Category: How-To Guides

After you’ve set up your green website and written blog posts for a month, you may be surprised to find that the world is not beating a cyber path to your door.

You might be tempted to think it is something that you’re doing wrong.

Perhaps your recent posts on changing the world one ecological step at a time were a little too casual in its style; or perhaps, the problem was just the opposite, a bit too scholarly.

However, before you accuse yourself of being either irrelevant or pedantic, there is something that you need to understand: the idea that if “you build it, they will come” is a romantic myth perpetuated by the Field of Dreams movie.

If people are not showing up, enthusiastically commenting on your blog, subscribing to your newsletter, or buying your eco-friendly products to improve the world, it’s not personal. You just haven’t done enough to catch their attention and stir their interest.

So, after you’ve developed your business model around your green business idea or permaculture design and fine-tuned it, the next order of business is getting the word out.

Get the Ball Rolling with Social Media

You will get fast results by using popular social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Google+, you will find your tribe.

Unfortunately, however, marketing is not as simple as merely connecting with other people on social media. There is a lot more to it.

What is Marketing?

Marketing is a process to tell people about your goods or services. I basically coordinate four things:

1. It describes your product or service.
2. It determines your prices based on the value you offer,
3. It finds ways to deliver your product or service to the consumer.
4. It continually informs a select group of people (your target audience) that you’re in a business that can help them.

After people show an interest in your product or service, then you can begin selling them. Sales, however, is not always about money; it can be simply persuading people to do something, like signing up for your newsletter or volunteering to help out a cause.

However, marketing, too, is not enough to develop your business; you also have to focus on branding.

Branding is not Marketing

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between marketing and branding. Marketing is more about push while branding is more about pull. Marketing is about doing. Branding is about being. Perhaps, this is a bit of an oversimplification, but you get the idea.

In an excellent article on the difference between marketing and branding, James Heaton on the Tronvig Group blog offers the following distinction:

“Branding should both precede and underlie any marketing effort. Branding is not push, but pull. Branding is the expression of the essential truth or value of an organization, product, or service. It is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is and is not.”

While people often associate branding with things like logos, colors, names, spokespeople, mascots, and so on, these are symbolic of something deeper—a company’s values. Hence, branding is more about ways of being rather than doing. For instance, a good brand projects you and your company consistently and authentically. It is also niche-focused and people can relate to its values.

4 Promotional Tips

Here are four ideas to help you get more visitors to your eco-website:

1. When it comes to social media, your main order of business is to sign up at the top social media websites and find a way to offer value there. On YouTube, for example, you could have a series of video tutorials explaining how people can go green in simple, practical ways. On Facebook, you may want to engage people through a Facebook business and personal page.
2. You could improve your website in the following ways: optimize it for search engines, make sure it loads fast, and make sure that it is easy to navigate and read.
3. Once, you’ve got your website set up, you need to figure out ways to engage with other people. Some ways to do this include blogging, creating an email newsletter and participating in link exchanges.
4. You could try advertising both online and offline to engage people. Online advertising might be buying banner ads, Facebook ads, or Google Pay per click ads. Offline advertising might include classified ads in the newspaper, using custom brochure display holders on the counter at a local flower shop with tips on going green, or posting small flyers on public display boards, like those found in supermarkets.

Frankly, the only difference between you and the success you desire for your business is not taking the necessary steps to get the word out there. You have to tell people about your business!

We talk a lot about how to build businesses that offer virtual and digital products and services. It is important to note, though, that while it is important for every business to have a web presence, not all businesses are web based. Some operate solely in the real and tangible world. Physical therapists and massage therapists, for example, aren’t going to be helping patients heal over the internet (at least not for a few more years).

In this post, we’re going to talk about some of the ways to build a real-world marketing platform and client base. To keep it simple, we’re going to keep going with the example of our massage therapist but all of these tips can be applied to other niches as well.

Step One: Go Where Your Clients Are

If you are helping people in the real world, you are going to need to find some way to put yourself right in front of their faces. For a massage therapist, this might mean setting up a booth offering free (or drastically discounted) five minute massages at a fair or similar event. You might consider hanging up fliers or posters for your services in hospitals, homeopathic and naturopathic supply stores, or even partnering with a physical therapist or chiropractor’s office. People are not going to work to find you, you need to work to find them.

Step Two: Be everywhere

One of the best things about being a massage therapist is that it is easy to make your practice portable. Portable massage tables are inexpensive these days and easier to lift and carry. Offering home visits or office visits is a great way to expand into a market of people that might not have otherwise been able to take advantage of your services like the elderly or people with mobility or transportation issues.

For those not in the physical or health related fields, consider meeting your clients in their own offices or at coffee shops or restaurants near where they work. Being ready to meet people at their convenience will do wonders for your business.

Step Three: Specialize

There has always been a huge debate in the entrepreneur/solopreneur community: is it better to generalize and be a jack of all trades or is specializing in one very specific niche the road to success? This is going to depend largely upon your audience as well as the type of business you want to run. With regards to massage therapy or even physical therapy, for example, focusing on a single portion of your client base and specializing in their needs and wants can be a boon to your business.

Yes, you’ll get lots of requests as a general masseuse, but if you specialize in say, sports injuries or pre-natal care, you’ll build a larger and more dedicated client base. More importantly, you’ll get more word of mouth referrals through a narrow client base than a wide one.

Get Comfortable With Marketing

At the very least, you will want to have a great website that uses fantastic local SEO. Local SEO is where you qualify your keywords and phrases with your location so that you are easier to find by the people who really want to find you.

It’s also helpful to list your services in local business listings both online and off. Use Google Local to create a page for your business where people can leave reviews. Make sure you are listed with your local Chamber of Commerce. Don’t forget to list your business on indexes that cater to specific niches within your community!

Don’t Forget to Ask

One of the best ways to build your business, particularly when you’re hoping to build a local client base of return customers and clients, is to simply ask them to refer you to their friends. Let current clients know that you’re happy for any referrals they can send you. Give copies of your card if they mention that they know someone who could use your services. Even a simple “tell your friends!” will do wonders to build your client base.

These are just the basics of building a business in the tangible world. Start here and then, after you’ve mastered these, you can move on to more advanced ideas. We’ll talk about those next time.

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Webinars are becoming more and more popular as business owners are beginning to realize the power they have with regard to client retention and acquisition. As a matter of fact, online presentations have proven to be so effective that even the United States Government uses them. A well-prepared webinar can not only cause new customers to want to purchase products and services, but cause existing customers to want to upgrade the products or services they’re already paying for. With that said, today we’re going to discuss things that you can do to ensure that any webinar you host proves to be a success.

Chose a Quality Webinar Hosting Service

When searching for a webinar hosting service, you’ll quickly realize that there are thousands of options to choose from. However, only a handfull are highly trusted by the business community around the globe. As an example, ClickWebinar stands out in the sense that it offers a variety of features such as webinar recorder or live language translation. Another alternative which is trending recently is Google Hangouts On Air which is free and has a Google + integration. The bottom line is that the last thing that you want is to have technical issues during a live webinar that’s streaming to hundreds or even thousands of potential and current customers. So researching and choosing a provider that’s known for quality visuals, sound, and constant up-time is well worth the effort.

Speak With a Purpose

In most cases, the ultimate goal behind a webinar is to sell a product or service. With that said, your audience is not only listening to what you have to say, they’re listening to how you say what you have to say. Studies show that consumers are more likely to buy products from sales people that seem to be more confident in conversation. Therefore, by portraying confidence through how you speak, you can increase the ultimate conversion rate of your online presentation! Here are a few tips to keep in mind when speaking to a crowd…

• Don’t Be Afraid To Be Loud – You know the old saying, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. Well, that saying is true in more than just problem solving. People who are louder when demonstrating the power of a product or service tend to exude confidence in everything they do. So, if you’re soft spoken, it may be a good idea to practice speaking louder than you normally would an hour or two before your webinar starts.
• Speak Slowly And Clearly – When hosting a seminar online, you have to imagine that your audience will be all around the world. In each demographic, consumers are used to a different dialect. So, to ensure that everyone joining you can easily digest everything you have to say, make a conscious effort to speak slowly and clearly. This involves avoiding the use of slang.
• Don’t Get Stuck On A Stumble – Studies show that the average webinar lasts about 45 minutes. In that amount of time in a live meeting, you may stumble on your words. However, it’s important to move back into the conversation quickly. Believe it or not, most people may not even notice the fumble if your recovery is quick enough.

Planning Is Important

No matter what we do in life, planning tends to be the key to ensuring that what we’re doing goes smoothly. When planning your webinar, it’s best to make what I like to call a 15 minute plan. With the average webinar lasting 45 minutes, this plan gives you the ability to set up a beginning, middle, and end. When doing so, keep these tips in mind…

• The Beginning Is The Hook – The vast majority of your audience will either become enamored with what you have to say or lose interest within 15 minutes. So, when planning the beginning of your presentation, make sure to do something that will hook your audience. This part of the presentation should be high impact, hard facts, and high energy!
• The Important Information Comes In The Middle – In the middle of your presentation, you want to go over the technical side of your message. Answer the basic who, what, when, where, and why questions revolving around your topic. Essentially, the middle 15 minutes of your presentation will be the “meat”.
• End With The Sale – When closing your webinar, you want to move back into high energy, high impact mode. It’s time to get your audience excited again because if you don’t, as soon as the webinar is over, they’ll never think of you again. So, find an exciting way to close your presentation that will make consumers want to buy into what you have to offer!

Final Thoughts

Client acquisition and retention are the most important aspects of any company. After all, without clients, companies have nothing. While there are several ways to go about acquiring clients, recently, webinars are proving to be more and more successful at the task. By using the tips above, you can ensure that your next webinar is a big hit.

From the minute I got there, I just instinctively liked him. He created a warm, safe environment and he was really listening. I could tell that he took an holistic approach to his work and I appreciated that.

When I spoke about what was going on in my life, he made meaningful comments about how pain was not just a physical response to trauma but often stress related.

As he massaged, manipulated and eased the pain out of my limbs, our conversation was just as much of a relief. To be completely heard. To be appreciated and have his full presence. It was exceptional.

It’s rare that I get to experience a therapeutic approach that I can recommend so full heartedly.

And I haven’t stopped talking about it ever since. And it was quite some time ago!

If anyone mentions to me that they have back pain (or any other pain!) I always remember him and give a warm recommendation.

This is the kind of marketing we all need.

There is nothing more powerful than a personal recommendation from a raving fan.

What does it take to create a raving fan? Here are four tips!

1. Listen – when you can really hear your client (and they feel heard!) then you know exactly what to offer and they will accept it.
2. Make Time – your client is not just paying for a session with you…they should get the whole treatment – figure out what that means for you (I offer my clients 24/7 email support) and be generous. Make time to prepare properly and do research if you need to, so that you can offer full support to your client.
3. Presence – be fully and wholly present when you are with your client. No interruptions, no distraction, just be there. This is a gift and it will be warmly appreciated.
4. Feedback – no, that doesn’t mean the chance to blame or judge your client but warm heartfelt feedback that appreciates and honors them. It’s just one more way to help your client feel heard and valued.

The truth is, this isn’t about getting people to love you, it’s actually about loving them.

Go on, figure out what it is about each of your clients that you love. And tell them. And keep on loving them!

If you love to learn new things and enjoy teaching others about your new discoveries, then opening your own home-based tutorial business may be a perfect entrepreneurial match for you.

Qualifications

If you have an undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate degree, or a teaching certificate, then you are fully qualified to start. If, however, you still need some academic credentials, you can always get an online education degree.

You will have little in the way of startup costs and once you decide where you will work from in your home – for instance, making a spare bedroom into a study — and then decide on a schedule that fits in with your family’s activities, you are ready to start your business.

Specialization

Your business will flourish if you can specialize in a niche. When it comes to specialization, there are three ways to market your service: by age, by subject, or by exam. You can also combine one or two of these specialties, like specializing by age and subject.

Let’s take a look at each one in turn:

1. Age. You can tutor little children, high school children, college-age student, or even adults. Each age group has its own set of challenges and rewards. Choose the group you feel most comfortable with.
2. Subject. The subject you choose will depend on your interests, knowledge, experience, and skills. The highest demand for tutors is in in reading, mathematics, and science.
3. Exams. There is also a huge market for helping students get ready for a standardized test.

Profitability

When it comes to deciding on profitability, you should teach something that is in high demand and people are willing to pay a high fee for. Because of the high stakes involved in passing a standardized exam, this is the most profitable niche.

In this niche, students need help with either exit exams or college prep exam.

1. Exit exams.

In states like California, Florida and others, students have to pass an exit exam to get a high school diploma. Anxious parents are eager to hire a tutor to help them pass these exams because they play a huge role in determining their child’s educational future.

2. College prep exams. 

This is another lucrative niche.

While there are a number of college prep exams, the most lucrative ones to focus on are the following:

• SAT
• ACT
• SAT Subject Tests
• AP Program exams–Advanced Placement Program
• IB exams–International Baccalaureate.

Competition

As a business model, the field of home-based tutoring is wide-open. This is a huge, overlooked opportunity for someone who wants to create their own profitable home-base business.

There are two reasons for this unique situation:

First, most academics prefer to teach in a school or university.

Two, most entrepreneurs are more interested in selling products or offering business-oriented services.

Three, most tutoring services offered by schools and many private college prep companies are too busy to offer one-on-one private tutoring.

Because of these three reason, private tutoring is very appealing to students who need one-on-one attention to do well academically.

Getting Started

Naturally, before you start this business, you need to be clear that you have the right qualifications and that this is a business that fits your passion. If you feel that you have no problem committing to this business model, then your next step is to go through the formal process of legally establishing your business and complying with local laws on starting a business in your home.

While you will need to take some initial steps to market your tutoring business, once the word gets out among parents, you will probably not have time to do much marketing.

If your business grows beyond your time available for each student, you can always scale up your business by hiring other tutors to work for you and even moving out of your office and starting your own tutoring clinic.