Purple Diamond Marketing Blog

[note: these tips are just suggestions and it is up to the individual business to determine what is best for their business.]

1.)    Frequency is key!

Posting an update at least once per day  and adding  “friends / fans”  to your personal and business page must be on-going and with effort.  Do not wait for people to friend you….find them and invite them to YOUR page!
*Inspirational Quotes, Questions that create discussions, Videos from YouTube and Posting about important upcoming events are great fillers when you are struggling for an idea to post for your daily update.
2.)     NO controversial posts or comments to anyone who has posted something that can have a polarized issue unless they follow your brand for your business.
3.)    Interact with Others!
Happy Birthdays / Like button when appropriate and genuine comments to their posts.
4.)    Add photos and videos!

*People are drawn to pictures so if you have something you want people to notice be sure to add a picture with your post.
5.)    Need both a Personal and a Business Page!

Building a Fans page [or Business page] without paying for a Facebook ad requires building it through your personal page so you must have both to grow your followers! If you are worried about your personal content being seen you can choose to use the new privacy settings.  But, if you are on Facebook to gain more contacts and help market your business it makes sense to keep your personal page free from embarrassing pictures or content you would not share openly.  Remember, you are on the internet and even the best privacy setting might not keep people out so think before you post or upload a picture, but don’t avoid Facebook because you are afraid to be found.  It is more powerful than your website and if used well it can drive traffic to your website….it offers a great opportunity to promote your services on a larger scale because it reaches more people daily!
6.)    Use the Event page when you have an upcoming event.

7.)    Invite your friends from your personal page to your business page at least once every 2 weeks.  If you have been building friends you will have new people each time to send an invite to.
8.)    Don’t be afraid to ASK for your friends help and be sure to give help to others!
9.)    JOIN JOIN JOIN……the more business pages and groups you belong to the more your business gets exposure!
10.)    Don’t hand this important job off to your staff…this is one of the fastest and quickest way to make a warm sales call and it has replaced COLD CALLING in a huge way.
11.)     If you have a blog be sure to post active links to your blog AND your website on a regular basis.
12.)    GAMES do not send a great message unless you sell games!

There is a tendency to get caught up in to the games and surveys on Facebook, but it clutters your wall and takes away time for connecting with others and growing your contacts.
13.)    Early posting in the morning can have favorable results.
14.)    Don’t sell sell sell…….remember that most people run from salesmen so be sure to not come on too strong.  Be genuine and represent your business with a positive voice.
15.)    HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE & PATIENCE….this is a new marketing tool and has no exact numbers, but it is a great source that is still free and worth using!

If you are still struggling with Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter or you are not sure if having a blog is right for your business, consider hiring Purple Diamond for marketing coaching or a one on one consult.

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

As more and more newspapers are creating an on-line version of their daily paper to compliment the paper version of their publication and sharing it with Facebook and other on-line social media networks, advertisers are taking a second look at the importance of placing an ad or having their picture in the paper! This past year my own picture at various business networking events has been in The Salem News at least a dozen times and today many of my business friends were featured in the business section of the local paper while attending the North Shore Business Forum! Does this help with sales in a company? It doesn’t hurt!

The key to marketing is to help people remember YOU and to connect what you do with something they need or want!  A picture in the business section of the newspaper, a press release or an ad in the paper is just a small part of the strategy that smart business owners employ.  It is the additional press that comes from strategically using Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other sites to bring that one article or photo to the attention of others in a way that shares a story about your business and why doing business with you is special.  Never over look the power of having business friends via Facebook or Linkedin who share your message and recommend your work.  Just by stating that they are a client is their own endorsement of your brand! And, the newspapers understand this and that is why they have created their own “Fans or Like” pages on Facebook and have set-up on-line articles that can be shared quickly and they encourage their readers to post their own views and comments.   On-line banner ads that link directly to a business website and the new commercial video ads are starting to get the attention of the business community and their potential clients.  Newspapers, once thought of as a thing of the past, are stepping up by using the internet strategically to get the attention of both the readers and the business community.  If you have not been in the paper lately, perhaps it is time to consider submitting a press release with a photo or taking out an ad that will be seen in both their paper version and on-line site.

All my best to your success! ~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

As we approach the Memorial Holiday Weekend and the official start of summer many businesses know that this is a time in which their own business slows down because of their clients, colleagues and staff have vacations.  So, what do you do during the slower days of summer which can help to increase sales for your business?

The first thing I recommend is that if you have not had a vacation and you are working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, you really need to take a week at the beginning of the summer and RELAX and ENERGIZE yourself!  Think back to when you were in college cramming for finals and trying to exist on 2-3 hours of sleep a night.  Let’s face it, you became a walking zombie who only got through the week of hell because you knew that there was an end date to exam week and then a vacation break directly after.  As a business owner, learning to recognize the signs of “burn-out” is key to your success and longevity in the industry.  Stepping away from your business and in to a week or two of fun and relaxation will have you refreshed and ready to make the most of working the remaining days of summer with new ideas and a vitality that could be missing right now.

The second thing I recommend to do during the quieter months of summer is to prospect for new business.  Attend business networking groups that are outside your local area, go to workshops and seminars that attract businesses that could be potential clients, and spend time taking key clients that may still be working hard like you out to lunch or for a day of golf as a way of thanking them for their business. Use this time to  reach out to your customers with cards or emails during the slower months which will help with retention and possibly expand your business if you add a “refer-a-friend” program in the newsletter.

Finally, the summer is a great time to meet and do planning for your marketing for the remaining year and in to 2011.  One of the biggest problems that small businesses have is that they are always putting out fires and often do not have time for real planning or creating a strategy for their marketing.  Their websites never get updated, they still struggle with understanding how to position social on-line networking as a way to market their business and they seldom analyze what the ROI is for the advertisements that they are currently running.   The hit or miss type of marketing they have done all year often is a result of being hurried and the summer months allows the time to organize, regroup and make a successful plan.

In addition to these three things, summer is a great time to do an office make-over or have a professional organizer help you to set-up systems that work for your business.  Move your desk,  paint the walls, add a few plants and have an organizer help you to get rid of the piles of paper and watch how fast your sales improve when your work space is one that you are happier working in!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

With a flood of information coming to people daily via texting and tweeting, email marketing, posts from social networking sites and specific on-line groups, print ads and flyers,  radio spots, TV commercials, etc….the need for you to repeat your message again and again and again is more important than ever before in business! Even a mailed wedding invitation, as I found out recently when planning my daughter’s wedding, does not get the same attention it did in years past because our life has gone from highway speeds of 55mph to speeds that are dangerously reckless and cluttered with drivers who are busy texting while racing to and from life.  And, whether we agree or not with this new communication  lifestyle that is very cluttered, it doesn’t really matter, you still need to promote your business marketing message in a way that will be heard and produce positive results!

“Repetition is key!”, this is a well-known phrase that anyone in advertising will share.  Whether you are doing TV commercials or radio spots or any traditional form of advertising, the schedule’s effectiveness depends upon the message standing out and the frequency of it being heard or seen. It used to be standard that it took 3-5 times for a person to see a TV commercial before they recognized that they saw the spot…..that was when life was simpler and a person wasn’t multi-tasking while watching TV.  Today we are on Facebook, tweeting on our cell phones and reading emails all while watching our favorite TV shows so if you are using any of these ways to reach your potential market you need to understand that one message just won’t be heard.  Don’t think because you posted one announcement on your Linkedin page, created an event page on Facebook  or spread the word on Twitter that everyone knows about a business event you are hosting on a certain day.  You need to post the message many times in the weeks to come on many different social networking sites, hand out numerous flyers, email more than once about it, and if your budget allows it needs to be promoted on radio, TV and print!  Send that message “again and again and again” because repetition and a creative message is the only way to cut through the noise and flood of information that each person has in their life today.  Being nice and not wanting to bombard people with your message leads to poor sales or an event that is not well attended.  Leave the politeness to your competitor because the businesses that are succeeding get their message out by sending it over and over again.  Think of the TV commercials that you say you are sick of seeing….these are the businesses that are getting top sales.  You cannot afford to be shy in business.  If you have an important message you need to be ready to do all that it takes to be heard.  Use everything you can to reach potential clients on-line and in person and be sure to reach them more than once.  And, if you still have not jumped in to using the internet effectively to help promote your business be sure to contact a marketing coach who can teach you how to be successful on-line.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

I have never played a game on Facebook, but I have gotten several clients this past year from effectively using this social networking site.  So, why are some people getting clients and others are saying it is a big waste of time?  “Attitude and aptitude!”  If a person doesn’t believe that on-line social networking is important to the growth of their business, it is as good as a salesman who doesn’t believe in his product trying to sell it door to door. After the 7th door slams on the salesman’s face he drags himself back to the office and announces that no one wants the product and it can’t be sold, but other sales reps still sell it with ease.   Business owners who  tell people that they haven’t gotten any customers from Facebook are like that same salesman who quit.  What is the difference? Well, many business owners tell me they play games or spend time reading other people’s posts and never comment and are lucky to get on Facebook maybe 2 times a week and rarely post an update.  YIKES!!! This is not the attitude you need to be successful with on-line social networking.  A positive attitude and the belief that on-line social networking is an important new marketing tool that will help your business if used consistently and correctly is half of what you need.  This brings us to the other half, the “aptitude” part of how both navigate the sites and what to actually post while there.  There are a list of  “do’s and don’ts” that I share with my clients, but they can differ depending on the industry you are in and what you are trying to achieve from using these sites.   For instance, for many businesses I warn that playing games or tending “farmVille” on Facebook is not the best use of your social networking time, but if you were an internet company about to launch a new on-line game this could be exactly where you want to be since your potential market is drawn to these programs.   Another “don’t” that I share with my clients is to stay clear of any topic that is political or religious based or could prompt people to be polarized in their views unless you are a political analyst or gain from taking a stand in such controversial discussions.  The “do’s” I tell my clients is to work on connecting with people and adding them to your personal page and to your business “Fan” page which has recently been renamed to the “Like” page.  If you are trying to expand your reach, why limit your contacts??? Unless you are saying no to a direct competitor, I would be inviting people to get to know you and your business.  And, once you have them there, you have got to interact.  Think of it this way, you have just invited 50 people to your home and instead of greeting them at the door and introducing them to others, you have gone to your bedroom to take a nap and to allow the party to go on without you.  WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!   The party is in the living room and it is filled with people who like you enough to show-up and they each know about 150-200 people and many of those people they connect with quickly with their own social on-line networking so if you are not being a good host, you just might lose out on a potential referral or introduction to key contacts.  Frequency of posting and interaction with other people when they post is how to use these sites well.  And, if your aptitude is such that you get confused when you are trying to navigate the various sites, then you need to call your kids in to the room and ask them for help because there are 10 year olds who are on Facebook setting up “event invitations” and  for their own birthday party or “surveys” for their school projects.  Your parents are posting photos of their grand kids and sharing them out to their friends so if you think that uploading a company photo to your business page requires your web designer, you are wrong….”tweet” or text your parents and ask for their help! And, if you still have not set-up a Twitter account and haven’t learned to text, please do so today.

I give one-on-one coaching to clients who are still struggling with the new technology, but every social networking site has a “help” section and commonly asked questions that will quickly make you an expert on how to gain the aptitude of how to navigate the site.  If you choose to embrace on-line social networking and have a positive attitude and a great aptitude for connecting with others and building your network, then you may be smiling as I did today when I received an email on Facebook with ANOTHER referral for my marketing services from one of the many contacts that are on my page!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.  All I am I owe to my mother.  I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her. ~ George Washington.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and as many of the local retailers are scrambling to make a profit on this recognized day of honoring your mother, I decided to devote my marketing blog topic on how your parents have impacted the success of your business.   As the quote above from our first president points out, George Washington’s mother had a profound impact on the success of his life.  What impact did your mother or father have on the success of your business?

My father passed away in 1992, but he was the role model I used for my life in terms of career success.  He was a self made man who didn’t have anything handed to him.  He brought his enthusiasm and passion for life in to his dream of having his own business.  With six kids he was able to accomplish more than most people would dream of accomplishing. His business grew steadily even during a couple of recessions and during the paper shortage of the early 1970’s that affected the printing and design business that he was in.  He had a natural ability to connect with people and to service customers in a way that he seldom lost accounts.  People could see he was genuine and caring and a smart business man.

My mother was the nurturer in the family and I recognized that you need this as the glue to hold everything together in your home and business.  Someone has to do the day to day work of making sure everyone is looked after and if something needed to be fixed, my mother was the one who either got one of us to do it or hired a professional to handle it.  She was great at managing people and projects even though she never worked outside the home all the years of my life.  Both of my parents were advocates for education and making sure their team of 6 kids had opportunity to gain knowledge and skills that would carry us through our life.  My Dad understood that you were never done learning and this has been the foundation to my own business model as I continue to gain more skills as today’s technology constantly changes the landscape in the marketing and advertising field.

Why is all of this important for a business owner to see about their parents beyond the Mother’s Day holiday theme?  Most of what we have today is because of who we were when we were small and the biggest influence on our life and our business is our parents.  We take the best of them and make it our own.  We also try to avoid the parts we may not have liked, but often that gets rolled up in to all of this, too.  So, if you had a parent who was afraid to take risks and never dared to own their own business and you saw this as a negative, you may wish to thank them today for you starting your own company.  And, if you, like me, had a mother who was obsessive about making sure things got fixed, the mortgage paid and that the house was picked-up and in order.  Well, I guess, like me, you need to say “THANKS MOM” for teaching me to  prioritize bills and manage projects, all while presenting an orderly appearance.

Look closely at how much your business has been influenced by your parents and be sure to  stop in at a local retailer today to buy your Mother a Mother’s Day gift!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

This past year I have been the director of the Educational Seminars for the Beverly Chamber and yesterday we had an excellent speaker, Keith Boudreau of The Growth Coach, who shared his knowledge about Strategic Marketing.  As a marketing coach and owner of an advertising agency you might think it odd that I was thrilled to attend this seminar and listen to Keith, but this was one of the pearls of wisdom Keith shared with the group and that I have said from day one….don’t let your ego get in the way of your success.  Being open to the idea that you may not know everything and attending educational seminars, hiring a marketing coach or a business consultant can give you greater insight in to what might be holding you back in your business.  Take advantage of the resources in your area and attend educational seminars that will help you in business…recognize that even an expert listens to other experts!

Today’s business environment and landscape has changed drastically since many CEO’s were in college studying the basics in preparation to the position they are in today.  Many of the computer software tools we all use in our business didn’t exist when we were in college.  And, some of the most successful entrepreneurs did not even go to college, but what these individuals knew from the start was that they needed to be open to listening to others and asking questions of their customers and hiring a strong team of business professionals to support them.   Growing in wisdom takes an open mind.  If you are not attending seminars and keeping up with the latest and greatest in your field, then you may wish to choose a field you are more passionate about because yesterday’s seminar was attended by some of the most successful businesses in the chamber.  If you are wondering why these businesses continue to remain strong and not lose market share during difficult times, you may wish to ask their CEO if he has attended an educational seminar lately or hired a consultant to help his business.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Yesterday, I had news that a friend of mine who I went to college with passed away.  He had lost his job last year when the economy tanked and was having no success being hired in a competitive market where a 51 year old with plenty of knowledge and experience was what a company was looking for.  Interview after interview he discovered that the positions were being filled with candidates that were not even born when he started in the business.  So, what does an individual do or a business do when it appears that no one is hiring or buying your product?  Reinvent yourself,  reinvent your business!

Most people and businesses get stuck holding on too tightly to what they believe is their “goal”, when the real “end point” for what they desire is to make money and feel a sense of accomplishment and enjoy doing it.  They might have an old business plan or marketing strategy to get the results they need based on what the world was like 5 years ago.  The market and attitudes have changed so much in 5 years and that old plan is not working at all.  Some businesses are trying to adapt that initial plan by making a few minor changes, but they still have not gotten the results they were expecting.  If you attend a business networking event and talk with owners they will tell you that times are tough and they are not doing the numbers they once did.  Well, this is a new time and your chance for a new you! You can continue to do the same things over and over again and if you are still not getting the results you want, will you do it again? The sad thing is many people do just that and they wonder why they have lost their passion for their business and their life.

Look at the LONG list of activities your business does each week. How much of that list excites you? Do you spend over 50% of your time handling projects that zap your energy and leave you feeling less than interested in your business?  Get rid of that list!  If the activity is an essential part of the business like bookkeeping and you really struggle with looking at the numbers, then hire a professional bookkeeper or an accountant to take that off your list.  If you are overwhelmed with emails all day long and it is eating up your productive work time  consider getting an assistant or maybe look for a virtual assistant who you can hire part-time to organize your emails.  If your business holds weekly meetings as a way to review the past week’s performance and it results in people feeling less than inspired, stop the meetings or at least change the focus of them to new ideas that will motivate and drive business! The key to success in anything is that the element of “passion” is present.  If you have lost your passion for what you are doing and the services or products you are providing no longer get you fired-up, how do you expect to get consumers interested in them?

Ask for input from those around you [your staff, your friends, your clients] and make a list of everything that you do TODAY that is the best in your field and that you are proud to offer as a product or service.  If there is nothing on that list it is time to “reinvent yourself”  so that you find something that you feel deeply passionate about and can be the best at so that when you are presenting that product or service you know that it is connecting with today’s market and providing an essential element to the economics of your area.

Part of transforming yourself or your business successfully is being aware of the things that are holding you back and having the courage to let go and transform!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Tonight, I will be attending another local chamber networking event and this morning I will be on set most of the day helping to shoot a TV commercial I wrote for  my client.  I started my work day this morning at 5:15 am.  Why do I mention all of this? Because tonight when I attend the networking event I will be walking in the door with a smile, a name badge with my company name and logo branded on it, and a pocket full of business cards!  Every day I take my “A” game to work with me and on the days I am not up to presenting my “A” game, I recognize that this is when I need to take a mental health day to regroup and energize.  If you own a business and you are not presenting your best self in public it most likely is costing you sales or clients.

Have you ever walked the floor of a Trade Show and noticed that there are some presenters at booths who have energy and are actively working the room to draw in leads while others look like they would rather have a root canal than to be attending the event? Which one engages you in conversation? Missed opportunities in a competitive economy can be death to a business. Excuses and lack of enthusiasm because you are not doing the business you once did during a better economy is not working for you or your business. Make a choice today to smile more, talk positively about your business and be prepared to connect with future clients at any time. If you have been stuck in your office too long and you have been living the life of a vampire who seldom sees the sun it is time for you to take a customer or business contact to lunch.  Be sure to include “fun” in your work day and if you can not find that “A” game for your business, then it is time for you to consider working with a Life Coach or someone who can help you to find what it is that brings a smile to your face.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

The past couple of months I have been handling the advertising and promotions of an event that is taking place today and tomorrow and because the client has run this event in the past he has an excellent system set-up with his website registration for finding out where people heard about the event.  This is an advertising agency dream to already have the system in place and ready to go from day one to be able to calculate exact numbers of how people heard of the event.  The radio and TV account executives would be happy to know that though the internet does drive considerable traffic with the on-line social networking sites like Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter and with the help of email campaigns, the TV and radio commercials that aired still got results!

This doesn’t mean that if you are a business about to launch an advertising campaign that you can leave out the internet and just use one of the traditional forms of media like radio spots or a TV commercial, but it does mean that to expand your reach using a combination is the best solution. For instance, if you have created a TV commercial and have placed it strategically on the networks and areas that your target market will most likely view it, be sure to have your web designer add that same commercial to your website!  Make sure that you load the TV commercial to Facebook and share links to your site from other on-line social networking sites and encourage people to check your TV spot out on your website.  Also, use Twitter to drive traffic to your site if you are running sale specials or an event.

The radio commercials, especially on stations that have strong loyal listeners such as talk radio and sports radio stations are key to driving traffic to both your website and your store location. However, this requires an easy domain name to remember since often people are listening to the radio while driving.  With technology being mobile these days, and the streaming radio via the internet, you can see instant traffic to your website after your radio spot airs.  Of course, the message must be appealing and the reason to engage with your site must be part of the commercial spot, but the data is there…..TV and Radio commercials are still working and they are enhanced with the use of the internet.

If you are unsure of what is the best way to promote your product or services or advertise a big sale, consult with an advertising agency or marketing coach to help you define a strategy that will work for you and your budget!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”