Author Archive
Networking – how to make it work for your business
Author Alex Stone
This post covers what I think is one of the most effective ways of generating leads for your business: Networking – the traditional face to face type. I have been networking for several years now and I truly feel there is a right way to do it and for me that is authentically. This means not only treating networking as a marketing strategy but also ensuring that you respect the networking process and those involved in it. But firstly…
Networking IS Marketing
If you aren’t doing any networking as yet for your business, it is certainly something you should be thinking about. Networking is a very useful marketing strategy. To get the most out of your networking, however, you need to consider the following:
Marketing Basics: Your business card and what you COULD be doing with it!
Author Alex Stone
When starting a business one of the first things everyone says they need is a business card. How many of us actually think about why we need one?
What do you really use your business card for? Well, you can give it to people who you think might be interested in your business so that they can keep in touch with you.
But did you think that you can use your business card to actually encourage those people (or prospects) to “make that call”? (Or send you an email….?)
Yes your business card is a compact delivery method of your key company and contact info, but it is also a marketing tool. You can use your business card to deliver one of your key marketing messages; to get people to visit your site and sign up to your mailing list; to purchase and/or download a (free) report from you; to refer you to other people they know or to come back to your business again for a discount.
Keep your brand calm and consistent
Author Alex Stone
Over the last two years, with small businesses braving some of the toughest times we’ve seen for years, I have noticed the amount of “get more clients” and “beat the recession” emails (and they are usually spam) increasing all the time.
The thought of getting more clients and making more money is obviously very enticing and just what we all need right now? YES! And NO….
YES… because who wouldn’t want more clients and if you are struggling to find them then these kind of messages would certainly catch your eye. (If Woolies can go under then who is safe?)
And NO… Panic and desperation, even now, will drive potential clients away from you than turning up in a wedding dress (or a morning suit) on a blind date.
SEO for small business – a ridiculous argument!
Author Alex Stone
That got your attention didn’t it? LOL!
OK I recently read the most ridiculous series of comments on a post from a blog I subscribe to (well used to subscribe to) – the original post was a response to another post that raised the question of validity of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for small businesses – but it turned into a slanging match between two obviously diametrically opposed ‘experts’ on SEO. As far as I am concerned there is no question on the validity of SEO for small businesses – it is a must and this post looks at why…
But first, back to the argument. It really annoyed me. Do you know why it annoyed me so much? Because in this slanging match you could tell these two SEO ‘experts’ (yes I use the inverted commas sarcastically because in the slanging match they conducted themselves as anything but) were more interested about trying to out-do the other, rather than discussing the real issue of whether SEO is still important for small business got totally pushed to one side. So I take up the slack and look at that here – without any slanging whatsoever.
The weird thing is I actually agreed with some points on both sides of the argument. Oh and the argument was: Is SEO still important for small businesses? (One said NO the other said emphatically and just a little rudely YES! Oh and at one point to highlight the ridiculousness of it all were arguing about the use or non-use of a question mark! Yep I know – crazy!)
Ok, so let’s forget about the silliness and get cracking…
Have you got the “Chaos” time?
Author Alex Stone
You know I LOVE this concept. I heard about it at an Athena Networking group meeting where our guest speaker brought up the concept of chaos time. When she said it I thought, “What on earth is that?” Actually it’s quite simple and something most of us already do – just not in such an organised way.
Chaos Time is a sacrosanct block of time that you mark out in your diary, say once a week or once a fortnight, so that if anything unexpected happens in your business or your life which disrupts the normal smooth flow (yeah right!), you have the time already set aside to ‘catch up’.
Having had nearly two months off ill last year, and having loads to catch up on, I really needed Chaos Time and I implemented a new weekly schedule. Every Tuesday afternoon is now my Chaos Time. And it feels really good…
I know that if for any reason a deadline is disrupted, or my car breaks down or my daughter is off school ill or I have to go to the dentists, then I have a whole afternoon, every Tuesday, to catch up. It’s quite reassuring.
Marketing Basics: Your email signature…
Author Alex Stone
Showcasing your business in one paragraph (or thereabouts!)
Have a think… How many emails do you send each day? How many do you send a week?
The number of emails you send out each day or each week equates to the same number of opportunities to generate a lead for your business.
It’s free, it’s easy and every time you send an email out you could be showcasing your business (or different aspects of it) to your contacts and potential customers.
Most emails I get now have email signatures – so the tactic seems to have caught on. Here are some key things to think about when putting your email signature together.
Include all your contact details. You might think that by sending an email that the recipient will know how to get in touch with you i.e. by just replying to your email or if they already have your business card. Well yes, they do, but I cannot count the number of times I have opened up a recent email to get someone’s phone number to call them rather than having to look in my business card book or my online address book.
Where does entrepreneurial spirit come from
Author Alex Stone
I think of myself as an entrepreneur – I have ideas, I am confident, I can spot opportunities, I will take calculated risks and I aim high. From what an expert entrepreneur coach I have worked told me, these are all key characteristics of an entrepreneur. But I have my failings too and these sometimes get in my way.
By that I mean I have a severe fear of failure (another entrepreneurial characteristic), I don’t always follow through (classic entrepreneur trait and a bit too honest perhaps) and I don’t always view my ideas that objectively.
So am I an entrepreneur or not?
Do I have what it takes to be a real entrepreneur, a successful entrepreneur? Some times I say “YES, of course I do!” Others I’m not so sure and my little mind squeak goes “Who do you think you are kidding!?”
Marketing Basics: Creating a newsletter your subscribers want to read
Author Alex Stone
I really do enjoy putting my newsletter together.
The only problem I ever have is religiously sticking to the monthly timetable I have set myself. I know why I have set that monthly frequency – because I was told to and because everything I read all those years ago said that was the best thing to do. However, for me my newsletter is not the main why I happen to get new clients so it is not a high priority form of marketing for me.
But if you mostly communicate with potential customers through your newsletter or you want to then you need to have a newsletter that they will want to read and more importantly get some kind of value out of.
It certainly isn’t crucial to have an email newsletter, especially if, as in my case, it is not your main way of communicating with potential customers, but it is considered an excellent low-cost way of staying in regular contact with your clients and prospects. It is even better when you make that newsletter of interest and use to your readers.
So how do you create a newsletter that your subscribers will not want to miss?
To-do lists make you invincible!
Author Alex Stone
Again I start a blog post with an over-statement… Or do I?
The humble to-do list makes me feel invincible. Why? Because they make me feel in control of my life and they make me feel good when I cross something off them – they make me feel like I am achieving something. They conquer my fear. It’s that simple.
Over the years, I have read a number of time management articles (heck I’ve written a couple of them!) and one thing I’ve noticed is that they all say pretty much the same thing or things. The tips are the same – just written differently and from different points of experience – and to be honest most of them are common sense.
But when you are struggling against a never ending list of things to do, a mountain of admin and more – then time management seems like a pretty good idea. But can I tell you something? Time management – when you drill down into it – is a solution to a problem and that problem is usually (for most of us anyway) procrastination.
You might not agree. I could see why. You may feel that your time management problems are down to too much work, not being organised enough, not using time effectively or another reason.
But I think in the majority of cases we cause our own time management crises day in and day out. How? By putting things off. Why? Simple… Fear.
Save money on your marketing. Use joint ventures to cut your marketing budget in half and double your list…
Author Alex Stone
Marketing Basics: Save money on your marketing. Use joint ventures to cut your marketing budget in half and double your list…
Small businesses are always looking for ways to save money – especially right now. Joint venture marketing is a perfect way to do this. You share the costs and you share the list.
And it’s EASY!
So in this instalment of marketing Basics, I am going to give you some ideas on how you can generate leads for your business while keeping your costs down using joint venture marketing.
Taking the “SHOULD” out of your marketing
Author Alex Stone
this post is by Alex Stone
How to break free of the marketing activities that everyone else says you should be doing!
As a small business owner, responsible for pretty much everything from running the finances, to making the tea, from organising your diary to doing the marketing, have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the different marketing activities you think you should be doing – because everyone else is? I know I have done in the past!
I have spoken to three people in the last week or so where the topic of conversation was just this: what marketing should I be doing and how do I know it’s the right thing?
Making the most of your networking minute
Author Alex Stone
This post is by Alex Stone
I do a fair bit of networking for my business and it has proven to be a very valuable form of marketing for my business. In fact, I believe in the power of networking so much that I recently started my own face-to-face group called Authentic Networking.
One thing that I read about quite often is how to make the most of your networking or how to be more confident in your networking. This not really something I worry too much about, being quite a confident and outgoing person.
However, I know that to some people networking is the horror of horrors – just as public speaking once was for me. And so any tips at all on more confident networking are always going to be of interest.
But there is more to confident networking than a few hints and tips. It really comes down to how confident you really are about your business and your ability to do your job or serve your clients well.
In terms of networking this is crucial, because if you don’t believe in yourself or your business proposition, then you aren’t going to come across as particularly credible (or passionate).
Are you a swan in your business?
Author Alex Stone
Strange question I agree, but for the many business owners I meet, this is a familiar picture even if they don’t realise it until I point it out to them.
More often than not running your own business at some point leaves you feeling like a swan: gliding beautifully along on the surface – to all intents and purposes in control and serenely calm about your destiny – but underneath (where no one apart from the other half can see) your legs are thrashing madly away just trying to keep up and keep moving.
The Essential Twitter Dichotomy
Author Alex Stone
This post was written by Alex Stone
It’s quite funny. The amount of tweets on Twitter I see that say,
“Just joined Twitter, what’s it all about?” or “New to Twitter – help!”. I do have to laugh because that was me about two years ago.
I had heard of Twitter – I think the first time I heard about it was summer 2008. But apart from knowing it was some kind of social media tool I had absolutely no idea what it what was, what it was for and why on earth I should care!
Oh the beauty and benefit of hindsight! I wouldn’t be without Twitter now, but the question is still posed by many – both newbies and veterans and me on occasion – “what’s it all about then?” And by that I mean some people are still struggling to understand the uses and benefits of Twitter; others are having ‘discussions’ on how best to use Twitter or what it’s greatest strengths are.
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