The time has come when all businesses need to add social networking and social media to their marketing mix. It’s both inexpensive and highly effective, if you do it correctly. Just in terms of reach (the number of people exposed to your message) the numbers are staggering – Facebook now has 500+ million users! Social media has quickly become the #1 service my clients want help with over the past year.

The most important thing to do first is develop your social media strategy. Look at where your target market is hanging out online. The thing that most people don’t realize is they don’t have to engage in ALL the social networks. Only use the social networks that your clients, customers and competitors are using (yes, your competitors are likely already using social media). Don’t wait to get involved. Like it or not, it is the future. If you need a little help, drop me an email.

2. Networking Face-to-Face

Yes, even in this crazy web 2.0 world, face-to-face networking is still an essential component of your marketing strategy. You are still a human being and people like to connect with your smiling face in person. You don’t have to join a formal networking group with strict requirements like BNI. You may be better off to join community organizations like the chamber of commerce. Chambers offer a great opportunity to get experience as a speaker as they are always looking for fresh new speakers.

Another great place to network and make connections with community leaders are charities. Here you get a 2-fold benefit – you meet lots of high-level, visible people and you get to give back to a cause you believe in which also raises your profile and builds your likeability factor.

3. Keep In Touch

Finally, what is your strategy to keep in touch with your leads, clients, customers and potential clients? All too often I see businesses working really hard to generate leads and prospects, only to let them fall by the wayside. If we understand that a big part of marketing is the “know, like and trust factor”, you’ll realize that it takes time to cultivate leads and prospects. They may not be ready to do business with you right away, but as you demonstrate your expertise and share relevant information with them they may get to know you better and want to do business at some point in the future.

I highly recommend doing a weekly or monthly e-newsletter as the #1 strategy to keep in touch with clients and prospects. But first, you need to have a way to capture information and get prospects on to your email list. The best way to do this is to give something away for free on your website (like a high content free report, audio, eBook) in exchange for the prospect entering their name and email address. Once they are on your list, then you have permission to stay in touch with them. I am a big proponent of permission-based marketing. There’s nothing more annoying that when you meet somebody, exchange cards and you immediately end up on their email list! I didn’t even ask to be on the list! It’s considered spam when you do this.

Another very effective way to stay in touch is sending direct mail. You might think that direct mail isn’t relevant in a digital age, but I disagree. One of the best things I have found in terms of direct mail is greeting card marketing. Who wouldn’t want to get a happy greeting in the mail as opposed to a plain, old postcard? You can send your clients birthday cards or a thank you card. The impact of a card is memorable and sets you apart. The service I have been using for over a year now is Send Out Cards and I would highly recommend it.

More than any other piece of your marketing pie, commitment and consistency is critical. If you are going to join a networking group – show up to the meetings! If you are going to engage in social networking, do it every day. If you are going to do an e-newsletter or e-zine, send it out on a regular basis (I recommend once a week or once every-other week minimum) to get the most impact. Even if you just implement one of these strategies, you’ll be well on your way to making 2011 your most productive and profitable year ever!

• Do enough of your potential clients know who you are and what you do?

• Are you struggling to get qualified leads and prospects?

• Do you worry about how you’ll pay your bills until the next client?

• Are you confused and frustrated by the results (or lack thereof) of marketing your business?

The fact is, you can have the best product or service on the planet, but if no one knows about it, you will struggle to reach the lifestyle and income you desire. You may even find yourself discouraged and want to quit your business. I know, because I’ve been there.

It wasn’t until I finally figured out a powerhouse promotion system of low cost, cutting edge, proven marketing techniques that put me in front of the people who desparately needed my products and services that my business started to flourish. And the clients started rolling in. 

Are You Ready to be a Rockstar in Your Business?

My name is Cindy Earl (that’s me on tambourine!). I’m the Get Known-Get Clients™ Marketing Coach and I’m ready to help you ROCK your business.

For nearly ten years I’ve helped hundreds of women entrepreneurs market and promote themselves and their businesses so they become well known as the “go-to-person” in their area of expertise.

So, what’s the secret to becoming a known expert and client magnet in the quickest, easiest and low cost way?  

 Introducing the “Get Known, Get Clients Marketing Formula”

They're Waiting for You!

Before you can become a well-known business ROCKSTAR, you must have a strong foundation, know your brand, and know why people buy what you’re selling  (Phase 1).

Then, I’ve taken the top three low cost methods to get known in today’s market (social media, PR and media coverage and online marketing), and combined them into a powerhouse system that gets you in front of your ideal prospects on a regular basis so you can get known and get more clients (Phase 2). 

CLICK HERE to determine where you fit in the Formula and find out how you can rock your business and consistently attract all the clients you need…

Your niche is actually a subset of your market or skill set. For example, a CPA practices accounting, but may have a niche (specializes) in helping small businesses with their taxes. Author and marketing thought-leader Seth Godin (a marketing genius – if you haven’t read his books go out and buy one now!) had this to say about defining your niche in a recent blog posting:

“The secret to being the best in the world is to make the ‘world’ smaller. Alan Scott was the best community-focused artisan pizza oven builder in the world. A niche that didn’t exist before he got there, but one that spread, that engaged people, that created a tribe and that supported him. Alan was passionate about his craft and wasn’t shy about sharing it. He trained others and turned it into a movement.

It’s entirely possible that you will choose a niche that’s too small. It’s much more likely you’ll shoot for something too big and become overwhelmed. When in doubt, overwhelm a small niche.”

In The Long Tail, author Chris Anderson remarks that the internet has given us endless choices, which is creating unlimited demand for niche markets. If you can imagine a product or service, there is probably a group of people out there in the world ready to consume it. Just be cautious that your niche isn’t too small – you want to be in business for years to come.

If you aren’t 100% sure what your specific skill set and talents are (many entrepreneurs struggle with this, so you are not alone!) I recommend checking out some of these books:

1. Unique Ability by Catherine Nomura, Julia Waller, and Shannon Waller
2. Strengths Finder 2.0  by Tom Rath
3. Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck
4. The Four-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
5. Do What You Love and The Money Will Follow by Marsha Sinetaur

In addition to aligning with your unique talents, your niche has to be able to afford the types of products and services you want to offer. A strategy that I often use with clients if they are struggling to define a niche or their signature topic is to browse the top selling books or magazine titles on Amazon.com or check the top blogs on Technorati.com. In doing so, you’ll have an excellent idea of which topics are most popular, marketable and what people are spending their money on.

Your blog is the place you are writing and pushing out content related to your business.  You need to be producing content for your blog in the form of short articles at least once a week, preferably 2-3 times per week. So, what do you write about?

I highly recommend using a blog planning calendar.  You can actually plan out the topics you will write about far in advance.  In January I sit down with my clients to plan their writing topics for the entire year.  Depending on what you’re promoting and what’s going on with your business, if you have a marketing plan set up, this should be pretty easy to do. I say to my clients, “Okay, we’re going to pick one topic for every single month and it’s going to give you the format to build your content around.” 

For example, in my business I might determine that in January I’m going to write on the topic of social networking. All of my posts and updates for that month are going to be related in some way to social networking. One week, I’ll write about Facebook, the next week Twitter, then Linked In and video.

Pick a general topic for the month and then you can plug in different subjects from that overall topic. Then I can reuse the articles in my e-newsletter or submit them to online article databases like ezinearticles.com or even use them in a press release. Write once and recycle your articles to leverage your time.

Posting to your blog doesn’t mean that you need to spend hours and hours writing content.  Blog posts can be as simple as two or three paragraphs.  If you have a calendar to look at and you have a plan, then you know what you’re supposed to do each week and that makes it so much easier to write the content.

Another great thing with blogs is that you can piggy back on other people who are already doing blogging who are already having great success and getting a lot of traffic to their blogs by leaving comments on other people’s blogs.  You can find blogs that are serving your industry specifically and your target market, where they’re hanging out and start tracking that blog and going back and looking at it on a regular basis and adding comments here and there.  It doesn’t have to be anything more than adding a comment with a resource, “Hey, I found this great article, check it out.”

Don’t over-complicate it!  Make a small effort every week to write at least one short article, share on your social networks (using the Networked Blogs app) and you will soon reap the benefits with increased web/blog traffic, more leads and eventually more clients!

• Have a plan – who & do what, brand, where will you find content, how often will you post
• Ask your email list to “like” your Page by sending out a blast email to your subscribers
• Edit the resource box on your Page – add http:// link, update often
• Add opt-in box to collect names and email addresses for your list/email using Static FBML
• Experiment! Don’t be afraid to change your page (check out Facebook.com/AppBistro – has all the apps you can add to your page)
• Make your website Facebook ready (add Like button to your website http://www.facebook.com/profile-box)
• Get an admin on your page that knows your biz and likes to interact
• Choose custom tabs wisely – you only have a few tabs available in the small space. The Wall and Info tabs are unchangeable and always show.
• Add “Resources” tab where you can post links to your most popular articles, recommended websites, blogs, etc.

How to get people to your page and keep them and build an active community through your Fan page

• Send out invitation to your email list to ”like” your Fan Page
• Include Facebook logo/badge in your e-newsletters and your email signature (business cards and everywhere you already market!)
• Add photos from your events and have your fans tag themselves
• Contests: you can require users become a fan of your page in order to enter a contest. You can promote the contest using Facebook Ads. Check out www.wildfireapp.com for ideas on promotions for your page.
• Link your Twitter account to your Fan Page (http://facebook.com/twitter). Use Selective Twitter Updates so any tweet you post with #fb at the end shows up on your wall.
• Add a link to your Fan Page on your personal profile “mini-bio” Use the Share button (bottom left column of your Fan Page) occasionally to share a compelling comment with your friends and invite them to join your page.
• Add discussion topics on a weekly basis to keep your fans engaged.
• Facebook ads – paid ads that are highly targeted (http://www.facebook.com/advertising ). Can be used to direct Facebook users to your website, special promotions, events and more. Ads are all pay-per-click with a minimum spending of $1.00 per day.

How to track and monitor the “pulse” of your fan base

• Facebook page weekly reports
• TwentyFeet.com

I just got back from San Diego where I attended Mari Smith’s Social Media Mastery Immersion weekend. It was amazing! Mari is just as delightful in person as she is virtually. Besides having a great time and meeting lots of new peeps from all over the world (from the UK, Sweden and Australia!).

I was very excited to take part in a special panel of social media experts (those of us who’ve been personally trained by Mari) during day two of the workshop. We shared our favorite social media tools with the audience of 60 small business owners. In the process, I learned a ton of new and useful information and cool social media tools.

Here are my top 7 tips from the weekend:

1. Tweepml.org – Allows you to follow all the people in a Twitter list automatically with just one click!

2. ManageFlitter.com – A super easy way to clean up and manage who you follow, so you can clean up spam and inactive accounts that you no longer want to appear in your stream. You can also find out who isn’t following you back and easily search inside your Twitter stream.

3. Listorious.com – shows the top lists on Twitter. Then you can find the best lists to follow people in your target market and use Tweepml.org to easily follow the people in the top lists.

4. Tweetadder.com – a Twitter management tool similar to Hoot Suite, but the best part is it helps zero in and locates profiles pertaining to you, then stores them to be followed. You can even export the results to your computer!

5.  Twentyfeet.com – Finally! An easy, free social media metric tool that allows you to keep tabs on all your social media and web property metrics from the web. It pulls and generates metrics from: twitter, Facebook, bit.ly, YouTube. Google Analytics, friend feed, RSS-Feeds and many more to come. Further, it displays them in a slick interface all in one place and nudges you, whenever something noteworthy happens. One account each with twitter and Facebook is for free forever.

6.  This one’s not a tool, but an insider tip: Facebook is going to be eliminating the FBML function (used for Fan page graphics, etc.) and switching to iFrames. So, if you are thinking of having a custom graphic designed for your Fan page, you might want to wait until this switch happens. Of course, Facebook is secretive, so we don’t know an exact date just yet.

7. Fan Page marketing idea: Put a coupon right on your Fan Page (especially if you are a business like retail or restaurant)  When people visit your Fan Page, they become a fan and they can instantly print out a coupon which drives traffic to your website and your store.

Now, go get social! As always, if you need help making sense of the social world, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or question below.

Social Media Manager
Online Marketing Strategy
Facebook Pages
Video Marketing
Twitter pages
Online press releases

The fan page is the only feature inside Facebook that is fully indexed by Google. Every piece of content; your status updates, your info tabs, etc. gets indexed by Google.

I recommend you use your personal profile for both personal family connections, people you know, and strategic professional networking. You do that by adjusting the privacy settings and making friend lists. Use the fan page as an extension of your blog and Twitter presence. You still need to update your personal profile directly.

First, to make your business stand out, get a custom FBML graphic to represent your brand. Get a graphic designer to do this for you if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself. You may want to consider adding a custom landing tab including a welcome video (ex: http://www.facebook.com/johnassarafpage).

Second, update your fan page with different content. You can be a little bit more open and personal in sharing personal updates on your profile, and keep the fan page almost all commercial. Add discussion topics weekly to keep fans engaged.

Next, make sure to get a vanity URL for your fan page (Facebook.com/username), so your Fan Page web address includes your business name (ex: www.facebook.com/yourbusinessname). You can do this once you have 25 fans (people who “like” your page). Your business will look more professional and it’s easier to refer people to your page.

Finally, be sure someone in your business monitors your fan page: start discussions, pose questions, link to your blog, upload vides, add events, respond to posts and questions from your Fans to keep them engaged and interested. This is something that a VA or a social media service such as ours can easily do for you.

Here are my top 7 recommended applications to add to your Fan Page:

1. Static FBML (for adding graphics, etc)
2. You Tube badge
3. Polls
4. Reviews
5. Involver.com (for fun apps)
6. Wildfire app (for contests and promotions)
7. Selective Twitter – http://www.facebook.com/twitter (connects your Twitter & Facebook accounts so your tweets show up in your Facebook feed.)

Fed up with trying to keep up with social media on your own? Check out our new Social Media for Solopreneurs program (click on the Services tab).

Howdy…

Let’s talk about money.

Do you have enough?

Do you know how much “enough” is, for you?

Most folks are pretty clueless about moolah.  They desire it, they fear it, they respect and hate and love it… and they assign all kinds of magical powers to it.

So here are a couple of observations… from a dude who’s been broke, been rich, and seen the awesome potential as well as the destructive nightmares that money can wield:

Big Damn Observation #1: Money really can’t buy you happiness.

But you know what?  It’s still more fun to find this out for yourself, rather than take someone’s word for it.

For me, it was well worth keeping this nugget of wisdom on a note tacked to my office wall.  Because happiness was definitely on my wish list of life-long goals… but so was success.

So I kept track as I moved up the socio-economic ladder from slacker, to decently-paid freelance writer, to obscenely-paid “A List” professional.

And guess what?

It’s true.  Making a ton of money didn‘t turn on the Happy Faucet.

However, it didn’t turn on the misery faucet, either… which, for me, was a moment of enlightenment.

Happiness is in your head.  It’s a state of mind, which doesn’t require cash… unless the lack of cash moves you off your game.

Which lead to the one big realization that helped me clarify what “success” really meant, for me:

Big Damn Observation #2: Money will only solve those problems that not having money creates.

People usually blink back at me the first time I share this with them.  It seems too obvious to qualify for “wisdom”.

For me, though, it’s freaking profound.  The problems that ate me up during the first half of my life… when I was lost, directionless and kept ending up sleeping on people’s couches (because the business world kept spitting me out) (and my girlfriends kept leaving cuz I was such a loser)…

… were all specifically related to not having enough money to get a toehold in life.

Rent was a problem.  Getting a speeding ticket was a major financial blow that could crush my entire budget.  Any adventure that required new clothes or new equipment or a long trip was completely out of the question.

And that was okay for a while… I fancied myself a carefree bodhisattva living off the land (so to speak) while cruising through the culture unblemished by having to bow to the The Man.

Then it got real old, real fast.  And I realized it was time for me to find my place in the world, and go for the gusto.

At that point, I finally understood that not having enough dough to cover the basics (and the fundamental luxuries that made life worth living, like concert tickets) was a major sticking point.

The answer, for me, was to figure out the age-old wisdom behind the professional’s concept of a “nut” — that specific amount of cash necessary each cycle to allow you to operate without worrying about missed payments or sudden expenses.

Everyone’s nut is different.  But it’s basically your rent, food, transportation and other bills, along with a certain allowance for clothes and whatever else you need to live your life.  Including dating costs, bowling league fees, piano lessons, a night at the opera, whatever tweaks your notion of a good month.

Most folks never figure this out.  They lurch from paycheck to paycheck, regarding each incoming expense as an alien invasion (”What? Another phone bill?”).

Saving any money for a rainy day is out of the question.  (Americans are among the most clueless savers in the world.)

I’ve been there.  Floating just above the baseline of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (that infamous low-end list of necessities, like food, shelter and safety)… so I technically qualified as a civilized person.

However, the constant desperation of being one lost paycheck away from living out of my car again kept me from daring to dream beyond whatever fun I could squeeze out of a weekend binge on cheap booze and easy virtue.

It sucked.

So money was constantly on my mind.

Figuring out what I needed to cover my monthly nut relieved me of aimless worry.  I had a number to use as a goal.  I could finally get a handle on what extra money might do for me.

As a budding freelancer, I now knew how many jobs at a certain fee I needed each month.  And I knew when I was finally getting ahead of my nut… so instead of month-to-month, I actually had the next three months’ nut covered.  And then the next six months.  And then the next year.

This knowledge of my financial situation allowed me to move up a few rungs on the success ladder, too.

But I did it following…

Big Damn Observation #3: Pay in full as you go.

Now, I have a mortgage.  It was a calculated decision, and I’m happy with it.

But it’s the only debt I have, or have had for the last 25 years.

I pay cash for all my cars, guitars, trips, computers and everything else.  The credit card gets paid down to zero each cycle.  (The banks hate me for that.)

I’ll tell you something — it was PAINFUL learning to wait until I could afford what I wanted, early on.  Especially with that credit card burning a hole in my wallet.

I drove a rattletrap ‘80 Celica liftback (ugliest car on the road, ever) that required a gallon of water every morning in the radiator (slow leak), and which was often mistaken for a vehicle bound for the Demolition Derby across town.

I’m not proud of this, necessarily.  Nevertheless, that car met my needs as a struggling early-career freelancer.  (I just made sure clients didn’t see it.)

And when it finally went on life-support, I bade it a tearful goodbye (I loved that old wreck) and wrote a check, in full, for a luxury-edition Camry.

Debt sucks, folks.

It’s willingly allowing shackles to be welded onto your ankles.  It pushes your nut far out into the future, limits your ability to move fast when opportunity knocks, and (worst of all) gives you a false sense of accomplishment.

Now, sometimes you may go into debt for something (like a house) that you can justify.  Sometimes.  (I may yet pay this nasty thing off all at once… but for now, I’m at peace with having a mortgage for this love-nest.)

Just make sure you do it consciously.  And not because it’s your habit to never pay as you go.

Side story: I have a standard reply for anyone who considers going into debt to afford a high-ticket product or seminar or something else they feel they “need right now”… but can’t afford.

My advice: Don’t do it.

Instead of hocking grandma’s jewelry, or maxing out six credit cards, or rolling the dice in any way…

… why not try a truly radical approach.  And save up the money to pay for it on the barrel-head.

Instead of looking for an easy, immediate, debt-stupid way to get around not having the cash… just earn the cash beforehand.  Stop partying on the weekends for a year — just a single year (trust me, it won’t kill you) — and take a part-time job dedicated to filling up your “continuing adult education” fund.

Save every penny from that second job.  (Which you can, because your day job covers your nut each month, right?  Especially now that you’ve ceased dropping a bill every Saturday night at the slosh pit.)

Put it in a savings account.  Don’t touch it.  Don’t dream about it, don’t consider it for any other situation…

… except your quest for getting the knowledge and coaching you want so you can move ahead in life.

Even a minimum wage gig, two days a week, can net you several hundred bucks a month.  Any higher wage is gravy.  At the end of a year, you’ll have a pot with a few thousand smackeroos in it…

… which you can then lay out for that seminar, or course, or coaching, or whatever you’re drooling over.

No debt.  You earned your entry fee.  You paid your way.  You didn’t have to beg, borrow or steal.

And you know the value of every buck you laid out.  Which means you’re gonna consume whatever you buy, and put it to work in your life asap.

Scoff if you want.  Most folks do.

But the pride of knowing you paid your own way instantly pumps more honest value into that purchase than you could ever imagine.  You’ll appreciate the adventure, and (key point) suck every drop of value from it.

The adventure of a life well-lived is funny that way.

Let others haggle and plot and concoct elaborate schemes to get around the simplest path to earning your own success.

There’s a lot of risk inherent in creating a successful life.  Most entrepreneurs operate with no safety net.  Going for the gusto means exposing yourself to the dangers of adventure and accomplishment.

But that doesn’t mean that burying yourself in debt needs to be one of those risks.

Of lot of people well-established in the business world will argue with me.  That’s fine.  I understand the advantages of using OPM (other people’s money), and investing cash and resources to maximize potential.

But that’s all a little further down the line for anyone just starting the adventure.

Smart leveraging is one thing.  Blindly piling up obligations beyond your nut is something else entirely.

Before you can be a Player, you gotta be a foot soldier in business.

Travel light, and avoid all “tails” (obligations, like debt, that restrict your freedom) for now.

Big Damn Observation #4: And… I think that’s enough for this post.

I do have one last piece of financial advice for anyone after a better life.

It’s a cool little tactic that seriously changed my life almost immediately…

… allowing me to become one of the top freelancers in the game…

… and opening up amazing new opportunities (like mentoring with Gary Halbert) that would have never happened otherwise.

Let me know if you’d like to hear this last lesson… and I’ll put it in the next post.

I gotta get ready to travel some more here.

Love to hear your comments, stories, opinions and whatever below on this topic of moolah (and the love/hate thereof).

It’s the main sticking point holding folks back from getting what they want out of life, you know.  Money.  It’s a gas.

Stay frosty,

John