Business Development Archives - Page 6 of 9 - Nadine MullingsNadine Mullings

May

26 2015

8 Mistakes to Avoid when Blogging for Business

As an independent business owner, coach, or consultant, you already know the importance of creating a platform, and being known as an authority or expert in your field. When people view you as an expert in your field, you start to attract more clients, instead of having to find clients, clients are finding you.

One of the best ways to become known in your field is to consistently create or curate awesome content, and the best platform to do that is on your own blog.

However, starting, maintaining, and keeping up with a business blog can be difficult. In this blog post I cover the 8 mistakes to avoid when blogging for business:

Mistake #1- Not creating a blogging plan

I know I say this all the time, but no matter what type of marketing activity you choose to participate in, you must create a plan for that activity, so if you decide you are going to start a business blog, you have to have a plan for your blog. The plan should include answers to the following questions:

Who is your target audience?
What topics do you want to cover?
How often will you blog?
What will your calls to action be?
What are your blog goals?

Mistake #2- Not having a specific audience in mind

If your blog is for everyone, then it really is for no one. You have to be specific in who you are talking to, and who you are trying to reach with your blog posts, that is why selecting your target audience is the first thing in your blog plan.

Mistake #3- Not choosing specific topics

Random blogs aren’t successful unless maybe you’re a celebrity blogger, but even celebrity bloggers keep their blog topics around what they are known for or what they enjoy.

When creating a business blog, select up to five main topics that you want to be known for. All of the topics should fall under or supplement your business. For example, I blog about Marketing. There are 1001 ways you can market your business, but I mainly focus on my four key topics, blogging, social media, texting, and email marketing. If I blog about something outside of these topics, it always falls under my main topic of marketing.

Mistake #4- Not being consistent with how often you publish your blog

This is something that a lot of independent business owners, coaches, and consultants struggle with. They decide to start a blog, and at first they are pretty consistent with blogging, but as the weeks and months go on, and things get busy, their blogging becomes inconsistent. The weekly blogging turns into monthly blogging, the monthly blogging, turns into every other month.

When you decide on how often you are going to blog (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.), you must stick to that schedule. Figure out what works best for your business and stick with it. Blogging daily is a difficult task for the average coach or consultant, weekly is a little more realistic, but can still be hard to keep up with, bi-weekly is a good schedule for starting out or if you feel that’s the most amount of time that you can dedicate to blogging for your business. Once a month is the least amount of time that you should commit to blogging for your business.

Mistake #5- Not having strong call to actions

I have been guilty of mistake #5 for the first few years of blogging. One of the goals of your blog should be to have your readers not only view you as an expert in your field, but to also have them take some type of action. Having strong call to actions with each blog post helps you to achieve your goal. If your goal is to build your email list, then you should have strong call to actions within your blog post and/or on your page about joining your email list. If your goal is to promote an upcoming event, then you should have strong call to actions throughout your blog post about the event (the event should also relate to the blog post topic). If your goal is to promote a product or service that relates to the blog post, then you should have strong call to actions throughout you post about the product or service.

Mistake #6- Not having goals for your blog

Having a blog is great for many reasons as already mentioned, but not having a goal for your blog is a big mistake. Is the goal of your blog to create brand awareness, if so, how do you measure brand awareness? Do you measure brand awareness by the amount of views on your blog posts? Is your blog to showcase you as an authority or an expert? If so, how do you measure becoming known as an authority or expert? Establishing and setting goals will help you to achieve the results you are aiming for with your blog.

Mistake #7- Having someone else write your blog who doesn’t understand your company voice, story, or goals

We are all busy, so it is okay to have someone write or contribute to your business blog, but if that person doesn’t understand the tone or voice of your brand, this could be a huge mistake. You want the feel of your blog to stay consistent, so if someone is writing or contributing to your blog, they have to understand the tone of your blog, the voice of your brand, and the goals of your blog. Otherwise they could do more harm than help in your business.

Mistake #8- Not promoting your blog posts

Just because you write it, doesn’t mean they will read it! You have to promote your blog posts on your other platforms. If you have an email list, you should promote your blog posts to your email list. If you are on social media, you should promote your blog posts on social media. You need to promote your post several times to get the exposure you need, and for people to actually read your posts, so be sure to promote, promote, promote!

Are you blogging for business? Have you made any of the mistakes listed above? Be sure to comment below and share your blog with us, by listing it in the comments below.

If you need help with coming up with a Blogging Plan, we can help! Be sure to contact us for a FREE Blogging Success Strategy Session

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized

May

12 2015

The Secret to a Successful Business Blog

I have seen it over, and over, and over again. Independent business owners, coaches, or consultants who decide to start a business blog because they have heard that it is important to have a blog for your business. They usually have all intention to keep up with the blog, but after a few weeks or months, the blog ends up in the blog grave yard. Why does this happen so often? Because most people start blogging without a plan.

It’s true that there are many benefits of blogging, I wrote a blog post about how blogging can help you gain the know, like, and trust factor, which is so important when growing your business, but other factors include helping to identify you as an authority or expert in your field, or making it easier for people to find you and your business due to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits that occur from blogging.

However, without a real blogging plan, you can easily be doomed to head to the blog grave yard. Here are 5 things for you to consider when starting a business blog: [Tweet “Without a real blogging plan, you can easily be doomed to head to the blog grave yard. #Blogging #MarketingEssentials”]

Why do you want to start a business blog? Basically, what is the goal of your blog, this could vary from:
1. Building your expertise in your field
2. Becoming known as a thought leader in your field
3. Becoming known as an authority in your field
4. Providing valuable information to your current customers/clients
5. Attracting new customers/clients
6. Building your SEO so you can be found in online searches
Who is your target audience? Who are you trying to reach with your blog posts? You can answer this question by deciding the following:
1. Are you talking to your peers in your industry?
2. Are you talking to your current customers/clients?
3. Are you talking to potential customers/clients?
What do you want to talk about? Pick a particular topic or several topics that will be relevant to your business and your target audience, and decide to consistently blog about that topic or topics. When you have a business blog, you want to stay on topic and not venture off on to topics that do not relate to your business or can’t tie back to your business in some way. You also want to make sure that the information that you are sharing is relevant and will resonate with your target audience. What do they want to hear about? What are their struggles or concerns?
How often do you want to publish your blog posts? Decide how often you are going to publish your blog posts and stick with it. The biggest problem I see when it comes to business blogs, is a company will decide to blog, but then they don’t stay consistent in publishing to the blog, because they get busy and the blog is secondary. If you decide to select a day and time to publish your blog posts then stick with it. If you decide the frequency to publish (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.), then stick with it.
How will you measure success? Now this is a touchy subject, because you could be blogging for months, even years and have no way to really measure the success of your blog. Some people measure success by traffic, how many people have visited the blog posts. Some people measure by shares, how many people have shared the post on social media. Others measure by blog comments, how many people actually comment on a blog post. Others measure based how many individuals have taken action based on the blog post (i.e. visited a sales page, visited a landing page, signed up for their email list, etc.). Depending on what your goal is from #1, that will determine how you need to decide what you will use to measure the success of your business blog.

Do you have a business blog? Do you feel like your business blog is successful? Share your comments and/or links to your blog below.

If you have a business blog and you would like to take it to the next level, or you are thinking about starting a business blog, we can help, contact us to schedule a free blogging success strategy session.

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants

April

28 2015

6 Super Quick Ways to Grow Your Business Using Text Marketing

As an independent business owner, coach or consultant, you know the importance of staying in contact with your customers and prospects, and having a plan to consistently stay connected can help you grow your business.

There are several ways that you can stay in contact with your customers and prospects, (i.e. social media, email marketing, phone calls, etc.). However, Text Message Marketing is one of the only methods that allows you to effectively, efficiently, and easily reach your customers wherever they are, and whenever you need to.

[Tweet “Text Message Marketing is one of the only methods that allows you to effectively, efficiently, and easily reach your customers”]

Here are 6 Super Quick Ways you can use Text Message Marketing to help you grow your business:

Appointment Reminders– If you set appointments for your consultations or sessions, then using text messaging to remind your clients of their appointments is a great way to confirm the appointment and remind your client at the same time. Texting clients the day before an appointment not only reminds them, but also gives them a chance to adjust their appointment if they need to. You can even send text messages about appointments that haven’t been made but need to be scheduled.
Mobile Coupons– We all like to know that we are getting a good deal, so why not use text message marketing as a way to send out good deals to your loyal customers. Mobile coupons generate an immediate response when you create a call to action with a time limit. You can use a push campaign to send out text messages to your list with a unique mobile coupon code. The customers can then show this code at your office or enter it on your website to obtain the discount.You can also do a pull campaign in which individuals send a text to a short code and they are then added to your mobile coupon list. Types of discounts you could offer include:
1. Bonus offers
2. Percentage off
3. Flash sales
4. Not sure what discount to offer? Use technique #5 “Text to Vote” to run a poll and find out what offer is more attract to your audience.
Promotion Announcements– Running a special promotion for customers or prospects? Create a text message that you can send out to your mobile list. You can create special promotions around:
1. Holidays
2. Seasons
3. Exclusive Deals
4. VIP Promotion
5. Rewards/Loyalty Programs
Text to Join– is a great way to build both your mobile phone number list and your email list. You can have someone text a word to your short code and then respond with their email address. This kills two birds with one stone by having them join your text list and your email list with one transaction.
Text to Win– People love contests, so why not offer a text to win contest. Allowing people to actually enter the contest via text message. Be sure you have the contest rules available online for people to be able to refer to the contest rules.
Text to Vote– This method became popular from talent shows like American Idol and The Voice, which allows the audience to participate in the results of the show by texting their vote for their favorite artist. You can run similar promotions by having people vote for their favorite product, service, coupon idea, etc.

Are you using text message marketing in your business? If so, what methods are you using, and has it helped you to grow your business?

Do you need help with creating a text message marketing plan, getting started with text message marketing, or taking your text message marketing to the next level? Contact Us and let us help you!

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Text Marketing, Uncategorized

February

10 2015

Does List Size Really Matter?

When it comes to your email list, does the size of your list really matter? As a business owner, coach or consultant, you probably already know about the importance of having and growing an email list, but did you know that it’s not the size of your email list that is most important, but the quality of the people on your list? As the saying goes, it is better to have an email list of 100 interested prospects, than 1,000 uninterested people.

However, you still want to work on increasing the size of your list because you want to make sure your message is reaching a wider audience each month. Your goal should be to grow your email list with individuals who are interested in what you have to say, and what you have to offer. So the big question is how can you effectively and efficiently grow your email list?

Here are 6 tips to grow your email list:

Offline:

Events– whenever you conduct an event (workshop, seminar, etc.), or if you are presenting at an event, be sure to collect the email addresses of the attendees (or participants who expressed an interest in learning more) . Be sure to disclosure that by signing your list or providing their information they are agreeing to receiving emails from you.
Text Messages– Consider adding a text to join your email list option. Now-a-days people don’t leave home without their smart phones, so making it easy for them to join your email list by simply texting a word to a number and then providing their email address makes it easy to join your email list.
QR Codes- Consider adding QR Codes to your marketing material (business cards, brochures, flyers, etc.) It’s another way to make it easy for people to join your email list. However, I personally don’t really use QR Codes and haven’t gotten a lot of people through this method, but it is still something you could consider.

Online:

Webinars– a great list building strategy is webinars. When you conduct webinars, people have to give their information to sign up for the webinar. Just add a disclosure that signing up for this webinar also gives you permission to add them to your email list.
Lead Pages– Another great online list building strategy is to create a lead magnet (eBook, White Paper, Case Study, Checklist, etc.), and have people enter their information on a specially designed lead page that talks about how great your lead magnet is, and why they need to give you their contact information so they can receive your awesome lead magnet. This technique works really well because you know that you are getting people who are interested in the content that you have to offer
Social Media– Encourage people who follow you on social media to sign-up for your email list so that they can get additional and maybe even exclusive information that you provide only through email. This technique works really well, because if you already have a following on social media, it just makes sense that the next logically step for them is to receive your emails. This also allows the relationship to get stronger when they are not only connected to you via social media, but also receiving your emails.

For more tips, download this Guide Building Your List Can Be a Thing of Beauty by Constant Contact

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Uncategorized

January

12 2015

The 5 C’s of a Successful Business Blog

As a business owner, coach or consultant, blogging can play a key role in your marketing strategy. As mentioned in my prior post, How to Use Blogging to Build the Know, Like and Trust Factor For Your Business, blogging allows you to build those key factors that can allow you to have an advantage in the marketplace.

In order for your blog to be successful, you need to follow the 5 C’s of Blogging:

Content
The first and most important part of your blog is your content. You should decide on the main topic for your blog (i.e. business, gardening, etc.) and then decide up to three sub-categories for your topic (i.e. business- marketing, leadership, productivity; gardening- fruits, vegetable, flowers; etc.).Once the topic and sub-categories have been decided, then the next thing is deciding whether you are going to come up with original content or content that you curate.In order to show your expertise in your particular area, having original content is very important. That is how you showcase what you know and show your knowledge in your area. However, coming up with original content consistently can be a difficult task, so sometimes it helps to curate other people’s content. Use what they have posted about your area or expertise and write a response or a differing opinion to the original article, or just reposting what they have written also works too. As long as the content is relevant and will resonate with your audience then using other people’s content is fine. The biggest thing when it comes to curating content is giving credit to the original source of content, your goal is not and nor should it ever be to take their content as your own, so always give credit where credit is due. This is especially important when it comes to copyright infringement, you do not want to plagiarize, so be sure to site where your content is coming from.
Community
Your blog posts should be targeting a specific community. Your goal in blogging is not just to add value by informing your readers, but to also create followers who become your community. Having a community of people who are like-minded and enjoy your content can do wonders for your business. When you create a community, you create loyal followers who can become loyal customers, so knowing that you are creating a community for your blog is also helpful.
Conversations
You want your blog posts to create conversations. The great thing about blogs compared to regular online articles is the fact that blogs allow people to converse about the particular topic that you have posted. You want to create conversations around your topic, so it is not a one-way street, but a two-way conversation with the writer of the blog and the audience. The ability to have a conversation, adds another level of connection with you and your audience, so make sure that your blog posts create a level of conversation around your industry or topic.
Consistency
I believe there is a Blog grave yard, so many people have good intentions to start a blog, but couldn’t or didn’t keep up with blogging consistently, so their blog died! When you make the decision to start a blog for your business, you have to be consistent with posting on the blog. You have to decide what makes sense for your business. If you are able to blog weekly that’s great, if you can only blog bi-weekly that’s fine too, the least amount of commitment would be blogging once a month. Of course there are benefits to blogging more frequently especially when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and people finding your content online, but you want to take on a frequency that will be able to fit into your business. Blogging on a daily basis is not viable for the average business so you have to figure out what frequency works best for your business.
Convert
As a small business owner, one of your blogging goals should be to convert your followers to customers. By sharing your content with your readers people start to view you as knowledgable or an expert in your field. Once they have that level of trust in your knowledge and your blog talks about solutions, if they are in the market for what your company offers, they will naturally see you as a solution and become a customer, which ultimately is what you want. Having strong call-to-actions (i.e. click here, sign-up now, learn more, etc.) on your blog helps with converting people to your website pages, or sales pages for your product or service.

Are you currently blogging for your business? If so, what other C’s do you think are an important part of blogging?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Uncategorized

October

27 2014

5 Virtual Events to Grow Your Business

I’ve mentioned in several of my blog posts that having consistent events for your business is a great marketing strategy. Events give people an opportunity to learn more about you, more about the business, and more about your product or service. Over the last decade or so, Virtual Events have become very popular. I define virtual events as any type of event that does not take place in person.

Here are some examples of types of virtual events you can have to market your business:

Tele-Seminars– Tele-Seminars have become very popular because they are easy to execute. All you need is a telephone and a conference line, and you will be able to conduct an event over the phone. Many companies are using this strategy to introduce prospects to their business, product, service, program, etc. Although teleseminars are a great strategy, the down side is the lack of visuals. A company has to rely solely on audio and many people need to see visuals. That is why most tele-seminars encourage listeners to go to a website to get more information and to sign-up.
Webinars- Similar to tele-seminars, webinars have become super popular with the increased popularity of the use of the Internet. Webinars are seminars conducted via the web and participants are able to both hear the speakers and see the visuals. Webinars are also very easy to put together, all you need to do is use a webinar software that either has VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) or you can also use a conference line for people to be able to hear the webinar. Including a consistent webinar in your marketing strategy can be helpful to growing your business.
Videos– Videos are a great way to conduct virtual events. Whether it’s a demo video, interview video, etc. videos allow you to create events and post them online to create a virtual event. You can pre-record the video or stream it live.
Livecasts– Livecasts have also become popular because you are able to actually conduct a live training or seminar which includes a live audience and then stream it over the Internet so that it can be viewed by others online. This strategy is not totally virtual seeing that you may or may not have a live audience when taping the livecast.
Livestreams– Similar to Livecasts, Livestreams are not totally virtual because a live stream usually occurs during an actual in-person event like a conference or seminar. The added ability to record it live and have people view the event via the Internet makes the Livestream a virtual event.

Are you including events in your marketing strategy? If so, are you also using Virtual Events to grow your business?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Business Events, Event Marketing, Marketing, Small Business

October

14 2014

Three Steps to Successful Event Marketing

Having consistent events for your business is a great marketing strategy. Events are a great way for people to get to know you, like you, and trust you, which we all know is the key to getting more business. However, putting on events is not always an easy task. The hardest thing about events is getting people to attend, so this article goes through the 3 steps to successfully market your next event.

Step 1- Pre-Event

Pre-event is the planning phase which involves all the activities that go into planning an event up until the day that the event occurs. The planning phase should include the following key elements:

Audience– who is the event intended for? Just like all marketing strategies, the first step is to understand who you are trying to reach which includes the usual demographics and the even more important psychographics of your audience. The demographics covers the age, gender, income level, etc. while the psychographics is going to cover lifestyle, beliefs, attitudes, etc.
Purpose– What is the goal of the event? Is the event mainly to get your name and brand out there so you can create brand awareness, is it to get sales, is it to grow your prospect list, is it to show appreciate to your customers, is it to educate the market on your industry, etc. There are so many reasons to have an event, and it is important that you are clear on the specific reason you are having the event.
Promotion– How are you going to get the word out about your event? Are you going to use traditional advertising channels like radio, TV, newspaper, etc., or are you going to use new media like social media, blogs, email, etc., or a combination of both forms of media? List all the ways you are going to promote the event and how often you are going promote it up until the day of the event.
Budget– It is important to establish a budget for the event. How much are you willing to spend on the promotion of the event and the actual event itself? No matter how big or small of an event you are planning, it is important for you to set an overall budget for the event.

Step 2- During the Event

The marketing of the event does not end while the event is taking place, in fact, some of the best promotion can be done at the event. Some ways that you can promote during the event include:

Live Stream– This has become popular for larger events. With the technology available to be able to broadcast the event around the world, many people are offering free or paid live streams for people to be able to have access to the event virtually. This helps to amplify your event goal, because not only will you be reaching the people who attend your event in person, but you can also reach people anywhere in the world. It goes back to the purpose of your event. If a live stream will help you reach your overall goal and it is in your event budget, then it may be something to consider.
Social Media– Social Media and Social Networks like Twitter and Instagram are great to promote not only before the event, but also during the event because it is a way for people who are at the event to connect, and also people who are not at the event to get some of the information presented, and to see some of the activity. The best way to be effective on social networks is to create a specific hashtag (#) that can be used throughout the event. This allows for easy grouping and visibility on the network when it comes to conversations and pictures about the event. Again it is another way to amplify the event to other people who may not be in attendance.

Step 3- Post-Event

The marketing of the event does not end after the event. Depending on how often you will be having the event or having other events for your business, the end of the event is a great way to market the next event.

Sign-ups– Be sure to promote the next event, and whenever possible even encourage individuals to sign-up for the next event on the spot. That helps you to secure your audience for your next event.
Feedback– Getting feedback after an event is not only great research on how you can improve your next event, but it also shows your attendees that you care about the events and their feedback is valuable. Event surveys are a great way to get this type of feedback and the information that you receive from the attendees can help you with the creation and promotion of the next event
Appreciation– Showing your attendees that you appreciated their attendance is also a great post-event activity. This could be in the form of an email or a thank you card. Depending on the size and scope of your event, you would need to decide what is the most appropriate way for you to show your attendees appreciation.

Do you have consistent events to promote your business? If so, what do you include in your pre-event, during event, and post event planning?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Business Events, Event Marketing, Marketing, Small Business

September

23 2014

The 3 R’s of Relationship Marketing

In my previous post, How to Grow Your Business with Relationship Marketing, I defined Relationship Marketing as the activities involved in building a greater connection with your clients, prospects and partners. This strong connection often leads to the sale of products or services, and also increases loyalty to your brand or company.

The benefits of using Relationship Marketing strategies in your business include the following 3 R’s:

Referral Business– Referral business can be one of the best ways to get business, because a referral basically comes with an endorsement from the person who is doing the referring. A great source of referrals comes from current clients, partners, and even your prospects, so building a strong relationship with your clients, prospects, and partners becomes vital for your business. In order for someone to feel comfortable referring you, they must know, like and trust you. When you use online relationship marketing strategies including, email, blogging, social media, etc., these activities help people to get to know you, like you and trust you, which in turn gives them confidence in referring your products or services to others. Referrals can be a great source of new business and can be a large percentage of where you get your business from, so nurturing your relationships with relationship marketing is a great way to grow your business through referrals.
Repeat Business– Once a person becomes your customer by purchasing a product or a service, your next goal should be to stay top of mind so that they will purchase that product or service again if they need it, or they will consider your company for other products or services that they may need. That’s why conducting relationship marketing with your current customers by practicing activities to nurture the relationship and stay top of mind will help with getting repeat business from your current customers. Some relationship marketing strategies you can use for current customers include; Customer Appreciation Events, Sending Cards on special occassions including: Birthdays, Holidays, Anniversaries, Offering VIP discounts for current customers, etc.
Retain Business– It tends to be more expensive to get a new customer than it is to retain the customers that you have, so it is important to nurture the relationships that you have with your current customers to make sure that you keep their business. Some relationship marketing strategies to retain business include, showing appreciation for their business by sending “Thank You” cards, making follow-up calls to make sure they are satisfied with the service they have received or are receiving from your company, providing an excellent customer experience. The customer experience includes pre-purchase, during purchasing, and post purchase. How are you making sure that each step is a good encounter for your customer?

Are you using Relationship Marketing strategies to retain business and get repeat and referral business? What are some other relationship marketing strategies you can use to grow your business?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Business, Business Development, Marketing, Small Business

September

10 2014

How to Grow Your Business with Relationship Marketing

Dictionary.com defines a relationship as a connection, association, or involvement. It also defines marketing as the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer.

My definition of Relationship Marketing is the activities involved in building a greater connection with your clients, prospects and partners. This strong connection often leads to the sale of products or services, and also increases loyalty to your brand or company.

With that said, Relationship Marketing is a key part of your overall marketing strategy, and should occur both online and offline.

In this blog post I will mention a few activities that you should include in your Relationship Marketing:

ONLINE

In order to build a connection online with your clients, prospects, and partners, it is important to have an online presence. Included in your online presence should be the following activities:

A Company Blog– In addition to having a company website, a company blog can help to build the relationship that you have with your audience, because a blog allows you to show your expertise, knowledge and personality in ways that a website alone does not accomplish. The key to a successful business blog is:
1. It should be updated frequently
2. It should contain valuable content relevant to your audience
3. It should showcase the personality of your brand
A Social Media Presence– It’s not necessary to be on all the popular social networks out there, but it is beneficially for your company to be on social networks that have a high percentage of your target market, and networks that will showcase your business well. Social Networks are a great way to strength your connection with your clients, prospects, and partners because it allows you to create a conversation around your company, industry, products, services, values, beliefs, etc. The key to a successful social media presence is:
1. Know your audience
2. Post content that is interesting to your audience
3. Create conversations
An E-Newsletter or EZine– An email publication that your company produces is a great way to strengthen the connection that you have with customers, prospects and partners. It is a great way for your audience to get to know you and get to know what your company stands for. The key to a successful E-Newletter is:
1. Know your audience
2. Give valuable information in each ezine
3. Provide 80% valuable content and only 20% company promotions

OFFLINE

Events– Plan events to show appreciation for your customers and partners. Taking the time to host these events can build a strong connection with you and your customers and partners. It also helps to solidify their loyalty to your company. You can also have events to introduce your prospects to your business or your brand. Grand Openings, Launch Parties, etc. are all great ways for people to get to know more about you, your company, and your brand.
One-on-One Meetings– When possible, schedule one-on-one meetings with your clients, prospects and partners. This is a great way to build a strong connection, and for people to get to know, like and trust you.
Send Cards– It is important to send your customers, prospects and partners cards on various occasions. This could include birthdays, anniversary, Thank You for Your Business, Thank You for Your Time, Happy Holiday cards and more. Taking the time out to send your customers, prospects and partners cards really helps to create loyalty and build trust.

These are just a few ways you can use Relationship Marketing to GROW your business. What other ways can you think of in which you can use Relationship Marketing to grow your business?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | 2 Comments | in Blog, Business Development, Email Marketing, Event Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media

June

23 2014

Business Blog v. Business Website

It may seem like a silly question, but what is the difference between having a blog and having a website? And when it comes to your business strategy, do you need both?

With the popularity of blogs and social media, some companies are thinking they may not need a website. Although a business can be successful without one, I feel it is important to have one. Your website is your home base, the place on the internet where your company/brand lives. All other places on the internet like blog platforms, or social networks are places that you rent space, so if you are serious about your business you don’t want to just RENT, you want to OWN!

WEBSITE

According to dictionary.com, “A website is a connected group of pages on the World Wide Web regarded as a single entity, usually maintained by one person or organization and devoted to a single topic or several closely related topics.” Your website really is the place where people will go to learn about your company. Since people go there to learn about your company, your website should include the following:

The story of your business, including the who, what, where, when & how
A showcase of your products and/or services
Appropriate messaging directed to your target audience
A way to capture leads by offering an email opt-in form
A way to convert your visitors to purchases with the use of links to sales pages
A way for people to contact you
Connections to your social media networks
Connection to your blog

BLOG

So what is a blog and how does it differ from your website?

According to dictionary.com, “A blog is a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.” Your blog is where you express your opinions and share your insights about your particular topic with your audience. Your blog should be used for the following:

To show your expertise
To offer advice, tips, techniques related to your products and services, or your industry
To build an audience
To subtly promote your products and/or services
To build a community
To spread the word about your business
To capture leads when people subscribe to your blog
To convert visitors to purchase your product or service by using links to sales pages

So now that you know the difference between your website and your blog, do you need both? It depends! If you want to be known as an expert in your industry and you are committed to consistently blogging (posting articles) on your blog, then blogging should be included in your online marketing strategy, but if you are not sure you will have the time to consistently blog and be committed to maintaining your blog, then you should not start a blog. Although it has many benefits, blogging is not for everyone!

On the other hand, having a home base for your business/brand is important, so I feel having a website is a MUST for a business while having a blog is OPTIONAL.

So what do you think, does a business need a blog and a website? Do you have a business blog and a business website?

Posted by Nadine Mullings | Comments Off | in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Uncategorized