As we continue to celebrate our 7th year anniversary we introduce you to the mission and magic of New Jersey City University (NJCU). NJCU, located in Jersey City, NJ, boasts more than 60 ethnicities and 30 languages spoken on campus, and it accessible by many modes of public transportation. With two campuses, they are among one of the most versatile and convenient universities in the New York, especially for those who attend the business school at Harborside Financial Plaza at the Jersey City Waterfront.
Full disclosure, I (Beatrice) am on the board of NJCU, but that designation didn’t happen haphazardly. As a 6 year tenant at their business incubator, I know first hand how they rally for their students and how much the mission of moving working class families into educational achievement is for them. To that end, the project that we worked on with them was for a new degree in Finance, and they offered full tuition and waived application fees! I believe entrepreneurship and education will change the world, and so I full-heartedly believed in this project. I continue the work we started as a board member at their business school because I believe they are a gem in the cluttered climate of education these days.
I encourage you to look into their programs for all of your local and distance your education needs.
How many online friends have you made a real life connection with? This weekend I attended an event where I finally met face-to-face with a friend, Julie, who I met a couple of years ago through an online community. We both had a lot in common and though we hadn’t met yet, connected online and eventually offline, building a relationship that crossed the boundaries of screens and logins.
Neither of us knew the other was attending the event this weekend, but when if you’d seen us greet each other you would have thought that we were old childhood friends. Our friendship had a strong bond because we activated old and new modes of connection. It’s something we did naturally, for personal reasons, but a routine that works very effectively in business as well. Especially in the current cluttered online climate.
Whether it’s attracting new clients, doing field research or promoting new products if you don’t pick up the phone you will have a hard time achieving your results. Smart phones, tablets and technology have become so commonplace that it’s hard for your message to get through effectively.
Increasingly business owners are seeing the numbers of client conversions, event registrations and product sales decline because there are more options and less connections than before. If you business model was built on a marketing model that hasn’t been updated in the past year, chances are you’re finding it more difficult to achieve the results you once did. Here are some tips to push get you over the hump:
1) Take a look at your engagement. Who’s opening and clicking through your email? These community members are your best targets and your first stop for developing a follow up plan.
2) Aggregate all of your client data in one place. Do you have names, email addresses and telephone numbers? You should. If you don’t, reach out to your warmest leads and request that they update (add to) their contact profiles.
3) Start making phone calls. Whenever you add a new type of connection to someone you deepen the relationship and extend it. Julie and I had two points of connection, online and voice. Now that we’ve met we have a added a third layer. We now have a stronger bond and inner circle between ourselves.
4) Extend your offer, or a referral, in a spirit of service. When you’re able to have a real conversation with someone and vet their needs the best “next step” is to give them a solution that you truly know will solve a need. If it’s you, great, but if it’s not, and you have a resource, extend it to them in the spirit of service.
To cut through the clutter these days you need to build real connection, and step forward from your brand with a focus on your core values. It will endear others to you and increase your results exponentially. To get strategy, analysis and management for your brand, set up a brand strategy session. If you have a solid system in place, share some of your best tips, or recent results, below.
Thanks,
Beatrice
Yesterday’s post about multiple touch points received a lot of attention from you. I’m happy that it was a popular and revisited post so today I want to outline just a few keys ways to use it. Ultimately, having multiple ways to contact your community helps you to convert your ideal person into a client. I like to say it gives me the ability to chase a potential client without losing my breath.
I thought it might be helpful if I outline how I do this. Since they say it takes “at least” 5 points of engagement to convert someone, it’s important that you stay in touch and not consider yourself a nag. By showing you my way of using these I hope to give you a little snapshot of how the process works holistically, and you can tweak and tailor it for your own use. Here’s mine. I’m going to base this pipeline on getting a lead online, such as when someone requests a free report or download on my website. I call these warm leads:
Contact #1 – The user has filled out the form on my website requesting a free CD. In that form I have a field for “telephone number.” When the telephone number is provided I make it a point to call that person the same day or the next day. When I speak with them I try to find out how they found us (usually by referral, or on Google) and ask them if there were any resources they were looking for in particular that I might be able to send over… often a reader was looking for one piece of nugget, and I can send a worksheet or article about it. Otherwise, I tell them their CD will be shipped on XYZ day and to let us know if they have any questions
Contact #2 – I drop an email to them asking if they’re received the CD, if they’d like a transcript (I don’t have them receive the transcript automatically, they only get it by responding to my email) and if there was anything there that needed further clarification. I also ask them if I can add their birthday to my contact system. I log their birthday into Hallmark.com so that Hallmark will notify me when it’s time to send a card
Contact #3 – I have a weekly electronic newsletter that goes out every Sunday. I’ve also started to send a monthly paper newsletter to everyone I have a mailing address from. This person starts to get that newsletter. It’s just one page front and back. Now they get another tangible thing from me that adds value and doesn’t cost them anything
Contact #4 – I check in on the person through social media (if I’ve been able to find them through their email address” and share a resource or just comment and begin a discussion. For those that I don’t have social media connections with I drop a line and ask they if they’re on social media. I say “I’d love to connect. Are you on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin? – for those that are social media shy, LinkedIn is usually the way to go. I make a connection for them or do an introduction to someone in their industry, or served by their industry
Contact #5 – I invite them to a live event, webinar or one-on-one strategy session. When they’re local they almost ALWAYS try to make it out to a live event. When they’re not, they go for the webinar or a one-on-one strategy session. My conversion rate from these is about 30%.
So, that’s my pipeline. I won’t pretend it’s perfect. Sometimes I fall off. There are weeks where I realize I’m behind and then I spend a whole day making calls and sending emails, and that takes the fun out of it. What I’ve found though is that if you combine online connection with off-line, tangible relationship, you build a stronger response and conversion.
That’s what I’ve got. Do you have any advice or insights you can share with me about this? I’d love to hear it. Comment below… and share it on social media for me, ok?
Have you noticed how inundated your inbox and banner ads have been with Marie Forleo’s B-School lately? If you’ve been in business and marketing online for more than a year chances are you’re in the midst of a B-School blitz, and love it or not, it paints the picture of how powerful it can be for your income and your brand when you use the enthusiasm and support of others.
I haven’t been through B-School myself, but for the past few weeks I’ve received promotions, offers and insights for it on a daily basis. It’s fun to see and it’s a powerful tool that you can use in your business as well, no matter where you’re starting out at.
Whether your business sells products or services, online or brick-and mortar you have options to leverage ambassadors to grow your business too. Sales make business work, and the more sales you have, the stronger your brand becomes.
So what is a brand ambassador? Simply put, they are people who are already fans and supporters of the products you sell and the work you do. They can be friends, family or former clients but the best ones are those who intimately know your capabilities inside and out. They can speak from first hand experience, due to proximity, about your value and increase the likelihood of a purchase by 400%. (now I’ve got your attention, eh?)
Ambassadorship can show up in many ways. Here are a few to help you activate it in your business:
1) Enlist current and former clients to share their experience: Every time you have a client say “I love the work you did” or “this was fabulous” it’s time to get a great testimonial and offer them the opportunity to be in your ambassador program. When a client is excited and fulfilled, they naturally want to share their experience and give back. It’s a win-win for you both.
2) Develop an affiliate program: One of the most effective ways to build a network of ambassadors from clients, friends and strangers as well is to develop an affiliate program. By offering commission incentives you get the benefit of their effort and network at a cost much less than market rate for acquiring new clients. Be sure to outline the details and opportunity for the program clearly so that you make it an easy decision for them.
3) Start an advisory board: A common tactic for non-profits and institutions is to develop an advisory board. The advisers serve to help guide decisions that are in alignment with current trends and needs, and also are expected to promote and petition the business on their behalf. It’s a smart tactic that has worked well across the board for all types of industries.
4) Appoint a spokesperson: Like the reference to Matt Damon above, one way to garner massive visibility for your business is to appoint a spokesperson. They can be paid or unpaid, but must be a true believer in your service and core values. As the spokesperson for your brand they become “one of the faces” of your brand and bring with them the power of their personal brand. Be mindful when you appoint a spokesperson, their lifestyle on and off duty will greatly impact your brand’s reputation.
5) Create a community.
How many online friends have you made a real life connection with? This weekend I attended an event where I finally met face-to-face with a friend, Julie, who I met a couple of years ago through an online community. We both had a lot in common and though we hadn’t met yet, connected online and eventually offline, building a relationship that crossed the boundaries of screens and logins.
Neither of us knew the other was attending the event this weekend, but when if you’d seen us greet each other you would have thought that we were old childhood friends. Our friendship had a strong bond because we activated old and new modes of connection. It’s something we did naturally, for personal reasons, but a routine that works very effectively in business as well. Especially in the current cluttered online climate.
Whether it’s attracting new clients, doing field research or promoting new products if you don’t pick up the phone you will have a hard time achieving your results. Smart phones, tablets and technology have become so commonplace that it’s hard for your message to get through effectively.
Increasingly business owners are seeing the numbers of client conversions, event registrations and product sales decline because there are more options and less connections than before. If you business model was built on a marketing model that hasn’t been updated in the past year, chances are you’re finding it more difficult to achieve the results you once did. Here are some tips to push get you over the hump:
1) Take a look at your engagement. Who’s opening and clicking through your email? These community members are your best targets and your first stop for developing a follow up plan.
2) Aggregate all of your client data in one place. Do you have names, email addresses and telephone numbers? You should. If you don’t, reach out to your warmest leads and request that they update (add to) their contact profiles.
3) Start making phone calls. Whenever you add a new type of connection to someone you deepen the relationship and extend it. Julie and I had two points of connection, online and voice. Now that we’ve met we have a added a third layer. We now have a stronger bond and inner circle between ourselves.
4) Extend your offer, or a referral, in a spirit of service. When you’re able to have a real conversation with someone and vet their needs the best “next step” is to give them a solution that you truly know will solve a need. If it’s you, great, but if it’s not, and you have a resource, extend it to them in the spirit of service.
To cut through the clutter these days you need to build real connection, and step forward from your brand with a focus on your core values. It will endear others to you and increase your results exponentially. To get strategy, analysis and management for your brand, set up a brand strategy session. If you have a solid system in place, share some of your best tips, or recent results, below.
Thanks,
Beatrice
Are you a dreamer? What do you dream about? For me there is no greater satisfaction than to watch a dream come true, whether it’s mine or someone I know. Yesterday my friend Sheryl launched her dream business, a boutique vintage shopping and styling experience called Indigo Style.
Sheryl and I were roommates when I first moved to New York to model nearly 20 years ago. She’s actually THE reason I made the leap and she is still a model today. She’s actually one of few African American models to have a career spanning more than 20 years successfully. Chances are you’ve seen her face on your television, in a catalog or at your favorite department store at least a few times a year.
Despite Sheryl’s fame and connections she still needed a plan to launch her dream. The core tenants of launching are universal no matter the type of business you have. Below are some tips that you can use along the way:
1) Define your brand clearly. Once Sheryl set the date for her launch she sprung into action to brand her business for success. Straight out the gate she focused on her brand identity by getting her logo done, securing the name for the website and across social media channels and building buzz. As the public got wind of Indigo Style they had a place to go to find out more.
2) Use online and offline tools. One of the big secrets of big business is old school marketing. Yes, we all have devices and tablets and wireless access to information at a moments notice but nothing beats the impact that a poster, or postcard or paper invitation can make. Sheryl covered her bases on this one and had beautiful card stock flyers printed and distributed across her region.
3) Do a press release. Getting press is much easier than it used to be. Ten or more years ago to get press you had to hire a public relations firm and fork over a lot of dollars to get mentioned in a publication. Today it’s much easier. You can do the research for local journalists yourself online and distribute the press release via email, but you MUST do one. It’s a great return on investment for such little time. Sheryl started with local bloggers and neighborhood outlets like Patch.com
4) Say true to your vision. Sheryl’s vision is for Indigo Style to one day be a brick-and-mortar boutique but her initial plan is to do pop-up shops and use her Brooklyn Brownstone. Walking through the doors of her brownstone we were presented with a very Soho experience and atmosphere. The decor and environment made us feel as if we’ve stepped into an exclusive Soho boutique. There was wine, finger foods and racks and racks of clothes beautifully tagged and organized. She delivered a Soho experience without having to be there (yet).
Branding your business for a successful launch is a step that many people skip, and as a result they don’t get to have the business of their dreams. That doesn’t have to be the case! Start with the tips above to make sure you launch and expand your business the right way, and if you need help, invest in the 30-Day Launch Formula. It will save you time and money so that you can focus on making that dream come true!
Sheryl Roberts and I at her inaugural event
I’m back! Today marks my return to Facebook activity and boy do I have a lot of insight and inspiration. I took a few months off of Facebook to decompress and really get clarity about what boundaries and observations I needed to make here. I’ll blog about it more during the upcoming weeks but here’s a quick look at the highlights:
1) I found that broadcast news, especially BAD news, spread like wildfires here on Facebook and it wasn’t good for my spirit, which is typically one of optimism and nurturing.
2) I found that family members actually CALLED me to see what I was up to! (surprise)
3) I DIDN’T find out about a very dear friend dying… because I wasn’t online to “see” it. I found out MONTHS LATER because I was having lunch with a mutual friend. Heartbreaking, but heartwarming.
4) I grew my business to a higher level, in both income and insight. Weaknesses were deeply exposed and strengths were confirmed. As I continue to repair and strengthen the weaknesses, I am comforted to no longer feel controlled or victimized by them.
5) I released the lure to “be out there” just for the sake of it. And the fear of “being forgotten” by being focused. You know how it is, you have a lot of friends and family posting on Facebook and you know their “true life” is nothing like their “Facebook life” and I worked hard to never become one of those people. Who felt the need to “put on the mask” for the sake of Facebook. So instead, I chose to be silent. Silence is golden.
6) I read more books, met new people, had more down time and had less stress.
7) I was able to focus on relationships, and contribute positive presence to the friend and family situations around me that were breaking, falling apart and spiraling out of control. It was torture to handle and survive, but I did, and they did, and now we all move into winter, and the new year, with a spirit of celebration and victory.
I think I surely missed out on a lot by not being on Facebook, but I gained some perspective as well. I came to understand how I want to use Facebook, and how I want to control it instead of letting it control me. That was groundbreaking.
As someone who is paid to teach and implement marketing, brand identity and positioning, I was taking a big risk. And it paid off. Stay tuned in the coming days as I get gutsy and real honest with my branding decisions. You’ll learn a lot and it will save you time, make you money and keep you in a point of passion and promise.
Ready? Tell me what insights or specific decisions you want me to share and I’ll be sure to address them.
Until tomorrow,
So about a week ago gmail began to change the inbox behaviors and has started to initiate auto-tabs for the communications you receive. I’ll admit, when i first saw the changes to my inbox I thought “who are you to automatically categorize my messages” and then, I went on with life.
The next day I hopped in my gmail account after a transaction to get a hold of the details for my purchase. I knew the transaction had an auto-responder, an automated message that would populate to me, and so I knew right away to click the “promotions” tab so that I could retrieve it.
It was no big deal. Knowing that my newsletters and other mass-distributed emails are going into one tab to view them all is actually more convenient for me. All of those communications are, in fact, marketing.
However, already I’ve received email after email after email from marketers and coaches and others saying “if you have email, do this” followed by instructions on how to re-categorize their particular communications.
It’s like everyone hit the panic button at the same time.
The reason for the panic? Many online marketers make most of their money based on one single factor: the size of their email list. It’s a numbers game for them and not getting “top position” has almost all of them worried.
I’m not sending a “re-categorize” me email, because I think my clients are smarter than that. If they want to re-categorize me, they will, and if they don’t think being in a different tab is an inconvenience for them, I’m cool with that.
I speak to people on my list by phone.
I send people on my list “just because” mail and cards and invitations.
I connect with people on my list at events and on social media.
My hunch is that if other entrepreneurs really nurtured their community they wouldn’t feel the need to panic either.
So if you find yourself in this situation, don’t freak out. Don’t send a separate email probing the reader to re-categorize you, because if you mattered, they would have considered it on their own.
Instead, continue with your usual communications and perhaps include a link that says “Here’s a helpful link for those of you adjusting to the new gmail” and leave the decision to them. Show them how to control their destiny overall, not just your small part in it.
Need a link? Mashable has a good writeup on this at http://mashable.com/2013/07/23/tabs-in-gmail/
Hope that helps, and hey, remember, it’s summer… just chill 🙂
(Share your thoughts below, I’d love to hear your take on this)
-Beatrice
There’s a lot to be said about micro targeting your business but before you take the plunge on any particular audience it’s important to know if that audience will be able to sustain you financially. Before you spend the time and money it takes to build a powerhouse brand take the quick below to help you determine if yours is a market worth pursuing:
1. How often do you hear mention of your type of business in the news?
If the news media considers your subject area important enough to report on with regularity, it’s probably something quite a few people are interested in. Televisions, magazines and newspapers are looking for ratings, and they get them by drawing large audiences with the information they present. The broader the audience they feel can be reached with a topic, the more often they will seek to cover it.
2. How many providers are available in your market and what makes you different?
Finding out you have a lot of competition is not necessarily a bad thing. It simply means there is a community large enough to support you — and that is exactly what you want.
3. What demographic profiles do you seek?
So often I see people go after an industry that doesn’t have the money to buy from them. When marketing to children, for instance, you need to make sure the problem you solve is something the PARENT wants to have solved and can afford. If you have a great service or product, but a novelty, it takes some extra-special branding to gain momentum.
4. How fast would the right client jump at the chance to get what you offer?
How about your friends? Would you jump at a bargain if it related to what you provide? And how about the people you hang out with—your easy-to-reach target market? The sooner you can hook people into the urgency of your offering, the more likely your business will be profitable.
5. What are the tangible results that clients get?
People want to feel and touch what they invest in. Even when it’s not a tangible product that you’re offering you need to find a way to make it tangible. Being able to give you clients something to have and to hold will go a long way in making your invisible service stand out.
How did you do? If you answered “yes” to at least four of these, congratulations! Your business idea is marketable for sure! Proceed with confidence; you’re on the right track.
Has this ever happened to you: you create a marketing plan and map everything out but later find yourself so busy servicing your current clients that you’re having a hard time keeping on track with that fabulous and robust marketing plan?
Do you feel guilty even considering setting the plan aside for awhile? After all you’ve got enough business to keep you busy. Money is flowing in, and you’re not sure you could handle additional clients right now anyway. Yep, been there, done that!
While marketing may not seem like a sacrifice when your business is fully loaded, it’s usually only a matter of time before your marketing tall starts to impact your business. Staying on top of your marketing plan, even when you’re busy, is the best stabilizer you can have to keep a pipeline full of prospects and clients into your business.
While you may be busy right now, if you stop marketing for an extended amount of time, you may find yourself high and dry when it comes to clients, because you’ve stopped the flow. That’s called feast and famine, and it’s not fun in business or life.
As an entrepreneur I can understand and relate to being too busy to market (or thinking you are). It seems the days are never long enough to get everything on my to-do list done. I wish I could clone myself, but then I’d have “two of me” to manage! Seriously thought, as a business owner and marketing professional I know I can’t afford to let my marketing lapse.
So what’s a busy bee to do?!?
Here are 5 suggestions … these are things I do and recommend to all my clients when they fall in the same boat:
(1) If you haven’t already, create a marketing calendar. Schedule all of your marketing activities in the calendar according to how frequently you planned to do them in your marketing plan.
If you planned to do something monthly, enter it on the calendar once each month. Weekly? Enter it four times per month. Do this for every planned activity. I do mine in Google Calendar and then also job them in my paper calendar.
(2) Put your calendar front and center so that you can see it. This might be over your desk, on a bulletin board or on the wall. Make a routine of looking at it every morning. This will keep you on track and prevent you from winging it with your schedule.
(3) Try incorporating your marketing activities into your weekly and daily to-do list. Enter the activities as to-do tasks in your calendar or smart phone just like all your appointments and other business activities.
With my calendar even my husband has gotten in on the action. He puts personal appointments for us on there and he knows, if something is on my calendar, I treat it like any other meeting or appointment and I do it.
(4) Pick one day per month to review your marketing calendar in detail and to look three months ahead. What is coming up that you need to prepare for now? What do you need to transfer into your to-do list or smart phone to make sure you don’t forget to do it?
I usually do this at the end of the month when I’m doing all my month-end work … things like running sales reports, doing billing, and updating my marketing tracking reports.
Make it a habit to review your marketing at the same time you do these tasks. After a few months you won’t even have to think about it anymore, it’ll become routine.
(5) Consider hiring an assistant or support person to help. If they can take some of the tasks off your plate that really don’t require your expertise, it will free you up to focus on what I call “revenue routines.”
These are things like working with clients, creating products and services and marketing. Brand Excitement now has a task-based implementation program called Booster Shots. If you need help and can’t yet afford a virtual assistant check it out.
When you find a way to get back on track with your marketing and you do it on regular basis, it really does become a part of the way you do business. Suddenly it doesn’t seem like marketing anymore. It’s just what you do to run your business. That’s when it becomes effortless.