Here’s a peak into our latest eBook, “25 Ways to Revolutionize Your Business” and one of my favorite sections.
Becki, Dale, and I enjoyed putting this book together and it is FREE so get your copy today!
You can download the eBook at http://virtualassistantrevolution.com/25ways.pdf
I’d love to know what you think!
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 4 Comments“How to Reach Thousands of Your Ideal Clients and Customers and Skyrocket Your E-mail List”
by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen”
One of the questions I’m asked the most by my clients is, “How can I most quickly build my e-mail list?”
My answer is, find someone who’s already reaching your target market in droves, and use THEM to build your list! How? With these three easy steps:
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STEP 1: Determine exactly who your ideal client or customer is.
The more descriptive you can be here, the better. For example, don’t just think “men”. Think “men ages 18-40 who like sports and working out”. Don’t just think “small business owners”. Think “women owners of professional service businesses that do less than $1 million a year”.
Can you take on clients or customers who fall outside of this description? Of course! But you need to know who you’re going after.
Example: About three years ago, I spent a romantic summer week on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. My beau was wonderful in letting me decide most of the activities we’d do each day. But there was one thing he definitely wanted to do at least once - go bluefishing!
Now I’m not sure if you could have guessed this, but I’m not really into fishing. ; )
But hey, I’ll try anything once, so off we went to the docks. Now, I figured we could go on any boat with any captain and do this. But no … we went with “Captain Dan the Bluefish Man” (who smelled like his specialty). Dan took us on his special boat to this special place off the island where the bluefish were, and we even used special bait that the bluefish liked. And we had great success - they just kept biting!
I realized that if you know exactly what you’re going after, you’re much more likely to get it. The same goes for reaching your target market.
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STEP 2: Find other people, companies, or websites that are ALREADY reaching your target market en masse.
Sit down with a cup of coffee this weekend and do some online research regarding your target market. What sites are they already visiting? What newsletters or magazines do they already read? For example, if your target market is stay-at-home moms, find the most popular sites they visit. Find the most popular e-zines they read.
Come up with a list of your top five websites and top five ezines that are already reaching your ideal client or customer.
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STEP 3: Contact these websites and ezines and see if they will:
–> REVIEW your book, products, services, or ezine for their readers. If so, send them a review copy and follow up a week or two later. Request that when they run the review they mention your e-zine and direct people to your website to sign up.
–> accept guest ARTICLES. If so, then submit one of your best, with a short bio that links people back to your website to sign up for your ezine.
–> SWAP ads or recommendations for each other’s websites, products, or services. If you have an ezine that reaches the same target market they want to reach, this is a great win-win.
–> do a CO-REGISTRATION deal. If you already have a good amount of e-zine subscribers and website traffic, they may be open to adding your e-zine to their ezine signup form if you do the same on your part. (Ideally folks should just check a box to subscribe to the additional e-zine automatically.)
–> run a recommendation or ad in exchange for a COMMISSION on resulting sales. For example, you give them the ad to run, tagged with a link that lets you know if any sales come from it. (This is easy for you to do if you have an online affiliate program.*)
–> accept PAID advertising. Banner ads, text ads, and other paid placements obviously cost you money, but if it’s your only option and you really want to reach these folks, go for it. But be sure to track your results so you can see if it’s working. (You’ll need a link tracking program to do this.*)
And these are just a FEW ideas to get you started!
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Remember, your #1 goal is to get people back to your site to sign up for your e-zine or other email list, because THAT is how you guarantee the chance to market to them repeatedly!
(*I use and recommend www.QueenCart.com for automating your affiliate program and tracking all your ad links.)
© 2004-2005 Alexandria K. Brown
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?See Alexandria’s Small Business Marketing Blog.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 17,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com
Permalink 5 CommentsWhat Goes Around Comes Aroundby David Lindbeck
I’ve spent a lifetime committed to helping others. It’s what gives me the greatest joy, fulfillment and satisfaction in life. I’m also a true believer in the old adage - “What goes around comes around.”
This is reinforced on many occasions when I encounter an old co-worker, friend or acquaintance who reminds me of how I inspired them, gave them guidance or helped them through a difficult time. These kinds of experiences always motivate me to keep putting good things out into the world.
We never know in advance what good may come from the gestures we put out there. Maybe it will inspire, encourage, educate, motivate or actually change someone’s life. In any event, people will always come away knowing that they matter to you.
In business, as in life, it all comes down to people. People are your customers, co-workers, employees, leaders, managers, investors and vendors. Success in your business depends on the people you encounter. How you treat those people will have a significant impact on your bottom line.
Here are some ways to help people in your business and show them that they matter:
1. Deliver incredible customer service.
2. Give a single parent the afternoon off.
3. Pay someone more than you need to.
4. Send a hand-written note to an employee acknowledging a job well done.
5. Loan a subordinate a book that you’ve found to be helpful.
6. Tell someone struggling “I want to help you succeed,” and mean it.
7. Stop by and talk, without an agenda.
8. Share a resource that you’ve found useful.
9. Create a safe space for openness and honesty.
10. Let people tell you how they feel, and listen without interrupting.
I encourage you to think about the people that you impact, the lives that you touch and the positive changes that you can make. These are the true signs of leadership and in my opinion are more important than the money that you make, the position that you hold or the size of your office.
You can do good while you’re doing well. It may require you to think of new ways to do it, but when you focus on helping others, you’ll succeed in ways beyond measure.
About The Author:
Dave Lindbeck, Business and Career Strategist
- Founder, InStep Coaching - Success strategies for professionals in Financial Services, Real Estate and Technology
- Learn more @ http://www.instepcoaching.com Subscribe to his complimentary e-newsletter, @ http://www.instepcoaching.com/instep_journal.htm - P.O. Box 7221 Phoenix, Arizona 85011 (602) 277-5170
Who is Your Customer Anyway?
By Denise M. Michaels
Marketing is an essential part of being an entrepreneur and yet I’m always surprised by how many people say, “I love what I do, I love my product but I hate getting out there and marketing it.” In many cases people tell me that they start a business for a couple reasons: 1) because they want to get away from a job, and 2) because they are in love with the product or service they offer. I have never heard anyone say, “I started my business because I love selling and marketing.”
Here are some quick tips that can help you as you traverse this brave new world:
1) Don’t try to guess what will appeal to customers, ask. Stop talking about your product and start asking what people need and want to solve problems. Listen to the words they use. Look at the stories and the scenarios that occur that people get tripped up with and you can help with your product. When you talk about your product or service instead of their issues it’s like someone trying to stuff a square peg into a round hole. It doesn’t fit and never will.
2) Stop being in love with your product or service and start falling in love with your customer. I’m not talking about providing good customer service. I assume you already do that. What I mean is approach your potential customers with the same or a greater level of fascination and interest as you do your product or service. Your interest in the product or service is really “employee-type” behavior and not “entrepreneur-type” behavior. I believe part of the reason so many people do this is because the product can not reject them like a customer can. Stop seeing a “no” as a rejection and start seeing it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
3) Create a profile of your “ideal customer.” Keep notes on the people who buy from you happily and are a pleasure to serve. What are the characteristics of these people that appeal to you? What do you like about them? What are their core values? What’s of vital importance in their life? What do you know about them demographically? Age group? Gender? Income range? Where do they live? Educational level? Keep paying attention to what shows up and create a marketing messages that appeals to all these factors on an emotional level.
About the Author:
Denise Michaels’ mission is supporting women to live their dreams. Her “Testosterone-Free Marketing” strategies help women see how past conditioning often dis-empowers them from achieving all that they deserve.
Why Are You Doing Everything Yourself?
by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen”
If you would rather listen to this article, you can do so here.
When I coach my entrepreneur clients, one problem I often see is that they’re not taking enough time to market and grow their business.
It’s not that they don’t understand the value of those efforts, or they don’t want to make the time. It’s that they’re simply trying to do too much by themselves. They’re so busy running their business that they’re not working ON their business.
Are You Spending All Your Time on the Little Stuff?
Owning your own business requires wearing a lot of hats. But it seems that when many people leave their jobs to “go solo,” they think they must work completely solo as well. They insist on doing everything themselves — even tasks they know darn well they’re not good at.
They try in vain to design their own Web sites and brochures, write their own sales copy, process their own orders, manage their own mailing list, personally respond to every customer call and e-mail, ship their own products, and more. Pretty soon they’re running around like that proverbial headless chicken.
What eventually happens is their love for their work— the reason they started their own business in the first place— drowns in a flood of administrative trivia. Suddenly one morning they wake up feeling burnt out and without that positive, creative energy they used to have.
When this happened to me a few years ago, I was lucky to learn about virtual assistants (VAs). VAs are freelancers who take care of all that “busy work” for entrepreneurs like us. Because VAs are independent themselves, they work on an as-needed basis from their own homes or offices, saving you the cost and hassle of hiring a regular office assistant.
I now have two VAs — Liz, who lives in Boston, and June, who lives in Georgia. And I can’t live without them!
What Could YOU Delegate to a VA?
During next week, keep a log of all your activities. Then sit down and review it. Decide which activities are truly ones that only you can do and which you can delegate.
For example, here are some of the tasks I delegate to my VAs:
And I don’t stop there. Liz and June have also been happy to help me with personal stuff like researching vacations, purchasing client gifts, and reminding me of birthdays and other important dates. Thanks to these two amazing gals, I save my time and energy only for my “genius work.”
Worried You Don’t Have the Budget?
The good news is you’re not hiring your VA full time. A VA only charges you for the hours she actually works. Although VA rates may be more than you’d pay an administrative employee (usually $30-50 per hour), you don’t have the added expenses of employee benefits, office space, and equipment. You’re also getting someone who has years of experience, who loves what she does, who already has her own desk, chair, computer, software, fax, phone, stapler, and pens, and who’s ready to leap in and start work as soon as you are.
Keep in mind that having a VA will IMMENSELY free up your time to focus on the stuff that matters: marketing and growing your business, developing bold new product ideas and income streams, and servicing your larger clients. You’ll think much bigger and will have much more creative energy.
Look for a VA That Matches Your Needs
If you’re looking for a long-term partner who is committed to helping you succeed (and I was), look for someone who’s graduated from a VA training program such as AssistU (www.AssistU.com). That’s where I found both Liz and June, and I highly recommend it. Another resource is the International Virtual Assistants Association. (www.ivaa.org)
Don’t wait until it’s too late! Most of my clients put off hiring a VA until they “hit the wall.” Things like overdue bills, a messy office, late projects, and unreturned phone calls add up until their business almost collapses.
Take action NOW and at least learn more about getting some help. It will be a big relief, I promise!
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning manual, “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.” To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ezinequeen.com.
Permalink 3 Comments