This quote was in one of the marketing ezines I read. It is originally from Dan Kennedy. I think it’s a good reminder that there will always be hurdles to overcome while growing a business. Our greatest strength as an entrepreneur is to be able to make a decision to resolve the issue and then to move forward. Dan Kennedy calls it resiliency. When I talk to my clients, I refer to it as our ability to be nimble.

“Business is about confronting an endless parade of problems and disappointments–people bearing bad news. If you are not up to that, you may very well need to exit stage left. Resiliency is the numero uno characteristic required: take a hit, re-focus fast, and get on with the fixing or firing or fleeing or forgetting or whatever other productive response that may be possible.” ~Dan Kennedy

As a business builder, what do you think?

Best, Wendy

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Are you publishing an online newsletter (ezine)? It’s an easy and effective way to stay in touch with your customers and leads. Your ezine can provide your readers with helpful tips and advice to help them succeed. You can also showcase your latest projects and include testimonials from happy customers.

Here are 5 great reasons to implement this as part of your marketing strategy:

1.  An ezine regularly reinforces your expertise. Over time, a newsletter establishes trust with your readers. You begin to form a relationship, even if you’ve never met face to face. And because you are showcasing your expertise on a regular basis, your ezine builds your credibility.

2.  It’s a great marketing tool to keep in touch. When you regularly keep in touch with your prospects and customers, they remember you. And since people don’t typically buy something the first time they are exposed to it, an ezine is a helpful way to stay on their radar screen until they are ready.

3.  Your ezine adds a human touch. If you include personal updates and company news, an ezine is a great way to add a personality to your business. You can write  as much as you want about your personal life and what is going on with your company and staff. Your readers will begin to look forward to your updates and stories.

4.  You can promote your services and products. An ezine offers a venue to offer specials, highlight new services/products, and provide coupons and discounts. As long as the majority of your ezine is focused on helpful content, your readers will be delighted to find out more about your promotions.

5.  An ezine is an inexpensive way to build your list of leads. Since there are no printing and mailing costs associated with an ezine, it is a very cheap way to reach lots of people. And you can easily grow your list be encouraging your subscribers to forward your ezine. Simply add a line at the top or bottom of each issue asking readers to pass it along to anyone who might find the information valuable.

To get started, pick out a system to manage your subscribers. There are many services that do this - a few popular ones include Constant Contact, MyEmma, and Mail Chimp. Use an opt-in list in which a person has to agree to become a subscriber and can unsubscribe if they no longer want to receive your ezine.

Maven Action Item: Start to think about how an ezine can help your business. Write down some ideas about how often your will publish it. What will it be called? What can you write about. Good luck on your first issue!

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Writing articles or a regular column is one excellent way to grow awareness of your expertise and reinforce your credibility. Your articles showcase your knowledge and can bring prospects knocking on your door. Once an article you’ve written is published, you become an author. This status can do wonders for your business. Even if you are not an experienced writer, you can still implement these strategies with the help of a professional copywriter.

With more than 10,000 publications in print and who-knows-how-many websites and ezines on the Internet, your opportunities are almost limitless to become a published author. From fillers to features, publications need your content to feed their ever-hungry readers. There are thousands of business, trade, and Internet publications that cover every type of industry and audience. So, there are definitely opportunities for you - no matter what your industry.

When you write an article, write about what you know. Make sure it’s related to your industry. In your article, solve the problems that are a struggle for your target audience. Easy-to-write articles focus on explaining how to do something, top-ten tips, or industry trends. Look to your own experiences as well as those of colleagues and clients.

Get your articles published everywhere you can. Try your alumni newsletter, your daily paper, or your favorite association magazine. When writing articles, don’t expect to get paid, but always ask to have a byline with your name, website, and photo. Once an article has been published, leverage it by reprinting it and sending it to your prospects and clients. Include it in your newsletter, ezine, and on your website. Remember, your name in print spells E-X-P-E-R-T.

If you want to build your Internet presence, you can submit content-rich articles to various websites and ezines. Many website owners and ezine publishers are looking for content. They NEED your articles. For online articles, I have found between 400 - 800 words to be the most popular, although longer can be appropriate in some cases depending on the content. Avoid going any shorter. Once you’ve written your article, submit it to an article directory site.

Helpful, well-written articles are snapped up by thousands of publishers all around the world. In exchange for your content, publishers agree to include a resource box linking back to your site. If 175 publishers use your article on their websites, you get 175 links to your website, building a steady stream of traffic to your site. Submitting articles is more effective than advertising because when your target audience begins reading multiple articles you have authored, you gain credibility.

Maven Action Item: List 5 topics that you could write about. Where could you get your ideas published? Begin a folder to keep your topic ideas and your publisher contact info.

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Offer proof to your prospects. It’s not enough to say that you solve problems - you have to show that your customers are getting results from your business. Testimonials are one of the most powerful and cost effective selling tools you can implement in your arsenal of marketing. Why? Because you are offering evidence to your prospects from their peers attesting that your services/products actually work.

Providing testimonials from current and prior customers that demonstrate their actual problem and the specific results from your company enhances your credibility. Testimonials offer proof that you are the real deal. People receive a lot of information and they are often skeptical. But, they will be much more inclined to buy from you if you show examples of their peers who have achieved positive results. These third-party endorsements work to sell for you - even when you are not around.

If you are offering a new product or just starting your business, you can contact business associates and friends to offer them a free session or product sample to try. If you have been in business for a while but haven’t collected testimonials, make a list of all of your customers who you know have had a GREAT experience with your services or products. Even if you already have a number of testimonials, don’t stop collecting new ones. You can replace mediocre praise with the incredible ones. You can also keep your testimonials up to date and current.

Here are some ideas and opportunities to obtain new testimonials:

1. Write down the praise: Whenever one of your customers gives you a compliment in person or via e-mail, thank him or her and then ask if you can use their comment as a testimonial. Make sure he or she understands that you will be using it in your marketing materials. If someone sends you a testimonial that requires editing, go ahead and edit it, but be sure to send it back to ask if the changes are okay - explain the editing was for brevity, clarity, grammar, etc.

2. Create a website link: Another easy method to help you collect testimonials is to include a link on your website that lets people click on it to give their feedback. “Click here to let me know what you think.” Put this link next to testimonials you’ve already placed on your site to provide other examples.

3. Offer an incentive: Periodically you can have a “testimonial drive.” Send out an e-mail and offer an incentive for your customers to provide a testimonial. Depending on what type of business you run, it could be a coupon, discount, free services, and so on.

4. Make it part of your sales cycle. As you wrap up an interaction with a customer, ask them for a testimonial. BEFORE you complete your work with a customer, ask him or her to provide a testimonial with tangible and specific results from working with you or from your products. If you wait until your work is complete, you may have a more difficult time getting a testimonial since your customer can move into an “out of sight, out of mind” place. For example, if you are a financial planner, you could ask them toward the end of your sessions together. If you run a Garden Center, have cards by the register and a drop box.

5. Ask your “star performers” for testimonials. Almost every business collects raving fans. These are the individuals who buy every book you sell, the customer who you see in your store three times each week, or that individual who gets an incredible result from using your offerings. Make a point of asking these individuals to give a testimonial. If they have just had a BIG result, be sure to ask them right afterwards.

6. Follow-up after a purchase: Use an autoresponder like www.mavenmerchant.com to automatically follow up with a customer who has purchased something from you to ask them how they are doing. Ask them to provide a testimonial.

Here are some specific ways you can use testimonials to enhance your marketing materials:

1. Use testimonials in a sales letter or on a postcard that you send out to acquire new prospects.

2. Incorporate testimonials into your advertisements.

3. Place testimonials and success stories on your website and in your ezine.

4. When you are talking to a prospect, use success stories of other clients to help show the prospect how your other clients have excelled.

5. During a seminar, presentation, or teleseminar, use testimonials and success stories to illustrate points and inspire people to take action.

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

Learn marketing techniques to attract new customers quickly in Marketing Maven’s Wendy Maynard’s free report: “Marketing Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline” at http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/free_report.html

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Here is a great article from Craig Huey of Creative Direct Marketing Group: A recent study shows that 83% of online users who immediately leave a website do so because they can’t find what they need.

It’s evident that many marketers are losing time, money and customers by violating direct marketing rules and basic human psychology with their company websites.

Consider 3 tactics when deciding whether your site attracts or repels prospects:

1. Identify yourself. “Is this a site I’ve been looking for?” is the first thought in your prospect’s mind when s/he lands on a site. Your product or service needs to be immediately identifiable. If a searcher doesn’t get the feeling “this is where I need to be,” they can be gone within 2 seconds.

2. Be copy driven. Most websites are anemic: they’re navigation driven rather than copy driven. There needs to be enough sales copy that persuades the prospect that it’s in her self interest to read and respond to your offer. Laser-focused messaging seals the deal.

3. Direct the reader. Prospects think neither logically nor in a straight line. Using navigation buttons like: About Us, Help, History, Media, Products, Sitemap, Vision Statement and Contact Us interrupt your sales presentation.

Don’t give potential buyers the easy choice of diving into an illogical exploration of your site—every click away from your core message could cost you 10%-20% of sales.

Instead, pull visitors along to your offer with succinct copy and design that doesn’t give them even one reason to guess who you are, what you do and why they should be there.

In other words, don’t make your prospect have to think…the difference between success and failure is just a click away.

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

Learn marketing techniques to attract new customers quickly in Marketing Maven’s Wendy Maynard’s free report: “Marketing Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline” at http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/free_report.html

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