What do you sell? A service? A product? An idea? Whatever your market is, you have a brand that accompanies it and that is what you sell to potential customers. Branding is akin to namedropping, or an idea that people get when they hear about your product or service. When you say soft drinks, what do you think of? What about ketchup, detergent, books, or restaurants? What comes to mind immediately when you think of those things? If you thought about Heinz, Tide, The Bible or Red Robin, you’ve bought into (one) of the ideas of branding. In branding, you want customers to think of you, your product or service, and give them reasons to prompt them to call you for it. Hence, Your Brand Specialized.

The brand that you establish for your business has to possess a spark and delivery when marketing to customers. In other words, your brand has to match your delivery. If you promise and deliver top-notch service, you strengthen your brand, your business name and your business reputation. What is your business brand and how do you effectively deliver?

Avoid catchy phrases and don’t confuse slogans with branding. The two are opposite and are only forms of marketing that lead into branding. To form a solid branding connection, look at other successful businesses and mimic the thing that they do well. If it works for them, they’re on to something.

Check out these blogs for more information on branding:

Brandcurve by Susan Gunelius

Branding Blog

Brand Identity Guru

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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Your Brand Specialized

[Image Source: sxc.hu]

It’s Monday morning everywhere (just about) and women small business owners, online marketers and female power executives are gearing up to have a phenomenal Monday. They’ve lined up their call resources, targeted which area of town they’re going to cover and have decided that they’re going to finally approach that business they’ve been wanting to cold call for a month.

But, is today a good idea to do it?

Why not market on Mondays?

A couple of reasons come to mind initially as to why it wouldn’t be a good idea to market your business on Monday mornings. Here they are, listed in no particular order:

• Decision makers are playing catch-up on Monday morning. They are returning telephone calls, putting out (proverbial) business fires and making other important decisions. They may not have the time or careful attention to give to you or your product or service and clearly decide whether or not to do business with you. Nothing personal, they’re just very busy.
• You haven’t “wooed” them yet. It’s Monday morning and you’re asking for something like the other half-a-gajillion people in their life. And, you haven’t even established a connection with them. Instead of starting off on a Monday asking for something, send them something. Have some pastries delivered to their office, or better yet, take them by yourself. Briefly introduce yourself, leave a card, the pastries and tell them you’ll call them at a later date. The donuts – $2.00/dozen. The lasting impression – priceless.
• Budget Reports/Financials aren’t in yet. Meaning, they perhaps don’t know if they have enough money to spend. Think it’s far-fetched? Not so. Years ago when I used to manage a small staffing branch with Olsten Staffing Services, we used to produce financials every Monday morning showing us our financial health for the week. That information would provide us with what we needed to a.) market to more companies b.) give out more bonus and incentive checks to the staff or c.) wait until the next Monday to do anything financially-related.

Assess what type of conditions may apply to the companies that you approach before embarking on any Monday marketing calls. Make sure your timing is right, the environment is optimal and that people want to see you coming. You want to create lasting and healthy business relationships.

What other reasons can you think of that would warrant you NOT marketing on Mondays? Can your reasons apply to any type of business?
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Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Why You SHOULDN’T Market on a Monday Morning

I was at a PTO Board Meeting this morning, and something interesting was brought up at the meeting that I think would benefit the business women here at Biz Chicks Rule. As business women, part of our job is marketing (of course), and often having to market to people and companies that you just prefer to not deal with. It’s just part of the business of being in business. We often have to deal with people that we would prefer not to.

Anyway, the interesting topic that came up was how we should approach local businesses in the community about educating them on things that the schools are doing, asking them to donate different things to the school, etc., etc. One of the ladies who is a small business owner talked about not “apologizing” for approaching the business, asking for (something). She said that we should be firm, direct but pleasant and simply “ask for the sale.” Don’t apologize, don’t sweat it and don’t (in some cases) take no for an answer.

Do you ever apologize when you market your business? Do you sing-song “I’m sorry” when marketing your wares? How do you approach businesses and ask for the sale?

________________________________________________

Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Does Saying “I’m Sorry” Get You Any Business?

The finger-popping tune from the 80s was Janet Jackson asking the question that often in business, we have to wonder too. As we conduct business day-to-day, we tend to do business with those that we know, those that have sent some business our way, those whose business models we like and mimic and even those business folks who we don’t quite like but have to admit that they have a killer-awesome thing going. Gathering or clustering together in groups in the business world is essentially known as networking, although you will see it interpeted in many different ways. But, when I’m doing business with someone, I want to know what it is that I can get out of the deal. Selfish? No, that’s just how business works.

Networking is a powerful tool, to say the least. If you’re in business of any kind, in any any industry YOU HAVE TO NETWORK! It’s the understood mechanics of doing business. If you don’t, who will know anything about you? Who will care?

I’ve made some pret-ty good connections both online and offline in my networking affairs. I would estimate about 30-40% of my business day involves networking of some sort, whether it’s in large ways (attending business luncheons, workshops, etc.) or in small ways (providing a link to my favorite blogger/blog post) or just saying “hi!” on twitter to my favorite tweeple.

I’ve had to be creative in the ways that I choose to network since I keep a non-traditional schedule and work in a non-traditional environment. However, there are some things that I find quite interesting in the area of networking that I think people often don’t realize. For instance:

In a networking environment, why do people insist on squinching at your name-tag in an effort to say/remember/repeat your name, only to see you again five minutes later, snapping their fingers going, “now what was your name again?” Hello? If you don’t do anything else, take the time to remember that person’s name, REALLY REMEMBER IT, so that you won’t be embarassed later, trying to repeat it.

Why is it that networking luncheons require you to network WHILE you are eating lunch? Isn’t that rude, to talk with your mouth full? Or, if you sit there and say nothing, people will think you don’t want to “network” and will wonder why you’re there. Go figure.

Why is it that everybody and their brother wants to connect with you on LinkedIn and have never, ever had a prior conversation with you before via email, blog comment, phone, nothing, nada. Why would I do that? I mean, say hello to me first, let’s establish some type of base before we get all cuddly and such. I know LinkedIn is networking, but Janet…can you help me?

And finally, and most aggravatingly, why is it that people think that I want to receive all of those “forward to 10 of your friends“, and “answer this email to win a laptop“, or my favorite, “if I get this back from you, we’re really friends.” Whatever.
(This one wasn’t really a networking issue, just one that aggravates the hair off of my neck!)

Take time to culture and form solid networking opportunities with those in your sphere of influence. People are smart and can see right through facades and fakery. Especially business women, right? We have the special ability to tell when a person is trying to get one over on us or just trying to flatter our skirts up. Either way, be real, be solid in networking. Quality over quantity is what I say. Find out about the person(s), ask questions, visit their site(s), patronize their establishment. In the end and eventually, good networking practices will pay off, leaving you with quality connections and solid opportunities. If you put time and effort in, you will get quality out. Good in, good out. Bad in, bad out. Really quite simple.

After all, it’s all about what you’ve done for me lately anyway.
Oooh, oooh, oooh yeah.

___________________________________________________________________________

Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: What Have You Done For Me Lately?

I had heard that LinkedIn was good for business, good for networking, but had not directly experienced the effects of it. Unlike many of you perhaps “veteran” online marketers, I’ve only been actively online with my business for about two years. I’m still learning A LOT about social networking, HTML, etc. But a powerful tool like LinkedIn has proven to be invaluable. I mean, just imagine someone finding you via an online contact source and wanting to engage your services based solely on what they read. Cool.

LinkedIn is a powerful resource tool that the members can use to connect and stay abreast of marketplace trends, corporate news and changes and even find college classmates or former co-workers. A lot of us (bloggers) here at b5 are on LinkedIn and frequently help each other out by giving recommendations to each other. It has really been good for me, to say the least. The client and I are still in negotiations about the terms of the contract, but it does look promising and rewarding. I’ll keep you posted.

Sign up to try LinkedIn and see if it can work for you and your business. If nothing else, you’ll make new business contact friends, establish yourself and stay on top of the business world “happenings.” You will never know until you try.

Oh, by the way, my LinkedIn profile is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgetwright

What’s yours?

© Content by Bridget Wright – 2008

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Using LinkedIn for Networking

[Image Source: sxc.hu]
Have you ever happily been driving along only to be beeped and buzzed by your cell phone? You thought, “Oh, I just got a message from someone!” You excitedly (or at least I do) fish your cell phone out of your bag deftly with one hand while keeping the car steady with the other hand. You avoid a couple of pedestrian’s, a few near misses and voila! You have found your cell phone. Now, what was the message?

“Refer a friend a win one month tanning free.” Courtesy of World Gym.

Welcome to the world of Mobile Marketing.

What IS Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is not a new concept, but is a rapidly growing idea that allow retailers of products and services to enable them to easily communicate with their customers via opt-in text messages. Features can include message personalization, campaign maintenance and delivery statistics.

Although mobile marketing can also refer to billboard marketing, its most popular and well-known usage of it is through cell phone marketing. This type of marketing is especially useful for customers who opt-in for certain services or products for which they already have a desire. For instance…

I LOVE Starbuck’s coffee. I go there sometimes three to four times a week. If I have an out-of-the-office meeting and I get to pick the location, I almost always pick Starbuck’s for the meeting. They have GREAT coffee, GREAT atmosphere and it’s convenient to my home (office). It’s also quite conducive to short and low-attended meetings where quick decisions have to be made. They also offer Wi-Fi and LOTS of space to spread out your notes. So while this is not a plug blog post about how wonderful Starbuck’s is (!), I said all of that to say that companies like say Starbuck’s (who offer premium services and products) can attract customers by touting the benefits of its products. In this case it would be the place itself; the ambiance, the atmosphere, space, great for meetings, etc. Not every company could benefit from this type of marketing, but if you have a product or service that is global, it certainly would.

Mobile Marketing Potential
The potential for mobile marketing is, in my opinion only, limitless. Seeing as that this technology has the potential to reach masses of people, your sales could soar. But of course, I may be starry-eyed in my thinking since I can’t say that I have any experience in this area. But I know that the times that I have received cell phone marketing messages, I have been intrigued, albeit somehwat annoyed…which leads me to my final point:

Mobile Marketing Annoyances
Make sure you have a product or message that people want so as to avoid annoying them or alienating your target niche. If there are options to market to certain demograhics for your target audience, then by all means take advantage of it. It is far better to have your message reach a few interested parties than thousands of hit-or-miss folks.

Is it Right For You?
Is mobile marketing something that is conducive to your product or service? Can your commpany benefit from the technology of mobile marketing? Is there a way to use this technology without it becoming an annoyance for your business?

Any mobile marketers out there? Tell us what your experience is in this area.

While I’m waiting for your comments and feedback, I think I’ll go have a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s. I don’t know where I could’ve gotten that idea from. Go figure.

Copyright © 2008 by Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Mobile Marketing

Operating a small business can be challenging for the budget-conscious business owner. The one thing that they want to be sure of and guard againstis over-spending in their marketing efforts, yet getting the maximum results from their marketing tactics.

Women who operate small businesses, especially brick-and-mortar businesses are especially challenged with effective marketing because of the limited resources available to female business owners. Having a marketing plan with ample wiggle room can help her achieve increased sales and repeat business.

Direct marketing is one way to ramp up your marketing efforts and see results quickly perhaps even with minimal work. It works so wonderfully because of its business model which attributes itself to one-on-one relationships for success. Here are seven tested direct marketing strategies used by business coach Alan Bayham in his marketing business:

1. Develop a Fan Base
Your fans are your best customers. Not only do they buy from you often, but they also recommend your company to others. Look through your customer data and pinpoint who your fans are. Where do they live? What product or service do they purchase most often? What problems do they have that your company can solve? By knowing the type of customer who buys from you the most, you can target other people in that same demographic. Remember that the objective of any direct marketing effort is not just to get a response or make a sale; it’s to build customers. When you market directly to your fan base, you leverage the 80-20 rule, which states that 80 percent of your business will come from 20 percent of your customers. Therefore, identify your 20 percent and then market to them and others like them.

2. Select the Right Media
No one specific advertising medium is the right choice for every company. Depending on your customers, you may need to use direct mail pieces, Internet marketing, radio ads, newspaper coupons, or some combination thereof. Knowing your customers makes the decision easier.

For example, if you’re marketing a truly broad-based product, then direct mail will probably not be the way to go. It is too expensive on a per-thousand basis and takes too long to execute. Television will probably be a better route. Once you produce a “spot,” the cost of buying television is less per thousand than direct mail. On the other hand, if you have a niche or micro-market, television normally isn’t the best route. For targeting, direct mail and print advertising work best. The key is to pick the medium that makes the most sense for your customers and your budget.

3. Make the Right Offer
An offer is what you are willing to give and what you want in exchange for a particular response from prospects. Included in the offer are price, terms, guarantees, and extras. The right offer doesn’t necessarily mean the one that generates the most responses or the one that generates the highest profitability from the individual effort. The right offer is the one that ultimately contributes the most profit to your business.

Offers are normally categorized by the objective of the direct marketing effort: Lead Generation (for field sales or telephone follow-up), Traffic-Building (to a retail location, trade show booth, or web site), or Direct Selling to business or consumer markets. In lead generation, you have both hard and soft offers. The harder the offer, the fewer but more qualified the responses. Hard offers generally will ask prospects for considerably more information about themselves and their buying intentions, ask for an appointment or demonstration, mention the cost of the product or service, and refrain from offering any type of gift or premium. Traffic-building offers normally involve premiums, special discounts, or exclusives. In direct-selling situations, free trials, samples, premiums, and discounts can all work to draw attention to your promotion and to boost response. Whenever possible, offer a guarantee.

Certain offers will help you move customers from being one-time buyers to fans. Loyalty programs deserve consideration from almost every marketer. Then, depending on the product or service, you can consider offers like automatic shipment, membership clubs, and continuity programs.

4. Get a Response and Build a Relationship
You need to break through all the communications clutter in the marketplace in a way that’s credible. For example, a drugstore owner can put a photo of a cute baby on the envelope of a direct mail package to get it opened. But they have to tie the product to the baby (such as flavoring for children’s medicine) or it will have attracted attention but not delivered in terms of marketing.

Good direct response advertising involves the recipient. In direct mail, personalization, tokens and rub-offs, stamps, and quizzes all aid involvement. Good direct response advertising also makes it as convenient as possible for a prospect or customer to respond. Use as many vehicles as possible, including toll-free phone numbers, pre-paid reply envelopes, fax numbers, and e-mail.

5. Find a Niche or Unique Selling Proposition
Small business owners must find their unique selling proposition in order to compete against “The Big Boys.” This could mean free home delivery or phone call reminders when it’s time to purchase or use a service again. Another way small businesses can compete with the national chains is to develop a niche in a target market. For example, with the aging of the “Baby Boomers,” there are many unmet needs, ranging from health care to travel to investing to real estate needs. Pinpoint what’s unique about your company or what niche you fall into, and target that market directly.

6. Analyze Response to Improve Profitability
One of direct marketing’s great assets is that you can easily measure its effectiveness. Using key codes and coupons are great ways to determine if a particular campaign is working, as is simply asking people, “How did you hear about us?” The more you can measure your campaign’s effectiveness, the more you can improve. But the only way to improve is to test on a continuous basis. Critical factors to test include:

x The media used – Which brings in new customers most inexpensively? Are they “better” customers?

x The effectiveness of the offers – Which offers pull the best response and produce the most fans repeatedly time after time?

x The creative approaches – What strategy best separates your company from your competitors?

x The timing – What months are best for the specific product or service? What’s the ideal time between efforts for particular prospect and customer groups?

7. A Cure for What Ails You
If lagging sales are putting the squeeze on your business, or if you simply want to expand your company’s market reach, then direct marketing may be for you. And regardless of your personal opinion about pharmaceutical companies advertising directly to consumers, the bottom line is that it works. In fact, most consumers report that they appreciate pharmaceutical ads, as it alerts them to treatment options and makes starting a discussion with their physician easier. When you start doing some direct marketing for your company (and measure the response), you’ll be able to target your message appropriately and reap the most rewards

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Small Business Marketing Tips

Wrong.

Telecommuters can benefit tremendously from the aspect of networking. Finding and networking with others in your industry can prove to be valuable to you for a number of reasons:

Your connections can also be your back up. If something comes up in your personal life that prohibits you from completing an assignment, you can call on your new “networking friends” to ask for their help in a pinch.

Your connections can also be a gateway to other lucrative jobs. Everyone who telecommutes isn’t happy. Perhaps you’re one of them. Ask around and see what else lies above yonder mountain.

Your connections give you a much needed distraction, when appropriate. Stop and chat online for a few minutes. Exchange photos. Have water cooler talk. It’s called down time.

Your connections can help answer any questions on computer problems, how-to’s or whatever else there is relative to your job. I know, I know, you know all there is to know about what you do. But just stop and think for a moment that maybe there’s that one thing you don’t know. Ask. It never hurts…to…just…ask.

Do you telecommute in your job? Have you found it to be a challenge for you? What about networking – - is that something you’ve ever considered in your telecommuting lifestyle? Do share.

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Should Telecommuters Network?

Here is Kristina’s list, with my own comments and thoughts about them:

Launch an e-newsletter
Very easy to do and quite affordable. There are numerous software templates available online and offline. To get the most out of this marketing effort, develop a distribution schedule and invite guest writers to contribute to the newsletter.

Sponsor a Community Event
This works wonderfully for things like shows or seminars. Make sure whatever type of event you plan, that it has mass appeal to the widest selection of potential customers available. In other words, don’t offer Senior Citizen products or activities to the young families crowd and vice-versa.

Jumpstart your public relations activities
Start this by placing your ads in the community section of the newspaper, doing press releases and attending functions by other community business owners.

Start (or continue) advertising
Rates are pretty comparable for advertising both online and offline. The trick is finding the advertising that is suitable for your business and more importantly, your budget.

Keep your eye on the goal – your customers
This is the most important element of your business. Realizing that your customer is key is the most important step in developing your service business. In a post I made at Slacker Manager, my story on Rodney shows us just how he keeps his customers happy.

What do you do to effectively market your business? How do you keep this expense low for your business?

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Five Marketing Ideas to Recession-Proof Your Business

Although there are tons of information available on the internet about blogging, what I’d like to submit to you is how blogging can be a source of referrals for your business, whether you are blogging on your own business or you are a corporate blogger.

Instead of regurgitating information that is all over the ‘net, I will highlight some fine resources that focus on blogging and the business of it:

Liz and Laura over at Business and Blogging get it right consistently when they blog about how your business can benefit from the blogging lifestyle. My favorite all-time post from there is the series they did on a challenge to come up with a business that could not benefit from blogging. Very interesting read and comments that followed. Check it out. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Then there is the uber-blogger, Darren Rowse, whose ProBlogger site give you the nuts and bolts of starting and monetizing your business blog. Good, solid foundation for newbies and seasoned professionals.

One other blog that I subscribe to that I have found most useful is Daily Blog Tips that gives just that…tips. Highly useful information if you are a daily blogger who wants serious tips and ways to make your blog stand out.

Now, armed with these wonderful resources, what do you do with it? I’ll tell you what I do with my blogging.

I made a list of blogs that I maintain, the theme of the blog, posting schedules and frequencies. I also make a schedule to market my blogs through online medias like MySpace, Twitter, FaceBook and about a half dozen or so others. The key to effective marketing is to work the blogging platforms and socialize on a daily basis at a minimum. It’s imperative to get your blog into the blogosphere with a well-connected personal branding image.

Blogging is definitely good for business, no matter which one. If you haven’t already started a blog, it’s easy to do and can be done almost immediately. What are you waiting for?

Other resources that are from women-owned sites or blogs:

Susan Gunelius at About Weblogs gives evergreen information on the blogging life.

A prolific and infectious community-minded blogger, Liz Strauss over at Successful Blog. Be warned: You visit once, you are hooked! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Post from: EveryJoe

Business Marketing Monday: Business Blogging