Newsletters… The Importance of One!

~Email Marketing ~ Newsletters ~ Communication~

Now that you have your database together and building larger daily – let’s focus on why a newsletter…

Having a newsletter is a valuable tool for your business –
• It assists in the ROI on marketing investments
• Increases your customer loyalty (based on offers you give)
• Gives you the ability to do “split testing” to see what kind of campaigns are more successful
• Gives you an outlet to “touch” your customers/clients/prospects on a regular basis

Creating a clear purpose for your newsletter is important – you should not send a newsletter that is solely based on “selling” to your people – you need to GIVE to your people!
Some companies feel newsletters should be once a month – the frequency is important and once a month is not frequent enough to maintain and build a relationship with your “peeps”. Marketing is stronger when you have a “relationship” with your peeps.

Suggestions for your newsletter – with this frequent sending mix up the topics of your blasts – things like This Week’s How To Tips, This Week’s Hot or Controversial or Good news in your market, This Week’s Time Sensitive Offers, This Week’s Question from a reader and so on – you want to feed the interest of all of your readers!

Be sure to keep eyes on the stats for opens and replies back in regards to the email topics you send – which are received better, which ones receive “action” from your readers and which ones bomb? Take that information and continue to build your messages! More next week…

Don’t forget productivity is the way to propel you forward professionally and personally… Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

Branding…Are You Paying Attention to Your Branding & Marketing? Part Seven

Most people use electronic mailers to keep their clients/prospects updated throughout the year. Some are sent weekly, monthly or even quarterly. Popular programs are Constant Contact (very user friendly), their shopping cart program (helps keep their list together in one place), aWeber (offers the ability to have a structured autoresponder created) – if you have any questions about these feel free to call me. BUT what I want to talk to you about is Old Fashion Letters and Cards.. do you do that too or not at all?

• Old Fashion Mailings still work!: Now that I have said that – let me clarify, I am not speaking of the old fashion advertising mailers that just promote your business but the old fashion connecting mailings – letters and cards! There is a service that I have found to be a viable tool in my (and several client’s businesses too), SendOutCards. It allows you to pick from over 15,000 cards or create your own with your own logo or pictures! Reach out and touch your clients/prospects just because – touch them and ask about them do not advertise! Rebuild or Continue that relationship. We are all overwhelmed by emails and they are not personal! We are all guaranteed bills in the mail – why not send someone a smile in the mail and give them a card to brighten their day!! It makes a HUGE difference. Check it out and send 4 cards on me for free! Promise no hassles just an introduction to a great tool!! – click on the banner SEND FREE BRANDING/MARKETING messages and set up your free account!

Personal touches are so important – we need to get back into the habit of reminding people (friends, family, business connections) how important they are. We need to get back to “Relationships” with our clients and prospects! I hope you have gotten some nuggets out of this series!

Branding…Are You Paying Attention to Your Branding & Marketing? Part Six

Now that you are getting all of your branding and materials together with BIG in mind, start working on image – remember when you were going to review your website? Do you have testimonials on it? These can be done in written form (add a pic), audio form (add a pic) as well as video form! Testimonials or Endorsements are the BEST way to gain credibility! People do business with people they can trust – by having recommendations and endorsements from your community members makes you one someone can trust!

• Don’t be shy, just ask!: I am sure you know of people that have or are using your product or services. Are they happy with what they get? I am sure they are if they are coming back for more. Ask a few of them for testimonials, be sure to show them some samples of other ones so that they know what you are looking for.. change it up and do one in writing, do one on a conference call line so you can download the mp3, and meet someone for a coffee and take your “flip” camera and record one – it will be fun and you will also get to see the fruits of your efforts!

Branding Branding Branding – just remember if people are doing testimonials for you, take a moment and create a testimonial for them as well!

Branding…Are You Paying Attention to Your Branding & Marketing? Part Five

Planning for BIG in your business is not just about getting your vision in-line, your logo set, and your visibility out there it also has to do with getting rid of bad habits! Most of us know all about the clients we take on that are our friends, or referrals that came to us from special connections and we feel obligated to do our services at a lower price that what we advertise…no to mention what big businesses are doing in their marketing of products and services: businesses have set it up as a whole by inflating prices just to in turn offer a discounted price (which really is the actual price they wanted in the first place) and we the consumer feel like we are getting a deal.. wrong! And by doing this everyone now expects to get a “deal” on the posted price – scary! Stay consistent with your pricing and do not under-value your services or products!

• Discontinue to Service the “Break Even” Customers: While you are out there increasing your sales or client intake with these types of clients/customers you are NOT increasing your profits. You need to stop marketing to unprofitable clients/customers and you will have more time and resources for clients/customers that actually grow your business. Pay attention and keep strong about the value you offer you will attract those that truly respect and appreciate you and your services!

Need help with your marketing? Find a Virtual Assistant that specializes in Marketing…

Branding…Are You Paying Attention to Your Branding & Marketing? Part Three

While focusing on your message and your plans.. how BIG are you planning for? Your dream of what you become should not be limited! A lot of times we limit ourselves and our growth simply by fear, fear of success. We are all warned of the “nay sayers” that run in our circles but we do not normally get warned to watch out for ourselves. We can single handedly crush our own dreams and plans.. do not stop yourself! GO BIG!

• Go Big or Don’t Show Up! Start small with a single mission – one that can be built on! Get your first product, line of service or store open and begin to firm up the foundation up. Once you have a following begin to venture out with another product, service or another store – remember large corporations like Coke started with one product and grew to over 450 brands – again look at Campbell, General Mills, McDonalds and so on – it all starts with one product but also with one BIG Dream!

There are Virtual Assistants that are niched in marketing and branding, if you are interested in meeting a VA in the niche please feel free to contact me and I am happy to make some connections.

Branding…Are You Paying Attention to Your Branding & Marketing?

Large successful corporations know how important branding is to their business. As small businesses, either wanting to stay small or wanting to go huge, we know how important branding is but do we give it enough focus, time and weight in how we build our structure and marketing plans? I say no.. what do you say? I am going to go over some key tools to Branding and Marketing over the next few weeks.. since we are at the end of 2009 it is a great time to review what you have and if you see the need to launch something more solid, cleaner, and maybe even more focused in the new year…

Let’s begin by taking inventory of what you have – get out an image of your logo if you have one, print the home page of your website, collect your advertisements and promotions together and type up your slogan – on liner (if you network also type out your “elevator speech”. With all of these in one location review each one and write out your first impression after you look at it or listen to it. It helps to get a couple other people to give you feed back AND also read your info to you so you HEAR it not go over what you wrote – pin pointing your impressions is the first start.

There are Virtual Assistants that work with marketing and branding as their primary field of assistance, if you are interested in meeting a VA in the niche please feel free to contact me and I am happy to introduce you to them.

How Big is Your Bowl?

I know when I ask that question and everyone thinks of the size of their candy bowl they had for Halloween that is not what I am referring to. I am referring to your “life, experience and business” bowl! Take a plant for instance, you purchase plants to decorate your home or office with from stores like Home Depot and they are in 2 inch pots. It is recommended for it to continue to grow that you change out the pot and replant it in a slightly bigger one and then do it again for the plant to be able to grow bigger and bigger. OK, see the similarities? The plant (and fish are the same way) need a change of surroundings along with a bigger location to continue to grow. It cannot grow to its full size if you keep it cooped up in the same small habitat! Now relate this analogy to you and your business. Are you networking in the same groups you have been for years? Are you holding onto all of the “needed to be done” tasks for yourself to do? Open up your bowl size… reach out to new groups whether it be social networking on the internet with Facebook, LinkedIn and so on or meeting with a new networking group – find a 5 Minute Networking event – they are great! For those tasks that are holding you back from getting more work because you cannot keep up with what you have, hire an assistant whether it be in your office or a virtual assistant. The cost of paying an assistant will be more than covered when you have opened your bowl up for growth and more business comes in!

Networking… Don’t Miss The Opportunities

It’s all in the relationship! Networking is a way of life today for Entrepreneurs. You can work for a company or be a solo-preneur and have a need to network. With the downturn in the economy people are turning to those who “care”, those who have “time”, those that “follow-up” and those who “offer a resolution to a need”. Is that you? Network – Network – Network You never know who someone else might know and by networking you get your name and services out there in the running for work. Also in turn, by networking you might find a person that fits a need you might have! It is a win win situation. There is an art to networking, the main key is to be authentic and be YOU! We all know that when you network you should be there to get to know the others you are meeting and not just “sell” yourself. Practice that! We have some great networking groups here in Santa Clarita that meet weekly or monthly. There are networking groups that have affiliations outside of our little valley if your services are not just for local customers. There is a fun website – www.meetup.com that lists every kind of “Meet Up” group you can think of from personal self-care to hardcore business people. Look into, join and get notices – the most important part is NETWORK!!! Build Relationships!! You never know who and what you might find! Good luck and Have a GREAT Time!

Winning the “Bid”

Bids, most of the companies create bids in order to secure an account. As a VA we speak with our potential clients, evaluate their needs and put together a proposal bid, not unlike most service businesses. Here are some quick tips for “winning the bid”
1) Target the correct company for you and your services. Make sure they are a perfect fit with your company and same the other way around. You do not want to be putting in a bid on a job just because and then do the job poorly.
2) If you are a “smaller” company think about working with larger service suppler companies! This allows you the opportunity to work with clients you might have never had the chance to work with before. 3) Get certified! For a lot of the smaller service based companies you can look to be certified in different service arenas. Organizations like Women’s Business Enterprise National Council www.wbenc.org offer certifications and this shows larger companies you are serious! Get out there and check out the opportunities, they are everywhere!

Delegation… a Lost Art Part Two

Do you find yourself thinking I don’t even have the time in my day to delegate a task to someone… This is a pitfall many of us fall into. The truth is you don’t have the time NOT to delegate.

As a business owner your calendar is probably your most valuable tool. Notice I called it a TOOL – you need to use it that way. Schedule everything you have to do on the calendar that includes shopping, paying bills not just business meetings and networking! You will get a clear picture of the REAL amount of time you have in a day. Now while you are scheduling things – schedule in a block of time for delegating tasks, the beginning or end of the day is always best!

During this time you will focus on tasks you can hand out to others to complete type up an instruction email, include all attachments and don’t forget to include a date you expect this task to be completed – send it and consider that task completed! Your support team will get it done! It is important to make time work for you not you rush around trying to keep up with time!

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