Consistent, Persistent Effective Marketing

Have you tried blogging, article marketing, social networking, and other marketing techniques? Do you feel that none of them worked? Too often a small business owner tries a marketing technique, such as social networking, and thinks that one month of social networking will bring in all kinds of new clients. When that doesn't work, they try blogging for a few weeks. After little or no response, they then turn to article marketing, and the cycle repeats.

Rapidly moving from one marketing technique to another and hoping that each one will provide all sorts of new clients is not consistent, persistent effective marketing. To be effective in marketing your service or product, you must have a plan in place to use a variety of techniques and then be consistent and persistent in using them. Effective marketing takes time.

Each marketing technique you use should drive your target audience to your website. You need to be sure that your blog posts, articles, and social networking profiles all aim at your target audience and have links back to your website.

What happens when a prospect visits your website? Do they land on the home page, read a paragraph or two and leave? How can you turn them into a lead? Once a prospect finds your website you want them to give you information and permission to contact them again. A great way to do this is to have a newsletter sign up on your home page. Offer your prospect something of value in exchange for signing up. It could be some sort of free report or discount on a future purchase.

Now that your prospect has signed up for your newsletter and you have their email address, you need to have an effective, consistent follow-up plan. You can't expect to send one newsletter and get a paying client. Set up a system to stay in touch on a regular basis and offer valuable information to your prospects about you and your business.

It is important to use a variety of marketing techniques. It does take time to turn leads into clients. That's why it is important to be consistent and persistent in your follow-up and not to give up on one technique too soon.

Let me help you put together a consistent, effective plan to market your service business.

3 Ways to Re-purpose Your Articles

1. Compile your "Top 10 Tips" articles and create a tip booklet. Offer it as a complimentary gift when prospects sign up for your e-zine.

2. Repost your articles on your blog.

3. When you go to networking events or speaking engagements, handout reprints of your articles. This is less likely to be thrown out than a flyer or brochure.

7 Key Marketing Skills

1. Build your permission-based contact list
2. Contact your list regularly
3. Have an engaging website with fresh content
4. Engage in marketing activities on a regular basis
5. Follow up with prospects
6. Turn prospects into clients
7. Get testimonials from satisfied clients

How can I help you get started?

Join me next week on Rita's virtual blog tour and enter to win a copy of her e-book

Next week on Monday, November 3rd, Rita J. Cartwright will be stopping by my blog on her virtual book tour to promote her new e-book. Join me and comment or ask a question to be entered into the random drawing to win a copy of her new e-book, "Online Marketing Tools for Today's Small Business".



Rita J. Cartwright is a Virtual Assistant and owner of RJ's Word Processing Services and has been in business since 2002. In 1998, she received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Marketing from Arizona State University with a minor in Spanish. She is also a member of Virtual Assistant Networking Association and Oceanside Chamber of Commerce. In order to offer her clients quality service, Rita continues to enhance her skills through various teleseminars and webinars, as well as network online and offline with fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Rita’s background in marketing and experience in conducting her business online qualify her to write an e-book on the topic of various marketing tools and strategies. Having to operate on a shoestring marketing budget, provided her with necessary knowledge and skills, which were required in order to implement these same strategies into her online marketing plan. For more information on RJ’s Word Processing Services and Rita, please click here.

Summary of e-book: Entrepreneurs and small business owners in any industry can use this e-book as a reference guide. Whenever you need fresh online marketing ideas or need online marketing information, you can refer back to this e-book. Nowadays, we are so overwhelmed with information, Rita wanted to simplify the search for online marketing techniques by organizing some of that information together into one location, her e-book. Pick up your copy today at the low price of $3.98.

Why Use Email Marketing?

I recently attended a workshop hosted by Constant Contact about the best practices of email marketing. With so many spammers, many wonder if they should use email marketing. Once you put into practice the 'best practices' of email marketing, it can be a very fast, easy, inexpensive and effective way to market. Some statistics about email (source: AOL Email Survey - July 2008) are:

46% of email users say they're "hooked" (addicted to email)
51% check email 4 or more times a day
69% of email users say they have multiple email accounts
62% check work email over a typical weekend
50% check email while on vacation

So people still turn to email to find valuable information. There are reasons to use email marketing? How can it be used most effectively? That's another discussion.

Referral Marketing

Word of mouth referrals are an excellent way to increase your business. Many small businesses could increase referrals by the way they market. Just what is referral marketing and how can you implement it in your business?

Clare Price of Brand Vantage Inc. will be presenting the topic "Referral Marketing" at the next meeting of the Northern California Association of Entrepreneurs. It will be Monday, October 27, 2008 at 6:00 pm in Roseville, California at Corrina's Dessert and Coffee, 9205 Sierra College Blvd, Ste 100. Everyone is welcome. There is no charge; we only ask that you make a small purchase at the venue to help support the local small business owner.

Join us in the conversation and find out how you can implement referral marketing in your business.

Turn Your Articles into Income-Producing Products

1. E-Book: Compile your articles and put them in e-book format. You can give it away for free or offer it at a low cost.

2. E-Course: Organize your articles into a logical sequence and then set up a free 3-day e-course and at the end of the e-course ask your subscribers if they'd be interested in continuing the course for a fee.

3. Create a membership club and charge a monthly fee for your articles, resources and newsletters.

4. Use your articles as an outline for teleseminars that people pay to listen to.

5. Expand your articles into special reports and then sell them.

6. Expand your article into a book.

Win a free copy of "Online Marketing Tools for Today's Small Business"

I will be hosting Rita J. Cartwright on her virtual book tour to promote her e-book "Online Marketing Tools for Today's Small Business" on November 3, 2008. Rita has agreed to give away a free copy of her e-book. Here's what you need to do to enter to qualify to win the free copy.

1. Visit my blog on November 3, 2008 and post a comment or question for Rita.
2. On November 4, 2008, we will pick at random (using Random.org) one email address from all who posted a question or comment.
3. The selected winner will be announced in my blog November 5, 2008 and Rita will contact you to find out where to send your free copy.

So make sure to stop back by November 3rd, post a comment or question, and be entered into the drawing for a free copy of Rita’s very informative e-book, "Online Marketing Tools for Today's Small Business."

Are They Requesting Your Product?

A friend of mine loves her hobby. She take photographs and then plays with them and creates beautiful note cards. Now she doesn't want to run a 'business' and so can't actually market her hobby. But if someone asks, she'll sell you her note cards to cover her expenses.

She recently gave a service provider a gift of a set of note cards. The service provider liked them so much that she asked my friend if she could buy some. Here's someone requesting her product and she's not even marketing!

Imagine if she took the time to use free online marketing tools to promote her product. If they are requesting your product, maybe it's time to ramp up the business and take advantage of some free online marketing tools.

Contact me to learn more about free online marketing tools and how to use them.

Virtual Book Tours

I'm learning about virtual book tours. This blog will be one of the stops for author Rita Cartwright's virtual book tour on November 3rd. Rita has recently released her e-book Online Marketing Tools for Today's Small Business. You can read more at her blog.

Watch for more information about virtual blog tours in the future. And visit us again on November 3rd to learn more about Rita and her new e-book.

Special: Introductory Blog Package

Recently I've been able to help several clients create and set up systems to maintain their blogs and promote them. I've had other VAs ask me for this information too.

This Introductory Blog Package includes a 2-page Blogging Basics report that discusses why you should have a blog, the benefits, 3 Keys to Successful Blogging, and 5 ways to promote your blog.

The package also contains a 3-page report, Blogging: Beyond the Basics, that addresses finding the time to write, what to write about, creating quality content, and more.

The final 2-page report, Blogging: The Advanced Stage, gives you more ideas on how to get more traffic to your blog. The package also includes a questionnaire designed to help you get started with blogging.

I will be offering this package to clients (valued at $49.95). However, as a special introductory offer, I am offering it at a discounted rate for only $29. If you would like to purchase this introductory blog package at this special discounted rate, please email me directly at sue@awesomeassistant.info and in the subject line type: Intro Blog Special.

Do You Have a Marketing Plan?

Many solo professionals do not have a marketing plan. A marketing plan can outline the goals you want to reach and how to reach them.

In order to reach your goals, you need to know what they are, have a plan to reach them, and be able to tell you've achieved them. Too often solo professionals wonder what they need to do next, which task should they concentrate on next. When you have a written plan, you'll know exactly what step comes next.

Do you know if your last marketing efforts worked? Did you get the results you expected? With a marketing plan, you'll be able to track your results and see what's working and what may need adjustment.

A marketing plan can be refined as you go along and your needs change. As you get a clearer idea of what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and how to do it, you can update your marketing plan.

Make your business more effective and successful. Let's work together to create a marketing plan that works for you.

Writing Articles to Build Customer Trust and Confidence

1) Write consistently.
Just writing one or two articles won't establish you as an expert in your field. Schedule to write and submit at least one article a month.

2) Be authentic.
Write about what you really know and be yourself.

3) Connect with readers on an emotional level.
Most people buy based on emotion, not based on logic. So find a way to connect emotionally. Telling stories about yourself is one way to do this.

4) Provide proof.
Give your readers case studies or testimonials to show the results.

Getting Started With Your Blog

Recently I've had a few clients that wanted to start a blog and weren't sure where to start. So I helped them create their blog and setup a system to maintain it on a regular basis. They are very happy that they now have a blog and that it doesn't seem so overwhelming to maintain it.

The biggest concern seems to be finding the time to post entries and deciding what to write. Since they already had written marketing materials, there was a beginning. Then we set up a plan for them to set aside a certain amount of time once a week to create the entries and schedule them to post.

Another concern was how to make sure the world knows about their blog. So we submitted the blogs to several blog directories. And of course I'll mention them here.

Andrew Rogerson - Certified Business Broker
On The Right Track Life Coaching

Do you want to start blogging and need some help getting started? Contact me and let's work on it!

Write an E-book to Promote Your Services

One way to promote your services is to write an e-book. It doesn't need to be difficult or time-consuming. Just pick a subject you are knowledgeable in and are passionate about. This is also a way to become known as an expert in your field.

If you've already written articles, try expanding them and putting them together as a basis for your e-book.

Once you've written your e-book you can sell it, give it away, or offer it as an incentive. This is a great way to get people added to your mailing list. When they join your list, they get a complimentary copy of your e-book.

Tips for a Great E-Newsletter

1. Send it out at a consistently (i.e. the first Wednesday of each month). Readers appreciate knowing when it's coming.

2. Create an striking title that will prompt your readers to open it.

3. Use a table of contents so readers can easily find the topic they want to read.

4. Be sure your newsletter is full of useful content.

5. Keep it simple and easy to read.

6. Ask for feedback, replies to a survey, or ask your readers to enter a contest. Readers want to be engaged.

7. Be sure you are compliant with the CAN-SPAM act by including a link to unsubscribe with each email you send.

8. Include all your contact information, including a physical address, website and phone number.

9. Invite readers to forward the newsletter to a friend.

10. Think about what you can do so your readers will look forward to receiving your newsletter and then do it.

If you need help creating and sending out a newsletter, contact me. I'd be happy to help you!

Create a Benefits List

One simple marketing tool a service provider can use is a benefits list. Maybe you've listed in your brochure or on your website two or three main benefits of using your service. But sit down and think about all the benefits you offer. Then create a simple, one-page document you can hand out and post on your website.

This list should not be all about what you do. Rather it should be a detailed list of how your customer or client will benefit from using your services or product. What's in it for them?

Do you have a benefits list? Let me help you create one!