As a small business owner, you’ve probably realized that it’s a jungle out there! Your competition is fierce, your prospects are skeptical and your marketing budget is sparse.
So, what’s a small business owner to do? One of the best ways to beat your competition and convince your prospects that you’re the real deal (all on a shoestring budget) is to tap into the power of testimonials.
Here Are 7 Reasons Why Testimonials Are a Powerful Marketing Tool:
1. Understand That Your Prospects Are Overexposed To Ads. As a small business owner need to be aware that your prospects are exposed to over 4,000 ads every single day. They are forced to sift through TV ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, billboard ads and internet ads.
Therefore, in order to notice your marketing message, you need to provide a little extra icing on the cake. A testimonial from an elated customer helps get you noticed.
2. Understand That Your Prospects Are Skeptical. Your prospective customers and clients are used to reading ad-copy that is self-promotional, farfetched and sensational. As a result, they are skeptical to believe what small business owners say about themselves.
Therefore, it’s your job to provide an outside perspective about your business. It’s always ten times more convincing what others say about you than what you say about yourself.
3. Use Your Customers Real Words. Many small business owners feel the need to improve the testimonials of their customers. It’s important that you use the exact words and phrases of your clients and customers. Obviously, keeping the testament in their own words maintains a real authenticity.
4. Use Your Customers Full Names and Contact Information. With the large amount of skepticism surrounding the internet, you never want a testimony from Joe B. from New York. This simply doesn’t cut it. Even if your customer is a real person, if you don’t use their full name and contact information, you won’t be believed.
In fact, if you aren’t able to supply your customer’s full name and contact information, you shouldn’t include their information at all.
5. Use Your Customers Pictures. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words…” When you are able to include your customer’s picture in addition to their personal information, it is much more believable. Therefore, always include a picture when you can.
6. Use Specific Data When Possible. There are two types of customer testimonials. There are general testimonials when customers talk about the general reasons that they are happy with your products and services.
For instance, “Joe Brown is just a fabulous consultant. I have loved working with him over the past year.” Although this testimony can give your prospects an overall idea of your products and services, it isn’t as compelling as a specific testimony.
However, when your customer is able to provide specific data, it will be a much more powerful testimony. Here is an example of a specific testimony: “Joe Brown helped me increase my website conversion rate by 300%. As a result, I ended up with $12,000 of new business in less than 3 months.” Obviously, this statement shows your prospective clients and customers exactly and precisely what they can expect by working with you.
7. Always Ask For Permission. This may seem like an obvious statement, however you want to ensure that you have written permission from your customer or client before you use their personal information. In addition, you want to let them know where you will be using the testimonial as well.
Obviously, testimonials add credibility, validity and integrity to your small business. Therefore, make sure to gather this marketing gem from your clients and customers on a regular basis. It’s a shoestring marketer’s dream come true!
Like many small business owners, you’ve probably been intrigued by the concept of blogging at one time or another. However, at the same time, you’ve never been sure exactly how blogging would specifically benefit you or your business.
One of the main attractions of blogging is the simplicity behind it. You don’t need to have innate technical abilities or well-developed computer skills to tap into the power of blogging. A blog is nothing more than a simple website in which you “post” an entry that is published immediately. In addition, each post is displayed in reverse chronological order so that the newest posts are always at the top of the blog.
Basically, a blog is an individual’s commentary on a particular niche topic such as wine, gardening or marketing strategies. Blogs generally consist of text, images and links to other blogs, web pages and media that relate to its topic.
One of the main reasons that blogging has become a phenomenon in recent years is that it gives individuals the ability to communicate to a mass audience whenever and wherever they want. In addition, the blogger can easily update their blog at a moment’s notice.
Blogging is quickly becoming essential to small business success. Here are a few reasons why your small business needs a blog.
1. Simple to create. Building a website can be a technical nightmare while blogs can literally be created in minutes. In addition, there are free blog services such as www.blogger.com that allow anyone to start and maintain a blog.
2. Provide dialogue with prospects and customers. Blogs are now being used as a communication vehicle to share important information with customers. Because blogs can be updated in real time, businesses owners are finding blogs to be one of the quickest and most accurate ways to distribute their message.
3. Here to stay. According to study conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Survey, there are over 12 million creators of blogs and 57 million Americans who read blogs. Obviously, blogs are a staple for the small business owner and should be embraced wholeheartedly.
4. Drive traffic to your website. When small business owners use blogs to educate their target market and communicate with their customers, they can drive additional traffic to their website. This is essential for anyone seeking new leads for their business or interested in generating online sales.
5. Flexibility to post whenever, wherever, 24/7. When authoring a blog, all you need is access to the Internet. This level of flexibility removes many of the barriers associated with traditional forms of communication. Some blogs even allow you to post via email.
6. Establish yourself as an expert. By keeping a blog up-to-date and contributing in an area where you have experience, you quickly build your reputation as an expert. Once you’ve established yourself as having knowledge in a particular subject area, you can begin contributing to other sources such as news articles and interviews.
7. Generate ad revenue. The beauty of a blog is that you can attract those interested in a very specific subject area. This is an ideal market for online pay-per-click advertising like Google Adsense. This is a perfect way to provide value to your readers while generating revenue for your business.
So, the next time you’re debating if your small business needs a blog, consider these seven reasons. And, once your blog is up and running, you’ll find it to be an irreplaceable platform for getting the word out about your products and services.
Video marketing is hot, hot, hot in today’s small business world. However, it’s not enough to shoot a video, load it into Youtube and sit back as the sales roll in.
In order to launch a successful video marketing campaign, you need to follow a step-by-step process that encompasses solid marketing strategies.
If you follow the proven tips and strategies below, you’ll not only create brand awareness, but generate more quality leads and eventually make more sales.
The 5 Step Video Marketing Process:
Step One: Educate And Inform Your Prospects. Remember, you never want to aggressively “sell” yourself or your products/services. If your video is one big “sales pitch,” your prospects click off your video faster than you can even imagine. Instead, offer valuable information in order to educate your prospects. When your prospective customers and clients watch your videos, they should learn something that they didn’t know before.
Step Two: Brand Yourself And Your Business. As you educate your target market, you naturally begin the branding process. Ultimately, you want to position your small business in an important place in the minds of your prospects.
Step Three: Drive Traffic To Your Website. Believe it or not, the goal when using videos as a marketing tool is NOT about making an immediate sale. The purpose of your videos is to drive prospects to your website in order to find out more about you and your company.
Step Four: Build Trust and Credibility. Once visitors come to your website, they should be able to supply you with their name and email address in exchange for additional information about your company. (ie. a free report, ebook, tips booklet, etc.) Once you have “captured” your visitors’ information, you can continue to market to them over and over again. Most prospects need to see your offer up to twelve times before they make the decision to purchase from you. Therefore, it’s imperative that you continue to build a relationship with your prospects.
Step Five: Increase Your Sales. Remember, individuals want to do business with people whom they know and trust. So, continue to offer them valuable information, access to important resources and free, helpful advice. If you adhere to this rule, your small business profits will skyrocket.
So, if you are going to use videos as part of your overall marketing strategy, make sure to take the time to implement a rock-solid marketing process.
If you’re up on stage blogging your heart out to an empty stadium, don’t quit…here are 21 quick and easy ways to blog like a rockstar and fill your stadium with die-hard fans.
1. Write compelling headlines. Your headline is how people decide if they’re going to read your blog post of not. So make sure that it reaches out and grabs hold of your reader.
2. Capture your reader’s attention in the first paragraph. Your first paragraph should draw in your reader and entice them to keep reading. Keep it simple, snappy and sassy.
3. Keep sentences short. Short sentences stand out, are simple to read and balance out longer sentences. Utilize short sentences throughout your blog for some added pizazz.
4. Omit the fluff. Omit all unnecessary words, especially fluffy, frilly adjectives. Just the facts, Jack.
5. Use keywords throughout your post. To help the search engines find your posts, sprinkle important keywords throughout the body and in the title.
6. Use white space. Using plenty of white space throughout your post makes it easier to read. When your readers are faced with a page of dense, black text, they’ll literally give up before they even begin.
7. Make use of lists. Bulleted or numbered lists make your posts simple to scan. And, since so many of your readers are “scan readers” this strategy ensures that they stick with you ‘til the bitter end.
8. Use bold text and italics. When you want to emphasis a certain point or draw attention to an important word, use bold text or italics.
9. Link like crazy. One characteristic of bloggers is that they link, link and then link some more. They link externally to other relevant blogs and they link internally to their own past blog posts. In addition, links help Google determine what your post is about.
10. Keep your posts short. We’re living in a world packed with people who have short attention spans and overloaded lives. Aim for posts that are 300 – 500 words. Short, sweet and to the point.
11. Talk directly to your reader. As you write your post, imagine that you’re talking to one person in a face-to-face conversation. Your goal is to make the reader feel as if you’re having a conversation with them and only them.
12. Solve your readers’ problem. One of the main purposes of your blog is to help your readers solve some of their most pressing problems. This is how you position yourself as an expert.
13. Don’t preach. Blogs aren’t meant to be a personal pulpit in order to preach to your congregation. They’re a social platform meant for connection, interaction and creating relationships.
14. Have some fun. If you’re not having fun writing your blog, your readers aren’t going to have fun reading your blog. So kick back, relax and have some fun!
15. Forget what you learned in high school English class. Forget the tight-laced rules that you learned in English class. Blogging is more about connecting with your audience than worrying about sentence fragments, run-ons or dangling participles.
16. Proofread. Even though your blog posts can break some of the strict rules of grammar, you still need to adhere to some of the basics. Make sure that you don’t have glaring typos, misspellings or jumbled sentences.
17. Read your post out loud. Reading your posts out loud helps capture your authentic voice so that you sound natural and real.
18. Let your personality shine. Your personality should be a part of every single post that you write. If you’re funny, then be funny. If you’re serious, then be serious. Just make sure that the “real you” is shining through each and every post.
19. Voice your opinions. Don’t be afraid to have opinions when you blog. Let your readers know what makes you happy, what makes you sad and what drives you crazy.
20. Interact with your readers. Since blogging is a social platform, it’s natural to interact with your audience. Use your blog as a way to connect with your prospects by encouraging comments and replying to comments.
21. Provide closure. Never leave your readers hanging. Wrap up your blog posts with a short conclusion that signals to your reader that you have finished.
So there you have it. As you implement these 21 quick and easy tips, you’ll soon discover that you have more fans than you ever imagined.
If your products or services aren’t selling…sometimes it’s all about the ad-copy.
Here are a few points to keep in mind when writing copy for your marketing materials:
1. Decide on your overall message. What is the one point you want to convey? Your marketing will always be more effective if you don’t flip-flop between different messages.
2. Keep your message simple and to the point. It’s important that you understand that it’s always in your best interest to be clear and concise. Keep your writing style simple and easy to understand…your prospects will thank you.
3. Understand your audience. Who are you talking to? If you want your prospects to connect to your marketing message, then it’s essential that you talk directly to them. Are they men? Women? Small business owners? The more specific you can be about your target market, the more successful your advertising campaign will be.
4. Choose each word wisely. Words can be very powerful tools in your marketing toolbox. Choose each word with care to ensure that it delivers the desired impact.
5. State exactly what you mean. Too many marketing campaigns hem and haw and aren’t crystal clear in their intentions. Always remember that it’s always better to be clear than clever.
6. Make promises. Promise your prospects that they will receive a desired result by using your products or services. However, it’s important that you under-promise and keep expectations low, otherwise your prospects will be naturally skeptical.
7. Ask questions. Ask the tough questions that your prospects struggle with. But, make sure that only your service can provide the answer.
8. Make a deal. Let your prospective clients and customers know that you can create a relationship that benefits each other:
- If you give me 5 minutes, I promise to make it worth your while…
- Simply email your address and you will receive our FREE ebook…
9. Talk directly to your prospect. Always write your ad-copy as if you are having a one-on-one conversation with your prospect. Use the word “you” throughout your copy and use it often.
10. Flatter your prospect. Sometimes it’s appropriate to flatter your prospect and make them feel good (even great) about themselves.
- We would like you to become a member of our elite team…
- As a discriminating buyer…
11. Use power words. There are a number of words in the advertising world that ensure that your prospect will pay attention to what you are saying: FREE, YOU, CANCEL AT ANY TIME. Use these words everywhere in your ad-copy.
12. Include a call to action. Make sure that you always tell your prospect exactly what you want them to do.
- Supply you with their email address
- Purchase your product or service
Therefore, the next time that you are struggling to sell your products or services, take a look at your ad-copy…that could be the culprit!
There is a story about how Shoestring Marketing was born. And, I tell my story all the time.
It’s in the “About Me” section of my website. It’s in my ebooks. It’s in my sales-copy. When I host webinars and teleseminars, I start with the story behind Shoestring Marketing.
Why?
Because it helps my prospects connect with me.
The goal in telling my small business story is to show people that I personally know what it feels like to build a business on a shoestring budget. And that it CAN be done.
I tell my story so that I can try and convince people that if I can do it – so can they.
If you really want to stand out from the crowd, then you have to connect with people on a deeper level.
It’s not enough to tell people about the features of your product or service. Believe it or not, they really don’t care that your widget is faster than the speed of light.
And, preaching the benefits your customers will receive when they use your widget isn’t even enough anymore. Although focusing on benefits is an important part of marketing, your prospects need a reason to believe that your widget will improve their lives.
Nowadays, in this crazy, competitive world you need to connect your story to your prospect’s problems. It’s important that you show them that you have experienced what they are experiencing and that you know exactly what they are going through.
You need to connect to their pain on a truly emotional level, show them the solution and convince them to take action.
We all have a small business story to tell. Here’s a simple 5-step process in order to use your story to add power and pizazz to your marketing:
1) Discover the personal story hidden behind your business. Why did you start your business? What problems are you trying to eliminate? What hurdles did you need to overcome.
2) Tell your story authentically and with passion. Obviously, your story needs to be a true rendition of what you personally experienced as a small business owner. If you are passionate about your story, your prospects will be passionate about your story.
3) Connect your story to your prospect’s pain points. It’s vital that your story zeroes in on the problems that your prospects are currently facing. Your story should create an immediate and lasting bond between you and your prospects.
4) Show them the solution. It’s important that once you connect to your prospect’s pain, that you immediately show them how to alleviate this pain. Show them that you have personally discovered the solution and, as a result, your problem has been solved.
5) Convince them to take action. Once you share your story, what do you want your prospects to do? Should they call a 1-800 number? Visit your website for more information? Or make a purchase? Each time you share your story, make it incredibly easy for your prospect to take the next step.
Connection is one of the main tools for the Shoestring Marketer. So, connect with your prospects and your customers on a deeper level by sharing the story behind your small business.
And, by the way, you can listen to the story of Shoestring Marketing right here.
Like most small business owners, you’re probably putting a lot of time and energy into building your email list.
And, like most small business owners, there’s that inevitable day when deep despair kicks in. You only have 150 subscribers, you’ve worked your butt off and, at this point, you’ll do just about anything to get more subscribers.
In your desperate state of mind, you decide that you’re going to employ a creative, simple tactic to jump-start that list.
So, you cleverly go over to your Facebook Fanpage, gather up your Fans’ email addresses and drop them into your email autoresponder program. Then, you head over to LinkedIn and Twitter and grab those email addresses as well. Wow…you instantly added a few hundred people to your list. You certainly are a clever little genius!
I hate to break it to you, but first and foremost, you’re not being very clever. Every single day, I get an email from a LinkedIn connection or a Facebook friend who assumes that I’m just dying to be a part of their email list.
The problem is, I don’t want emails from them. If I had wanted emails from them, I would have opted into their email list.
And, moreover it’s a big, fat hassle when I have to take the time to opt-out of their list. (Not to mention unfollow them, unfriend them and unconnect from them on the social media platforms.)
WARNING: Your LinkedIn connections, Facebook friends and Twitter followers have not given your permission to email them.
This “creative” list-building technique only ends up back-firing. Why? Because it ticks people off. People are sick of spammy emails. They’re sick of getting too many emails. And they’re sick of having to take the time to unsubscribe from the never-ending stream of spam.
So, no matter how incredibly tempting it may be to add virtual friends to your email autoresponder, don’t do it.
Yes, they are your friends, followers, fans and connections. But, if they haven’t given you explicit permission to email them, then you’re not allowed to email them. It’s as simple as that.
And believe me, I’d rather have a list of 500 laser-targeted prospects that have given me permission to email them, then a list of 15,000 names and emails that I have forced into communication with me.
So, leave the black-hat email tactics to the fake pharmaceutical companies trying to make a quick buck on discount Viagra pills.
Many small business owners shy away from video marketing because they’re camera-shy and don’t want to be the “star” of the video. However, even if you don’t do well in the spotlight, you should still consider using videos as a marketing strategy for your small business.
Whether you want to be the main focus of your videos or not, here are four ways to produce your videos.
1) Someone Else Is The Star. If you don’t want to be the main focus in your videos, you can always have a business partner, employee, assistant or someone else associated with your small business be the star. It’s important to keep in mind that they need to have a strong grasp of your business and be able to relate it effortlessly to your viewers.
2) Record Your Screen. Screen capture software allows you to record what you’re doing on your computer screen along with voice narration. You can create instructional videos, demonstrations, or a powerpoint presentation. Usually screenware capture software is well over $200. However, there is a free alternative available at: www.jingsoftwareproject.com Jing has excellent editing capabilities and allows you to convert your videos to many different formats.
3) Use a Free or Low-Cost Service To Produce Your Video. You can put together an interesting presentation highlighting your products or services using pictures, music and text. One such video service can be found at: www.Animoto.com. If your presentation is 30 seconds or less, the service is free.
4) Make Your Own Picture Movie. In addition, if you are a “do-it-yourselfer,” you can download free movie editing software (Windows Movie Maker for PC’s or iMovie for Macs) to use on your own computer. You are then able to import your own pictures, your own music and even your own voice narration.
5) You Are The Star. If you are not camera-shy, starring in your own videos is a great option. When you talk directly to your audience, it helps them understand that there is a real person behind your small business. It allows them to connect and relate to you. Of course, if you focus on educating your prospects and giving them tips and strategies related to your industry, they will also perceive you as an expert in your field.
So, even if you aren’t a natural-born movie star, you can still use the power of video marketing to bring extra exposure to your small business.
I want to ask you a very simple question. More importantly, I want you to take the time to answer it reflectively and honestly.
“Why are you living the life that you are living right this very moment?”
Are you happy with your family, your relationships, your finances, your career and your spirituality? If you are, pat yourself on the back and get back to enjoying your life!
If you’re not living the life of your dreams, why not? Are you parents to blame? How about your dead-end job? Perhaps you’ve been down-sized and are living paycheck to paycheck?
One of the easiest and most common things to do is to blame everyone else for the way that your life has turned out. The truth of the matter is that YOU are in complete control of your life.
This bears repeating. You are the person who has created the life that you are living this very moment.
All of the choices and decisions that you have made in the past have determined where you are right now. Your life is nothing more than a culmination of all of your past actions.
Of course, there are undoubtedly many wonderful things happening in your life right now. Perhaps you have a wonderful marriage, children, job or financial stability.
However, there are also parts of your life that are not where you would like them to be. Examine these parts of your life and determine what you have done to contribute to these unhappy parts of your life.
Once you realize that outside influences do not determine your success, you’ll discover that you actually have the ability to create the very life that you would like to live. This is an incredibly wonderful realization.
Research suggests that successful individuals take full responsibility for their lives. They take responsibility for their successes and they take responsibility for their failures. Most importantly, successful people realize that all the choices that they make in the present moment will determine their future.
If you decide to watch TV as opposed to working on your business, this choice will shape your future.
If you decide to charge a big-screen TV on a credit card because you don’t have enough cash in your bank account, this choice will shape your future.
And, if you decide to stay working in a dead-end job because it’s too much of a hassle to look for another one, this choice will shape your future.
It’s time to take full responsibility for all of the choices that you make in your life. Once you discover how much control you have over your future success and happiness, you’ll discover the joy in creating a life just as you would like it to be.
Even though there are countless ways that you can use Twitter to build your small business, there are also some obvious activities that you want to avoid at all costs.
Not only will engaging in these activities hurt your business, they can even cause Twitter to suspend your account.
So, avoid these 3 Twitter No-No’s:
1) No spamming. Spamming consists of sending out the same message over and over again (especially if you are sending out your message to the same people over and over again.)
One common practice in Twitter is to send out an automatic Direct Message (DM) to all of your new followers.
I strongly suggest that you avoid this practice. The reason is fairly simple. Many of your followers consider the use of automated DM’s “spam.” Furthermore, people in the Twitter community are allowed to report you for spamming. If enough do, then Twitter can suspend your account instantly. And, once you’re suspended, it’s virtually impossible to get reinstated.
If you do want to welcome new followers, then welcome them personally in a tweet post.
2) No hard-selling. It won’t take long before you notice how many people use a “hard-sell” approach on Twitter. Instead of interacting with their followers and adding value, they blatantly sell themselves and their businesses. Obviously, this approach will only backfire. Your followers will quickly unfollow you, and you’ll build negative buzz about your business. Remember, it’s always about relationships first, sales second. So, leave the hard-selling approach to the used-car salespeople.
3) No “hands-off” approach. Twitter is a social community and if you want to succeed through this tool, you need to be – social. You won’t do well if you automate all your posts and refuse to interact with your followers. If one of your followers asks you a question, answer them. If you notice that someone is facing a problem that you can solve, offer the solution. I suggest that at least three times each day you make a real effort to get social with your Twitter followers. Mingle with your followers and help them realize that there is a real person behind your business.
If you refuse to spam or sell yourself and instead make an effort to relate and interact with your followers, you’ll soon find Twitter a powerful tool that can move your small business forward.
