’t want to sound like an idiot. They will listen politely and the go home and ask their family or friends. Or they will simply walk away confused.

This is NOT the feeling you want to leave people with.

Think about your industry. Do you have words that you use every day? Do these words describe things that you do or that you offer that are only available in your industry?

Guess what…that is your geek speak. You understand it. To you it is as simple as the words we, us, they and them. These things are part of your daily life and they seem way to simple to not be understood by everyone.

But things that seem so simple to you make no sense at all to the rest of us. We may know the words, but we do not truly understand what they mean.

So how am I ever going to understand if I need what you have to offer if I don’t even know what it is?

Every so often you need to find a child in your world and offer to buy them ice cream or another special treat if they will help you out. (Yes, bribe them or rather pay them for their pain and suffering since you are probably going to bore them)

Then sit down with them and tell them what you do. BUT…tell them what you do, exactly the same way you tell people you meet at networking events. Don’t change anything. Or maybe read them your brochure or your website.

Then have them explain to you what you do. What did they get? Is it right? Do they look at you with a blank stare totally confused?

You spoke geek speak. Go back to the drawing board. You need to figure out how to explain what you do in generally understood words and in a way that anyone, no matter what age they are will understand it.

When you can do that, then you are on the right track…

Where do you hear geek speak? Is there one particular industry (besides computer people) that you find it hard to listen to? Share your experiences below, you never know who might be reading and realize that they too are speaking geek speak…

About The Author:
Cindy Clemens is a mom, author, speaker, marketing consultant and Co-Owner of My Business Marketing Mentor. Her goal is to teach marketing in a simple easy to understand format that businesses can use to help gain marketing ideas & market their businesses to boost sales. Throughout the MBMM blog you can sign up for updates, news, free downloads and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

And there is the information overload that comes from surfing the internet, reading email and all of the other various ways we “gather information” on a daily basis.

If you have been “researching” something for awhile you may have heard of something commonly referred to as analysis paralysis. Believe it or not there is such a thing as too much information.

The type of information I am specifically referring to is information on how to market your business.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a believer in education. In fact there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t have 20 tabs open in my browser, reading posts or watching videos on marketing tactics so I can see what is going on in the world. But if I spent hours and hours watching and reading and never DID anything with it, that would be a waste.

And if I didn’t have a basic foundation to start from I would very easily learn myself into a corner. I would be so busy trying to learn the best way to do something that I would do nothing. I would be so worried I was not doing the right thing first that I would again do nothing.

At a certain point you have to stop, take a deep breath and dive in head first.

One of the things we tell our students is to look at the material or the training completely. Try to start out by mainly following the teachings of one person. And then choose the thing that makes your creativity go crazy when you hear about it.Because that is the place to start.

Here is what I mean…

Last year we had two full day workshops that we put together. We held one or the other of them at least once a month all year long. In each workshop we taught in depth details about the what, why and how of about 4 marketing tactics. One was called “Social Media Extreme!” and the other was called “Marketing Yourself Online: Even If You Don’t Have a Website of Your Own“. Now these were each full day workshops like I said. We shoved a TON of information into each class.

And now they are both available as home study courses.

But one question was asked during every single class. And that was “Okay so I get it, but now where do I start?” The answer is “Think about the training. Was their one part of the day where as soon as you learned about it your brain went crazy? Was there one section where you suddenly had a bunch of ideas like I could do this, or this, or that? Then that is where you start!”

We told them to file away the other information (file it, not forget it ) and start with that one thing. Get it going. Start using that one tactic a minimum of weekly, preferably daily. Put it on your to do list or your calendar or in your planner, whatever you have to do to remember to do it. At first you will have to be reminded. At first it will take you longer than expected to complete that task each day. But eventually you will realize that you are just doing it and it is easy and you can’t really remember not doing it everyday.

Then it is time to add another task. It is time to open that file cabinet in your head and pull out the next bit of training that “spoke” to you and start the process over again.

By the KEY is to not get overwhelmed with all of the information available. Not get so busy learning, researching and looking for the “best” way to do something. You can have all of the information and knowledge in the world but if you don’t use that knowledge it does you no good at all.

So remember, close your eyes, take a deep breath, close the tabs on your browser, turn off the DVD on the TV and pick something (even if you use the eenie, meenie, minnie, mo game)…go on…get started…

(P.S. A great way to do this is by joining a 30 Day Blog Challenge )

Men? Women? Teenagers? People in your city? Or the standard “Everybody”?

That’s what I get most of the time when I ask someone this question. They say that everyone needs their product. That their service is something that anyone with a pulse would need and should be buying.

That might be true but how many of those people actually WANT your product or service? Just because you know they need it, do they know they need it? Do they care enough to believe they need it?

This is one of the major reasons that most businesses fail. They don’t know who their actual target customer is. They are practicing “Spray and Pray” marketing where they just throw a bunch of marketing stuff out at the world and then site back and see what works.

As a business owner, you need to drill it down to one very specific persona that is your target customer. Let’s re-phrase that a bit… your “Perfect” customers.

That’s who you want to focus on.

Look at your current customer list and see who your best customers are. Focus on them. What industry are they in? What are their hobbies? And most importantly… Where can you find more of them!

Once you get it down to defining who your perfect customer is, you need to find more of those customers. Where do they hang out? What magazines do they read? Do they have families? What age range are they in? What do they spend most of their time on?

Once you find that, you can focus your marketing and advertising efforts on those places. You can go to them with the message that will appeal to them, in a place that they will see it.

I always cringe when I talk to a business owner that is all excited when they just got a great deal on advertising in a new publication like a newspaper or magazine. I ask them who the demographics are for the magazine and we find out that the chances of their perfect customer reading that publication is very slim.

Think of it this way, would you advertise in the latest underage rock club if your products and services only appealed to the senior community? Of course not! It doesn’t make sense. But I see it all the time.

If you are in business to business sales does it make sense to advertise in a local community neighborhood paper? Doubtful. You might find that about 1% of the readers are either the owners of a business or at least in the purchasing position of a company. Just because that paper got distributed to 100,000 people and you got a great deal, doesn’t make it any better. You just wasted money talking to the wrong person.

That’s why it is so important to find your target customer… your PERFECT customer.

So, who is YOUR perfect customer?

Find this informative? Be sure to check out Branding Your Business & YOU. In today’s world, no one cares what company you’re with. They want a relationship with you. Let me know you how you can create a persona brand that will make you stand out from the crowd and become a category of one.

But…I have blogged very little. You see most (95%) of the posts on this blog were created/written by my partner Ely. He writes them and I post them (and spread them all over the internet). That has been our system since the beginning.

Why is this? Because it just is (or rather it has been). It has nothing to do with my knowledge of the topic, marketing in this case. I have the knowledge. I teach during our live workshops. I give advise to our friends and business students. I just have not blogged.

But that is changing today.

If you know us you might have an idea why..but for those of you that do not know us (or have not been listening/watching for the last few days) I will tell you what has inspired this change.

A 30 day blog challenge…

Yep that’s it. It is that easy. The way it works is you blog (duh..) at least once a day for 30 days in a row. There are many reasons for this.

1. To give Google the information it craves and therefore help your rankings.

2. To give potential customers something to look at so they can see if you would be a good fit for them.

3. To get in the habit of doing it…(that is really the main one in my mind)

You see if you did something every single day for 30 days in a row it would become a habit. You would feel like you forgot something if you didn’t do it. So by blogging every single day for 30 days then by the end you are more likely to keep up with it than if you just randomly started blogging.

Also there is an entire group of people that are doing the blog challenge at the same time, over 100 last I heard. So there is a bit of peer pressure involved also. I personally know 5 people that I physically see on a weekly basis that are participating in the challenge. So we are all checking up on each other, reading each other’s posts and generally keeping each other on track.

So…I now blog

Pretty cool huh?

Ely is also doing the blog challenge so you should see a TON of stuff run through this blog in the coming days and weeks (and hopefully months). So be sure to check back or subscribe to the RSS feed for this site so you can keep up with all of the marketing tips and tricks we will be posting out to help you with your marketing and your business in general.

If you have any specific tips or topics you would like to see be sure to leave comments below and we will make sure to cover them for you.

See you tomorrow, I promise it will be a useful tip instead of my random ramblings

They start to slow down and get more lazy in their business.

It’s like the colder weather slows down everyone’s blood flow and everyone goes into slow motion.

Now many retail businesses ramp up during the holidays since retail sales usually go up but a lot of businesses I know seem to grind to a crawl.

So why is that? As great as it is to take a break, in today’s world, you can’t slow down the momentum in your business. You need to keep growing no matter what time of year it is.

So, what are you doing in your business to ramp up your marketing and sales so you come in to the new year with a bang instead of having to start the new year building up speed after a slow winter?

Planning for the new year doesn’t start January 2nd, it should start now. Get the ball rolling now while everyone else is watching football and planning their next holiday party.

I’m not saying to not take time with family and enjoy the holidays. I’m just saying that you need to keep your momentum rolling so you will be one step ahead for the next year.

Make the next year your best year ever and set your planning to double your sales. What would happen if you started the process now? The opportunities are there and this is a the best time of year to ramp up your marketing and your planning.

So here’s my challenge for you… Pick one thing that you will dedicate time each day over the next week to add in to your marketing mix. Create a follow up postcard. Make a list of clients to call and follow up with. Create a new email newsletter. Just pick one thing.

Then make sure each day you dedicate time to work on this one task until it is completed.

Once it’s complete, reward yourself. Congratulations! It’s not as hard as you think.

Dedicate yourself to pick one new thing you can add to your marketing mix each week until the end of the year. Think about how much marketing you’ll have in place to get January rockin’!

So what are you going to do today to ramp up your marketing for the next week?
Leave your comments below. What’s your one new item you are going to focus on for this week?

I want to know!

I can pretty much tell you that no matter how often you follow up with your customers, it’s not enough.

In today’s world, people have less and less of an attention span and forget very easily about you and what you have to offer them. If you want an easy way to increase sales in your business, you need to increase the amount of contacts you have with each and every customer you have.

So how can you do this?

First, thank them for the sale.
Emails, thank you cards and letters are a great way to make one more touch with a customer right after the sale. If someone comes in to your store and buys something from you, send them a a thank you a couple of days after the sale. This will make them feel special and make you stand out from everyone else out there.

Also, educate them on the best ways to use the product they just bought from you. Remind them of additional benefits that they might not have known about or remembered before they bought the product.

Second, remind them of complimentary products that work well with the product they bought.
This is huge. Remember that people usually don’t know your product anywhere near what you know about it. They are looking to you to help them and educate them.

If you have another product that works great with the product they bought already or that will enhance the product they bought, share that with them. Let them know the additional benefits to using that products also. Offer a special discount because they bought the first product.

Most business owners don’t think about the fact that as long as what you have is of great value, your customers will want to buy your additional products as long as they make sense for them. Too many small businesses could easily increase sales just by letting people know about some of the products that they tend to forget to share with their customers.

Third, remind your customers of maintenance or renewable products.
What do I mean by this? Let’s say you sell a nutrition product that is usually a month’s supply. Many customers will still forget to purchase more when they run out. We’re all busy. I do it all the time.

If you can call them or email them and give them an easy way to re-order, you’ve just saved them from running out of your product and you’ve made and easy sale at the same time.

Put your customers on a calendar so you know to email, call or mail out a direct mail piece in plenty of time to remind them to place their order before they run out.

Remember that as long as you provide great value and your customers are happy with your products, it’s easy to sell them on additional products as long as it helps them save time, use the product better or most importantly, solves a problem they have. It’s your responsibility to educate them on what you have to offer. They will never buy from you if they don’t know you offer that product of service.

About The Author:
Ely Delaney is a dad, author, speaker, marketing consultant and Founder/CEO of My Business Marketing Mentor. His goal is to teach marketing in a simple easy to understand format that businesses can use to help gain marketing ideas & market their businesses to boost sales. Throughout the MBMM blog you can sign up for updates, news, free downloads and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
]]> http://mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/customer-followup-increase-sales-business-2/feed 0 http://mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/3-ideas-to-make-your-business-stand-out-from-the-crowd http://mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/3-ideas-to-make-your-business-stand-out-from-the-crowd#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:39:27 +0000 The Mentor http://mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/3-ideas-to-make-your-business-stand-out-from-the-crowd/ In today’s economy, businesses are failing each and every day. Are we to blame the recession or Hard Times? The answer is no we can’t. As business owners, we are responsible for our own actions.

The problem is that in almost every industry, everyone seems to think that they can be just like like everyone else and still do fine. That just isn’t the case any more.

To make your business survive in these tough times, you have to stand out from the crowd. You can’t be just like everyone else. If you are, then the only thing you have going for you in your price. Price wars are never a good thing and devalues your products or services.

So what can you do to overcome this issue? You need to differentiate yourself from your competition. The following ideas will help you stand out from the crowd and gain more business, helping your prospects know that your are the only logical choice.

1. What are your competitors doing? Do the opposite!
If they are all promoting on price, you should be promoting on extra value. What can you add to your products or services instead of dropping your prices?

If you sell a $100 product and your competitor is selling the same basic product for $90, then look at what you can add to your product that will give the value of $150 or $200 instead.

Anything from gift cards, an extra room of cleaning, to free chair massages at a hair salon can make a huge difference to your customers perception of your company and they will be willing to pay the extra price for the additional services.

2. Be unique
Add personality to your business. Let’s look at an example. If you have a security company, your company uniforms could be different than the standard boring “Rent-a-cop” look by having camo-wearing guards or secret service style uniforms. Something to make you stand out from the norm.

This will not only get attention but other potential prospects will take more notice and be sure that all your employees have business cards to hand out if someone asks about your service.

3. Offer special services
How often do you find that it would be easier to get to the bank on a Sunday or later at night? How many banks do you know that are open 7 days a week? I can’t count the number of times that I wished they were open because that’s the only day I have a chance to get over there.

Stay open off hours, offer pickup and delivery (free or paid), Think about what the biggest complaints people have about your industry and look at creative ways to overcome these complaint. Market specifically to those special added benefits

Ok, so there you have it, 3 ideas that you can implement right away to make your business stand out form the crowd and market your business as the ONLY choice in your area or industry. Don’t be afraid to experiment and be creative. The businesses that stand out the most get the most attention are more likely to be remembered in the long run.

How to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more! Not just how to set up your account. Not just how to fill out the registration forms. But actual step by step how to USE the sites EFFECTIVELY for business. How to build business relationships and grow your business.

Full house today. Great networking going on already! Everyone getting to know each other, exchanging business cards, even setting up meetings to get together later.

To start off our day Ely is explaining WHAT Social Media is. Why we need to add Social Media into our marketing mix.

Here are some pictures of the group, I will share more later…

It’s about becoming unstoppable in your life and your business.

So here’s how it starts…

We have a friend that’s been bugging us to go to this seminar for a while now and we keep putting it off as we’ve just been too busy to fly across the country to go. We didn’t even really know what it was about. Just that is was awesome.

All of a sudden we get an email from her saying we have no excuse to go as they are having one here in Phoenix and she’s GIVING us the tickets just to get us to go!

So, long story short. It was great. I understand why she had a hard time explaining it to us and we had an amazing experience.

It was by a guy named Marshall Sylver and he’s a motivational speaker with his roots based in hypnosis. Before you go off on any objections here, just hold out and read on…

The entire 2 days was great but one thing stood out specifically for me that was the light that clicked on brighter than the sun.

We Ate Fire!

That’s right. You know the fire eaters that stick a flaming torch in their mouths and put it out? That’s what we did.

Just crazy!

The rules are simple.

It’s safe.
It’s easy.
If…
You follow instructions and don’t hesitate and chicken out.

Funny thing, when he first showed us what we were going to do, I didn’t even stop to think if I was going to do it. I just said, “OK” and got in line.

There were a ton of people there and most of them also did it so it wasn’t like I was one of just a couple of people, but the fact that I did it is still the same.

The videos of Cindy and I both doing it are below so you can see that we actually did it. They are quick and low quality but it’s still way cool!

So here’s the whole point of this post. When I was actually standing there and they lit the torch, we were supposed to say one word.

Unstoppable…

That’s it.

After I did it, the rush was crazy and I stopped and thought about what I had just done.

I actually ate fire!

And, yes… I am unstoppable.

The mindset that changed at that very moment was the coolest thing I had ever felt.

We are unstoppable if we just set our minds to it and focus on the task at hand.

Don’t think.
Don’t worry.

Just focus and do it!

With people still freaking out about the economy and the negative things in the world, I know it might be hard some times but you have to focus on the goal, not the obstacles or you will trip every time.

What can you do to move forward? Stop thinking about the past. Stop worrying about the future. If you focus your energy on just doing the things that you know you need to do to achieve your goals, then the rest will fall in place.

That’s my message to you and I hope that you see the true value of the power of being unstoppable. It can move mountains, cure diseases and even… fix a bad economy.

We as entrepreneurs are the solution. With the right mindset, the right focus and the right goals, we will build the world to an amazing place.

That is my goal. It helped me remember why we started MBMM. To teach small business owners how to grow their business and give them the tools to explode.

Thanks a bunch for reading.

Best of Success and Be Unstoppable!

Ely Delaney
The Purple Guy

P.S. Check out the videos below. They are pretty cool!

The best way to help eliminate this up and down issue is to set up a form of pre-paid program for your customers to help even out your cash flow and build a strong monthly base for your business.

This can be in the form of a pre-paid program, monthly autoship program or monthly membership program. This often overlooked income stream for your business can help any small business even out their cash flow and build your business each and every month.

So let’s take a look at each of these three programs and expand on each one.

Pre-paid programs
This method works great if you have customers that make larger purchases. Using this method you can bring in a good cash flow at any time and guarantee that the customer spends their money with you. The best way to do this is with Gift Cards. Most of the major retail stores out there are using gift cards or reloadable cards as a great way to increase cash flow in their business.

These cards can have any amount of money added to them by the customer and then they can give it as a gift or even keep it for their own use. Some people will use these cards to help themselves keep a budget on their spending. They will go in each month and add a specific amount to the card as their “spending limit”. Parents buy these cards for college kids and reload them each money to ensure they can buy things they need but it’s better than cash that they never know what it will be spent on.

From your side, you get paid either way. Once the money is spent on these cards, you know that you’ve been paid and have the cash flow. The customers may not use the cards right away but you already have been paid.

Autoship Programs
Many nutritional supplement companies use this as a way to ensure monthly recurring income and it’s a great benefit for both the company and the customer.

You sign up for their program and every month they ship you your products without you having to do anything on your part.

The “Book Of The Month” Club was one of the first companies to use this type of system to ensure cash flow.

What products do you have that your customers need each month or even every couple of months that you could offer as an autoship program?

Office supply or printer supply stores might offer to autoship a customer’s ink or toner each month to ensure that the customer never runs out of ink and just auto charge their account each month for the order.

It’s easier for the customer so they don’t have to worry about running out of ink in the middle of a big print job and the Supply store gets an automatic order each and every month.

Monthly Memberships
Monthly membership programs are the third way you can build in more stable cash flow for your business.

This type of program works best as an added upsell to a larger single purchase product. This could be a program for continual education and training on product that the customer purchased.

Another way this can be used is as a discount program. If the customer becomes part of your membership program, they might get your newsletter that gives them great tips and tricks each month but also gives them access to specific special discounts not offered to the general public.

Think about the a membership to Sam’s Club or Costco. You can’t even buy from there stores unless you are a member of their membership program.

So there you have it.

As a business owner, you need to be looking at ways you can build in a form of monthly residual income for your business in order to even out cash flow and build your business with a stable residual baseline of income. Getting this in place will help your business if you have a slower month here and there and ensure your business is growing each and every month.

As hard as it is for these businesses and their owners, most of them will still want to make sure that their customers are taken care of after they close their doors. This makes a great opportunity for you to not only get a new list of potential clients but make sure that those people are taken care of once the old business is long gone.

Most business owners that are liquidating their business think about getting rid of their equipment and supplies but they don’t ever think about their client list as an asset. Anyone that is good at marketing knows that your list is your MOST VALUABLE asset in your business.

Think about businesses in your industry that either sell the same products as you do or also businesses that sell products that compliment your product. Make a list of these companies and see if you can get the owner’s contact information. If they sell a product that is complimentary to yours, it should be pretty easy to make friends with these owners as you can start building a relationship for Joint Venture promotions and cross sell products right away.

You should already be looking for businesses like this to work with. If for some reason those businesses run into trouble and go out of business it will make it easier for you to approach the owner about buying their list from them. Most likely they haven’t even thought of that and you can get it from them for less than you would if you were to use a list broker to find the exact types of clients.

For the companies that are direct competition from you, you might not have a good of a relationship as you would with someone that isn’t directly competing with you, but you should try to make the connections anyway. Friendly competition never hurts and keeps all businesses in top shape. Building relationships with some of your competition can also help you in the long run. You might have a job that isn’t ideal for your business. Maybe a project that is further away than you want to go. Maybe a job that’s bigger than you want to handle on your own, or the other side of that… A job that’s smaller than you want to take on. Having a list of your competitors that you could refer to in situations like that are ideal. This will keep you in good standing with the prospects that you couldn’t help yourself and also makes you look good to your competition and builds a level of respect with them.

There will still be some that you don’t know at all and don’t build relationships with. You still want to keep an eye on what’s going on with them.

If one of these companies does announce that they are closing their doors for whatever reason, you have an opportunity to come in and see what you can do to help them out. Remember, your relationships will do more good for everyone involved (including you) than anything else out there in a situation like this.

Make contact with the owners as soon as possible. Ask them to lunch or coffee. Then, you can offer to buy their list of clients for them. Tell them that you want to ensure that their clients get the same great service they got before instead of having to go to the trouble of shopping around for a new company. Tell them that you promise to take great care of his/her clients and you want to help out any way you can.

The next step is to see if the owner will be willing to mail a personal letter to all their clients recommending you as their new service provider. You should write the letter for them in order to make sure it gets done and says everything it needs to say. You also will pay for all costs for the mailing like postage, printing of the letter on the old company’s letterhead, etc. All the owner needs to do is approve the letter and give you the list for the mailings. Make it as easy as possible for the owner. You don’t want to put more work on them. They already have enough stress as it is in this time.

You should be doing all the work for this. Remember, don’t come in like a vulture with this arrangement either. Be sincere and considerate of the old business owner. Any time someone closes a business, it’s going to be hard for them. Remember, you are here to help out and the business you get from it is a byproduct of the situation.

Acquiring new clients from a company going out of business is a very cost effective way to grow your prospect list quickly if it is done right. It’s a great tool to add to your marketing mix that will save you a small fortune over trying to find new prospects. These are prospects that are already qualified to buy your product or service because they have bought similar products before and now they need a new supplier for this service. Just remember that you are there to help these prospects out. Keep your ethics in mind when you do this and your return on marketing to these new prospects will come back to you tenfold.

Do you remember what it was?

Did you do it?

Well…if you did thank you and if you didn’t, now is your chance to redeem yourself.

I asked you to go and cast your vote for the 4 companies listed below (and anyone else you wanted to) for the Ranking Arizona Publication’s poll for 2010. Ahh, now you remember.

For those of you who don’t remember, or who maybe didn’t get the last request, here in Arizona (where we are based) there is a publication that comes out each year called Ranking Arizona. Here is their explanation of what they are, right off of their web site:

“Ranking Arizona is the outcome of the largest business opinion poll in Arizona. Each category is selected by the staff of Arizona Business Magazine for the general public to vote on and are based upon business and leisure activities of Arizona’s business professionals.”

So, we need you to go vote. There are a few businesses that they have listed that we would like to help get the mention in the 2010 publication.

Voting is really easy, you simply click the link, click search by name, enter the name, pick the right one from the list, enter your email address and click “Cast my vote”.  A few simple steps and you help a small business get a bit of publicity.

Cast Your Vote

Companies Looking For Votes:
Knight Tymes Designs (Advertising & Marketing/Graphic Design Firms)
Coyote Targeted Promotions (Advertising & Marketing/Promotional Products)
Westworld Paintball Adventures (Entertainment/Family Amusement)
Deborah Mitchell – West USA (Real Estate – Residential/Real Estate Agents)

Cast Your Vote Today!

If there is someone I did not see on the list, I’m sorry.  And if you know of another business in Arizona please vote for them too!

If you voted last time, THANK YOU! But you can vote again. Each person can vote once every 60 days. So please help us out by voting again.

Thank you everyone!!!

Community organizations are always looking for people to volunteer to help their organization. Many do look for donations for their fund raising events and such but many times, most of them really need people that would be willing to donate a few hours of their time to help with their events and causes.

Donating a little bit of your time can really help their cause and help you contribute to your community. At the same time, you will have the opportunity to be part of your community and help develop better relationships with the other volunteers. Many of these volunteers are also business owners and managers just like you. Networking with other people that are all working for a similar cause can really help you as a business owner build trust with your community and the side effect of this is more people that would be happy to refer your business to anyone that might need the services or products you supply.

Great businesses are built from great people and the relationships you and your employees have with your community can position your business as more than just a company providing a service but a company with high ethics and a real purpose in your area.

Remember that everything you do has a cause and effect in the image and promotion of your business.

Let’s look at a few great ways you can contribute to your community.

1. Be active in Your Chamber Of Commerce - Chambers Of Commerce are a great way to help contribute. They are filled with businesses. Most are small businesses just like yours. The great thing about Chambers is that they not only work with business owners for promoting their businesses, but most of them are part of several charities that they help contribute to. Talk to them about the organizations they work with and volunteer to help out with their next fund raising event.

Many times, there are sponsorship opportunities available for donating a set dollar amount to the event. This is great to do if it’s in your budget but remember it’s not about just giving them money to place your logo on a flyer or a banner at the event. It’s about really giving. Ask them how you can participate in the event itself.

Can you help stuff bags that are being handed out at the event?

How about helping check people in at the next Charity golf outing?

This is more about building relationships and really helping out, not just getting your name out there.

2. Join a local service organization – Local service organizations are a great way you can get involved. Kiwanis International, Lions Club, and Rotary Club are just a few places to start. These groups meet on a regular basis and their entire purpose is to work on ideas and events to help raise money for local community charities. This is like a networking group with the purpose to help your community. Be active, look at one group that you see would be a great fit for your beliefs and ideals and you will make a great contribution to their cause.

Again, this is hands on stuff, your involvement with these groups is about being involved and helping the community, not about promoting your business. The relationships you build will give you the side effect of more business and more sales.

3. What cause is close to your heart? - Most people have at least one thing that is near and dear to them and there are always charities based around those causes. Maybe it’s a Cancer Research Group, or an Animal No Kill Shelter. What is important to you? See what groups are available in your area that you can volunteer with and help them out.

Again, many of these organizations have other business owners just like you that are there to help because of their own personal interest in that cause. You have something in common with those people right away and that’s the start of a relationship.

The biggest thing to remember is that you should not be joining any type of charity organization or community organization for the soul reason of getting more business. The business your get is a byproduct of your involvement and giving to your community for the greater good. Trust me on this one. If you give from your heart and really contribute to your community and society in general, the return you get from it will be tenfold.

“Ranking Arizona is the outcome of the largest business opinion poll in Arizona. Each category is selected by the staff of Arizona Business Magazine for the general public to vote on and are based upon business and leisure activities of Arizona’s business professionals.”

So here is the favor, we need you to go vote. There are a few businesses that they have listed that we would like to help get the mention in the 2010 publication. Voting is really easy, you simply click the link, click search by name, enter the name, pick the right one from the list, enter your email address and click “Cast my vote”. A few simple steps and you help a small business get a bit of publicity.

Cast Your Vote

Show the world the power of the internet and help us out in the process.

Companies Looking For Your Votes:
Knight Tymes Designs (Advertising & Marketing/Graphic Design Firms)
Coyote Targeted Promotions (Advertising & Marketing/Promotional Products)
Westworld Paintball (Entertainment/Family Amusement)
Deborah Mitchell – West USA (Real Estate – Residential/Real Estate Agents)

Cast Your Vote Today!

If there is someone I did not see on the list, I’m sorry. And if you know of another business in Arizona please feel free to vote for them. Year after year the same (big) companies make the top ten and I thought that this year we should shake up the list a bit

You can vote every 60 days per company, per category, so you can still vote for each company twice before the voting ends!

Please take a minute and help out some small business owners. In today’s economy we all need all the help we can get.

Thanks again, hey and be sure to leave your comments below letting everyone know you voted (you also get a link back to your own web site, when you leave a comment here ) And if your area has a similar publication, let us know so we can go vote for you.

We will remind you again in a couple of months and we will let you know how your votes helped and what the final standings are at the end of the voting.

Remember click the link, click search by name, enter the name (from above), pick the right one from the list, enter your email address and click “Cast my vote”.

Cast Your Vote!

Thanks a million!

Cindy
My Business Marketing Mentor

Which is more impressive to you?

“I just love the service that XYZ company gave me!”
or…
“My new widow coverings where just what I wanted. Company XYZ came out and asked just the right questions to make sure that they gave me exactly what I wanted. They even suggested a few things I had not thought of to make sure I made the right choice. They came back to install the new coverings and were fast, made sure that I was happy with how they looked and even had a checklist so I made sure that everything was done correctly the first time. They also made sure that everything was put back just like it was before they were there. The only reason you’d know they came to install everything is because of how much more beautiful my living room looks. Thank you so much for such a painless process!”

The second testimonial is much more descriptive and really shows the emotion that the customer had. You can almost see the smile on their face as you read it. This is what you want from your customers. This is what will really impress new prospects and gain their trust to do business with you.

2.Don’t use generic names
I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a testimonial from “John D” in someone’s advertising or on their website. Well… Who’s “John D”? How do I know that this person actually exists? Don’t try to hide your customers from new customers. If they are happy with your products and services, they won’t mind if you use their real name. This isn’t Witness Protection here. This is proof that you have excited, happy customers that are happy to rave about your wonderful service! Use their full name. Even show what city they are in. People aren’t going to stalk them because of a testimonial they did for you. Using a real name makes your testimonial more believable People aren’t going to trust a quote form someone that doesn’t look real!

3.Use a photo if possible
The testimonial sample we did above is great. It’s detailed, happy and shows the emotion and positive image the customer has towards the company. But… a picture is worth a thousand words. Right?! So take a picture of the customer with their new product and a great big smiling face. Not only do you have a great testimonial with a real name but now the prospect has a face to put with the name. Now… This is a REAL person. Just adding a photo of the customer next to the testimonial will increase the trust and believability ten fold!

See, by adding just a few little things in ind you can use your customer testimonials as a great tool in all your marketing and advertising plans. It doesn’t take much but just by making a few small changes you can make a huge impact towards the effectiveness of any marketing you do.

Most small businesses think of sending a huge mailing when sending direct mail to new prospects and get overwhelmed with the thought and costs involved. Though this is the way that the big boys do it, it isn’t the way that a small business needs to market. As a small business owner, you can start with a small list and mail to 10 – 100 prospects a week instead of having to mail to 10,000 all at once. Keep it small if your budget is limited.

There are two main important things to keep in mind with any marketing mailing that will increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

First, mail to a targeted list.
You need to make sure that your list is mailed to people that would be interested in your service. It doesn’t do any good to mail to a thousand people when only ten percent of the people would ever be interested in your product. Try to get your lists as targeted as possible.

Next, be consistent.
One mailer isn’t likely to get their attention right away. Remember that it takes six to ten times before a prospect actually pays attention to your message and knows who you are.

The first mailing will get the potential customers that need your product right now. But, not everyone will need your product the day that they see your mailer. That’s why repetition is important. I’ve sent postcard campaigns and seen 2-3 times the response on the second or third mailing than the first. Why? Because the first time they didn’t need what we offered. The second time, they had been thinking about it and remembered the first mailer we sent them. By the third time, we are now in their mind and they are ready to move forward.

I’ve also done four letter campaigns to very small lists get 1-2 calls from the first mailing but on the fourth mailer we’d get eight or nine calls. All from the same small list of about 25 people. As long as your list if very targeted, you can easily get higher results form more mailings. Even if your list is small.

So, remember, don’t think that you have to have a large list in order to have a successful direct mail campaign in your marketing mix. You can start small and increase the size as your budget allows.

We’re not just talking about basic printed ads though. It’s more than that.

The best way to use classified ads is to offer a Free Report, How To Guide or Consumer Awareness Guide as the primary promotion in the ad. Don’t just advertise your business like everyone else does. Then, well… You’ll just look like everyone else and you won’t get much of a response.

You need to make your ad stand out and give them something that will catch their attention.

Let’s say you are skimming through the newspaper and you happen to need a handyman to fix up a few things around your house. You see two classifieds about handyman services but the first is pretty basic. It says what they do, their price and a phone number.

Ok, so you’ll keep that information because you do need to call someone soon. But…

The second ad reads “Don’t risk your home to any handyman service until you’ve read this FREE report on “7 Things you should know BEFORE hiring any handyman service!” with a website to download the free report.

Don’t you think that it might be important to know what those 7 things are before you call the other guy? It won’t hurt anything and you might save yourself money or remove the risk if the other guy doesn’t make the cut after reading the free report.

Now, if you are offering that report, you have the advantage over the other guy. You now control the information in the prospects mind BEFORE they even talk to anyone else. And overall, by the time they’ve read your report, they’ll be more likely to call you even if your price is a little higher because you educated them and saved them from making a mistake and hiring the guy that isn’t as good or honest with their customers.

See how powerful this can be? Classified ads are simple and easy little ads that are inexpensive to run and can create a great way to build a list of prospects. Be sure to check with some of the smaller local publications. You’ll be surprised how inexpensive this can be to test a 3 day or 5 day classified ad.

Now… don’t just think of classified ads at the ads you see in small local newspapers. Did you know that Craigslist is also a classified ads system? You can post your same printed ad online on sites like Craiglist and other online classified ad systems. Some for very cheap and many for free. Just search Google for classified ads and you’ll come up with a few ideas. See if you can find directories that are local to your area in order to keep your listings to your local area.

If your prospects know that they can buy your product at any time and there isn’t any hurry, then they are likely to put off making a decision. It’s your job, therefore, to get your prospect to buy, and buy now. Using scarcity to sell is a great way to accomplish that.

Here’s three basic types of takeaways that you can use to create scarcity and push your prospects to buy now instead of waiting until they get around to it.

Limiting the Quantity
If you are only offering the product to the first 20 people who buy, if they really want your product, they want to act quickly in order to make sure that they don’t miss out. This gives them the sense of being Special as they were one of the few that got their hands on this limited quantity item. Think about the commercials about the limited print collectible plates or gold coins. People eat these up because they think that they might miss out on a collectible that might be worth a fortune in a couple of years.

What can you do to limit the quantity on your products or services? Here’s a couple of ideas:

We can only take 5 clients at this price, after those slots are filled we will be raising the price.

Limited to the first 20 people in the door. No rain checks will be given

At this price we will book up fast. We can only take 5 appointments this month. After those slots are filled, we will be taking names only for the waiting list. Additional openings will only be given as space becomes available.

Limited Time
Offer only good until ______

I get an email from one of the big book stores with coupons all the time. They send me coupons all the time. At least once a month.

Even though I know there will always be more coupons, every time I get one of those 30% off one book coupons I make sure I print it out and go out of my way to go to the book store to see what I get for 30% off. They always expire in just a couple of days. I usually get the coupon on Thursday or Friday and it expires on Sunday. It never fails, I’m in there checking out the selection on the weekend to make sure that I don’t let my coupon go to waste.

Now, my book collection is huge. Do I need another book? No. I have a stack already waiting for me to get caught up and read them all but I am still compelled to buy that book in fear of this great coupon going to waste.

Always include a time limited offer to any marketing advertisement you do. Any coupon or special offer should always include a time limited expiration on it. This will encourage customers to come in just to use the coupon when they might have normally hung on to it for a while until they got around to using it.

Limit the Offer
If you are offering bonus items or premium products with the sale, you can limit the number of these bonuses to a limited number of people.

What bonuses can you add to a promotion? Then limit the number of bonuses.

Free 500 business cards with your brochure order of 1000 brochures. Limited to the first 15 people.

Then when the first 15th people have placed their order, you don’t give away any more free business cards. Be sure to stick to your guns on these. You don’t want to ruin your credibility by giving away more of the bonuses than you said you had. If you do that, the next time you have a promotion like that people will think they can get away with not stepping up quickly since, Oh he gave it me last time anyway. I’m sure he’ll do that again.

In Conclusion, you should include some form of limiting factor in any promotion you do in order to create a sense of urgency and scarcity in your product. This will boost sales and cause people to take notice and buy your product fast in fear of loosing out and not getting the cool extras or discounts.

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Stop struggling to figure out what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Visit http://www.MaximumProfitsBook.com for the recipe book of marketing ideas and to claim your FREE Quickstart Guide Step By Step: Writing Ads That Actually Work!

Every piece of marketing and advertising you’ve got should include at least one testimonial and really should include at many as you have space for.

Don’t be shy! If you have room to show off what other happy customers are saying about your product or service, then show off as many as possible. This is something to be proud of.

Here’s a few great ways to make the most of your testimonials from happy customers:

Be creative with your testimonials when you are getting them from customers. Don’t just ask them to write up something about you. Many times, though they mean well, they won’t get to it and it could be months before you finally get anything from them. It may never actually happen.

Most of the time, it’s not personal. It’s just that they are busy and forget. You can help them out by using a quick phone interview with them to ask a few basic questions and then use that information to write up the testimonial for them. Then just send it to them so they can look at it and approve it.

Many times they are happy with your product but just don’t know what to say. This interview format will help them too and help get a more detailed testimonial than you might have got from them doing it on their own.

You might ask them if they would be willing to do a video testimonial. These are the best types of testimonials you can get. It’s quick, easy and now you’ve not only caught the words that they say about you but you’ve also caught they’re emotion.

Video testimonials are not only the most powerful form of testimonial but they have multiuse abilities for any of your marketing ideas. Let’s look at a few ways these videos can boost your sales and explode your marketing efforts.

1. Place the videos on your website for prospects to see that might be browsing and not sure if you are the right fit for their needs. When they see a bunch of not just text but video testimonials from excited happy clients, they will feel more comfortable you are a credible business.

2. Use these videos on demonstration CD’s or DVD’s that you show to clients in presentations or sales meetings.

3. Cut the audio out for smaller sections or portfolio pieces to show prospects how happy the customer was with the job you did.

4. Transcribe the audio to written testimonials that can be used in printed materials like yellow page ads, newspaper advertising or even direct mail pieces like postcards. I would recommend also using something like, Visit our website for videos of what clients like this have to say, in order to get them to your website and see the real excitement the customer had when they recorded the video.

The most important thing is to get as many testimonials as you can from your happy customers and use them any place you can. You can never have too many testimonials. Written is great but if you can get them to do a small video for you the impact will be 100 times better and your new prospects will be more at ease and comfortable with choosing you for their needs. And… to become your next testimonial!

After you get the directory all set up and the pages ready for download or video viewing simply add the URL to an auto responder message. Include the username and password that they will need in order to log in to download or view the contents of the protected area. Then you will write a “sales page” and send it to your opted in list of people or have your JV partners or affiliates distribute it to their lists. Make sure you are “limiting” the offer. You don’t want the entire list to think anyone and everyone has access to the “secret area”. You want your message to convey to them that they are one of a select few that have been granted access. The goal is to make them feel special.

The key is to make the secret access free.  You can include other offers for the people to purchase upgraded products or better versions, but ultimately they still need to receive what you promised them they would receive for free. Using this tactic will also show you how responsive your list is. It will allow you to ask them to “register” to download their free content or to “verify” that they are allowed to receive the free product. This will help you break down your list into groups based on which items they “register” to download. It also tells you that these people are receiving and acting on your messages.

This alone can be valuable information. By giving away free items to your list occasionally you are also showing them that you are more than just someone after their money. You are showing them that you have valuable resources that you are willing to share with them. This makes them more likely to purchase your products when you do have products for them to buy since you have proven you will provide value.

This marketing tactic works very well when used in conjunction with your auto responder program. Once people have requested the information on your secret pages you can now email them over time about updates that become available. Using your auto responder you can notify them about other specials you are running and new products you come out with that may interest them. So you set up the free area once and then continue to benefit from it for a very long time in the future.

This is only one way to use your auto responder program to help you keep in contact with your list of subscribers or to help your affiliate keep your message in front of their lists. With a little creativity you should be able to think of many more things you can use your auto responder program for to help you increase your business.

“People Buy with emotion and then they justify with logic”

It’s been said over and over but most marketing we see every day from small businesses don’t use this basic rule in their own marketing.

When you talk about your services or products, you need to keep this rule in mind in order to “Sell a story” about your product.

Let’s say you’re a carpet cleaner. You could say something like “we will remove the stains and dirt from your carpet”.

Now, that’s pretty basic. It’s boring and really won’t excite anyone.

Let’s look at using emotional hot buttons and selling the story:

“We’ll make your carpets look and smell fresh so you have that fresh New Home Smell. Your neighbors will walk in the door and be asking if you just got new new carpet with amazement on how clean and bright your carpet

looks. Forget those nasty spills and pet odors! Your home will radiate a bright and clean feel in every room.”

See the difference. The second paragraph helps them imagine how clean and fresh their home will be after using your services. It also talks about how their neighbors will be amazed at how clean everything is.

Remember that your message is your salesman. It doesn’t matter if you are writing for a brochure, flyer, print ad or even your website, you need to need to “sell” the reader on your product or it will get lost in a sea of other

boring and ineffective ads.

Try to paint a picture in the mind of your reader. Be as descriptive as you can.

Here are a few Hot Buttons that you can use in your marketing:

1.Save Time – Spend more time with family,  Quit working 12 hour days
2.Indulgence – Spa service, or a fancy restaurant
3.Superiority or Winning – Your house will be the envy of everyone on the block
4.Protection of Loved Ones – Your Family’s protection is our business (security company)
5.Fear of Loss – Only 200 of these coins will ever be released

These are just a few Hot buttons that you can use in your marketing to get your creative juices flowing.

Remember, be specific in all of your marketing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a yellow page ad, your website, or even your business card, you need to paint a picture in the mind of your prospect so they know that you ARE the right choice.

Stop struggling to figure out what works and what doesn’t in marketing . Visit http://www.MaximumProfitsBook.com for the recipe book of marketing ideas and to claim your FREE Quickstart Guide “Step By Step: Writing Ads That Actually Work!”

There are several things you should to make sure you are including when you set up your auto responder to send an automated message to a customer that has just placed an order. Remember this should be more than a “receipt”. This is your opportunity to “speak” to your new client or returning client and thank them for purchasing from you as well as tell them about other products you have or specials you are currently running. You need to write your message so that you are not missing out on the opportunity.

The key is not to try and combine your thank you message with the payment receipt all on the same auto responder message that is emailed to the client. You also don’t want your thank you/sales message included on any email that gives the customer a link to a download page or includes the product as an attachment – the download link or attachment would go better with the payment receipt. You want to make sure that your thank you/sales message is sent out all by itself. You don’t want any other content to distract from your thank you/sales message. This will allow your customer to focus on the message and not on what they bought or how to get their product.

In this message thank the customer for their purchase repeat the benefits of your product and how it is going to help them solve the issue they may be having. Tell them about complimentary products that you have that go well with the one they just purchased or products that are similar in some way. For example if they purchased body soap, maybe they would like the body lotion in the same scent. Or if they purchased a shirt, they might like matching pants or a skirt. Include a message just letting them know about the various other products that you have to offer that work well with the one they just purchased.

The most important thing is to have immediate contact with your new customer. When someone comes into a physical store there are always small items all around the cash register. This prompts impulse purchases of complimentary items that the customer may not have thought of if they had not seen them within easy access. Your thank you/sales message can and should act as the bins surrounding the cash register in your store and therefore serving the same purpose. Just be sure not to be overly in your face about it.

Remember this person just purchased from you. At this time they are happy with you because you just provided them with a product they wanted that may have solved a problem they were having. You don’t want to start slamming them with more sales messages and annoy them. This will not serve to make them repeat customers, this will only serve to annoy them and make them look elsewhere the next time they need what you are offering.

You can send them periodic messages about specials or new products, but resist the urge to email them daily; this will simply not be good for business. Your auto responder program can help you follow-up with your new customer in a way that helps remind them about you and what you have to offer. It reminds them you are there and still in business when they are ready to purchase again, but it must be used responsibly in order to help your customer and you, not to bombard them with constant sales messages.

Be sure that your auto responder messages allow your customers a way to be automatically removed from your list. Also, and maybe the most important thing, be sure that the things that you send to your list of previous customers contain valuable and related information. Don’t abuse their trust by sending them only sales messages, be sure to send them coupons, free reports and simply say hello rather than making all of your messages about spending more money with you. By doing this you will continue to build their trust in you and you will be the first person they think of to recommend to friends or when it is time for them to reorder.

Stop struggling to figure out what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Visit http://www.MaximumProfitsBook.com for the recipe book of marketing ideas and to claim your FREE Quickstart Guide “Step By Step: Writing Ads That Actually Work!”

Now that auto responders have been being used by businesses for a few years we can see that sending personalized emails from an auto responder program is a great way to easily boost sales for a business. When you use your auto responder program to send emails to your prospects or clients you can set it up the automatically merge information such as their name into each email. This helps each email sound like it was written just for that one person and allows you to connect with your customers, no matter how many of them you have.

By doing this in an auto responder you will save yourself many hours because even if you were to send the same email to multiple customers by copying and pasting the message and adding their name at the top, that method would take many hours if your list had more than a few people on it. But with an auto responder program this can be done with just a few clicks of your mouse.

When someone purchases from you is determined by many factors. Some people may locate you when they are ready to purchase and will purchase after only getting one or two emails from you. But statistics show that the average sale is made after seven or eight contacts or emails are received by the prospective client. By using an auto responder you can make sure that these messages are going out regularly without you having to mark your calendar and try to follow up with each person every time manually.

You generally are sending the same message over and over again anyway even if you manually type each message; the message itself changes very little. So with an auto responder program you simply enter the same messages you would have sent anyway and tell the software to send them out at specific timeframes to your prospects. Then you can choose to use the time you would have spend manually emailing each person to make live phone calls or process orders or any number of other productive business activities.

No matter that type of business you have, the use of auto responders can prove to be invaluable. You spend less time sending email messages and more time focused on other aspects of your business. If you have never tried auto responders you owe it to yourself to give them a try. Each day we become more and more attached to our computers and our email accounts. Email is quickly becoming THE way to keep in contact with our prospective and past client base. We can all use some help with staying in contact with these valuable people and an auto responder is an easy and inexpensive way to do this.

Stop struggling to figure out what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Visit http://www.MaximumProfitsBook.com for the recipe book of marketing ideas and to claim your FREE Quickstart Guide “Step By Step: Writing Ads That Actually Work!”

When you first look at any advertising to market your business, you need to keep a few simple things in mind in order to get the attention of your prospects.

Focus on them, Not You

Most of the ads I see every day go on and on about how great the company is, how long they’ve been in business, how much their employees love working there, etc.

Here’s the deal… People don’t really care about those things.

They want to know how your product or service will benefit them. How much faster is it than the old way? How much money will it save them? How quickly can you get to them to fix their problem?

You’re goal is to talk to them and explain to them what your product or benefit will do for them.

They will always be thinking the old saying “What’s in it for me?”

You need to tell them about what the REAL benefits of using your product or service are.

• Is is going to save them time?
• Is it going to save them money?
• Is it safer for their kids?
• Is it healthier for them?

And… Why are these things important. Be descriptive.

Will the time is saves, let them spend more time with family?

Is the money they save going to let them spend it on something more important like a well deserved vacation?

If it’s safer for their kids, how is it doing that? What’s the comparison to previous products of it’s kind?

If it’s healthier, how so? Does it help cut the risk of heart attack? Again, be specific.

Think again the last time you say a great movie and told a friend about it.

This is the enthusiasm and detail you need to show in any marketing you do. Online or offline, your marketing message is the most important thing for your business. If your aren’t convinced my your ad, website or postcard you send them, they aren’t likely to pick up the phone and actually call you.

Stop struggling to figure out what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Visit http://www.MaximumProfitsBook.com for the recipe book of marketing ideas and to claim your FREE Quickstart Guide “Step By Step: Writing Ads That Actually Work!”

We have 8 people in today’s seminar.

Kevin & Patti from Honk Auto Glass
Kathy from TruDreams, LLC – Virtual Assistant
Deborah Mitchell from West USA Realty
Lynn Miller from Murphy Business and Financial Corporation
Julie Tate from Western Marine Surveying & Consulting
Gary Johnson from Maui Wowi Hawaiian Coffees and Smoothies- Glendale Az
Alice Ament from Gold Canyon Candles

This time we were able to add in live demonstrations so we are setting up blogs, updating local directory listings, setting up YouTube Accounts, setting up eZine article accounts and getting iContact accounts set up.

Check back in a couple of days for pictures and details on what our attendee’s thought of the seminar.

In one morning, before it is even lunch time, get the full step by step details on how to gain more exposure for you and your business online in this 4 part seminar.

And most of them won’t cost you a single dime to implement!

Friday January 9th 8:30am Doors Open – Comfort Suites Glendale

This is a one day seminar that has been broken up into 4 parts. In each part we will examine in-depth one strategy that you can implement within your company TODAY to start increasing your presence online, whether you actually have your own web site or not.

Here’s EXACTLY What You’ll Learn…

• Local Directories – What are they and why are they important?
• Blogging – Not just for computer geeks anymore.
• Video & Article Marketing – It’s not as complicated as it sounds.
• Email Marketing – Your list is your most valuable asset

Take advantage of day of marketing training to launch your business onto the internet with a bang.

At only $197 per person this seminar is a bargain you just can’t pass up. Don’t Miss Out!

Not only will I present all of the information above live and in person, but after each segment you will have the opportunity to ask questions. This allows you to get answers to your individual questions right there on the spot!

And For A Limited Time… Bring a Friend At HALF PRICE!

My goal is to provide you with real world strategies that you can take action on today. Things that don’t take years of training and computer knowledge to accomplish. Stop now and check your calendar, clear your appointment book and tell the answering service not to forward your calls on January 9th. Do whatever you have to, but make sure you are there!

The next step is for you to take action. Right now. Today! Why? Because if you wait, you may lose out…

Waiting will cause you to lose your seat; there are a limited number of them available. It would be a
shame if you missed out on because you decided to “think about it a bit”.

http://www.MarketingMentorTraining.com

See What People Are Saying About This Wonderful Seminar

I specialize in web ready video and photography and mostly what I got out of today’s seminar was Ely taught me specifically that going back to basics is going to help me a lot. Everything that was taught today is stuff I’m not doing and I do this for a living. So Ely thank you and thank you everyone here for sharing ideas it was a great seminar. Perfect information that everyone needs to know. Michael Magana MMAJEN Studios, LLC

I’ve never had a whole lot of experience on the internet. I didn’t even know this marketing stuff existed. What I learned today was very basic and I think it will help me. It was an eye opening experience and I recommend this to everyone who is interested in promoting themselves on the internet. Paul Davis Davis Fine Art

I just finished the workshop with My Business Marketing Mentor and Ely did a fantastic job. I learned about how to market my business online and offline, how to work with different types of search pages, how to look at my advertising, how to start writing articles, how to start blogging. It was fantastic, I loved it and I highly recommend it. It was the best seminar I have been to in quite awhile. Tim Harrington BizFit Coaching

This seminar today was phenomenal. Very organized. Tips on every aspect of marketing myself that I can use. They are simple and easy to understand even for computer nerds like me. I would highly recommend this seminar to anybody. Dr. Maggie Mears Published Author & Doctor

I’ve heard a lot of these concepts, I’ve never had them put together in such a concise consistent way with all of the little tips and tricks to actually save me time. I really appreciate that. It’s been a
great day. Ken Edwards Maverick Mesa Computer Specialties, Inc

So register today and see what you can do for your business!

http://www.MarketingMentorTraining.com

How cool would it be if your logo had the same recognition. That is called brand recognition and it is alot easier than it may seem. The big boys spend millions of dollars to create that kind of impression, but you can begin doing it today in your local community with just a few simple and easy to implement ideas.

First think of some basic or typical places that companies place their company logo and check within your company to see if you are using the same version and most current version of your company logo on those places.

Company Website – This should be a no-brainer. Your entire website should be designed with the look, colors and feel of your company logo as the central piece. This does not mean place your logo huge in the center of the page (Although that did work for Google…). What this means is that if your logo is red and blue your web site should not be black and pink. It should be complimentary colors and should be easily seen on each and every page.

Business Cards – Just like the company website, your business cards should have your logo as their central theme. No matter where you go, even if it is holiday shopping, grocery shopping or out to dinner with friends, you should always carry a few business cards with you. You never know when you might strike up a conversation with the person in front of you in line and find out they need or are looking for exactly what you offer. Rather than trying to have them remember your web address, or writing your phone number on the back of their shopping receipt you can simply give them one of your business cards. When they go to your website they will see the same logo and immediately know they are in the right place.

Company Blog – Sometimes your company blog and your company website may not look exactly the same. There are various reasons this may be the case. But regardless of the reason both things should have at least one thing in common. Can you guess? That’s right, your company logo.

Product Packaging – If you ship your product to your customers, to their family and friends or even just box or bag things up as they leave the store, these boxes and bags should have your company logo on them. It doesn’t have to be huge and custom printed. It can be as simple as adding your logo to the address label you print or placing printed stickers on the side of the bag. You never know how many hands a box has to pass through to get to the final recipient and one of those handlers might need what you have to offer.

Letterhead – Even in today’s electronic world most of us still write letters, reports, sales forms and various other communications that get handed to people who come into a store or get mailed out to prospective or past customers. Every one of these pieces of paper should have your letterhead on them. And that letterhead should contain your logo. This makes it so that as soon as someone even glances at the paper, they immediately know who it came from. Also as they leave these things out on their desk or even in the seat of their car the rest of the world also gets a glimpse of that logo and it might catch their eye long enough to spark an interest.

Invoices – Even though your customers may not enjoy getting your invoices you should still make them easy to recognize and branded to your company. Just like with other mail pieces, some companies have many people come in contact with an invoice before it is finally paid and filed. One of those other people may be a potential customer and your logo might be easier to remember than your company phone number.

Company Newsletter – Your logo should be on these for the same reasons we included it on your letterhead and product packaging. Your customers who receive the newsletter may pass it on to a friend or co-worker to show them a specific article. Having your logo on the newsletter instantly makes your newsletter different from any other one they have seen, since no one else has your logo.

Promotional Giveaways – Promotional products like pens, bag clips, mouse pads, and even Frisbees are another great way to create brand awareness using your company logo. Since people tend to use these items every day it reminds them who you are and makes it more likely that they will call you when they need a new product or to purchase your service again. You are less easy to forget when you are a part of their daily lives.

So that is a list of places you might already have your logo. Most companies have their logo in at least a few of those places. But there are also a couple of places you might not think about:

Your Car – On any given day, while out driving you might see 2-3 cars that have been completely re-painted to advertise a particular business. This makes these cars rolling advertisements for the company. But you don’t have to jump in with both feet. Something as simple as a sticker or a cling with your company logo on it can be easily placed on your car. These can go on the side windows or on the back window. Magnetic versions or cling versions that are a bit larger can be placed on the side doors of almost any car and these are very reasonably priced.

Email Signature – Most email programs allow you to set up a signature. This is information that can be added to the bottom of any email with a couple of clicks rather than having to type it all in or add a graphic each time. By adding your logo to this signature you are turning every email you send into a small advertisement.

Twitter, Facebook or YouTube – Today the number of online places you can be a part of grows more and more every day. And most of these places allow you to place some kind of a picture or sometimes more than one. If you come up with creative ways to add your company logo to these sites you can have your logo in front of thousands of people a day with very little effort. (Example: http://www.twitter.com/elydelaney)

Give back to the community – Is there a local organization that is close to your heart? Sponsor their sports team or another event that they may be having and have your logo printed on their team shirts or hats or maybe in their program.

With a little creativity you can find hundreds of places to show off your company logo. Something as simple as leaving your company pen at a restaurant may find your pen across town in the hands of a potential customer in a matter of days. And someone you never met will feel like they know you because they see your logo everywhere they go. This gives your potential customers feelings of confidence in you and your company. It sets your company up as the industry leader and all you did was show off your logo a bit.

When you use paid advertising obviously there will be costs involved. But these costs will vary depending on what type of paid advertising you decide to go with and how far the advertising goes. Most of the time, the more people see your ad the more expensive it can become. For example, usually national advertising is more expensive than local advertising. So large scale paid advertising is usually better for large companies with a large marketing budget. Paid advertising can include a wide range of options such as newspapers, television, magazines and even web sites. It can usually be broken down into local, state, region, national or even worldwide areas.

On the other hand there are many free options available to someone who has a limited budget or even for a company that wants to expand their reach beyond what their current budget can include. Sometimes free advertising is more limited than paid advertising and may only include small groups of people and limit the number of people who will view the ad but that is not always a bad thing. Just because your ad might be seen by 1 million people doesn’t mean that they will all buy.

By targeting a smaller more localized area sometimes you will find your target audience more receptive to your message. Depending on the type of free advertising you use it may be limited to a local or statewide reach, although some free options such as web site advertising will still give you the opportunity to reach a national audience.

Sometimes your free advertisments don’t reach a completely receptive audience, but as long as you try to use options that will show up where your ideal client is likely to be, at least there are no costs if it doesn’t work out as well as you had hoped. Some types of free advertising include article marketing which requires that you write articles about your industry and submit them either online or to print publications. You can also place ads in Email newsletters that people send out to their list of subscribers or post banner graphics on web sites that have that option available to businesses. Many of these options also allow you to track the clicks your ad gets so you can see how effective it is and adjust as needed.

If you do decide to use a paid advertising option be sure to check and see if the company offers a way to track your ad. Maybe they offer a special phone number, or you can direct people who see that particular ad to a specific page on your web site that only they would know about. You can also provide the viewers with a special code that they have to provide in order to get a special discount. These things will help you track your advertising and determine if it is effective or simply a waste of money.

No matter which type you choose the key is to stick with it long enough to get complete data as to the effectiveness of that particular venture. And try out multiple options over time. Just because advertising on one website or one TV station didn’t work well, doesn’t mean that you should never advertise on TV or on websites again. It just meant that either that particular audience wasn’t interested, it was the wrong time of year, or maybe it was the wrong message. There are many reasons why an ad might not do as well as you hoped it would. You should always test variations of the ad as well as variations of the ad location.

By having a varied marketing plan that includes some free and some paid advertising your business is sure to benefit.

Our second Marketing Seminar is underway. We had a huge increase in attendance this time. It is a great group of people. They ask valuable questions, they interact with us and with each other.

Michael Magana from MMAJEN Studios, LLC is here again this time and he has some great news. He came to our seminar back on September 24th. He went home and implemented the information he learned about the Local Directories. He says he spent about an hour logging in and updating or adding his business to various local directories.

He says that he is already seeing an increase in calls from potential new customers! They are finding him online and contacting him. Isn’t that cool. We love it when someone comes to our seminar and then actually implements what they learned.

We told you it works!!

• How do I get my company online?
• What is the best way to generate leads on the internet?
• Is there a way to be “online” without having my own web site?

On November 12th, we will be hosting our training seminar to help answer these questions and more.

“Marketing Yourself Online – Even If You Don’t Have a Website”.

This thing is going to blow your socks off!

This is a 4 hour long seminar that has been broken up into 4 sessions. In each session we will examine in depth one strategy that you can implement within your company TODAY to start increasing your presence online, whether you actually have your own web site or not.

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Check Out The Full Details At
http://www.mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/seminar
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During this seminar we will cover:

• Local Directories – What are they and why are they important?
• Blogging – It is not just for computer geeks anymore
• Video & Article Marketing – It’s Not As Complicated As It Sounds
• Email Marketing -Your list is your most valuable asset

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Seating is limited for the “Marketing Yourself Online – Even If You Don’t Have a Website” seminar, so don’t wait to register your seat as this thing is going to fill up fast!

Go to http://www.mybusinessmarketingmentor.com/seminar
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Full details on exactly what the seminar will cover and the location details are posted on the website above.

Best of success,
Ely Delaney

Got up at 4am to leave for the airport by 5am. Plane left at 7am. The flight was pleasant, the people sitting around us were friendly and the flight was uneventful. I would definitely recommend you try AirTran the next time you need to fly.

Anyway after the plane landed we headed to pick up the luggage and went looking for the shuttle to the hotel. We found it an a very nice man put our luggage in the back and we waited to see if anyone else was showing up before heading out to the hotel.

A very nice man came and was heading to the same place. After he got in the van we introduced ourselves and it turned out he is here from Colorado for…

You guessed it…Big Seminar. So visited all the way to the hotel (which took awhile since there were 2 accidents backing up the freeway).

While we were checking in at the front desk of the hotel people kept coming in and greating each other like old friends. You could over here them talking about the last Big Seminar and asking each other if so and so was going to be here. It was really cool. Very friendly bunch of people.

Tonight a group of people are getting together for a social dinner to meet and greet. One of the attendees got a hold of as many people as she could and invited them. It should be fun.

We are really looking forward to this weekend and all that we will learn and the connections we will make. If you are in the Atlanta Georgia area be sure to come over to the Renaissance Waverly Hotel bright and early tomorrow morning and check for any possible open seat you can register for at the last minute, you do not want to miss this event!

We will keep you up to date about all that we learn and see.

Have a great weekend!

We kept it to a small group which allows for alot of questions and direct, individual answers. It also allows each person to network with all of the people in attendance during the breaks.

We taught about how to use local directories to make sure people in your neighborhood can find you when they look for what you are offering. We showed how you can get your own company blog up and running in a matter of minutes with little of now cost to you.

Then we taught people how to do video and article marketing, including some fabulous tips on how to scatter your videos all over the internet within a matter of minutes.

And last, but not least we talked about email marketing and how there is alot more to it than just sending an email to a group of people. We gave ideas on how to grow your list, and what to do for your list to turn them into raving fans.

Everyone that attended got a workbook to take home with them that has even more information in it than we were able to cover in the time we had. And they even took notes directly in the workbook so that everything they learned is all in one place so they can look back again and again without having to remember where their notes went.

The workbook even contains Action Guides to help keep track of their log in information for the various sites and tactics they learned about and check lists to help them get started right away.

We can’t wait until it is time for the next class. We had so much fun. We hope you will be there next time!

To join us at the next seminar go to http://MyBusinessMarketingMentor.com/seminar for complete details on the next class or to register for updates on upcoming classes as soon as we lock in dates.

**SPECIAL MONEY SAVING TIP: Members of My Business Marketing Mentor get a HUGE discount on all seminars we put on. Join today so you can take advantage of these HUGE discounts! http://MyBusinessMarketingMentor.com … sshh, it’s a secret…

Here is what a couple of the people that came to the last seminar had to say…

We have included a video walk through, a special report explaining what Stumble Upon is as well as an action guide to help you take action right away.

Other articles are also scheduled to go online this month. These include titles like:

• Find Out If Your Item Will Sell Online
• What is Social Networking?
• How to Pick the Right Email Marketing Service
• What Do I Do When My Email Gets Ignored?
• And more…

Be sure to check out the sign up page today to take advantage of your $7.00 trial membership. Then you can access all of the valuable content that is available each month.

This has been a wonderful experience. I have learned more than I thought I would and have remembered how to write code more than I had hoped I would have to.

So, be sure to go check it out: www.mybusinessmarketingmentor.com.

We have decided. This month, in light of the current state of the US economy we decided that we would focus on what to do and what not to do during slow seasons.

Now is the time when companies really need to buckle down and focus on their marketing. Unfortunately, most companies start cutting their marketing budget during slow times. The theory being, we have no money so we can’t afford to advertise. The real truth is you can’t afford NOT to advertise. Consumers are more careful with their money and where they spend it. So you have to make sure you are the one they think of when they are looking for products and services.

You want to be the first thing they think of when they think of your industry. If you cut back on your advertising they will forget about you. And they may even remember that they used to see you but they don’t anymore. That would be even worse because then you may even have them wondering if you are still around.

You need to boost your advertising during the slow times. Take advantage of the fact that your sales staff may not have as much to do and set them on those tasks that have been put off because everyone was “too busy”.

Update the web site, go out and get some testimonials from your long time customers, work on getting those videos up on the internet, write some articles that contain tips and tricks that have to do with your industry and post them to the article directories. Do whatever you can to be the company that people see when they go looking for what you have to offer.

So, I am off to create this month’s video, report and action guide.