Tag: strategic internet marketing

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Are Sponsorships Right For You?

Although the whole notion of sponsorships has been around for years, it’s only recently been gaining popularity in the online entrepreneurial community. Which leads me to 2 very important questions —

1. Should you as a business become a sponsor?

2. Should you offer sponsorship opportunities?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each and see if your business is missing out because you haven’t fully considered sponsorships.

First, let’s look if you should become a sponsor. Sponsorships are great if:

* You’re going to be reaching a significant number of your ideal clients.

* The person/biz/event your sponsoring has high credibility and influence with your ideal clients, thus boosting your credibility by connecting your name with theirs.

* You have a way to collect contact information so you can build your list and exposure.

* You’re okay if the sponsorship turns into a long-term tactic rather than making money in the short-term.

Yes, I would classify sponsorships as more of a long-term marketing tactic than a short-term, make money immediately, tactic. That doesn’t mean you WON’T walk out of there with sales. But I would view any immediate sales as a bonus, and the point of why you’re doing the sponsorship is to increase your exposure and visibility for the long term. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t track your sales and make sure you get a good return on your investment, it just means you understand this is an investment in your marketing and your business and the pay off might come that day or next week or in 6 months.

If you need an immediate influx of money, sponsorships are probably not the way to go. First off, they’re more expensive than just the cost of the sponsorship — you’re probably going to have come up with booth design, advertising, flyers, etc. And second, while you very well could walk out with immediate sales (especially if your sponsorship comes with some speaking or stage time) there’s no guarantee of that. It could just as easily work out that the sales start coming in a month or 2 later, which may turn into a very big stress point for you depending on how much you need that cash.

So, now let’s look if you should offer sponsorships. First, is your business offering something where a big group of your tribe is hanging out? Something like an event is perfect, but it doesn’t have to be an in-person event. It could also be a virtual event. Or you could even offer sponsorships if you have a membership site or an association or you’ve created some other community.

Are there going to be enough people involved to make it worth your sponsor’s money and time? Ask yourself if YOU would pay to be in front of your community? (Be honest with the answer.)

Now the other part of this is will the sponsorship interfere with your ability to sell your own products or services? If you think it’s going to dilute what you’re doing, then I wouldn’t do it. But if it isn’t, and your community is big enough to warrant it, offering sponsorship opportunities could be a great way to add an additional income stream to your business plus add value to your community by offering them products and services they need.

Categories
Networking

3 Secrets on Getting the Most Out of Attending Events

You’ve got your suitcases packed, your airline booked and you’re on your way to a live event.

But you’re a little nervous. You’ve already spent a bunch of money, you’re about to spend a bunch more on hotels and food, not to mention the time away from your business and life. Will this turn into a good investment (i.e. help your business grow) or will it end up being just a waste of time and money?

That’s an excellent question and as someone who has attending more than her share of events with fabulous (and not-so-fabulous) results, let me share my 3 secrets to getting the most out of your attending events.

1. Set your intentions on what you want to get out of the event. Are you looking for joint venture partners? New clients? New ideas or information you can implement in your business? Is there someone you really want to meet in person? All of the above? Something else entirely?

It doesn’t matter how you define a successful event, what’s important is that you actually spell out what you want to have happen and make it as clear as possible.

If you’re not clear on what you want, then your results could end up being equally murky. You want to visualize exactly what would have to happen for this to be a successful event for you.

Let me take a moment and share a quick story about this. At an event I recently attended, I was walking through the dining room at dinnertime and I saw a woman sitting by herself. I went up to her and asked if she wanted some company, which she did. It turned out she had set the intention for meeting ME at this event and we’ve ended up doing a couple of joint ventures together. Isn’t it amazing once you set the intention how the Universe actually delivers it?

2. Don’t just hang around your “crowd.” There’s no question that one of the reasons why I love going to events is I can reconnect with all my old friends and colleagues. However, as much as I treasure the face-to-face bonding, I also want to meet new friends and colleagues too.

Make a point of having either lunch, dinner, drinks, etc. with a new group each day. That gives you the opportunity to meet new people without going too far out of your comfort zone. (Now, if the thought of that is making you break out into a cold sweat, take a deep breath. Bring a friend with you, just don’t only talk to your friend. Or only do this once or twice in the few days you’re there and slowly work your way up. You’ll probably discover the vast majority of the people at these events are just as eager and just as nervous as you are, and it all ends up working itself out.)

3. Manage your energy. This is a big one I never see anyone talk about but it’s really important. Events are exhausting. Period. Between being “on” when you meet people to absorbing all the information that’s flying at you, it can wear you out.

So it’s important to know your limits and listen to your body. You don’t have to be at every single networking opportunity. It’s okay to skip a group lunch or dinner and get room service.

Everyone is going to have different limits and whatever that is, it’s perfect for you and you should honor it. The last thing you want to do is wear yourself out so much that when that perfect client DOES show up on Day 3, you’re not so drained you don’t properly represent yourself (and end up losing the sale).

There’s one more thing I want you to do to make your event attendance as successful as possible, but this is SO important I’m going to devote an entire article about it. Stay tuned!

Categories
Online Business

3 Keys to Building a Successful Online Business

After building a successful online business myself, not to mention being a part of my clients’ online businesses, I’ve found there are 3 main keys you need to have in place to enjoy a solid successful Internet business.

Although it’s not easy to build a successful anything, these 3 keys will go a long way to putting the foundation together for a successful online business.

Ready to get started?

1. Send warm leads to your web site. Every successful business needs a fresh source of new leads and a great place to find those leads is on the Internet.

But that’s just easier said than done. Alas, the “if you build it, they will come” just doesn’t work for web sites. So how do you find new prospects on the Internet? Here are 6 ways to get you started:

* Social networking (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Linked In)

* Article marketing (placing articles on article portals such as Ideamarketers or EzineArticles)

* Paid ads (pay per click or Facebook ads)

* Online press releases

* Podcasts

* Videos

The key is to integrate several ways to drive traffic to your site. If you rely on just one or two, and something happens to those sources of traffic, it could dramatically impact your bottom line. (In a bad way.) The more sources of traffic you have, the more stable your business becomes.

2. Get those warm leads in your database. You may have heard the saying “the money is in the list” and that’s because there’s a lot of truth to that. When you have a warm list of names to market your products and services to, it makes building a successful and profitable business that much easier.

So how do you build a warm list? (Note — a warm list is defined as people who know who you are and are inclined to buy your products and services, versus a cold list that doesn’t have any idea who you are and needs to be convinced you do indeed have the solution to their problems.) You build a warm list by first capturing leads (from your web site, from speaking on stage and teleclasses, etc.) and then by making sure you get in front of them on a regular basis so they get to know you. A regularly published ezine is an excellent way to do that. You also want to regularly sell to your list, because if you don’t ask your list to buy your products and services, you’ll create a list that is only interested in what you offer for free.

3. Turn warm leads into paid customers. This is where direct response copywriting comes in. Actually, it starts in the second key as you need to use direct response copywriting to get people on your list in the first place.

Copywriting is writing promotional copy for business (it has nothing to do with copyrighting a book or piece of artwork, note the spelling difference). Direct response means the copy itself is persuading people to take action (the copy is causing a direct response). This is a learned skill, no you don’t have to be a writer to be a successful direct response copywriter. And once you master this skill, selling online becomes a heck of a lot easier because you can make money directly from emails and web site pages.

If you master these 3 keys, you will be well on your way to building a successful online business.

Categories
Networking

Why You MUST Attend Events to Grow Your Biz

Look, I get it. Attending events can be a big deal. There’s travel costs, time away from work, time away from the family, etc. etc.

So why on earth should you bother? After all, between social networking and the telephone, you can meet all the people you want, right? And with all the classes and programs out there, you can get all the learning you need without leaving your house too. Right?

Well that’s not exactly true.

You see, going to events is a lot bigger than the networking and the learning. I would go as far to say something magical happens when you start going to events. Here are 3 reasons why you MUST make attending events a part of your marketing tool kit.

1. Gets you out of your “day to day” rut. It happens to the best of us. Between your huge to-do list and your commitments to your family, community, life etc., you have a lot going on. And sometimes it’s all you can do to focus on the next thing you have to get done.

The problem is when you’re in that mode (and trust me, I’ve been in that mode many times before) you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’re focused on the details, not the big picture. And when you get in that mindset, it’s really easy to miss something — maybe it’s a big opportunity, maybe it’s a problem waiting to explode in your face.

Going to an event means a break in your routine. It gives you a chance to breathe, to see things you might not have seen when all those to-dos are staring you in the face. It can give you a perspective you never had. You could end up with an idea that could transform your business, add an additional income stream or stop a problem in the bud that could cost you thousands in money, time, energy and aggravation.

2. Keeps you from feeling lonely. There’s no question about it — being an entrepreneur can be lonely. Chances are your friends, neighbors and family really don’t “get” what you do to make money, much less what it means to be an entrepreneur — the responsibilities you have and the decisions you need to make. Who do you use for a sounding board? Who do you talk to when something goes wrong — maybe your web site goes down during a crucial launch or your assistant sends the wrong email to the wrong list and causes all sorts of confusion and complications. Your friends and family probably don’t even understand the problem much less be able to give you any sort of help solving it.

But your entrepreneurial friends “get it.” They know EXACTLY what you’re going through because they’re living it too. And it can be such a relief to be surrounded by your “tribe” (not to mention having the opportunity to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of other successful entrepreneurs to see what “pops” for your business.)

3. Gets you in front of people you would never be able to reach any other way. Are there people you’d love to connect with but think they’re so “big” you’ll never get their attention? People like Alex Mandossian or Ali Brown? Well, I can tell you from experience it’s a heck of lot easier to connect with thought leaders at an event then it is to try to get them on the phone or through social networking. (And yes, one of the reasons why I got both of them as a client was I first met them at an event.) Over the years I’ve met nearly all my clients in person, and that has really helped me develop deeper relationships with them. And that doesn’t even count all the joint ventures or other opportunities that have come up because I met great people in person at events.

I really believe one of the reasons why my business started taking off is because I started attending events several years ago. Events can be a great way to boost your business, especially if you know how to approach them. I’ll cover some tips on getting the most out of your event attendance next week.

Categories
Business Ideas

3 Secrets to Succeeding Online with Your Business

Succeeding online is easy, right? Just throw up a sales page, drop in some “buy now” links and sit back and watch your bank account grow.

Well, if you’ve been in business any length of time, you already know it doesn’t work like that. (No matter what “promises” or “hype” you might have seen.) It’s never that easy. But there’s no question it IS possible. (My client list is proof of that.)

So how DO you succeed online? Well let me share 3 secrets to get you started.

1. Know what you’re highest payoff activities are. The successful entrepreneurs I’ve worked with know exactly what they should be focusing on each day. They know what they’re strengths are and what’s going to bring in the most money. That’s what I mean by highest pay-off activities. They know what’s going to bring them the biggest bang for the least amount of time.

So how do you figure out what your highest pay-off activities are? Start by making a list of your strengths and weaknesses.

Now look at your strengths. Out of those skills, what brings you the most money in the shortest amount of time possible? What you might want to do is make a list of activities and evaluate how much money you make versus time spent, then you’ll have a better idea what bring you the biggest bang for the least amount of time.

2. They DO their highest pay-off activities. Ah, yes. It’s not enough to actually know them, you need to actually DO them. And, better yet, you should organize your day around your highest-payoff activities. That way, you know you’re spending as much time as possible on your highest pay-off activities.

3. They delegate out or delete their weaknesses. Without a doubt, the successful entrepreneurs I know spend little to no time trying to “strengthen weaknesses.” What they typically spend their time doing is strengthening their strengths and outsourcing (or just plain dumping) their weaknesses.

Why do they do that? Because they make more money when they spend most of their time doing their highest pay-off activities. And they can’t spend their time doing their highest pay-off activities if they’re busy strengthening their weakness or doing low pay-off activities. We all only have 24 hours a day, so you need to know how best to use that time so you can become the biggest success possible.

Now, you may have noticed these aren’t specific for the Internet, these are general success strategies. I did that on purpose — if you master success habits that work online, you’ll master success habits that will work in pretty much any other situation. Next time I’ll share specific tips you can use online to be successful.