Whether you are selling a product or service, there are four powerful marketing principles that are essential to your success. Although these marketing principles are fairly simple, once applied they can be incredibly powerful tools for building your small business.

Most beginning marketers make the mistake of overcomplicating the process of marketing. Consequentially, their results are poor at best. In order to attain a positive return on your marketing investment (whether that investment is time or money), the four basic principles described below are the basic building blocks of marketing success:

1. Understand Your Target Market. It’s impossible to market your product or service if you don’t know who you are selling to and what motivates them to buy. Are your potential clients and customers male or female? What is their typical education level? Are they first time buyers or frequent buyers? What kind of cars do they drive? Are they married or single?  The more information that you are able to gather about your audience, the more targeted and applicable your marketing campaign will be.

2. Nurture Your Relationships. Once you begin identifying potential clients and customers, it’s mandatory to begin developing a relationship with them. Research suggests that your target market needs to be exposed to your company and offer between seven and twelve times before they take action. This is best accomplished by educating them continually about your product and services. You can accomplish this by sending your prospects’ educational articles, informational podcasts, free reports, downloadable ebooks and inviting them to webinars or live seminars. If you are able to effectively educate your prospects as to why they need your product or service, they are much more likely to make a purchase.

3. Deliver An Irresistible Offer. In direct marketing, research suggests that your results are 40% dependent on your list, 40% dependent on your offer and 20% dependent upon the creativity involved. It’s no different for email marketing, ezine marketing, google adwords, etc. It’s important to continually test various offers to your prospects.  Eventually, you will be able to pinpoint an offer that outperforms all the rest and that your prospects find utterly irresistible. If your offer provides a satisfactory solution to your target market, at the right time and the right price, your sales could increase by up to 400%.

4. Communicate a Powerful Message. Once you understand your audience and have identified problems that they are facing within your industry, you will be able to craft a message that succinctly solves their problem. Your marketing message should also differentiate your product or service from your competition. It’s also important that you focus on the benefits of your product or service as opposed to the features. If your marketing message is compelling enough, it will undoubtedly move your prospects to take action.

The next time you are putting together a marketing campaign, apply these four marketing principles. Understanding your target market, nurturing your relationships, delivering an irresistible offer and communicating to them effectively are the essential foundations for any marketing campaign to attain favorable results.

I have a very strange question to ask you. Do you believe in dating someone before you get married? My guess is that you’re rolling your eyes and saying, “Of course, you should date before you get married! Are you crazy?”

The reason I’m asking this crazy question is because many small business owners expect their prospects to commit to a serious relationship with them before they even know them. Think about it for a minute.

Most small business owners put up their company website and wait for the prospects to start pouring in the door. If prospects land on the website, that same small business owner expects the customer to simply shell over their hard-earned money instantly.

The problem is that it just doesn’t work like that. Customers want to get to know you before they commit. They need to trust you, like you and understand you. It’s really no different than marriage.

Research suggests that customers need to connect with you an average of seven to twelve times before they are ready to take out their wallet and spend money to do business with you. In all reality, your customer is going to do business with you when they are ready to do business with you.

That means that we need strategies to connect with our prospects in a multiple of different ways. We want to be a constant reminder to our customers that when they are ready to buy, we are there to support them. The only way this can be accomplished is by continuing to build a meaningful relationship with our prospects.

The good news is that this doesn’t need to an overwhelmeing task. In fact, much of the connections with your prospects can be accomplished through the power of automation.

Here’s an example of how I “woo” my prospects and develop a serious relationship with them.

First of all, through my various marketing efforts, they arrive at my landing page. My landing page is designed with one purpose in mind. Mainly, I want my prospect to feel safe, secure and begin the process of “getting to know me.” I’m not expecting a sale on the first encounter.

In addition, I offer my prospects free and valuable information that allows them to get to know me. If my prospect feels comfortable with my landing  page, they supply me with their name and email. This is where the relationship begins and the real automation kicks in.

Once I have a prospect’s information, I connect with them in a number of ways:

•    Email autoresponder messages that are sent out automatically;

•    Videos for my prospect to watch;

•    Podcasts and audio reports to listen to;

•    Special reports that I have written that highlight my industry;

•    A chance to subscribe to my blog and learn more about shoestring marketing;

•    Invitations to special webinars or teleseminars that I host.

Naturally, there are dozens of other ways that you can connect with your prospects and begin to build powerful relationships. Let your imagination be your guide.

Most importantly, you must give your prospects many different ways to connect with you and to begin building that incredibly valuable relationship. Because once they feel a strong connection with you, they usually end up making that commitment.

Most likely you’ve heard the idea that you are only removed by any other person in the world by “six degrees of separation.” The theory (made popular by Stanley Milgram), suggests that  “if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is only six steps away from any other person on Earth.”

Interestingly enough, this very theory can be applied to your small business. If you need to contact a boss, colleague, consultant or prospective customer, client or employer, it’s obvious to tap into your own network of connections.

But, what if there was a way to tap into the connections of the people that they know, and the connections of people that they know, and so on? Most likely, you wouldn’t have to go through more than 4-6 connections to find the exact person that you are looking for.

So how can you tap into a network that allows you to leverage the power of your connections quickly and efficiently?  That network is called LinkedIn.
What Is LinkedIn?

Once you have registered for a free account through LinkedIn, you are able to invite others to “connect” with you through the site.
Once you begin connecting with others, you are able to ask them to connect you with their network. (The entire system is built on referrals, so there is a good amount of quality control already built in.)

LinkedIn  (much like any networking site) works best when you apply simple and strategic marketing strategies to boost its effectiveness.

Here Are Ten Tips For Making LinkedIn Work For You and Your Small Business:

1. Complete Your Profile. It’s important that you add as much important and relevant information about your small business as possible. Your profile is the first impression that you make upon your prospects and business partners. Make sure to include a picture, past job experiences, current job experience and personal information. The more information people are able to take away from your profile, the better connection they will have with you.

2. Keep Your Profile Fresh And Up To Date. Don’t make the mistake of creating a LinkedIn profile only to let it stack up with dust. Make sure that as you change jobs or achieve business recognition that you update your profile to reflect this.

3. Connect With Clients, Customers, Co-workers and Colleagues. It’s important to connect with past and current individuals in your field. However, it’s also a wonderful way to find new clients and learn about exciting new job opportunities in your field. Remember, that the main purpose of LinkedIn is to create a giant network of possibilities for you and your small business.

4. Use LinkedIn To Research Prospective Business Partners or Prospect. Before you contact a new business partner or prospective client, make sure to research them through LinkedIn. Their LinkedIn profile functions much like a resume and will provide you with insight about their potential strengths and/or weaknesses.

5. Get Recommendations. It’s fairly simple to gather recommendations from individuals in your LinkedIn network, In fact, all you need to do is click a link. Of course, the more professionals that are able to vouch for your products and services, the better your business will appear to others.

6. Use LinkedIn to search for consultants and contractors. There is a great component in LinkedIn called the “Service Provider” feature. It allows you to pre-screen and research independent business people.

7. Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups. As you become involved in LinkedIn, it is in your best interest to join groups that are relevant to your particular field or industry. There are thousands of LinkedIn groups and you can find even more connections by becoming an active participant in several of these groups.

8. Create a LinkedIn Group. If you are interested in being perceived as an expert, then you will want to create your own LinkedIn Group that you personally manage. Once you create the group, you can invite others in your network to join. If you promote your group effectively, you can eventually have hundreds, even thousands of members that you are able to communicate with on a consistent basis.

9. Tap Into The “Question and Answers” Feature. One immense bonus of LinkedIn is the fact that you are able to ask thousands of business professionals important questions, receive immediate answers at no cost to you. In addition, you can answer other business professionals questions and, again, position yourself as an expert in your industry.

10. Respect The Network. Always remember that your LinkedIn connections must be treated with the utmost respect. Answer your emails, respond to questions and give appropriate recommendations. If you are going to be a part of the LinkedIn community then you need to be involved and active in order to find success.  The good news is that it only takes a few minutes every day to reap the rewards.

If used correctly and consistently, LinkedIn can be a powerful networking tool for the small business owner. To learn more about LinkedIn go to: www.LinkedIn.com.

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?

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably aware that social media marketing is all the rage right now. Not only is it popular for personal use, but also for savvy business owners looking for ways to market their businesses efficiently and economically.

But, if find yourself tentative about jumping into the social media marketing scene, you’re not alone. Marketing through social media platforms is an entirely different experience for most business owners. And, of course, “different” always causes hesitation.

Interestingly enough, walking into the social media scene is much like walking into a huge cocktail party. In both instances you are going to meet people of all shapes and sizes.

Here are the ways that I often categorize social media types:

1) Shy and Awkward. This person lurks in the shadows and is afraid to interact with anyone. They stand on the sidelines listening and observing, but are too afraid to step into the party and start meeting people. Unfortunately, by remaining in the background, they will never understand the entire experience.

2) Loud and Obnoxious. You know this one! You can hear their voice booming from miles away. They talk too loud, too much and monopolize the conversations. No one can get a word in edgewise.

3) Life Of the Party. These are the people that make you laugh. They have funny stories to tell, positive comments to make and just make the party more fun. You always look forward to talking with them again. They may get a bit goofy and dance with a lampshade on their head, but you must admit that they always add that extra spice.

4) Know-It-All. You are going to meet at least one person who seems to have all the answers. In addition, they aren’t afraid to tell you what you are doing wrong, how to do it right and why you should listen to them. Always remember that the know-it-all usually doesn’t know-it-all.

5) The Bore. We have all been stuck in the corner, at one time or another, with the person who drones on and on about their “Aunt Mary’s blood pressure medication.”  Since there doesn’t seem to be any easy escape, you end up nodding in agreement at their mind-numbing stories for hours on end.

6) The No-Show. There’s always someone who doesn’t show up. They say that they will be there, but “something always comes up!” They RSVP, have the best of intentions, but just never quite get there.

7) Friendly Interactor. This is what the party is all about. The friendly people who ask questions, make you smile, share fun stories and remind you that coming to the party was worth it after all (even if you did have to suffer through a few obnoxious, boring, know-it-alls in the process)!

So, in my own experience social media mimics the real world. You just need to decide how you want to be perceived, the type of people you want to gather around and, of course, the type of people you want to avoid.

So, get into that party and meet all the different varieties of people. In the end, you’ll be glad that you did.

If there’s one piece of advice that outshines and outperforms time and time again, it’s the idea of offering free materials and resources to your prospective clients and customers.

In my opinion, there is nothing that you can do to catapult your business more quickly to the top.

The first reason is that marketing has changed dramatically in the past few years. People are sick of interruptive ads and hate being sold. The consumer is becoming more immune to the old ways of advertising and is looking for ways to interact with the companies that they do business with.

Today’s marketplace wants to develop relationship with companies before they make a purchase. So, it’s your job to make sure that there are plenty of different ways for the customer to get to know you.

The second reason is that by offering your prospects a free sample of your product or service, it allows them to get a taste for who you are and what you represent.

Your local grocery store has been using this exact concept for years. While you are strolling the aisles, they offer you a free sample of a tasty food item. You probably wouldn’t have purchased that item until you tasted it. Now, you’ve sampled it and you’re hooked!

It’s really no different with your prospects. Once they have sampled your wares, they are much more likely to make a purchase. Especially in today’s overcrowded marketplace, if you aren’t doing anything to separate yourself from your competition, your prospective clients and customers will simply ignore you.

The third reason is that when you offer your prospects free resources, it automatically positions you as an expert in your particular industry. If your free product/resource is high quality (and it must be high quality!) then, your prospects will automatically trust your authority in this particular field.

The best news is that developing free offers and resources doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task.  The most important factor when creating your free resource is to make sure that it’s not a sales pitch. It needs to be educational, informative and essentially solve a problem that your prospects are facing.

If you are able to create an instructional free offer that teaches your prospect something that they didn’t know before, the long-term benefits are priceless.

There are dozens of examples including:

- Downloadable e-books

- Downloadable audio classes

- Articles

- E-Courses

- Ezine or Newsletter Subscriptions

- Special Reports

- Videos

- CD’s

- DVD’s

- Free Webinars/Teleseminars

- Complimentary Coaching Sessions

- Free Local Seminars

Obviously the sky is the limit and creativity helps. If you are able to write or produce the material yourself, that’s wonderful. If you need to hire an inexpensive “ghost-writer” go to: www.guru.com and describe your project in detail. You will soon have dozens of people who will bid on your project for a very reasonable amount.

When clients access free material that you have developed, they will intrinsically view you as an expert in your industry. They will get to know you and your business style and begin to trust you.  Of course, trust is a key component to building a lasting business relationship.

I truly love Twitter. Without question, Twitter had increased my visibility, created thousands of leads for my small business and produced dozens of sales for my products and services.

And every single day of the week, I run into quite a few self-proclaimed “Twitter-Experts.” 

Of course, as with any industry, I find that all of the soapbox experts fall into one of three main Twitter categories: 

1) The “Twitter Virtuoso” with interesting and often remarkable advice;

2) The “Quasi-Twitter Expert” who has an average suggestion here or there;

3) The “Twittering Fool” who shouldn’t even be on Twitter in the first place.

There are hundreds of great tips and strategies that come from experienced individuals who are truly boosting their income through the power of Twitter. However, beware of those crows who are masquerading as eagles. If you listen to them, your Twitter days will be incredibly disappointing.

Here are the five worst tips I have personally received regarding marketing on Twitter:

1) Don’t Promote Yourself. This is bad advice on so many different levels. Obviously, any savvy marketer understands that you don’t jump on Twitter and start tweeting “Check out my product…it’s really the best one in the world!” This just goes without saying.

However, if you are using Twitter as a marketing tool you need to do a bit of balanced marketing. There are only so many Tweets in which you can tell your followers what you are having for dinner until people start to unfollow you.

Twitter is a two-way street. Of course you are there to ask questions, listen and interact with your followers. But, you also need to let your followers know about blog posts, articles and press releases that highlight you and your business. Don’t be afraid to do a bit of self-promoting.

2) Don’t Autofollow. I absolutely disagree with this advice. I use www.SocialOomph.com to automatically follow everyone who follows me. I then get to know whom I am following through their Tweets. If I find they are annoying, rude or inappropriate, I unfollow them.  But, how can I make a decision to follow someone based on a 140-word profile?  For all I know, this person could be the next Faulkner with some of the most profound Tweets known to mankind.

I can only decide if someone is worth following AFTER I am following them and reading their Tweets. I truly believe that it is in good taste to follow everyone who follows you and then unfollow those who are not compatible with you. Not to mention that it takes too much time to manually decide whom to follow and whom to ignore.

3) Don’t Use Automated Software For Posts. There are some individuals that believe that automated posts (posts that you preschedule through a service like www.socialoomph.com) are too impersonal. However, I preload helpful marketing and small business quotes into socialoomph.com and auto-send them out throughout the day to my followers. Many of my followers love these quotes and actually look forward to them. Plus, it keeps my small business in front of my followers as much as possible.

Of course, I also log into Twitter every day and interact personally with my followers as well. I believe that if you combine auto-posts with personal interaction, you will leverage the power of Twitter in a much more meaningful way.

4) Keep Daily Stats On How Many People Unfollow You.  This is one of the strangest tips that I have received. First of all, who has time for this? And second, I really don’t care who unfollows me. Really. If someone doesn’t like my Tweets, then they SHOULD unfollow me. I am not on Twitter to make sure that everything I say appeals to every single person. I am on Twitter to connect with interesting and like-minded people.

5) Your Tweets Should Always Be Witty, Educational or Profound. Obviously, in the ideal world this would be the case. But, the last time I checked, most people on Twitter are not professional writers, bloggers, and word-smiths. They are just regular people making connections. Of course, you should strive to add value and interact with people. But, don’t worry so much that every Tweet is a witty comedy sketch. Just be yourself and have fun.

Twitter is an amazing and powerful marketing tool. However, besides spamming and other illicit behaviors, there are not many “rules” that you must follow in order to be a part of Twitter.

In my opinion, Twitter is mainly about using common sense.  Interact, be nice, ask questions, listen, and add value.  And of course, just be yourself and have a little fun.

Over the past ten years marketing has changed more than any other time in history. The marketing world has gone through three main transitions that are important for the small business owner to understand.

1) Traditional Marketing includes tools such as television, radio, billboards and direct mail. The marketing message is commanding and directive and there is no interaction between the marketer and the consumer. As a result, consumers began to distrust the commanding nature of traditional marketing and turned to the internet in order to feel more in control over their purchasing choices.

As consumers moved online, traditional marketing was forced to change. Small business owners realized that they needed to utilize the internet to reach their clients and customers. Thus, internet marketing was born.

2) Internet Marketing includes tools such as pay-per-click advertising, banner ads, text ads, solo ads, etc. Internet marketing is more dynamic and more focused on the wants of the customer than traditional marketing avenues.

However, the consumer continued to change. They wanted even more participation in their purchasing decisions and wanted to become personally involved in the buying process.

As a result, consumers developed various networks of trusted friends and colleagues through social media platforms to help them in their purchasing decisions. Thus, small business owners were forced to embrace new marketing tools in order to market their businesses and relate to customers in an entirely different way.

3) New Media Marketing includes tools such as blogs, video sites, social networking sites and podcasts. This marketing approach is vastly different from either traditional or internet marketing. Instead of an aggressive, pushy and a one-sided dialogue, there is an open process that includes listening, interaction and involvement between the consumer and business owner.

Today’s consumers are savvier than ever before. They aren’t interested in the commanding and directive ways of traditional marketing. Instead, they are interested in interacting and developing relationships with the companies they do business with.

Therefore, another way to understand the vast changes in the marketing world is to divide marketing into two distinct categories: interruption marketing and relationship marketing.

Interruption marketing is exactly what the name implies. It is marketing that “interrupts” the consumer. For instance, as you watch a TV show, a commercial cuts into your program. Or, as you listen to the radio, an ad abruptly takes over your favorite song.

Research suggests that consumers detest interruption marketing. Here are some interesting statistics that show how quickly interruption marketing is dying:

According to Justin Kirby and Paul Marsden authors of Connected Marketing:

• 90% of people, who are able to skip TV ads, do skip TV ads.

• 65% of people believe they are constantly bombarded with too much advertising.

• 56% of people avoid buying from companies that they feel advertise too much.

According to a McKinsey and Co. Report:

In just a few short years, traditional TV advertising will:

• be 1/3 as effective as it used to be.

• experience a 23% decline in ads due to switching the ads off.

• experience a 37% decrease in the marketing message due to saturation.

A report put out by The Internet Advertising Bureau states:

• In 1980 fewer ads reached more people with undivided attention.

• In the 2000’s more ads reach less people with shorter attention spans.

So, what do these statistics mean to you and your marketing plan? In a nutshell, our audiences are changing so our marketing needs to change.

People are tired of traditional advertising. They are sick of “being sold” and want to make purchases in a completely different environment. Research clearly suggests that consumers are moving away from trusting directive advertising and moving toward trusting their friends, their networks and the networks that they have created around themselves.

More and more consumers are moving online to establish this network of trusted friends and colleagues. They are active in social networking sites, business networking sites, sharing sites, and publishing sites. Therefore, if you want to capture the attention of this new consumer, then you need to move online as well.

However, it’s not enough to simply build a website on the internet. You must develop ways to genuinely interact with your potential clients and customers.

The good news is that there are hundreds of free marketing platforms that allow you to engage with your prospects in very authentic ways. Blogs, videos, podcasts, ezines, articles, press releases and social media sites are all new tools perfectly designed to communicate with your target market.

You are currently part of the most exciting marketing phase in history. Anyone can quickly and efficiently grow their small business, using a combination of effective marketing tools, without spending a dime.
 
So, go ahead and begin your journey into the exhilarating world of free marketing.

What is the definition of marketing? The dictionary states that marketing is “the business activity of presenting products or services in such a way as to make them desirable.”

Obviously, marketing consists of writing great ad-copy, producing creative business cards and designing innovative websites that sell your products and services.

However, there is an integral part missing from the dictionary definition of marketing. In fact, the missing ingredient is so important that it can literally mean success or failure for the small business owner.

Marketing is actually “every single interaction we have with our potential customers and clients that present our products or services in such a way as to make them desirable.”

Of course, every small business understands that their newspaper ad is a marketing tool. They accept the fact that a coupon will bring more customers through the door.

However, what many business owners miss is that the way that they answer the phone is a marketing tool. How they respond to an angry customer is a marketing tool. And, even the way their storefront “looks and feels” is, again, a marketing tool.

Every time your potential customers or clients interact with you or your brand, they form an opinion about your products or services. It doesn’t matter whether the interactions are positive or negative; each interaction makes an immediate impression in the minds of your prospects.

Many years ago, my family and I were on vacation in Minnesota. There was a quaint little ice cream parlor on the side of the road that was hidden behind trees and brush. Many business consultants would have considered the location and cold climate a death wish for that little ice cream store.

In fact, two other “big chain” ice cream stores had already failed in the very same town.

However, what those business consultants didn’t realize was the impression this particular ice cream parlor made on its customers. When customers ordered their ice cream, the owners always added a little bit extra. Whether it was extra sprinkles, a drizzle of chocolate sauce or a few additional strawberries, you got more than you paid for.

As a result, people literally waited in long lines that weaved out into the parking lot in the dead of winter.

If this ice cream store had solely depended on local newspaper ads and the yellow pages to market their business, they would have ceased to exist. However, the store owners understood that good marketing is also about making positive and lasting impressions in the minds of your prospects.

So, take your customer interactions very seriously, for once you’ve made your mark on your customer’s mind, it’s very difficult to change.

If you’re a small business owner who is serious about boosting your income, listen up! Your profile picture matters.
 
I have seen thousands of profile pictures including those that are silly, indecent, weird and just plain unprofessional.

Obviously, if you are utilizing free-marketing strategies, you’re going to tap into social media marketing. And ALL of these sites allow you to upload your picture.

Remember, marketing is all about transparency, visibility and connectiveness.  That is, people want to get to know the person “behind the company.”

When people come to your profile page on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, what is the very first thing that they look at? Your picture of course!

Now, obviously it’s not a beauty contest. As of right now, there aren’t any prizes for the “Best-Looking Facebook Profile Picture.”  So, please don’t start down the path of “I’m too fat, too ugly, too old…”  There are some “great-looking” marketers and some rather “unexceptional-looking” marketers out there.  It’s not their beauty that scores them points. But, what all good marketers have in common is that they do put up a professional profile picture to better relate with their audience.

Here are the Top Ten Profile Picture Disasters (that I have personally witnessed):

1. The “Trying To Be Sexy” Profile Picture. You absolutely must cover yourself up. There is nothing less professional than a scantily clothed business-person. (Except, for #5)

2. The “Blurred” or “Too Dark” Profile Picture.  If it’s not a clear picture, don’t use it.

3. “Your Child” As Your Profile Picture.  If you use your child as your profile picture, there will be many misconceptions.  Believe it or not, people will actually think that your child is YOU and immediately exit your page. So, keep your children in your photo albums where they belong.

4. “Your Dog” As Your Profile Picture. Those who know me, know that I am absolutely crazy about my little Chihuahua.  But, as adorable as she is, I do not use her as my profile picture.

5. The “Chugging A Beer” Profile Picture.  Enough said.

6. The “Sideways” Profile Picture.  If you upload your picture and it ends up sideways, you NEED to fix it. We don’t want to have to do acrobats to be able to see you.

7. The “Faraway” Profile Picture.  It is never fun to try and make out someone who is  1/16th  of an inch big. We should never have to get out a magnifying glass to see you.

8. The “Way Too Serious” Profile Picture. I truly believe that individuals should smile in their profile picture. In addition, there was a research study conducted on Twitter that suggested that people who smile gain 28% more followers.  Who wants to do business with Debbie-Downer? So put on a smile, it’s really not that bad.

9. The “Trying To Be Goofy For No Reason At All” Profile Picture. Until you have truly created your brand, don’t go for the goofy hats, clothes and antics. It really does send out the wrong message.
 
10. The “No Picture At All” Profile Picture. This is the worst offense of all. Please put up a profile picture if you are using social media sites. People want to see you. And I have heard time and time again that people oftentimes won’t connect with people without pictures. Social media is “social.” So, show us who you are.

If one of the above disasters describes your picture, then you have a decision to make. You can simply keep your profile picture “as is,” or you can take the time to upload a picture that represents you as a true professional.

Like it or not, your profile picture speaks volumes about you. So, do your best to use a picture that you want the world to see.