Tag Archives: Business

Content Creation Marketing for Small Business

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Content Creation for Small Business MarketingContent Creation Marketing for Small Business

I was reading a post by Ron Tester, small business marketing expert at Do This Not That Marketing, and in it he shares eight trends of content consumption that are noteworthy. I would like to elaborate on his fifth trend, the need for content to be multimedia in nature:

“Content Needs to Be Multimedia — Video, infographics, images, audio, eBooks, articles, blog posts and more should all be used together to create a storm of new content that works together to promote the products and/or services that you want to promote. Content can still be repurposed into new forms, but you need to put a unique spin on it. This is such an important trend, even I am creating videos. Believe me, I wouldn’t be doing it if people weren’t wanting it.”

Read this over a couple of times to make sure you understand the power of Ron’s words here.

I couldn’t agree more and would like to include one of my “lifestyle videos” from my YouTube channel to show how I use video to get my message out to the world.

I also repurpose my posts into articles, audio trainings, podcasts, and short reports on a regular basis. I learned while working as a classroom teacher that people have different learning styles, and I have kept that in the back of my mind over this past decade that I’ve been an online marketer and entrepreneur. Think about how you can use audio, video, and other types of written content to share and promote your products and services.

Content creation marketing for small business is a worthy endeavor and must be implemented regularly for best results. Learn more about the small business marketing course taught by Ron Tester and myself and join us in the member’s area.

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Content Creation Marketing to Build Your Business

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Content Creation MarketingWhen I came online in 2006 I had no idea that I would need to become a content creation marketing machine in order to be successful as an online entrepreneur. I was not a writer, and the very thought of writing a two hundred fifty word article to submit to the article directories terrified me. As a former classroom teacher I thought that I would be judged by what I published on the Internet. But I was determined to succeed and began writing an article every single day to get into the habit of writing. I even challenged myself to write one hundred articles in one hundred days…and accomplished my goal within seventy-eight days!

Recently I was reading a post by Pam and Dexter Montgomery. Their post, Create Content That Clients Value! made some excellent points.

“Content Should Be Easy To Understand

Whether your content is a blog post, information product, or podcast it should be easy to understand. If your product is in writing, it should also be easy to read.  A few key ways of making your writing easy to read and understand are to:

  • Use one main theme per content piece
  • Use subheadings to break up your points
  • Use simple formatting like bullet points, numbers, and short paragraph

Content Should Be Conversational

When you are creating your content, remember to use your personal and unique voice. Write content as if you were talking to a trusted client with whom you have developed a deep relationship. Write and talk like you are having a conversation with a peer or a really good friend. To accomplish this goal, that means you will not be using industry jargon.  You will also clearly explain any new concepts that you introduce.”

I especially like what they say about remembering to use your personal and unique voice. People have told me that when they read my daily email messages they sound like me. I take this as a great compliment in that I always want people to find me approachable, even if that is virtually. Content creation marketing is your opportunity to allow your community to hear your voice and receive your message through your content.

Be sure to check out my training course on Really Simple Content Marketing if you would like to pursue content creation to build your business.

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Content Curation Marketing to Grow Your Online Business

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Content Curation MarketingContent Curation Marketing

I first heard about content curation from my good friend and colleague Marlon Sanders back in 2010. He was sharing his results from a course he was promoting on this topic, and frankly, I didn’t get it. It was my mistake not to spend some time discussing this with him to learn what he knew that I did not. Eventually I understood the concept and now content curation marketing is a regular part of my online business strategies.

Recently I was reading an excellent post from Steven Rosenbaum is the CEO of Magnify.net, a real-time video curation engine for publishers, brands, and websites. He’s also the author of Curation Nation. His post, 5 Tips for Great Content Curation, really got me thinking about this important topic. In in he shares his five best practices for content curation marketing:

“If you’re a curator looking for some boundaries in what feels like the Wild West, here are five best practices to consider.

1. Be Part of the Content Ecosystem

Be part of the content ecosystem, not just a re-packager of it. Often, people think of themselves as either creators or curators as if these two things are mutually exclusive. What a curator really should do is embrace content as both a maker and an organizer. The most successful curators include sites like The Huffington Post, that embrace the three-legged-stool philosophy of creating some content, inviting visitors to contribute some content, and gathering links and articles from the web. Created, contributed, and collected — the three ‘c’s is a strong content mix that has a measurable impact. Why? Because your visitors don’t want to hunt around the web for related material. Once they find a quality, curated collection, they’ll stay for related offerings.

2. Follow a Schedule

Audiences expect some regularity, and they’ll reward you for it. It doesn’t need to be a schedule that you can’t keep up with. If you want to curate three new links a day, and write one big post a week, that’s a schedule. Make sure to post at the same time each week. This is so readers know when to expect new material from you. Consistency and regularity will also bring you new users, and help you grow a loyal base of members who appreciate your work. A good example of someone who gets why a schedule makes a difference is Jason Hirschhorn via his MediaReDEF newsletter. He never misses a publish date.

3. Embrace Multiple Platforms

It used to be that your audience came to you. Not anymore. Today content consumers get their information on the platform of their choosing. That means you should consider posting short bursts on Tumblr, images on Pinterest, video on YouTube, and community conversations on Facebook. And don’t leave out established sites and publishers. If your audience hangs out on a blog, you may want to offer that publication some guest posts or even a regular column. Essentially, you have to bring your content contributions to wherever your readers may be.

4. Engage and Participate

Having a voice as a curator means more than creating and curating your own work. Make sure you’re giving back by reading others and commenting on their posts. A re-tweet is one of the easiest ways to help build relationships with fellow bloggers and curators. And your followers will appreciate that you’ve pointed them to good content. One word here, I never hit an RT without clicking through to read what I’m recommending. You can also lose followers if you don’t put in the effort to recommend material that you really think merits their attention.

5. Share. Don’t Steal.

Take the time to give attribution, links back, and credit. The sharing economy works because we’re each sharing our audiences, and providing the value of our endorsements. If you pick up someone’s work and put it on your blog, or mention a fact without crediting the source, you’re not building shared credibility. You’re just abusing someone else’s effort.”

The first and second of these “best practices” resonate with me the most; think of yourself as more of a publisher of content and then it doesn’t matter who wrote it originally, as long as you give proper and due credit when it was someone else’s idea. Also, sticking to a content curation marketing schedule will ensure your readership never goes more than a week or so without receiving additional content from you.

When I began teaching my Really Simple Content Marketing training course I made sure to spend enough time on content curation marketing so that my students would be able to get their content up and published with ease on a regular basis. Once you get into the flow of curation you’ll never want for content and people will think of you as an authority on your topic. Also, an added bonus is that they will tell you they see you “everywhere” on the Internet.

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Road Trips to Enhance Your Small Business Perspective

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Road TripMy small business perspective was recently enhanced. Earlier this summer I took a road trip across the country. Over the course of twenty-one days I covered six thousand three hundred miles and traveled through seventeen different states. What began as a convenient way to meet with clients located far and wide became a case study in how small businesses operate in different regions of our great country. I highly recommend that you do something similar, even if only on a small scale to get the benefit of interacting with business owners and customers in a variety of situations.

My first stop was at a Cracker Barrel restaurant located in Flagstaff, Arizona. It had been years since I had patronized this chain and I longed to see if it was as I remembered it from more than twenty years ago. When you first enter the building you find yourself in their country store, filled with items from the past. As you work your way towards the restaurant it’s apparent that everything has been strategically placed to make you feel right at home.

From the employees dressed in clothing from a hundred years ago to food that is both delicious and reasonably priced, Cracker Barrel bends over backwards to make customers feel like family. It made me question my own methods of doing business online and in person and made me think twice about my small business perspective. Do my own clients fell like family or more like paying customers?

My next stop was at a Motel 6 in Winslow, Arizona. I had not called ahead to make a reservation, nor had I gone online on my smart phone to see if they had a room available for that evening. I was met at the front counter by a woman who greeted me with a smile. She not only made me feel at home, but asked if I’d like an accessible room or one closer to the office.

Also, she offered to let me look at the room first before committing to it. This motel was located right next to the railroad tracks, as many Motel 6s are, and she assured me there would be no noise once I had closed the door to the room. She was correct. Considering my total bill was less than sixty dollars for that night’s stay, I was quite satisfied.

These experiences continued as I crossed the country over the next three weeks, and I came to expect the very best in customer service and amenities. I was disappointed at a Super 8 motel in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, outside of Tulsa and left a one star review on their website within the following twenty-four hours to share the details. In this day and age of social media and review sites businesses simply cannot afford to offer less than acceptable goods or services.

The Kroger grocery store I shopped in Knoxville, Tennessee also went out of its way to provide me with a superior experience. And when I was in need of a prescription in Memphis, it was the kind and helpful people at the Walgreen’s pharmacy who made my day one to remember. And the gas station in Charlottesville, Virginia had employees who washed my windshield and offered help with directions to my next destination. This was yet another reminder that we do business with people, not with companies or corporations and that these people can make or break the reputation of a business one transaction at a time.

This was such a valuable learning experience for me that I plan to take another road trip next summer. There is nothing like putting yourself out there to see exactly what it’s like to do business in unfamiliar locations and surroundings. When I came home I had a small notebook filled with ideas as to how I can improve my own business practices.

By now you can see that seeing the U.S.A., whether in a Chevrolet or another make of vehicle can be an excellent way to get an up close and personal view of how business really works. Make a plan to take to the open roads and observe your own experiences so that your own business will benefit when you return.

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Marketing Your Small Local Business

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Marketing Your Small Local BusinessMarketing Your Small, Local Business

I’ve been marketing for small, local businesses since 2007, and this actually got me started as an online marketer. Marketing your small, local business online is an excellent way to get more targeted prospects into your physical location and purchasing from you on the internet.

Neil Patel shares some excellent information on marketing a brick and mortar business here. In his well written and thought out post Neil breaks down the process into Days 1 through 10, Days 10 through 25, and Days 25 through 30. As expected, he emphasizes the importance of creating high quality content, and this is Step 2 of his 3 Step Basics plan. He states:

“One of the fallacies many entrepreneurs believe is that simply having a website with some on-page SEO is enough.

But that’s not how Google works, and that’s not how people work either.

If you want to attract new customers and build a loyal fan base, you need to place a premium on creating and curating high quality content.

Content is huge.

But how does this apply to marketing a brick-and-mortar business? Here’s how…

Let’s say you own a coffee shop in Boulder, Colorado.

You take the first 2-3 days and pay to create your website—design it to look great and navigate easily. Then you set up your Facebook page.

Now, it’s time to start populating your website and your social media with killer content.

Continuing with the coffee shop example, the next step would be to start writing articles or filming videos based on your niche.

You could write an article about the best locations for growing coffee or about 3 unconventional brewing methods you can try today, or you could film a video showing people how to do cappuccino art.

The list of things you can do is endless.

By creating this content you will improve your chances of ranking on Google, and you will also start providing free value to customers, which will increase their trust and their desire to give you their business.”

I agree with him completely on this point and this is why I created my Really Simple Content Marketing training course recently. If you are interested in marketing your small, local business you will want to make creating high quality content a top priority. The content you add to your website or blog will serve you for years to come. Think of this as a marathon and not a sprint and you will set yourself up for great success.

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Public Speaking for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

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Public Speaking for BusinessPublic Speaking for Business

I pride myself with being an observer of the human condition. By this I mean that I watch people regularly to see what works best and what does not work at all when they interact with others. Specifically, I observe what business owners and entrepreneurs say and do that wither helps or hinders their business efforts over time.

It came to my attention some years ago that the most successful business people seek out opportunities to speak publicly on any topic they are knowledgeable and experienced in. Being thought of as a public speaker raises you to another level in that others look up to speakers and tend to think of them as thought leaders, innovators, and those who are more intelligent than the average person. This can do wonders for your business if you are willing to refine your speaking and improve your delivery. Public speaking for business owners just makes sense.

My public speaking was awful when I began in 2006. It was the Santa Clarita Rotary Club that encouraged me to speak and helped me to overcome my fear. Within a year of speaking regularly in my city I was being asked to speak all over the country on various aspects of the topic entrepreneurship. Now I host my own live events twice a year and have spoken in several countries on three continents. But my business is predominantly on the internet. What I am suggesting here is that local business owners look for new opportunities to speak within the community and finally in a wider area for exposure and business growth.

Start with your own company. Provide yourself with situations that require you to create a short presentation on one of the topics you know well. Experiment with this to see if it goes over better with a PowerPoint or Keynote slide presentation, utilizing handouts, or just speaking from the heart. It will depend upon your topic, and remember there is no right or wrong way to speak to others. The key is to practice what you will say over and over and over again and to be open to constructive criticism and feedback so you can constantly evolve as a speaker.

Once you feel like your presentation is ready for a wider audience, contact local groups and organizations such as Rotary and ask to speak to the program chair. The best idea is to attend the meeting in person first and to have a one page information sheet about you and your topic to give to the person in charge of booking the upcoming speakers.

Keep your message clear and stay away from anything controversial, even if you know people in the room. It’s your job to present your information in a thought provoking way that leaves a lasting memory with people who hear you, so keep it positive and upbeat if at all possible.

Your topics do not have to be directly related to your business, but the idea is to make sure your audience knows who you are and what type of business you have within the first three minutes or so. One of the best presentations I have heard this year was from a woman who owns several physical therapy practices. Her topic was on the environmental impact of waste in the ocean on the sea creatures who live there. Within the first few minutes she explained who she was, what type of business she ran, and why she had become so interested in the sea. We were mesmerized by her slide presentation and the passion with which she shared her message. By the end of her talk the audience was ready to sign up for physical therapy sessions and anything else she had available.

By now you can see that public speaking for business owners and entrepreneurs alike is a great opportunity. Think about what you would like to speak about, overcome any fears you may have, and start speaking!

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I’ve Been Nominated For The Small Business Book Awards

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The Small Business Book Awards

Once again my writing has been nominated for the Small Business Book Awards. Because I published two books during the qualifying period, both of them have been nominated. This happened once before, two years ago when I wrote one book and co-authored another, and they were both nominated as well.

This year almost two hundred books are in the running. Mine are both in the marketing category, as you would expect from someone who is an online marketing strategist. I had almost forgotten that I had published both of these books during 2015, and that’s because one was published in January and the other in October.

Write Publish ProsperWrite. Publish. Prosper: How to Write Prolifically, Publish Globally, and Prosper Eternally teaches you how to to write a book, publish it yourself, and create a business based on your topic. In this step by step and detailed training, I show you how to write a full length book in the next four to six weeks and turn that information into an online business.

Book. Blog. Broadcast: The Trifecta of Entrepreneurial Success is theBook Blog Broadcast blueprint that will take you step by step to the life and business you want and deserve through strategies I have used for almost ten years. In it you will learn how to use your book, your blog, and your broadcasts to build a lucrative online business.

Having my books nominated for this prestigious award is meaningful to me for a variety of reasons. Writing can be a lonely process, and knowing that your thoughts and ideas will be shared with people all over the world alleviates this feeling. I live to help others achieve their goals, and my writing has enabled me to do that with a much wider audience. I appreciate Anita Campbell from Small Business Trends for starting the Small Business Book Awards and including authors like myself in what she is sharing.

Self-publishing has allowed me to add a new dimension to my life and to my business. My publishing company, Hunter’s Moon Publishing continues to grow and serve other authors and entrepreneurs as they get their messages out to the world.

If you are reading this before the end of the day on May 11, 2016, please vote for my books by clicking on the titles below:

Write. Publish. Prosper: How to Write Prolifically, Publish Globally, and Prosper Eternally

Book. Blog. Broadcast: The Trifecta of Entrepreneurial Success

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Connecting With Key Influencers to Grow Your Business

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Key InfluencersKey Influencers – Connect With Them to Grow Your Business

Did you know that fewer than five percent of people in any community or organization account for more than ninety-five percent of all positive events, growth, and happenings in that community or organization? These people are known as the “key influencers” and can be valuable to you and/or your business or personal goals.

This morning I met with a group of women from my Zonta Club in Santa Clarita. This is an amazing group of dedicated business women working towards the common goal of advancing the status of women around the world and I am honored to be among them. They are also extremely active in this community. We had a new Zontian with us today and I spent over an hour discussing with her how she could get her new business off the ground.

Anne (not her real name to protect her identity) is a former classroom teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, like I was. Even though she has lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for more than thirty years, the time constraints of her career kept her from volunteering or getting to know people very well over this period of time. When she resigned from teaching last year she decided to dedicate her life to empowering women through a variety of techniques she has used personally. I asked her how she was getting the word out about the Retreats and courses she wanted to offer and that’s when our discussion became a serious one.

Anne and I discussed how she could best use her time to network with the people who would not only understand what she wanted to do but would also be able to help her get in front of the exact people she wanted to serve. The goal is to position yourself as an expert, one day at a time. I told her that Zonta was the perfect place to start, but to also expand her reach throughout the community in a logical way. I then invited her to my Rotary Club meeting so that I could introduce her to the other members.

I work with people all over the world who have a message they wish to share with the world, and a huge part of this is connecting with the “key influencers” where you live. I recommend becoming a “local celebrity” so that you can begin at home and then move in concentric circles to the outer edges of the world. This strategy is quite effective and gives you both the credibility and the visibility to build a lucrative business and to make a name for yourself.

As we sat together on this crisp spring morning, Anne and I began to create a plan that would work well for her. Even though she has a standing commitment to a group related to her topic that meets every Wednesday evening through the end of the year, she agreed to consider missing it on the second Wednesday of each month in order to attend the monthly Zonta business meeting. This will keep her connected to these powerful women (AKA “key influencers”) with and from whom she can learn and grow. She also wants to do more public speaking and we brainstormed ideas on how to make this happen, first within the city and later to the world.

I also recommended that she consider joining Rotary, involving her husband by attending Friday night dinners at the Santa Clarita Elk’s Lodge, and looking for volunteer opportunities in our community. Attending one event every month, whether it’s social or for a non-profit puts you in front of people you might otherwise never have met. She now has a calendar that is quickly filling up with opportunities and she sees things quite differently than she did just twenty-four hours ago. Anything is possible when you have a solid plan and a mentor to guide you.

Networking and volunteering are both offline methods for connecting with your community and building a business. Online strategies include blogging, offering webinars and other online trainings, writing a book, and speaking at events around the world. Social media is also crucial to the mix, as it allows for you to connect with these key influencers much more frequently. Please let me know if you have further questions on anything I have discussed here.

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How to Attract Ideal Clients for Your Business

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How to Attract Ideal ClientsHow to Attract Ideal Clients

Learning how to attract ideal clients is important, but the first order of business is to figure out who your ideal client actually is. When you figure that out you’ll be able to create better products and services, based on exactly what they really need and want. There is an easy way to get started with market identification.

  • Niche It Down – You want to start with the tiniest potential market that will think what you are offering is perfect for them. While this feels strange to find the smallest market, counterintuitive even, the fact is you can expand later. But right now you want to identify the smallest market who wants what you are offering and get to know them.
  • Understand Your USP – Next work on understanding your unique selling point also called a unique value proposition in other words – why you? Why are you the one to provide this product or service to the small narrow audience you determined above? Work on explaining that while also keeping in mind that the audience needs everything couched in how it helps them.
  • Offer Free Samples – Gain access to your audience that you’ve identified by offering a free sample of what you can do for them. Ask for feedback on your free sample from this audience so that you can make your offerings better. Knowing what they feel and think can help you develop better products and marketing materials in the future.
  • Sketch Your Customer – After you’ve tested your niche audience with your free sample, and received feedback, you should be able to get a good idea of exactly who your customer is enabling you to create a persona of your ideal customer. You want to know, their demographics, what do they do on a Sunday night, and more. Anything you can learn to help you create a complete customer sketch or avatar is helpful.
  • Repeat – As you go through the motions of niching down, defining and understanding your USP you’ll be able to improve your customer sketch over time. Keep doing it, and keep learning because no group stays completely the same. Their values may change over time as a group.

Your ideal customer, as identified, will become very important going forward. As you continue to learn about them, you’ll be able to identify more problems that you can solve within your expertise, thus, creating a very powerful product creation cycle that works in concert with your marketing plans.

How to Determine If a Client Is the Right Fit

If you have a service based business over a product based business you may have to work a little differently to get the right clients. You’ll do “all of the above”, but you’ll have the added step of speaking directly with the client and working with them one-on-one. You can do this in a few different ways.

We discussed a freebie, and if your client liked the freebie and now wants to move forward to working with you, it’s best to start with a small or short term project. During project ask yourself the following questions.

  • Is This Your Area of Expertise? – Even if you think you’re a jack of all trades, the best way to work is to choose a particular area of expertise and market those skills. Don’t too much of everything will dilute your worth and actually work against you. Choose an area to focus on and stick to that with your clients.
  • Does The Client Accept Your Terms? – As a contractor and not an employee, it’s imperative that a client accept your terms and your process as how things will be done. It should all be spelled out in your contract and understandable to you both. This will be a big sign as to how well you’ll work together. Don’t feel compelled to make changes if it’s something that will make you miserable or interrupt your systems.
  • Are the Client’s Expectations Realistic? – As you interview the client, you’ll be able to tell if their expectations make sense. The best way to find out is to ask them what they expect the results of your relationship to be. If they have pie in the sky unrealistic notions you can correct them before you start.
  • Does The Client Follow Your Process? – If you’ve developed systems (which you should have) then when you try to explain them to the potential client is it easy for them to understand? Do they want to follow it? For example, if you use Basecamp, are they willing to sign in and learn it and use it?
  • Are You Invested in Their Success? – When you talk to the potential client and get an understanding of what they are doing, does it excite you? Do you want them to succeed? This is an important component in ensuring that you’ll be happy working with the new client. If you don’t like what they do, don’t respect it, and aren’t excited about it, it will be hard to be invested enough to do a good job.

Taking this time to test the client’s responsiveness and the overall fit between the two of you is an important way to ensure that taking on the client long term will pay off for both of you. If you start with a short term project you can get through it well, probably even earn a good testimonial out of it even if you don’t move forward and work with the person long term. If you’re finding that you don’t mesh with the people you’re attracting you may want to create a customer avatar to help you hone in your marketing. What other questions may I answer for you on how to attract ideal clients?

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