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Archives For June 2012

What Is A Pinterest?

June 25, 2012 — Leave a comment

Have you ever bookmarked something in your web browser, such as a website you really liked, so you could easily get to it later? That is basically what social bookmarking is, but instead of saving the links to these websites in your browser, you are saving them to the web.

Since these bookmarks are online, it’s easier to to share the links with your friends. Social bookmarking sites also make it easier for you to see what other people are sharing. And you can do searches on specific topics of interest to find what other people are bookmarking.

Just as there are a lot of social media sites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and countless others, there are also many social bookmarking sites.

One of the newest social bookmarking sites on the scene today is Pinterest. Just think about a cork board you may have in your office where you pin specific things you want to remember or pin pictures of your vacation, favorite car, or whatever.You can do the same thing in Pinterest, except now your cork board is online.

In Pinterest, you can create boards and pin your favorite things on the boards you create. This allows people to interact with you and learn more about you and your interests. For example, you may create boards for your favorite music, favorite books, places where you like to eat, amazing products you’ve tried, sports, etc.

It is currently an invite-only site, but you can request an invite directly from Pinterest or be invited by someone who is already a part of Pinterest. Once you are invited, they will send you a link where you can click and set up your account. You can register through Facebook or Twitter. Once you are registered, you can remove Pinterest from your Facebook timeline and your Twitter account.

And you’re probably asking, “What does this have to do with marketing my business?”

Everyone knows people have to know, like, and trust you to do business with you. Pinterest is just another window they can peak through to learn more about you and get to know you. They learn about the books you read, the music you like, where you like to eat, etc. All these things can tell you a lot about a person.

One of the things I like about Pinterest is people can follow you without you needing to approve them or do anything. And it’s easy for you to follow other people. It’s similar to how you follow people in Twitter and people follow you.

Go to pinterest.com and request an invite so you can get started.

In social media , ,
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How To Use Twitter Lists

June 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows you to engage your audience using 140 characters or less. It’s a great platform for building community and connecting with people who share your interests.

It also allows you to follow people without them needing to respond or accept your request. And people can follow you in the same way. This provides an easy way to connect with a lot of people quickly.

But what do you do with all these connections once you have them? How do you keep up with everyone? How do you keep track of what people are posting?

You probably will not want to keep track of everyone, but you will want to follow a select group of people.

That is where creating lists in Twitter can really help. Lists allow you to segment the people you are following into specific categories and more easily keep track of what they are saying.

Here is how you create a list in Twitter:

1. Go to your Profile tab on your Twitter page and select “Lists” from the dropdown menu. The Profile tab is located in the top right hand side of your page with the little head image and the down arrow next to it.

2. Click “Create List”.

3. Enter the name of your list, a short description, and whether you want the list to be private or public. Note: The name of your list cannot exceed 25 characters and cannot start with a numerical character.

4. Click “Save List”.

To add people to your list:

1. Go to the Search box at the top of the page and type in someone’s name you would like to add to your list.

2. Once you find them, click on their profile picture. This will bring up this person’s user profile.

3. Now click on the little head icon located next to the Follow button on their profile and select “Add or remove from lists …”.

4. Click the list you want to add them to and select the “X” in the top right corner of the popup and they are added to your list.

That’s it. You now have a segmented list you can use for research, engaging your selected audience, and creating more time to work on other things in your business as a result of having your Twitter profile more organized.

In twitter , ,
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Your Price Is Too High

June 11, 2012 — Leave a comment

Pricing is one of those things that many service professionals struggle with when starting their business. How do you know if your price is too high or too low?

If you price too low, then you become a commodity in the marketplace. You are always competing on price and that’s a battle you can rarely win. There is always someone who will price their services lower to get the business.

And you have to ask yourself if it’s really worth getting this client if their only focus is on getting the cheapest service they can find. Most of the time it’s not. Because they will always be shopping for a better price even after you have them as a client. And these clients are usually more trouble than they are worth.

The better approach to pricing is to understand the value you bring to the marketplace. What does the client get as a result of working with you?

If they have a business that has an annual revenue of $100,000 and you tell them you can increase their business by 10% this year, that comes to $10,000 in additional revenue for the client.

Given this scenario, should you be charging $50 per hour for your services? I don’t think so.

The main thing is to make sure your fees are less than what the client is getting in return for your services. For example, if they increase their revenue by 10%, or $10,000 as stated in my previous example, and you are charging them $5000 to assure they get this increase in revenue, then everybody wins. Because the service you deliver for a specific period of time should get them this increase year after year.

You should always present your fees as an investment in a specific return for the client. They have to see the value in what you bring to the table. If they don’t, then there is no reason to pursue the relationship.

When I am presenting a proposal to a client, I almost always give them three options for pricing in the proposal. I give them a low price first and then add more value at a higher price. This allows them to see exactly what they are getting with the lower price and the higher price. I do not discount my services. I give them more value instead.

Using this strategy, they always go with the higher priced option in the proposal because they can easily see the value.

Many people suggest starting with a higher price because you can always go lower. Here is the problem. When you start with a higher price, then you are haggling with the client to find the “right” price. This is a very bad strategy.

Confidence in your ability to deliver will help you set your prices at a more reasonable level where both you and your client receive more benefit from the relationship. And this will also separate you from your competition.

In small business
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You Have Mail

June 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

Business owners are using social media, their website, videos, and other online tools to grow their business. That is what everyone should be doing.

The big mistake I see businesses making now is thinking that is all they have to do. Online promotion and marketing is very, very important, but you can’t forget the offline tools you have at your disposal.

One of those tools is direct marketing. Remember paper? Remember envelopes and stamps? Remember that little stick looking thing that you hold in your hand to place words on a piece of paper? These things are still relevant. But you have to use the right technique to make it work. The most important part of launching a direct mail campaign is the sequence. This is something I learned from Dan Kennedy, arguably one of the greatest marketers of all time.

Most people have heard that it takes 7 or more “touches” before a sale can be made. Unfortunately they forget that concept when doing direct mail. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got one direct mail piece from a local business and then never heard from them again. BIG MISTAKE!

The best strategy is to send a sequence of 7 direct mail pieces spaced a couple of weeks apart over a period of a few months.

The other part of the equation is to target a specific audience. Don’t shotgun your mail pieces to everyone. Select a very narrow market with the right message.

If you don’t craft the right message for each mailing, you will fail. Copywriting (writing words that sell) is extremely important. So if you don’t know how to write effective copy, hire someone.

Here is how my most recent direct mail campaign has gone. The first mailing in the sequence produced ZERO results. I didn’t get a single call or email.

The second mailing got a phone call, but no sale … yet.

The third mailing got a phone call and I started seeing my website visites increase.

On my fourth mailing, I have a client.

On the fifth mailing, I noticed several of the people on my mailing list downloaded my FREE ebook and subscribed to my newsletter. And I still have my sixth and seventh mailing to go out in the next few weeks.

So for a few hundred dollars, I have the following:

  • 1 client worth thousands of dollars.
  • Increased the number of visitors to my website.
  • Grown my email list because of people suscribing to my newsletter and downloading my ebook.
  • Increased exposure in my target market.

Increased my chances of acquiring future clients as a result of the relationship I have started to build through my direct mail marketing campaign and the subsequent online connection that was created through the direct mail campaign.

I would call that a fairly decent return on investment and I still have two more mailings to go in this campaign. So don’t downplay your offline marketing while spending time doing online marketing. You need both.

In marketing ,
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