Showing posts with label Personal Branding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal Branding. Show all posts
Marketing is the life-blood of your business; it is what sustains all businesses today, small and corporate alike. Marketing is the combination of strategies you apply in your small business to get new customers, to maintain customer loyalty and to increase your business profitability. If you want to grow your business, here are five small business marketing strategies you should put into practice right away:
1. Personalize whenever possible
Your customers will feel more valued when you send out relevant, personalized communications. And if you can take the time to hand write a few of your correspondence, you will definitely stand out from the crowd. What kinds of things can you personalize? You can send out post cards with hand written short messages to your loyal customers. A hand written thank you card is sure to go a long way. Or how about a quick "I'm thinking of you" note card? And if you don't have time to hand write very often, at least make sure the messages you send are pertinent to the client you're sending them to.
Your customers will feel more valued when you send out relevant, personalized communications. And if you can take the time to hand write a few of your correspondence, you will definitely stand out from the crowd. What kinds of things can you personalize? You can send out post cards with hand written short messages to your loyal customers. A hand written thank you card is sure to go a long way. Or how about a quick "I'm thinking of you" note card? And if you don't have time to hand write very often, at least make sure the messages you send are pertinent to the client you're sending them to.
2. Use creativity to get your name out there
Chances are, you have limited dollars for promotional items and advertisements in your small business marketing budget. Instead of expensive, full-color, high gloss brochures and flyers, why not consider a black and white newsletter that you can distribute more often. You'll get a better bang for your buck by utilize an inexpensive strategy that you can repeat more often over an outlandish marketing strategy that you can only do once.
Chances are, you have limited dollars for promotional items and advertisements in your small business marketing budget. Instead of expensive, full-color, high gloss brochures and flyers, why not consider a black and white newsletter that you can distribute more often. You'll get a better bang for your buck by utilize an inexpensive strategy that you can repeat more often over an outlandish marketing strategy that you can only do once.
Why not consider email marketing, blogging, classified ads, and email autoresponders that are all less expensive than more traditional advertising so they can be repeated more often. Just be sure not to bite off more than you can chew all at one time. There's no need to take on every single new marketing strategy all at once. Work one into your schedule, and when you get the hang of that one, add another marketing strategy into your schedule.
3. Create Urgent Offers
Most small businesses don't have lots of time to sit around and wait for prospects to decide to make a purchase. You want your prospects to buy and to buy now. Build a sense of urgency into every promotional offer you make. Use deadlines, time sensitive bonus offers, limited supply items, etc. to incentivize your prospects to make their purchases sooner rather than later.
Most small businesses don't have lots of time to sit around and wait for prospects to decide to make a purchase. You want your prospects to buy and to buy now. Build a sense of urgency into every promotional offer you make. Use deadlines, time sensitive bonus offers, limited supply items, etc. to incentivize your prospects to make their purchases sooner rather than later.
4. Use the Phone
I'm not quite sure why, but many of the small business owners that I consult with are afraid of the phone. Since so few entrepreneurs actually use the phone, placing a few calls here and there will definitely have you standing out from the crowd. One way to get over your fear of the phone is to have a mini-script already prepared. Know what you're going to say ahead of time, and then practice it. Jot down a few notes on index cards - you don't want to read your phone call word for word from a script. Make your first calls as introductory calls; they're much easier to handle than traditional sales calls. And if you're really super nervous about using the phone, try your mini-script out on a few friends or clients with whom you've already built up a great rapport.
I'm not quite sure why, but many of the small business owners that I consult with are afraid of the phone. Since so few entrepreneurs actually use the phone, placing a few calls here and there will definitely have you standing out from the crowd. One way to get over your fear of the phone is to have a mini-script already prepared. Know what you're going to say ahead of time, and then practice it. Jot down a few notes on index cards - you don't want to read your phone call word for word from a script. Make your first calls as introductory calls; they're much easier to handle than traditional sales calls. And if you're really super nervous about using the phone, try your mini-script out on a few friends or clients with whom you've already built up a great rapport.
5. Use Buddy Ads
You can collaborate with other businesses to exchange advertisements. You advertise in their place of business or on their website or in their newsletter, and vice versa. This small business marketing strategy works best when you collaborate with businesses that attract the same audience as yours but are not direct competitors of yours. If you're a veterinarian, you can do buddy ads with a dog groomer. If you own a furniture you can do buddy ads with a realtor.
You can collaborate with other businesses to exchange advertisements. You advertise in their place of business or on their website or in their newsletter, and vice versa. This small business marketing strategy works best when you collaborate with businesses that attract the same audience as yours but are not direct competitors of yours. If you're a veterinarian, you can do buddy ads with a dog groomer. If you own a furniture you can do buddy ads with a realtor.
No single marketing strategy is ever effective to all small business. You will have to change your strategies from time to time or to use a combination of the strategies to maximize results. Your overall goal is to keep your business presence known to as many prospects as possible. By combining these extremely effective small business marketing strategies, you'll be well on your way to growing your business an increasing your bottom line.
Creating social media website profiles aimed at strengthening your personal brand is an incredibly important aspect of building your online presence. Building a strong online reputation will help you score more gigs, media interviews, conference speaking pitches, and more.
Even if you are working with a company, your clients and potential clients are inevitably going to want to know who you are and where is the first place they will check you out? They will probably search for you on Google. The idea is to control the top ten search results for your name to ensure that they are relevant and most importantly, positive. The last thing you want is for a client to find search results on the front page of Google that say negative things about you.
The easiest way to control your top ten search results is through building your online presence via social media and blogging. Some of the most important online tools you can use are Twitter, LinkedIn, video websites and social networking sites like Facebook. If you have an unusual name, it will be easy for you to control the top search results for your name but if you have a very common name, try using your middle initial as way to distinguish yourself.
Blogging
One of the most powerful ways to build authority within your niche and boost your personal brand is via blogging. If you consistently provide great content and expert opinions, you can build a very successful personal brand through blogging. Make sure to link to a profile page with your bio and name on all of your blog posts to increase search rankings for your name. Write guest blog posts for other blogs in your niche to enhance your online reputation and reach a wider audience.
Use Twitter to contribute valuable links and connect with others in your niche. If you build up a large following of relevant users and stay active in the Twitter community, you should expect your Twitter page to rank highly in the search results. If potential clients are looking for information about you and find your Twitter account full of relevant links and expert advice, it is going to go a long way in building your online reputation.
LinkedIn is a business social media networking site that allows you to share your career history with others. It is a great way to build work contacts and allows potential clients to learn more about your qualifications, educational background, and so on.
Video Websites
If you’ve spoken at a conference or have made an online video presentation, upload it to a site like Vimeo or YouTube. When someone searches for more information about you and finds a relevant video you made, your reputation will be enhanced in the eyes of the searcher. Make sure to use your name in the video headline so the video is optimized for your personal brand.
Social Networking Sites
Now that you have filled most of the front page Google results with positive listings, you can work on adding a few neutral listings such as profiles for social networking sites like Facebook and Flickr. Better yet, find a social networking site that is relevant to your niche (i.e. Sphinn for search marketers) and actively contribute to it so you can show clients that you keep up with the latest news and trends in your field.
Keep these tips in mind in order to dominate the Google search results for your name. If you have quite a few online personalities and would prefer that some of them were not visible to your clients and potential clients, make sure to use different screen names! Optimize anything work-related with your real name to ensure that the search listings that show up when people search for you are positive and help to boost your online reputation.
