Small Business Marketing | Marketing for Entrepreneurs | Realtor Marketing » small business marketing

Direct Sales Versus Network Marketing (MLM)

Tara Jacobsen — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:02:02 +0000

Many of our entrepreneur marketing coaching clients are involved in Direct Sales or MLMs. Because I was not sure I actually knew the difference (okay, I admit, I didn’t know there WAS a difference!), I thought I should get some help from an expert in the industry!

Guest post by Direct Sales Expert – Tina Kraft

There are many articles out there about direct sales versus Network Marketing (sometimes called MLM or multi level marketing). I find it interesting how varying the opinions are on this subject. First off, I have been involved in both so this comes from first hand experience. Having said that, each and every company has a different sales model and compensation plan. Every company has a different percentage of commissions.

Network Marketing Companies

Most Network Marketing Companies have an auto ship for both the customers and the distributors, and to receive your royalties as a distributor it is a minimum monthly autoship to receive your products for “wholesale” – every company is different. Network Marketing is based more on signing people up to be either a customer or distributor and have them on autoship. They are normally consumable products. You make less money on your individual sales and about the same on your downline as in direct sales, but again EVERY company is a little different.

Direct Sales Marketing Companies

Direct Sales is more relationship based and face-to-face sales. Most Direct Sales companies use the party plan module. The commission made by the distributor from their personal sales is usually very good so YOU are more in control of your income. You can also build a downline and have residual income from your downline. Most companies have incentives and bonuses for sales and recruiting and also have incentive trips you can earn for FREE! Being more of a relationship based model, you have repeat customers and hosts for your “parties” or events. This is also why it is dominated by women as we are more relationship based in business.

How To Pick A Company

So what type of company do you want to be a part of? First when picking a company you need to figure out what you are passionate about. Are you passionate about health and wellness, decorating, bling, cosmetics, fashion, coffee? The list goes on and on! Also look at the compensation plan structure, do you want to build a team and become a leader in the company? What type of support will you need?

Direct Sales and Network Marketing are great ways to become an entrepreneur. It DOES take hard work, dedication and time to build your business.

Remember that nothing in life that is worthwhile is easy!! But it is very gratifying!! Make sure you are committed to your venture and don’t become discouraged easily.

Tina M Kraft is an Accountability Coach and has built a multi million dollar team in the Direct Sales Industry. She lives in Denver with her husband of 35 years. Visit her site at tinamkraft.com, Friend Tina on Facebook, Follow her on Twitter or Connect on LinkedIn!

Entrepreneur Marketing | Direct Sales, Network Marketing, MLM

Local Marketing Case Study – Water 2 Wine

Tara Jacobsen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:55:38 +0000

Local marketing experts will tell you that the only thing that matters is getting to number one on google, or having the most fan page likes, but rarely will they tell you about the things that REALLY matter to sales. How you treat people IN PERSON, once you get them there matters even more!

So, local business owners, first I want tell you about some marketing books you need to go get and read right now:

Purple Cow, by Seth Godin
The Thank You Economy, by Gary Vaynerchuk
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping–Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond, by Paco Underhill

I would love if you read them and then came back, but at least put them on your book list or radar to read if you own a local business and care about local marketing.

What they mostly say is that to succeed in business you have to be customer centric and unique in the marketplace – BOILERPLATE ALERT. So what do those fancy terms mean? I thought it would be easier to tell you about a great local business, rather than describe them (ad nauseum) in a blog post.

Water 2 Wine in Greenwood Village, CO

I do not wax eloquent too often about service from a local business. I am generally happy to snap a picture and throw something up on FourSquare to show my appreciation, but last night’s experience required a little more. I was meeting some friends before a networking event at a wine bar (I am a beer girl) so had low expectations, plus I was early, again…sigh.

Walked in the door and was greeted by a nice lady who didn’t push me to order and who headed me in the right direction for the loo (restroom for those of you who don’t know the technical terms). Now, ever since I was a little girl and saw a fountain in a bathroom, I have been fascinated with facilities. These were gorgeous, clean and (gasp) had wonderful high-end toilet paper. Seriously, they had me at Charmin!

Next was the nice bartender (who I found out later was the owner) who asked me about what kinds of wine I wanted and proceeded to give me samples of three I tried. PS – he knows what he is doing, every time I tried one I thought I would like, WRONG, all of his, spot on!

The networking started and he mingled, made sure everyone had a nice time and generally helped make the evening great.

So onto paying…first off, I had trouble understanding that they were not charging me for the tasting….really? Okay, well here’s the charge, where is the tip line so I can add a nice little gratuity…what? No tipping?!??!!

They are nice to everyone AT A STORE LEVEL…from the owner, to the bartenders, to the nice man who seemed to be a barback and who got me a glass of water, apologizing that they don’t have ice (probably so goobers like me can’t ice the red wines!).

Okay local marketing class? What have we learned today?

A culture of caring starts from the top down – Employees are like kids, they model what they see and if you have a caring attitude, it will shine through to your employees.
Give more than you said – No tip means that I saved $2 – I charge between $100 and $250 an hour for consulting and you can’t buy a promotional post on my blog so for less than the price of a cup of joe, they guaranteed that they got one more raving fan (and some free marketing).
Raving fans – when I was saying I was coming down for networking (I usually don’t leave the home at night) the ladies I know all said I would LOVE Water 2 Wine. These kinds of apostles out in the marketplace, telling everyone how wonderful you are – priceless.
Multitudes of Awards – you don’t even have to take my word for it that this place is BRILLIANT, they have won the 2011 Denver’s #1 Wine Shop and Wine Bar AND the award for Denver 5280′s Top of the Town.

I KNOW, not all that much marketing and more customer service today, BUT SO important to sales! If you know a great place in your area who could use a customer service shout out, post a link and I will add it!!!

Lastly, thanks Marcus for being such a good business owner and a downright nice guy! If you would like to check out Water 2 Wine, click the link to visit their site! Or better yet, head over there for glass of grapes…

Water 2 Wine
9608 East Arapahoe Road
Greenwood Village, CO 80112
303-799-9463

Social Media Marketing – Should You Join Little Social Networks

Tara Jacobsen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:10:32 +0000

Social media marketing, is not having friends or connecting with old acquaintances, but actual marketing that is about brand building, getting new opportunities and when possible, generating leads for your business.

Social networks (like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+) are places where people gather to communicate, share pictures of their doggies, quotes, and just random bits of their life. If you had asked someone even a few years ago if having an omelet for breakfast would be worth telling the world about, they would have looked at you like you had a brain problem, but many of us now share A LOT of the minutia of everyday life online through these media.

Right now, there are some main social networks where people share their info and which communicate with each other pretty well:

Facebook (first really big one)
Twitter (great for searching, computers and getting to people you never thought you could reach!)
LinkedIn (more for industry, not just a job board anymore but not as SOCIAL unless you can devote a LOT of time and attention)
Google+ (a late-comer but owned by google so fast out of the gate and one of my favorites!)
Foursquare (good for local businesses)

Time

So how do you decide how many social networks you should join? I go by which ones have the most people that I am going to get opportunities from. What kinds of opportunities do you ask? People to sign up for my mailing lists, opportunities to speak on webinars or in person, leads for our social media marketing company, potential coaching clients, basically the same leads I am trying to get by writing targeted blog posts every day or so.

Notice I did not say sales. In service industries or big ticket training programs or expensive products, the chance that I will post something and someone will buy it on the spot are pretty slim. NOPE, social media marketing is about kissing the girl, not getting to third base on the first try! (thanks to that nice @garyvee for the Paradise By The Dashboard Light analogy)

Okay, most small biz owners are overwhelmed, disgusted or confused by social media. What is it, why do they need it and how should they fit it into their already busy schedule?

We work with small biz owners to help implement a social media marketing plan that will work for their company! Find out more about our social media marketing services or call today to talk with real live human being! 727-415-9165

How Do They Make Money?

The next thing I check is how do they make money. Google makes money from selling advertising, Twitter has a less clear profit model, but they are working on it. Facebook sells ads and LinkedIn sells premium memberships with enhanced communication capabilities.

Little social networks that want to grow up to make lots of money need people. They will make VERY little on the front end and OOODLES when they have millions of users. Unfortunately, with the exception of the big 4, I have not found other social networks with lots of people yet. Not to say someone won’t come along BUT it doesn’t make sense for me TIMEWISE to join 100 little networks, hoping that they will grow.

I will give you a perfect example…Plaxo. Plaxo came along early and was very proactive about connecting with Facebook, in fact, you could have all your FB posts go over to Plaxo. Huh, not as many people, same stuff over there as is on Facebook….why not just use Facebook?

But Someone Asked Me To Join A Little Social Network and I Don’t Want To Disappoint Them!

Because I have big networks across multitudes of platforms, I get “invited” by other people to join other networks that they belong to. Little networks with nothing particular to set them apart from the big networks I have. Some warning signs of little networks that are not wise to spend your time on:

it is a “craigs list” style website – why not just use craigs list?
like facebook, with a little linkedin and some twitter thrown in – seriously? first off, having that many interfaces would be a nightmare to use and again – why not use the ACTUAL Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter?
NOT like Facebook, we focus on creating relationships with our members – Facebook COULD be about relationships if you choose to use it that way, so could Twitter and LinkedIn

So Do You HATE All Little Social Networks?

I do NOT hate little social networks with a purpose other than copying big social networks.

I have a client who started a social network for lightworkers and metaphysical people (who I believe are an underserved market) and is busting her ass to get members and grow her business. I belong to this and contribute to her offerings when I can BECAUSE her client base are people who fit well into the consultation and coaching part of my business.

There are some up and coming social networks I like a lot (some are tools for using with social networks but they have a social factor too!)

Pintrest – a visual kind of bulletin board where you share social stuff
Instagram – Mobile picture sharing site that works with Facebook
Spotify – for music sharing
Tumblr – a micro posting site (this one is a dark horse, have it on here because there are socially connected people pushing for it!)
Klout – tracking your social capitol and can share with others (I am writing a whole post about this one – keep your peepers open for it!)

So how did I pick this list? They are ones that come on my radar because friends use them or they get press or I just find them cool. That does NOT mean that I should spend all of my time growing friends and followers on them, but it does mean I will make an account and see how it goes, using them when I have time.

So let’s cut to the chase, if you are doing social media marketing and are focused on it as an aspect of brand building, networking and promoting your business, joining a million little social network wanna-bees does not make sense. What does make sense is to focus on the big 4 and have a smaller presence on a few smaller networks that make sense to you personally!

If you have a network that you ADORE and want to share here, please leave a comment and I will review it…we all may find a great new “place”! If you are just a spammer, I read all comments before publishing so don’t waste your time!!!

Small Business Marketing – Using Video Reviews To Generate Traffic and Sales

Tara Jacobsen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:22:19 +0000

I have been on small business marketing training seminars that talked about using product reviews to get more traffic and increase sales. I admit it, I just could NOT get my arms around how actual small business owners would use these (I can see how spammers or one hit wonders would use them for quick hits, but not real business owners!)

So today, I figured out how using video reviews could actually work to generate traffic and sales for small business marketing…BRILLIANT!

The Back Story…And The Ways That This Works…

I have been doing paper crafting things like coloring, stamping etc. for a little while now and am looking for some tools to make my job easier (cutting little pieces of paper is not my sweet spot).

Step 1 – So, I was on the YouTube looking up how to do cutting and I found Sizzix Big Shot as a recommended product…

The person making the video I watched might have missed an opportunity to sell me one of these bad boys, had she directed me to HER website with an additional post and video I might have bought through her affiliate link. As it was, I had to go to the Google to research what a Big Shot was and…

Step 2 – Who pops up but Amazon?

Go figure. Their site is HUGE, their web score is great…SOOO many people use it. As small business owners we could never hope to get even a tiny portion of the traffic they get a day! So I found the machine and there were reviews done by users, one of which was a video review by June Campbell…check out using video reviews in action

Step 3 – She has her web address at the end of the video…

Now, one important thing to note about June’s review is that it was NOT a sales pitch. It was a 7 minute long, how to video that showed how to use this product, with a TEENY WEENY little reference at the end to her website.

Please, please, please also notice that it is a simple video. It is not production quality or perfect. SERIOUSLY, NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH COMMERCIALS anymore, that ship has sailed. They would rather watch real people doing real things than have a slick, professional, TV quality video (stepping off my soapbox now..:)

Step 4 – June sells videos on how to do scrapbooking…BRILLIANT!

So when you go from her review (which has 37 thank you comments itself) to her website…which sells an information product teaching people how to do things WITH the product, she can sell you something…the heavens part and it all makes sense!

Video Review Examples

Okay people, I am not great at making things up so I need some help, put your product or service in the comments and I will see if I can come up with a video review that you could with a complimentary product! Here are a couple to get us started…

Bookkeeping Services > QuickBooks review (there are no video reviews at this time) > Sell your quickbook services by having additional how to videos on your blog!

Craft store > Reviews on EVERY product you sell in house that is on Amazon or Google Product or anywhere else with lots of traffic that allows video reviews > sell locally using the power of Amazon

Small Business Marketing – Are you a farmer or a hunter?

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:17:19 +0000

Small business marketing can either be active or passive…so what’s the difference? Basically it is whether you are working like a farmer or a hunter!

I felt like I have to write this post because of meetings I have had with clients lately (coaching and social media marketing). All were with favorite clients and they were very telling in how much resistance I got for my suggestions! So this is what happened at my meetings…

Yesterday I met with two of my favorite clients and was talking with them about their marketing efforts. During the talk I suggested that they do “popbys” which is hand delivering a small gift to your customers and prospects. They said that doing that would be very time intensive and that they would rather do things that are more time-effective. Fair enough.
Day before that, I was talking with a Realtor client and asked if she was doing open houses. She said she was too busy working on transactions to take the time to do open houses and that she wasn’t sure that doing them would be time effective. Fair enough.
Last week I talked to a coaching client who is ROCKING it, but she needed some ideas about how to get more targeted business. I suggested she do in-person networking and sell a $97 consultation. She seemed to think that, having tried that in the past and not had too much success (before she had a GREAT product), she felt that it would not be time effective. Fair enough.

Huh. I was starting to sense a theme here…:) So what were “time-effective” strategies? Some of them were doing cold calling, a couple were doing email newsletters and one was relying on the internet for leads. NONE felt that getting belly to belly with humans would be a good idea. Sigh.

What Do Small Business Marketing Farmers Do?

DO NOT get me wrong! I love planting sales seeds and watching them grow. I DO think you should build up lists that will eventually turn into business. I DO think that consistent marketing done over time will result in consistent sales.

What I don’t think is that farming is ALL you should do (especially if you are doing it because it saves time and effort – you will get the best results from doing things that are hard which other people refuse to do!)

Farmers…

Do one-on-one meetings with people who are not looking to buy their products right now but who could be a good referral source in the future
Work for years on their website, getting ranked for keywords that will get them traffic and sales – my favorite!
Hold informational seminars where they collect names of people who are in an industry for later use
Grow large social media networks of people interested in their industry
Start an email newsletter list and send out emails once a month
Attend networking groups, mixers and leads groups

Now, many of you may be thinking, gee Tara, isn’t farming what you sell? SURE! I have built a highly sustainable, income producing, sellable business over the last 10 years PARTLY by farming. We have gotten clients AMAZING sales and opportunities through these methods and if you follow me at all, you know I am a HUGE proponent of growing big lists and communicating with them regularly.

BUT, if you want to sell something SOON, you need to get in front of humans that can buy your stuff NOW!

What Do Small Business Marketing Hunters Do?

Call targeted prospects who have expressed an interest in buying their product or service – we ALL have leads that have fallen through the cracks and feel crumby about it, CALL THEM!
Stop by targeted prospects offices with TWO popbys (small tokens of your undying affection), one for the gatekeeper and one for the prospect
Speak at an event where you are the featured guest and sell something to the people there (I use a sort of passive approach by having a signup form for an hour long consultation, you could be more aggressive about it – selling from the stage)
Taking a prospect to lunch
Holding an open house or brokers opens if you are in real estate – people DO NOT stop by an open house unless they are thinking of buying or selling
Asking EVERYONE who wants some of your time, “Are you planning on buying my product or service in the next 30 days” before agreeing to meet with them (tire kickers are not a good use of time!)

So, should you do ONLY hunting, flitting from one prospect to the next, kicking them to the curb if they do not buy in your timeframe? A resounding NO! But I will say that as far as I can tell, most small business owners are MUCH more comfortable farming than they are hunting.

I don’t know if time is REALLY an issue either. YES, it does take time to meet someone in person or get to an event, BUT people who have looked you in the eye and shaken your hand are much more likely to remember you than people who joined your email list or only talk with you on social media. Think about it, the person on the other end is busy too, they get your call and think, “yeah should call her back” and something comes up.

When I ask someone if they are busy, they say YES like it is a individual thing happening only to them. I have to say that whenever I ask it, EVERYONE is busy. You are not ESPECIALLY busy, your tasks are not ESPECIALLY hard, everyone had lots to do, is on overwhelm and doesn’t have time to waste. The difference between people who are busy and happy and those that are busy and frantic is time management, calendaring and saying no.

Hope this helps your small business marketing efforts, that you do a little more hunting, still keep on farming and get out there and SELL SOMETHING!

Small Business Lead Generating Sales Funnel

Small Business Marketing – Training, Webinars and COACHING

Tara Jacobsen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:06:35 +0000

Small business marketing is all about focusing on what is important and getting things done. Training and seminars are GREAT but not effective unless you actually USE what you learn in them! That is where coaching comes in!

Yesterday a man who sells great content was having a web-a-thon that was offering a superb product for a high price. I wanted it BAD. BUT, I have not viewed all of the training that I have bought yet and especially have not implemented all of the the things that I should. So no training…sigh.

I DO training and webinars, in fact, yesterday I was on one with Geri Stengel of Ventureneer, a website for non profit marketing, and she said she got some great ideas from my 100 Free Marketing Ideas content. That warmed the cockles of my heart, but when I emailed her back I noticed her signature line in her emails. It is FABULOUS. All kinds of social media links, info about her business, etc. Mine is lame…sigh. I KNOW I need to fix that. I have heard it from a million different people and even TEACH it to others….so what is the problem?

And what does that mean for all you training and webinar junkies?

You go to a training or sit on a webinar, absorbing great content but not IMPLEMENTING what you heard (that nice Nikki Ubaldini calls that having “smart drawers” – taking a class and putting all your notes into your desk!)

Here’s what to do!

If it is free and you have the time, attend the training or the webinar. If you pay for it, you better plan to use the info!
Take notes and make an action list – 3 items only of what you are going to do with the content
Implement those items!
If you need more to do before the next webinar or training comes along, refer back to your notes and pick 3 more things to IMPLEMENT

Another way to get better at what you need to do from training is to teach what you are working the most on. I TEACH time management because I am a student of getting things done and know more than most people about how to set up systems and plans to make my life easier and more effective. If you are struggling with social media, offer to teach a class on it! I bet you will learn and DO a lot while you are preparing for it!

Make a list of the things that you notice you need to do! It can be HUGE, but the best thing about a list like this is that you can do something when you only have 5 minutes!

The last thing to do is get a coach. I am a small business marketing coach and help people stay on track and focused. I provide accountability and a PLAN for getting from point A to point B without getting distracted by all the shiney objects that come our way.

It may surprise you that I HAVE a coach too. Anyone who is successful knows that meeting your goals and moving forward requires getting help from someone who knows things you do not know (you know what you know, you don’t know what you don’t know!)

With all the great free and paid Training and Webinar information out there, it is easy to get overwhelmed…stay focused and implement and you will be on your way.

PS – you can see from my picture that TODAY was the day I implemented a new email signature…I feel so productive!

Small Business Marketing – Having A Plan

Tara Jacobsen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:44:40 +0000

So today I am working on small business marketing plans for some of our clients. While I love the thrill of coming up with new ideas, the most important part to assuring success to have a rock solid, laid out, step-by-step plan!

I am a student of time management and goal setting who uses tools everyday to make my life a little easier (I help my coaching clients with this too!). That having been said, I spend a lot of time watching other people work and it generally looks like this:

Get up sometime, have some coffee, check some emails….SHIT, there are problems
Put out a fire, stress, run late for a meeting…SHIT, I don’t have everything ready
Duck into the meeting, event or appointment, apologize for being late, apologize for not having all your stuff
Rush out, get to the office, check your voicemail….SHIT, there are problems
Etc, Etc, Etc

Instead of that, what if you had a plan for your entire business and knew every morning what the most important things were overall. These could be getting speaking events if you are a speaker, geting listings if you are a Realtor, selling product if you are in direct sales, lead generating if you are a sales person. I KNOW, sounds simple right? BUT if you think about your number one, most important job for your business, I would be willing to bet you do that MUCH less often than you think you do!

Everyday something will come up that will try to knock you off your goals. Problems, opportunities, shiney squirrels and all kinds of things are much more interesting than putting your nose to the wheel and grinding out what you need to do to succeed.

Sometimes, all it takes is someone looking at your business with a fresh set of eyes to see what you need to do to get to the next level. Sit down with us for an hour and come away with REAL action items that will get you on the road to business success.

Click the link to find out more about our 1 Hour Marketing
Coaching call. Just make sure you get your spot NOW because
space is limited… and these phone consulting sessions are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Soooo…. here is my hope for you today:

Start work everyday at the same time
If you work at home, get dressed, no jammies!
Write down the three most important things to do today BEFORE you do anything else
Have daily things you have to get done BEFORE you do anything else (blogging, social media, send personal notes, make phone calls)
THEN check your emails or voicemails! If there is something you can do in 2 minutes or less, do that, if it will take more of your time or soul, put it on the list of your todos AFTER your three important things
Get to work!

Okay, we didn’t even touch your calendar, but that is a post for another day!

If you are serious about your business and sales, you HAVE to have a plan EVERY day to stay on track and get ahead. I KNOW, your business is different. You have emergencies that you have to deal with immediately OR you HAVE to be available 24/7 OR you can’t have a calendar and a schedule because every day is different OR you are too busy to make a plan.

I hate to tell you this but that is everyone’s life. You are not different…you are just making excuses. So, vow today to start putting yourself and your business goals first and everything else will fall into place!

I KNOW, the dream of owning your own business was to be free as a little birdy, but I have to say, if you schedule and plan and stick to it, you are MUCH more free, guilt free, time free and stress free than if you are chasing your tail and running around and around after every shiney squirrel that comes along!!!

How To Grow a List | Small Business Marketing

Tara Jacobsen — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:33:41 +0000

How to grow a list is a big topic in my small business marketing world! That is probably my number one question I get, followed close on its heals by what should I send to that list?

Getting Started – What Kinds Of Lists Should You Be Growing?

There are SO many different lists we have to manage now. Small business marketing has never had such a wealth of ways to communicate with their clients, customers and prospects before.

That having been said, all those lists can quickly get out of hand and unmanageable. PLUS, how do you know that your list building efforts are actually going to pay off?

Here are just a few of the lists that you should be cultivating:

Email list – lifeblood of your business!
Facebook friends
Facebook likes (business page connections)
Twitter followers
LinkedIn connections
Google+ circles
YouTube subscribers and contacts
Misc industry related groups and websites

This is just a start of the lists you should have, but it is a good start! Having people who you can talk to is vital to your online (and offline) marketing success.

Why Should You Care About Your Lists

There is a secret society of people with big lists (I KNOW, it sounds like the Illuminati of old, but it is true!). I have big lists of social media contacts, website readers and email recipients and almost every day someone contacts me to see if I will post something for them, or send something for them or basically sell out my lists for money. I choose not to do this as it could harm my relationships with these people, but growing big lists and monetizing them is one business model that unfailingly works well.

Here it comes…the secret to building big lists! Drumroll please, work like a farmer.

You think I am kidding, right? Nope. I love the concept of “thinking like a hunter, working like a farmer”. What you want to do is figure out who to target with your lists and then grind out growing them. While there ARE ways to jump start a list (doing affiliate emailings to someone else’s list is one biggie, but it costs money or credibility OR buying a list) but most of them work about as well as you think they might, not at all. the one exception to this is buying a direct mail list, they usually have between a 2% and 4% response rate

Just the other day I heard a snake oil concept about growing a Facebook Profile to 5,000 then magically transferring that over to a business page (which allows sales while the profile does not). While that instantly made me think YAY, I immediately knew that I would not do that for myself or my clients. Seriously, that would be the fastest way I can think of to get banned from Facebook if it is even possible to do.

If you are a small business owner and not a spammer, there are things that you should and should not do. Here are some examples:

DO start growing your lists by finding people who you are interested in and who interest you, then interact with them
DO schedule some time each day to grow each of those lists (I schedule 20 minutes a day for list building)
DO make easy for people to join your lists (have your contact info on your business card, have an opt in form on your website, offer something free for joining, etc.)
DO add every human you meet in person to your list
DO have a signup sheet or contest to collect names at in person events
DO get that stack of business cards off of your desk and into a database program like Constant Contact or Office Auto Pilot (what we use)
DO NOT buy an email list of people to spam
DO NOT try “tricks” to get big lists (they ALWAYS backfire)
DO NOT listen to internet marketers – this is a HUGE secret! Internet marketers are great at making money OFF OF YOU! Seriously, if they are actually raking in $70,000 a day selling something, do you REALLY think that they are going to be selling a $47 ebook on how to make money on the internet? They are great at building big lists and sending out hope to people, NOT at helping you actually succeed.

So, what do people with big lists talk about when they are chatting with each other? How to grow lists…:) Seriously, this is really interesting to some of us and could almost be considered a talent (a kind of twisted, not fun, grind it out talent, but a talent none the less). WHO KNEW on November 30, 2007 when I started tweeting that Twitter would grow to become important to marketing. I did not, but I knew that it couldn’t hurt to get an account and start growing it. (Google+ is at the same point now, make sure you jump in there and get started TODAY).

Just by jumping in then, I was able to increase my reach and grow followers easily. The same thing happened when Facebook started their pages, back then you could get anyone to like your pages and trade suggestions to like, but now it is MUCH harder to get likes.

So, make sure you are staying ahead of your competition by focusing on building your lists. Put time for it on the calendar and make a strategic plan to implement!

Neat tool I used to find out how long I have been tweeting!

If you would like to find out some specific suggestions and goals for your small business marketing list building efforts (plus a handy-dandy worksheet I use to make it easier), give me a call today or check out our Small Business Marketing Planning Call today!

Setting Goals for 2012 | Small Business Marketing

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:28:09 +0000

Setting Goals for 2012 | Small Business Marketing – As a small business marketing expert, I am asked all the time about what to do and THEN am asked how the heck they are going to find the time to accomplish all of those goals. I find that having written goals and calendaring them is the only way to win!

So we are going to talk about how to find and focus on your goals, then how to implement them day to day on a consistent basis!

I LOVE the picture in this post because it is EXACTLY how you should start.

Think of everything you have to do, all your todo lists and everything else and put them in a drawer. I do not have hard numbers to throw around, but I know at least 50% of my HUGE tasks lists never get implemented. Either I do the item and forget that it is done, it expires a sad death because it wasn’t done in time to be effective or other things are more important. So I recommend turning everything upside down and figuring out what you like to do and what makes you money FIRST!

Here is a Small Business Marketing Productivity Form 3 Squares I send out to people who are members of my community (you can sign up on the home page if you are not already getting great stuff like this in your inbox!) Basically, you need to put your three main business focuses in the three squares and the figure out your tasks based on what you have said are your goals, instead of using the “what fire should I put out today” approach.

Picking the top three things that matter most to your business each day makes sure you stay on track! I consider and then write down what I have to do today and then make sure they get done. Sounds easy but I am busy like everyone else and things pop up which try to distract me. Having those in front of me makes a HUGE difference!

One thing for my long term goals. I follow that nice Brian Tracy and he says that if you do not have written goals, you just have dreams. It is great to write down your long term goals, but if you do not do something EVERY DAY (big or tiny) to move towards them, then you are never going to get there. Seriously, there are ALWAYS things that pop up which will see more important than something that is 3 years away. Stop putting your important things last and work on them daily.

Okay, so now I know what is important to my business and what my long term and short term goals are. So how do I get there from here? GRIND IT OUT!

If you are looking for some magic bullet that will make work less, well worky, this is not the place for you. I get a lot done because I am willing to plan and then execute against that plan, grinding away every day. So here are my daily tasks for Marketing Artfully for the first 3 months of 2012! Feel free to add them to your todos or make up your own BUT you have to have specific numbers attached or life will get in the way!

Daily Goals

facebook, comment or post
twitter, comment or post
linkedin, comment or post
google+, comment or post
haro.com email to see if someone needs an expert or speaker
answer all emails twice a day (no rollovers, schedule, answer or evernote!)
schedule speaking events or client meetings
print all materials needed
do one thing for social media marketing
do one thing for small business marketing coaching
do one thing for speaking

note: the checking social media takes about 15 minutes (I set a 20 minute timer and that is all I get), the bottom three are my three squares so I have to do something every day, emails overwhelm me so I am going to have a policy of one-touching them!

Weekly Goals

write three blog posts a week for Marketing Artfully
client blog posts
back up the spreadsheet
comment on 10 blog posts (for backlinks)
2 in person events (speaking, networking, classes)

Monthly Goals

client marketing plans
videos for clients
check bank account

So how does this work in the “real world”? I calendar EVERYTHING! I have a wonderful assistant who schedules things for me BUT she can’t if I don’t have things in there so I am super vigilant.

I will tell you now, once you put all your “must dos” on your calendar, it starts to look like there won’t be time for anything else. Here is where you have to GET REAL! If you have things that have to get done, and having them on your calendar makes you overwhelmed, maybe you have too many must dos!

Seriously, whether or not you acknowledge them, these things still take time up from your week, whether you calendar them or NOT. This is how we get so overwhelmed. So you have a couple of choices:

Tighten up your goals even more so there is time to accomplish at least most of your tasks or…
Magically add more time to the day (okay, this one is a little snarky but true!)

What I tend to do is put time in the calendar for things I have to do and then move it around if my assistant needs to schedule something else (like a client call or appointment with a human). It is important to note that you cannot just delete the time (you still had it as important to your business, remember?). You just need to move it around to fit your actual schedule that week!

So, does this seem a little overwhelming? I have been finessing this plan over the course of about 5 years so starting today it WILL be overwhelming. That having been said, it is SO PRODUCTIVE and vital to your success that it is worthwhile taking the time TODAY to implement it!

If you would like to have some help with your goal setting for your small business, I have a special, one hour marketing consult where we will sit down with YOUR business and discuss EXACTLY what you should do. I have done HUNDREDS of these and have a model for what works and you WILL walk away with concrete goals for what to do! Check out the link or give me a call today (727-415-9165) to sign up or find out more!

Finally, I want to wish you all a happy and prosperous 2012, here’s hoping that you get going goal setting for 2012 and that you small business marketing makes you many sales in the coming year!

Being Authentic Is The New Black – Small Business Branding

Tara Jacobsen — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:52:17 +0000

Small business branding is just like corporate branding, just cooler! As a small business owner, you have the chance to project your personality and focus into every aspect of your business, starting with being authentic!

Recent Corporate Branding News That Is Bad

So we were sitting around with the family yesterday and the topic of the new Cooper Mini came up (two mid 40′s, two mid 60′s and a mid 70′s aged people). That got us talking about the new Fiat 500, which lead to the fact that Fiat faked Jenny From The Block. For those of you who don’t know it, Jennifer Lopez has built part of her brand on the fact that she is just a girl from the Bronx and Fiat tried to make it look like she was tooling around in NYC but she was actually in Los Angeles during the filming. Here are some of the articles about the debacle:

Car Trouble? Jennifer Lopez Fakes Fiat Commercial With Help From Bronx Body Double – “Here, this is my world,” she says in voiceover as she’s shown behind the steering wheel, dreamily gazing out at the stereotypical Bronx scenes passing by. “This place inspires me to be tougher, to stay sharper, to think faster. They may be just streets to you, but to me, they’re a playground.”
JENNIFER LOPEZ‘S CAR COMMERCIAL BEING CALLED A ’SHAM’
Bronx Cheer For J. Lo’s Phony Fiat Commercial

So why was this so egregious to my family who has no stake in Fiat or Jennifer Lopez? Because it felt like we were lied to…period. If you are going to show her driving in the Bronx, which is her home town and part of her brand, would it really have been so hard to do it there? Was she too important to go back or was Fiat too lazy get the girl to the city? Either way, it did not feel authentic!

Small Business Branding and Authenticity

So what does this mean to you and your brand? My brand it being “TARAdactyl”, a marketing obsessed, time managing, blogger, speaker and coach that gets things done. (Who knew in the early 2000′s that having a Google name like that would follow you around forever?!?!)

When I speak, I am brutally honest. When I talk on my blog, honest, in person, online, in print, everywhere, same schtick. The nice thing about this is that I don’t have to try and remember what I told to whom. I can speak my mind and not feel like I am being untrue to myself.

Now, could a lawyer or doctor do that? SURE! Dr. Oz is one scary dude, but he is honest about all kinds of things that most people won’t talk about on TV.

But being authentic to your brand does not all have to do with honesty, it also has to do with staying true to who you are and what your company sells. If you are selling cars or houses or bathtubs and you are proud of your product and how you represent it, that will show through.

(if you are not all in on your product, that is a post for another day, but seriously, quit selling that right now and get going doing something you LOVE doing!)

Watch This! Gary Vaynerchuk talking about being authentic from 2008 – this shit never goes out of style!

If you would like to find out how to get YOUR small business branding on track, click the link to find out more about our marketing consulting sessions!