This brings us to our 3rd of 3 articles this week. I’d like to thank Jessica again for having me as a guest blogger on her site. It has been a pleasure being here this week.
I’m very excited to share that my first full length book will soon be available on Amazon and at bookstores near you. The following is an excerpt from my book, Connect, Communicate and Profit, by D’vorah Lansky. Enjoy and please share your comments!
A key ingredient to growing your online presence is to develop an online branding strategy. As you begin to brand yourself on the Internet, give thought to why it is you want to market your business online and what image you want to convey. Next, determine who your target or niche market is. This will provide you with focus and the ability to brand yourself as an expert in this field.
Here is an analogy between your storefront business and your online business. Your store’s name is analogous to the name of your online business, product, or program offering. Your domain name is comparable to your store’s street address. If someone wants to come to your store, they need to have your store name and your address so that they can find you. Your domain serves as your street address. This is the URL that people will type in the address bar of their Web browser to find your Web site. It is important for people to have an idea as to what your site is about based on your domain name; this will also help with search engine optimization and better ranking in Google.
The foundation of your Internet empire is your Web site. This is your online storefront or office building. Your Web site is where you can house your content, build community, make sales, and grow your business. It is crucial that your Web site reflect your branded image and that you provide ways for people to get to know you.
• Have a welcome audio or video message that your visitors can click on
• Display written, audio, or video testimonials from your customers, clients, and students
• Make sure your Web site is a warm and inviting place where people will want to frequent
• Post fresh and informative written content
Continuing the analogy, let’s talk about advertising. Perhaps you advertise your business on the radio or in your local newspaper. Online you can advertise on Google, Facebook, or by purchasing ad space on someone’s Web site. There are also numerous ways that you can advertise your business for free. You can place your signature, business name, tagline and Web address in your signature on the social networks or forums. You can write articles and in the bio box at the end of the article you can invite people to visit your Web site. You can also advertise via a YouTube video, linking viewers to your products. This will be discussed later.
Networking and interacting with others is a vital component of relationship marketing. Regarding networking, in your community you can go to the chamber of commerce or business networking groups, whereas online, we have social networks and forums. Social networks and forums are to your online business what offline business groups are to more traditional brick and mortar businesses. So, as you can see, setting up an online business is much like setting up and promoting an offline business.
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If you enjoyed this article, I invite you to receive a free chapter of my book at www.ConnectCommunicateProfit.com
I’d love to hear your comments and questions and look forward to getting to know you.
All the best,
D’vorah Lansky
Relationship Marketing Wizard | Author | Speaker | Educator
www.BlogWorldTour.com/blog
Last week I was a lucky audience member at an Oprah taping. (And, if you know anything about me, you know that I am a die-hard Oprah fanatic.)
I had purchased the tickets at an auction a few months back and when I called the reservation line, I was given a choice of a few different dates. However, I wasn’t given any information about who would be on the show or what the show was about, so I simply picked the date that fit best with my schedule.
My sister, Alicia, and I drove down to the city, got in line and soon found out that the guest on the show was none other than Adam Lampert. Now, I hate to show my age (and my obvious cluelessness about the world of entertainment), but I really had NO idea who Adam Lampert was.
Of course, the twenty-year old, Adam Lampert groupie standing in line in front of us, was clearly appalled at our lack of education. Much to her dismay she had to explain to my sister and me that Adam was the Runner-up from the last season of American Idol. She proceeded to show me her T-shirt imprinted with a picture of Adam with his jet-black, wild hair, black eyeliner and unmistaken “glam” look.
Now, I like to think of myself as pretty hip and accepting but, this Adam Lambert was definitely not my style. I think that the black nail polish just threw me for a loop.
Fast forward a few hours later and Oprah calls Adam out to the stage for an interview before he sings his first song.
Well, what can I say? He was absolutely adorable, charming, articulate and incredibly likable. In fact, I really, really LIKED Adam Lambert. Not only that, but when he performed, I was dancing and singing along with the best of the hard-core Adam fans.
After we left the show, my sister and I played his CD on full blast and, I must admit, we’re now big fans. (i.e. if I didn’t have kids, I’d be touring his band.)
The whole, crazy experience made me realize that as much as we avoid “judging a book by its cover,” it happens all the time.
It’s not fair, but prospects are going to make snap judgments the minute they encounter you and your small business. They may judge you on your looks; they may judge you on your gender; they may judge you based on the name of your company. Your prospects make their judgments based on their own personal interactions with the world, so it’s impossible to determine how each prospect will judge you when they first encounter you. However, you can rest assured that you will be judged.
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink states, “Our first impressions are generated by our experiences and our environment, which means that we can change our first impressions . . . by changing the experiences that comprise those impressions.”
The bottom line is that it’s imperative for small business owners to discover a way for prospects to get to know them beyond that first impression. Fortunately, with the vast array of marketing tools available, this isn’t a difficult task to accomplish.
In today’s competitive environment, small business owners who realize that marketing is about cultivating relationships, building trust and remaining transparent are the winners.
If you’re a car sales-person, you’ve certainly run across many individuals who have deep-seeded beliefs about your integrity. As Gladwell suggests, these prospects have developed their impression based on their own experiences and the experiences that they have heard from others.
However, you have the ability to change your prospects’ experiences. It’s within your power to create a brand new, positive experience for your prospect. Obviously, you need to educate, offer value and show your prospects, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are a truthful and honest car sales-person. Because, if you can show them a new reality, they will change their minds.
One of your jobs, as a small business owner, is to continually educate your prospects beyond their initial judgments. You need to showcase your personality and your own unique qualities. This doesn’t mean that you have to put together a slick presentation of your tap-dance skills. You simply need to be you.
Too many small business owners are so wrapped up in “professionalism” that they’re afraid to let their prospects know who they really are; this is a huge mistake. Talk to your prospects; engage them; develop a relationship with them. This is how the new Fortune 500 companies are being built – one relationship at a time.
And remember, as you read this article, I just may be touring with Adam Lampert. He changed my reality – who would have guessed?