You could have the most unique, highest quality product or service in the world and you’d still be broke if you don’t market it every single day! Websites are not magic wands and your place of business isn’t a magnet. You must have marketing pieces that are perpetually in play, attracting new prospects and new clients, creating a steady stream of revenue.
It is your marketing, not your product or service, that is the lifeblood of your business. Marketing is what gets your offer out in front of the public, persuades people to buy, educates prospects about your business, builds your brand, outrageously increases sales…well, short of babysitting your kids for you, there are few things marketing can’t do…actually, you could create a marketing campaign for the best babysitters in your local area, so there’s actually nothing that marketing can’t do.
Market your business every single day and you are guaranteed to achieve financial freedom.
Give People Everything They Want and You’ll Get Everything You Need
Countless companies fail because they maintain an egocentric perspective in the way they conduct their business. If you continue to execute your marketing and customer relations in a manner that fails to truly perceive the needs of your clients and prospects then you will fail to connect with them.
Before you begin any marketing campaign or project you must get in the mindset of your prospective clients, focusing in on their hot buttons. Zero in on your target audience’s most frequent problems, worries, fears, aspirations and dreams and you’ll break all of your previous sales records.
Incorporate a completely genuine desire to help others within your marketing and it will generate a natural energy that will pull people in for life.
Article Marketing for Permanent Presence
Since consistent, frequent marketing is key to the success of your business, you need to consider the relationship of how much you get in return for your efforts—this is especially true for those of you working with bootstrapped budgets. Ideally, you want to be able to put one unit of effort in and get several units of success in return. Those of you doing your marketing on a one-for-one basis are sure to be going bald from pulling your hair out in anxiety. Successful businesses are those that incorporate leverage in their marketing.
Article marketing provides one of the best ways to market your business every day without actually having to do something every day. That’s because once you publish an article online, it’s there to stay, creating a permanent presence online. Articles pull people in from the search engines through your keywords, provide value through useful information, and drive Web traffic back your site through backlinks that you plant in the article.
This permanence also makes article marketing one of the most cost effective means of marketing. One price, one unit of energy, infinite potential.
Plus, you can print your online articles and send them out in direct response mailers to your leads. (Always think of how you can get the most use out of a single piece for the best use of your budget.) Providing helpful information in your mailers adds a great deal of value and helps establish why your business is the clear choice. Plus, adding an information-based piece in any marketing you do helps soften your sales approach, making it much more attractive than a standalone promotion. Due to a daily bombardment of advertising, people are naturally skeptical about these standalone promotions. When you provide something for free that people can use to make their lives better they’re much likelier to let their guard down and actively consider your offer.
Articles on Legal Steroids
Add video to your articles and you’ll instantly multiply your sales potential. For example, YouTube is now considered the second largest search engine on the Internet; behind Google but ahead of Yahoo and Bing. Is your business missing out on all those potential customers?
In addition, we are naturally sensory driven, so the more senses you engage in your marketing the better your chances of success. Pair your copywriting efforts with video and you give your audience yet another reason to stay tuned and focus on your offer.
Adding videos to your articles also adds potency to your efforts because it allows you to position yourself as an expert. Why do expert opinions and celebrity endorsements still prevail as top marketing methods over all these years? People are more confident buying from an authority.
This opportunity is available to every type of business owner, but massage therapists, salon owners, and yoga teachers have an especially ideal opportunity to create informational videos for their clients and prospects. Create a series of instructive videos, get people interested, show people you truly want to help, and you will motivate them to buy from you.
Money Making Mindset
Above all, it is vital to your success that you remind yourself to have fun during your marketing. Approach your marketing like a drone, drudgingly shuffling through it because you’re viewing it as a mandatory duty, and your marketing message is sure to suffer. Enthusiasm is contagious and can be transferred to others to incite sales. But a complete lack of enthusiasm will leach much of your marketing’s potential as your audience will most certainly pick up on it. Instead, look at it as a fun adventure that promises infinite potential and you will surely unlock the power of attraction, sharing your confidence and enthusiasm with others, and converting record-breaking prospects to loyal customers.
Image via: SamsonOS
It happens to everyone: you’re sitting at your desk, staring into the distance, or out the window, silently kicking yourself because you know you should be working, but it’s just not happening. Every little distraction seems to be much more interesting than what you’re meant to be doing, yet turning your attention to the work at hand is easier said than done. This is even further accentuated when you’re working for a small company, starting your own business, or work from home.
Creating the right work environment is a low-cost but effective way of improving and maximizing productivity; it‚Äôs about making your business work for you. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or have been working from home for a while, following these simple tips will help bootstrap your way to success.
1. Create a Comfortable Environment
Given that space can be a problem for a lot of people, deciding where to put your workstation can be difficult. It may feel natural to place your desk facing the wall or in a corner, but this can make you feel boxed in. Instead, position your desk so the outside is visible, but don’t face it directly into the window, have it at right angles so you’re not blocking the natural light, and won’t be easily distracted.
If the room lacks abundant natural light, paint the walls a light/neutral color, and try to set the lighting to the most natural level you can achieve. The temperature of the room is important, too. There’s no ideal set temperature; have what works best for you. Just keep in mind that if it’s too hot you’ll feel sleepy; too cold will make it hard to not focus on anything but the chill factor.
2. Invest in a Good Chair
Image: Ergomonic Rescue
If there’s one thing guaranteed to help boost your business, it’s a good comfortable work chair. Dodgy chairs often lead to dodgy backs, making working effectively almost impossible. It doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune, it just means putting a bit of thought into it. Hard wooden dining table chairs, or flimsy fold-down chairs are rarely nice to sit on for a dinner party, never mind a whole day. Make sure you get one that’s adjustable, with lumbar support. And remember, what’s right for one person may not be right for another, so test a few out before you buy. Check out how your seat should be positioned too, good desk ergonomics are equally as important, to prevent stresses and strains on the body.
3. Make the Most of Your Workstation
Having your desk, chair and computer equipment at the correct height and layout for your body means you can prevent future posture problems, and improve your overall well-being, which will increase current and future work production. If you’re on the phone a lot, invest in a headset to avoid straining your neck; it will also free up your hands so you can do other things.
Cluttered Desk: Not Good
Image via: Dotloose
A cluttered desk or workstation makes it harder to find things and stay organized. Ensure all paperwork is filed within a reasonable time frame, i.e., weekly, but is still accessible, leaving you space to work.
Tidy Desk: Good
Image: midnightglory
4. Get in the Right Mindset
If you’re working from home, always have a shower first thing in the morning and have a set time to be at your desk. Try to steer clear of old track suit bottoms and holey T-shirts while you’re working. The comfort factor is tempting but dressing like you’re set for a day on the sofa instead of in the office will surely affect how you work.
One of the hardest parts of working at home is being surrounded by all of your home comforts. Try to walk into your office and metaphorically close the door to your home life.
Once you enter your office space, you should be in work-mode. Don’t worry about the breakfast dishes, the shopping or the washing. You wouldn’t be doing it if you worked in an office so why do it at home?
5. Put on Your Business Hat
Focus on your business acumen when at your workstation. Treat every email, phone call and chance client encounter/handshake with the same attention. They may be the building blocks of important future work connections.
6. Structure Your Day
Having a start, middle and finish to your day helps you focus for longer. It’s important to plan the day, too, for example, going through emails first thing in the morning, or working out the best time of day to do cold calls etc. But don’t spend too long on emails. Set yourself a time limit in the morning and then check them just once again in the afternoon. Too many people get waylaid by answering time-consuming emails that aren’t important. And, make a pact with yourself to never check time-draining social sites like Facebook during work hours. Yes, you.
7. Make a List
Image: Jayel Aheram
Have a to-do list, so you can check off each thing you need to do. This can be done as often (daily/weekly) as necessary; whatever works for you. Write the list in a diary and tick them off as you go or enter it into a project management database. Seeing them ticked off at the end of the day gives a sense of achievement, which in turn keeps you motivated.
8. Set Goals and Have Rewards
Having short- and long-term goals promotes accomplishment and helps you work towards achieving your aims, no matter how small or complex. What do you want to achieve? Sit down and create a list of what you want from your business, and where you want to be in X amount of weeks/months/years. You need to have something to look forward to once you have reached these milestones. Give yourself a pat on the back. Go out for a meal, theatre, drink etc. Do something that you enjoy.
9. Stand Out From the Crowd
Investigate how others in your profession are doing what you do. Know your competition! With that knowledge, develop an edge that makes you different from others, and more marketable. What are your best points? Promote these when selling yourself to potential clients. Use past experience for examples. If you’re starting afresh, tailor past experiences that may not necessarily be in your current line of work to suit the kind of work you are now promoting.
10. Maximize Your Image
Image: Ian Britton
It can be harder to make your business look professional when you’re starting out or working from home. To counteract this, meet clients in cafes, restaurants or at their place of work. Dress to impress. You don’t need to break the bank to do this, but try and wear attire that you think suits the people you are meeting with.
11. Utilize Your Software
There are so many tools within the standard computer programs that can help you save time but maximise productivity. For example, use the calendar function within your email and you‚Äôll get automatic email reminders of recorded events or meetings. It’s also a good idea to set up templates for emails you send regularly, or set up rules to filter certain mails into set folders. If you don’t already use them, set up macros (a set of actions you can use to automate tasks ‚ in certain programs you use frequently). They can be huge timesavers; even the simplest macros can benefit you immensely. Ask your friends or family for assistance, or take a course to help you improve.
12. Log Your Hours
If you’re a freelancer and are working for a few different companies it’s important to keep track of the hours you’re working for each one, and log the time. Not only do you have all your working hours documented so you can see how you’re spending your time, it gives your employer a bit of reassurance that even though you’re working from home, you’re still organized and reliable.
13. Stretch, Drink Lots of Fluids and Take Regular Breaks
Image: Lex in the City
This may seem obvious, but a lot of people don’t realise how important it is to follow these simple work rules. Stretching relaxes your muscles and boosts your energy. Drinking fluids, especially water, increases your brain activity. And taking a short break, even for a few seconds, rests your body from the rigidity of sitting in front of the computer screen. It’s especially important to look away, even for a few seconds, to rest your eyes. Take productive breaks that refresh you enough to stay focused on your work. And, always take a lunch break away from the desk. This should apply whether you’re working from home or in an office. On the whole, people are much more productive after a break away from their work space. Use the time to fit in some of your exercises, which will help to invigorate you for the afternoon ahead. And try to lay off the lunchtime booze, too.
14. Combat Loneliness
If you ask most home workers what they miss the most about working in an office, their answer will more than likely be, the people. We humans are a funny bunch, when we’re around people we want to be in our own space, when we have it, we crave human interaction. To avoid feeling isolated, make sure you meet up with people for lunch or an after work drink a couple of times a week, or use your lunch hour to make social calls.
15. Ignore the Weather
Image: sameold2008
It’s always incredibly tempting to take some sneaky time off when it’s hot and sunny outside. Well, who would know? The answer: you the next day when you find you’re way behind in your work and are having a mild panic attack because you know it will never be done in time. This means you stay up late to finish what you need to, your wonderfully-thought out timetable has gone out the window, and you end up cranky for the rest of the week because you still haven’t caught up on the sleep you missed. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.
About The Author
Fran is a banker and a freelance writer, currently living in London and freelance writing for an Australian price comparison site where you can easily compare credit cards online. She grew up in New Zealand; the Land of the Long White Cloud and many, many sheep. Ten years ago she left farm life to build a career in investment banking, in the financial capital of the world. She has worked for numerous big name banks, and is currently with JP Morgan. She loves writing and finance, so combining the two is a dream come true.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein
This post will show you exactly why being simple in explaining your business can be the difference in sales or no sales.
See how easy that was? In one sentence I gave you the entire overview of this article. No fluff, no overdone explanation, no rambling. That is the perfect example of why being simple, to the point and straight forward in any conversational material can mean the difference in someone skipping it, skimming it or remembering it. Bootstrappers know that time is of the essence and saving any amount of time you can is always great for business. So, why do we always seem to get into a constant ramble session when someone asks us what we do for a living? Why do we not have out elevator speech prepared and memorized (or at least the basis of it, I mean, after all we don’t want to sound like robots)?
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