Business-Building Help on a Budget

February 20, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

Business-Building Help on a Budget

Whether you're starting a busines part time or full time, you MUST get support in the way of information and resources. This is especially true if you don't have any marketing, sales, or business training.

As I've explained in my marketing copy, you can't just be good at what you do or have a great product–you need to learn to take care of all the aspects of your business. If you don't learn and get good at these skills, you will more than likely fail at being self-employed.

Although you may be starting out with a "shoestring" budget, you MUST have some budget planned for supporting your business. It's going to take money to fund the necessary basic elements of your business (I'll write more on what those would be in an upcoming post). If you don't have money to invest in your business, YOU DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS.

Filed Under Marketing & Sales Tagged With business budget, business coaching, business training, business training on budget, coaching

Can You Relate? (Guest Blog)

February 15, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

Can You Relate?
Guest Blogger, Kim Finley

One of the things my small business clients will hear me say over and over is, “People don’t buy from companies; they buy from people they like.” I find myself saying it so often, I believe, because I have a product-driven business. We build and sell websites and other forms of internet marketing…so people assume we must always sell on the merits of our products, service, etc.

I am not saying that does not matter; you have to have a solid foundation if you are going to be successful in business at all. But if the explosion of social media into the world of marketing, family, relationships, and business has shown us anything, it has demonstrated that you cannot take the relationship out of the business process.

Filed Under Guest Blogs, Marketing & Sales, Mindset Tagged With Commonwealth Creative Marketing, Geekettes Club, kim finley, marketing, relationship building, social media

Must-Have Marketing Mix Elements: Website or Blog

February 13, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

Must-Have Marketing Mix Elements: Website or Blog

In a previous blog, I wrote about the importance of having a marketing mix and determining your top 3 effective marketing tactics to focus on. So far I've covered two of them–speaking & networking. This post discusses a bit about the third main tactic, which is a website (or blog).

Although there is so much to cover in regard to having a website or blog, I'll just be covering the basics today of having an online "dock" for people to connect with you. Not having this as part of your marketing mix will limit your reach and leave a LOT of money on the table for others to take.

Filed Under Marketing & Sales

Must-Have Marketing Mix Elements: Speaking

February 6, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

Must-Have Marketing Mix Elements: Speaking

In a previous blog, I wrote about the importance of having a marketing mix and determining your top 3 effective marketing tactics to focus on. I've already covered one of them–networking. This post will cover another prime tactic to grow your business, which is through speaking.

The great thing about speaking as a marketing tactic is that it not only allows you to get in front of people to have the opportunity to generate leads but also gives you the opportunity to build your credibility and be seen as an "expert" in your field or topic. Yet so many entrepreneurs and business owners do not take advantage of this powerful tactic due to lack of knowledge or lack of confidence.

Filed Under Marketing & Sales, Mindset Tagged With EFT for speaking in public, eliminate fear of public speaking, fear of public speaking, fear of speaking in public, get business with speaking, get clients with speaking, hypnosis for public speaking, public speaking, speaking, speaking in public, Toastmasters

4 Steps to Hitting Your Online Targets

February 1, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

4 Steps to Hitting Your Online Targets
Guest Blogger, Nicole Newsome

Finding how potential customers are searching for your products and services in the search engines is a vital piece in your online strategy. Many business owners don’t realize how to make sure their ideal clients will find them on line. Highly qualified key words and phrases can be missed if research is not completed. The following steps will help you begin understanding how to hook and catch the target audience you are looking for through the internet.

Filed Under Marketing & Sales Tagged With google analytics, huddle up management, keywords, marketing, nicole newsome, online marketing, small business marketing

How To Find Money To Fund Your Business

January 23, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

How To Find Money To Fund Your Business

There's no way around it–it takes money to run a business. If you don't have money to invest in your business, you don't have a business.

Although there are ways to build your business that require less funds in the beginning, and smarter uses of your money, there are expenses involved with running EVERY business. If you don't accept that and start operating from a business owner's mindset, you WILL NOT make it.

Filed Under Marketing & Sales, Mindset Tagged With business funding, business investment, business loans, business mindset, manifesting, marketing, mindset, small business funding

Must-Have Marketing Mix Elements: Networking

January 16, 2012 By Lisa Smith 2 Comments

Must-Have Marketing Mix Elements: Networking

Last week I wrote about the importance of having a marketing mix and determining your top 3 effective marketing tactics to focus on. Today I want to expand on one of my favorites–networking.

First, it's important to really understand what business networking is. A good definition would be "the process or practice of building up or maintaining informal relationships, especially with people whose friendship could bring advantages such as job or business opportunities."

I believe the key idea here is "building/maintaining relationships." Yet this is where so many people go wrong with networking–they go into it first with the attitude of "getting."

Filed Under Marketing & Sales Tagged With business networking, marketing, marketing mix, networking, zig ziglar

An Easy Copywriting Template to Sell More–Guest Blog

January 11, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

An Easy Copywriting Template to Sell More
Guest Blogger, Michele PW

In the movie, The Prestige, one of the main characters dissects the elements of a magic trick.

You start by showing the object you’re going to manipulate in some way (i.e. make disappear).

You manipulate the object; in this case you make it disappear.

Then, you bring it back. This is the prestige. It’s not enough to make something disappear. You need to bring it back.

In essence, what he’s talking about is closure. You need to bring closure to whatever you’re doing or it will feel unfinished. This is true for a lot of things in life, including your marketing and copywriting. How do you do this?

Filed Under Marketing & Sales Tagged With copy for sales, copywriting, copywriting template, michele pariza wacek, michele pw, sales copy

The Importance of a Marketing Mix

January 9, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

The Importance of a Marketing Mix

What is a "marketing mix" and why is it important to have one? Have you heard that saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket?" The same reasoning goes for having a variety of ways that you market your business. Relying on only one or two methods is most likely a recipe for disaster.

Although you may have heard about a business that survives solely on one way of getting new customers (such as referrals/word of mouth), this is a rarity and not something you want to initally pin your business success on.

Having several sources of marketing will better protect you from your pipeline of prospects drying up. Yet, having too many sources can spread you too thin, creating extra stress or diluting your effectiveness.

Filed Under Marketing & Sales Tagged With blogging for business, marketing, marketing mix, marketing pie, networking

3 Simple New Year’s Planning Steps For 6- and 7-Figure Growth–Guest Blog

January 4, 2012 By Lisa Smith Leave a Comment

My 3 Simple New Year’s Planning Steps For 6- and 7-Figure Growth
Guest Blog–Kendall Summerhawk, Money, Marketing & Soul

I've been following Kendall Summerhawk for a couple of years and really resonate with her teachings. I got to meet her last year at a David Neagle event, which was a thrill for me! (see picture below) Today I am sharing a post from her blog so you can benefit from her insight and experience.

"If planning isn’t something you do easily, then you’ll especially appreciate the tips I’m sharing with you. I think you’ll find they make it easy for you to clarify your vision, to get focused on what matters most and to stretch yourself into reaching new goals."

Here is a summary of the points.

Filed Under Manifesting, Marketing & Sales Tagged With business plan, david neagle, kendall summerhawk, new year planning