Category: Marketing

    White Papers: What Are They and Why Should I Use Them?

    A white paper is a report that explains a problem in depth and then offers a solution. If you offer products and services to business owners, white papers are a great way to explain your solutions to your audience. They work especially well for complicated issues that require some measure of education for the buyer to understand.

    The Purpose of a White Paper

    A white paper is not an excuse to include tons of sales hype or puffery. Instead a white paper should be useful and valuable to the consumer by itself. The white paper should:

    * Identity a problem – Describe the problem the target audience has in great detail to demonstrate your understanding of the problem. Use case studies and other examples to get your points across.

    * Describe various solutions – Give examples of various solutions and their drawbacks, along with your solution and why it’s better. Give concrete examples and not sales puffery.

    * Back up your assertions – Using real data and research to back up your facts will make your white paper more impressive and give it credibility.

    If you stick to that formula when you develop your white paper, you’ll do well. Insert case studies, images, graphs, and other points of interest to highlight the facts better. The white paper needs to focus on the problems and solutions and how your solution is the one that works the best. Show this by describing the drawbacks to the other solutions and how your product or service fills the gaps the other ones leave.

    Advantages of White Papers

    In addition to educating your audience, white papers have a lot of advantages such as:

    * Collects leads – Ask for an email address and other information in exchange for downloading the white paper and you’ll collect a lot of information from interested parties.

    * Establishes expertise – Writing a white paper is a process that helps you look like a real expert, as white papers are often used in education and government.

    * Proves credibility – Having a way to show all the facts about the problem and the solutions will make you look more credible.

    * It’s “evergreen” – Most content doesn’t have a very good shelf life. But, a well-researched and informative white paper can last for years with minor changes when your products or services are updated.

    * A good way to reuse content – If you already have a lot of informative blog posts, you can reuse it inside the white paper. Conversely, all the research you gather during the creation of the white paper can be used elsewhere too.

    * They’re cost effective – Word for word a white paper isn’t any more expensive to create or have created than other types of content. Plus the ROI is high.

    * They are good SEO – Long form content is good for search engine optimization. Even if this particular content is something that will be downloaded, it will help your website look more professional.

    * They’re great link bait – If your white paper is especially well written and has a lot of good information, other people will share the information.

    It’s clear that using white papers to market your business is beneficial. It’s time to get started on creating your white paper to improve your subscriptions and establish your expertise.

    Categories: Presentations, Text Tags: Tags:

    How Becoming an Author Builds Expertise

    Building expertise through authorship has been around long before the internet lowered the barriers to entry. It’s still around because it works. Not only does having a book to give to or sell to people make you look knowledgeable, but it will also make you knowledgeable.

    The sheer act of writing the book is a bit like a Master’s Degree education. After all, that’s what you do in advanced education. You read and consume other people’s information, then you write about it, and add your own studies and opinion into the mix.

    * Learn a Lot – While writing the book (even if you outsource the writing), you’ll learn so much about yourself and about your niche. You will indeed become a real expert just due to the process of learning that takes place when you want to publish a book with your name on it.

    * Increase Awareness – When you publish a book about your niche or topic, you will increase awareness about not only the topic but also about yourself. The book gives you a good opportunity to share more information about yourself, your education, and why you wrote the book you wrote.

    * Gain Trust – Putting “author” beside your name in all your online bios, and linking to your book whenever you can, will automatically make people trust you more. They figure you must know a lot of stuff if you put it together into a book.

    * Help People – People like reading books to learn things. Yes, people can read blog posts and watch YouTube videos, but they still enjoy reading books. This is especially true today with the ease of which they can obtain books to read on their mobile devices and Kindles.

    * Prove What You Know – A book is a great way to prove all the things that you know into one manuscript. Putting it together into book form, where a person can read it in the comfort of their home or while waiting on the doctor, is a great way to prove what you know.

    * Increase Your Value – Being an author automatically increases your value. Even with the ease with which anyone can become published today, most people simply don’t do it. You’ll still be one of the few, especially if you also know how to market your book and make the most of it to become the expert you want to become.

    * Become an Insider – When you are part of a niche, there are people who are perceived as insiders and people who are just not known. If you write a compelling book that teaches something or shares something important about that niche, you will become one of the insiders (with the right marketing, of course).

    * Gives You a Platform to Begin With – Believe it or not, some people have started with nothing, and the book was the launching platform to give them their start. If you want to come out in a big way with your products, services, or ideas, a book is the way to go. The book, along with proper marketing, can launch an entire new career.

    If you want a fast way to become an insider within your niche, push yourself to new heights, and become the expert you know you are, becoming an author will do that for you. But, you must get started and learn all you can about marketing once the book is finished.

    Categories: Book Publishing, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    What You Need for Offline Marketing to Be Successful

    In the days of online marketing, many small business owners forget about the benefits of offline marketing. Offline marketing is very lucrative and can help you improve your business exponentially. Some of the ideas that you can use to market offline are listed below, and it is by no means a comprehensive list.

    * Business Cards – You can have many different types of business cards designed. Don’t think that you have to use the same type of cards other people use. There are many sizes, shapes and materials that you can use for creating business cards. Give them out when you go to events, if you meet someone in a store, and any time you feel that you can make a connection with someone.

    * Promotional Apparel – People love getting free t-shirts, hats and other types of promotional apparel. In some cases, depending on the type of business you have you, can even sell these items to your customers. They’ll become walking advertisements for your business and you’ll get paid for it.

    * Pens and Other Promotional Items – These types of items are very helpful for marketing your business because when you use them, people notice. Plus, you can hand them out so that other people notice your business name too.

    * Brochures and Flyers – Carry these with you wherever you go, so that when people ask you about your business you can show them. Get someone to help you create them in a professional manner so that you can get all the information you need on them in a creative way.

    * Branded Envelopes and Stationery – Whenever you send anything through the mail, the branded envelopes and stationery will help tremendously. When they see the information on the outside, they’ll feel as if they’re dealing with a professional.

    * Posters and Banners – These are also great to hand out or post up in places where your audience may congregate. These can be made to catch the eye, with just enough information on them to get the attention for your audience so that they want more info. Try adding a QR code that takes them to a newsletter sign-up to integrate online marketing with offline.

    * TV and Radio Advertising – This is a great way to get the word out about your business. More people than you think listen to the radio and watch local TV. People like shopping and working with local people. It doesn’t matter if you have an international online business, local people will want to work with you.

    * Networking Events – While networking events aren’t a “thing” to have, they are a thing you need to do. Networking events that are local are very important to attend in order to get known locally. You can even purchase sponsorships to local networking events to help get your business name out.

    Using these materials and going to local events are all very useful ways to market your business offline. It doesn’t really matter if your business is mostly online; marketing offline can be very lucrative.

    Categories: Marketing

    How Becoming an Author Can Increase Your Expert Status

    A great way to become an expert in your niche is to become an author. Writing a book requires that you know something about your topic, and are able to communicate it in a cohesive way that makes sense to your audience. It’s one of the most tried and true ways of building up expertise status. It was an effective way to do it even before the internet, and the ease of publishing eBooks on Kindle and your website.

    You Can Prove What You Know

    Writing a book is a great little selling tool that consist of an easy to give away (or sell) package of information that you know. It’s just all there; you put your knowledge in the book, and then you can prove that you have that knowledge because you were able to put that together for your audience.

    You Have Something to Show for Your Efforts

    Nothing is more satisfying than having that book with the cover showing your name bold on the front. It’s one reason people who are involved a great deal in education are encouraged and in some cases required to become published to prove what they know. Nothing works better than the process of writing a book to clarify what you know and believe.

    Builds Your Credibility

    You can shout from the rooftops that you’re an expert, and you may very well be. But, the book is proof that you have that knowledge. People respect it, and when they see that you’re published they will believe that you have credibility, even if you self-publish. This is because you are willing to put that book out there, and take the criticism that goes with putting your ideas out into the public for comment.

    You Can’t Hide behind a Curtain as an Author

    So many people want to hide behind their computers when working online or owning a digital business. But, as an author you need to come out of the closet and show who you really are. That’s the real key to becoming an expert: being who you are, owning what you know, and showing the world.

    A Book Will Increase Your Value

    If you provide services, want to speak in public, or have great products, a book will increase your value exponentially. When people see you as an expert – and a book will help you accomplish that – they are willing to pay more money for your products, services and information. As your value increases you’ll work less, and have more time to study more, write more and boost your expertise even more.

    You’ll Learn More Than You Know Now

    As you write a book, you will collect a lot of information from other experts and from your own studies, and that will help you learn even more. You might even change your mind about something as you write your book. That’s okay because that’s what experts do. As they learn more, you know more, and you increase your expertise even more.

    A Book Teaches You Communication

    When you write a book, you have to put your audience first in your mind as you disseminate the information to them. This will give you a lot of practice thinking in terms of how your audience perceives what you write. You always have to write with your audience in mind so that they get what you’re saying. It’s always about them and how they communicate best.

    A Book Gives You a Platform for All Your Other Offers

    If you want a great platform in which to offer your services, expertise and ideas to others, then a book is the best way to do it. The book gives you an actual thing – whether it’s digital or physical – to point your audience to when questions arise that are answered in the book.

    Writing a book takes a lot of thought and planning. And if you put your best foot forward with writing it, direct it to your audience, and write what they need to know, you will advance yourself to expert status with every word.

    Categories: Book Publishing, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Online Marketing Tips for Home Business Owners

    As a home business owner you need to continuously market your business. There is a saying for all businesses and it is “always be marketing.” This is a very important thing to remember, because it’s true. Even if you think you have enough clients or customers, you may not a month from now, and the marketing you do today will pay off tomorrow. Here are some online marketing tips to keep the marketing going.

    * Know Your Goals – You need to start by knowing your goals. Each type of marketing that you do will be designed for a different goal.

    * Evaluate Where You Are – Determine where you are now in terms of your content and all aspects of your marketing. Punch up the things that need to be punched up and pull back on the things that need to be pulled back on.

    * Use Appropriate Tags – Meta tags, header tags, and alt tags are all still important when it comes to getting attention for your website from search engines. Check everything to ensure that all your tags are set.

    * Learn to Understand Your Analytics – Whether it’s Google Analytics or social network analytics, it’s important to familiarize yourself with them so that you can use them to improve your marketing efforts. No matter how small of a business you have, understanding the metrics can help you tremendously.

    * Join the Chamber of Commerce – That might seem like weird advice for online marketing, but usually you can end up on their online list which can give you a credible link back to your website.

    * Get to Know Your Competition – Always get to know who your competition is and what they’re doing. You don’t want to copy them, but you can get ideas from them on what type of marketing works. Plus, you can look at their offerings and figure out how you can make them better.

    * Improve Your Website – Once you build your website and it works, you’ll be super happy and feel done. But, when it comes to websites, you have to keep updating them continuously. Improve your SEO, improve the layout, and keep improving the content.

    * Post Videos Online – A great way to move offline activity into online activity is to post videos online. Post them on YouTube, Facebook, and your blog. People love watching short videos from one to three minutes long.

    * Post Images Online – Still images are a big hit online too. Post a few pictures of the “day in the life” of your work and you’ll be more relatable to your peers and to your customers as well. It’s a good way to tie in different events to your products and services.

    * Blog Regularly – The more you can blog, the better, but it’s important that you have something to say too. Don’t just put up something for the sake of putting up anything. Be sure to create a blog post that has a reason for being and a goal in mind.

    * Read about Your Niche – The more you can read about your industry and niche, the more you’ll have to add to it. You can learn about your industry from magazines, books, blogs, and other types of publications.

    Keep marketing in all the normal ways such as online social networks, blogging, and social networking. Try adding in a new way of marketing each month to find out which type of marketing works best for you.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Real-Time Marketing: What Is It and What Does It Mean for Your Business?

    Real-time marketing is marketing that happens as real-time events occur, with the basis being the real-time event and the goal being to gain awareness, build your email list, or drive sales of a specific product or service. While it’s not technically planned, you have to invest in the technology and potential services needed to perform real-time marketing that gets results.

    Use Facebook, Twitter, forums and even comments on blog posts, as well as other social media to gather the information that you need to conduct real-time marketing information regarding your industry on your target audience. All of these can be very helpful to your business and increase your bottom line exponentially.

    * Engage Your Audience – Using real-time marketing efforts and listening to social media for conversations your audience is having will help you engage better with your audience in real time.

    * Improve Understanding of Your Customers – By monitoring the chatter among your customers within a forum or group, you can get a deeper understanding of what your customers need.

    * Deliver More Relevant Content – The understanding you develop can help you improve the type of content you create overall, not just in real time but planned content too.

    * Connect Better with Customers – This understanding helps you connect better with customers in a way that makes them feel important and understood.

    * Create Innovative New Products – Your new understanding of your customers and the audience will enable you to create better products and services truly designed just for your target market.

    * Get More Leads – Deploying real-time marketing efforts will help you get more leads because you will find ways to get your products or services to relate to what is happening right now.

    * Improve Conversions – When your audience feels as if you really know them and share their values, they will be more likely to make a purchase from you.

    * Grow Your Business – All of these activities will ultimately help you grow your business faster than you may have thought possible. Any one of your real-time marketing campaigns can become viral.

    Using what you know about your audience, the current news in the industry and the daily happenings around the world, and how it can relate to your audience will help your business grow faster. The result is that not only will you make more sales, but you will also create more products that are extraordinarily relevant to your audience.

    This happens because with real-time marketing you always have your ear to the ground and are monitoring the mood of the audience as well as the news of the times and how it can relate to your products and services. You not only send out information that connects your products and services with what is happening today, but you can actually create new products and services based on the information that you gather. It’s a win-win for your business and your customers.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Nine Ways to Create Buzz about Your Business

    Creating buzz about your business means that you do something to get people talking about you and your business. Today, creating buzz about your business is important, especially as there are so many people to compete with. But, if you can set yourself apart in this way, you’ll win a lot of new customers. Here are nine ways to do that.

    1. Send Out a Press Release – Press releases are still viable and important ways to get buzz about your business, even in this day of social media and blogging. Press releases should be sent out to your contacts every time you have something newsworthy to share.

    2. Create and Share an Infographic – Infographics are long, pictorial graphics that tell a story about the data and information that you have. These are great ways to encourage sharing, especially if you include data that is relevant for your audience that they’ll enjoy.

    3. Release a Free eBook on Kindle – Having a book launch with a free Kindle book is a great way to create buzz. Ask the people who download the book free to give you a review and feedback, which will help move your book up on the list that Kindle recommends to people.

    4. Create Viral Videos – While you might not be able to just willfully create a viral video, if you create regular videos that are of interest to your audience then one of them is bound to resonate enough to go viral. Videos get shared more often than text, so you’re off to the right start when you create videos.

    5. Have a Facebook Contest – Contests are great way to create buzz about your business. You can have them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, your blog… however you want. Just follow the rules of the platform and make sure your prizes are relevant to your audience.

    6. Conduct a Blog Tour – A blog tour is where you plan to place a guest post that is original to the place where you put it, and which is about something you’re promoting. The way to set that up is to contact people to join the tour and allow you to post your information on their blog.

    7. Host a Webinar or Teleseminar – These are great ways to build your email list and get buzz about your business. A good way to do it is to ask other people to do them with you. That way you all promote to your own email lists too.

    8. Start a YouTube Channel – A YouTube channel can be almost as good as having a television show if you plan out the content you want to do, post content on a consistent basis, and try to be as professional as possible.

    9. Connect to a Charity – You don’t want to do charitable things just because you want to create buzz. But, if there is a charity that you like, you can donate a percentage of proceeds all the time to it, or you can have yearly sales where all proceeds go to the fundraiser.

    If you want to create buzz about your business, using social media is a great way to do it. Try these different ways and see what reactions you get. Keep doing new things as often as you can to keep the buzz going.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Eight Ways to Market Your Biz Online Cheaply

    Marketing your business online inexpensively is a real possibility. You can practically market your business for free if you know what to do. That’s why online marketing is so completely awesome and fun. The barriers to entry are low, and even the learning curve is small. So before you know it, you will bring your business to profit with free or cheap marketing.

    1. Content Marketing

    This is one of your most important marketing weapons in your arsenal. In fact, you’ll use content for all types of marketing including every inexpensive way mentioned below. Content is needed that sells, educates, engages, informs and excites. You need content for all aspects of marketing – up to and including customer relations.

    2. Use Social Media

    Social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ all have a place in your online marketing endeavors. Well, they might. You have to determine which social media networks will work for you and it will depend on your niche and your audience. Where do they hang out? Be there.

    3. Blog Often

    Blogging is a big source of traffic, and in some instances the only source of traffic for many website owners. It’s a great way to get the message out to your audience while not spending much money. You can write the posts yourself or you can outsource. Most people write them themselves when starting out. It can take time to get used to doing it, but writing a post a day can help gain momentum. But you also want to consider doing longer blog posts, less often, to get results.

    4. Remember SEO

    If you are not familiar with SEO (search engine optimization), it’s important to learn. SEO changes constantly and is how you optimize your website for search engines. There is both on-page and off-page SEO that you can do for your business. Learn all you can about it.

    5. Send Out a Press Release

    The good, old-fashioned press release is still a thing, believe it or not. You can still get a lot of value out of sending out free press rereleases if you know how to do it. The trick is to have contacts to which you send the press release directly and not just out to never-never land.

    6. Perfect Your Website

    Your website is your store front, and even if you have a bricks and mortar store front, your website is the store front your customers will likely see first. If it doesn’t look great, why would anyone purchase from you?

    7. Join Relevant Communities

    Communities are a great way to get your name out there. There are communities you can join on Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as self-hosted and owned “inner circles” and mastermind clubs that you can join. They can help you get known as an expert, as well as help you get more links to your website.

    8. Get Listed

    There are directories that are free or inexpensive that you can join to help market your business. Ensure that the directory is niche oriented, and that it is run by a reputable person so that you are listed with other reputable business owners. You don’t want to be on a list that is associated with spam. Your local chamber of commerce is one such list that you can get on for the price of your membership.

    Finding inexpensive ways to market your business online is a great way to get started. But even after you have a great business, you’ll want to keep using these inexpensive ways to market your business.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Why the Numbers Matter

    Blogging is essential in today’s content marketing world. In fact, your blog is at the center of all of your content marketing efforts. Without an understanding of the ways in which you can ensure blogging success, you’re just shooting in the dark hoping for a miracle. Miracles do happen online, but it’s more likely to have success that is planned.

    Blogging provides many numbers that you can view and study. Viewing the numbers may help you do more of what is working, and less of what is not working.

    With the numbers you can tell how many people are visiting your blog, what they’re reading, where they came from and more. You can determine through statistics how many people come to your site and “bounce” off, and how many stick around to read more. Plus, if you have your analytics set up right, you can figure out how many you’re converting to subscribers and how many of those because customers.

    Here are some numbers you’ll want to look at:

    * How Many Visitors – This is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s a good indicator if your content marketing is working or not. If your number of visitors is steadily moving upwards then your content is doing its job.

    * How Many New Visitors – Knowing how many visitors are new is also an important number to notice. This helps you know if you’re getting a rise in notice and a wider audience.

    * Where the Visitors Came From – This is an important metric, because if you have more visitors from one place over another you can then put more effort in the place that is converting.

    * How Many Repeat Visitors – Having repeat visitors can be a good indication of having content that readers want to consume. If you have low repeat visitors, you may not be converting well or retargeting visitors well.

    * How Many Visitors Bounce Off – Most blogs have some bounces but if you have a super-high bounce rate, it can be a sign of poor targeting.

    * How Many Visitors Stay to Read – Look at how many people read your blog posts, and what they’re reading. Create more content that they like to read.

    * How Many Visitors Comment – Engagement is a great sign of good social media marketing and if you don’t have enough, do what you can to get more.

    And the two most important numbers of all:

    * How Many Visitors Sign Up for Email Lists b – One of the points of driving traffic to your website or blog is to get email subscribers. You should do what needs to be done to collect as many targeted subscribers as possible, because email is where you’ll earn repeat website and blog readers and where you’ll get customers.

    * How Many Subscribers Convert to Customers – The other number that is essential to know is how many subscribers convert to customers. This will help you know if what you’re doing is working in the way you hope.

    If you don’t know this information, it’s hard to know if what you’re doing is working. If you really want to make a business exceed expectations and run a successful online marketing campaign, then looking at these numbers and responding with appropriate actions will make all the difference.

    Categories: Marketing, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Common Online Marketing Mistakes

    When it comes to online marketing, everyone starts off thinking they know how to do it. But, the truth is, online marketing is not very different from other types of marketing. The tool is different, but the way you go about it really isn’t. You still need to understand who your audience is, what your product or service is, and know how to explain to your audience why it will solve their problems and why you are the one to offer it.

    The following mistakes can lead to problems with getting more business.

    * Not Sticking to One Brand – Don’t try to be someone different online than you are offline. Don’t try to recreate your brand for every social media network. Keep the same brand image, slightly changed up for each network’s platform and features, but keeping the same colors, values, and ideals as you have on your website. You want your customers to know who you are, no matter where they connect with you.

    * Not Watching Your Competitors – You don’t want to copy your competitors, but watching them will help you stay one step ahead of them. It might even alert you to some cosmic change in the marketplace if you are paying attention. Be aware of what type of products and/or services your competition provides and be ready to do them one better.

    * Not Having a Goal – It’s imperative that for each type of marketing you do, you have a goal in mind. Whether it’s content marketing, pay-per-click marketing, or social media marketing, having a goal to reach will help you know whether or not you’ve accomplished your mission. Plus it will help you know how to move forward.

    * Not Having a Domain Name – Not only should you have a domain name, but you should also have an email @yourdomainname if you want to be taken seriously as a business owner. You can easily set up your own email address with your webhost provider, sometimes at no additional charge.

    * Not Having Diverse and Regular Content – It’s no longer enough to simply put up 500-word blog posts and expect to get a loyal following. Today you need longer blog posts, video, podcasts, infographics, memes and more to ensure that you are reaching all parts of your audience. Everyone learns differently, and it’s your job to educate them in the way they learn best.

    * Not Having an Email List – It’s surprising how many business owners there are who don’t realize the importance of building an email list for successful online marketing. But it’s true; some people don’t build an email list, and they should.

    * Not Having Well-Written Content – You can’t just slap anything up and expect it to be successful when it comes to content marketing. You need original, unique content that speaks directly to your audience. In addition, you need curated content from other experts which you comment on.

    * Not Focusing on Benefits over Features – It’s tempting to discuss all the features of your product or service instead of the benefits. All marketing messages, even on your “about us” page, need to be focused on your client and how your products or services benefit them. That can be difficult to wrap your brain around sometimes, but it is imperative in order to get more conversions.

    Don’t make these mistakes with your online marketing. If you really want to be successful at online marketing, learn from those who have gone before you, and do not try to reinvent the wheel.

    Categories: Marketing, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: