Archive for February, 2010
Technology – Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy?
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Being in the field that I am, most of my work is done online and through different types of modern technologies – Skype, the Internet, email, contact management software, smart phone, and so on. I’ve found that while technology and all the conveniences it brings can be a lifesaver at times, at other times it can be a huge roadblock in getting the real work done.
I see this not only in my own life, but in many of my clients and peers. And as I get busier and have more tasks, it seems that technology can start to become more of an enemy than a friend. So this week, when I was reading “Eat That Frog” again, this particular chapter about technology time sinks seemed very appropriate.
Here’s some tips on how to keep technology on your side, and not have it working against you.
- You have a choice – You can be plugged in or you can unplug at any time. You need to unplug from your phone, your email, the internet, Facebook – detach on a regular basis, so you don’t become overwhelmed and so that you stay calm, clearheaded and able to perform at your best.
- Don’t get addicted – I see this a lot with Facebook – you know who you are, those people who play Farmville 24/7, who message you the second you get online, are Tweeting about their dr. appt in the middle of the exam. Don’t fall into this trap, don’t let technology (whether it’s Facebook, your phone, checking your email constantly) suck you in. The whole goal of technology is to make our lives easier. It’s meant to help us improve our lives by helping us to accomplish things and communicate with people faster and more efficiently. So remember that, and don’t allow it to take up your time by obsessing over the use of it.
- Standardize and delegate – We all feel like no one else can do it as well as we can. That might be true, but at some point those small tasks are going to cost you time and money. One of the huge benefits of technology is that you can easily hand off many admin tasks without having to actually hire an employee. How would your life change if you had an extra 20 hours each week to think, work, plan, talk with clients and prospects, or even go to dinner with your spouse? Use technology to hand off tasks you really don’t need to be spending your time on.
- Treat technology as a servant, not a master – Technology is there to help you, not hinder you. Just because that notification on your Outlook goes off, it doesn’t mean you need to respond right now! One of the best ways to get a handle on technology – just turn it off. Don’t check your email as soon as you get to work or sit down at your desk. Turn off the cell phone. Just unplug, even if it’s for a few minutes!
Not Sure Which Niche to Target?
Posted by: | CommentsMy last post was about why I feel it’s so important to define your niche or target market. You may agree, you might disagree, but I’ve seen how marketing to a specific market works so much better than trying to reach everyone. Obviously, there are others that think the same way I do, because yesterday I received a newsletter talking about – you guessed it – picking your niche. Basically, she advises you not to get too caught up in picking the right niche at first, because eventually the right niche will find you. So just pick a niche already! Here it is for you – from Bernadette Doyle’s Client Magnet ezine.
It’s a lot easier to turn a ship that’s moving in the wrong direction than it is to turn a ship that’s not moving at all.
If you’ve been getting “analysis paralysis”, scratching your head and trying to figure out what your direction is, just pick a purpose and start heading toward it. If you’re off course, the market will correct you.
If you’re not heading in the right direction, the market will quickly give you feedback that will help you adjust. Just don’t get overly concerned that what you decide today is going to be cast in stone.
Don’t worry about picking the wrong area or niche at first. Don’t worry if you find that you’re being called an expert on something that you don’t want to be known as the expert on.
Areas of expertise can change. But you can only change your direction if you have already set out in one to begin with.
Bob Burg is the author of a book called “Endless Referrals.” He is now positioned as a referral expert and an expert on helping people to generate referrals for business.
When he first started out, his niche was memory experts. He noticed that people who took his memory courses wanted to improve their memory to remember the names of people they’d met at networking meetings and events. They wanted to improve their memory to achieve better business results.
As he spotted that connection, he started to focus more on being the referral expert. No one accused him of being a fraud because he was now a referral expert instead of a memory expert. The market let him know in which direction to steer his business.
When you set course in your chosen direction, look for niches and markets where it’s going to be easier for you to establish personal relationships and position yourself as an expert.
If the niche you do choose turns out to be an enormous amount of effort, you have to weigh whether or not it’s worth your while to continue down that road or take a different road to get business.
When Dan Kennedy, the marketing expert, was invited to submit a proposal to give a speech in Switzerland, he opted out. While plenty of other people would jump at the opportunity, and spend a day putting together a proposal to bid, that is not the way he wants to go after business. Perhaps it didn’t seem worthwhile to spend the time writing the proposal. The point is that you have to make the determination of how you want to do business.
Your niche will evolve with your business. It’s an actual evolution that happens in most any business. Look at my own situation. I started out as specializing, by trial and error, as a cold calling expert. But I didn’t stop at that. Today, I’m teaching people how to find new business and triple their income! The way in which I’m helping people and the types of people I’m helping is completely different from what I started out with.
But it’s turned out for the best for everyone!
Stop Yelling in Your Front Yard – Get a Niche!
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Today I’m going to briefly talk about your niche or target market. This is so important, and I wish more people got why it’s so important to have a specific niche you focus your marketing efforts on.
What is marketing, really? Marketing is just communication. And who do you want to communicate with? Obviously, I’m going to say your target market – a group of people who have common interests and common problems and that you can find hanging out (online and offline) in the same places. And hopefully this niche or target market is something or someone you’re passionate about helping, glad to spend time with, passionate about working with.
So why do you need to pick a target market, why can’t you just market to anyone/anywhere? Because if marketing is simply communication, then NOT choosing a target market is like trying to get your voice heard by the rest of the world over all the noise being made by all the other people communicating (marketing). This is especially true when you’re communicating (marketing) online.
I recently read this book, and I loved how she put this. It really made it clear to me, so I’m going to put my own twist on it and use it for you: Trying to reach everyone/anyone online, it’s like going out in your front yard right now and yelling at the top of your lungs that you have a fantastic teleseminar going on next week. Almost no one is going to hear you! Maybe your neighbor to the left or right will hear you, but they probably aren’t interested in your amazing teleseminar. You think you’re going to reach everyone (hey, I’m yelling really loud!), but you’re going to end up reaching no one that’s actually interested in what you’re yelling about.
If you want to communicate something to someone, whether it’s to get them to do or buy something, think something, feel a certain way or believe something, you need to know who you want to communicate that thing to. And the clearer you are about your target market, and the more passionate you are about it, the more likely your income is going to start growing.
So stop yelling in your front yard – go get yourself a niche!
If you want more information about picking and marketing to your target market, check out my free webinar this Friday. There’s no pitch, it’s not a preview call, it’s just good information that will help you market your business online. See you there!
The Secret to Social Media – Time
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Social Media is everywhere. It’s in your email inbox, it’s on the news, you see articles everywhere, and if you do a search for Google you’ll get millions of results. So of course, learning about social media isn’t too difficult. You can find blogs, videos, ebooks, teleseminars, and hundreds of other tools to teach you ways to use social media. So why do so many people still have difficulty actually getting started with using social media to market their business?
One of the biggest reasons I hear is time. Lack of time, not enough time, don’t want to spend the time, wanting to spend the time doing something else. You can’t make more time, no matter how much you learn about social networking and online marketing. You have time or you don’t. If you need more time, you have to find it or spend less time doing something else.
So if time is what’s standing in the way of marketing your business online, you basically have three ways to resolve this time issue. Which way you choose depends on which means more to you, time or money.
1. Just jump in and figure it out on your own. You’ll make mistakes, it will take time, but it’s the cheapest way to get it done – money wise. This is probably the most expensive if you’re talking about the time you’ll need to spend. One positive point to this method is that you’ll know how to do it, so even if you decide to outsource at a future date, you’ll have a good idea of what should be happening. I used this method to get my basic foundation in understanding how social networking and online marketing really work, and to see the results once you finally learn how to do it right. But believe me, it took more hours out of my day (and night) then I even want to remember!
2. Learn from others who have already spent the time learning. Like I mentioned above, there are hundreds of products you can buy, listen to, read online (and offline) to see how others are using social media and online marketing. This will also take time, time to read – time to listen – time to learn – time to implement, but no where as much time as Option 1. Of course, in exchange for less time and benefiting from the time others have spent, you’re going to spend more money than Option 1. So your cost increases but your time decreases.
If you take this route, just be aware of what you’re purchasing. Talk to other people who’ve bought products, ask for recommendations. There’s a ton of information out there, but it doesn’t mean that all of that information is good or that it’s going to fit your needs. And don’t forget to take advantage of the tons of free information out there, to get you started for free.
3. Outsource your online marketing. This is going to save you the most time, of course. And, consequently, cost you the most of the 3 options. A huge benefit to outsourcing is that it allows you the time to do what you really enjoy, what you’re best at. My clients usually come to me after spending some time trying out Option 1 or 2. But even after getting training, or spending the time to learn on their own, they find that they still don’t have the time or the desire to take on the task themselves. What they like is that I come up with a strategy and then make it happen for them.
My final note for you is that online marketing has to be done consistently, so whatever option you decide to try out, make sure you commit to a consistent schedule. Social media can have a huge impact on your business, allowing you reach out to people you otherwise never would, to teach people you’d normally never meet, to grow your business in ways you never thought you could. So whatever way you decide to integrate online marketing into your business, whether by spending more time or more money, as Nike says – Just Do It!
Have a great day!
The Top 3 Money Killing Mistakes in Business
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I follow tons of blogs, so many that I always have a 1000+ articles to read on my Google reader page. But as I was skimming through some of those articles this weekend, this series really caught my eye. It’s a series that was done by Therese Skelly on her “Happy In Business” blog. She ran this series over 3-4 blog posts, but I’m going to highlight the 3 mistakes here in one quick post for you.
Mistake #1 – This is really about your own self-limiting beliefs. Do you ever hear yourself saying any of the following:
“I’m not that unique…loads of people already do that.”
“What should they hire me?”
“I feel a bit like an imposter because of __________”
“I can’t charge that much, because _______(fill in the words here. It could be I haven’t been in biz long enough, haven’t gotten a degree, etc)
“If I don’t give away the farm, my customers will leave me.”
“I can’t say NO because what if that opportunity doesn’t come around again?”
These thoughts cause you to get in your own way. You’re limiting your potential by allowing these doubts to dictate what you do and don’t do. You need to start thinking about any of these beliefs you have in a positive way. Why should the hire you – because you’re great at what you do. I can charge that much, because what I offer is worth more than that. Ask your current clients, talk to your coach, your mastermind group. Figure out a way to turn these negative thoughts into empowering, positive statements.
Mistake #2 - This is about spending too much time on low-to-no income producing activities, and not focusing on those activities in your business that have a high-income potential. Outsource those activities that take up too much of your time and can be farmed out to someone for less money than you’re losing by spending time on them vs. spending time marketing or working with clients. As Therese says in her post about this – “set a goal to be working only in your brilliance and doing the tasks that you love and that generate you the big dollars.” I couldn’t have said it better.
Mistake #3 – Bad habits. Eliminate those bad habits that are holding you back. Here’s a few examples:
- Saying yes to every opportunity
- Following every guru and buying tons of programs (without getting a good ROI)
- Not following up with contacts
- Being in touch with your list only sporadically
- Thinking that you have to have all your marketing materials just perfect
- Getting swept away in distractions
- Pricing too low
- Spending too much time on FB and Twitter
Make a list of your top 10 bad habits, and then commit to a plan to change/stop them.
So that’s her list of the Top 3 Money Killing Mistakes in Business. If you want to read the whole series in full – you can find the first post in the series HERE.
How to Use Twitter to Build Your Prospect List
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I have a few posts on my blog about how you can use Twitter to promote your business online. For example, you can use it to build your credibility and to get people to your website. But of course, you need to have followers for any of that stuff to work, right? Maybe you’re just starting out on Twitter, or maybe you have followers but you seem to have hit a plateau and your number of followers isn’t increasing. I have a few tips for some simple ways you can build up your Twitter following…
1. Follow other experts in your niche/field – I call these your mentors – other people in your field who have achieved what you’re trying to. By following and interacting with these mentors, you’re going to be reaching out to their thousands of followers who are obviously interested in the field or niche you work in. If those followers like what you have to say, they’ll in turn follow you. Here are some things you can do to start interacting with your mentors and at the same time their followers.
• Tweet about how they’ve helped you – I know that I have taken classes, attended teleseminars/webinars, or otherwise learned some great info from my mentors. So if you’ve learned some great stuff or they helped you succeed in some way, tweet about it. Let them know how they helped you or what they did for your business. They’re going to appreciate the kind words and most likely will re-tweet it. This will get you in front of all those followers, and also work on building your relationship with that expert.
• Re-tweet their messages – This helps you in two ways. They’re probably going to thank you for the re-tweet, which gets your name into their Tweet stream. Also, you’re offering helpful information to your own followers, which continues to build your reputation as a resource of good information.
• Always be thinking about how you can help them. You have to remember that Twitter is about relationship-building, not just about pushing your own information out there. Take your list of mentors you want to build a relationship with, and then start working on that. (Remember that you don’t just want to focus on potential clients or customers, but you also want to develop relationships with people who are already at where you want to be.)
2. Following people – When you follow someone on Twitter, many times they’ll click through to your profile. If they see Tweets that are of interest to them and you’re not just pushing Tweets out about “Buy my stuff,” then there’s a good chance they’ll follow you back. Don’t just follow people randomly though, and be sure you don’t exceed the allowed follow-to-following ratio. Try to keep the # of people your following less than the # of people following you. Now if you’re just starting out, you can begin by following people who are following those experts we just talked about. You can also search at sites like Twellow.com to find people who match your target market.
3. Automate, but automate wisely – You can certainly automate parts of your Twitter strategies, but remember that Twitter is all about interaction and relationships. So be sure you only automate tasks that don’t require a response or that you don’t need to be directly involved in. Once you get to hundreds and thousands of followers, you’ll definitely want to pull some tools in to help you with both the automated and personal tasks involved with using Twitter. Two tools I recommend are Hootsuite and Tweet Adder. Hootsuite is free and used online through their website, and allows you to schedule Tweets and post status updates to multiple sites at once. Tweet Adder is a download to your computer (it costs $55, but has a free trial period), and allows you to automate the process of adding followers. It also allows you to search for the right followers that fit your ideal client profile.
If you’re just starting out on Twitter, or are wanting to really ramp up your followers list, I’ve given you some good ways to get started. Twitter is a great way to start getting more traffic to your website and adding prospects to your marketing list. So take advantage of it! I hope this gets you started.
Using 10 Hours a Month to Build Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I wrote about what you can expect when you have a limited number of hours set aside to use the services of a virtual assistant. So let’s say you’ve taken the plunge (yes, I know it can be a little scary to hire a VA), and purchased a retainer package of 10 hours for someone to help you with your marketing.
What are some things you could expect your VA to achieve in those 10 hours a month? The short answer – probably more than you thought. Consistency and follow-through is key with online marketing (which is what I offer my clients help with, so that’s what I’m going to discuss here), so when using a smaller amount of hours a month, try to space out that time to about 2.5 hours per week.
Here are some of the ways I can help you increase your business, with just 2-3 hours a week:
- Social Media – I can set up your profiles and fan pages on the top social media sites, or any of the other social media websites you want to focus your time on.
- Facebook/Website Monitor & Maintenance – I can take care of any updates needed for your Facebook Fan Page and your website and/or blog. I can also monitor your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn accounts and make note of any important interactions and provide you with a summary of activity once a week.
- Comment Moderation – I can monitor the comments on your blog and ensure that the appropriate ones are approved and answered to keep the conversation going.
- Google Alerts - I can set up Google Alerts for specific search terms and provide a overview each week of anything important to you and your business, as well as monitor any trending topics.
- Forum Interaction and Moderation – I can interact on and monitor any particular forums that you frequently post on.
- Longer Term Projects – If you have an event/teleseminar/new product you want to promote, I can start to build the buzz and help you increase attendees with online marketing.
- Transitioning to Wordpress – By using some of the hours each month, I can help you with transitioning your website from a traditional html based site to a Wordpress based website. This is a longer term project, but is easily done and usually in much less time than you would expect.
- Marketing Your Business – I can help you develop your overall online marketing strategy, and show you new and free ways to market your business online.
- Article Marketing – I can set up your profiles on various article directories and submit 1-2 articles a week, increasing your exposure to prospects and building your credibility/expertise in your particular field.
There’s a lot involved in online marketing, and there’s no way I (or any other person) could do all it entails in 10 hours a month. But by picking a few simple strategies and then doing them consistently each month, you’ll start to get more prospects, build more buzz for your business, and get more clients. And besides those great benefits, you’ll have more time available to strategize, plan, take care of your current clients and customers, or to create something amazing for your business.
This really is just a small sampling of the tasks I could handle for you with only 10 hours per month. Now imagine where we could take your business with 10- 20 hours more!
For even more ideas on how you can market your business online, sign up for my free February webinar.
Have a great day!
Getting Marketing Results With Just a Few Hours a Month
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As a virtual assistant, I specialize in helping my clients get more customers or clients with online marketing strategies. When I’m working with my clients, of course I want them all to have exceptional results from our work together. And my clients want (often expect) those same exceptional results. But at the same time my clients might just be starting out, or have a small budget available, so they want to know if we can still get good results with only 5-10 hours a month. Realistically, what kind of expectations can you have when you only want to use my services a few hours a month?
Even with a limited budget, a lot of good results can come from just a few hours if they’re used the right way. Here’s some tips for helping you leverage a limited virtual assistance budget:
1. Communicate expectations on a regular basis. “Set it and forget it” doesn’t often work with a virtual assistant. Your VA is an integral part of your business (if she’s doing her job correctly), even if she’s only working with you a few hours a month. You should be having a short conversation monthly with her, letting her know what you want to accomplish each month, at the start of the month. Then make sure your VA communicates with you what can and can’t be done in the time or budget you have allocated for that month. This doesn’t need to be a drawn-out conversation. It can usually be done quickly through email.
2. Keep the momentum and be consistent. When your budget (and thus the time your VA works with you) is limited, it can be difficult to keep the momentum going and in turn see real results. However, this can be overcome by retaining your virtual assistant on a consistent, monthly basis, rather than booking her time whenever the mood hits, with no real plan. This can make a huge difference in the results you see from your work together. Your virtual assistant needs to be in the loop and stay in the loop in order to understand your business and be invested in your business success.
3. Pick your tasks carefully. A virtual assistant can get a lot done (more than you thought possible) if you delegate projects that are defined and manageable. That means they have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Try to delegate projects that are achievable without much input from you, and that also don’t eat up a huge chunk of your budget.
So even if you have a small budget, you’ll still achieve some incredible results by effectively utilizing the services of a virtual assistant. If you want to find out how I can help you market your business in only 10 hours a month, contact me today for a free 30 minute consultation.
