Fire Up Your Marketing

When business is slow one of the most important things you can do is launch new marketing strategies. That might mean putting together a direct mail campaign (yes, these are still valuable!), stepping up your social media activity, joining a new networking group or trade association, applying to speak at events, purchasing paid advertising in print or online, or any number of other marketing activities. The point is that marketing is essential to attracting new customers to your business. If what you’re doing now isn’t working, start a new campaign.

Launch a New Product or Service

A new product or service might be just the thing you need to reengage your audience. Consider what your clients have been asking for and how you can deliver something to meet their needs. We recently announced that we’re now offering social media services via Authority Publishing and the phone has been ringing off the hook. It’s amazing what can happen when you listen to your customers and take action.

Look at Your Competitors

If you haven’t been paying much attention to your competitors, then it’s time to revisit what they’re doing. Have they launched new products or services? Has their pricing changed? Where are they advertising? This is all important data so that you can make adjustments to stay competitive. Also, determine their weaknesses and find a way to demonstrate your strengths in comparison.

Seek Advice

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey. You can have the responsibility of the world on your shoulders and no place to turn for advice or even just commiseration. One of the best things I do each month is meet with my mastermind group. I get together with ten of the smartest people I know and we each get 20 minutes to discuss and brainstorm business issues and challenges. This helps members stay accountable to their goals, generate new ideas, and get the advice needed to deal with challenges and opportunities. Invite the smartest people you know to get together—even if just for lunch or drinks—and ask for advice. You may find just the answers you need and realize that you’re not alone.

Pedal Harder

The worst thing you can do when times are tough is nothing. Don’t stay stuck in one place; keep the motion going. Look closely at your business processes and determine what is or isn’t working for you, and then make the changes needed to get back on course. Most slow periods are temporary, provided you’re doing the work to generate new opportunities. Before you know it, business will be cranking again and running stronger than ever because you took action.

5. Choose Your Service Provider – Before you launch your event, do your homework and know which platform you are going to use to deliver the event. For teleseminars and online conferences, my favorite solution is www.instantteleseminar.com. For webinars, consider www.gotomeeting.com or www.webex.com. Check pricing and recording options before your event and if you haven’t used the service before, stage a practice session so you can learn how it works.

6. Invite Affiliates – If you have a network of people who would be interested in selling seats to your event, then go ahead and ask if they would like to earn a commission on any sales generated. Also, if you have guest speakers for your event, an incentive for them to participate could be earning a percentage of any sales they refer your way. Affiliate commissions range from 10% to 50%, though the more you pay the more incentive others will have to promote it for you. While it may be hard to imagine giving away half of your profit, consider that you’re actually earning more for attendees that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

For affiliates, you will need to write the copy that invites them to participate. You should also make things easy for them by writing up sales copy they can use in their blogs, newsletters, and social media. That means writing a variety of versions from several paragraphs down to a 140-character tweet. To run an affiliate program, you will need to use a more sophisticated shopping cart solution such as 1shoppingcart.com or e-junkie.com.

7. Develop Content and Scripts – For the actual delivery of your event, class, conference, or whatever you are doing, you will need to prepare content and scripts. A script should be used to open and close the session to make sure you sound polished and include any important details—like where attendees can go to download a handout or how they can mute or unmute their phone lines. Of course, you should introduce yourself since not everyone may know much about you, and always mention your website and places where attendees can get more information.

If you are delivering your session in lecture-format, prepare your training materials well in advance. I personally like to create a topic outline with key points that I want to get across. I never script it word-for-word because I want to deliver it naturally, though if a script is more comfortable for you, by all means create one. I also like to plan for more content that I think I will need just in case there is time left over. I always have bonus topics handy.

If you’re introducing guest speakers, you will need to read their bios out loud. Ask the speakers to provide the bios so that you don’t butcher their information or pull details that are outdated.

8. Promote, Promote, Promote – If you want people to attend your event, you need to invite them—and then remind them repeatedly. You should begin promoting well in advance—ideally at least 60 days ahead of time (though 30 days can work if you’re aggressive with promotion).

Of course, you still have to ask for the sale, and providing some incentive is a good idea. Early-bird discounts are standard practice. You can also give away some bonuses for attendees such as a workbook, handouts, or a downloadable ebook. Get creative! The more unique your event and its benefits, the more likely you will attract interest.

Start by sending an initial event announcement out via your newsletter and social media networks. Be sure to include a big early-bird discount of 30% to 50% off and a link to the registration page. You can also feature the event on the home page of your website and via any trade associations that you belong to. See if you can announce your event in their next newsletter.

Repeat announcements on social media networks often. For email, I’m not a fan of sending frequent communications. At the same time, you do need to remind people to register and expose them to the event several times before they make a decision (especially if your price point is high). Don’t abuse your email list, but do leverage it for event promotion. Pay close attention to your response rate and unsubscribe rates, too.

If your event is a bigger-ticket item, you may want to offer a free preview call. Invite potential attendees to learn about the event and ask questions. Better yet, hold a free educational teleseminar loosely based on topics from your event. Offer up some great content and then close with a special offer to attend your event.

9. Hire Some Help – If you’re coordinating a smaller event, you’re the only speaker, and you’re comfortable with all of these details, then go forward and prosper! But if this sounds overwhelming to you or you have multiple speakers, consider hiring an experienced virtual assistant to help with your event. Remember that you will also need to make sure your event sessions are recorded, recordings need to be download and made available for sale after the fact, and you may also want to have them transcribed. All of this requires even more work! The International Virtual Assistants Association (www.ivaa.org) has a directory of providers to choose from, as does www.assistu.com.

For example, I held an eight-week marketing course for authors via a weekly one-hour teleseminar. I delivered it in lecture format, allowed participants to ask questions at the end, and I even assigned homework. Not only did this attract new prospects, it was a profitable venture thanks to the students who attended live and those who purchased the recordings after the course was over.

I also held a nonfiction writers’ conference in 2010, conducted entirely via teleseminar. It included 18 speakers over three days. Each gave an hour-long lecture on a specific topic.

The conference involved a tremendous amount of work to put it all together, invite speakers, coordinate details with them, write the sales copy, promote the event, handle registrations, conduct the actual calls for three straight days, have everything transcribed, and set up a shopping cart. I couldn’t have done it without the help of a savvy assistant who was much better at detail-oriented work than I am! In the end, it was a profitable venture that attracted new clients, allowed me to connect with some top authorities when I invited them to speak, garnered some media coverage from Writer’s Digest magazine, and resulted in a set of 18 recordings that I continue to sell online.

I have always wondered why more people don’t conduct classes or conferences online. It allows you to reach an audience around the globe and can be quite lucrative. Yes, there can be some work involved, especially if you hold a large event, but there’s work involved in just about anything that is worthwhile!

Event Planning Guidelines

1. Write Sales Copy – Who do you want to attend and what are the benefits to them? Write your sales copy, complete with attendee benefits. Don’t bother with cheesy testimonials from people you know. If you’ve held similar events in the past, you can include testimonials from actual attendees. Manufactured testimonials from your online “friends” rarely do much to impress. No sleazy sales tactics are needed, though you do need to ask for the sale. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll get more sign-ups if your online sales page DOESN’T resemble those long-form “But wait, there’s more!” sales pages.

You will also need to write copy for your email messages to your audience, social media engagement, and follow-up copy. Prepare as much as possible in advance so you will be ready to go when needed.

Note that your event may simply need a page on your site or may require a separate website altogether—your choice. In addition to sales copy, you should include some images to break it up and give more visual appeal. Include your photo and others that represent the content you are offering. If you have guest speakers, they should provide photos and bios for display on the site.

2. Plan Your Pricing – If you’re going to include early-bird pricing (and you probably should), make a plan for what that looks like and when it will be offered.

3. Create a Planning Calendar – Ideally, you should create a calendar with dates for different prices you will offer, along with plans for when you will send announcements to your email list, social networks, affiliates, etc. Your whole marketing plan should be factored into your calendar to make sure you stay on top of the event. You can find free printable calendar pages online.

4. Set Up Your Shopping Cart – Please, please, please don’t ask attendees to register via email or call you! This is a big barrier to entry. If you want to fill your event, make online registration as easy as possible. You can use something as simple as PayPal, or a more sophisticated shopping cart solution such as www.e-junkie.com.

Another option I love is www.eventbrite.com. This service handles all of the registration details, including payment processing, email to attendees, and more. Note that for free events Eventbrite is free to use, but for paid events they will charge a service fee that you can either charge to your buyers or absorb into your costs. I recommend absorbing it into costs to remove another potential sales barrier.

Read part 2 of this series here.

If your small business is seeking a loan, grant, angel investor, or venture capital, here’s a list of funding resources.

Grants.gov – Apply for federal grants.

SBA Loan Programs – Small Business Administration loan programs. Note that the SBA is not a direct lender, but helps entrepreneurs get financing with traditional banks.

Small Business Research Grants – List of federal entities offering research grants, provided by the SBA.

Woman Owned – Provides loans and grants for women-owned small businesses.

Idea Café – Provides a variety of sponsored grants for small business.

Kickstarter – Crowd-sourced funding option for creative projects.

Rocket Hub – Similar to Kickstarter, offers funding for creative projects.

Indie GoGo – Funding for creative projects.

InvestedIn – Crowd-sourced funding for just about anything.

Prosper – Private lending community.

Express Merchant Financing – Cash loans for small businesses from American Express.

SBIR/STTR – Small business innovation research grants, government funded.

Go Big Network – Online directory for posting funding needs and connecting with investors.

VFinance – Network for finding venture capital and angel investors.

Gaebler – Directory of angel investors by state.

Signs That it’s Time to Hire Help

• You’re managing tasks you dread (such as bookkeeping or administrative work).
• There are never enough hours in a day.
• Your time could be better spent on revenue-generating tasks.
• If you took a few days off, your business would fall apart or cease to exist.
• You haven’t taken a vacation in a year or more.
• You’re too busy to accept all new clients and sometimes have to turn them away.
• You have a waiting list for new clients.
• Customer service is suffering because you’re not able to meet all expectations.
• You know that your business could grow if you had more help with operations.
• You are leaving money on the table because you simply can’t keep up with demand.

Types of Tasks to Outsource

• Bookkeeping/Accounting/Payroll
• Administrative
• Graphic design
• Website design
• Marketing support
• Sales
• Research

Hiring Options

Intern – Look to your local schools to find interns with a variety of skill sets. Interns work for free or minimum wage and often earn credit toward degree programs. Though there will be some paperwork involved, interns can lighten your work load and become an important part of your team.

Contractor – Hiring an independent contractor allows you to expand your team without dealing with payroll and other legal issues that come with employees. Contractors typically work on individual projects or a set number of hours per week/month. You can use contractors for accounting, administrative work (virtual assistants), graphic design, and just about any business-related tasks. Be careful when hiring contractors as you cannot set their hours or otherwise treat them like employees. You will also need to issue a 1099 at the end of the year.

Employee – When you hire an employee, you set their hours and put them on payroll, which involves withholding taxes and dealing with the other legalities of hiring staff. You will need to purchase worker’s compensation insurance and offer your employees other benefits such as health insurance, sick days, paid vacation, etc. For more hiring guidelines, visit the United States Department of Labor: http://dol.gov.

Budgeting for Staff

If you think you can’t afford to hire help, start by looking at how much you currently earn. If you charge $50 per hour for your services and could hire someone for $10 to $20 to handle tasks that weigh you down, you could come out ahead in the long run. Once you hand off tasks that you don’t like or don’t do well, you give yourself more time to focus on what you do best. More importantly, you have more time to focus on revenue-generating tasks, which can lead to greater business growth in the long run.

Also consider starting with an intern or contractor. As those roles expand within your business, it may eventually make good financial sense to shift to hiring an employee. The key is to strike the right balance between workload, costs, and return on investment. A good accountant can also help you reach these important decisions.

Resources for Hiring Contractors

These directories include a wide variety of contractors including writers, graphic design, web development, virtual assistance, and more.

http://elance.com

http://guru.com

http://odesk.com

http://project4hire.com

http://freelancer.com

http://ifreelance.com

Computer Programming

http://rentacoder.com

http://scriptlance.com

http://getacoder.com

http://joomlancers.com

Graphic Design (Crowd-sourced)

Graphic designers participate in contest-style bidding for projects by submitting samples based on the price you set for the project.

http://99designs.com

http://crowdspring.com

http://designcrowd.com

http://logocontest.com

Virtual Assistants

http://ivaa.org

http://assistu.com

http://authorsassistants.com

Resources for Hiring Employees

http://craigslist.org (note that you can also find contractors here)

http://monster.com

http://simplyhired.com

Down at the bottom you’ll find a link to print a PDF version. Enjoy!

Legal

The U.S. Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/

CAN SPAM Compliance Act Details: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm

Corporate Direct (incorporate your business): http://CorporateDirect.com

Audio Learning

Audible (audio books): www.audible.com

Nightingale-Conant (personal development programs): www.nightingale.com/.

Marketing and Publicity

Help a Reporter (free e-mail alerts with media opportunities): www.helpareporter.com/

Survey Monkey (conduct online surveys): www.SurveyMonkey.com

Craigslist (free classified ads): http://craigslist.org

Internet Radio Shows & Podcasts Lists: http://authoritypublishing.com/store/internet-radio-shows-and-podcasts-lists/

Traditional Media Lists (Radio, TV, Print) and Press Release Distribution:

http://authoritypublishing.com/store/media-lists-and-press-release-distribution/

Press Release Distribution: http://prweb.com

Internet Advertising

Google AdWords: https://adwords.google.com

Yahoo Advertising: http://marketinginfo.yahoo.com/

Bing Advertising: http://advertising.microsoft.com/

Technology Tools

Free software downloads: http://download.cnet.com

Free modifiable organization chart template from Microsoft: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC060889761033.aspx

Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts

Ecommerce

Google Checkout: https://checkout.google.com/seller/

Amazon Payments: https://payments.amazon.com

E-junkie: http://e-junkie.com

1ShoppingCart: http://1shoppingcart.com

Paypal: http://Paypal.com

Payloadz (for electronic downloads): http://Payloadz.com

Yahoo! Merchant: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant

Practice Pay Solutions: http://practicepaysolutions.com

Infusionsoft: www.Infusionsoft.com

Unique Social Networks

Self Growth (online visibility for coaches, trainers, etc.): www.SelfGrowth.com

Ning (create your own social network or join one): www.Ning.com

Groupsite (create your own online group): www.Groupsite.com

Blogging Services

WordPress: www.Wordpress.org

Typepad: www.Typepad.com

Blogger: www.Blogger.com

Website Hosting

Host Gator: http://hostgator.com

GoDaddy: http://godaddy.com

Network Solutions: http://networksolutions.com

Blog Directories

Blog Catalog: www.BlogCatalog.com

Technorati: www.Technorati.com

Bloggapedia: www.Bloggapedia.com

My Blog Log: www.MyBlogLog.com

Networked Blogs: www.networkedblogs.com

Electronic Newsletters

Constant Contact: www.ConstantContact.com

iContact: www.iContact.com

Easy Contact: www.EasyContact.com

Mail Chimp: www.mailchimp.com

Affiliate Programs

Google Adsense: http://adsense.google.com

Clickbank (electronic downloads): www.Clickbank.com

Commission Junction: www.CommissionJunction.com

E-junkie: www.e-junkie.com

Article Marketing

Idea Marketers: www.ideamarketers.com

Ezine Articles: www.ezinearticles.com

Digg: www.digg.com

Go Articles: www.GoArticles.com

One Minute University: www.OneMinuteU.com

Articles Base: www.articlesbase.com

Scribd: www.Scribd.com

Publishing and Information Products

Authority Publishing (custom book publishing, ebook formatting): http://AuthorityPublishing.com

Amazon Kindle: http://dtp.amazon.com

Smashwords (ebook distribution): http://Smashwords.com

Google Books: http://books.google.com

Video Sharing Sites

YouTube: http://youtube.com

Viddler: http://viddler.com

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/

Business Associations and Networking

Toastmasters (speaking skills): www.Toastmasters.com

Guerrilla Marketing Association: www.gmarketing.com

eWomenNetwork: www.eWomenNetwork.com

Business Networking International: www.BNI.com

Women’s Ecommerce Association International: www.wecai.org

Meetup (join or form local groups): www.meetup.com

Outsourcing

International Virtual Assistants Association: www.ivaa.org

Assist University (virtual assistants): www.assistu.com

Elance (freelance designers, writers, web development, etc.): www.elance.com

Guru (freelancers, consultants, accounting, legal and more): www.guru.com

Rent a Coder (computer programmers): www.rentacoder.com

Paychex (payroll service): www.paychex.com

Grasshopper (toll-free online phone service): www.Grasshopper.com

Teleconference and Webinar Services

Free Conference: www.FreeConference.com

Instant Teleseminar: www.instantteleseminar.com

WebEx: www.webex.com

GoToMeeting: www.gotomeeting.com

Audio Acrobat (record audios by phone): www.AudioAcrobat.com

Event Promotion

Eventbrite (event registration): http://Eventbrite.com

Seminar Announcer (promote your events): www.SeminarAnnouncer.com

Events.org (promote your events): www.Events.org

Business Loans and Grants:

Small Business Administration: www.sba.gov

iBank (submit application to multiple lenders): www.ibank.com

Superior Financial Group (express loans): http://www.superiorfg.com

Count Me In (women-owned businesses): www.countmein.org

Prosper (lending community for private loans): www.Prosper.com

Zopa (social finance company): www.Zopa.com

Grants.gov (business grants and loans): www.grants.gov

Venture Capital and Angel Investors

Capital Connection: http://capital-connection.com

National Venture Capital Association: www.nvca.org/

Active Capital: www.activecapital.org/

Business Tips, Strategies and Advice:

Small Business Growth Strategies Blog: http://businessinfoguide.com/blog

One Page Business Plan: www.onepagebusinessplan.com

Business Info Guide: www.BusinessInfoGuide.com

Social Media Tools

Tweetdeck: www.Tweetdeck.com

Hootsuite: (schedule your posts) www.Hootsuite.com

Refollow: www.refollow.com

Onlywire: www.onlywire.com

Pay with a Tweet: www.paywithatweet.com
101 Business Growth Resources – Printable PDF Download

The main system used for government offices to submit a Request for Proposal (RFP) is BidSync, a simple site that lists contract opportunities. It’s free to register your business and the application process takes just minutes. Once approved, you can view details for projects and bid to win the business.

Additional opportunities are available in each state, including certification programs for veterans, women and minority-owned businesses. The Small Business Administration provides a comprehensive list of state resources here.

For Karl Palachuk, an author and speaker who markets to IT consultants, spending time in a weekly business group wouldn’t net nearly the same return as his time spent with technology user groups (both online and in-person) where the audience is nothing but IT consultants.

General business groups can be a good place to reach a wide variety of fellow entrepreneurs, but this strategy lacks focus on a target audience. Generally speaking, networking groups are good for people who want to market to other entrepreneurs. Businesses that traditionally do well in these groups include bankers, business and life coaches, real estate professionals, financial advisors, and insurance agents.

But what if you took your networking a step further and focused on the communities where you want to do business?

For example, if you own a marketing firm that focuses on the dental market, it would make perfect sense to network—online and offline—in dental communities. You could seek out trade associations, online groups, and dental websites. If you’re a life coach who is used to the standard business networking groups, yet your specialty is working with professional women, then your networking efforts should be focused on professional women’s organizations.

Also look to communities for referral partners. For example, if you own a video production firm and good referral partners for you are marketing and PR professionals, then get involved in their communities. Join their trade associations and make an impact.

Once you focus your community marketing efforts, the rewards can be substantial.

As human beings, we need community. Community allows us to connect with people. Think about your involvement in your church, your alumni association, trade association, your kid’s sports league, or the neighborhood where you live. Community gives us a sense of belonging. According to Dan Buettner, author of Thrive, joining a group where you show up each month gives you a happiness boost at the equivalent of doubling your income. Yes, we crave connection.

In business, community is a way to connect with your audience. Once you’ve defined that target audience, you can do one of two things: engage in existing communities that reach your audience or start a community that attracts them.

For example, if you’re a life coach and you’ve decided to focus on serving women entrepreneurs, you can seek out the communities where they spend their time. The ideal places to focus your attention would be women’s business groups, both online and in person. Spend time there, cultivate relationships, and watch you business thrive.

In addition to playing in the communities that already exist, you could launch your own community. Karl Palachuk is a consultant to IT consultants. He writes technical books about things like server migration and runs a popular blog: www.SmallBizThoughts.com. By sharing great content, he has built a community that attracts his ideal audience. As a result, when he hosts live events across the U.S. and around the world, something he does throughout the year, he has no problem filling a room with eager, paying customers.

Watch for my next post on Business Networking vs. Community Networking!

Don’t get me wrong, I have great empathy for those who have been affected by the recession. At the same time, as a business owner and a provider for my family, I have chosen to ignore the negative press and instead focus on forging ahead. This attitude, along with some extra effort, has helped me grow my business consistently each year despite the economy. And I don’t plan to slow down anytime soon.

If the news is making you anxious, here are a few strategies to help you stay focused and move forward.

1. Do what you do really well. Competition is fierce right now which means that your business needs to be operating on all six cylinders. Refine your processes and find ways to dazzle your customers.

2. Tap into new niches. One of the fastest ways to grow a business is to dominate a niche. Look beyond the niches you serve now and find new ones where you can make an impact. For example, if you’re a nutritionist who mainly focuses on weight loss, branch out into helping people with allergies or living gluten-free.

3. Add new marketing tactics. Ideally you should have three to five concurrent marketing strategies in play at all times. Evaluate what’s working for you and do more of that. Eliminate what isn’t working and try something new. It takes some testing to determine your best marketing strategies, but when you do, marketing pays for itself over and over again.

4. Invest in your business. Budgets are tight right now, but if you’re afraid to spend you could be limiting business growth. Invest in growing your business with new marketing campaigns, hire contractors or employees, purchase technology to improve processes, and invest in anything else that keeps business moving in the right direction. Spending also puts money back into the economy so its benefits are far reaching. Fear sinks ships; don’t let it sink yours.

5. Choose to be positive. You can show up in the world in a state of doom and gloom. The economy is down, it’s raining, and you hit five traffic lights on your way to a meeting. (Enter Debbie Downer.) Or you can show up and spread some positivity. Sure business isn’t as easy as it used to be, but you’re still here so that’s something worth celebrating.

Perhaps if we all tuned out the media noise and instead focused on our own objectives, we wouldn’t even know the economy was in turmoil and our businesses would thrive as a result. It’s possible, don’t you think?