Small Business Marketing | Marketing for Entrepreneurs | Realtor Marketing

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!

Social Media Marketing – Clearwater and Tampa

Tara Jacobsen — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:07:46 +0000

Social media marketing is the not so new yellow pages. If you want to succeed as a Clearwater or Tampa area business, you NEED to make sure you are addressing your social media marketing efforts!

What is Clearwater and Tampa social media marketing?

Social media marketing is using Web 2.0 and sharing properties like Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google Plus to get your message out there. Unfortunately, social media marketing is not like traditional marketing which required money and little time. This new marketing medium requires time and could be done absolutely for free!

You MUST:

Post blog posts relevant to your industry so you show up on google for your targeted keywords (for this post I am trying to rank for Social media marketing Tampa, Clearwater – if you are here, you probably searched those terms!)
Be active on Facebook including growing Friends, Fans, commenting, posting and more
Master Twitter since computers can use your Twitter information to spread your message farther and wider than you ever thought possible!
Grow your Connections on LinkedIn for business
Get a firm foothold on Google Plus now while it is still in its infancy, all the people you get now will mean more sales in the future
Videos are the wave of the future and you have to get a YouTube channel started today (whether you work with us or not!)

What Makes The Clearwater and Tampa Marketing Areas Different?

Clearwater and Tampa, heck the whole West coast of Florida, are weird. There are SO many service industries and jobs that it can be hard to stick out from the crowd. Add to that, you need to appeal to locals for steady business, but HAVE to be found by people who are coming into the area to vacation to boost your sales.

If you are not trying to attract locals and out of towners, you are missing the marketing boat!

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?

What Clearwater Tampa Social Media Is NOT

Here is the really hard part about social media marketing…it is not linear. It used to be if you bought a bigger yellow page ad than everyone else, you got more calls. Today, you need to be an SEO genius (seriously, how many different ways can people search for your company offerings?), a researcher to find great related content that you can post, a writer to have things to offer, a videographer to shoot fun, engaging videos of yourself and MORE…WOW!

We would love to say that you can start today and have a huge social media empire tomorrow or that you will get a gagillion blog hits in a month. Those things just aren’t true…nor is the fact that you can get ranked on page one of google, or that you are guaranteed to ANYTHING ONLINE. The only people who could guarantee you of those things own the websites and even they don’t do that!

So what should you do?

Get really good at social media. Study for hours a day, post frequently, monitor your social media properties and keep up with all the changes that happen on almost a daily basis OR…
Hire your nephew who is “really good at computers” to do your social media marketing, even though he has no marketing experience what-so-ever and would rather be out with his friends
Hire “SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTS” who jumped on the bandwagon last year, took a class and hung a shingle saying they are experts (free tip – ask how long they have been doing this!)
Hire marketing experts like us who know that social media properties are just tools we use to help you get your message out!

Give me a call today to find out more! 727-415-9165

Friday Fun – Growing Big Lists Some Practical and FUN Tips

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:50:17 +0000

Growing big lists is not hard…it just takes some time and effort (sorry, I know that is not as fun as the title sounded BUT might as well get it out of the way at the start!)

So here are my tips for growing big lists, in no particular order:

It Is Just Like Kindergarten Valentines – Everybody Gets One

I talk to lots of people who are proud that they know everybody on their Facebook list. They have real connections with them and feel like they are “real” friends. Growing big lists means suspending that model and feeling like everyone is a friend, whether you know them or not.

Here is my plea for considering this! I have “friends” on Facebook who I have never met, who came to my Christmas party at my house because I invited them. Now you might not want the general population dropping by, but I have tens of thousands of connections across the internet and have NEVER had someone take advantage of the fact that you could find me in person if you wanted to. (one note – I have a house full of people and animals PLUS a six foot six bear of a husband, if you are a single gal, you might want to be a little more careful than I am about publishing your info)

Also, it is not an all or nothing thing…you could keep your Facebook sacred, but grow big lists on Twitter or LinkedIn. Just because you decided to use one for “real” communication does not mean that you have to do that over all your social media platforms.

Also, stop worrying that you will “friend” or “circle” unsavory people. I have unfriended people who spam me, taken porn people off of my Twitter and blocked people who do not add to my general well being. I just take the stance that you are a “friend” until you prove otherwise!

Get Curious

This picture is of me dinking around on the Google Plus this morning. I thought, huh, wonder if I could find an easy way to get some media contacts. I searched and found two neat sites (Circle Count and G Plus Search). From there I searched and found a place that had some media contacts and then another place with some more. BINGO! I made a circle of newspapers.

So what am going to do with a circle of newspapers. I really don’t know right this minute but here is what is going to happen (I guarantee it, I have done this before and the best predictor of future results is past results).

Some of those newspapers will follow me back! I have 72 and will get at least 10 percent of them that will check their followers and find my cute taradactyl picture and follow me back after seeing I am a real person (note, you can’t just put up a profile and leave it at that).
Then, people who circle them will check and more people will circle me because I follow a newspaper they like.
Eventually google plus will open up their interface and someone will make an auto follow tool that will check who people follow and suggest me because I am on a list.
Rinse and repeat.

Seriously, that is my plan? Yep. It would be GREAT if I could just get everyone in the universe to follow me like they do Ashton Kutcher or that dark haired girl who got married and divorced really fast, but that is not going to happen. I am just a schmoe who likes marketing and small business so the universe is not anxiously waiting to hear my every word. I have to get out there and hustle to find them first so that they can find out how cool and rocking I am!

Again Kindergarten Rears Its Head – Share Your Toys

This is a biggie – you have to stop worrying that people will steal your stuff or use what you have before you do! So what did I do with my circle of newspapers? Did I:

A – Hoard it, wringing my hands together and chuckling that I have something and no one else can have it?
B – Send it to one friend who like a lot and who I know will get a kick out it (this happens sometimes)
C – Post it on the interwebs so anyone in the world could copy it and use it – DING DING DING – we have a winner!

When I was realtor (for about 10 minutes), I got to a lot of sales doing a community newsletter. Because of that, real estate offices asked me to come in and teach THEIR agents how to use a community newsletter to get more listings (these were offices in my marketplace). I did, going so far as to give them a copy to take home and use at will. To this day, one agent has used that same format and gotten great results. SERIOUSLY, I gave out about 600 copies and one person used it.

If you share you things, people will like you. If people like you, they will share their things with you (I have a 100 Free Marketing Ideas handout I have made 1,000′s of dollars from and I never have to look for new free things, people email them to me!)

The Wrap Up

So, when you want to grow big lists, be nice, share your things and like other people. Pretty easy peasy!

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!!!

Mindset – How You Do Something Is How You Do Everything

Tara Jacobsen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:37:02 +0000

So today’s post – how you do something is how you do everything – is more mindsetty and less marketingy, we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow!

So what does that mean? To me, it means that if I have integrity in my business and my home, then I will have it across the board and not have to worry that I am falling out of being in alignment with what I feel inside, what I talk about when I speak and how I coach my coaching clients. Soooo…here are the ways that I do everything (would love if you think about how you do things to try and make sure your business is in alignment – it could also be a great exercise for creating a mission statement for your business).

Everyone Matters

Just the other day a dear friend told me that someone said her business was not a valid model and that she should not dream of charging anyone for her services. OHHHH that made me mad! Especially because they had not paid her for work performed.

I figured out a long time ago that it is important to listen to people and what their thoughts, goals and likes are. When I do a one hour marketing call, I spend the majority of time listening to what they like to do, what they have done in the past that works and figuring out based on those criteria what they should do going forward. As a young buck marketing “expert” I didn’t do that. I would come in like a bull in a china shop and tell them what they should do based on what my world view was…not good!

First off, I DO think her business model is valid and secondly, be careful about what you say about someone else’s dreams. My respect for the person who said that decreased greatly and I will not be recommending them or working with them in the future.

Everything Matters

Brian Tracy talks about this A LOT. I have a recording of his that I listen to frequently that speaks to this over and over, everything matters, everything matters. This is another way of saying, how you do anything is how you do everything.

This one speaks to the way that you conduct your business and your life. If you have a high work ethic and get a lot done, you probably have a high work ethic with your home and your family too (if you don’t, then look at your priorities and make sure you are consistent with everyone, especially the people who matter!). If you have trouble getting things done or finished, then that is probably systemic and something you should work on with a coach or trainer to make it a habit in your business.

As adults, no one is really watching your every move and it is easy to let things slip or to tell little white lies (oh I didn’t get that email or yep that got done on time). If you decide to do everything with integrity, it does make everything easier (I really didn’t see that email or I saw it but it slipped my mind, SORRY). Saying your sorry for making a mistake is SO much easier than trying to justify your wrong actions. Always try to do your best and that is all anyone can ask of you (including yourself)!

Stay Organized

This is one I struggle with! I have tons of worksheets and charts to keep me in line. While I sometimes bristle with having these limitations, I try to look at them more as helpful boundaries that keep me on track. I also calendar my work life to the nth degree. Everything goes on there and I stick to it. Here is a great post about how to set goals and manage them effectively.

That having been said, I slip in this area as much as anyone else. I HATE when I see myself procrastinating about something and TRY to “just do it” to get it out of the way. The one way I have found works well is to organize your environment to make things easier. For instance, I HATE when I get a bunch of receipts in my purse and can’t find my money. One way to avoid this is to bring receipts up to my “receipt box” every time I come home from an event. Takes 3 seconds, I have to climb the stairs so I get a little exercise and it makes my days better (the fact that I have a “receipt box” is a post for another day!)

When you notice that you don’t want to do something, try and figure out if you can make a path of least resistance to getting there for yourself. Put your checkbook in the drawer right below your desk so that you can pay bills or deposit checks easily, set up a “one touch” system for emails, to dos or bills. Seriously, I am not the gal to tell you how to do this, if you have these issues, get an organizer in who works with people like you (I am SO visual) to help.

Have Grace

One of the main things I have as a lifelong, ongoing goal is to have grace (I even have a stamp that I use to remind myself). To me, having grace means respecting other people and their opinions. Listening and really paying attention instead of running people over. Doing what is required with a smile instead of crying about what I “have” to do.

Because I am clear on the front end what my goals are (to be a great marketing company owner, speaker and coach), I have something I can hold each of my icky things up to an say, “do I need to do this to further my business” or “can someone else do this better than I can”. There are many things that only I can do which I would not do given the choice BUT because I want specific things, those numbers are limited and manageable!

So I hope you can get a little bit out of this, I basically wrote it to remind me that I am a work in progress BUT that I am trying and succeeding in many different areas! If you do decide to set some of these up for yourself, BURN THE BOATS! Start today and don’t look back worrying about what WAS, go forward and change what IS!

Mindset – The Company You Keep

Social Media Marketing Mistakes – Not A Good Start

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:40:06 +0000

Social media marketing mistakes come in all shapes and sizes but one the major pitfalls is have a (REALLY) bad start! This paired with having your security settings dialed so far back that no one can see anything will really hurt your social media marketing efforts!

Social Media Marketing Mistakes – No Photo

When you first set up your accounts, they want you to use a photo of yourself, an avatar that you use frequently (like I do) or even in a pinch your company logo.

If you have no photo uploaded on your profile, you will show the default for that website (this picture is of my FourSquare account and the people who want to be my friends). If you were looking at this, what would your impressions be? I connected with the happy gentleman, Robert B. and did NOT connect with the one that was blatantly marketing their logo (badly) or the two people who didn’t bother to have a photo or even a bad logo.

Facebook and photos. Okay, we have LOTS of clients and many of them do not want to use their own photo on Facebook. They use a picture of their dog (strange), a picture of their child (creepy to be friending a 5 year old), a quote or other things that give no indication of who they are. BELIEVE ME, I hate every photo ever taken of me so years ago I started using an avatar of me for everything. Not the best answer, but at least branding-wise I am consistent and there is a human face for people to gravitate towards.

As you see in this picture, the two top people did not have a photo so I did NOT “friend” them.

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?

People who are approving your friend requests make these types of decisions in a split second, one at a time so Step 1 – make sure your social media profile has a photo, preferably of a person.

Starting Your Social Media With No Info

Okay, this one really hit a nerve with me for the blatant problems I see. While his identity has been hidden to protect him, I do not consider him innocent of the crime of bad social media!

First off, he looks like serial killer! The picture taken from his computer with the light behind him is TERRIBLE and threatening!
Secondly, he hasn’t added any posts before circling me so there is no reason for me to add him to my circles (a real missed opportuntity)
Finally, I checked his about us page and there was nothing on there except his home town – fail

Okay people, I have been doing this internetty thing for a while now and was fortunate to start early when it didn’t matter if you posted good stuff or had good pictures or even that you were interesting, but times have changed and you have to put at least a little effort to get any results.

Social Media Marketing Mistakes – Bad Privacy Settings

I KNOW you have heard all the “stranger danger” talk on the Facebook about how if you don’t have all of your privacy settings dialed back to the nth degree murderers and thieves will be able to steal your identity, plunder your home and ravish your wife.

Okay, a little dramatic but seriously, the other day someone sent out a “DANGER, DANGER” message that people could see your phone number on Facebook if you didn’t set your privacy right. Okay…my phone number is on my website, my business cards and my marketing materials. Having some Facebook people see it too is not that big a deal. (in fact I wrote a whole post about this you might want to read Small Business Marketing and Facebook Privacy Settings if you would like to find out more)

Seriously, does this lady think that I will just approve her friend request with knowing anything about her. No hometown, no interests, no work, no nothing? NOT!

So in conclusion, don’t be “that guy” and make these social media marketing mistakes. If you are using social media for your small business, make sure you take a little time, look over your stuff and see if you need to make some tweeks to increase your effectiveness!