Small Business Marketing | Marketing for Entrepreneurs | Realtor Marketing » niche marketing

Affiliate Marketing Where Is Your Passion

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:22:35 +0000

Affiliate marketing is a topic that comes up A LOT in my world. Bloggers are often affiliate marketers and I have just one word of warning for them. Make sure to follow your passion!

Many of the small business blogs that we develop are for affiliates. Oftentimes they have picked a topic that is “hot” by doing research on trends and search volume. I have done that in the past. Sigh.

Every time I have made the decision to do affiliate marketing with no passion behind it, I have petered out early. Now do not get me wrong, passion comes in many forms and it is easy to find a way to monazite your passion but pick your topic wisely!

The benefit of doing an affiliate blog with a hot topic is that you have the opportunity to get fast money. There are serious downfalls also:

AFFILIATE MARKTING COMPETITION – this is a biggie. If you are not serious about spending some major adwords coin on keywords, you are probably not going to see a huge amount of traffic right off the bat. Make money online is a great niche but the cost per click is about 3 bucks. Not cheap.
AFFILIATE BURNOUT – I can tell you unilaterally, if you are not at least somewhat interested in your category you will come to hate it more than life itself. I keep reading about fishing, lures, tackle, etc. So when Christmas rolled around I figured it would be a great idea to have a list of presents for fishermen. Argg. I HATE fishing. It took me 10 times as long to research fishing presents as it did for me to research crafting presents (I like crafting) since I had no background other than having fished 30 plus years ago with my grandfather.
ORGANIC KEYWORD COMPETITION – Now I am HUGE proponent of picking big keywords and having a long term plan for ranking well for them. That having been said, if this is just a little affiliate blog without tons of content, you will struggle to beat the established players in your niche market. If your category is not your passion, coming up with content or even content ideas will be a struggle.

So how do you make your passion pay? If you are a passionate green living nut, find a product or service to sell that goes along with your lifestyle, DO NOT pick something because it is hot. Today on clickbank the top selling product seems to be SatelliteDirect – Highest Converting Tv To PC Product. That is SO not a green item and would not be a good fit.

I was “watching” Seth Godin’s ebook the other day over at Vook and he talked about the farmers market Zeitgeist. Now the farmers had no way of knowing that eating well would be coming back into vogue BUT they had the products and systems in place to serve foodies when it did! Pick a topic that is trending but not super hot and then build a destination for people to come to.

Cathy over at Copy Cat Copywriting had a great post the other day about online marketing and picking a buying niche. It is SO worth a read!

Niche Marketing Know Your Audience

Tara Jacobsen — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:22:40 +0000

When I think about niche marketing I am as hesitant as the next person to eliminate any potential customers BUT it is totally necessary! If you try and please everyone, you will ultimately please no one and will have a hard time succeeding. So, what causes me to make that terribly bold statement?

Yesterday I was at a networking group with a copywriter who had just visited our group for the first time. She asked if she could bounce one of her products off of us and we said of course! She then proceeded to say that she was offering to review any communications that we would send out including emails, blog posts and marketing materials, making sure that they were grammatically and visually correct. Huh. Well anyone who reads this blog knows that is NOT a top priority for me…sigh. Just the other day I sent out a message that said my Free Website Class was being held on February 32nd.

Now don’t get me wrong! I am as driven to provide great information and content as the next gal, BUT being perfect all of the time is not one of my main goals. That having been said, Joy (my friend the Denver Bookkeeper) sitting next to me was thrilled that someone would help her make sure that everything went out right. Gotta say, I WANT my bookkeeper or my accountant or my lawyer to have a higher level of persnickity-ness about their communications than my marketer or my hairdresser.

I work on volume and if I had to have someone review every one of the 100′s of blog posts or articles or emails I do a year, my reach would go down and I would not have the level of success I enjoy now. That having been said, she could definitely have a great client base if she were to focus on providing service for people who ARE worried about doing things perfectly. Joy would be a great client, a doctor would be a great client, anyone who is in a professional industry probably shares some of that same fear of sending out a “bad” communication!

Yet still she tried to convince me that I was wrong and that I should be more concerned.

You CAN NOT convince someone to buy your product or service without A LOT work. She would do better to focus on providing great products and services to a smaller group of people who are receptive to hearing her message. This is niche marketing at its finest!

Now I am not picking on the new copywriter only…I talk to a lot of realtors every month and the first thing I ask them is who they work with – buyers or sellers, condo owners or single family homeowners, first time homebuyers or move up buyers. Invariably, most of them say ANYONE! Anyone who can fog a mirror is a potential client. ARGGGG. If they would just make a stand and concentrate on some kind of niche, they could do so much more and achieve even more success.

My niche market is working with small business owners, entrepreneurs and realtors on their marketing needs. I know FOR SURE who my target market is, so reaching them becomes easier than if I said that ANY company in the world is my potential prospect.

Please do not feel that choosing a niche eliminates anyone else. I do work with larger companies which have a more entrepreneurial spirit or who have a real connection to who I am or what I do BUT that is my choice. Day to day I am blessed to work with dynamic, interesting and sometimes chaotic entrepreneurial souls who are making a difference in the world!

How To Pick New Small Business Opportunities

Tara Jacobsen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:34:31 +0000

This month’s second small business marketing newsletter was about having multiple streams of income, which got me thinking about how we should choose those streams for ourselves. I have a confession to make…I am a huge proponent of multiple streams of income and I have an entrepreneurial spirit so I spend lots of time considering new things I COULD do to increase my business opportunities. This post is about what I (and you) SHOULD do to maximize my time and effort and minimize pain!

John Jonas gave the best description I ever heard about how to pick what to do. He said you should never get more than one step away from what you do now or more than one step away from the kind of customer you serve now when deciding new things to try.

Here is my one step approach for Marketing Artfully. The three main things I do for my business are blogs, information products and speaking. Because information products often have affiliate programs, starting my own or joining someone else’s is a good fit for me and makes sense to add to myÂ resource page. Also, doing internet masterminds involves speaking (which is one of my things) so it is okay also.

Some other things for me that would be a good fit are things that provide services to entrepreneurs and small business owners, social networking items and other business related items.

Now here comes the brilliant part – when I get a great idea of something to do that is NOT one step away, I can drop it quickly. Instead of spending time and energy on researching something (or more likely diving into something) that will not help my business, I can easily determine if it is a good fit and, if not, move on!

This system works for ANY business! My buddy Deb Ward of Deborah Ward and Associates is a realtor in the Tampa Bay area. You can see from her blocks that there are some things that match well with her business model and some that don’t. She does coaching, sells real estate and owns a team of realtors. Getting referrals and owning shares in a title company are great for her, she could also add speaking to realtors easily because of her coaching focus. BUT, adding non-real estate related items would dilute her message and efforts.

So, to all you entrepreneurs out there considering new ventures…make sure that you are checking your blocks and keeping on track for success!!

Marketing Planning Seminar for Real Estate

Tara Jacobsen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:07:28 +0000

BE PART OF THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY TO
GROW YOUR REAL ESTATE BUSINESS!

This one-day Marketing Planning Seminar for Realtors, Title Companies and Mortgage Professionals will help you focus on the activities that will help you establish your brand, grow your business, get new clients and generate leads for your business.

Marketing Guru Tara Jacobsen will take you through the steps to take to make a marketing plan that works with YOUR business. Some topics we will cover include:Â Â Â

Finding your perfect customers
Developing a mission statement
Building your brand
Online and offline marketing ideas
Lead generating ideas

You WILL leave the class with a detailed plan for how to grow your business!

SEATING IS LIMITED TO 25 ATTENDEES – Don’t miss your chance to change your business!

PLUS – As a bonus, everyone who attends will get a FREE copy of “How To Service Your Listings” AND the special report “100 Things To Do To Sell Your Listings” (A $30 Value)!

When: February 6th from 9-1
Where: Integrity First Funding Group
1237 Lady Marion Lane
Dundedin FL 34698
Cost: $25

Focus Schmocus – How to get things done!

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:13:54 +0000

You have a million things you HAVE to do TODAY. You need to finish your paperwork, call some clients, send a newsletter, read an article, do some more paperwork, call that icky client, start your taxes, arggg!

I can tell you that there are probably only two or three things that you HAVE to do today to grow your business, sell something or get a new prospect. Those are the only things you HAVE to do today! (If you owe money to the IRS you may HAVE to talk to them today – you have my permission!)

So if you only have a few things you HAVE to do, you must WANT to do all that other busy work you have set up for yourself, right? We humans are funny creatures, we like to keep busy, to feel needed, to do important work. If we have lots to do we can justify to ourselves not getting some vital things done.

That ends today people! Today you need to figure out the top 3 things that you need to do for your business and EVERY day, before you do anything else, those things have to be done!

For my business, my top three things are:

Lead generating – writing blog posts, attending mastermind sessions, writing articles, emailing prospects
Strategic planning – getting the systems in place so that when opportunity knocks I am ready
Writing Ebooks or speaking in person – this is my actual physical work!

If you are a realtor, yours may look like this:

Lead generating – holding open houses, blogging about a neighborhood, sending out emails to your database, sending a newsletter, calling your prospects or clients and asking for referrals, attending network events
Strategic planning – organizing your calendar, targeting neighborhoods or niches, working on your database, setting upÂ automaticÂ emails to your prospects
Actual Realtor Work – taking listings, signing buyer broker agreements, showing houses, servicing your listings, writing contracts, negotiating contracts, and attending closings

Doing anything other than those things is a waste of your valuable time! You need to make sure that something from those lists is on your calendar every day!

Write these things out and hang them on the wall. Anytime something comes in that seems urgent, hold it up to your list and see if it something you HAVE to do…you may be surprised how much you have been doing that isÂ unnecessaryÂ busywork that you just have a habit of doing.

What makes you a expert? Small Business Success!

Tara Jacobsen — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:25:38 +0000

Small business success! So you think you are an expert? Who says? Sometimes people are “crowned” an expert on TV, Doctors are experts through training and education, and sometimes you can join a business association or get a designation within your industry.

More often than not though, it is what you DO that makes you an expert!

Books – Conventional wisdom says that if you want to become an expert on something read 3 books. That seems a little light to me BUT if you read three books and it sparks you to read 2 magazines and visit 5 associated websites AND talk to a human, I think you can consider yourself an expert.

Time – If you like something for long enough you will be come and expert! My father has a VW “Thing”. It is old and he doesn’t drive it very often BUT he has had it for a while so he has gone to VW meetups, he gets catalogs, he has read A LOT about it, he used to get a VW magazine. He knows A LOT about an obscure car that few people care about.

Interest – We think of computer guys as nerds, they think of themselves as geeks! They are REALLY interested in computers and how to make them work. They have websites like SlashDot.com where they can gather for the latest geeky news. They have causes like “Open Source” which means that everyone can contribute to programs to make them better because they have access to the source code. The great programmers that I know have rarely taken a computer science class. They don’t have time for it because they are too busy playing around on their computers!

Channels – You can even PICK what you might be interested in! I work with two great realtors who have decided to focus on Short Sales. Julia Fishel (The Pinellas Peach) works these in the Palm Harbor area and Deb Ward who works them in the middle of Pinellas County (TampaBayBankForeclosures.com). The interesting thing is that they are only about 10 miles apart BUT because of the nature of real estate are not direct competitors! Both have taken every class they can to learn about the current rules of short sales, they have found a great title company who can support them (Star Title) and they are actively looking for that kind of work!

Because I Said So – This is the one that seems the hardest to get a handle on! To be an expert, you just have to say that you are an expert and it will become so. If people think you are an expert, it makes you want to find out more about your chosen topic so you don’t look like a schmoe when people ask you about it. You will start to get mail about that subject. You should start a blog. You could join an association. But most of all the universe will say “dang this woman likes marketing and training, let’s give her some opportunities to do both!”.

Do Something – Make sure to do something (preferablyÂ everyday) that reinforces your expertise, write a blog post, attend an event where you tell people what you do, send out a direct mail piece that tells people what you do, SING IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

How To Increase Your Real Estate Website Hits – What Does A Girl Have To Do To Get Noticed?

Tara Jacobsen — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:17:46 +0000

STOP – Think about this BEFORE you spend a ton of money on Adwords or paid search engine listings!!!

The first thing you want to think about when trying to increase your website hits is are you going for quantity or quality? You can get great traffic to your site but if it is wrong kind of traffic (ie people who don’t care about what you have to offer and who will not turn into readers or use your services) what does the number matter? I know people with HUGE numbers of visitors who don’t have the volume of sales that should go along with those numbers. Just make sure that you are fishing for the right kind of traffic.

You can now resume your reading….

I don’t pay for websites hits very often. I did when I started my site just to get going and also do currently when I am trying to sell a specific product or service (like the 33 Touch Program). But in general I use the power of the internet to bring people to me.

I get hits on my Google Analytics that say my readers come the most from Active Rain (54 in the last month), Google (53 in the last month) and triiibes (20 in the last month). I also got clicks from 33 other sources in the last 30 days.

What does all that mean to me and how does it affect my readership and business? I have great readers and quality traffic. My average time spent on my site for the last month is 3:40 (3 minutes, 40 seconds), the average number of pages per visit is 2.39 and 49.31% of the people are new visits.

I did NOT have a million visitors (I had 361) but the ones that I do have come, stay and talk to me. I am a trusted source for information about marketing to realtors and have built a strong business with good customers.

So what can YOU do to increase the hits to your real estate or small business website?

Name your blog and blog posts something people will search for or something you want to be known for. I wrote an ezine article about Niche Marketing For Realtors which drives traffic to MA. It ranks #2 on page 2 for google and #2 on page 1 for yahoo. Marketing Artfully ranks #1 on Google and not in the first 10 pages of Yahoo for Niche Marketing For Realtors. Which leads us to…
Do not put all your eggs in one basket! Spread the love around!!! Make sure you have multiple streams of traffic to your main website. You can write articles at www.ezinearticles.com, set up a squidoo lens on a certain topic like I did for Real Estate Marketing Pro, or just post your Craigs List listings with a link back to your website.
Join some social media websites like Linked In, Twitter or Active Rain.
Comment on other peoples blogs, they will visit yours and may sign up to get your emails or feeds!
Last but not least, be interesting! Do not make your stuff one long sales pitch. Think “what if I was reading this? Would I be interested if I did not own the company?”. Give value, link back to people you enjoy reading about. Answer readers comments, show them that you appreciate their readership. And ALWAYS talk about something you like! If you do not like your topic it will be PAINFUL to write every week, let alone every day!

Oh, did I mention, every one of those items are FREE!

B2B or B2C – What great companies like Listingbook and Keller Williams are doing right (and wrong)

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:04:16 +0000

In this day and age, the line between Business To Business (B2B) and Business To Consumer (B2C) has gotten blurred. Many consumers are small business owners (like realtors) and all companies are made up of consumers. The internet has leveled the playing field for many but has also allowed us to get complacent about making sure we know our focus.

Business to business is generally based on the model that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few (my last star trek quote I promise!). With this model you try and make/market you product so that it appeals to most types of businesses. Business to consumer is the good of the few – they want to know what is in it for them and do not care about anything your product has that does not relate to their world view.

Does that mean that we have to develop a product for each and every one of those people. That we need to limit our services to a niche that we have chosen and smite everyone that comes along who does not fit into that niche – NO!

What we need to do is market to those different groups differently. The nice thing about this is that it basically costs thought, paper and time. No big development budget, just lots of brain cells.

Let’s look at Listingbook first (I contract with them to teach – I did this for free before I came on board because I SO believed in the product). They already have a niche, providing MLS internet services to realtors for their clients.

They also have a problem. One of the focuses of their niche is B2B, contracting with MLSs to use their data and then working at the broker level to provide additional value added services at an office level. Their other focus is B2C (realtors are consumers at this point rather than businesses).

What works for B2B is hard to extrapolate to the individual agent level. BUT WAIT! They can’t be everything to everyone you say, they have to build something that will have enough bells and whistles to sell to the MLSs and the brokers you say. This is where the brain cells and marketing come in!

Realtors have problems to solve. How to get more buyers, how to get more sellers, how to keep those sellers happy over a long sales cycle, how to market themselves while still conducting business. Here is the crazy thing – they all think they are unique. They all want to know what is in it for them and making it personal is a niche thing that is relatively easy to solve.

Instead of trying to market to all the different agents, segment them into groups and only show them the features of the product that are relevent to their lives and businesses. Have a class for buyers agents, have a class for sellers agents, have a class showing how to use the product for FSBOs and Expireds, for investors, for lead generating.

BUT WAIT AGAIN! Listingbook does more than that you say, it can revolutionize your whole business you say. Well CONSUMERS don’t want revolution. They want solutions – to their problems!

Now let’s take a peek at Keller Williams (another great company – I am an agent there). They also have a B2B level where they are working with business owners who have market centers (offices) and team leaders (managers). Their consumers are also realtors. What I think they do particularly well is rely on user generated content to reach their customers. The market centers allow KW agents to teach classes and conduct training in their specialty (I teach marketing, John Dietz teaches FSBOs, etc.). They also provide support on a micro level by having the team leaders coach the agents individually.

What they do have is a problem with perception. There is a perception in the minds of non-KW agents that there is A LOT of unsolicited micro managing and that they HAVE to go to classes. What KW doesn’t understandd is how to frame their message so that it is not a sales pitch for KW but a solution for how to do business in the information age of real estate.

Homebuyers and Sellers need something different from realtors today. They HAVE access to the MLS for the most part. The information is there for them and they are using it freely. What realtors bring to the table is knowledge and experience and that is the message that KW helps their agents to get out to the public through training, coaching and systems.

So Realtors, now is my time to take a shot at you! Are you aware of what your focus is? Are you B2B or B2C. Are you both? Could you be both?

In today’s market there are scads of opportunity to be B2B. Banks need help selling their inventory through REO sales. That is a message that you could send. Your vendors are hurting too, could you work with them to cross sell to your databases? Handymen know people who are getting ready to move, bug guys know people who need a bigger house, and banks know who has gotten a home loan approval.

On the B2C front, are you framing your message to “what’s in it for them?”. Are you talking to niches like sellers, buyers, first timers, baby boomers, dog owners, condo dwellers and water lovers? Are you saying it in a way that makes sense to you OR are you saying it in a way that appeals to them? You do not have to change your services, just frame them in a way that will provide a message that consumers can understand and appreciate.

Selling Cat Books to Real Men!

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:23:17 +0000

So I had an epiphanie the other day! I was driving along and noticed a very attractive man walking along the side of the road. He was obviously a he-man and spent time lifting weights and taking care of himself. He was sauntering along taking in the day and enjoying himself.

At the same time I was listenting to an ebook that was saying that they would never “read a book where a cat solved a mystery”. I LOVE BOOKS where cats solve mysteries!!! BUT I thought “that that guy would NEVER buy a book with a mystery solving cat”!

I could spend days, years and a million dollars selling cat loving, mystery solving books to that guy and he would still NEVER buy one!

He will NOT buy a mystery solving cat book!

Make sure you know who your target market is – if you are a middle aged, fun loving woman, DO NOT try to act cool and reach teenagers on their level – you will just make a complete jerk of yourself! If you are a starched shirted, businessman – DO NOT try to be one of the girls, you will make a complete jerk of yourself!

Make sure you know who your target customer is and that you are not trying to put a round peg in a square hole!

Tin Cup – When do you give up?

Tara Jacobsen — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:45:24 +0000

So I LOVE the movie Tin Cup with Kevin Costner! It is a great analogy for life – know when you should quit, or at least try something else.

Basically the plot is a guy who is trying to qualify for the professional golf tour who has sabotaged himself throughtout his career and who gets his final chance at the last hole of the US Open. He could lay up or try for the green. He chooses to try, and try and try – rather than going for the safe shot.

Well this week I “tin cupped”. I have written a great ebook onÂ branding and tried to upload a post that offered the book for free with a sign up form. Because of how my database works, the form “blows up” the wordpress form and I onlyÂ get one chance to upload it with no changes. The first time I tried it was a total debacle. The second time I forgot to add catagories, the third time, I forget what happened but by this time I was just flailing away at it!

Luckily I had a function to attend and had to stop posting and deleting. The problem is that each time I post, my loyal email readers get a copy so at that point they were on email 3 with no actual post in sight! This is a great way to drive away your readers and I should have stopped after 1 and gone to plan B which is to post a webpage which bothers no one!

You NEED to know when you are fustrastrated and not being productive and stop. Step away from the computer and try another time. Stop making an ass of yourself and do something else until you can come back with a clear (and productive head).

Basically, what I am I am saying is sorry to my email readers and for the rest of you, there will be a great ebook soon BUT until I can post the link without imploding personally I am taking a break!

Small Business Branding – Give it a name