A small business marketing coach can be an invaluable asset to any entrepreneur. Since most entrepreneurs start a small business based upon their specific area of expertise, they’re great at what they do, but they often don’t know how to market themselves. But smart business owners know their core competencies and the importance of delegating, so they hire a small business marketing coach to help launch their new enterprise.
Imagine that you’re an insurance agent and you’ve just opened your own agency. You’re experienced, have a small but loyal customer base, and your office is located in a high-traffic area. But business is slow. You need to create a buzz. You need a small business marketing coach to help you:
Understand your target audience: Knowing your target audience is critical to your marketing success. Who needs or wants what you’re selling? Why? A small business marketing coach will help you understand your target audience, their problems, concerns, and top priorities when it comes to the services you provide. In your case, for instance, your target market may be parents who need affordable auto insurance for their teen driver.
Define key differentiators: What separates you from your competition? Your small business marketing coach will help you get very specific in this area. It can be the difference between surviving and thriving. Discover why you’re different (and better) than other insurance agencies in the area, and then emphasize these differentiators in all your marketing activities.
Understand industry dynamics: A small business marketing coach will show you ways to examine your industry as a whole and how you fit into the marketplace. How are property and casualty insurance agencies attracting customers in your city? What are they doing and how are they doing it?
Develop benefits of the product/service: A small business marketing coach will help you identify and showcase the benefits of your products/services. Benefits address how your products/services will improve the customer’s life in some way. Benefits answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” In your case, a benefit would be that customers can have comprehensive auto insurance at an affordable price.
Identity online and offline marketing opportunities: Your small business marketing coach is your best resource for helping you identify and implement both online and offline marketing strategies. Online, use your Web site, blog, email newsletter, and social networks to market your business. Your insurance agency would also want to use direct mail, client events, and networking to promote your business offline.
If you’re thinking of starting a business, if you’ve just started one, or if you’ve been operating for many years, you will benefit from the expertise of a small business marketing coach. Why? Because a small business marketing coach focuses on accelerating the growth of your business. Learn more by visiting www.MyPRTools.com or calling 310.546.2926.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
5 Small Business Marketing Campaign Tips
What are the best ways to be seen? What are the small business marketing campaign strategies that you need to implement immediately to start attracting your target audience?
Follow these 5 small business marketing campaign tips and you’ll be well on your way to building your brand and selling more of your products and services:
Web site: Every business needs a Web site that is a compelling representation of who they are, what they do, why they’re different from their competitors, and ultimately how their customers will benefit from their products and services. While a great Web site is the backbone of your online small business marketing campaign, it’s only the beginning.
Get on and stay on your customers’ radar screens: This is how you will drive traffic to your Web site and continue to increase the reach of your small business marketing campaign. Use article marketing, blogs, and email marketing to educate your target audience, demonstrate your expertise, and ultimately drive more traffic to your Web site.
Social networking: One of the easiest (and free) small business marketing campaign strategies is to take advantage of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Join in the conversation as a “person” rather than a “business owner,” and you’ll eventually see other people and business owners want to join in your conversation. Social networking is all about giving. Shamelessly promote yourself at your peril.
In-person networking: It’s not all about online small business marketing. Attend Chamber of Commerce events, Meetup.com events in your industry, and the many other “live” networking opportunities in your area. But don’t show up trying to sell. Picture yourself online. Would you immediately start selling to a stranger on LinkedIn? Approach every conversation with the simple goal of making a connection with another business owner you can help or who can help you and your clients.
Hold your own events: Another successful small business marketing campaign strategy is to hold your own event. Consider hosting panels, seminars or workshops to highlight your expertise. Hold a “customer appreciation day” or tie your event to a holiday. You can even get sponsors, hold a raffle, and give prizes. Small business branding works best on a personal level, so giving out promotional items like pens, notepads, and shirts bearing your company’s logo is always effective. This makes people “ambassadors” of your company when they wear or use the promotional material at work or play.
Whatever you do, be consistent. The success of a small business marketing campaign depends on your ability to clearly, compellingly, and consistently deliver a message that resonates with your target audience.
If you want more small business marketing campaign tips to grow your business, visit www.MyPRTools.com or call 310.546.2926.
Follow these 5 small business marketing campaign tips and you’ll be well on your way to building your brand and selling more of your products and services:
Web site: Every business needs a Web site that is a compelling representation of who they are, what they do, why they’re different from their competitors, and ultimately how their customers will benefit from their products and services. While a great Web site is the backbone of your online small business marketing campaign, it’s only the beginning.
Get on and stay on your customers’ radar screens: This is how you will drive traffic to your Web site and continue to increase the reach of your small business marketing campaign. Use article marketing, blogs, and email marketing to educate your target audience, demonstrate your expertise, and ultimately drive more traffic to your Web site.
Social networking: One of the easiest (and free) small business marketing campaign strategies is to take advantage of social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Join in the conversation as a “person” rather than a “business owner,” and you’ll eventually see other people and business owners want to join in your conversation. Social networking is all about giving. Shamelessly promote yourself at your peril.
In-person networking: It’s not all about online small business marketing. Attend Chamber of Commerce events, Meetup.com events in your industry, and the many other “live” networking opportunities in your area. But don’t show up trying to sell. Picture yourself online. Would you immediately start selling to a stranger on LinkedIn? Approach every conversation with the simple goal of making a connection with another business owner you can help or who can help you and your clients.
Hold your own events: Another successful small business marketing campaign strategy is to hold your own event. Consider hosting panels, seminars or workshops to highlight your expertise. Hold a “customer appreciation day” or tie your event to a holiday. You can even get sponsors, hold a raffle, and give prizes. Small business branding works best on a personal level, so giving out promotional items like pens, notepads, and shirts bearing your company’s logo is always effective. This makes people “ambassadors” of your company when they wear or use the promotional material at work or play.
Whatever you do, be consistent. The success of a small business marketing campaign depends on your ability to clearly, compellingly, and consistently deliver a message that resonates with your target audience.
If you want more small business marketing campaign tips to grow your business, visit www.MyPRTools.com or call 310.546.2926.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Engineers and the Culture of Email
Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran knows first-hand the benefits and pitfalls of the culture of email among engineers in the information technology arena. Possibly more than in any other profession, engineers are immersed in the culture of email—they are inundated with them every day (and this does not even include personal emails). Some of the emails contain information that is vital to a project on which they are working, but many are less important since they are related to activities in which the engineer is only peripherally involved.
Part of the reason for the massive amount of email, says Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran, is that she and her colleagues at Qualcomm are working at the leading edge of technology and it is important for them to be in contact with multiple groups in their industry. For instance, in addition to being part of a team within Qualcomm, Viji Raveendran and other engineers in the company connect with like-minded individuals in other companies and groups with similar interests. This occurs through cross-industry collaboration and standards development organizations (SDOs), which play a major role in advancing technology through promoting interoperability. Qualcomm and other organizations usually monitor several SDOs, but only participate actively in a few of them. This of course varies over time depending on the interests within the organization.
Given this amount of interaction and communication, Viji Raveendran says Qualcomm engineers rely and thrive on email. They typically receive hundreds of emails every day on projects they are actively working on, in addition to dozens on topics of marginal relevance (or on topics in which they are not actively involved). These emails are usually organized into groups and subgroups for tracking purposes, and are automatically redirected to specific folders. The vast majority of these redirected emails go unread unless the information is needed for a given Qualcomm project. Often the engineers may not even be aware of their existence.
Regardless of their source, emails maintain continuity of conversations while keeping a record of everything said. Viji Raveendran says this is important because Qualcomm engineers are constantly multitasking. It is not uncommon for an engineer to be juggling fifteen things at any given time. As a result, low priority emails are often redirected to folders. The engineer probably never reads or pays attention to this folder, and is not even aware of the amount of email that has collected in it. But these folders serve an important purpose. For instance, when a subject arises in a discussion, Viji Raveendran and her Qualcomm colleagues can perform a search to find any emails related to the topic.
But Viji Raveendran says this email culture has consequences, and engineers should be aware of them. If an engineer’s firm is ever involved in litigation and he or she is called as a witness, it is critical that the company’s attorneys clearly understand the email culture. An extensive email search of all folders in the system should be conducted to see if any emails related to the topic were automatically filed away and the recipient was not even aware of them. This information might be important to a case, whether the engineer or attorneys know about the email or not. Just because you have never seen an email on a subject does not mean you do not have any association with the context. Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran notes that there is always a possibility to find an email buried in your mailbox that can be used against you even if you have never seen it, and you may not have an opportunity to explain the message in its context.
And never forget: Emails remain in the system forever. They are permanent records of conversations. Viji Raveendran makes the point that while email makes communication quick and easy between coworkers, engineers from other companies, and the various groups to which they subscribe, the sheer volume of emails can negatively affect companies and individuals. The bottom line? Even if it is buried in a folder somewhere and never read, a seemingly innocuous email could wreak havoc years after it is sent.
Chris Woodward is the founder of My PR Tools. She has spent more than two decades creating successful marketing and public relations campaigns for companies across the Western United States. My PR Tools brings the benefits of Chris Woodward’s expertise to those who are not in the marketing and PR fields. Her step-by-step marketing and PR guides and personalized coaching packages are the culmination of her years of experience in the industry. Visit www.MyPRTools.com or call 310.546.2926.
Part of the reason for the massive amount of email, says Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran, is that she and her colleagues at Qualcomm are working at the leading edge of technology and it is important for them to be in contact with multiple groups in their industry. For instance, in addition to being part of a team within Qualcomm, Viji Raveendran and other engineers in the company connect with like-minded individuals in other companies and groups with similar interests. This occurs through cross-industry collaboration and standards development organizations (SDOs), which play a major role in advancing technology through promoting interoperability. Qualcomm and other organizations usually monitor several SDOs, but only participate actively in a few of them. This of course varies over time depending on the interests within the organization.
Given this amount of interaction and communication, Viji Raveendran says Qualcomm engineers rely and thrive on email. They typically receive hundreds of emails every day on projects they are actively working on, in addition to dozens on topics of marginal relevance (or on topics in which they are not actively involved). These emails are usually organized into groups and subgroups for tracking purposes, and are automatically redirected to specific folders. The vast majority of these redirected emails go unread unless the information is needed for a given Qualcomm project. Often the engineers may not even be aware of their existence.
Regardless of their source, emails maintain continuity of conversations while keeping a record of everything said. Viji Raveendran says this is important because Qualcomm engineers are constantly multitasking. It is not uncommon for an engineer to be juggling fifteen things at any given time. As a result, low priority emails are often redirected to folders. The engineer probably never reads or pays attention to this folder, and is not even aware of the amount of email that has collected in it. But these folders serve an important purpose. For instance, when a subject arises in a discussion, Viji Raveendran and her Qualcomm colleagues can perform a search to find any emails related to the topic.
But Viji Raveendran says this email culture has consequences, and engineers should be aware of them. If an engineer’s firm is ever involved in litigation and he or she is called as a witness, it is critical that the company’s attorneys clearly understand the email culture. An extensive email search of all folders in the system should be conducted to see if any emails related to the topic were automatically filed away and the recipient was not even aware of them. This information might be important to a case, whether the engineer or attorneys know about the email or not. Just because you have never seen an email on a subject does not mean you do not have any association with the context. Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran notes that there is always a possibility to find an email buried in your mailbox that can be used against you even if you have never seen it, and you may not have an opportunity to explain the message in its context.
And never forget: Emails remain in the system forever. They are permanent records of conversations. Viji Raveendran makes the point that while email makes communication quick and easy between coworkers, engineers from other companies, and the various groups to which they subscribe, the sheer volume of emails can negatively affect companies and individuals. The bottom line? Even if it is buried in a folder somewhere and never read, a seemingly innocuous email could wreak havoc years after it is sent.
Chris Woodward is the founder of My PR Tools. She has spent more than two decades creating successful marketing and public relations campaigns for companies across the Western United States. My PR Tools brings the benefits of Chris Woodward’s expertise to those who are not in the marketing and PR fields. Her step-by-step marketing and PR guides and personalized coaching packages are the culmination of her years of experience in the industry. Visit www.MyPRTools.com or call 310.546.2926.
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