Having a large list of clients/customers/prospects you regularly communicate is a VALUABLE ASSET you’re your company and its revenue. It is a well known saying “The Money is in The List”. One of the first things you need to put into place, if you do not have it already, is a program for collecting names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers to every customer/client/prospect you have come across over the years along with new ones.
Setting up a program to do this can be a combination of several things, here are a few:

1. You should have a website – Create a section to host the registration box. Give them a reason to register here something like you are going to “Solve Their Problems” or “Answer All Of Their Questions”. This code will come from your newsletter platform you use. See www.vaagogo.com on the tools page for some suggestions of wonderful platforms to use.

2. Another GREAT way to increase your sign-ups is to You should have a Facebook Fan Page for your business – you have the opportunity to use an application called FBML static page – you will set this up and use the same code you used on your website.

3. Write a blog post, article, flyer or direct mailer explaining the benefits to joining your newsletter list! Include an incentive or an offer as a “reward” for joining. Offer a “Free Report” (visit www.vaagogo.com and see I have the free report offer) Offer a discount or a birthday club – a lot of large restaurants are successfully using this method – Red Robin, Denny’s, Chi-Chi’s and so many others!

4. The most important way is to ASK!!!

Building a strong and sizeable database will help the strength of your marketing efforts 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!

The Easy Way to Add Facebook Visibility to Your Website

Facebook has been in the news a lot lately. They were slammed about the, “privacy settings” well that is all done now and they have given us back our control on our privacy. I have to say that Facebook on a whole listens to its public, they make mistakes or leaps that are not progress to us but in the long run they go back and modify it so everyone is happy once again, or at least the majority.

Facebook has developed a “script” you can add to your website that will show a “LIKE” button adding this button to your website allows your readers to click on it, activates a count on that page along with notifies the “readers” facebok page/profile” that they liked this page! How great is that! Advertising you cannot pay for!!! The secret is writing posts that give value or a website that is useful to the visitor!! You can do it! You can find the instructions for adding this button to your website at http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like OR if you are like me and LOVE wordpress you can log into your plug in area and search for the plug in called WP FB Like – you can simply install it there! (be sure to check the settings when you install it)

Blogging Create a Voice of Authority! GET NOTICED!!

There are a lot of blogs out there and just as many “whys” for people putting them up. Most brick and mortar business owners here in Santa Clarita think, “why do I need a blog?” “No one wants to know what I am doing everyday” (same oppositions to Twitter when I introduced Twitter in my articles but hey now look at the amount of BIG businesses now on Twitter, not because of me but they see the usefulness!) Blogging for a business owner is not about what you ate for lunch or what you are personally doing (even though this does have a place in your blog). It is about VISIBILITY and we all want and need that! In your company blog you want to begin to create a voice of authority. You have categories in your blog – one should be tips or tools, one should be status or relationship centered, one could be personal, one could be events and so on! Blogs are very helpful to get information out there and gives you another outlet! Some examples – a realtor can create a blog that contains trends in the neighborhood, community events, and pictures and listings (yes those can be blog posts). A dentist can blog about tips to strengthen teeth and better health, about information coming from the “dental professional’s community”, and myths/truth’s to teeth cleaning. A Plumber can blog a weekly tip for fixing “small fixes” around your house, about water saving tips and tools, and about their involvement in the community. A company offering products can blog about the facts of using their products – not based on their self promotion but about facts they find around the world, blog about new techniques used to create what their product is, about their “customer of the month” and do some cross promotions, and of course tips and tools for their industry! Your goal is to start a way for people to look to you and your blog for answers! I hope you are starting to see some important reasons why and how to start a blog.

Blogging Build Leverage! GET NOTICED!!

Having a successful business is what we are all looking for, right? We each may have our own definition to “successful” but success is what we strive for! In working towards success we do a lot of things… network, advertise, get out in the community and volunteer, do “pro bono” work and so on. Each of these items brings attention to your business but each has a life span to it, would you agree? Each of those items are built around getting your business noticed, create longer term visibility, friendships and increase your business traffic but don’t you feel that a lot of the efforts, not to blame anyone are short lived, advertisements are read and thrown away, networking is a chat for that hour or two once a week, volunteering is one event after another – DON’T GET ME WRONG THEY ARE ALL VITAL AND NEEDED AND EVEN ENJOYABLE, DON’T STOP DOING THEM! But by starting a “web-blog” a “blog” site you give a longer life to your activities. Share an event, a meeting, a new relationship, a conversation and facts in your blog. Build leverage using this blog site and spot-light things you don’t want people to forget or things you want them to share! Start out by planning your blog in your head and on paper – do you want a specific “theme” or look to your blog – visit some blog sites and see the differences – start getting used to them!!!

Blogging Become the “Yapper” of the Internet and GET NOTICED!

In March of two years ago I did an article on “Why Blog??” I wanted to take a bit to revisit this idea.. blogging is getting more and more attention! We have all heard of Twitter, right? And if you have not – call me you MUST know what it is!! Twitter is a micro-blog and it is taking over! Static websites are becoming less and less featured by Google and other search engines because they are just that “Static” no movement, no growth, no sharing of new content! Of course you can pay for placement on Google and the others, but have you earned it? Are you sharing information?? Blog sites can be combined with the information from your static site it will just have a “blog” page that will be updated with information hopefully every week. I have a client, Casey Eberhart, that coaches people on “The Art of Networking” to build your reputation, your presence and your business (www.theidealnetworker.com) – his key point is, at a networking event is to find the “Yapper” (the person talking a lot, visiting a lot and making a point to be out there) well think of your blog site as the “Yapper” of the internet.. how is yours doing? In the next few weeks I am going to go over key reasons why to blog and some ideas of what you can blog about… I look forward to sharing this information with you and hope to create a lot of “Santa Clarita Bloggers” out there to build their businesses!

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 Four

Now that we are planning BIG.. do not let your past (or any future) failures stop you from launching new things. All companies, small and LARGE have had failures in a launch they have done.. if you let anything you have tried in the past that did not work out so great stop you from tying something new again OR the fear of failure stop you from trying something new you will not be growing BIG!!! Just a side note, do not launch too many things at the same time – one at a time and even one every 6 months should be your limit – you do not want to confuse your market, you don’t want to overload them and you defiantly do not want to not have enough time to evaluate the “success” rate of your product/service launch.

• Use Failures for Knowledge and Growth Using Coke as anexample, remember when they launched “New Coke” in 1985.. what a bomb. It was quickly removed from the market and the old formula returned as “Classic Coke”. Sales for them increased and that failure has turned into a HUGE success for them.

Marketing niched Virtual Assistants are a great way to have support and to have a support person focusing on this area!

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.

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