Posts Tagged ‘business’
June 09th, 2010
Hi All!
The following post is courtesy of Kathleen Gage, (hugely successful) Online Business Building Expert, and she is a teleseminar pro. Truly.
Here are some great insights from her to get you started, or to think about if you’re already doing teleseminars…
Teleseminars: Are They a Wise Business Choice? By Kathleen Gage
Teleseminars are one of the most incredible ways to build customer loyalty, provide incredible value, position yourself as an expert and make fantastic revenues. The fact is, there are many experts for which teleseminars are the cornerstone of their business and marketing model.
To optimize your effectiveness (and revenues) with teleseminars, or any aspect of your product or service offerings, you not only need to know how to develop a great teleseminar you also need to know who is interested in your information, how to market your offerings and how you will sell.
Let’s begin with foundation. In virtually any marketing course, a primary area of discussion is defining your target market. Without knowing specifically who your market is, it is difficult to develop products and services your customers will be interested in and be willing to pay for.
Here are a few considerations.
- Who is your market?
- What do they want and need?
- What is their most challenging problem that you have a solution for?
- What keeps them awake at night?
- Is your expertise what they are looking?
A consideration many people never take into account is, “Who do you ideally want to do business with?”
Start from the space of, “Where are qualities I look for in my clients that will enhance our working relationship.”
After all, you will be putting time, energy and effort into any working relationship. Why not make them the most enjoyable relationships you can?
This is just the beginning. The challenge many professionals have is they have not taken the time to identify who wants and needs what they have to offer, but who they ideally want to work with.
Without knowing this you may drastically miss the mark. Take time up front to do your homework so that you will benefit your market over the long run and have a great time doing so.
To learn more about effectively using the Internet to generate great revenues go to http://www.streetsmartsmarketing.com/free-ebook.htm to access the FREE ebook The Truth About Making Money on the Internet.
Thanks, Kathleen!
Cheers & Happy Marketing!
Lisa
Tags: business, internet, marketing, money, online, products, sales, teleseminars Posted in authors, book marketing, branding, Business Tips, marketing | No Comments »
May 08th, 2010
Hi All!
This is a blog post for a bit of self-promotion. Hey! I gotta spread the word, right??
Here’s info about the really cool teleseminar series I’m doing in June…pulled from a Press Release I’m sending out to promote them:
Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is conducting three teleseminars in June for small business owners, entrepreneurs, speakers, industry experts, and authors who want to build their brand awareness and increase sales. The three teleseminar topics are: Brand Building, PR & Publicity, and Social Media. Each one will provide attendees with tips, strategies and advice they can implement immediately, even on a tight budget.
The Promote U Business Building Teleseminar Series will be conducted in June 2010, and the dates are: Promote U Through Brand Building, June 8th; Promote U Thru PR & Publicity, June 11th; and Promote U Thru Social Media, June 16th. Each teleseminar is from 10:00 am to 11:00 am PST. And, because these are teleseminars, attendees can attend from anywhere from their phone. Internet and computer access are not required.
The event website with details of each teleseminar: PromoteUGuru.com/teleseminars
“Lisa knows her stuff and so much fun to work with! I can’t believe how much she has improved my brand positioning, sales, marketing and social media strategies, and PR efforts,” shares one Orrell client, Karin Piper, Author of Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents. “So I can tell you the content she’ll offer in these teleseminars is going to be very helpful…no fluff!”
The upcoming teleseminar series is being sponsored by: PersonalBrandingBlog.com, WeMeUs.com and 428Designs.com. And the cost to attend individual teleseminars is $29, or people can choose to attend all 3 for a special package price of $69.
“Prior to launching my Promote U Guru business, I ran an award-winning ad agency in Silicon Valley for 20 years. So I have been helping larger companies with branding, marketing, PR and social media for a long time. But now I focus on working with small business owners and individuals, and my vast experience benefits them immensely,” explains Lisa Orrell, a Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Business Coach. “Plus, aside from being a business owner for over 20 years, I’m the author of 2 books and a professional speaker myself. So I understand the challenges of those individuals who are trying to promote their books, build a brand platform for speaking, and/or who are trying to grow their small business (in any industry).”
Based on her 2 decades of business and marketing experience, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, WomenEntrepreneur.com, U.S. News & World Report, The Silicon Valley Business Journal, China’s Her World magazine (for professional business women), PersonalBrandingBlog.com, BNET.com, and countless others.
I hope to see you in my “virtual” classroom for 1, 2 or all 3 of my teleseminars!
Cheers & Happy Marketing!
Lisa
Tags: authors, business, business coach, entrepreneurs, marketing, PR, small business owners, social media, speakers Posted in branding, marketing, PR and Publicity, social media | No Comments »
May 01st, 2010
Hi All!
If you’re like a lot of the clients I work with, you probably don’t have a lot of experience writing a Press Release…if any! So I’d like to provide you with some very helpful tips for not only crafting one, but also where to deploy it on online so that the media actually sees it…and so that it shows up in Google searches to provide on-going traffic to your website.
Ready? Let’s get started…
1. Make Sure It’s Newsworthy: Some people want to write a Press Release about everything and anything they do, and that’s not a good strategy. Save writing one for big, worthwhile news: Your new book, landing a significant client, an event you’re conducting, etc. And they are not meant to read like articles! They are meant to be “news”!
2. The Headline: Make sure it’s short, effective, and not like the headline of an ad, eblast or direct mail piece. A Press Release is not a “marketing” promotional piece; it’s meant to share news in a factual, straightforward way.
3. The Body Copy: I have read many Press Releases that read like an ad or marketing brochure. Wrong! Using hype, exclamation points, marketing speak, etc. is not appropriate.
4. Basic Structure: Headline, intro paragraph that covers the “5 W’s” (who, what, where, when and why) because some media may only run your first paragraph and not the whole thing, second paragraph with more support info or a quote from you, a third paragraph with more support info and details, a fourth paragraph with a quote/testimonial from a client (or expert) about you, a fifth paragraph with boilerplate info about your company, and a short final paragraph with contact info. Keep the paragraphs short and try to keep the length to around one page. Click here to see a formatting example. You can use variations of this!
5. Add Testimonials: It’s always good to include one Testimonial so that someone else is quoted in it saying how great you are. It gives you more credibility.
6. Get Client, Organization or Individual Approval: If you want to mention a client, or any other organization, business, or person, in your Press Release, get approval first! This is BIG. Example: You may have just landed a big newsworthy client, or landed a keynote speech for a high profile company or organization, and want to tell the world about it. Yes, this type of news would warrant a Press Release, BUT those entities may have strict policies about being mentioned in someone else’s Press Release (mandated by their legal departments), and you can get into A LOT of trouble sending out a Press Release with them mentioned in it without approval. A LOT of trouble.
7. Optimize Your Press Release: Add 5-10 keywords or phrases that have received good search results because when you deploy your Press Release through an online service, those keywords will help it get found by people doing searches related to the topic of your Press Release. Click here to use a free keyword search tool that Google offers. You can type in keywords and phrases into this tool and it will tell you how many searches were done that month for them. This will help you determine which ones are worth putting in and it will also provide you suggestions that are variations of the ones you came up with.
Online Deployment & Distribution:
Okay, so now your press release is written…now what? You’ll want to deploy it through an online service. There are tons of these Press Release distribution services. Note: They vary in cost, so it will boil down to your budget. But most of them enable you to choose the industry(s) and media you want to reach, add keywords, select the date of deployment, and add pictures, images and logos to the upload.
Here’s a few that most PR pros I know use, and ones I use:
- PRWeb.com
- BusinessWire.com
- PR9.net
- PRNewsWire.com
PR9.net is super cheap, around $15 per Press Release. Even when I use one of the other more expensive services listed above, I always deploy through PR9.net, too. I do this because I find my Press Releases do show-up in Google searches through their service, so that’s worth $15 bucks.
Also, in addition to deploying it online for mass coverage and distribution, you’ll want to create a targeted list of media you want to reach. Then you can email your Press Release to them and do follow up calls and emails. But don’t attach the Press Release to your email! Paste the Press Release copy into the body of your email to them.
OKAY! There is your crash course in writing a killer Press Release, and where to deploy it. I hope you found this helpful!
Good luck!
Cheers & Happy Marketing!
Lisa
April 21st, 2010
Hi All,
An in-depth (free!) Special Report was just released by Michael A. Stelzner, Executive Editor of Social Media Examiner. It’s entitled: “2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses”.
But don’t let the word “marketers” deter you! In this context it simply means ANYONE responsible for the branding and marketing of their business. So whether you’re a speaker, author, small business owner with ANY type of company, or entrepreneur, you will benefit from the info in this Special Report. AGAIN…this is NOT a document just for marketing experts seeking recent statistics and strategies!
Here is a brief overview about it and why you should check out this FREE Special Report:
Have any of these questions crossed your mind? “How much time do my peers invest in social media marketing? What benefits are they achieving? Where will they focus their efforts in the future?”
If you’ve pondered any of these thoughts, look no further. All the answers are right here in this free report.
To understand how marketers are using social media, Social Media Examiner commissioned the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. We set out to uncover the “who, what, where, when and why” of social media marketing with this report.
A significant 1900 of your peers provided the type of valuable insight you won’t find elsewhere. In this free report you’ll discover:
- The top 10 social media questions marketers want answered
- How much time marketers invest with social media activities
- The top benefits of social media and how time invested impacts results
- The most used social media tools
- Marketers future social media plans
- And much more!
If you’re in charge of marketing for your business, you’ll want to closely analyze the pages of this report and use it to persuade others.
This is FREE and filled with 33-pages of great info!
Enjoy!
Lisa
April 08th, 2010
Hi All!
As a Marketing Consultant and Business Coach, I speak with clients, colleagues, or audiences everyday who ask me why their Social Media efforts are dismal. To which I reply: “Have you taken the word ‘Social’ out of Social Media?” To which many respond with, “What do you mean?”
People who approach Social Media as Social “Me”dia, struggle. So what DO I mean? Well, see how you answer these questions to see if you’re suffering from Social “Me”dia Syndrome:
1. If you have a blog, do you follow other peoples’ blogs and make (good) comments? Or do you just expect people to follow your blog and show interest in yours?
2. Do you really participate in the Facebook Fan Pages or Groups you’ve joined? Or do you expect everyone just to flock to yours?
3. Do you answer questions or provide solutions to people you follow on Twitter?
4. Do you re-tweet their tweets?
5. Do you thank people for re-tweeting you or following you?
6. Do you take the time to participate in #FollowFriday #FF on Twitter and give props to tweeps you really like so your followers will then know about them, too?
7. If you have a Facebook Fan Page, do you actually go there, daily, and post questions or helpful info that your Fans can respond to?
8. If you have a blog, do you invite Guest Bloggers to write posts and then source them clearly?
9. Do you reach out to people on LinkedIn, participate in Group Discussions, offer advice when questions are asked?
10. On your Facebook Fan Page, do you post interesting questions on the Discussion Board, let your Fans know, encourage them to answer the questions, and/or post new questions?
If you answered “No” to more than 3 of these questions, you are suffering from Social “Me”dia Syndrome. You’ve taken the word “Social” out of Social Media and you’ve focused too much on the “Me” in Media. This means your branding, marketing, sales and lead generation efforts will suffer. And this means you and your business will suffer!
Take 2 aspirin, shift your perspective, reassess your goals and efforts, and contact me in the morning. Chances are within a few weeks you’ll be feeling much better about your Social Media efforts…and the RESULTS!!!
Cheers!
Lisa
Tags: branding, business, business coach, consultant, lead generation, marketing, sales, social media Posted in branding, Facebook, social media, Twitter | No Comments »
February 06th, 2010
Hello,
The following article was published on a terrific marketing blog, internetbiznez.
Here’s an excerpt but click the link to read the whole article and find out about some new tools they suggest:
Five years ago, small businesses are on the hype of using email for marketing their business. But during this climax of using email marketing tool, social networking sites such as Facebook starts to dominate the field of internet marketing.
The main reason why small business are turning their back with email marketing and spend time most in social networking is because people are using social networking for communication than using email system. The average Facebook user spends 55 minutes a day on the site, and the time spent on sites like Facebook has increased 90% in the past six years. Bringing your business into social networking will help you broaden your potentials to reach your business.
Bye for now!
Lisa
January 27th, 2010
Hi All!
The following guest post was written by Wayne Turmel – Speaker, writer and president of www.greatwebmeetings.com, a company dedicated to helping people use web technology to sell, manage, train and communicate using today’s communication technology. He’s a regular contributor to Management Issues, BNET and host of The Cranky Middle Manager Show podcast.
If you’re looking how to improve your webinars, or learn more about how to even do an effective webinar to build your brand and/or generate revenue, you’ll find this article helpful!
“5 Concerns About Webinars – And How to Get Over Them”, by Wayne Turmel
Webinars and webcasts are a great way to promote your brand- but there are some common misconceptions that get in the way of using them effectively. Here are some facts and tips from my book, “6 Weeks to a Great Webinar”…
- They are expensive- yes, they take time to plan and promote, but the prices have dropped considerably. Good webinar platforms are available for as little as $99 or less per month for unlimited use and most include promotion and registration tools. Most offer month to month contracts. Social media and your contact list make a great start for marketing effectively. Also, consider partnering with an association or strategic partner to be a guest on their webinar and agree to share the registration lists.
- If I don’t get a big audience it’s a waste of effort- sure, Oprah got 500,000 attendees on her webcast. You ain’t Oprah, don’t worry about it. If you choose a robust platform with good recording capabilities the webinar has a life long after the event itself. Post it to your website. Statistics show that the recorded event will get 4-10X more viewings than ever attended the actual event
- Free webinars have a 50% no show rate and that’s a problem-well, only to your ego. Why are you holding the webinar? You want to increase awareness of what you do and add people to your prospect list, mostly by enlarging your database. When they register for your event they’ve told you they are at least a Level 1 prospect (interested in your topic or area of expertise). Make sure that to register they give you at least a real name and email address. Then when the webinar is completed, you can send the no-shows a letter pointing them to the recorded event and follow up in other ways. It was important enough for them to register, they are probably still interested even though something came up that prevented them from attending. Don’t let that lead die. If they’ve registered, it’s a victory. Heck if you at least know that the email address is good it goes a long way to cleaning up your database
- The technology is complicated and I’m not really a tech person- There are so many platforms that even the most technophobic of us can present effectively. From the very simple (BrightTalk and Netbriefings )to more robust platforms that require some multitasking (GoToWebinar, Dimdim , Telenect and over 100 others) the key is to practice until you can talk and punch buttons at the same time. This requires practice, not any particular brilliance. Practice means real practice, not thumbing through your PowerPoint muttering to yourself. The first time you use a platform should not be when you’ve got customers or prospects on the line.
- They are impersonal and not as much fun as a live presentation- True, it’s a different dynamic from a live presentation. You can’t see their smiling faces, hear the laughs or get instant ego gratification that way. Part of that is reality, some of it is the presenter’s fault. Most presenters don’t use the tools the platform provide for making presentations interactive. Learn to use chat, polling and other tools that come with the platform. Take questions throughout the presentation rather than holding them all to the end. The problem is that many of us have not been on a good, interactive, engaging webinar so we’re lacking for models. Sit in on a few… find out what you like and do that….find out what bored you and swear to me you’ll never do that to an audience of your own.
If you’d like guidance on doing marketing/lead generating webinars and webcasts, you can do worse than “6 Weeks to a Great Webinar- Generate Leads and Tell Your Story Your Way”. This workbook contains templates, samples and easy-to-follow checklists for wrangling all the little details you need to tend to for a successful webinar event.
Thanks for the great info, Wayne! And thanks for contributing to my new blog!
Cheers!
Lisa
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