In addition to the referrals from your direct clients, consider other strategic partners that can help send business your way.  For instance, if you know other businesses that already sell to your target market and are not direct competitors, you could approach them to be a referral partner to your business by offering them a fee for each referral they send to you.  This also works great if you approach non-profit organizations that are looking for ways to raise money for their organization and offer to give back to them a portion of your sales for every referral they send.  Anyone who has a school age child has seen this work extremely well for wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions and food products.  When my own children were in elementary school there was a local Chinese Food Restaurant that teamed up with the school and gave a portion of the entire night’s sales to the school. The school promoted the event and  sent home notices that Wednesday was the night to have dinner ordered from this local business.  The program was so successful that it continued to be a regular fundraiser event.

Look for connectors in your own circle of doing business as potential partners for referrals.  My hairdresser received a stack of my business cards when I first opened Purple Diamond to hand-out to  clients she had that owned their own business and was needing help with marketing or advertising.  In return, I gave her coaching on how to market her own business while she styled my hair. We both were happy with the arrangement.

Always be looking for new ways to develop and maintain referral partnerships.  The most successful businesses have adopted all of these techniques and continue to grow their list of clients  rapidly.  If you are not getting the success you need today in your business be sure to call Purple Diamond and see why our tag-line is:  “Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

All my best to your success ~ Charlene

Beyond the obvious of the “good-will”  and potential PR opportunity or marketing exposure a business gets by sponsoring a community event, it also helps to build a strong environment and richness to the community your business has made home.  When the community is attractive it draws attention from others and brings in the best candidates for positions that may open up in your business in future years.  The popularity of community organizations in your local area and their well attended events will also create excellent business networking opportunities for your business without you needing to travel a great distance to connect with key prospects.  The home court advantage of sponsoring the local community event that is only a few miles from your office helps you or your sales team to easily get prospects to consider stopping over to your office while they are in town or to schedule a tour of your company at a later date.   When people become familiar with an area and they associate it with a positive experience, they are more willing to return or do business in that area and that helps your business.

So, what does a company do if they do if they only have $2000 a year  to give to the community organizations  or  events or an amount that is considered small compared to larger businesses? You can choose to give that one lump sum to one event in a sponsorship or donation, or you can divide that amount up in to $100-$200 increments and donate throughout the year to more than one community group.  My advice is to reach out to more so that more groups benefit and connect with your business.

Also, do not discard the importance of volunteering your skills or physically helping during the actual community event.  This is a great way to get to know key people within these organizations and also to connect with some of the larger corporate sponsors of the community events.  Smaller businesses may not have the cash flow that some businesses have, but volunteering your time or giving a gift certificate or gift basket with your business name on it to be auctioned or raffled off at the event is a great way to be part of the larger picture and get the exposure you need to grow your business.

Finally, if you are actively helping the community and there is a chance for a photo opportunity or a press release to be sent please do not be shy about sharing this on-line and with the newspapers and other media organizations.  Put it up on your own social media networking pages like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and blog about it as I have done here.

All my best to your success~ Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

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!”

I do caution, though, that these sites are “social” sites and if you come on too strong with messages just about your business or you bombard your contacts with message updates that are not really important you may find that you lose your own following.  The idea is to “connect” and build a relationship and not to try to constantly “sell” them.   Since my husband  and I met on a social networking site 6 years ago in which I was the moderator of a group, I know first hand the power of on-line networking and building relationships.  The key is that you have to understand that social on-line networking is not a commercial or paid advertisement for your business.  It is a place where people share ideas and connect and build friendships.  Had the first time my husband posted to me on-line he proposed marriage I can guarantee that I would have been looking to drop him quickly from my network and I would have labeled him as “pushy and weird”.  This is what you want to avoid.   It takes time to develop relationships on-line and in person, but the number of people who use these sites cannot be ignored so create your accounts, look for on-line groups and FAN pages and be sure to make this as important as your other marketing projects by creating specific times during your work day that you check out these sites and post.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

If you are not looking at your stats and seeing the growth to your site then stop reading this and go to your Dashboard of your own blog and please get to know your own site.  I use WordPress so it is very easy to see it in the “At a Glance” section.  If only your IT support person has seen the backside of your blog and you are just writing and having them post this to your site you should be requesting reports from the person who is assisting you.  You need the numbers to help you make an informed decision on how frequently your company needs to blog. As a marketing professional I will share that the more frequently & consistently you blog, the better stats you will have providing what you are posting is worth reading and sharing with others. And, if you are not using other sources like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc, to give a “shout-out” to your own blog topic you are working hard and not smart.  I do not post a topic without Tweeting about it or sharing it with my fans on Facebook and friends on Linkedin. I also have the link as part of my signature for my emails and I verbally talk about my blog ALL the time. It is not a personal diary, though there may be some blogs that people are using as a journal without focusing on getting readers, but if you are using this as part of your business marketing strategy you have to self-promote and ask others to share.

So, for myself, I will still be blogging over the holidays and vacations, but it might not be as steady as I do during the work week.

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

A clear message that catches my eye and motivates me to call YOUR business is essential to your success.  This is where consulting a marketing specialist will improve your ability to capture a greater share of the target market.  Please do not fall in to the  mistake of handing over this important side of your marketing to your IT specialist/web designer because they are good with the internet or to the youngest employee on your staff because they understand how to post to their friends on Facebook and Twitter. To get great results it requires working with professionals who understand how to sell and build relationships that are memorable and makes people buy YOUR product.

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

TIPS:
*Attend business networking groups [join the local chamber if your budget allows and be active on committees and attend events].

*Seek out free business help and mentors in your area.

*Print-up tons of business cards [both sided....it costs pennies to add another message to the backside of your card] and give people more than one card and ask them to give it to someone who could use your services.

*Make sure you use an email signature and it has ALL your contact info and a tag-line where you promote your brand or tell of a special offer. Have an active link in your signature to your website! Use this signature ALWAYS!

* Hand-out flyers and post them on Bulletin Boards where they allow flyers to be posted. Give extra flyers to family and friends about your services in case they have opportunity to hand them out or display them at work.

*Email ready to print press releases about your business. [Contact the papers and other publications in your area to find out who the contact person is, what format to type the press release in and try to connect with someone on that staff so you have a better chance to get your press release in the newspaper.]

*Reach out to local colleges, business groups and chambers to lecture about your expertise in business.

*Put magnetic signs on your car promoting your business.

*Create an internet presence. Have your own company website and blog. Make sure you list your site and have a profile on the many on-line networking sites so that it links back to your business website. Many on-line sites offer affordable web templates that will save you money on design and hosting services for your site. Take advantage of the free social media sites that will help you to draw attention to your business like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

*No money to have a table at a business expo? Walk the floor with plenty of business cards and connect with someone at each booth if possible. Follow-up with them either by phone, mail or email and create the connection back to the business expo.

*Encourage customers to sign-up for your email newsletters and special offers. Use an email newsletter hosting company that will offer easy to use newsletter template designs and provide the opt-in link for your home page of your website and a way for members on your list to opt-out of the newsletter if they no longer wish to receive it. A company can harm their on-line reputation by emailing people without their permission which is known as SPAMMING and potentially lose clients and potential clients.

*Always thank your clients for being a client and ask for referrals. And, refer business to others when possible!

*Word of Mouth Advertising! Make sure you contact everyone you know and tell them that you now have a business. This is where connecting with old friends and family on Facebook will help.

*Make time for one on ones where you learn about someone else’s business and they learn about yours.

*Never buy rate card for your advertising and don’t jump at every advertising sales rep that walks in the door promising great results.

*Cut the size of your ad, but be sure to get ATTENTION within the ad.

*Create a clever tag line to brand on all marketing materials and be sure to use it at networking events! My tag-line is “Success wears the Purple Diamond!” This immediately tells my clients that I am focused on making them successful in business.

*Create a MARKETING THINK GROUP with employees, friends, family who know your product and can help to come up with creative marketing ideas

*Create a Client Questionnaire and learn the pros and cons of your service or product so you can compete in the market place. Never be afraid to ask the tough questions and find out the areas you need to improve in. This will help you to retain your existing clients and discover why others may not be doing business with you.

*Promotional Product is your silent salesman! Make it something they will keep.

*Stay positive! No matter what is happening behind the scenes at your business, always smile and stay positive. People worry about doing business with struggling companies because they may not be around if there is a problem with the product later. Lead by example. If you believe in your product…..others will follow!