How you can create a Worldwide Rave about your business - ISSUE 18 - 1/19/12

You are probably wondering how you can make it big in business and how you can make your business go viral? There are some best practices I would like to share with you that will assist you in the process, but I can only show you the door; it's up to you to walk through it. You must be dedicated and consistent with your efforts because whether you like it or not, there's someone out there willing to do more than you.

First of all, you have to forget all the old methods of marketing (for now) and adopt new age marketing tactics. The old rules were simple: you buy attention, you beg for attention, or you bug your way in by selling. How many times have you dropped everything to buy something you saw on a commercial? How many times have you answered the phone when you knew you were being called by a Telemarketer? How many times have you let the guy at your door stand and talk about his product for thirty minutes? I'm willing to bet that the answer to all of those is simple... you haven't! If you won't give them the time, why would you waste your time beating a dead horse?

The old ways of marketing focus time and energy to nameless, faceless people. While this has worked in the past, it no longer holds up. You must focus your marketing efforts on those "Buyer Personas" or "Real People" who you are trying to sell to. You have to figure out how to connect with those people on a personal level and you have to appeal to their wants and desires, not yours.

Now, let's take a look at the new ways of marketing. You must "Earn attention by Publishing your way in." You heard it. You have to become a writer! If you don't like writing, you have to become a Reporter. Either way, you have to become known as the expert in your field within your community. Remember from a previous blog, I said that a community is any place that people gather.

You may already know of many ways to become Published, but if not, here are some examples:

• Write a blog
  • Blogger
• Write an ebook
  • Free-ebooks.net
• Social Networking
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
• Video Blog
  • YouTube
• Online Workshops
  • Suited Marketing Business Development Center

A great way to get started with your Buyer Personas is by interviewing those people who you want to sell to. Ask them what they're interested in. Ask them what they want. Ask them what their questions and concerns are. Ask them how they feel about your product and service. As we have said time and time again - it's about them; not you!

If you are still uncertain how to go about asking your Buyer Personas, just look at what other people are doing in your industry. You may want to start by writing a blog or you might want to call your current clients over the phone. Ask them for a few minutes of their time and let them know that their opinions are really important to you. Not only will this 'Wow' them, but don't be surprised if you begin to see more sales, more clients, and more growth because of it. You will be getting very valuable information and at the same time, exponentially increasing your Public Relations perception. Be creative in your efforts - find multiple ways to connect with your clientele.

Most business owners make the mistake of always talking about themselves and their products. People don't care about you and your product. Instead, they are selfish and only care about themselves and how your product or service can benefit them. An example of this can be found on the websites of most Hotels. Take a look. You will see that almost all hotels show you the same "stuff." They show you the rooms, the fluffy pillows, the food, the swimming pools, the bar, etc.

What they need to be showing you is how you can connect to them. A great way to do this would be to have a portal with multiple people engaged in some sort of activity. They could have a businessperson on the phone in the lobby with his laptop. Or, they could have a picture of a couple organizing a wedding outside on the beautiful grounds. You get the picture... I hope.

The benefits of creating a Facebook Fan Page and a LinkedIn Group - ISSUE 17 - 1/17/12

Now that you know how to be successful with Social Networking from our previous blog, we would like to focus your attention on two specific social networks you are probably already familiar with - Facebook and LinkedIn.

Facebook

Although Facebook was originally designed by college students to connect with one another and to socialize on the web, it didn't take long for businesses to catch on to the idea that they could also socialize and connect with other people and potential customers via the web. In the beginning, there wasn't such a thing as a Facebook Fan Page specifically for a business to promote their product or service, but now that there is, you probably should have one.

A fan page is one of the best ways for a business to connect with their current and future customers because almost everyone has Facebook and this connectivity allows for customers to rave about their experiences and to express their questions and concerns not only real-time, but in front of the eyes of everyone else connected to this page.

I remember one time in particular where I had a bad experience with a company's bad customer service. I wanted to maintain their service but wasn't able to because of the location I was moving to. I pleaded with multiple people to waive my early termination fee, but they wouldn't budge. I loved their service but I was livid and swore that I would never do business with them again in the future. To say the least, you bet I was on their fan page letting them have it. I finally gave up because I knew I couldn't win, but they lost a customer for life because they weren't a little flexible and didn't listen to the customer.

Another great way for a business to utilize a fan page is by reaching out to its followers to get customer feedback about a specific product or promotion. For example, let's say a toothpaste company just launched their latest and greatest toothpaste. This toothpaste makes claim that it will not only whiten your teeth beyond the leading competitors, but it will also guarantee that you will never have to go to the dentist again. First of all, WOW! Don't we all wish?! But, second of all, this would be such a fantastic opportunity to learn whether their claims are holding up in the eyes of the public.

After the first thirty days, the company decides to ask its followers via their fan page whether they feel and/or believe the product is living up to its hype. This can be done by posing an open-ended question or by conducting a poll, although the highest response rate will most likely come from creating a poll.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another social media website which is for business owners and this is an area you should definitely focus as much time as is cost effective for you. In fact, all Fortune500 CEOs have LinkedIn accounts.

By creating your LinkedIn page you are creating a public and more formal profile whether it be used for potential clients or even possibly to get a job. You can post all the professional imagery on the site as you wish as well as writing the words to create your brand. I say formal because most people are on LinkedIn to network for business purposes rather than personal purposes. It tends to be a more formal atmosphere the way you would conduct yourself within your profile and when connecting with other people.

When you are looking for those connections via LinkedIn, you will also want to ensure only to befriend those who will provide value to you. Don't request people just to connect. There's nothing wrong with networking, but make sure to engage the other person in conversation and connecting with them as much as possible in a professional manner.

And lastly, LinkedIn can allow you to exponentially grow your business if you conduct the right behaviors. Always look to answer people's problems and questions, and pose your own questions, as well. Become known as the authoritative figure in your domain. Attract people rather than chase people. Always remember that.

How to be Successful With Social Networking - ISSUE 16 - 1/14/12

As you probably already know, Social Networking has become a worldwide phenomenon but believe it or not, Social Networking isn't exactly what you think. Social Networking isn't just the mainstream websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Rather, it can be defined as any community gathering place including the mainstream sites, but also forums, blogs, and even the social networks of certain businesses.

Another point commonly mistaken about Social Networking is that community's rarely, if ever, form to talk about products. Instead, social networks are formed to help people solve problems or challenges they are facing or even for people to interact with one another to accomplish similar goals. As a business owner, you must realize that a social network is about the people, not you or your goals. Just as when you are at a party, no one wants to hear you talk about yourself. People will instantly run away. Instead, you must ask questions and interact with people on their terms.

Social networks are also constantly changing. By human nature, people will migrate to where other people are located. A perfect example of this is MySpace. In the early 2000's, MySpace was a powerhouse on the web but within a few years, almost all the members migrated to Facebook which is now the big player in the game. The point here is that you must always be humble because a Community is a gift, not a right. If you get over confident about your community, people may very well leave before you have time to blink. You must be a participant and representative of your company rather than think you're the owner and listen to your people as they share their thoughts and feelings about their needs; not yours.

Listening is the most important skill you must learn in order to be successful in business. If you fail in this area, you will fail as a business owner because there's no doubt that your competition is going to beat you. It will just be a matter of time before you're business fails. Also, when people share their thoughts or join your community, you must always acknowledge them as a human being and a participant. Thank them and let them know that you are a person who cares. With technology and the ability to automate mundane tasks, the personal human touch is oftentimes lost and people have become very frustrated customers. Oftentimes, just letting people know you're listening, a potentially explosive situation can be defused within minutes even if you don't solve the person's problem each and every time.

When you join or create a community, you must equip your customers with the necessary tools to become successful rather than to sell to them. You must also be the expert they turn to when they have a question, concern, or comment. Once you begin to do this, you will be amazed at the results. Your business can grow exponentially just by talking to people as people rather than just a dollar sign. People know that you want to acquire their business, but as Jeffrey Gitomer - America's #1 sales authority - has personally trademarked, "People don't like to be sold, but they love to buy!" Once you embrace this mindset and focus on value, you will be amazed at the results you get from your current and future customers.

Here's the 10 Steps to be repeated time and time again for you and your company to be successful with Social Networking:

• Listen.
• Find them where they are.
• Determine what they want.
• Decide if you join their community or make one. or both.
• Introduce yourself.
• Invite them.
• Ask them for goals and hopes.
• Share yours.
• Begin the journey.
• Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

As a value-driven company, we at Suited Marketing are always here to listen to your thoughts. Please feel free to comment on this posting as to what you think can be added to "How to be successful with Social Networking." If you don't want to share publicly, please email us at info@suitedmarketing.com. We look forward to hearing from you and serving your needs now and in the future.

Why You Should Incorporate SEO Into Your Website - ISSUE 15 - 1/12/12

Whether you are an online marketer or just a business owner who wants to drive business to her website, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is imperative. People are utilizing Search Engines more than ever before and if you aren't maximizing this, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars of business. In fact, SEO is the most effective online marketing tactic for generating conversions.

In case you are wondering, the definition of SEO by Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing states that it is "a set of methodologies that make it easier for search engines to find, index, categorize and rank web content.

Most people are familiar with search engines such as Google or Bing, but do you know how the search engines work? To sum it up, when you visit Google, for example, you are actually seeing a copy of the web, and not the actual web. Google downloads the entire Internet on a regular basis and indexes the information onto their servers all over the world. After they download the information, they use their algorithms to sort the information and place the most relevant information to your search query at the top of the list. If your website can't be seen by Google or your information is not relevant to what people are searching for, then very few people, if any, will be able to find your company's website.

To ensure you are making your website search engine friendly, the following is a basic SEO Checklist:

• Content is reachable by search engines
• Content is added often/periodically
• Content is organized logically - themes/categories
• Keywords exist in content and internal text links
• Quantity of quality sites linking in
• Relevant and Authoritative
• Get links coming in to specific products and services
• Monitor, adjust

After you have gone through the SEO checklist, you must also spend a considerable amount of time optimizing your website by writing valuable and relevant content, brainstorming keywords for the three parts of the sales cycle (Research, Consider, Buy), and then by doing your own research to leverage and maximize your keywords so that you can be placed on the top of the search engine results.
It's very important that when brainstorming for keywords that you get into the minds of your customers rather than guessing. Here are a few examples of how you might do that:

• Brainstorm based on solutions and customer needs
• Interview or survey customers
• Review current web analytics
• Poll sales and customer service staff
• Review competitor content

There are multiple different facets to optimizing your website for the search engines and the process is painstaking and never-ending. If you haven't already, it's highly recommended to hire a professional so that you can focus on other areas of your business, unless, of course, you are a professional web designer and online marketer and enjoy doing it. Visit our website to learn more about how we will be able to assist you with accomplishing your goals and to ensure your success. www.suitedmarketing.com
Information is constantly changing and if you don't change with it, you will find yourself out of business before you have time to blink.

If you're the do-it-yourselfer and would like to learn more about SEO, I highly recommend for you to watch the following video by one of the experts in the field.


SEO Crash Course to Get Found (GF102)

Three Best Practices of Blogging - ISSUE 14 - 1/11/12

In today's world, information is constantly changing and what worked for a business owner in the past for acquiring new business, may not work in the present. You must strive to be the best everyday because if you don't, your competition most likely will. Search engines love blogs, and if you don't blog, your company's online presence will dwindle quickly and soon thereafter be overwhelmed by what other people are saying about you or your company and there's nothing you can do about it.

Before you start blogging, there are some things you need to know about it and some best practices for you to follow to ensure you are maximizing your time and your efforts.

First, in order for your efforts to be worth your time, you must blog on a regular basis. The search engines are looking for the most up-to-date and relevant information. This means that if you don't stay up with it, before long, your information will be outdated and irrelevant to what people are looking for. Depending on the amount of resources you have available to you, you should do your best to dedicate an hour a day to blogging. Before you know it, the search engines will be finding your articles and leading people to your blog which will then lead to more potential clients and therefore, more sales.

Second, make sure you are writing about topics that your potential clients will be interested in as well as topics relevant to your company. A perfect example of this is Best Western's Travel Blog - You Must Be Trippin'. In this blog you can find a wealth of information about travel to anywhere around the globe. In this blog, Best Western does not talk about themselves, rather a topic that pretty much anyone in the world would be interested in.

Lastly, don't forget to add some type of call-to-action and a way to interact with your followers so that you can build the necessary relationships and ultimately, build your business. If you don't then all your efforts will go to waste. One of the best aspects of a blog are that they are already equipped with a Comment section for your readers to share their thoughts and opinions, but since not everyone will be interested or confident enough to share their thoughts, you should incorporate a poll section into the sidebar. This will give you a very good idea of how many people are interested in the topics you write about, as well as the questions you ask.

To get more great business development information, visit www.suitedmarketing.com. We look forward to serving you.

If you would like more insight from the expert bloggers at MarketingProfs, take a look at the following online workshop hosted by the Chief Content Officer, Ann Handley (Twitter - @MarketingProfs), and her associate, Mark Collier.

How to Blog Effectively for Business (GF101)

Going from Good to Great - ISSUE 13 - 9/20/11

As a fellow business owner, I realize establishing a business encompasses more competition in the marketplace than ever before. Every time I go on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn I see loads of business owners working diligently to grow their business utilizing technology and the mass number of eyeballs viewing the respective websites.

There is no doubt the networking websites have become increasingly saturated with other like-minded individuals doing the exact same thing you are. As of 2009, there were 27.5 million small businesses in the United States alone and on the web you are dealing with business owners from around the globe (www.sba.gov).

If you take a moment and think about the number of industries and business types, there are only about 1170 different business types to choose from (www.smallbusinessnotes.com). If you do the math, there are a lot of people to compete with. This shouldn't intimdate you. As long as you are practicing the correct behaviors, you should be able to go from a good business owner to a great business owner.

One way for you to do this is to build long-lasting relationships with each and every current or potential customer/client you come in contact with. This doesn't mean you have to become everyone's best friend. I have personally tried that and it made me miserable. Now, I'm not telling you to be unfriendly. That's completely opposite of what I'm saying. I'm telling you to be friendly with everyone, but don't be too friendly to the point you will be disappointed if the person doesn't want to do business with you.

Everyone has different objectives, different thoughts, and different ideas of who they would like to be friends with and/or do business with. All you have to do is treat everyone with the utmost respect and friendliness and they will want to come back to you for their business needs time and time again.

Next, always be available to those who matter most. Believe it or not, if you don't answer your phone, you could potentially lose a lot of money. Today, people are exceedingly impatient and want their needs taken care of immmediately. If your potential or current client tries to reach you and you don't answer the phone, they not only will not leave you a message, but they will go to the next person on the list without any thought, remorse, or hesitation.

If you aren't able to talk on the phone, do your very best to answer it just to tell the person their call is important to you and you will call them back as soon as possible. This behavior goes along way in the world of business because there is so much less personal touch with technology nowadays that people feel like you or other people don't care.

Lastly, when someone chooses to do business with you, make sure to show your gratitude and appreciation. Remember, you worked extremely hard to acquire your customers. You don't want to waste all that money and time on trying to acquire new customers when repeat customers are exponentially more satisfied, easier to sell to, and can build your business much faster than dealing with new customers every day by sending your referrals.

One of the best ways to do this is to send your customers a "Thank You" card and to keep in touch with them on a regular basis. You don't have to call them every week to see how they're doing or if they need anything. This behavior will annoy them and they won't want to do business with you any longer.

All you have to do is send each customer a quarterly card. Make sure each card provides value to your customers whether it be for a Birthday, Holiday, or any other special event. Don't forget to tell your customers about your latest promotions but keep in minimal. These cards are not to sell your customers so be very careful and thoughtful about what you say. A perfect service for doing this is called SendOutCards (www.sendoutcards.com). If you haven't heard of it before, it's a must-see.

Although there are many ways to move your business from Good to Great, just remember to always go above and beyond for your customers. Afterall, without them, you don't have a business nor income.

Creating Customer Loyalty - ISSUE 12 - 9/9/11

In today's marketplace, you must work very hard to increase the loyalty of and learn how to build relationships with customers. With so many people working to do the exact same thing you are, you can't afford to let any of them go. Obviously, you don't want to annoy your customers to death, but you can provide consistent value to them and they will greatly appreciate you, your efforts, your business, your mission, your passion, your level of customer service, and much more.

If you take a look at what the most successful companies are doing, you will quickly see they have some type of way they have created customer and brand loyalty. How you go about doing this depends significantly on your business and the demographics of your customers. For example, if you own a construction company, you probably don't want to write a weekly newsletter to your clients. However, if you’re an Internet based business, writing a weekly newsletter could be extremely detrimental to your success.

Instead, try sending the less-inclined clients a mouse-pad with your company name printed on it and have your company logo and tag-line on it, as well. If you want to go a step further, make the mouse-pad have a slot for a picture. This way your client can slide in a picture of his family or favorite sports team.

Now that you have a better idea of how to provide value to your customers, try being creative. The idea is to set yourself apart from the rest of the companies competing for your customer's business and to be the first person/company your customer thinks about when they are in need of your product and/or service.

As I mentioned previously, you can't afford to let your customers go once you have attained them. There is another company just like yours knocking on their door everyday and you can't leave anything to chance. You have to build the relationship and nourish your customer. You want to think of each customer as a precious diamond. If you leave it alone, it will be lost forever.

Here are some examples of ways you can increase your sales, grow your business, and of course, create customer loyalty:

1) Create a VIP program. Many companies already do this. They offer an in-store debit card for you to use whenever you visit their store. Some companies even give you FREE stuff when you spend a specific amount of money. This is genius! Your customers will want to spend more money with you because they know there's a reward waiting for them on the other end.

The best example of this is Starbucks. Starbucks has created a loyal world-wide following. They have the best VIP program around. They make you feel like a million bucks and they even give you a Gold Card with your name on it. Once you earn enough stars, you get a very nice postcard in the mail for a free coffee any way you like it. To learn more, visit your local Starbucks or go to www.starbucks.com.

2) Write a weekly newsletter. No matter what type of business you own, you are most likely an expert in your industry. Even if you aren't, it doesn't matter. Get to know your customers’ behaviors, interests, dislikes, etc. This will provide you with valuable insight into what to write about. Each newsletter should be packed with "value" and not sales pitches. If you focus your time and energy on the former rather than the latter, you will have life-long success.

Your customers are bombarded with the equivalent of 5GB of information every day -- equivalent to 33,333 web pages, 500,000 emails, 1,250 downloaded mp3 songs, 14 hours video streaming, or 185 hours of music streaming -- most of which are sales pitches. This is astronomical! These sales pitches can be in any form -- TV, Radio, Billboards, Newspapers, Magazines, Websites, Emails, Newsletters, etc.

Your customer-base has to ignore 99.9% of all these messages because it’s information overload. Remember, you want to set yourself apart. You don’t want to be like all the rest. Make your customers excited to read each week's installment. Make them want more. Don't make them block you out because you are annoying, pestering, and always trying to take their money.

3) Build Life-Long Relationships. This is easily done and most of the time, overlooked. Make your customers feel good about themselves. Most people are so busy nowadays they don’t have time for a lot of friendships so to some people, their professional friendships are the most important to them. Get to know your customers on a personal level. If nothing else, make sure you know their name, their spouse’s name, and their children's names.

Believe it or not, this is not done enough anymore. People just don’t care about other people like they used to. This is why this behavior is so powerful. Getting to know someone on a personal level is very simplistic and can make or break your business. If you have a hard time remembering people’s names, write them down on a 3x5 index card along with the information about them, their hobbies, their birth date, and their family. Start creating a Rolodex you can quickly access when you are speaking with them on the phone and ask them about them. Never focus on yourself.

Another great exercise is to repeat the person’s name at least three times in the first meeting you have with him. This sounds funny but it really works. You will be blown away at how many names you will begin to remember and you always want to greet him by his name when you speak to him on the phone or see him in person.

These are just a few ways to create customer loyalty. As I mentioned previously, be creative. Please share your thoughts and ideas with us on how you create customer loyalty with your customer base. info@suitedmarketing.com. We’d really like to hear from you and may even feature you in an upcoming article.