Marketing for Small Business

Hi fellow Oakville Networking members

In a survey conducted about 10 months ago, results show that the top three problems facing entrepreneurs in Halton  were:

1. isolation,

2. lack of meeting space and

3. difficulty getting good referrals to get the best help for themselves and their businesses.

I personally know this to be true as a home-based entrepreneurial coach for the last 5 years.

Sitting in my home office certainly has its perks but boy, there were some unbearable days where I had to pack my files and laptop and GET OUT as I could not stand the loneliness of being at home anymore.  I also know that I frequented too many Starbucks stores to name (hence my slight, ok, major addiction to soy chai lattes) because I had no place to meet my clients.  On top of it all, I have had my share of feeling lost and making poor choices when it came to outsourcing for help because I didn’t know where to go for a good referral.

Any of these feel familiar?

Well, that’s why I created the e-Spotâ„¢…. a much-needed community for entrepreneurs.  I just knew that if I was surrounded by energetic, creative, entrepreneurial minds, had a flexible, fun yet professional space to work and have meetings in and could get the help I needed, all in one spot, I would grow as a person and by extension, so would my business.

As many of you have heard me talk about over the last few months, the e-Spotâ„¢ is a membership-based community for entrepreneurs for the Halton and Mississauga area, located at 353 Iroquois Shore Road in Oakville (just off Trafalgar, north of the QEW) on the 2nd floor.  We are in the midst of designing this unique space that is unlike anything in the vicinity complete with gorgeous interior brick, an exposed, loft-style ceiling, an energy bar, and the most dynamic staff you’ll meet – this 3000 square feet space calls out “creative, cool and competent” and will WOW you and your clients.

Opening in December 2009, we are already gaining lots of interest from a HUGE entrepreneurial community.  I am writing you today to invite you to come and find out all about this new community.

We are hosting a short information afternoon on Friday, November 13th from 1 – 2pm.  I’d love to meet you and give you an overview of the opportunity so you can see for yourself whether this would be a good match for you and your business.

The meeting will be held at the location of one of our neighbours, The Little Gym (for whom we are very grateful for offering us space while our space in under construction!). It is located at 355 Iroquois Shore Road, Unit 2B, in Oakville.  Please RSVP to our e-Spot™ Manager, Elaine Geroche at elaine@e-spot.ca or by calling 289-291-5304 by Wednesday, November 11th to secure a spot at this information event.

And please feel free to forward this to anyone you know who you think might be interested in coming.  In the meantime, you can check out our blogsite at www.e-spot.ca

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Warmly,
Grace Yvonne Attard, Creator of the e-Spotâ„¢

If you enjoy business networking then the annual Summer Networking Bash in Toronto is the place to be. It is hosted by Unleash PR for the 7th year in a row.

This year’s event is poised to be the largest ever, with 500+ confirmed guests — business owners, solopreneurs, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, just like you. The main purpose of this event is to facilitate connections between business owners.

Several sponsors have contributed to making this the networking event of the summer, and among them will be your webmaster, Boris Mahovac, representing Better Business Networking, a new type of networking idea.

As a member of this networking group you can attend for free! I have a limited number of tickets to hand out, call me at 905-844-4247 (first-come first-served). Tickets are available online for $22 ($40 at the door).

If you’re interested in helping me out you can join me at my table to share your experience with being a member of this group. I have a few T-shirts and baseball caps to give to those who help me out.

When: Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Time: 5pm – 9 pm
Where: All Canadian Self Storage, 1 Laird Dr, Toronto

View Larger Map

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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If you haven’t yet added email marketing to your marketing mix please consider it soon. Email marketing – when done effectively and legally – is still the best thing you can do for your business as it enjoys the highest rate of return on investment.

One of the first things to consider is a suitable Email Service Provider (ESP) to provide you with the online system to manage your email marketing campaigns, to send personalized emails to your list, manage subscriptions, bounces, unsubscribes, etc.

When choosing an ESP, ask yourself these two questions:

1. Do I need to handle multiple opt-in lists?
2. Do I need a sequential auto-responder?

This will narrow down your choices significantly. If you’d like to have people sign up on your website/blog/facebook to different lists and offer them different automated sequential messages (also know as auto-responders) then my choice would be iContact.

For the ultimate in ease of use, try MadMimi.com, I recommend them to those who would like to create and send their email newsletters by themselves.

MadMimi has the most easy-to-use interface of all the ESPs I’ve tried over the years. They even offer a fully-featured free account for those just starting out. Read this article MadMimi Brings the Fun Back to Sending Email “Blasts” to learn more.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.
Web Developer and eMarketing Mentor

P.S.
To see how one of our members, Jason Stevens, uses MadMimi, arrange a visit to his Oakville studio, and while he’s explaining to you how easy it is to use MadMimi to stay in touch with clients and prospects, get a professional business portrait done to complement your business card on this blog.

Do you write articles? Do you post them to your own blog sites and to article directories? If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, all I can say is Do it now!

Nowadays, the importance of having your own articles is huge. As a small business owner or solopreneur, to publish your own articles is going to be one of a handful of sure-fire ways to promote your business, today, tomorrow and for years to come – on auto-pilot.

Your own articles will create links to your web site, boost your search engine ranking, which in turn builds traffic of highly-targeted visitors to your site, who sign up for your ezine, and then, down the road, when they get to know, like and trust you, become your clients or customers. Do you see where I am going with this?

Although the main reason you would write an article is to give away useful information to your audience, your own primary interest is to use articles as a vehicle to promote yourself. Therefore, online articles have a somewhat different structure and requirements than articles written for magazines or other printed media.

Ideally you will write the articles yourself, so that each article will have your authentic voice; or you can have them written by a hired copywriter – either way, there are certain elements that must be present in the articles to make them successful marketing pieces.

1. Keywords, Keyword Phrases and Keyword Density

Millions use the Internet daily to find information. They will find your article if you use relevant keywords in your copy. For example, if you are a wine maker, write articles about wine: how to select wine, how to make it yourself, or how to pick a good winemaker, how to store it, etc. If you are a computer safety expert, you will write about protecting your PC, how to pick the right tools, how to practice safe web surfing, etc.

Once you find the right keywords and keyword phrases, use them throughout the article, and also use related keywords and phrases. This will give the article sufficient keyword density. Please note that search engines, as well as people, may ignore your article if its keyword density is too high, in other words, if you keep repeating a keyword just for the sake of building density (this is called keyword spamming). A balance is what’s needed here, and with some practice you’ll get it right.

There are many on line tools that can help in finding the right keywords and phrases related to your area of expertise. Find the right keywords and half of your work will be done.

• Google Suggest
  You start typing a keyword, Google will suggest other words to complete a keyword phrase, based on its database of searches people used in the past.
• WordTracker
  This subscription service is probably the best commercially available tool out there. For serious publishers, web masters, and SEO specialists.
• GoodKeywords.com
  Free downloadable software for Windows that lets you research keywords.

2. Quality Content

Always keep in mind that you’re writing for the human audience first, search engine robots and spiders second. Don’t just throw a bunch of keywords plus some filler copy together and call it an article! You need to write in such a way that your audience will be educated, and hopefully entertained. Write in a conversational manner, but be professional – think “business casual” in written form.

Your written piece is not a thesis, so don’t write long sentences and paragraphs. Convoluted sentence structure or obscure words don’t make for a good read. You don’t write to impress your peers (or competition), but to provide information to your target audience.

Do I need to say you must use correct spelling and good grammar? If you want people to regard you as an authority in your field, your writing style should reflect that authority.

A quality article will boost your expert status. With expert status comes trust, and the more people trust you, the more likely they will be to hire you or buy your products.

3. Links in Articles

Finally, one last crucial component of your article are links. As part of your general SEO strategy, you can create links to your own web site or blog, especially if you’re planning on posting the same article to article directories. These incoming links contribute to your site’s page ranking with search engines.

Depending on where you post your article – on your site only, or to article directories – your latitude in creating links will vary. Let me explain.

Some article directories limit the number and/or type of links you can use. For example, you may not be permitted to link to other web sites using your affiliate link, but it may be OK to link to the same site, indirectly, via your own custom domain name.

Let’s say you are an e-commerce consultant and you offer shopping cart solutions. You could sign up with KickStartCart as an affiliate, and then register a domain such as MyOnlineCart.com, and set up a redirect to KickStartCart using your affiliate link.

At the very least, article directories will allow you to place links in your “resource box,” or signature, which is usually a single paragraph that goes at the end of your article, where you can freely advertise your business. Here’s a good example of a resource box:

Urszula Szychowska publishes the free Health in Layman’s Terms monthly ezine to help you stay youthful, healthy, vibrant and active for the rest of your life – naturally. Sign up today and receive a free special report “Glutathione – Essential Antioxidant, Immune Booster and Detoxifier.” More info at ImmuneSource.ca

If you are posting the article to your own site, or broadcasting it via your ezine, you have complete freedom in hyper-linking.

A very important note: search engines prefer links that contain keywords (I think people do, too). For example, this link to a world-class hosting company with a local touch is better than saying: If you need world-class hosting company with a local touch, click here. BTW, this technique applies to any web page, not just your articles.

Conclusion

We are all hungry for information, and the Internet is where we find it. You are there to provide it in the form of articles and blog posts. Start blogging today!

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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I am interested in starting a mastermind group in the Oakville, Burlington or Mississauga area in August. My business is Executive Sales Support and I would like to start a mastermind group with 5 or 6 other local business entrepreneurs to meet say once a month.

We could cover for example projects we are trying to launch, problems we are trying to solve, business books we are reading. Whatever we decide.

Maybe we could start a plan to put on teleseminars together, interview each other, cross promote and fill a room!

Anyone interested?  Contact me Cheryl at Executive Sales Support.com

I network a lot. I attend meetings both within groups and over coffee with individuals. I look for business development opportunities for my own business Executive Sales Support and also for opportunities to help my network through my expertise, or passing along opportunities I think might be a fit for others.

One of my network groups is HAPPEN in Mississauga, Halton and Peel Professional Executive Network. There are many wonderful professionals “in transition” in HAPPEN. They are a great group that offers help while they are looking themselves and also after they land. One member, in particular, who helped me through his public relations efforts, is Hugh Black from HMB Communications Group. Contact hughblack at cogeco.ca.

Within HAPPEN, conversations are around finding full time employment and within my business networking groups, the conversations are around finding new business development opportunities. Over the past months, I have noticed a difference emerging between the two groups. On one hand full time traditional employment seems to be going the way of the dinosaur and on the other hand, the members of the small business group are as busy or busier than before Christmas.

Yesterday, all the random pieces of networking came together. I had been networking with Hugh Black, putting forward my point of view that people were choosing self employment,  then the new Canadian statistics for unemployment in April 2009 showed that unemployment stayed the same and there was an increase in the self employed numbers.

As a result of Hugh Black’s efforts; I was interviewed as an example of someone who had successfully transferred their skills and started their own business,  Executive Sales Support. My business helps sales and business professionals get out of the office to see more clients and close deals. As a result of this interview, I was mentioned in an article on the front page of The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Yahoo, networking pays off for business development!

If you want to network with me I have a linked in profile. I look forward to helping you.

Here is the link to the article “Self-employment: The ‘do-it-yourself recovery’ Jobs increased last month, largely through people embracing self employment. The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Are you a sales professional or business owner, who wants to maximize your business development and triple the prospects in your sales funnel?

Every business I have ever worked with wanted to generate more prospect leads for their sales pipeline. My clients tell me this all the time. The disconnect occurs when I investigate the process used to process new prospect leads gathered at trade shows, networking events etc.

As a Sales Support Specialist, many times I find marketing is generating so many prospect leads that sales is cherry picking and choosing to follow up only the hot leads. Hot is defined by sales as leads they believe will close within the near future and contribute to this month’s target. Sales does this because they have monthly and quarterly targets to hit. Does this practice sound like what is going on at your business?

The question I asked is “What happened to the remaining cold and warm prospect leads?” Usually I find they are stacked on a desk or lost in a folder somewhere. No one is following up and talking to them. You have to wonder about lost potential.

When sales prioritizes the hot leads they are harvesting only the low hanging fruit to reach short term goals for this month’s or next quarter’s sales target. Continuing this practice plays only your A team and does not develop your farm team. How much money are you leaving on the table for the competition who offers a similar product or service and is communicating with every prospect?

To develop hot prospects for tomorrow when today’s hot prospects are gone, you need to implement a follow up strategy today. That way, you can leverage the numbers, triple the prospects in your funnel and maximize the potential business development brings to your doorstep. A follow up strategy puts in place a system to not only organize, build and manage a prospect database but also communicate and educate to build future sales. Implementing a long term follow up strategy gets those cold and warm prospects, currently lost to follow up, into the sales funnel and a chance to bake from cold through warm to hot. Hot and ready for you to close that deal tomorrow.

The result? Minimization of the feast and famine cycle you may have been experiencing in your business. By adding cold and warm prospects to your sales funnel you triple your prospects. Following up with EVERY prospect allows you to mine incremental growth and revenue that can be added on top of your current business.

Here are 5 simple things you can do today to start building your follow up strategy and a system to leverage your time and information.

• Put every business card you currently have into a database.
• Start marketing and educating about what you offer and how your solution can help solve problems.
• Insert hyperlinks directing prospects back to your website where they can find more information.
• Commit to communicating on a regular basis and ask for feedback.
• Utilize drip marketing to communicate over time.

Once you get going you can optimize your time and money by expanding your system and utilizing automation and email marketing to reach even more prospect leads.

Let’s review how your prospects are processed with a sales funnel optimization consultation. Discover the hidden road blocks that are preventing you from cashing in on the opportunities already on your doorstep.

Contact me at Cheryl [at] Executive Sales Support.com.

If you have a substantial number of clients, suppliers and contacts, one of the best ways to stay in touch with them is by publishing a regular email newsletter. A newsletter will educate them, entertain them and establish you as the expert in your field, and by using this free on line service called MadMimi it’s really easy — so you have no more excuses!

1. MadMimi allows you to import your contacts without forcing you to “confirm” each and every subscriber. This means if you import 100 contacts, you can send email to 100 contacts.
2. MadMimi’s simple-yet-sophisticated email editor is so easy to use, you don’t have to hire an email marketing expert like me to manage it for you
3. The best feature of all: it’s free, for lists of up to 100 email addresses. Once you out grow this, paid  plans starts at a very reasonable US$8 for up to 500 contacts, no long-term contracts.

Sign up with MadMimi today even if you’re not ready to start using email for marketing — their free account offer may not last for long.

Boris Mahovac – Email Marketing Coach

Remember, as a member of Oakville Networking I can set up your MadMimi account for you free of charge – this is a value of US$125! Takes 2 minutes to sign up, so do it now!

Networking in person is a good way to stay in touch with business developments on a local level. If your business allows it, you should also be networking online for greater exposure to both partners and potential clients.

Are you looking to grow your business? Business networking site Linkedin.com has over 36 million users world-wide. Join Linkedin and start building you virtual business team and start generating leads.

• Manage the information that’s publicly available about you as professional
• Find and be introduced to potential clients, service providers, and subject experts who come recommended
• You can use it to build your reputation by asking your clients to endorse you.
• Be found for business opportunities and find potential partners
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals

Check out my latest blog post on how I use Linkedin to grow my list of qualified prospects!

Have you ever participated in a tele-seminar? A tele-seminar is an educational event delivered in the form of a tele-conference call, using a phone line. Lately, webinars are becoming popular, too, where the same type of content is delivered over the web.

I am trying to figure out the best time to host my upcoming tele-seminar series on e-marketing and your experience/preference would be very much appreciated. If you’re interested in participating, I will be hosting a free tele-seminar on blogging, on Feb 11 at 3 pm. My guests will be blogging superstars Denise and Patsi of the BlogSquad.

Please, take 2 minutes to answer my anonymous survey on the best day and time to attend a tele-seminar, or post your comments here.

Thanks