Archive for the ‘sales’ Category4 Steps to Leveraging Other People’s Audiences for Big ExposureJanuary 14th, 2011Hi All! I saw the following blog post on ByBloggers.net (an amazing resource for learning effective strategies to create and market digital products), and received permission from them, and the article’s author, to share it here. It’s loaded with great information to help you expand your brand to the followers of other bloggers and online broadcasters (ie: People with podcast shows) who have large audiences. No need for me to go on about this topic…author, Mike Tiojanco, does a fine job on his own! But before you dive into his info-packed article, here’s some info about Mike: He is an entrepreneur, blogger, and partner at BlogcastFM Premium. In January, he is launching his new project, 8 Hour Rebellion, aimed at helping people break out of the 9-5 and live a life free from the chains of an office desk (so he can spend more time with his wife, two kids, and Xbox360). And you can follow him on twitter: @mtio. So, without further delay…here is what Mike has to say about:Leveraging Other People’s AudiencesMost entrepreneurs are familiar with the concept of using leverage to make money. Use other people’s time (OPT) or, more commonly, other people’s money (OPM) to push your business. However, when I launched a membership site, it wasn’t OPT or OPM that made it a success. It was OPA. Other People’s Audiences. Anatomy of a PartnershipLast November, I helped launch BlogcastFM Premium – a membership site that helps people take their blogs to the next level. None of that would have happened without a partnership between myself and the BlogcastFM founders, Srini Rao and Sid Savara. Let’s go step-by-step through the partnership/joint venture (JV) process as I experienced it: 1. Build Your NetworkWay back in February I heard about a new podcast series that was launching – BlogcastFM. I had been reading Sid’s personal development blog and following him on twitter. I was just starting my own blog at the time, so the podcast content was perfect for me. I ended up following Srini on twitter and reading his blog. A couple posts into my blog I shot him an email asking him to take a look. He was kind enough to take few minutes to check it out and give me some feedback. I kept in contact with him via twitter, and eventually pitched him on my very first guest post. At the time I had no clue that these initial contacts would turn into a partnership, but at the time I was just looking to connect with people who were doing what I wanted to be doing. The takeaway: Work on building your network early and often. Many successful bloggers advise that you spend 50% of your time writing content and 50% of your time networking. 2. Listen to People’s NeedsLike I mentioned before, I am a devoted listener of BlogcastFM. I listen to just about every episode the day it comes out, sometimes more than once (I’ve got a 45 min. commute). After listening to that many episodes, a common theme appeared. In just about every episode, Srini commented, “If I could put into action the ideas I get from every interview, my blog would be way more successful than it is.” So even Srini, the host of the podcast… the interviewer himself… needed help pulling the best tips out of every interview and figuring out how to implement them. Surely their audience was having the same issues. I could help with that. The Takeaway: Find something that someone’s audience needs that the blogger doesn’t have time to create (or has no interest in creating). Dave Navarro did this with Naomi Dunford’s audience. Her audience at ittybiz.com consists of small online business owners. She offers marketing and business development advice – a lot of which is focused on creating ebooks and other digital products. However, her material didn’t really focus on how to launch the ebook once it was created – Dave’s specialty. Before partnering on “How to Launch the **** of Your eBook,” Dave Navarro was mostly unknown. It was the partnership with Naomi that put him on the map. 3. Pitch the IdeaBack in September, I approached them with an idea for the product – a membership site offering action worksheets for each of their 100+ interviews on BlogcastFM. They said yes. I think what really put them over the edge is that I provided a sample of the product – an action worksheet for the interview with Sean Ogle. This let them see exactly what I had in mind, as opposed to an abstract description in an email. The Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to pitch the idea. After my pitch, the feedback the guys gave to me was that this was something they really wanted to create for their audience, but they didn’t have the time to do it themselves. Worst case scenario, they pass, but now you’re really on their radar. The last step: 4. Make Them Love You.This is something I’m still working on, and will continue to work on as long as BlogcastFM is around. Do the best work you can. Make them feel lucky to have you on their team. Remember, your work is a reflection on their reputation. The Takeaway: After someone says yes, provide the best work you can so that they feel that the partnership was the best business decision they ever made. Like I said, I’m still working on this one. I had some family issues that prevented me from doing this over the past month or so, but you better believe I’m going to work my tail off showing them that this was the right decision for them. That said, I’ve got some interviews to listen to and some worksheets to create… BIG thanks to Mike, and to Jonathan, founder of ByBloggers.net, for allowing me to share this! GREAT ADVICE and useful info! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa  7 Easy Steps to An Effective Marketing Strategy For 2011January 01st, 2011Hi All! The New Year is here…are you ready with a Marketing Plan and Strategy to enter 2011 organized, poised for revenue growth and career success? If you are, fabulous! However, if you’re like many of the new clients who hire me, you’re probably “hoping” 2011 will be better but don’t really have a plan to make it happen. You may even know your previous marketing efforts have been ineffective, but have no clue what to do to fix and improve them. Oftentimes, I find that small business owners, speakers, authors, coaches, consultants, etc. are good at what they do in their profession, but aren’t that great at marketing themselves, their businesses, and/or their products. They run in circles in a “reactive” mode (versus create a strategic plan) and then wonder why they are struggling to land new clients, sell books, secure speaking opportunities, or generate more income for their businesses through other avenues. If any of this resonates with you, keep reading! Here are 7 steps to help you create an effective Marketing Plan and Strategy for the New Year:
Sure, this 7 step process is a simplistic approach (there are some Marketing Plans that are much more detailed and complex), but you don’t need to make it complicated; that’s what can scare you from even trying to create a basic plan! I’ve helped clients outline an effective Marketing Plan in an hour, so trust me when I say this doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process. I don’t care whether your plan ends up being one-page or 50…just make sure you have some sort of strategic plan so you enter 2011 feeling more organized and in control of your new year! And here’s a link to a Marketing Plan software solution that can help you: Marketing Plan Pro. Cheers to a Prosperous New Year and Happy Marketing! Lisa How to Conduct A Virtual Book Tour to Increase Your SalesNovember 13th, 2010Hi All! Book authors are on a never-ending quest to promote their books, sell their books, and increase awareness for them. Yet, many authors struggle with this. I know this first hand because I have a lot of clients who are authors and seek my help with their book marketing. One effective book marketing strategy that most authors do not use is conducting a Virtual Book Tour; using blogs as the vehicle. There are many ways to do one, so this post will give you some general guidelines to follow and you can adjust, alter and brainstorm additional ideas for your tour. And the great thing about Virtual Book Tours is that it doesn’t matter if your book is new or not! There are many authors who have books that are several years old and their Virtual Book Tour brings the book back-to-life, generates interest for the book amongst people who didn’t know about it when it first came out, and ramps sales again. So don’t think this strategy is just for NEW books! And, it doesn’t matter whether you self-publish or not! I know authors who get hung-up on the self-published status of their book, but it’s NOT an issue! 1.) Establish a timeframe for your tour. This can range from one week to one month. And you’ll want to start organizing it 1-2 months ahead of time for effective planning. 2.) Find blogs that reach the audience you want to target for your book, and contact the owners of those blogs. This can range anywhere from 10 to a million blogs! How many blogs involved on your tour just depends on the time you have to do this outreach and how many blogs are the right fit for your book’s topic. 3.) Tell each blogger the tour’s timeframe and what your expectations are when they participate in the tour. This may include: During the tour, they need to write a review of your book that includes the book’s cover linked to your Amazon page or wherever your book is sold; and you’ll provide them with 1-3 articles that pertain to your book’s topic that they will run during the tour as “guest blog posts” (from you) on their blog. And in the articles you provide them, they’ll include your short bio, pic of your book (or of you), and link to your website. You’ll provide EACH of the blogs that participate the same articles and each of them can run the articles in any order they want during the tour. 4.) Send each participating blogger an organized “kit” for the tour (via email). This should include: General tour info (restate expectations, tour timeframe, roll-out schedule, etc.); file of your book cover; file of your headshot; and the articles you wrote for them to use as “guest posts” (as Word docs with links embedded to your website, Amazon page, etc.). Don’t rely on the bloggers to find the correct links to YOUR stuff! 5.) Mail each blogger a copy of your book. Obviously you need to do this so they can read it BEFORE the book tour launches. And, no, don’t ask them buy it! Mail them a free copy! 6.) Offer several copies of your book to each blogger who participates to use as a giveaway item for a contest they can create (or use it as a free gift for something the blogger wants to promote). You may not want to do this with every blogger who participates (if you have TONS of blogs on the tour), but you’ll want to offer it to the ones who have a lot of traffic. This is a good strategy because aside from them writing a review for your book and running the articles you provide to them during the tour, they can create a contest (or promotion) “around your book” which will be additional exposure for your book. 7.) Thank and mention the blogs who participate on YOUR blog throughout the tour, on Twitter tweet the links to the blog posts they do about (and from) you, mention them on your Facebook Fan Page, etc. Doing all of this is critical because you are giving the participating blogs exposure to YOUR social networks, and that’s good business. The bloggers who participate on your tour are doing YOU a favor so giving them some “link love” and exposure is only right. 8.) Consider sending each blogger who participated in your tour a Thank You gift when it’s over. Again, show them gratitude for their time, effort and help in promoting YOUR book! Okay! That’s a general overview of how to do a Virtual Book Tour. Yes, I could go on & on with more ideas for conducting a successful tour, and ways to make it more elaborate (but that can get costly), so this gives you a good starting point. The “basic” approach I provided can get you great results as long as you PLAN ahead of time and connect with enthusiastic bloggers who are excited to participate in your Virtual Book Tour. And if you want help with ideas, planning, and execution of your tour, or need other book marketing strategies, you know where to find me… Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Cool Online Tools to Reach Targeted Media Interested in Your NewsNovember 01st, 2010Hi All! I wanted to share some very cool tools that can help you reach TARGETED media and industry influencers; who are specifically interested in YOUR news and expertise. By using these tools, you can attract media interviews and get mass media coverage to build your personal or business branding platform, increase your income, and increase the sales of your products (i.e. your book if you wrote one!). AND, I don’t care whether you’re a one-person company, small business, self-published book author, etc. The media (print, broadcast and online) is on the hunt for interesting news and topics 24/7, 365-days a year. So you don’t have to be famous or have earth-shattering news to get their attention! They just want interesting news or segment ideas that will appeal to their audiences. I recently helped an author-client land a featured interview on a popular talk show on Lifetime! And she is a self-published author who just started working with me…getting media exposure rolling CAN happen fast if you make some effort! SO…go for it! 1.) PitchEngine.com Overview: Unlike traditional wire services, PitchEngine enabled users to openly create and share their own content, while including images, videos and attachments at no cost. In 2009, more than 70,000 pitches were shared by 27,000 organizations looking to get the word out to not just journalists, but to bloggers, consumers and other influencers as well. PitchEngine’s “Co-op SEO” concept enables brands big and small to experience exceptional indexing in major search engines. 2.) MediaSyncOnline.com (FREE!) Overview: MediaSync is a free Web-based service from mBLAST that allows Marketers to easily research and use detailed, up-to-date media intelligence on print and online publications, their staff and their areas of coverage. With MediaSync, you can find:
MediaSync allows users to search for the information they need (on their companies, clients OR the competition), refine the results, save their search and receive alerts when new information is available that matches their criteria. They can also upload existing media lists and/or create and maintain new ones, and export it all into a contact list or briefing book. Overview: Check-out my info-packed Learning Guide that outlines the PR & Publicity strategies I help my clients with, and the ones I personally use (which have landed me over 100 media interviews!). This special guide typically sales for $37, but for a limited time I’m offering it for $27. I charge a lot more than $37, let alone $27, for the seminars, workshops and webinars I conduct on this topic…and the info in this Learning Guide is the same as I share in those more expensive events. It covers everything you need to know about attracting the media, pitching the media, writing a killer Press Release, online tools and resources, and MUCH MORE. Simply CLICK HERE for the details of what you’ll learn…it’s on the Products Page of my website. So there you have it…3 very cool tools that can help you reach the media YOU want to reach, and who are interested in YOUR news. Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 7 Business Coaching Tips You Can’t Afford to NeglectOctober 24th, 2010Hi All! Over the past 20+ years, I have presented to, met with, mentored, coached and observed hundreds (probably thousands) of businesspeople. And I am still always amazed at the lack of professionalism many of them display. Highly successful small business owners strive to be perceived in the highest regard by prospects, clients, colleagues, vendors and employees. And as a certified Success Coach, I see many of my clients struggle because they neglect these tips. Sure, some of these may come naturally to you, but there may be one or two that will benefit your business building efforts. I hope so! 7 Business coaching TIPS You Can’t Afford to Neglect: 1. Be prepared and do your homework. If you tell a client or prospect you’ll have info to them (e.g. a proposal) by a certain day/time, do it. And prior to meeting, have all of your information organized and review it carefully so that you can easily explain it to them. Note: I have personally had people pitch me (for things like insurance plans, printing services, etc.), and they were a mess. Things like: Their information was incomplete, they were late to the meeting, they spelled my name wrong on the proposal, they didn’t present the info I asked for, typos in the doc, etc. Why would I invest my money in someone like that? 2. Each morning start by determining the most difficult task facing you, and do it first. Is it making follow-up calls to prospects? Asking clients for referrals? Putting together a complex proposal for a prospect? Whatever it is, do it FIRST! It gives you an edge over the competition…chances are they are avoiding the task! And if it’s a task that will benefit a hot prospect (or client) you will impress them with your initiative and speediness. 3. Don’t be late for phone or in-person appointments. It tells the prospect or client you do not value or respect their time. Successful business owners arrive to in-person meetings 10-15 minutes early and use the time to “get grounded” for the meeting. Also, this time cushion comes in handy if you get lost trying to reach your destination. It always sounds really unprofessional when you’re late and you say, “I’m sorry. I got lost.” The time cushion (normally) gives you enough time to find your way and still arrive on time. Being 15 minutes early for an in-person meeting is WAY better than being 15 minutes late! 4. Never pull a “no show”. If you cannot make an in-person or phone appointment, call the person BEFORE (not after the time) and reschedule. A good friend of mine works for a loan leads company. They screen people looking for a loan, determine the “hot leads”, and then schedule a meeting/phone appointment WITH A LOAN AGENT (the loan agents pays for these pre-screened leads). She told me that loan agents blow-off these prescheduled meetings all the time! Can you even believe that??? Here are qualified leads that the loan agent is paying the lead service for, and he/she basically throws the hot lead away by pulling a no-show! This flaky behavior costs these loan agents thousands of dollars in commission… money that could have been theirs (not to mention all the referral business they lost)! 5. Successful business owners act confident (NOT cocky!). Here’s a simple concept that I see many business owners neglect: BEING NICE! You don’t need to be a tyrant to succeed. Be genuine, be kind and be caring. Note: When I owned my ad agency for 20 years, I sometimes had client contacts that were junior-level marketing coordinators and they went on to become VP’s of Marketing. If I had been rude to them when they were “junior”, they wouldn’t have kept hiring my firm as they climbed the ladder. By being nice and sincere, I not only received millions of dollars in business (and referrals) from them over the years, but they also grew to become great friends of mine. 6. Successful business owners greet people with a firm handshake. There is nothing worse than a weak, limp handshake. It irritates me to no end. When you greet someone, immediately extend your hand, offer a firm (not crushing!) handshake, smile and make eye contact. Successful business owners make people feel comfortable and build trust right away through their confident, friendly greetings! Note: I have actually made my clients practice this. If they had a wimpy handshake, I fixed it! 7. Being organized is BIG amongst successful business owners. You must be able to keep your client/prospect files organized and your schedule organized. Successful business owners use a schedule book or electronic device (e.g. PDA) to keep track of appointments, phone calls, follow-up, to-do lists, etc. If you are scattered and disorganized, you will be less effective and sell less. And you are more apt to make mistakes. Good luck getting repeat business or referrals from a client if you miss a critical deadline or constantly have to apologize because YOU keep losing or forgetting things! Note: There are VERY successful people who are totally disorganized, but they have a personal assistant that keeps them on-track. However if you can’t afford an assistant, then it’s UP TO YOU to create a system! You can even hire an expert to create a process for you. Someone I highly recommend is Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Expert & Coach. She helps her clients create a time management system, customized for their needs, so that they are more effective and productive – personally and professionally. Yes, hiring someone like Stacey will cost you money, but it will cost you more money in the long run without an organized system! Okay! There are your 7 tips…please don’t neglect ANY of them! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 8 Proven Strategies to Deliver A Successful PresentationOctober 11th, 2010Hi All! As a professional speaker, I do a lot of in-person presentations. And they range from workshops to seminars to keynote speeches. Also, because I owned my ad agency for 20 years, I’ve done hundreds of sales presentations pitching propects. But whether you do presentations as a “speaker”, or as a salesperson to land new clients for your business, you will benefit from these 8 tips…so let’s get started! Here are my 8 strategies: 1. Prepare…a lot! This may sound like common sense, but unfortunately it’s not common practice. I’m typically booked anywhere from 1-3 months in advance (sometimes more) for the speaking engagements I do. And I use that lead-time wisely! The more prepared I am, the more confident I am, and the more confident I am the better I “perform”. Lack-of-preparation is the kiss of death for being able to deliver a killer presentation. I have some consulting clients who prepare the night before and then wonder why their presentation was a flop. Just because you know your info/topic, doesn’t mean you can just wing it (successfully). Map out your entire presentation and take time to add in interesting things into the PowerPoint (video clips, cartoons, pics, etc.). And know your flow and timing! 2. Don’t Read. I always present with a notes outline, but I don’t “read” it. I use it to refer to and I have my main “content” in my head. I had a client who actually put a majority of her content on her slides and then proceeded to pretty much read them for a one-hour seminar. Problems: Her back was to the audience a lot as she looked at the screen; the font size on her slides was TINY; and it was boring and distracting for the audience. I had asked her to send me her slide deck BEFORE the presentation and she didn’t. BIG mistake. Needless to say I helped her re-do the whole thing, and provided her with some basic training for her next seminar gig, and that one went MUCH better! 3. Smile. It makes people immediately feel at ease. NOT some toothy, fake smile; a nice, honest, pleasant smile. And smile a lot during your presentation. People will react warmly (most people) and you will build a nice rapport quickly. 4. If you get “I’m bored” signals from your audience, DO SOMETHING! Don’t just break a nervous sweat and continue babbling on. Ask a question! Take a break! Get more animated! Increase your energy level! Speak a little more loudly! Ask a trivia question and give a prize! This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to be “dialed-in” to your audience (even if it’s one person) instead of being “all about you” and your presentation. Every presentation you do is about THEM, not you. 5. Use humor. In Ed McMahon’s book, Superselling, he states (3) facts when it comes to sales:
His overall conclusion? You can be a more effective and successful presenter by using humor in your presentations. Do I mean become a stand-up comic? No. Do what is comfortable for you. But have some funny short stories or one-liners that pertain to the presentation…something! If you are not a naturally “witty, funny” person, this will take some work, but don’t panic! Simply consider hiring someone for a few hours to help you improve your presentation with some “fun” visuals (cartoons or video clips) or verbal communication. This person doesn’t have to be a comedy writer, but perhaps employees, friends, family, etc. A few simple, funny elements or comments can go a long way! The top sales trainers and presentation pros recommend it, so consider it! 6. Always let people know at the beginning of the presentations the steps you’ll be taking them through. Example: “Today we’re going to discuss 3 steps to help you build your brand. Each step will have an exercise that you’ll do as a group, and after each one we’ll have a discussion, followed by a 5-minute break. Then the last 30-minutes of the workshop will be for Q & A.” This is a good tactic to immediately establish “control” of the presentation (which you want) and to set audience expectations. 7. Create a Great Slide Deck: Studies done by major University’s have proven that people who use colorful, impressive visuals (don’t overdue it!) in their presentations are more likely to get favorable results. Don’t know how or don’t have the talent? Hire a graphic designer for a few hours to help you. For a minimal amount, you can have a great looking PPT presentation…that you can keep using! 8. Have all your electronic accessories prepared and tested. That may sound obvious but many people really blow it here. If you present using PowerPoint and will use your own laptop (and projector) make sure your computer is charged and that you have several extension cords of different lengths (for the computer AND projector). There have been many people who couldn’t do their presentations (effectively) because their computer wasn’t charged, or their laptop power cord(s) was too short to reach the outlets, or the cord was too short to run the projector. 5 BASIC Lifesavers:
Sound like a lot of stuff to carry? Well I’d rather show-up with a larger computer case on rollers (like a small travel bag) than a smaller briefcase without emergency resources. If you run into any of the issues mentioned above, your audience, and/or the client who hired you, will be VERY impressed by your preparedness…versus annoyed by your lack thereof. Okay! There are your 8 strategies to deliver a successful presentation…good luck and knock ‘em dead! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 5 Ways to Use Video to Build Your Brand and Create ProductsSeptember 30th, 2010Hi All! I just posted my newest video on my YouTube Channel. In this video I share 5 quick tips on how you can use video, easily, to build awareness for your brand, blog, products, website, etc. I also share a great tip on how you can quickly and inexpensively create video products that you can sell on your blog or website to generate income online. And, in this vid, I also mention Kristi Hines (follow her on Twitter @Kikolani), social media expert an blogger, because some of the tips I share are from a blog post of hers. In that post she focused on “5 Types of Videos for Bloggers“, but I expanded on those with additional info to help you. Whether you’re a small business owner, solopreneur, speaker or author, you’ll find the tips helpful. And you’ll quickly see that creating promotional videos, how to videos, tutorials, or video products is VERY easily (you don’t need to be a video producer to create them!)…and they can be done (nicely) for free! Ok! I’ll keep this blog post short because the info you really need can be found in the video! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 2 Ways Leaving Your Computer Can Get You More Business, Faster!July 20th, 2010Hi All! One of the first things new clients ask me is, “How can I get clients faster?”. They know building a social media presence needs to be part of their branding and marketing mix, but that can take time to generate leads and sales. So here’s my short answer to them, “Start speaking and network.” Some of you may be thinking, “Duh”. But I’m here to tell you it’s not something many people think of. I know many small business owners who stay huddled in-front of their computers “hoping” they’ll generate clients through Twitter and trolling around Facebook. They forget that part of social networking means leaving their home office and actually talking to other humans, in person. Public Speaking: One of the ways I get clients quickly is by speaking. I conduct seminars and workshops, and have my target audience for consulting and coaching sitting in front of me for a few hours. Basically, think of conducting a presentation as an audition. And, yes, I charge registration fees to attend my presentations, and I pack them full of great info, but there’s always several attendees who approach me afterwards who want to hire me to help them with their branding, marketing, PR and social media strategies one-on-one. So, I can generate revenue from not only conducting the actual seminar or workshop, but also from the attendees who hire me after. As long as speaking doesn’t totally freak you out, do it. And even if it does terrify you, but you want to try it, do it! I don’t care what your profession is, you can come up with at least ONE presentation topic that people will be interested in. So, think about that, and develop a presentation your target audience will benefit from! And, just fyi, the clients who I help develop speaking topics for, and who get “out there”, benefit tremendously. So, it’s not just working for me personally. Networking: When I ask most new clients how they are currently generating business, very few of them mention “networking” in-person. That’s unreal to me! There has got to be one or more professional associations in your area that have members who are your target audience. It’s also a great way to meet people for strategic alliances, partnerships, support, and referrals. Whenever I attend a networking event, I always walk away with leads OR with contacts who can refer people to me. And this results in getting clients faster. So, I strongly encourage you to investigate networking groups in your area, grab a stack of business cards, and go to their next event or mixer! As I say often, this all may seem like common sense BUT it’s not common practice. If you choose to try one or both of these strategies, you could see an up-tick in business faster than you thought possible. Sure, I love social media, and have benefited from using it in my business building mix, but the 2 strategies I just shared typically get me more business, faster. And they can work for you, too! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa
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