social media marketing Archives

How to Get Your Marketing Plan Off the Ground?

October 24, 2014 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

Many start ups entrepreneurs are unprepared for the trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur. They try different approaches and different tactics that do not always side in their favor. They may have tried a brilliant idea or approach with all their energy and enthusiasm to only quit after the 2nd or 3rd attempt. They get discouraged and quit because people are not coming in droves to buy their products and services. Does this sound like someone you know?

Successful marketing is developed over time and consistent in its messaging efforts. The more and more people start seeing or hearing about you, the more clients you will have come your way. Your efforts will pay off and often come from places or people you may not expect.

It is easy to get caught in the idea of selling products and services and making money. What all businesses need is a solution for the need of the people.

People are the reason why people are in business. You need to build and nurture relationships over time. People need to get to know, like and trust you before they do business with you. I realize for some people, business is transactional but for the majority it is relational.

Business is about an experience that was created. Based on that experience, word of mouth marketing still remains the most powerful form of marketing out there. I would also say social media marketing is a form of word of mouth marketing.

There are 10 keystone questions you must answer when developing your marketing plan:

What is my Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

What sets you apart from others doing the same thing you are?

Who is doing the same thing I am and how are they promoting their business?

Who is your target market?

What are their habits?

Where do they spend the most time?

What are their pain points (e.g. lack of time, money, childcare)?

How can you be the solution?

How much are you willing to spend – what is the budget?

What are the 3 marketing activities you can do that would make the greatest impact?

Take some time pondering and reviewing these questions. You want to get involved in marketing activities that you enjoy and feel good about because it will show up in the work that you do. Do not get discouraged; the universe or God rewards your efforts.

Remember successful marketing comes from consistent persistent action with a plan of action. It is important to sit down, review your day the night before, and review again in the morning.

A marketing plan can be overwhelming as you may have trouble thinking so far in advance. Make a plan for the next 90 days. It is doable and lots can change even in a month. What are 5 marketing strategies that you are going to do over the next 30 days? Keep in mind that simple consistent action reaps the greatest rewards. After 30 days, you can reflect and evaluate what worked and did not work. Decide what you have done well, what needs to stop, and what you need to start doing.

Rinse and repeat the process for the another 30 days. Watch what happens – people will start to inquire about your business and services. Don’t forget to start tracking what you are doing. How are people finding out about your business or services? Networking events. Track it. Cold calls to offices or people. Track it. Expenses. Track it. Each effort must be tracked. What gets tracked gets measure, what gets measured gets more clients, more money, and better opportunities. Are you all in?

What are 5 strategies you use to reach your audience with your message?

The 5 “Rights” of Using Twitter Effectively for Business

July 11, 2014 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

Social media is where the action is so if you have not started yet you better get tweeting. Twitter is adding 500K new followers every day. Twitter is real time conversation sharing but it needs to be used with a strategy to be successful in business. There is no sense in tweeting your update if no one is going to pay attention to it. If you do not tweet intentionally, you are wasting value time and even money.

To get the most out of the Twitter experience, you need to know the 5 Rights in order to get the biggest bang for your dollar especially if you are hiring someone or the biggest bang for your time.

#1 Right Platform

Is Twitter where you target audience hanging out? Think of Twitter as the real time discussion around the water cooler in 140 characters or less and 120 characters if you want your message to be retweeted. If most of your followers are on another social media platform, is Twitter where you should be dedicating your time?

#2 Right Time of Day

Learn more about your audience. What time of day are they tweeting? Are they only checking their Twitter accounts while they grab lunch or when they are running off to a meeting? Are they checking their accounts early in the morning or after supper? The timing of your tweets can make sure your message gets shared at the right time for the greatest impact.

#3 Right Message

Are you providing value to your audience? What advice or information are they seeking? Content rich tweets are ones that save people money, time, inspire, educate (the how to), or entertain through pictures, articles, external links, or retweets. Give a shout out to those who retweet your content. Everyone loves to be appreciated and to know the information they are sharing is making a difference. Promotion should only be about 10-20% of your tweets otherwise people will unfollow or even block you for blasting their Twitter Feed.

# Right Hash tag

Are you using the right hash tag to get your message out? hash tags not only let people know what is trending on Twitter but it is also a way to promote your business and share valuable information.

Hash tags like #biztip for business tips, #B2B business to Business, #Business for Business news, or #Howto for sharing information can help optimize the way you use Twitter. A hash tag is like a naming convention of a folder with a great deal of information inside. If you use it properly, the information and research inside may boost your business’ bottom line.

#5 Right People

Are you following everyone who follows you or are you being intentional? Are you following people who have not been active on Twitter for a long time? Make room for those who you want to follow you. Ensure you are targeting your messages, hash tags, and messages to your audience. Your tweets say a lot about you and your brand – your reputation. Make it great! Make it memorable.

Twitter can be a very powerful and robust tool to have in your social media toolkit. Know your rights and you will make an impact!

What hash tags do you use to promote your business message?

5 Secrets to Building Your List in the Next 30 Days

July 5, 2013 by Debra Kasowski 5 Comments

Courtesy of photostock/freedigitalphotos.net

Building a online community of followers was quite foreign to me when I first started my business. As I did some research, I became very excited.

Why?

Not only does having a website – give you a global presence, you can now build relationships all over the world. Talk about leverage and opportunities to make an impact world wide.

At the same time I became overwhelmed and did not know where to start. Perhaps you can relate to this.

Thankfully, I did not pull out any hair but began to focus on learning about one area every 30 days and giving it my focus. There are so many platforms to build upon. You need to choose the platforms that best suit you.

I am going to share the ones that I have used that have created the greatest traction for in my business.

1. Intentional Network Online by Building Relationships – Businesses grow when the focus is on the PEOPLE. People first! You can build relationships on Facebook and Twitter by not just accepting or requesting friend requests. Join in the conversation – respond to posts and ask questions. Discover how you can relate to the people you are chatting with. The relationships you build can lead to future collaboration.

2. Cross Promote – Ask someone you know who has a list that they may share your product or service with and offer to do the same for them. If you have an affiliate program, the person you are cross promoting with could even make a commission. Most commissions run anywhere from 30 to 70 percent. Extra money in your pocket is always nice and even better while you sleep. Cha- Ching!

3. Guest Blogging – This is one of my favorite ways to build an online community. Guest Blogging is very powerful when you tailor your message to your host’s audience. You want to HELP and provide VALUE not sell. Ensure you include your bio after your blog post and it has a call to action that directs traffic to your website. Guest blogging is also a great way to ensure you have content on your website during busy times or while you are on vacation – consider hosting a quest blogger.

4. Article Marketing – Writing is a powerful way to get the word out about your business and having more people learn about you. Article directories like www.ezinearticles.com and www.selfgrowth.com are awesome places to build your visibility and boost your credibility in the marketplace. You want to write articles that will inspire, educate, empower/motivate, or entertain. If you do this, you will have customers coming back for more.

5. Teleseminars– Although you may think you may be technologically challenged, teleseminars are a excellent way to build the know, like and trust factor in building relationships. They are a lot easier to use than people think – just pick up the phone dial the code and begin! You can host a question and answer period or share information as if you were teaching a class all by teleconference lines like www.freeconferencepro.com or www.instantteleseminar.com Start promoting your teleseminar 4-6 weeks in advance and build the excitement!

Building your business profile does not have to break the bank. You need to create a plan or strategy to make this happen. It all comes down to who is taking action – I hope that person is you!

Are You Using Twitter Effectively for Your Business?

June 7, 2013 by Debra Kasowski 2 Comments

Would you like to get more followers, find your ideal customers, and reach more people with your message? Are you getting overwhelmed by the Twitter Buzz? Who would have thought that 140 characters could have such punch? Twitter is more than people posting what they are up to or what they eating. Twitter is a very effective business tool if used correctly.

Twitter can do the following for you if used with intention:

Build and nurture a community or tribe of followers – In order to build your community, you need to interact with the people who comment or retweet your content. Reply to comments or ask questions about posts that resonate with you. Thank people for following you. Suggest followers to others #FF (Follow Friday). You are also building your credibility and visibility online.

2. Drive traffic to your website – Share great content from your website or blog. Provide a brief bio that grabs people’s attention and refers them to your website to learn more about you. Tweet about your free offerings that give people value.

3. Help you do research – #hashtags are like file folders where you can search by a hashtags and find who else is tweeting about your topic. For example, if you wanted #speaker to find out who is looking for speakers, you would search #speaker. Consider asking your followers a question about what you are researching. You are bound to have an answer from someone. You have a wealth of knowledge right at your fingertips.

4. Promote your products or services – If you wanted to share that you are a speaker, you could share some information and #speaker so you tweet would be put in the virtual folder.

5. Find your ideal customers. If you want to build the know, like, and trust factor so people will feel comfortable doing business with you, share a little bit about who you are. Be a REAL person instead of some text. Offer live tweets while you watch TV or tweet about trending topics. Tweet about the books you are reading or share a quote from one.

Twitter in business is not just self-promotion. If you are constantly tweeting about buy this or buy that, you can expect people to unfollow you. People do not want to be sold to. Twitter is a social platform so be social. Your tweets should provide value by inspiring, educating, or entertaining. By the way, thought provoking questions are also valuable in getting mentions and interactions. Engagement is key in social media. Create some Twitter Buzz by sharing this post!

Are You Struggling to Build Your List?

July 9, 2012 by Debra Kasowski 16 Comments

List building or what some people refer to as their database is the key to moving prospects to becoming your customers. You must find a way to build relationships that matter so they can get to know, like, and trust you. There is no secret sauce – you must be you – genuine and unique.

Ways You Can Build Your List:

Host a Teleseminar – Do a live call and let people hear about all the great information you know and can share to make their businesses and lives better. Better yet, joint venture or collaborate – you can gain new followers who are in need of you and your partner’s expertise.
Video Marketing – In your video, invite people to sign up for your e-zine (electronic newsletter).
Irresistible Offers – Offer a free report, e-book, article, teleclass, or video class just for signing up for your e-zine.
Draw Prize – People love to win prizes! Offer a prize for anyone who wants to be a part of your community. This technique works especially well when you speak at a live event.
Social Media – Share great content that your audience wants and needs. Be of service to others. I love Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Come follow me!
Blogs – Comment on other people’s blogs. Readers will want to learn more about you – especially if your comments provide insight and add value.
Article Marketing – Share your knowledge and expertise online with others. www.ezinearticles.com is a great place to start building your platform. Your author bio can direct readers to your website and your irresistible offer.
Host an Event – Have a event or seminar to teach others about some of the strategies, tips, or techniques you use in your business.
Survey – Have people complete a survey – learn about what your audience wants and collect names and emails at the end. Provide an enticing offer!

Your list is the most important part of your business. To grow your list, you need to be passionate and excited about what you are doing and creating. I know the people I serve have something to share in the world. I love being the person who helps them get to share it! You need to build a relationship with the people on your list and provide them with valuable content on a regular basis. Be dynamic!

How are you building your list? What has been your most successful list building strategy? What are the to-do’s and not to do’s in list building?